Zechariah 3:9, commentary and pictures

In the heavenly court Joshua the high priest stands as representative of God's people under Satan's accusation, and the Lord rebukes Satan and lays before him a stone with seven eyes engraved by the Lord Himself alongside the promise of His servant the Branch. The Lord promises to take away the iniquity of the land in one day, leading into peace when every man calls his neighbor under the vine and under the fig tree. That removal is God's work through Messiah the Branch by Christ's atoning sacrifice and His intercession for believers, pictured by taking away Joshua's filthy garments and clothing him with a change of raiment and a fair mitre. The pardon is Christ's declared work for Joshua and for all who seek Him in repentance unto obedience, as He resists Satan when Satan revives past repented sins and accuses God's people day and night to destroy their confidence and hold upon heaven. The vision was given for the last days when the law has been made void and Satan resists every effort to save the purchase of the blood of the Lamb, yet a coming day will make known that God's cleansed people are preferred and bring them into secure life where sorrow, death, pain, and night will be no more.

Vision Setting and Symbols

The verse belongs to a controversy in the heavenly courts where Joshua the high priest stands before the Angel of the Lord with Satan standing at his right hand to resist him, and the Lord rebukes Satan as a brand plucked out of the fire chosen in Jerusalem. In that setting filthy garments are removed from Joshua and iniquity is caused to pass from him and he is clothed with change of raiment and a fair mitre, with promise of judging God's house and keeping His courts and walking among those standing by on condition of walking in God's ways and keeping His charge. That standing before the angel to resist is the position Satan now holds toward every church and toward ministers of the gospel in their official work of ministering the Word, to resist them and to resist the Lord's working in behalf of His people, while in answer to intercession and in pity toward His afflicted people the Lord comes to their relief.

In the vision Joshua stands as representative of God's people and of all who like Joshua seek to stand justified before Christ. He represents the church and Jerusalem, which has dishonored God by transgressing His law and by yielding to temptation and disobeying the commandments of God. The people are suffering because of that transgression, and Satan resists God's work for them.

The verse lays a stone with seven eyes before Joshua, engraved by the Lord of hosts Himself. That engraved stone is set before him alongside God's promise to bring forth His servant the Branch. The promised cleansing is shown in Joshua's case by removing his filthy, sin-soiled garments and clothing him in righteousness, for God does not deny guilt but provides for its removal and change.

The verse promises that the Lord Himself will remove the iniquity of the land in one day. That dealing with the guilt of the land in a single day through the stone set before Joshua gives encouragement for all. It leads into peace in the day when every man calls his neighbor under the vine and under the fig tree and people live securely under their vines and fig trees.

Forgiveness Through Christ Alone

The removal of iniquity in one day is God's own work through Messiah the coming Branch for a people suffering because of transgression of His law. Joshua the high priest represents the church in that work, standing in a position of repentance and obedience. That cleansing is accomplished by Christ's atoning sacrifice pardoning the sins of the churches and by His intercession for those who believe in Him. If all who have known the way of the Lord take warning and decidedly change their wrong principles of action and make thorough work, they will be received and their transgressions pardoned and repetition of transgression avoided, and God will grant them prosperity.

The promised cleansing is pictured in Joshua's filthy, sin-soiled garments taken away and iniquity caused to pass from him, and in his being clothed with a change of raiment and a fair mitre. God does not deny his guilt but provides for its removal and change, clothing him in righteousness. So the removal of the church's soiled garments is Christ clothing His faithful, obedient children in clean robes. That same cleansing gives faithful, obedient children coronation robes and ends in the fulfillment of the promise that sorrow, death, pain, and night will be no more.

The pardon belongs to those in a position of repentance unto obedience. It is linked with pardon for those who repent, humble themselves before God, and confess their sins. It requires taking warning, decidedly changing wrong principles of action, making thorough work, being received, and avoiding repetition of transgression.

The verse is Christ's declaration of what He will do for Joshua and for all who like Joshua seek to stand justified before Him. As part of God's word about sending His servant the Branch and dealing with the guilt of the land in a single day through the stone set before Joshua, it gives encouragement for all. While Satan revives past repented sins to destroy confidence in God and hold upon heaven, Christ resists Satan, pardons, and causes iniquity to pass away. The stone set before Joshua, marked with seven eyes and engraved by the Lord, is the sign of that work to remove the land's iniquity in one day.

Last-Day Warning and Hope

The vision of the third chapter was given for the last days, when the law has been made void by wrong principles carried on for years and when backsliding appears among those placed at the head of the work who have had great light. It gives a faint description of the reality of the time when the end is near and evil springs forth, when Satan is drilling his army into strong parties ready for the great battle of the last great conflict, and what it describes shall become a living reality in that time. After leading men into wrong positions and backsliding, Satan stands as adversary at the right hand of the angel to resist every effort to save the purchase of the blood of the Lamb. That standing to resist is the position he now holds toward every church and toward ministers of the gospel in their official work of ministering the Word, resisting the Lord's working in behalf of His people, while in answer to intercession the Lord comes in pity to the relief of His afflicted people.

His special work is to persecute those he caused to sin and to accuse them before God day and night. He discerns coming favor in prospect through Messiah the coming Branch, and he resists the Lord Jesus so that God's people will not be favored but will remain in depression and sorrow and weakness and suffering, claiming the church as his because of its sin in transgression of the law. The chapter presents what God has prepared for His people as a vision of heavenly realities, and seeing them requires faith and spiritual vision rather than being darkened by unbelief and worldliness. The promise to remove iniquity in one day will be understood when the lost face their final judgment and hear the sentence of dismissal.

The time for Joshua's glorification had not yet come while watchers looked for defects and failures, but a coming day will make known that God's people are preferred before transgressors, when their dependence on God is seen. In that day God opens unseen ways to exalt and honor them and to grant them prosperity to those who take warning, decidedly change wrong principles of action, and make thorough work. The cleansing ends in secure life when every man calls his neighbor under the vine and under the fig tree. It ends in the fulfillment of God's promise that sorrow and death and pain and night will be no more.