Zechariah chapter 3, and we're
going to read the last three verses and spend most of our
time on the ninth verse. But the 10th verse is the result
of verse 9. It says, hear now, O Joshua,
the high priest, thou and thy fellows that sit before thee. For they are men wondered at.
Behold, I will bring forth my servant, the branch. Verse 9,
for behold the stone that I have laid before Joshua. Upon one
stone shall be seven eyes. Behold, I will engrave the graving
thereof, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity
of that land in one day. In that day, saith the Lord of
hosts, shall ye call every man his neighbor under the vine and
under the fig tree. So in verse nine, we have the
act and that is to remove iniquity in one day. And in verse 10,
we have the results of that, that's peace. So let's look at
this passage of scripture a little more in depth. There we read
in verse nine, for behold the stone that I have laid before
Joshua Upon one stone shall be seven eyes. Behold, I will engrave
the gravings thereof, saith the Lord of hosts, and I'll remove
the iniquity of that land in one day." The Lord Jesus is the
purpose and he is the significance and he is the importance and
the spirit of all prophecy When we read through the Old Testament,
we're reading about the importance, we're reading about the significance,
we're reading about the purpose and importance and Christ as
the spirit of prophecy. And in this passage of scripture,
we really have that honed in on. Because the Lord of hosts
is speaking here, and the Lord of hosts is sharing what he will
do. What the Lord of hosts, and I like to think of the Lord of
hosts as the Lord Almighty, because that's really what that word
means in the sense. The Lord here is the spirit of
prophecy, is the fulfillment of prophecy. Even when it looks
as if the prophecy doesn't have anything to say, The undertow
of all prophecy is the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ
as we know him in the New Testament, the Messiah. Every bit of the
human history fulfills the purpose of God. It is not just randomly
being thrown out there, but it is fulfilling God's purpose. And even though to our side of
the tapestry, it looks like it's random at times, on his part,
it is completely purposeful. This word of prophecy tells us
of a stone laid down. But this stone, notice here in
this verse 9 of this chapter, it says, behold the stone that
I have laid. That's a very important thing
to remember here. And this is the Lord of Hosts
saying this. Behold the stone that I have laid before Joshua.
Now, there are several ways that we could interpret that before
Joshua. In that verse of scripture, we
could say it was out in front of him, and it might have been.
But I think more than that, we have another fulfillment of what
we find over there with the words about Abraham. Before Abraham
was, I am. So it's that kind of before that
we have here. This, this whole purpose was
before Joshua was even put into the office of high priest. It
is before the original Joshua that we read about. And this
whole purpose of God goes back before the foundation of the
world. But notice with me, if you would, in John chapter 26,
John chapter 1 verse 26 excuse me John chapter 1 verse 26 through
30 we have these words that John is speaking about the Lord Jesus
Christ. In John chapter 1 verse 26, as
we think about that stone being before Joshua, all the purposes
of God have been before anything has taken place. Before creation,
the purposes of God were before that. And we're thankful for
that very thing because God was not caught short by the fall.
It was in his purpose. And someone, we were talking
today, someone said, how could that be in God's purpose? Well,
God has the ability now of showing grace and mercy that he would
not have been able to show before the fall, if things just continued
as they were. And the mystery of the gospel
would not be the awe of the angels, nor the awe of the church. The
mystery of the gospel is a glorious thing and have that revealed
to people and cause them to understand the gospel. How glorious is that? Here in John chapter 1 verse
26. John chapter 1, verse 26. It says, John answered them,
saying, I baptize with water, but there standeth one among
you whom ye know not. He it is who, coming after me,
is preferred before me, whose shoe latchet I am not worthy
to unloose. These things were done in Bethsabara,
beyond Jordan, where John was baptizing. The next day John
seeth Jesus coming unto him, And saith, Behold the Lamb of
God, which taketh away the sin of the world. This is he of whom
I said. verse just verse earlier couple
verses after me cometh a man which is preferred before me
for he was before me now we know the timetable John was born six
months before the Lord was born but John recognized this fact
John recognized and understood this that the Messiah was long
before him Abraham was long in centuries before the birth of
the Messiah, but he understood that the one he knew as his Savior,
that he had faith in by faith Abraham, He knew that this one
was before him, and preferred before him, and above him. So
he's preferred before me, for he was before me. And so John
brings up this subject about being before. The Lord was before,
God was before, and he's preferred above, preferred before. This stone that is over here,
it is a symbolic of the very person of Christ. We're going
to read several verses of scripture that the Lord Jesus is mentioned
as a stone. Now, he's not a stone in the
sense that we have stones around here, the basalt, but it's figurative
language. It's metaphors about the Lord. and the strength that we have
in the Lord, and the endurability that we have in the Lord, and
the unmovability that we have in the Lord, all demonstrated
by this picture of a stone. So back there in the book of
Zechariah, we notice there as this is brought out in Zechariah
chapter 3 and verse 9, for behold a stone that I have laid before
Joshua, this stone We find that in Colossians Paul mentions this
about the Lord, and he is before all things and by him all things
consist. They're all held together. He
created all things. He holds it together. He keeps
it from exploding in itself or imploding in itself. So he sustains
all things. And the message that we have
here in all the scriptures is every blessing proceeds from
God and that he laid the stone before There was anybody else. He laid the stone before there
was sin. He laid the stone before Adam
was created. He laid the stone before there
were heavens and the earth. And the scriptures we depend
on, look to, and have great hope in are the words that declare
these very things about this stone. This message of all the
scriptures and every blessing proceeds from God. And he is
the one that laid down the stone. Back up with me if you would
to the book of Isaiah chapter 28. In Isaiah chapter 28 we have this prophetic word by the prophet
Isaiah and yet he's preaching the gospel just like all the
Old Testament gospel preachers did they were given the word
of the Holy Spirit and the word of the Holy Spirit will glorify
the Messiah the word of the Holy Spirit will glorify Christ the
word of the Holy Spirit will glorify the sacrifice the Lord
Jesus and here in the book of Isaiah chapter 28 We have Isaiah
bringing up this wonderful subject, therefore the saith the Lord
God, behold, I lay in Zion for a foundation, a stone, a tried
stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. How often,
how many times in this one verse of scripture, There is emphasis
put on different facets about this stone. And over in the book
of Zechariah, we read about that stone being before Joshua. And then we're going to find
out some things that happened to that stone or are pictured
about that stone over there. But here in the book of Isaiah
chapter 28 and verse 16, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. And he that believeth shall not
make haste. Will not be brought to rot. All
that the Father giveth me shall come unto me, and he that cometh
unto me I will in no wise cast out. Now, we have a free will
within the capacity of our nature. And above that we can't get any
further. But thank God, he gives us the will, the spiritual drive,
the blessing of grace, the new birth, and that allows us to
cry out, Abba, Father, Daddy. And before that, we had no concept
of him having us as a child, except we know everybody, read
the newspaper, read the obituary column, everybody that dies goes
to heaven. Well, we know that's not true.
But that's just the reality of human thought. Everybody that
dies goes to heaven. Well, we find here that this
tried stone has a purpose. This precious stone has a purpose.
This cornerstone has a purpose. It is solid. It will not disintegrate. It holds. It's sturdy. It's firm. And we read over there in the
book of Ezra about that tent peg being driven down. Well,
our tent peg is driven down in the stone. And it is a sure foundation. We're attached to the rock. In
the book of this stone, Would you turn with me to the book
of Revelation chapter 13? Revelation chapter 13, before
Abraham was, I am. that he is before Joshua. He's before the priesthood. He's
before the sacrifices. He's before the sacrifice that
Abel brought. He is before the sacrifice that
covered Adam and Eve. He is before all things. And
here in the book of Revelation chapter 13, Acts chapter 13 and
verse 48 is a really good verse of scripture. Revelation chapter
13 and verse 8, Comparable versus scripture for it tells us here
about the Lord Jesus Christ. It says in verse 8 And all that
dwell upon the earth shall worship him. That's the beast Whose names
were not written in the book of life of the Lamb of God Now
that's good enough, but he goes on and explains it more to our
benefit. He explains it more to the lamb
slain from the foundation of the world. So he is before all
things, and his purpose was before all things, and this stone has
been laid before all things. And in fact, that's the only
stone I know of until after the flood, the rest of them. I have an opinion that there
was just a lot of good dirt. That's what the world was originally.
But the stone now, but the stone has been before time. Before
the foundation of the world was laid, we have the stone. And
as it's brought out here, the lamb. He is a lamb slain. And that's the only way that
Abel was able to have these words written about him. By faith,
he offered a more excellent sacrifice. Why? Because this stone was before
him. This message of Christ was before
him and had called him to this faith. In the book of Revelation
chapter 17, As we think about the stone before Joshua, the
stone before time, laid by the Lord of hosts. In Revelation
chapter 17 and verse 8, we read these words. The beast that thou
sawest was and is not and shall ascend out of the bottomless
pit and go into perdition. And they that dwell on the earth
shall wonder whose names were not written in the book of life
from the foundation of the world when they behold the beast that
was and is not and yet is now I don't understand all that's
in that verse I know some things that it's not talking about but
I know this about what it is talking about that there were
some people whose names were not written in the Lamb's Book
of Life from the foundation of the world. And they were not
noted by the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world.
And they didn't, he didn't have their names graven on the palms
of his hand. And the reason he didn't is they
were never going to be given faith, and without faith it is
impossible to please God. And he is just and right and
stands as a sovereign king to cast out all those that he knew
not. Now, that's just God's sovereignty.
Instead of complaining about that, I'm thankful for the great
host that he will have assembled at his feet. And that he lets
us be identified in this life by being given faith to believe
him as our only hope and our only savior. And we depend only
on his blood and righteousness and nothing else. That's our
hope, the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ. In the book
of Ephesians, we've read many times in chapter 1 and verse
4, according as he hath chosen us in him before the foundation
of the world. So this stone had a lot to do
before the foundation of the world. He was prepared, eternally
prepared as a lamb. He's eternally prepared. He wrote
down the names of those he would die for. He's eternally prepared. He did not, with intention, write
down the names that he would not die for. He had a purpose
that he chose all of his children in Christ before the foundation
of the world. Lot of activity going on in eternity
past. Always, his children have always
been eternal children, loved by eternal love, justified by
eternal justification, and righteous by eternal righteousness, imputed
to them on the promise of what we find out here in Zechariah
chapter three and verse nine, that I will take care of the
iniquity of the land in one day. Now all the centuries that before
Ezra, all the centuries before Zechariah, did not take care
of the problem. And the slaughter of lambs went
on by the thousands over the period of time. And all the other
critters that they offered, and the gallons and gallons and bushels
and bushels of wheat, and all the other stuff, did not take
care of sin. In Titus, turn with me to Titus
chapter one. We've read that many times, but
again, this is things that God did on the behalf of the church
before there was ever Person created Adam the first man Eve
the first woman in the book of Titus chapter 1 I'll never forget sitting by
Nancy one time in a meeting and I'm fumbling trying to find Titus
She says all the teaser together Thank you Titus chapter 1 verse
2 In hope of eternal life, which God, that cannot lie, promised
before the world began. In hope of eternal life. Our hope is hinged on what God
took care of before the foundation of the world. He laid the stone.
It was before. Before Abraham was, I am. An always eternal, present being. God. And in looking over at 1
Peter 1. 1 Peter 1 and verse 19. 1 Peter 1 and verse 19. We're not redeemed with silver
and gold. There are certain things in the
Old Testament they redeemed. with silver or gold. That's not
what we do in the church. The church has never been redeemed
with silver and never been redeemed with gold. The church is only
redeemed with the precious blood of Christ as of a lamb without
blemish and without spot who verily was foreordained before
the foundation of the world. but was manifest in these last
times for you, who verily was foreordained before the foundation
of the world. And as is brought out in Acts
chapter 2, he was delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge
of God, and you with wicked hands have taken and crucified and
slain. delivered by the determinate counsel and foreknowledge of
God. So that stone was before Joshua. Now Joshua the high priest
would prefer that stone over anything else. The church prefers
the stone. The church prefers Christ. All
eyes are on him. All angelic eyes are upon him,
even the demon's eyes are upon him, knowing full well he will
be their judge. The church's eyes are upon him.
Even God the Father saw him on the Mount of Transfiguration
and said, this is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased.
He was seen of angels. He's been seen of shepherds.
He's been seen of his apostles and disciples. He has been seen
of the church. That's one of the glorious things
about the covenant of grace. We get to see God. And he has us in the palm of
his hand. We're so close to him, he carries
us all the way. There he's delivered, speaking
as a metaphor, the Lord leads Zachariah to write of a stone
that has eyes, and there's seven eyes. Now, there's a lot of numerology
books that I wouldn't give a lick for. I remember when I was down
in Bible school in Dallas, Texas, that one of the teachers, his
name was Emerson Witten, and he had a really dry wit. And
he came in one day and went through a bunch of numerology and came
up with some, he'd already practiced it probably for years. And we
just sat there and laughed how people would manipulate numbers
to come up with something that they want it to be. But number
seven means something. It means complete. It means the
best. It means. So there are seven
eyes here. And it doesn't necessarily mean
the eyes like we have because in the book of Zechariah chapter
four, would you look in Zechariah chapter four, Zechariah chapter
four in verse 10, we have these eyes mentioned here in Zechariah
chapter four in verse 10. And these, eyes share with us
about the providence of God and that His providence is sovereign
and it is everywhere in the world at the same time. Zechariah chapter
four, verse 10. Notice this with me. It says,
for who hath despised the day of small things? For they shall
rejoice and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with
those seven. They are the eyes of the Lord,
which run to and fro through the whole earth. Now we've read
earlier in chapter one, I believe it was, about going to and fro. Those messengers went to and
fro throughout the earth. In the book of Revelation chapter
five, again, this is mentioned. Revelation chapter five, would
you turn there with me? Seven eyes. Revelation chapter five and verse
six, and I beheld and lo in the midst
of the throne. Revelation chapter five and verse
six, behold, And I beheld, and lo, in the midst of the throne
of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a
lamb, as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which
are the seven spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. There's something very valuable,
very important about these seven eyes, these seven spirits of
God, the complete number. The seven eyes are associated
with God, all powerful spirit. He is omniscient in this. He's
perfect omniscience. He is not limited in any of his
omniscience. It's been brought out a number
of times as we heard those lessons in the book of Luke that he knew
what people were thinking before they even brought it up. In fact,
most of them never even brought it up. The Lord brought it up
for them that they were talking about this woman if he knew.
He is completely omniscient in all things, all the time, eternally. There's nothing limited about
Him. So His seven eyes speak to us about His omniscience in
all places, knowing what's going on in all the world, in fact
backing up one step and saying, He has purposed all things that
are going on in the world all the time. Since the ages began,
since creation, he purposed that stone being laid before the foundation
of the world. He purposed that lamb being slain
before the foundation of the world. He purposed in the eternal
covenant of grace. He purposed that the names would
be written down. He purposed that names would
be not written down. He purposed all of these things.
in his internal purpose. And here we find that it conveys
the idea of his omniscience and his sovereignty. And we have
to emphasize once again that he is absolutely sovereign. There is no limitations on his
sovereignty. He is not sovereign over everything
but salvation. He is sovereign over salvation
more than, well, I won't say that more than anything. But
that's where it's evidenced for us. He is sovereign over salvation. He's sovereign over grace. He's
sovereign over mercy. He's sovereign over his love.
He is absolutely sovereign. And this perfect Sian being,
knowing all things, and he works all things after the counsel
of his own will, purposefully, he does that very thing. And
as we mentioned, these eyes of the angels, the saints, the patriarchs,
Abraham believed God. I am just amazed that Abraham
told those servants of his, before he climbed up that mountain with
his son, he says, we'll return. He didn't say, I'll return. He
says, we'll return. What faith God had given him. Is it any more faith than God's
people today saying, when I die, I will be with him? There's no
more faith in that than what Abraham experienced. So God gives
faith for his people to be able to say, when I leave this earth,
when the last flutter of my eyes, when my heart quits beating,
I'll be with him. That's his promise, and I claim
that promise. All the prophets, all their eyes
were towards Christ. All the patriarchs were towards
Christ. All the saints have always been towards Christ. The angels
and all the eyes are fixed on Christ. The eye of the Father
is fixed on Him, and the eye of the Spirit is fixed on Him.
He will testify of me. What a statement the Lord mentions
about Him. There's not going to be a lot
of hoopla about the Spirit. The Spirit is going to testify
of Him. That's what the Bible tells us.
Well, as we look back there in the book of Zechariah, chapter
3 and verse 9, Zechariah chapter 3 and verse 9 the scriptures
tell us this upon one stone You know I have to emphasize that
again on one stone Just one there's only one like this. This is Christ. There's not multiple saviors.
There's one Savior There's one stone. There's one rock Upon
one stone shall be seven eyes. Behold, I will engrave the graving
thereof, saith the Lord of hosts." Now, we might ask, what is the
graving going to be on that? Well, he answers that, saith
the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of the land
in one day. Now it was very interesting for
me moving to the Dalles many years ago and having a lot of
stories and lies and prefabrications told me about where the end of
the Oregon Trail was. Oregon City wants to claim that.
And by legislative act, they have been given the privilege
of that. But nobody has gone down and read the graving on
that stone in City Park that believes that. Cuz right there,
it was recorded by one of the men who came across the plains
in a covered wagon, the end of the Oregon Trail. The graving
is right there. And it's weathered, and it may
weather more, but it's still there. And all the time that
has gone on from the time of creation, before creation, in
the halls of eternity, and I've mentioned, I ran into that term
of the old fathers, the old eternity, and all of that. It has always
been, I will take care of sin in one day. All of these practices here,
all these pictures here, I would love to have 150 or 250 or 1,000
pictures of my grandmother. I have a couple. But having 1,000 pictures or 10,000 pictures doesn't make
one live grandmother. And all those pictures in the
Old Testament brought out, glorious as we see, they all bring us
to the New Testament in the work and purpose of Christ in salvation,
in the deliverance of His people from their sin, the bondage of
sin. He has delivered His people from that. So, the Lord shares
with us over here in the book of Zechariah chapter 3, and there
in verse 9, Behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, saith the
Lord of hosts. I will remove the iniquity of
that land in one day. I will remove, and the church
says amen, I will remove the iniquity of that land. That's good, but
I'll do it in one day. The centuries of sacrifices only
pointed to this one day that we read about. The Lord of Hosts
says, I will remove the iniquities of that land in one day. And
the Lord of Hosts, who is the Almighty, cried on that day,
John chapter 19 and verse 30, it is finished. The fulfillment of this passage
of scripture is mentioned in the book of John chapter 19,
when he cried from the cross, it is finished. What did he say
right there? I have removed the iniquity of
that land in one day. Now on the promise of that, a
God that cannot lie and is unchangeable and cannot be moved on the promise
that God would do that, Abel was saved. Abraham was saved,
Moses was saved, David was saved. All the Old Testament believers
were saved on the promise that God would fulfill that and God
cannot lie. Just as he said here, in that
day, I'll take care of it. He paid the price of the sin
of his people and it is removed. I like that word removed. It
is removed. It's not found any longer. So
let's look at a couple of verses in Isaiah 43 and verse 25. Turn there with me. Isaiah chapter
43 and verse 25. As we look at this wonderful
passage of scripture, the prophet Isaiah with his eyes on Christ.
the prophet Isaiah with his eyes on the Messiah, on the Lord,
on the Lord's ministry, on the Lord's work, on the Lord's promise
that He would take care of sin in that day. He shares with us
in Isaiah chapter 43 and verse 25, I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions
for mine own sake, and will not remember thy sins. Now that's
blotted out. that's taken care of, that's
put away. The Lord will take care of His
people's sins, the sin of His people in that day, and they
will be remembered no more. There will not be anybody that
God saved through Christ Jesus the Lord that will stand before
Him and answer for one lie, noted or not, known or unknown. That's interesting. Over there,
when we were studying the book of Leviticus, for those sins
that we commit and we didn't even know to commit, they're
all taken care of, too. In the sacrifice of the Lord
Jesus, he took care of all of that. And he took care of the
overt ones. He took care of them all. So
as it says here, and I'll remember them no more. By the blood of
Christ, he will remember them no more. They're paid for in
full by the blood of Christ. As we read there in verse 25,
I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for my
own sake, and I will not remember thy sins. Now, there's a passage
of scripture over there in the New Testament, and I failed to
put it in my notes, but it talks about all of the disciples forsaking
him. Peter's the most noted one, but
they all did. And the scripture, that the scriptures might be
fulfilled, that he would suffer alone. He's in this by Himself. And by Himself He appeared in
these last days. He appeared that by Himself He
should take care of sin. Hebrews chapter 9, But now once
in the end of the world hath He appeared to put away sin by
the sacrifice of Himself. So we have a stone out here.
His name is Christ. He has the markings. Hands and
feet have been marred by nails. He has a mark in his side. He
sits at the right hand of the father victorious over all sin
And he said I wrote it before the foundation of the world.
I promised to do it I'm the testimony that it's been taken care of
and that one day I put away sin and the church is mine and by
inheritance, by birth, by finding it, and all the ways. So, and
one other verse of scripture over in the book of Hebrews chapter
10. Hebrews chapter 10 and verse
17. This is a quote from the Old
Testament. How odd is that in the New Testament?
And their sins and iniquities will I remember no more. Now, let's go back over to the
book of Zechariah chapter 3 for just a moment. And the outcome
of this, the outcome of this, the outcome of the whole chapter,
the outcome of the of the first three chapters of the book of
Zechariah are summed up in verse 10 of chapter three. That's what
we're appreciating and enjoying right now. Since our sins have
been put under the blood, not to be remembered anymore, what
do we get to do? Verse 10, in that day, saith
the Lord of hosts, shall you call every man his neighbor under
the vine and under the fig tree. I get to rest in peace. in the
blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ. I get to rest in peace.
God is pleased with the sacrifice. He's no longer angry. anymore. His anger was abated at the cross. And I'm reminded of Solomon's
reign here in this verse of scripture. Every man got to sit under his
vine or under his own fig tree. It was a great time of peace
in the reign of Solomon. Great time of peace. how He settled
everything. It was just wonderful. And that's
how the Lord Jesus has taken care of it. There's a great time
of peace. The only peace that we don't
have is in our flesh. You know, it's still not resting. But the Spirit that God gives
us in the new birth is resting in Christ. With the full assurance
that sin has been put away, and the full assurance that sin has
been put away, we'll be invited, as He says in the book of Matthew,
Welcome to the kingdom prepared for you from the foundation of
the world.