SCRIPTURE: Zechariah 3
OBSERVATION/APPLICATION:
Listen, High Priest Joshua, you and your associates seated before you, who are men symbolic of things to come: I am going to bring my servant, the Branch. See, the stone I have set in front of Joshua! There are seven eyes on that one stone, and I will engrave an inscription on it,’ says the LORD Almighty, ‘and I will remove the sin of this land in a single day. [Zechariah 3:8-9]
The high priest and all the other priests, who mediate between God and the people, making atonement for sin through their sacrifices, are symbolic of things to come!
The Servant, the Branch, is of course Jesus, whom the priests represent.
Jesus is the rock upon which good people are restored, and sinful people stumble.
Equipped with the all-seeing, all-knowing power and authority of God [seven eyes symbolizes this, see Revelation 5:6], this Servant (Branch, Priest, Lamb) will remove all sin in a single day – the day of resurrection!
So much symbolism in one small passage, and there is so much more.
The next day John saw Jesus coming toward him and said, “Look, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world! [John 1:29]
Jesus is the Branch, the Servant, the Rock, the Lamb, the One that restores us!
We are like Joshua, the high priest, perishing in the flames but plucked out from them by the Lord, and washed, cleansed, forgiven and restored.
Through what he has done for us, there is no condemnation against us any more.
God has replaced our sin-stained clothing with new, clean, pure clothing (symbolism).
John sees a vision of this great army of forgiven servants, dressed in white.
These are they who have come out of the great tribulation; they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. [Revelation 7:14]
So much symbolism in one small passage, and there is so much more.
Unless we realize that the bible is filled with symbolism, it will not make sense to us.
Obviously, God is more concerned about our hearts that about our clothing!.
Priests, lambs, white clothing, temples, altars, sacrifices… all of this symbolizes something deeper, something greater.
God uses symbols to help our sinful, finite minds grasp intangible things through tangible object lessons (why Jesus used parables).
But we should never get stuck on the symbols, and forget their deeper meaning.
God loves us, God is doing what He can to help us, to forgive us, to restore us.
And Satan cannot stop Him; his accusations are useless [Zechariah 3:1-2]
What, then, shall we say in response to these things? If God is for us, who can be against us? He who did not spare his own Son, but gave him up for us all—how will he not also, along with him, graciously give us all things? Who will bring any charge against those whom God has chosen? It is God who justifies. Who then is the one who condemns? No one. Christ Jesus who died—more than that, who was raised to life—is at the right hand of God and is also interceding for us. Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? [Romans 8:31-35]
PRAYER:
Lord, there is much in the bible that I find confusing, the basic message is clear. You love me, died for me, and will stand by me to the very end! Nothing can separate me from Your love!