OUT OF THE CHAOS: A study in the book of Zechariah
Chapter 3: Problems solved (Schmutz, Satan and a Saviour)
Given 5 May 2023
By Bob Mendelsohn
Sydney, Australia
Shalom and welcome to our class today. We are continuing in this prophetic book written by a young Jewish man living in Jerusalem about 500 BCE as he writes to his people, those living there in Judah and also to those living in Babylon. To each of those groups, he has some clear words and I trust that those words he spoke 2500 years ago will speak to you and to me as we will consider what God meant as he used that young man. And we will try to learn what God has to say to us as 21st Century people.
As per usual, my method will take us through a chapter each Friday morning, and then we will have plenty of time for discussion and questions in the final half-hour. If you are watching this teaching on YouTube after our class, please feel free to write me (bob@jewsforjesus.org.au) and I will try to answer queries if I’m able.
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Also if you don’t mind, please read the chapter before you come to the class live, and if you are watching YouTube, pause your playback, read chapter 3 and then rejoin us. Thanks. Welcome back.
Let’s jump in. Today’s lesson is titled, “Problems solved (Schmutz, Satan and a Saviour)” This is vision #4 of the night visions of Zechariah, bunched here at the beginning of his prophecy. And it features, unlike the previous three which left us with a desire to go rebuild the Temple in Jerusalem, a person. The man Joshua, not the military conqueror and apprentice of Moses of the Torah, but rather a man who lived in those days and was the High Priest.
It makes sense to me that when we consider the rebuild of the Temple that we next have to move to the next major resource and that is, who will serve there? The personnel that will make the Temple a safe and sacred space. So, we zoom in on Joshua, the main man.
The rabbis teach that Joshua had sons who married Gentile women and thus brought shame and this filth (the Hebrew is pointed; it’s excrement) onto their father’s priestly garments. Most Christian interpreters see the filth as the result of the sins of the entire populace of the Jewish people. But the angel seems to be showing a more localized problem. Joshua has schmutzik clothing, filthy, dirty, and only can be cleaned by the removal of sin. See verse 4. Sin removed; garments cleansed. Simple. Only there is a problem.
The Satan, yes, there is a definite article in every use of Satan in the OT (except in 1 Chronicles 21.1). It’s his calling card, what’s on his CV, his main duty—to accuse. Oppose. Resist. Be the enemy. In this case, the court has a prosecuting attorney and that’s the role he takes here. Accuse.
I don’t usually use Wikipedia for a reference guide, but this one is worth reading and noting. It’s from an article written at the end of the 19th century in France. The setting is the miscarriage of justice about Alfred Dreyfuss.
I quote it in almost its entirety.
"J'Accuse...!" ( "I Accuse...!") is an open letter that was published on 13 January 1898 in the newspaper L'Aurore by Émile Zola in response to the Dreyfus affair. Zola addressed the President of France Félix Faure and accused his government of antisemitism and the unlawful jailing of Alfred Dreyfus, a French Army General Staff officer who was sentenced to lifelong penal servitude for espionage. Zola pointed out judicial errors and lack of serious evidence. The letter was printed on the front page of the newspaper and caused a stir in France and abroad. Zola was prosecuted for libel and found guilty a month later (on 23 February 1898.) To avoid imprisonment, he fled to England, returning home in June 1899.
Other pamphlets proclaiming Dreyfus's innocence include Bernard Lazare's A Miscarriage of Justice: The Truth about the Dreyfus Affair (November 1896). As a result of the popularity of the letter, even in the English-speaking world, J'accuse! has become a common expression of outrage and accusation against someone powerful, whatever the merits of the accusation.”
The reason I flashed back on that scene from 130 years ago is that I hear the word ‘accuse’ and most of us would see it as a legal term, as it is, and often in connection with Satan, we think it’s about wrong accusations. We remember Revelation chapter 12, and that Satan is introduced there again as “the accuser of the brethren.” (.10). And that we are able to ‘overcome’ the ministry of Satan by three things, “the blood of the Lamb, the word of our testimony, and not loving our life even when faced with death.” But in both the injustice in the Dreyfuss affair and in the case of Joshua, the High Priest here, the accusations are accurate. So, we need to think rightly. The accusations are not misplaced, but well-placed. Even so, we need a fix, and thus we need a fixer. Schmutz can be overcome. Satan can be set down. How will that happen? We’ll get back to that.
Let’s talk a bit more about the Satan. He is a main player in the drama of the book of Job. There in chapters 1 and 2 he is introduced as able to stand in God’s presence and even carry on a conversation with the Almighty. He challenges the Lord and intimates that God is not playing fair. You might remember that story and that God takes Satan’s challenge and in the end, apparently Job and God win in the battle.
Warren Wiersbe says this. “When Satan talks to us about God, he lies, but when he talks to God about us, he tells the truth.” (page 115) I like that. Satan is not a font of truth-telling. He seriously wants us to walk away from the Lord, AND he wants us to dismiss his own reality and his own personhood.
Remember the book by CS Lewis called, “The Screwtape Letters?” There Lewis helps us see the inner workings of the Kingdom of Darkness and he highlights this in the preface where we read, “There are two equal and opposite errors into which our race can fall about the devils. One is to disbelieve in their existence. The other is to believe, and to feel an excessive and unhealthy interest in them. They themselves (the devils) are equally pleased by both errors and hail a materialist or a magician with the same delight.”
I love this quote also in Screwtape’s 7th letter to Wormwood, “I wonder you should ask me whether it is essential to keep the patient in ignorance about your own existence. …Our policy, for the moment, is to conceal ourselves. Of course, this has not always been so. We are really faced with a cruel dilemma. When human beings disbelieve in our existence, we lose all the pleasing results of direct terrorism, and we make no magicians. On the other hand, when they believe in us, we cannot make them materialists and sceptics - at least not yet. I have great hopes that we shall learn in due course how to emotionalise and mythologise their science to such an extent that what is, in effect, a belief in us, (though not under that name), will creep in while the human mind remains closed to belief in the Enemy. The ‘Life Force’, the worship of sex, and some aspects of Psychoanalysis may here prove useful. If once we can produce our perfect work – the Materialist Magician, the man, not using, but veritably worshipping what he vaguely calls ‘Forces’ while denying the existence of ‘spirits’ – then the end of the war will be in sight. In the meantime we must obey our orders. I do not think you will have much difficulty in keeping your patient in the dark. The fact that ‘devils’ are predominantly comic figures in the modern imagination will help you. If any faint suspicion of your existence begins to arise in his mind, suggest to him a picture of something in red tights, and persuade him that since he cannot believe in that (it is an old textbook method of confusing them) he therefore cannot believe in you.” (Screwtape Letters)
When I speak today about Satan, I don’t want you to miss the overreach of the two prongs that Lewis highlights. Either a complete dismissal of the spirit world and the Devil’s capacities or a complete overindulgence and obsession with its realities. Keep your mind of Yeshua, and don’t be unaware of Satan’s (that’s the Hebrew word; the Greek is diabolos (or Devil))devices. (For those watching this on YouTube, please check the manuscript (link in the notes of the show) and you will find a long list of Bible verses related to the Satan and what we are to know about him and the kingdom of darkness. Now, back to Joshua.
Joshua is schmutz-covered. He is guilty. The Jewish people are in Babylon as a true carriage of justice. We are wrong. The scene is not necessarily on Yom Kippur, but it reflects it, to be sure. The accusation is accurate. What are we to do? This vision doesn’t look good.
Verse 2: God Himself enters the courtroom. He doesn’t rid the court of Satan because he likes the Jewish people, but because He has chosen the Jewish people. He calls his own election to the witness stand as the defense attorney would do, and he rebukes the Satan. Begone, as Yeshua would later say, time and again. God’s choice of the Jewish people (Deut. 7.7, Psalm 33.12, 132.13, etc) is fixed. He cannot deny himself so he has to act on our behalf for his own name’s sake. And with whom are we left?
Joshua, Zechariah, the Lord, and some angels. But Joshua still has filthy garments. The angel of the Lord speaks in verse 4, “Remove” The action required both a removal of the problem and a fixing again of the place of Joshua in the camp of Israel. Removal and replacement. But verse 4 makes clear that removal of the clothing and the accompanying smell was only part of the problem. The rest is titled ‘sin’ (note: not sins). Removing clothing without taking away the iniquity is a half-done job. It’s the same issue a rabbi asked me to explain last week. I’ll get to that soon.
I wonder if you have walked past homeless people and noted an odor on some of them. Even if they have new garments given them from the Vinnies or the Talbot? That’s because they need a scrub themselves. New garments without a bath are almost a waste, almost.
The angel of the Lord wants Joshua to get a good scrub. Inside. Then when iniquity is removed, then the new garments (even the new turban as Zechariah reminds them in the scene) make sense. The turban is part of the high priest’s garb (Exodus 28.36-38, 39.30-31) and cried “Holiness to the Lord.” In other words, the completion of the task brought glory again to the Lord, the Lord of mercy and election, the Lord of love and the Lord of hosts.
Not only did he suffer accusation, and find the answer in the forgiveness and reclothing of the angel, but Zechariah’s vision gave assurance to him, to Joshua, and dare I say, to us as well. Remember our title today included schmutz, Satan and a saviour.
Verse 5 includes the verb “admonish” and thus Joshua is charged to represent well the Lord who cleansed and appointed him. Verse 6, two ifs (protasis) and three thens (apodosis). If you walk and perform, then you will govern, have charge, and have good access (goings) among those standing here. By the way, note how many folks are standing and to whom or against whom they are doing so throughout this chapter. Satan always stands to accuse, yet the angel of the Lord stands to oppose, like J’accuse was made by Emile Zola or Bernard Lazare back in the 1890s.
I’m here because someone stood up to the wiles and devices of the enemy of God, stood tall, declared the blood of the Lamb and got me to have a word of testimony. But I advance this thought too soon.
God promises through the angel of the Lord to Joshua that he will have three results of his two conditional actions. Walk in God’s ways and perform God’s service. Simple. The rabbis teach that he instructed his own sons to divorce foreign wives and go back to Jerusalem. That’s not so clear in this text. What is clear is that Joshua is being given a glimpse into the character of a gentle and lowly God who cares about us and will come to defend us when required.
Look at the fulfilment promise in verses 8 through 10. The accusation is answered by an Advocate, and he gives both an assurance in the moment and an announcement of what or rather who is to come.
Verse 8. The men/ angels who are there at this vision #4 are a symbol. That means they represent something else. And in this case, God says, “I am going to bring in…” which speaks to the future. Beyond this moment with Joshua and the garments. There is something or someone more. What? Branch. My servant. A person of significance. Like Jeremiah predicted decades before. (23.5-6)
Jer. 23:5 “Behold, the days are coming,” declares the LORD,
“When I will raise up for David a righteous Branch;
And He will reign as king and act wisely
And ddo justice and righteousness in the land.
6 “In His days Judah will be saved,
And Israel will dwell securely;
And this is His name by which He will be called,
‘The LORD our righteousness.’
This stick, this branch of Jeremiah, is Yahweh or Jehovah our righteousness. He’s not a junior in the company; he’s God himself. The restoration and the promises God made 70 years before under Jeremiah, these are renewed in the night vision of Zechariah here in chapter 3. The Branch is the hope of Israel. That’s the real hope.
And like the late-night infomercial, wait, there’s more. Verse 9, I have set on one stone 7 eyes. That means a complete view. Nothing will be left out. Seven facets with the engraved inscription, and it’s a promise of land cleansing. The Branch, or in this 2nd picture, the Rock, will cleanse the land of iniquity. God did that in Yeshua a few hundred years later in his dying for us on the cross. Calvary is the fulfilment of this promise. And in that day, the day of the death of the Son of Man, verse 10, we can have peace and hope in our own land. Under our vine and fig tree, in the place we have been promised. The result of this forgiveness is a looking forward to the work of Branch and the Rock, two great titles of our Messiah, who will bring in everlasting righteousness.
Last week a rabbi asked me a question about peace and the promise of messiah. He told me that since there is no global peace that Yeshua could not be the messiah. That’s fairly simple. But I answered with the old fable of the invention of sandals in Mongolia. You can make the world a calm place, but if individuals don’t take this peace on board, there remains internal strife and conflict. Without individual peace, global peace is never going to happen. Messiah had to bring peace to people, one by one, and when we take him on board as Messiah and SAVIOUR from our own sins, then global peace can eventuate.
Giving out new clothing without cleansing us on the inside… that never takes away the problem. We need an inside wash, then the world will work well.
Under your own vine, and your own fig tree. Do you want that?
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Remember, you who are watching today, if you are not yet a follower of Yeshua, and see his love for you, his kindness extended, his offer of forgiveness available, right where you are, submit to him, to his lordship, to his care, and your life will take on new meaning, new substance, and you will have mates on this call, and in your neighbourhood and wherever you travel… the Kingdom is advancing under the King. Chaos is subjugated, life is available. Pray and receive Jesus as your Messiah and Saviour.
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Resource on video
To see a fun video overview of the book of Zechariah see this from Bible Project:
https://bibleproject.com/explore/video/zechariah/
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Bibliography:
Smith, Ralph, Micah to Malachi: Word Biblical Commentary (Volume 32), Thomas Nelson Publishers, Nashville, 1984.
Stead, Michael, Zechariah: The Lord Returns, Aquila Press, Sydney, 2015.
Webb, Barry, The Message of Zechariah: Your Kingdom Come, Intervarsity Press, Nottingham, 2003.
Wiersbe, Warren, Be Heroic: Demonstrating Bravery by your Walk, David C. Cook Press, Colorado Springs, 1997.
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ACTUAL TEXT
Zech. 3:1 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?” 3 Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and standing before the angel. 4 He spoke and said to those who were standing before him, saying, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” Again he said to him, “See, I have taken your iniquity away from you and will clothe you with festal robes.” 5 Then I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments, while the angel of the LORD was standing by.
Zech. 3:6 And the angel of the LORD admonished Joshua, saying, 7 “Thus says the LORD of hosts, ‘If you will walk in My ways and if you will perform My service, then you will also govern My house and also have charge of My courts, and I will grant you free access among these who are standing here. 8 ‘Now listen, Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who are sitting in front of you — indeed they are men who are a symbol, for behold, I am going to bring in My servant the Branch. 9 ‘For behold, the stone that I have set before Joshua; on one stone are seven eyes. Behold, I will engrave an inscription on it,’ declares the LORD of hosts, ‘and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. 10 ‘In that day,’ declares the LORD of hosts, ‘every one of you will invite his neighbour to sit under his vine and under his fig tree.’”
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Other Bible references to The Devil:
Matt. 4:1 Then Jesus was led up by the Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted by the devil.
Matt. 4:5 Then the devil *took Him into the holy city and had Him stand on the pinnacle of the temple,
Matt. 4:8 Again, the devil *took Him to a very high mountain and *showed Him all the kingdoms of the world and their glory;
Matt. 4:11 Then the devil *left Him; and behold, angels came and began to minister to Him.
Matt. 13:39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the 1end of the age; and the reapers are angels.
Matt. 25:41 “Then He will also say to those on His left, ‘Depart from Me, accursed ones, into the eternal fire which has been prepared for the devil and his angels;
Luke 4:2 for forty days, being tempted by the devil. And He ate nothing during those days, and when they had ended, He became hungry. 3 And the devil said to Him, “If You are the Son of God, tell this stone to become bread.”
Luke 4:6 And the devil said to Him, “I will give You all this domain and 1its glory; for it has been handed over to me, and I give it to whomever I wish.
Luke 4:13 When the devil had finished every temptation, he left Him until an opportune time.
Luke 8:12 “Those beside the road are those who have heard; then the devil comes and takes away the word from their heart, so that they will not believe and be saved.
John 8:44 “aYou are of your father the devil, and you want to do the desires of your father. dHe was a murderer from the beginning, and does not stand in the truth because there is no truth in him. Whenever he speaks 1a lie, he speaks from his own nature, for he is a liar and the father of 2lies.
John 13:2 During supper, the devil having already put into the heart of bJudas Iscariot, the son of Simon, to betray Him,
Acts 10:38 “1You know of aJesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for dGod was with Him.
Acts 13:10 and said, “You who are full of all deceit and fraud, you son of the devil, you enemy of all righteousness, will you not cease to make crooked the straight ways of the Lord?
2Cor. 2:11 so that no advantage would be taken of us by Satan, for we are not ignorant of his schemes.
Eph. 4:27 and do not give the devil 1an opportunity.
Eph. 6:11 aPut on the full armour of God, so that you will be able to stand firm against the schemes of the devil.
1Tim. 3:6 and not a new convert, so that he will not become conceited and fall into the condemnation 1incurred by the devil. 7 And he must have a good reputation with those outside the church, so that he will not fall into reproach and the snare of the devil.
2Tim. 2:26 and they may come to their senses and escape from the snare of the devil, having been bheld captive 1by him to do his will.
Heb. 2:14 Therefore, since the children share in flesh and blood, bHe Himself likewise also partook of the same, that through death He might render powerless him who had the power of death, that is, the devil,
James 4:7 aSubmit therefore to God. bResist the devil and he will flee from you.
1Pet. 5:8 Be of sober spirit, be on the alert. Your adversary, the devil, prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour.
1John 3:8 the one who practices sin is of the devil; for the devil 1has sinned from the beginning. bThe Son of God appeared for this purpose, to destroy the works of the devil.
1John 3:10 By this the children of God and the children of the devil are obvious: anyone who does not practice righteousness is not of God, nor the one who does not love his brother.
Jude 9 But Michael the archangel, when he disputed with the devil and argued about the body of Moses, did not dare pronounce against him a railing judgment, but said, “dThe Lord rebuke you!”
Rev. 2:10 ‘Do not fear what you are about to suffer. Behold, the devil is about to cast some of you into prison, so that you will be tested, and you will have tribulation for ten days. 1Be faithful until death, and I will give you the crown of life.
Rev. 12:9 And the great adragon was thrown down, the bserpent of old who is called the devil and cSatan, who ddeceives the whole 1world; he was ethrown down to the earth, and his angels were thrown down with him.
Rev. 12:12 “For this reason, arejoice, O heavens and byou who 1dwell in them. cWoe to the earth and the sea, because dthe devil has come down to you, having great wrath, knowing that he has only ea short time.”
Rev. 20:2 And he laid hold of the adragon, the serpent of old, who is the devil and Satan, and bbound him for a thousand years;
Rev. 20:10 And athe devil who adeceived them was thrown into the blake of fire and 1brimstone, where the cbeast and the cfalse prophet are also; and they will be dtormented day and night forever and ever.
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