Zechariah and the Two Witnesses: Imputation and Cleansing; Zech. 3:1-10

As the Jews returned from the Babylonian captivity they began to reinstate the sacrificial system. This is important to understand the role of the two witnesses in Revelation 11. The prophet is Zechariah, the ruler is Zerubabbel, the high priest is Joshua, and we are told in Ezra chapter three that Zerubbabel and Joshua reinstate the temple sacrifices when they returned (about 537 BC) before the work on the foundation of the temple began. Zechariah’s name means “God remembers,” so the thrust of Zechariah is that God remembers, He has not forgotten His people. Remember that in the law God said He would take them out of the land but also that He would bring them back. So Zechariah’s name is a reminder that God is faithful to His promises, faithful to His covenants, and that He will bring the people back to the land according to His plan and purpose.

Zechariah 3 is in the middle of the section that deals with various night visions that Zechariah had. If we look at the basic structure of the book it begins with a call to turn back to God. We usually translated that “repent” but that is a word that is loaded with a lot of religious misunderstanding. The word basically means to move from one position to another; instead of turning your back to God you Are going to turn to God. It is the Hebrew word shub and there is a play on words here: if you turn to God, God will turn to you. This section in chapter three is focusing on the cleansing of Joshua the high priest and the golden lamp stand and olive trees.

Why are we looking at Zechariah chapter three when we should be looking at chapter four? One reason is context and the other is that there is something unique about both of these chapters. Both deal with two actual historical figures, as opposed to the other visions—Zerubbabel and Joshua the high priest. Secondly, both of these chapters deal with the temple and refer to temple furniture. Third, both chapters have messianic prophecies within them. What happens in chapter three is that Joshua the high priest appears in a night vision standing in a courtroom setting before the God of the universe. But he is being challenged. It is a picture of a challenge by a prosecutor; Satan is pictured in that role. Zechariah 3:1 ^nasb “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?’”

The reason Satan accuses Joshua is because he is said to be filthy, unclean. Zechariah 3:3 ^NASB “Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and standing before the angel.” “Filthy” is a sanitized translation from the Hebrew and it is not a pleasant picture. This is a picture of sin, that he is ritually and personally defiled because of sin. Isaiah 64:6 ^NASB “…And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment…” A different word is used there but the image is the same. Leviticus chapter 22 says that the high priest has to be clean, he cannot come before God or serve as high priest if he is defiled. The answer is given by the Lord in verse 2. He rebukes Satan and says: “Indeed, the LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you!” God has still chosen Jerusalem even though they are apostate. That is still His city, they are still His people, and the mount is still His. God is going to remember Jerusalem, He chose it, and there is a future for Jerusalem. Then He says, “Is this [Joshua] not a brand plucked from the fire?” The fire is simply an idiom for someone who has experienced a narrow escape. God is going to solve Joshua’s problem. There is this filth that comes from sin and the problem must be solved. It is ultimately resolved at the cross. God has to apply His righteous standards to all human beings and as a result we are all condemned. 2 Corinthians 5:21 ^NASB “He made Him who knew no sin {to be} sin on our behalf, so that we might become the righteousness of God in Him.”

Zechariah 3:4 ^NASB “He spoke and said to those who were standing before him, saying, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” Again he said to him [Joshua], ‘See, I have taken your iniquity away from you and will clothe you with festal robes’.” He is getting the finest garments that God can supply and that is a picture of God clothing us with the perfect righteo0usness of Jesus Christ. That’s grace. It is God’s gift to us, He does everything for us; we don’t do anything for it to earn it or deserve it. That pictures for us what God is going to do for the nation Israel in the future, and how God is going to do this for the nation at the end of the Tribulation is going to be through these two witnesses who function in a role similar to that of Joshua and Zerubbabel.

Illustrations