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Zechariah, Prophet of God's remembrance, part 11

Zechariah 3:1-5 records a prophetic vision of the cleansing and anointing of Joshua, the high priest in Jerusalem. This is Joshua the son of Jehozadak who is mentioned in Haggai 1:1.

Zechariah 3:1, 2 begins,

¹ Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. ² The Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, Satan! Indeed, the Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?”

Satan means “adversary” (in a court of law). His role in history is to act as the Prosecutor wherever sin exists, while the Holy Spirit (the Comforter) is the believers’ Defense Attorney. In Revelation 12;10 Satan is called “the accuser of our brethren… who accuses them before our God day and night.” There we see the manner in which the brethren “overcome him because of the blood of the Lamb” (Revelation 12:11), for His blood paid sin’s debt for all who have faith in His work on the cross.

1 John 2:1, 2 tells us,

¹ My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate [in the divine court] with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous; ² and He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only, but also for those of the whole world.

Zechariah tells us nothing about the historic circumstances of Joshua’s consecration as the high priest. It is likely that he was seeing spiritual causes of a situation where Joshua was opposed by a different priestly family or party. Perhaps they had accused Joshua of being insufficiently righteous. Whatever the case, the prophet was shown the spiritual event behind the earthly one to confirm that Joshua was indeed called by God to be the high priest at that time.

There is a general principle that says, all things happen in the spirit before they happen on earth. The spiritual reality casts its shadow on the earth, and we should recognize that what we see on earth has a greater spiritual reality. Without seeing that spiritual reality, men usually misinterpret the earthly events and are unable to see the events through God’s eyes.

The key to living a victorious and abundant life is not to deny that we have sinned but to know that our sins were covered by the blood of Jesus, even as animal sacrifices used to cover sin under the Old Covenant. Faith imputes righteousness to believers (Romans 4:3), because God calls what is not as though it were (Romans 4:17 KJV).

A Change of Garments

Because “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23), even the high priests among men are metaphorically dressed in “filthy garments” apart from an act of God. So Joshua himself was depicted in this way in Zechariah 3:3, 4, 5,

³ Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and standing before the angel. ⁴ He spoke and said to those who were standing before him, saying, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” Again he said to him, “See, I have taken your iniquity away from you and will clothe you with festal robes [mahalasot, “splendid, costly robe of state].” ⁵ Then I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments, while the angel of the Lord was standing by.

Joshua’s faith resulted in a change of garments by which he could lawfully minister to the people as a type of Christ. Job 29:14 says,

¹⁴ I put on righteousness, and it clothed me; my justice was like a robe and a turban.

In the consecration of Aaron, we note from Exodus 28:36, 37,

³⁶ You shall also make a plate of pure gold and shall engrave on it, like the engravings of a seal, “Holy to the Lord.” ³⁷ You shall fasten it on a blue cord, and it shall be on the turban; it shall be at the front of the turban.

The blue cord was to be woven into the tassel of everyone’s garments as well (Numbers 15:38, 39) as a remembrance of God’s commandments. This was to testify that the people respected God’s law and submitted to His rule. It was blue, because blue is the color of the sky (the heavens) and, as Paul tells us, “the law is spiritual” (Romans 7:14).

Zechariah does not mention this blue cord, but the law itself leaves no doubt that Joshua’s turban included it.

Son of Jehozadak

Haggai 1:1 tells us that Joshua was the son of Jehozadak, which means Jehovah is righteous. The last part of the name is zadak, or zadok, “righteous.” This suggests, at least prophetically, that Joshua was of the “sons of Zadok” prophesied in Ezekiel 44:15-19, which physically replaced the sons of Phineas that had become corrupted by Eli and his sons. See 1 Kings 2:35.

This change of priesthood took place within the Levitical Order, but it foreshadowed a greater change under the New Covenant from Levi to Melchizedek (Hebrews 7:12). The New Covenant priesthood has replaced the Levitical Order, due to its corruption and rejection of the Messiah. Hence, we now serve Jesus Christ, our great High Priest of the Melchizedek Order. This Order has no genealogical requirement, because Jesus came from the tribe of Judah, not Levi.

The angel then admonished Joshua in Zechariah 2:6, 7,

⁶ And the angel of the Lord admonished Joshua, saying, ⁷ “Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘If you will walk in My ways and if you will perform My service, then you will also govern My house and also have charge of My courts, and I will grant you free access among these who are standing here’.”

The authority of priesthood was never unconditional. It was always based on the condition that they “walk in My ways” and “perform My service.” Hence, God reserved the right to replace the high priests as well as the Levitical Order as a whole. This He has done. Those who think that Old Covenant priests of the Levitical Order will minister to God in a rebuilt temple in Jerusalem, offering animal sacrifices and burning incense as before are mistaken.

The age to come will be ruled by the Melchizedek Order under Jesus Christ and His priests, as we read in Revelation 20:6,

⁶ Blessed and holy is the one who has a part in the first resurrection; over these the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God and of Christ and will reign with Him for a thousand years.

Those who are raised in the first resurrection will be given “festal robes,” that is, robes of state (authority) through the feast of Tabernacles. Being perfected, they will remain a permanent priesthood ministering righteously to the rest of the world, so that, in the end, all will see the truth, all will profess Christ, and all will gladly submit to the rule of Christ in His Kingdom.