Alright, let's go back to Zechariah
3. I've entitled this message, A
Picture and Prophecy of Grace. Because that's exactly what we
have here. Both a picture and a vision that God gave to the
prophet Zechariah, and we also have a prophecy of how that vision
was going to be fulfilled in time, in and by and through the
Lord Jesus Christ. Now, Zechariah was a prophet
during Judah's return from their exile in Babylon. You remember
the prophet Isaiah prophesied of that exile that would come
in the future, that the nation of Judah, the southern kingdom,
would be overrun and conquered and taken into the captivity
of a great worldly army, empire, the Babylonian empire. And Jeremiah
himself, in his days, he prophesied of it, and it also took place
in his day. He told them, he said, you'd
be in captivity 70 years, 70 being the number of completion.
In other words, this is going to be the complete chastisement
of God towards the people. There won't be anything left.
But for 70 years that they were going to be in captivity in a
foreign land under foreign kings and then in idolatrous lands.
And you know during that captivity, you can read about the prophet
Ezekiel, you can read about the prophet Daniel, Daniel and the
lion's den, that all took place during that captivity. Shadrach,
Meshach, Abednego, and the fiery furnace, that all took place
during that time, that 70 years, somewhere in that 70 years that
they were in captivity. Well, the prophet Zechariah was
born somewhere in that time period, and when? God sent his deliverer,
his earthly deliverer, to deliver Judah out of that captivity,
and he allowed them to go back to their homeland and rebuild
the city. Remember, we studied that in
the book of Nehemiah, the rebuilding of the walls of the city, the
gates of the city of Jerusalem. And that took place under Nehemiah
and Ezra and Zerubbabel, the governor, and all that took place. And then there were the two main
prophets during that time were the prophet Haggai and the prophet
Zechariah later on at the end. Joshua at this time, there's
a man named Joshua, don't confuse this with the Joshua that came
out of Egypt with Moses, he'd be pretty old by then if this
was the same one, but it wasn't. There's a common name, and you
know that name Joshua, The New Testament derivative of that
name would be Jesus, Yeshua, which means Jehovah Says, and
that's what Joshua meant. That's what his name meant. But
this was a man named Joshua who was the high priest of the Aaronic
priesthood, the Levitical priesthood. He was the high priest at this
time. Now, upon returning to Jerusalem, the people were commanded
by God to rebuild and to be zealous and to be diligent to rebuild
the temple for worship. And they started well. Like so
many in religion, or even in the gospel, let's say, like so
many even in the truth, they start well, but do they finish? And this is what happened to
the people. They started well, they started working hard, they
were zealous, but that waned, that faded. There were some trials
during that time when they first started, and they were zealous
to do it. There were other people that came in, tried to stop them,
ridiculed them, tried to intermix with them. And I don't know what
happened. Maybe they got tired or whatever.
But their zeal and their efforts to rebuild this temple stopped. It ceased. Now, the rebuilding
of the temple and the zeal of the people to rebuild the temple
was an evidence of their trust and their faith and their reverence
towards God, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. the God of
all grace. Their zeal towards that temple
and the rebuilding of that temple showed their need and their desire
to worship God in spirit and in truth, and their trust in
the promise of God to send the Messiah whom that temple typified
and all of its sacrifices in the priesthood. And when they
lost sight of that and they grew tired, they stopped and their
efforts began to cease. As it prospered for a while,
everything came to a stop. They became discouraged and the
work stopped. Their zeal for the glory of God declined to
nothing. So what happened? Well, the Lord
sent the prophets Haggai and Zechariah to stir up the hearts
of his people and call them to repentance. Call them to faith
in God. And he gave Zechariah, in this
book of Zechariah, he gave him, starting off here, eight what
are called night visions because, obviously, he gave them to him
in the night. Night visions. And in these night visions, there
was some aspect foretold and related of the glory of the person
and the finished work of Christ to come, the glory of God and
the mercy of God and the grace of God. And this is the fourth,
chapter three here, is the fourth of those night visions. This
vision here emphasizes the cleansing of the people and the restoration
of a priestly nation. And it's all, it was all to be
fulfilled, ultimately, spiritually, and eternally by the coming of
Christ, the Messiah, the great High Priest, and the salvation
of God's elect people, spiritual Israel, a kingdom of priests. That's what God's people are
called. Those who are chosen of God and
redeemed by the blood of Christ and called out in regeneration
and conversion by the Holy Spirit are called a kingdom of priests.
In fact, you can read about that in the book of 1 Peter when he
talks about how we're a chosen generation, a royal priesthood. And then in the book of Revelation,
chapter 5, Verse 9, when it talks about the new song that the redeemed
of the Lord sang, that song that says, Thou art worthy, the Lamb
of God, Thou art worthy to take the book and open the seals thereof,
for Thou was slain and hast redeemed us to God by Thy blood out of
every kindred, tongue, and people and nation. You see, that's the
Gentiles too. So it's not just, this prophecy
here is not just restricted to a physical, it is not, in fact,
doesn't apply at all to a physical a nation ultimately and spiritually
and eternally. Now, physically it does. They
were being brought back into that land at that time because
God wasn't through with them. The Old Covenant wasn't yet abolished.
That wouldn't happen until Christ come. But the ultimate spiritual
eternal fulfillment is to this people, out of every kindred,
tongue, and people and nation, and it says, "...and has made
us unto our God kings and priests." We're made in Christ priests
unto God. Now, that doesn't mean that every
believer has the right to believe anything he wants to believe,
or to interpret the Bible any way he wants to interpret it.
What that means, the priesthood of the believer simply means
that we, individually, in Christ, by virtue of His blood and righteousness,
have free access into the holiest of all, because Christ is our
great High Priest. Now, it says here in verse 1,
He showed me Joshua, the High Priest, Zechariah had this vision
of Joshua, the high priest, standing before the angel of the Lord.
The angel of the Lord there, that word angel, you remember,
means messenger. It's not talking about the created
angels here. It's talking about none other
than Jehovah Himself. It's talking about Christ Himself. He is the angel of the covenant,
the messenger of the covenant. He's the angel of God's presence.
We don't have time to go through all the Old Testament scriptures
tonight. to show you that. But you know it's so. Here is
the messenger of Jehovah, the messenger of the covenant. And
here he is both the judge and the advocate. He's the judge
who's going to judge all things. All judgment is committed unto
the Son. Christ said that in John chapter
5. And he is the advocate of his people. We have an advocate
with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. So here Joshua
stands before the angel of the Lord, and this is like a courtroom
scene. Now Joshua is standing there
as a high priest to be fit for service. And the only way he
can be fit for service is first to be judged by the angel of
the Lord. And the only way he can be judged
properly and rightly and mercifully by the angel of the Lord is to
have an advocate, a mediator, one who will stand for him and
plead his cause. And that, by the grace of God,
is the Lord Jesus Christ. But there's an adversary in this
scene. Verse 1 says, "...and Satan standing
at his right hand to resist him." Satan was on Joshua's right hand. And that word, resist, there
means to oppose him. You might see in the concordance
of your Bible it has the word adversary. Satan is the adversary. He's the enemy. He is not a friend. He's not, listen, Satan is not
a friend to God's people, of course he's not, but he's not
even a friend to lost people. They think he is, and he deceives
them into thinking that he is, but he's not. He'll be their
downfall. And so he's our adversary, and
literally this means one who accuses. Satan is the great accuser
of the brethren. Revelation chapter 12 and verse
10 says that. He's the one who accuses the
brethren day and night. He will not let up. And right
here he is, standing at the right hand of the High Priest of Israel,
of all people, to resist him, to oppose him, his adversary,
to accuse him. And he's accusing Joshua. And
look at verse 2 now. It says, And the Lord said unto
Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan. Here we see God the
Father, God the Son. You see, this is indicative of
the Blessed Trinity. He's there too, the Holy Trinity. But here's what we have. We have
the judge and the advocate working two different offices for the
same purpose. And here's what he says to Satan.
He says, The Lord rebuke thee. O Satan, the Lord rebuke thee."
Now let me say this, Christ as God, absolutely considered in
his own sovereign power as God, he could have defeated Satan
with no more than a thought. I heard a preacher say one time
he could just defeat him with a word. He could do it with a
thought. He didn't have to speak the word.
He could have done it that way. He could have cast Satan into
hell when he fell. You remember when Lucifer fell?
He could have cast him and put him into hell, into the lake
of fire, right then and there, and not allow him to do anything,
just with a word. But here he doesn't do that.
He appeals to himself as the advocate. It may sound strange,
but it's true. And here's what he says. He doesn't
roll up his sleeves, so to speak, and just go at Satan and put
him down. He says, the Lord rebuke thee, O Satan. Now, what's happening
here? Here, he's speaking as the advocate and the mediator,
the one mediator between God and sinners. And therefore, in
order to speak properly as the savior of sinners, as the advocate,
as the mediator, there must be proper grounds upon which to
plead for them. You see, he's not just fighting
Satan here. He's not just coming against
Satan. He's doing it for the salvation of his people. And
that's the important thing. You see here, this is a covenant
vision. This is about mercy and grace towards sinners. This is
not just about a fight between good and evil. And good wins
out. There is a fight between good
and evil here, but it's for the purpose to save sinners, God's
people. And so he stands up as an advocate,
and he says, the Lord rebuke thee, O Satan. And then he's
pleading for us, you see. He's pleading for you. You say,
well, he's pleading for Joshua. Well, Joshua is representative
of every sinner saved by the grace of God. He's pleading for
you. He's pleading for me. That's what he's doing here.
The Lord rebukes. Had he just put Satan down and
not done the work of an advocate, a mediator, Satan would lose,
but there'd be no salvation for us. And here there are three
reasons, given in verse 2, that God's people must be justified,
must be exonerated in this court against Satan's accusations.
Look at them, verse 2. He said, well he already said
the first one, he says, the Lord rebuke thee, O Satan. Now that's
God's word of promise. Here's somebody who God's promised
to save. Here's someone whom God has issued
forth a promise that he will save sinners. God made a promise.
He's going to save somebody. Somebody's going to be redeemed.
Somebody is going to be justified. Now, how do you know that? Because
the Lord, you see the word Lord there, the name Lord in capital
letters, that means that's Jehovah, that's the glory of God in salvation.
God's going to be glorified. So that's the first thing, God's
promise. He's faithful to His promise. He's going to save somebody.
And here's the second thing. Here's the second one. He says
in verse 2, Even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuketh
thee. Now, you know what that is? That's
God's electing grace in Christ. Here's somebody God's chosen.
Here's a city, a nation. Now, it's true that God, in the
Old Covenant, according for the purposes of that time, chose
that city of Jerusalem to be the holy city. But that's a type,
that's a picture of the heavenly Jerusalem, which is the kingdom
of Christ made up of His subjects, His people. We're citizens, we
who are in Christ are citizens of the heavenly Jerusalem. That's
what the book of Revelation says, and that's what other passages
say. So God's electing grace in Christ. The Lord that hath
chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee. All right, here's the third thing
he gives. He says, is not this a brand? That's an ember, a burning ember
plucked out of the fire. What's that speaking of? That's
Christ's work of redemption on the cross. You see, is not this
a brand plucked out of the fire? Everything that's happening here
is based upon the substitutionary work of Christ who was made sin
for us that we might be made the righteousness of God in Him.
This is the legal exchange of our sins. Our sins imputed to
Christ, charged to Christ, and His righteousness imputed, charged
to us. And let me tell you something,
don't let anybody make you feel bad or put you down for pleading
that legal exchange. Just because it's legal doesn't
mean it's not real. It is real. And it leads to something
glorious. It's the ground of something
glorious. And that's typified here and pictured in verses 3
and 4. Now look at them. Verse 3. He says, Now Joshua
was clothed with filthy garments and stood before the angel. Now
you know that's a picture of our sin and our guilt. clothed
with filthy garments. You might notice here Joshua
is not speaking at all. The Bible says that when a sinner
comes before God's bar of justice and the law brings him in guilty
that every mouth may be stopped and every person brought in guilty
before God. Romans 3.19. And this is a figure,
a type, a picture of all of us by nature ruined in Adam. And
that word filthy That word filthy literally is a word we wouldn't
want to use in mixed company. That's exactly right. It's related
to the same New Testament word that Paul used in Philippians
chapter 3 when he said, I count all things but dung that I may
win Christ. Everything that a sinner believes
could recommend him unto God. You think about people going
through this, and this is a metaphor here. This is an emblem here.
You say, This thing about sin, it's not a coat that we literally
wear on the outside. It's not just an outside thing.
Sin is an inward heart problem. It shows itself and evidences
itself outwardly in actions and thoughts and motives and all
of that. But it's not a literal coat we
wear. This is an emblem. And it's showing something of
the utter depravity and filth That sin really is. Isaiah said
it like this in Isaiah 64, verse 6. He says, We are always an
unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, and we all
do fade as a leaf. And our iniquities, like the
wind, have taken us away. What is iniquity? That's inequity. That means injustice. That means
we don't measure up. We're sinners. We fall short
of the law. We fall short of the glory of
God. We deserve nothing but damnation and we cannot earn our way into
God's favor. And here's a picture of that
in Joshua, the very high priest of Israel, standing before the
angel clothed in filthy garments. Takes you back to Adam and Eve
when they clothed themselves with fig leaf aprons to hide
their nakedness. Filthy garments. Man in his own
sinful way, by nature, going through his religion and his
works, trying to sew himself a garment that would hide himself
from the wrath of God, and looks beautiful to man by nature. But
all it is to God is filthy garments. Joshua is a sinner. And he can't
defend himself against Satan's accusations by pointing to his
own merits. If he pointed to his own merits,
what would he be doing? He'd be bragging on his filthy
garment. Christ alone can defend us in
our justification before God. That's why we need an advocate.
That's why we need him to step up and say, the Lord rebuke thee,
O Satan. And notice the Lord didn't rebuke
Satan by pointing out Joshua's fine or cock qualities. He didn't
come up and say, now Joshua, he's not perfect, but let's talk
about his good qualities. He didn't do that. No, Joshua's
a stand-in in his filthy rags. He didn't read the list of Joshua's
good deeds over the years. There he is, open and above board,
in front of the Lord, who sees those filthy rags. And you know,
I thought about this too. You know, here's where we need
to distinguish between Satan's accusations and Holy Spirit conviction. You see, Satan, his only motive
here is to bring sinners to damnation by accusing. But when the Holy
Spirit shows us our filthy rags, and that's what he does when
he convicts us of sin, it's not to damn us, it's to drive us
to Christ for salvation. And that's the difference. The
Holy Spirit does it for our good, to drive us to Christ for help,
for salvation. You know, this is what the advocate
pleads here. This is what the Lord pleads
here. God chose him. Christ redeemed him. Here is
a person for whom Christ would be a propitiation, a sin-bearing
sacrifice, who would make satisfaction for his sins. Here's one who
would be washed in the blood of the Lamb. and sing that song
of the redeemed, worthy of the Lamb that was slain." Here's
one that we see is going to be clothed in the righteousness
of Christ. Look at it. The Lord rebukes Satan on the
basis of something Satan cannot contend with. Not on the basis
of human choice, but on the basis of God's choice. Did you notice
that? You know, if it would have been, if he would have said,
didn't Joshua choose me? If that would have been the defense,
there'd be times that Satan's accusations could say, when I
look here, Lord, here he is in unbelief. Here he is in doubt.
Look at him now. Like David, when David fell into
sin. Look at him now. You see, Satan's
accusations would stick. But he didn't say, didn't Joshua
choose me? He said, this is one whom I've chosen. And Satan can't
contend with that. The Lord knoweth them that are
his. He chose me. And that'll never change. He
chose me before the foundation of the world and gave me to Christ. Satan cannot come against that.
He cannot contend with it at all. But then, notice in verse
4, he says, And he answered and spake unto those that stood before
him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. That's redemption.
Cleansing. Justification. He said, Take
it away from him. He says, and unto him he said,
Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will
clothe thee with change of raiment. I'm going to give you a change
of clothes. This cleansing, this justification
of Joshua by the grace of God through the blood and righteousness
of Christ, did you notice something here? It is not a potential justification. It is not a potential cleansing. waiting on Joshua's response
and cooperation, it is an actual justification. It is an actual
cleansing according to God's purpose and power and grace. The Lord didn't turn to Joshua
here and say, I'd really like to cleanse you if you'd let me.
He didn't say, I'm out here knocking on the door of your heart, but
it's your decision, Joshua. I'm waiting for you. He didn't
say that, no. He powerfully rebukes Satan and
then commands those standing near Joshua to take away those
filthy garments. You take them off of him. And
you put a clean garment on him. Put clean garments. That is plural.
Take away. That's the removal of our sins.
That's the non-imputation of sins to the persons of God's
elect. Our sins were imputed to Christ.
He was made sin. Our sins were charged to him.
He became responsible for them. And then he says, I'll clothe
thee with chains of raiment. That's the imputation of Christ's
righteousness to us. That's the entire merit of his
obedience unto death. And he gave it to us. He said,
you put that on their account. Just like when Paul wrote Philemon
about that runaway slave Onesimus, and he said, Philemon, if he
has wronged thee, put it on my account. That's what Christ said
in the everlasting covenant of grace. We've wronged him. Put
it on his account. That's what he says. Blessed
is the man to whom the Lord imputed not iniquity. That's right. God was in Christ. Reconciling
the world unto himself, not imputing their trespasses unto them. We
who are in Christ stand before God, not in our own good deeds,
but in the righteous deeds of Jesus Christ charged to us. He gave them. They're on our
account. His righteousness is. And it's not a lifelong process
of God infusing enough righteousness into us that eventually we qualify
for heaven. No. It's a real and right judgment
on God's part based on the merits of Christ's death. It was future
here. We look back on it. This is not
a work accomplished within us spiritually and morally by the
Holy Spirit in the new birth. Not right here now. The work
of justification was purposed and promised by God to His chosen
ones before the foundation of the world. And it's accomplished
in time by Christ on the cross when he made an end of sin and
finished the transgression and brought in everlasting righteousness,
now the work of regeneration, the new birth. It's the necessary
fruit and result of this work right here. God justifies the
guilty sinner by grace alone through Christ alone. Our good
deeds have nothing to do with it. God grounds our cleansing
from sin on the sure foundation of the redemptive work of Christ.
And not even Satan can bring a charge. Who shall lay anything
to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justified. Who
is he that condemneth? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather,
he's risen again, seated at the right hand of the Father, ever
living to be our advocate, to make intercession for us. Ever
living to say, the Lord rebuke thee, O Satan. Ever pleading
the merits of his blood and righteousness. Jesus Christ the righteous there's
one God and one mediator between God and man the man Christ Jesus
Look at verse 5. He said I said let them set a
fair mitre. That's a turban now you remember
the high priest wore that mitre on his head And it was a turban
and you remember what was inscribed there was a plate on the front
of that turban and a metal plate and It said holiness unto the
Lord. That's what that said And it
says, So they set a fair mitre upon his head, and clothed him
with garments, and the angel of the Lord stood by. This is
an ever-present mindfulness and testimony that God is just and
holy and righteous in judging me to be one of his people, to
be redeemed, to be righteous in Christ. Holiness unto the
Lord. In other words, the way of salvation
that is provided here and freely given here and powerfully given
to this sinner named Joshua does not deny, confuse, or corrupt
the holiness of God. It is in strict accordance with
God's holiness. And we wear that, spiritually
speaking, we wear that fair miter all the time. Holiness unto the
Lord. Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. Look at verse 6,
it says, the angel of the Lord protested unto Joshua. Now that
means he charged or bore witness to Joshua. It doesn't mean he
was protesting like people protest today. It means he charged Joshua,
he bore testimony to Joshua. And it says, saying, thus saith
the Lord of hosts, the Lord of a great army, the Lord who is
invincible, who cannot be defeated, if thou wilt walk in my ways,
And if thou wilt keep my charge as his ordinance, then thou shalt
also judge my house, and shalt also keep my courts, and I will
give thee places to walk among them, these that stand by." What's
that talking about? Well, what he's talking about
is the fruit and the result of this great work of God's grace
in Christ, this legal exchange. And what is the fruit of that
work? It's the new birth. And that's what he's talking
about here. This if statement is not a conditional if, it's
an evidential if, it's evidence. And this evidence is this, if
you'll walk in my ways, what are the ways of God? They're
the ways of grace. They're the ways of Christ. They're
the ways of love. They're the ways of godliness.
They're the ways of faith. Christ said, I am the way, the
truth, and the life. No man cometh under the Father
but by me. You see, whenever a sinner seeks
salvation from God by their works, the sinner's works, they're not
walking in his ways, because that's not his ways. His ways
is the way of salvation by grace, and it's the way of faith and
love and obedience motivated by love. and by grace. He says,
if thou wilt keep my charge, that is his ordinances. We have
two ordinances in the New Covenant. Baptism, confessing our salvation
by God's grace in Christ, and the Lord's Supper, which is a
continual memorial ordinance, remembering his death till he
come. Remembering that he finished
the work, that he saved us by his grace. And these ordinances
have to do with everything that a sinner saved by grace does
in the way of gratitude. He says, then thou shalt also
judge my house. How do you judge God's house?
You know how you do that? Preach the gospel, because it's
a gospel of judgment. It's a gospel that tells the
truth about God, who he is. It's a gospel that tells the
truth about me. I'm like Joshua. In myself, by
nature, and my best effort, I'm standing there in filthy garments.
It's a gospel that shows me and judges me aright and drives me
to Christ for all salvation, for all justification, for all
righteousness, eternal life, and glory. And then he says,
and shall keep my courts. How are the courts of God's halls
kept? By the preaching of the gospel
and the preaching of his word. by continually pointing sinners
to Christ, the author and finisher of our faith, by continually
seeking His Word by His Spirit to have our hearts established
with grace, by continually seeking to grow in grace and knowledge,
we are kept by the power of God. And he said, I'll give thee places
to walk among these that stand by. Not only will we have fellowship
and union with the rest of God's people, but we'll be in the service
of God's people. That's what he's saying. you'll
be able to serve Joshua. Look at verse 8. Here now, O
Joshua, the high priest, thou and thy fellows. Now, Joshua
was the high priest, but now you remember there were other
priests. There were attending priests of the house of Levi
around the tabernacle and the temple. But there was one high
priest. So he says, Here now, O Joshua,
the high priest, thou and thy fellows. That's the other priest.
Joshua, the high priest, represented Christ, our great high priest. Only one. One mediator between
God and sinners. God and men. The other priest
represented the people of God who are made priests unto God
through Christ. We have access now. So he says,
thy fellows that sit before thee. Now look at this phrase here.
It says, for they are men wondered at. Now if you look in your concordance
in your Bible, you might see something like men of wonder
or signs. And what that literally means
is that these are men who are a sign. They're a picture. That's what he's saying. They're
a prophecy. They're not there just to be
there for themselves. They picture something better.
In fact, literally it would be like they are a sign of a future
event. They picture and prophesy and
point to Christ and the people of God who are the fruit of this
great salvation by God's grace in Christ. Now, how do you know
that? Well, look. Look at the next line in verse 8. Four. Now,
do you see that? It says four, all right? It's
carrying on the same thought. They're men who are assigned. They're men to be wondered at.
In other words, what do you mean? You look at that priestly altar,
you say, what does that mean? Here's the sign. Here's what
it means. Behold, I will bring forth my servant, the branch. Now, what's that? That's a prophecy
of Christ. He's the branch. He's the branch
of God. Both Isaiah and Jeremiah prophesied
of Christ as the servant and the branch. The branch of Jesse. referring to his humanity, the
branch of God, referring to his deity, the offshoot, the offspring,
you see, the one who in himself is God and man in one person. He's the branch. And he said,
I'm going to bring forth my servant, the branch. I'm going to send
the Messiah. This is what all this typifies now. Joshua, the
high priest, typifies the Messiah. He pictured Christ, our great
high priest, And then his fellows, his companion, the other attending
priest, pictured all the people of God, a whole nation of priests.
Remember, I quoted part of it at the beginning of the message,
1 Peter 2, 9, But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood,
and holy nation, a peculiar purchased people, that you should show
forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness
into his marvelous light. And look on, he says in verse
9, he says, for behold the stone that I have laid before Joshua. I've set a stone. Who is that
stone? That's our rock, Christ Jesus. He's the stone that the
builders disallowed all who do not believe. He's the tried stone,
Isaiah 28, the tested stone, the sure foundation. He's the
chief cornerstone. How many passages of Scripture
could you find in reference to Christ as the stone? the rock
of the church. He told Peter and the apostles,
he said, upon this rock I will build my church and the gates
of hell will not prevail against it. Why? Because his church is
chosen of God and embers plucked out of the fire, redeemed by
the blood of Christ. There are those upon whom the
righteousness of Christ is accounted. He took their sins. And this
stone, he says here, it says, for behold, verse 9, the stone
that I have laid before Joshua upon one stone shall be seven
eyes. Seven is the number of completeness,
perfection. And he's talking about his omniscience,
his perfect vision. Let me show you a verse here
real quickly. Look at Hebrews chapter 4. And you know now,
everything he's saying here now concerning this picture and prophecy
of grace, is said in light of his priesthood, the priesthood
of Christ, the high priesthood of Christ, which is our salvation. We have a great high priest.
Look at verse 12. Now, this stone has seven eyes.
That's his omniscience. I mean, he sees all. He sees
everything. He's not unaware of anything.
He sees into the heart. Look at verse 12 of Hebrews 4.
For the word of God is quick and powerful and sharper than
any two-edged sword. piercing even to the dividing
asunder of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow, and is
a discerner, a judge of the thoughts and intents of the heart, neither
is there any creature that is not manifest in his sight." That's
what the seven eyes means. But all things are naked and
open unto the eyes of Him with whom we have to do. We've got
to deal with Him. And everything's above board
and open and naked to Him. So, verse 14, seeing then that
we have a great high priest. You see that? That's the same
thing that's been prophesied of and pictured over in Zechariah
3. This stone that has seven eyes, the all-seeing eye of God.
You say, oh, everything. He's our high priest. He's our
advocate. So it says, seeing then we have
a great high priest that is passed into the heavens. Jesus, the
Son of God. Let us hold fast our profession. You know, it's something. to
give us assurance, to know that the judge who judges according
to truth and who sees into the very hearts and souls of our
being is also our high priest, our advocate, who presents the
merits of his blood and righteousness on our behalf so that we might
be just, justified before God and that he might be just to
justify us. You see, the imagery of the stone
means that Christ is the foundation of his true temple. And he's
also the one who'll crush all his opponents when he comes to
judgment. Look back at chapter 3, and look what he says here
in verse 9. This stone has seven eyes. He
said, Behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, saith the
Lord of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in
one day. This engraving could mean the
wounds that he himself suffered for the putting away of our sins.
His blood was shed on Calvary. It could mean the engraving of
the name of his elect upon his heart, like the high priest had
the breastplate, and on that breastplate there were six stones
on one side and six stones on the other, and it had the names
of the twelve tribes of Israel. Well, Christ has the names of
his people on his heart. And on his shoulder, in that
amulet that was on his shoulder. Which means not only that he
desires and is willing to save us, but that he's able to do
so. The government shall be upon his shoulder. And he removes
the iniquity of that land in one day. What day? The day of
redemption. The day of his power. The day
of the cross. That's when Christ in time did
what God accomplished in time, what God purposed before time
for his people. And then verse 10, In that day,
said the Lord of hosts, shall you call every man his neighbor
under the vine and under the fig tree. The vine and the fig
tree are emblems of both prosperity and peace. The prosperity of
his kingdom, that's the vine. The life is in the vine. Christ
is the vine. We're the branches. He shall
prosper, he will not fail. If he died for your sins and
was buried and rose again the third day for your justification,
you will receive life from the vine. And the fig tree represents
a symbol of the peacefulness of his kingdom, peace between
God and sinners. There were emblems of peace in
Solomon's time. Over in 1 Kings 4 and verse 25,
let me just read this verse to you. 1 Kings 4, 25, talking about
Solomon's kingdom right after David. Remember, David was a
man of blood. He was a man of war. Solomon was a man of rest. And it says, "...and Judah and
Israel shall dwell safely," that is under Solomon's rule, "...and
every man under his vine and under his fig tree, from Dan
even to Beersheba," which is indicative of the whole nation,
"...all the days of Solomon." Well, you know Christ in the
New Testament is called one who is greater than Solomon. He's
come. He's established his kingdom.
He's done the work of redemption. We who are in him are justified
by the grace of God through the merits of his finished work.
He's brought us to walk in his ways, to keep his charge, to
judge his house, to keep his courts, and to walk among those
that stand by in the fellowship of faith, the branch, the righteous
branch, who sees all, who has his people engraved upon his
heart and upon his shoulders, who remove the iniquity of the
land in one day at Calvary, and then brought prosperity and peace
to the kingdom of God forever and forever.