The Lord Remembers - Message 4 - The High Priest. In the fourth vision of Zechariah we find the High Priest Joshua standing before the Angel of the Lord. Zechariah sees Joshua standing before the Angel of the Lord. He is said to be wearing filthy clothing. He is standing there to represent the people, and at his right is Satan, bringing accusations against him. The Angel of the Lord declared to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you!” By what authority did this Angel rebuke Satan? He rebuked Satan in the name of the Lord. Notice in the text, as the Angel of the Lord is speaking, it says, “The Lord said to Satan, ‘The Lord rebuke you, O Satan!'” Here we see that the Angel of the Lord is indeed the Lord Himself. This is the pre-incarnate Christ before Whom Joshua stands, and Christ defends the High Priest against the accusations of Satan! Not only does He offer a defense, but He removes the cause for accusation, taking the filthy clothing from the High Priest and giving him clean new clothes to wear. What a grand picture of the removal of sin from God's people. They, like Joshua, are “brands plucked from the fire.” They are spared judgment that they rightly deserve because the Lord removes their sin and replaces it with His own righteousness.Beyond a simple picture of justification, we have here in this vision a presentation of the Savior as our High Priest, a Servant, a Branch, and a Stone. Each of these references are specifically Messianic and in the presentation of the vision Zechariah is told that the sin of the people will be removed in one day, the final Day of Atonement, when Christ would come as the High Priest and the Sacrifice to offer Himself as a “ransom for many.” |
