Zechariah 3:1

Zechariah A VISION OF JUDGEMENT AND CLEANSINGZechariah 3:1 - Zechariah 3:10 . Zechariah worked side by side with Haggai to quicken the religious life of the people, and thus to remove the gravest hindrances to the work of rebuilding the Temple. Inward indifference, not outward opposition, is the real reason for slow progress in God’s work, and prophets who see visions and preach repentance are the true practical men. This vision followed Haggai’s prophecy at the interval of a month. It falls into two parts-a symbolical vision and a series of promises founded on it. I. The Symbolical Vision { Zechariah 3:1 - Zechariah 3:5 }. The scene of the vision is left undetermined, and the absence of any designation of locality gives the picture the sublimity of indefiniteness. Three figures, seen he knows not where, stand clear before the Prophet’s inward eye. They were shown him by an unnamed person, who is evidently Jehovah Himself. The real and the ideal are marvellously mingled in the conception of Joshua the high priest-the man whom the people saw every day going about Jerusalem-standing at the bar of God, with Satan as his accuser. The trial is in process when the Prophet is permitted to see. We do not hear the pleadings on either side, but the sentence is solemnly recorded. The accusations are dismissed, their bringer rebuked, and in token of acquittal, the filthy garments which the accused had worn are changed for the full festal attire of the high priest.

What, then, is the meaning of this grand symbolism? The first point to keep well in view is the representative character of the high priest. He appears as laden not with individual but national sins. In him Israel is, as it were, concentrated, and what befalls him is the image of what befalls the nation. His dirty dress is the familiar symbol of sin; and he wears it, just as he wore his sacerdotal dress, in his official capacity, as the embodied nation. He stands before the judgment seat, bearing not his own but the people’s sins. Two great truths are thereby taught, which are as true to-day as ever. The first is that representation is essential to priesthood. It was so in shadowy and external fashion in Israel; it is so in deepest and most blessed reality in Christ’s priesthood. He stands before God as our representative-’And the Lord hath made to meet on Him the iniquity of us all.’ If by faith we unite ourselves with Him, there ensues a wondrous transference of characteristics, so that our sin becomes His, and His righteousness becomes ours; and that in no mere artificial or forensic sense, but in inmost reality. Theologians talk of a communicatio idiomatum as between the human and the divine elements in Christ. There is an analogous passage of the attributes of either to the other, in the relation of the believer to his Saviour.

And he showed me Joshua the high priest {a} standing before the angel of the LORD, and {b} Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. (a) He prayed to Christ the Mediator for the state of the Church. (b) Which declares that the faithful do not only war with flesh and blood, but with Satan himself, and spiritual wickedness; Eph 6:12.

Zechariah 3:1 . And he showed me — He, that is, the angel, who talked with him, after delivering the message in the preceding chapter, proceeded to another representation; Joshua the high-priest, &c. — We find from Haggai, that Joshua the son of Josedech was at this time high-priest. He stands here as representing the whole Jewish people. Standing before the angel of the Lord — This angel was Christ, or the Logos, mentioned Zechariah 1:11 , and called the Lord in the following verse, whose minister, or servant, the high-priest was, as well as a type of him. And Satan — Or the adversary, as the word may be rendered; standing at his right hand to resist him — That is, to be his accuser, as he is called Revelation 12:10 . “So here he is represented as aggravating the faults of Joshua, the representative of the whole body of the Jews, (see Zechariah 3:2 ,) by this means to prevail with God to continue the Jews under the power of their adversaries.