Advent 2019: HOPE
Zechariah 3
Introduction
The first question of the New City Catechism is “What is our only hope in life and death?” Every human culture has pondered hope. Islam teaches of the Yawm al-Qiyāmah, which is the Day of Judgment. Their hope is that if they live according to the principles prescribed by Mohammed in the Qur’an, they will have eternal life in a new Islamic world. Buddha taught that 5,000 years after his teachings human society would degenerate and all knowledge of dharma would be lost. This would be followed by the golden age ushered in by Maitreya Buddha. Their hope is that this final Buddha will achieve complete enlightenment and teach pure dharma.
Hinduism teaches that time is cyclic. When this age dissolves from immorality a new one regenerates. The hope of Hinduism is that those in the end transformed by virtue will be the seeds of a higher form of humanity and humanity will begin again. Even atheistic naturalism has a form of hope. They have, in their minds, abandoned premodern notions of supernaturalism and see the world through modern natural eyes. This is true knowledge. The hope is that humanity will progressively grow smarter and there would be a utopia where everyone lives in peace.
The ancient Egyptians, Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, Romans, and Jews all had some form of hope. And we now find ourselves in the first week of Advent pondering hope. Like all of these other worldviews, historic orthodox Christianity too has a hope. And the elephant in the room is that all of these hopes are mutually exclusive. If one is right, then the others must be wrong. As Protestant Christians we believe our only hope in life and death to be revealed in the Scriptures. Zechariah 3 is one of many places where we can feel the tension of Advent, the tension of hope revealed but not yet complete.
Exposition
Zechariah is an appropriate reading for Advent because it rightly captures the tension we feel. Zechariah wrote in the period after the Exile. God’s people had been redeemed from their physical exile, yet still felt tension of spiritual exile. YHWH had promised to give them his Spirit and a new heart, but hadn’t done so yet. Hope had been revealed but not yet completed.
It is in the midst of this tension that we get this curious vision of Joshua the high priest. Joshua is standing before YHWH on trial. Satan is at his right hand accusing him. You’ll notice the ESV has a footnote that Satan means “the accuser or the adversary.” The name Satan is a transliteration of the Hebrew word, שָׂטָן. And so vs. 1-2 could be translated, and the accuser standing at his right hand to accuse him. And YHWH said to the accuser, “YHWH rebuke you, O accuser!” Or you could transliterate it, and Satan standing at his right hand to satan him. And YHWH said to Satan, “YHWH rebuke you, O Satan!”
What is this scene that we’re eavesdropping in on? It would’ve been obvious to a Jew in the post-exilic period. There was only one possibility. The high priest stood before YHWH on one day, Yom Kippur (the day of atonement), in one place, the very center of the temple – the holy of holies. Ray Dillard was an OT scholar and professor at Westminster Theological Seminary. He sets the scene for us to help us understand what went into the Day of Atonement.
Israel’s temple had three parts: the outer court, the inner court, and the holy of holies. The holy of holies was completely surrounded by a thick veil. Inside was the ark of the covenant, on top of which was the mercy seat. The Shekinah glory, the very presence of God, would appear over the mercy seat on the Day of Atonement. Only one person, the high priest, was allowed into the holy of holies on one day of the year, the Day of Atonement. That’s where Zechariah is.
There was a lot of preparation that went into the Day of Atonement. A week beforehand the high priest was placed in seclusion, away from his home and his family so that he didn’t accidentally eat anything unclean. Only clean food was brought to him and daily he would ceremonially wash his body to prepare his heart. The night before he wouldn’t sleep. He would stay up all night praying and reading God’s Word to purify his soul. Then on the Day of Atonement he would bathe from head to toe and be dressed in pure white linen. He would enter the holy of holies and offer an animal sacrifice to God to pay for his sins. Then he would come out, bathe from head to toe again, be dressed in new unstained white linens and go back into the holy of holies and sacrifice an animal for the sins of the priests. He would then come out a third time, bathe from head to toe and put on a third pair of unstained linen and go back into the holy of holies to atone for the sins of the people.
This whole process was done in public. Everyone came and watched the entire thing because they needed to make sure it was done properly. If it weren’t, the high priest would die. If the high priest died, there would be no atonement for their sin. That’s why verse 3 is so curious. It would have shocked a post-exilic Jew who was first hearing it.
Verse 3 says Satan is accusing Joshua because he is clothed with filthy garments. It’s the Hebrew word, צֹאָה, which is used of a drunkard’s vomit and human excrement. There’s no way Joshua’s garments would’ve been filthy. What does this mean? God is revealing how he sees Joshua, and us. Even with the ceremonial washings and the unstained garments, he is still filthy.
Satan is accusing him and Satan is right. Joshua is filthy. We get a glimpse into the spiritual warfare of the enemy and it affects us all. We’re prone to view Satan as a tempter and he does sometimes tempt, but that is not his primary activity. Satan means accuser because Satan’s primary attack is accusation. We’re already sinful without any interference from the devil. We are guilty all on our own. But he accuses us and he’s not wrong.
The ceremonial washings cannot remove his sin because it flows out of his heart. It’s the same for you and I. All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God. Isaiah 64.6 says that all our righteousness is like a filthy garment before God. This is a bleak picture. If the high priest in the holy of holies on the Day of Atonement is unworthy, then is there hope at all?
But notice YHWH’s response to Satan’s accusations. He rebukes him (vs. 2) and he removes Joshua’s filthy garments (vs.4). And Zechariah tells us that it’s based on election. He has chosen his people. They have been plucked from the fire. The predestination isn’t arbitrary though; it’s part of a bigger story.
In verse 6 YHWH tells Joshua that if he walks in God’s ways and keeps his charge, he will rule God’s house and will have the right of access to the holy of holies. You see there’s a sense in which entrance into the Kingdom of God is works-based. It always has been. God’s covenant with Adam was a covenant of works. Our conscience still operates based on the covenant of works because we’re Adam’s children. That’s why we feel guilty and why Satan is so effective in accusing us.
Joshua –and the people of God, which he represents – could only be saved if Joshua walked in God’s ways and kept his charge. And Joshua did it. Joshua walked in the ways of the LORD perfectly. Joshua kept the charge of God without sin. It just wasn’t this Joshua.
You see the hope that we’re celebrating this Advent season is that in Bethlehem 2,000 years ago a baby was born, a baby named Joshua. We often refer to him as Jesus, which is the Greek translation of the Hebrew name Joshua. In Matthew 1 when Joseph learns that Mary’s pregnant, he plans to divorce her and the angel of the Lord said to him, “Joseph, son of David, do not fear to take Mary as your wife, for that which is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will bear a son, and you shall call his name Jesus, for he will save his people from their sins. (Matt 1.20b-21)” When Joseph heard those words in Aramaic he would’ve heard, “you shall call his name Joshua, for he will save his people from their sins.” In fact, if you read Zechariah 3 in the LXX he’s called Ἰησοῦς. And Zechariah clues us in that there’s one coming to fulfill these requirements. Look at verse 8: Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who sit before you, for they are men who are a sign: behold, I will bring my servant the Branch. Joshua and all of the priests are a sign pointing to the final high priest.
This final priest will be perfect. That’s why the stone has 7 eyes. In Scripture the number 7 is representative of perfection or completeness. This coming servant of the LORD will remove iniquity in a single day and then in verse 10, there will be peace, neighbors resting together. Verse 10 is a glimpse of New Creation, our blessed hope. But how do we get there?
That baby Joshua that I mentioned, Jesus of Nazareth, the one we’re celebrating this Advent, he’s the one that will remove our iniquity in a single day. Jesus participated in the final Day of Atonement. Like the other high priests, he began his preparation a week beforehand. The night before he didn’t sleep. Everyone watched as he was bathed in human spit. When he stood before God he did not receive words of encouragement, but the Father forsook him. He was crucified, dead, and buried. I’m sure Satan was there to watch.
But Jesus’ story doesn’t end there. And Zechariah gives us a hint when he calls Jesus the Branch. The Hebrew word, צֶ֫מַח literally means, “sprouts or grows from the ground.” Look at Zechariah 6.12-13:
And say to him, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts, “Behold, the man whose name is the Branch: for he shall branch out from his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord. It is he who shall build the temple of the Lord and shall bear royal honor, and shall sit and rule on his throne. And there shall be a priest on his throne, and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.”
Jesus has removed our iniquity by dying in our place, but Jesus will usher in the New Creation because he is the first branch who sprouts up from the ground, the firstborn of many brothers. Jesus said that he would rebuild the temple in three days, as he would sprout from the ground. Jesus now sits on the throne of God as king and priest. Our hope is that the final Joshua, Jesus, branched up from the ground and that is how he removes our iniquity.
Conclusion
Every worldview in history has their version of New Creation, their hope. But only the Scripture offers genuine hope, confident expectation. We have hope in Christ Jesus because he is alive; our great high priest at the right hand of God the Father. But he can’t have ascended if he didn’t resurrect. And he couldn’t have resurrected if he didn’t die. And he could not have died if he didn’t live. And he could not live if he wasn’t born. And so our hope begins with advent. What is our only hope in life and death? That we are not out own but belong to God.