The Once and Future High Priest
Zechariah: A Glimpse of the Gospel • Sermon • Submitted • Presented
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· 8 viewsThe need for a High Priest.
Notes
Transcript
Pastoral Prayer
Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of Yahweh, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him.
And Yahweh said to Satan, “Yahweh rebuke you, Satan! Indeed, Yahweh who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand delivered from the fire?”
Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and standing before the angel.
And he answered and spoke to those who were standing before him, saying, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” Again he said to him, “See, I have made your iniquity pass away from you and will clothe you with festal robes.”
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 Yahweh was standing by.
And the angel of Yahweh testified to Joshua, saying,
“Thus says Yahweh of hosts, ‘If you will walk in My ways and if you will keep the responsibility given by Me, then you will also render justice in My house and also keep My courts, and I will grant you access to walk among these who are standing here.
‘Now listen, Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who are sitting in front of you—indeed they are men who are a wondrous sign, for behold, I am going to bring in My servant the Branch.
‘For behold, the stone that I have put before Joshua; on one stone are seven eyes. Behold, I will engrave an inscription on it,’ declares Yahweh of hosts, ‘and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.
‘In that day,’ declares Yahweh of hosts, ‘every one of you will call for his neighbor to sit under his vine and under his fig tree.’”
I. YHWH’s Point is Clear—Jesus Saves. (V. 1-5)
I. YHWH’s Point is Clear—Jesus Saves. (V. 1-5)
Zechariah is shown the constant reality of heaven right now.
Satan accuses humanity, BUT the Son is the one who removes guilt and reproach.
Joshua here points to the one High Priest capable to make all things right.
Significantly, the Lord changed Joshua’s clothing, cleansing the high priest from the guilt of his sin; Joshua did not, and could not cleanse himself. It was the Lord who expiated his sins and those of the people.
George Klein
II. The Charge is to Sanctify and Usher the Disciples into God’s Presence. (V. 6-7)
II. The Charge is to Sanctify and Usher the Disciples into God’s Presence. (V. 6-7)
Righteousness and Justice are siamese twins. Both are expressions of God’s presence among His people.
The Spiritual reality for the Disciples is that where the Spirit of God resides, there God has taken residence and we become His temple.
Where men fail, God has not failed; where darkness rules, Jesus is the harbinger of light; where Death would rule, Jesus conquered.
There are none justified who are not sanctified and there are none sanctified who are not justified.
John Charles Ryle (Bishop of Liverpool)
Only sanctified souls are satisfied souls.
Charles Spurgeon
III. God Highlights the Promise of a Davidic King. (V. 8-9)
III. God Highlights the Promise of a Davidic King. (V. 8-9)
God affirms the presence of the Trinity in the text and affirms the relationship of the redeemed disciples, compared to the world.
YHWH gives Zechariah and Joshua two images often used to refer to the Only Begotten Son of God, our Savior.
The ultimate goal of faith in Jesus Christ is to be known by Him, and to known Him personally as the only one who can save humanity from the peril of eternal wrath.
No branch has life in itself; it is utterly dependent for life and fruitfulness on the vine to which it is attached. The living branch is thus truly ‘in’ the vine; the life of the vine is truly ‘in’ the branch.
D. A. Carson
“seven horns and seven eyes”—symbols of perfect power and wisdom.
Robert H. Mounce
IV. The Total Sum of Eternal Life—Peace With God. (V. 10)
IV. The Total Sum of Eternal Life—Peace With God. (V. 10)
When we read “in that day” we see the highest hope for the people of God, who look to the moment when God makes all things new and we are in His presence eternally.
We will know peace as only God can offer us because we will be glorified. This process is the endgame of salvation applied to the Disciple.
The last line of this vision is not individualistic, it is communal in nature. Peace will be for all the redeemed, as the enemy, the world, and the sneering masses are subjected to the wrath of God for their pride, unbelief, and arrogance.
The fig-tree is employed to indicate the peace and prosperity of a nation, 1 Kings 4:25; also Micah 4:4, where it is said, “They shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig-tree.”
John Hutton Balfour
What is YHWH Compelling Us to Learn Here?
What is YHWH Compelling Us to Learn Here?
No one can have fellowship with God apart from Jesus Alone.
In Jesus, as we read in Zechariah 3, we have the fulness of the Gospel.
Peace with God has been bought by Jesus’ atoning sacrifice.
We must confess and believe that Jesus is Lord and King of our lives.
