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Zechariah 3 contains one of the most striking prophecies relating to the meaning of Easter in the entire Bible. While the book of Zechariah is not one which many preachers refer to at this time of year, they probably should, because it contains a stunning prediction of what the LORD was going to do in reconciling us to Himself.

A figure named ‘Joshua’

The first thing to observe is that it involves a figure called ‘Joshua’. Joshua is the Hebrew version of the name ‘Jesus’, and both names obviously mean the same thing, i.e. ‘The LORD Saves’. And that’s precisely what this enigmatic figure is going to do. He is going to save God’s people from their sins.

Just exactly how He’s going to do that isn’t totally made clear, but we learn at the end of the chapter that it’s going to take place in a single day. So it’s going to be achieved through a climatic event rather than an extended process.

The High Priest

The second thing we learn is that this Jesus or Joshua is also a High Priest. Priests in the Old Testament were incredibly important, because they functioned as mediators between God and man, because of our sin: the spiritual rebellion which occurs when we reject the righteous commands of God and we choose to live life our own way, maybe even rejecting that there is a ‘God’ at all.

As many people have pointed out, though, just because you close your eyes to the sun doesn’t mean that it stops shining or that it ceases to be real. Facts are still real even if we wilfully misinterpret or even foolishly deny them.

When we reject God’s will for our lives, it’s like we’re covered in filth. In Zechariah 3, Joshua the High Priest is described in Hebrew as being covered in animal excrement. It’s a powerful symbolic representation of the sin of God’s people. Of worshipping the works of our hands and living for someone — anything — other than the LORD.

The Devil Who Accuses

Zechariah 3 also describes the Devil as standing at the LORD’s right hand to accuse Joshua. As the High Priest of God’s people, Joshiah is representing not just himself, but everyone. When Satan accuses Joshua, he’s saying that none of us can stand in God’s presence because all of us have sinned.

This is one of the Devil’s chief weapons, and it’s also the most debilitating, for deep down we all know that we’re guilty before God. The Devil has no scruples, though, and he’s prepared to kick us when we’re down. At the heart of his accusation is something like this:

‘They deserve to be judged and condemned. They don’t deserve Your love or Your blessing, because just look at what they have done.’

Satan delights in pointing out to us how we have sinned, and the reality is, we have! But this is where the LORD does something absolutely amazing and special. Because the LORD immediately comes to our defence.

The God Who Saves

In Zechariah 3, the LORD Himself tells one of His angels to remove the filthy garments from Joshua and to put pure vestments on him instead. This is such a wonderful picture of salvation, for there are two aspects to it which go hand in hand.

First, the LORD removes from us our sin in that He completely takes Joshua’s filthy garments away. Notice that the LORD doesn’t deny that it’s there or that it’s incredibly serious. As the apostle Paul writes in Romans, ‘All have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God.’ (Romans 3:23) But as Paul goes on to say, we are justified freely by His grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus.

A second and complementary aspect to God’s salvation, though, is that not only does He take away our sin, but He also gives us His own perfect righteousness. To use the imagery of Zechariah 3, we not only have our filthy clothes removed, but we are also given clean garments to wear! As the apostle Paul writes, ‘For our sake He made Him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in Him we might become the righteousness of God.’ (2 Cor. 5:21)

A Perfect Mediator

This is the wonderful thing about Jesus, for He alone has kept the law of God perfectly. He alone has never sinned, and so through faith, His righteousness is credited to our account. In the book of Zechariah, the angel of the LORD solemnly assures Joshua with this promise:

‘Thus says the LORD of hosts: If you will walk in My ways and keep My charge, then you shall rule My house and have charge of My courts, and I will give you the right of access among those who are standing here.’ (Zech. 3:6-7)

Which human high priest, though, has ever been able to fulfil that promise? No doubt there have been many godly men who served in that role, but none of them were perfect. This is because, as the book of Hebrews explains, the ministry of every high priest was imperfect because all of them at some point died. (See Heb. 10:11)

What we really need, then, is for a High Priest who always lives to intercede for us before the LORD on our behalf. That is, an eternal priest who never dies! And this is precisely what the Lord Jesus Christ has come to do because, as we’re told in Zechariah 3, all of these things are symbolic of things to come. (Heb. 10:12-14)

The Branch (i.e. Christ)

Zechariah 3 is not just referring, then, to a specific Jewish High Priest in Israel. Instead, we’re told about a mysterious messianic figure called The Branch, who is one day going to come and fulfil all of these prophetic signs. Someone who is given a stone with seven eyes on it. There’s a bit of debate as to what this means, but at the very least, the seven eyes refer to the perfect, holy vision of God. (Rev. 1:14)

This means that He sees and knows everything, because He Himself is eternal or divine. Later on in the book of Zechariah, this mysterious God-man figure called ‘The Branch’ will build the temple of the LORD. That’s not simply a reference to rebuilding the physical temple in Jerusalem after it had been destroyed, but to something altogether more wonderful.

As we discover later on in the New Testament, it’s a reference to all those who believe in Jesus as the ‘Cornerstone’, and thus themselves become ‘living stones’ by which the LORD constructs His spiritual house (1 Pet. 2:4-5). Hence, Christians are both individually and corporately the temple of the living God.

The Day of Salvation

According to what the prophet Zechariah says in verse 9, the LORD removes the sin of this land in a single day. And that’s precisely what happened at Calvary when Jesus died, for it was there where the final sacrifice of atonement was made. Where Jesus — or Joshua — offered His own body for our sin.

There’s a beautiful symmetry which the Bible says happens through Jesus, where He is both our perfect sacrifice and also great High Priest. That is, He is the offering for our sin and also the divine-human intermediary through which that offering is applied. For when He breathed His last on the cross, Matthew records that ‘… the curtain in the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. The earth shook and the rocks split. The tombs broke open and the bodies of many holy people who had died were raised to life.’ (Matt. 27:51-52)

All of which was a foreshadowing as to what we would all experience if we put our faith in Him. If we united ourselves with Joshua or Jesus, and what He did at the cross. That we too would be forgiven of our sins and resurrected from the dead.

An Extended Invitation

Zechariah 3 ends with this wonderful prediction of people inviting others to share in God’s grace. The prophet writes in verse 10,

“In that day, declares the LORD of hosts,
every one of you will invite his neighbour to come under his vine and under his fig tree.’

What Scripture is describing for us here is a metaphor of what it means to experience the blessings of Christ’s salvation. That we’ll enjoy the spiritual fruit of God’s vine and fig tree, namely, His redemption. We will have the dirt of our sin removed and the righteousness of Christ applied to ourselves.

Can you hear Christ calling you to Himself? To come and share in the forgiveness of sin and the gift of His own righteousness? If so, then what God requires is the obedience of faith. The decision to turn away from sin and trust in the death and resurrection of His Son, Jesus. Our great and final high priest, who has taken away the punishment once and for all. (Heb. 10:17-18)

Stone’s Challenge

In the 1950s, a mathematics professor named Peter Stoner at Pasadena City College in California proposed a test for his students. Prof. Stone wanted them to assess the mathematical probability of Jesus fulfilling just eight of the prophecies contained in the Old Testament. Many scholars estimate that there are well over 300, but Professor Stoner wanted his students to take eight of the most recognised.

As a result, though, they found that the probability of any one person fulfilling just eight prophecies contained in Scripture was 10 to the power of 17. What’s more, for someone to fulfil 48 of the prophecies, the figure increases to 10 to the power of 157! It’s difficult to comprehend the vastness of these numbers, and so in his book, Evidence Which Demands a Verdict, Josh McDowell comes up with the following analogy.

Suppose we take 10 to the power of 17 silver dollars and lay them on the face of Texas. If you covered the entire state of Texas with ten to the power of seventeen silver dollar coins, then they would cover the ground two feet deep. Now mark one of these silver dollars and stir the whole mass thoroughly. Blindfold a man and tell him that he must pick up one silver dollar and say that this is the right one. What chance would he have of getting the right one?

According to Stoner, those are the same odds of eight of these prophecies being fulfilled in precise detail by Jesus. And that’s just for any one person fulfilling just eight of the prophecies. If they fulfil 48, then the number jumps to 10 to the power of 157, which is almost ten times greater still.

As you can see from the book of Zechariah, though, the person and work of Christ were wonderfully prophesied before they occurred. Easter was predicted long before it happened.

The LORD has given us a huge number of prophecies so we can be all the more sure of what He has promised. For what God has promised has taken place, and what He has said is yet to occur will certainly come true.

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Image courtesy of Adobe.