Chapter 3
A fourth vision: of Joshua, the high priest who came back with Zerubbabel. He and Satan are standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan is accusing Joshua. This verse:
2 And the LORD said to Satan, "The LORD rebuke you, O Satan! The LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this a brand plucked from the fire?" [Zec 3:2 ESV]
This is how angels talk, but I don't think this is Jesus here. Maybe this is the passage referred to in the NT when it says even angels don't take on Satan directly. But MSB says "the angel of the Lord is identified as the Lord". I get God referring to Himself in first or second person. As I or We. But I don't buy that God refers to Himself as third person "He rebuke you?" Nope. Can't buy that, MSB.
2026 - This is an angel talking to Satan. This angel dared not rebuke Satan himself, because Satan is a very powerful angel, more so that the Lord speaking in this verse. I think this is the very passage Jude had in mind here:
9 Yet Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, durst not bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee. [Jde 1:9 KJV]
Pushing on through...Later... This is very like "the Lord said to my Lord". God addressing Jesus in Psalms.
I think a brand plucked from the fire is about Joshua, for one, but also about the remnant that returned. God had almost entirely destroyed Israel for their unfaithfulness. They deserved annihilation. But the promises to Abraham don't allow that. He could have let them stay in Babylon, and gradually be diluted down to nothing as a people. But He DOES NOT DO THAT! He brings some back, to preserve and keep, and to ultimately restore in the Millennial. 2020-But he is going to scatter them again, just as he did in 586 BC, in 70 AD.
This verse:
4 And the angel said to those who were standing before him, "Remove the filthy garments from him." And to him he said, "Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments." [Zec 3:4 ESV]
It is Jesus that takes away the sin of the world. This seems to be both God, and Jesus, represented as separate but the same, in the last of two through this part of 3 so far.
Then the angel of the Lord (I think this is Jesus at this point) tells Joshua what God says to him. God wants Joshua to know that he still must follow the rules, the covenant is in place, and the covenant is conditional...as it has always been with the nation. God says Joshua - as priest, and I think further that Israel as nation - will have direct access to God though Satan do his worst to cut them off. God then says, through Jesus, that Jesus is coming. The Branch, the Messiah, is yet to come. They should expect him.
Then vs 9 talks about a stone and seven eyes. Removing iniquity in a day...that day when there's silence?
2020-
4 And the angel said to those who were standing before him, "Remove the filthy garments from him." And to him he said, "Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments." [Zec 3:4 ESV] A picture of God forgiving the nation of Israel? Or for restoring them, for another chance, which they will again squander, and end up in 70 AD? Or a picture of salvation?
Vss 6-8, IF. So what is about to be said is conditional. Perhaps not a full blown covenant, but a covenant with Joshua the High Priest. He can be in charge of the rebuilt temple. That is all that is promised. He keeps the sacrifices, and in return, he has the right of access. The coming of the Branch is prophesied. Joshua's charge, his access, will continue until the coming of the Branch. At that time, this temporary "reprieve" will end, and the veil will rip, and then access will not be exclusive anymore, but open to all men. The stone with 7 eyes? The Messiah is the stone, the eyes symbolic of his omniscience? Showing that though he is man, he is also God? Yes. I think that's what this was to foretell.
Vs 9, iniquity removed in a single day. Surely that refers the day Jesus is crucified. On that day, sins are forgiven.
2026 - Vs 6 is the spiritual reinstatement of the Levitical/Aaronic priesthood post-exile. We really don't see the throne of David renewed directly, but the priesthood came back and we see it here, a brand plucked from the fire of Babylonian captivity. We know they were still functional, if way off track, in Jesus' time and they are gone today. So this too was fulfilled in Zechariah's day, and some day, in the new Temple, both priesthood and throne will be perfectly restored.