_The fourth vision.--Joshua the high priest accused by Satan, but
cleansed by the angel of the Lord--The branch.--The stone and the
sewn eyes upon it.--The coming peace._
The fourth vision is like the first and second, closely connected
with the foregoing one. It gives the crowning event of Israel's
restoration. The prophet recognizes in the figure which is seen by
him Joshua the high priest, who is standing before the angel of the
Lord, while at his right hand stands Satan to oppose him. Joshua was
not clothed with his clean, priestly robes, but he wears filthy
garments. Jehovah rebukes Satan and terms Jerusalem a brand plucked
from the fire. After the accuser is rebuked, the filthy garments of
the high priest are removed, his iniquity is forgiven, and he is
clothed with festal raiment. The prophet is so carried away with the
vision that he asks that a clean mitre is to be put upon his head.
And now, after the high priest is thus clothed, the angel of the Lord
charges him with an important message: If thou wilt walk in My ways
and keep My charge, thou shalt judge my house and also keep my
courts. I will give thee access among those standing here, etc. The
servant--the branch--is promised, and the stone which is laid before
Joshua is to have seven eyes. The iniquity of this land is to be
removed in one day, and the vision closes with the peaceful scene,
every man inviting his neighbor under the vine and under the fig
tree.
The authorized version has a superscription for this chapter. "Under
the type of Joshua the restoration of the _church_ is promised." This
is not alone very misleading but also erroneous. No restoration of
the church is necessary, and as far as fallen, apostate Christendom
is concerned, there is no promise of restoration, but the Lord will
spew her out of His mouth. Others speak of this vision as a type of
the justification of the sinner, but we need not spiritualize Old
Testament visions to get assurance of our justification. The Epistle
to the Romans is sufficient for that. The High Priest Joshua stands
here for Jerusalem and for the sinful nation Israel. The calling of
Israel to be a nation of priests is too well known, so we need not to
enlarge on it. But it is a nation stiff-necked, disobedient, unclean
and defiled. Disobedience and sin have been the cause of Israel's
misfortune and Jerusalem's ruin. What would be a restoration of
Israel to the land without a healing of their sins and a regeneration
of the nation? It is this divine forgiveness and cleansing of the
nation, which so many prophets uttered in Jehovah's name, which is
here so wonderfully shown in this vision. Like the priests in the
temple, standing before Jehovah, thus Joshua and Israel is before the
Lord. Though Joshua is standing before the Lord in filthy garments,
yet he is still the High Priest. The filthy garments do not change
the office to which God had called him. Oh, wondrous truth, which we
meet all through the Word! Israel, though in dispersion and in sin,
is still the priest, called by Him who is a covenant-keeping God! And
is it not a perfect picture of Israel as it is yet to-day? A priest,
but defiled and unclean. In Isaiah lxiv we have part of that
wonderful prayer which the remnant of Israel is yet to utter. It
begins with that sublime prayer, Oh, that Thou wouldest rend the
heavens, that Thou wouldest come, that the mountains might flow down
at Thy presence. And then follows the confession: We are all become
as one that is unclean, and all our righteousness is as a polluted
garment. Alas, how little Israel knows at this present time of such a
confession. On the day of atonement the lips confess sin and
unrighteousness in similar words, but it is still the lips and not
the heart. But at last Israel will confess her guilt and the
bloodguiltiness like David did.
In the vision Satan is seen. This is not the enemy who at Zechariah's
time tried to hinder the rebuilding of the temple, but it is Satan,
the old serpent, the accuser of the brethren, the adversary. He is
the enemy of Israel. He has tried in the past to hurt and to destroy
the nation of destiny. He knows the purposes of God concerning Israel
better than many a learned doctor of divinity, and therefore, he has
opposed that people and opposes them still. His opposition has been
mostly through nations. How much could be said on this topic! The end
of this age will reveal the enemy of Israel, the adversary, as never
before in the history of the world. There is to be war in heaven;
Michael and his angels going forth to war with the dragon; and the
dragon warred, and his angels, and they prevailed not, neither was
their place found any more in heaven. And the great dragon was cast
down, the old Serpent, he that is called the Devil and Satan, the
Deceiver of the whole world, he was cast down to the earth and his
angels were cast down with him. (Rev. xii: 7-9.) His wrath will be
directed against Israel and Jerusalem. It is the time of which Daniel
spoke. And at that time shall Michael stand up, the great prince
which standeth for the children of thy people; and there shall be a
time of trouble such as never was since there was a nation, even to
that same time. (Daniel xii: 1.) Once more Satan will try to destroy
the people, but the Lord shall rebuke him. Israel will be again, as
so often before, like a brand plucked out of the fire. So it has been
in the past. Way back when Israel was in Egypt and God was about to
send the deliverer, He called Moses from out of the burning
bush--Israel's true type, burning, but never consumed. Oh, how the
fire of persecution and adversity has been raging, but again and
again the hand of God snatched the burning brand out of the fire at
the right moment. The Lord who hath chosen Jerusalem will rebuke
Satan. This has not yet come. The coming Lord will commission an
angel out of heaven, having the key of the abyss and a great chain in
his hand. And he will lay hold on the dragon--the old Serpent which
is the Devil and Satan--and bind him for a thousand years, and cast
him into the abyss and shut it and seal it over him. (Rev. xx: 1, 2.)
Then follows the cleansing of Israel and the new charge, all so
clearly given in this vision.
The filthy garments are removed by those that stand before the angel
of the Lord. The iniquity is taken away, and in place of the filthy
garments there is the rich apparel and the fair mitre upon the head.
How blessedly all this is waiting for its fulfillment in Israel's
regeneration! When He appears after the times of overturning, He
whose right it is, His people Israel will be found by Him in true
penitence, acknowledging their offence. It will be a national
repentance, a mourning on account of Him, which Zechariah describes
in detail in the twelfth chapter.
This will be followed by national cleansing, forgiveness of sin for
the entire remnant which is left, and the new birth of the nation by
the outpouring of the Spirit. Israel is the nation to be born in a
day (Isa. lxvi: 8). This great miracle of divine grace, the
regeneration of Israel by the blood of the once rejected King, is
spoken of again and again in the Word. The Church has taken it all
for herself or spiritualized these promises. We can refer only to a
few: "He will turn again and have compassion upon us; He will tread
our iniquities under foot; and Thou wilt cast all their sins into the
depths of the sea" (Micah vii: 19). "I will take you from among the
nations and gather you out of all countries, and will bring you into
your own land. And I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall
be clean. (How _ridiculous_ that teachers and preachers refer to this
text in defence of _sprinkling_ as a mode of baptism.) From all your
filthiness and from all your idols will I cleanse you. A new heart
also will I give you, and a new spirit will I put within you, and I
will take away the stony heart out of your flesh and I will give you
a heart of flesh" (Ezek. xxxvi: 24-26). "I, even I, am He that
blotteth out thy transgressions for Mine own sake, and I will not
remember thy sins" (Isa. xliii: 25). "I have blotted out, as a thick
cloud, thy transgressions, and as a cloud thy sins; return unto Me
for I have redeemed thee. Sing, oh ye heavens, for the Lord has done
it; shout ye lower parts of the earth; break forth into singing ye
mountains, oh forest, and every tree therein; for the Lord has
redeemed Jacob and will glorify Himself in Israel" (Isa. xliv: 22,
23). And this is Israel's triumphant song: "I will greatly rejoice in
the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for He has clothed me
with the garments of salvation, He has covered me with the robe of
righteousness, as a priest decketh himself with a garland, and as a
bride adorneth herself with her jewels" (Isa. lxi: 10).
And now comes a very solemn charge. _Thus saith the Lord of Hosts: if
thou will walk in my ways, and if thou will keep my charge, then thou
also shalt judge my house, and shalt also keep likewise my courts, I
will give thee places to walk among these that stand by._
Israel was disobedient and did not keep the first charge. It is now
repeated. It is likewise conditionally as was the first, but no
apostasy can follow, for a complete healing has made that impossible.
In analyzing this charge, we see clearly what Israel's earthly
calling is and wherein Israel's millennial glory and work will
consist: (1) _Judging_ in the house of the Lord, and from there
ruling and judging of nations, by Israel the head of the nations. The
Church will be higher than this, sitting with Him in His throne, and
likewise judging, being with the glorified Head over it all; (2)
Israel will _keep His courts_. In the new millennial temple there
will be ordinances, and that temple will be a house of prayer for all
nations, while the Church will be in the temple above; (3) Israel
will have _places to walk_ among these that stand by. This may have a
double meaning--walking among the ministering angels which will
ascend and descend upon the Son of Man, and places to walk among
those that stand by--the nations. Israel's cleansing will take place
not in heaven but in the earth, and nations as well as angels will be
witnesses of it. Among these nations redeemed Israel will have places
to walk. The Church will occupy the many mansions in the Father's
house, and go in and out in blessed fellowship with the Lord of glory
and all His saints; and, perhaps, for all we know, there may be
places to walk for the Church in distant worlds.
The whole redeemed and restored nation will then be a miracle. _Hear
now, O Joshua, the high priest, thou and thy fellows that sit before
thee, for they are men which are a wonder: for behold I will bring
forth my servant the Branch._
The Jews are now God's standing miracle, but how much more will they
be a wonder when the Spirit has filled them! They will heal the sick
and do the same works Jesus their Elder Brother did. What will then
come to this sin-cursed earth through Israel's fullness? A
miracle--life from the dead. But never before He, whose name is the
Branch, appears. Oh, how necessary it is for us to be reminded that
it will take place when He appears and the Branch is brought forth.
Next comes the _stone laid before Joshua_, and upon the stone seven
eyes, and engraving is seen on it. Generally this stone is
interpreted as meaning Christ. One of the names of Christ is--a
stone, a rejected stone, corner stone, a precious stone, etc. The
true believers are likewise termed stones, living stones. The stone
in Nebuchadnezzar's dream, falling out of heaven, smashing the image
and becoming a great mountain which filled the entire earth, is both
Christ and His kingdom, which is not of this earth (it is and comes
from above). However, it seems to us that the only correct
interpretation of the stone upon which are the seven eyes is that it
means Israel restored, and as such, the nucleus of the kingdom of God
and His Christ in this earth. The seven eyes speak of the sevenfold
Spirit which will be upon Israel; the engraving of the stone stands
for the beauty and glory with which God will bless His covenant
people. That this interpretation is the only correct one becomes at
once evident when we reach the closing sentence of the ninth verse,
_and I will remove the iniquity of that land one day._ What land? It
is Israel's land, and therefore the whole vision must stand in vital
connection with His people. The one day, of course, in the first
line, must be that day when Christ died for our sins and Israel's
sins as well, when the veil was rent. But alas, the Jews cried then,
"His blood be upon us and upon our children!" How terribly this awful
prayer has been answered! Truly the blood has been upon them and
their children. But soon--oh may it be very soon--another day will
come when the blood shall be once more upon them and their
children--when the blood shall cleanse and wash away Israel's
sin--one day when Calvary's blood, the blood of the Son of God, will
remove the iniquity of that land and its inhabitants.
All is waiting for that. There can be no kingdom of God in the earth,
no conversion of the world, no millennium before Israel has been
cleansed, redeemed, restored, and the iniquity of the land is
removed. This all-important truth is likewise mentioned in a few
words at the close of this, the fourth night vision of the prophet:
_In that day, saith the Lord of Hosts, shall ye call every man his
neighbor under the vine and under the fig tree._ This is the picture
of prosperity, peace and love. No prosperity and peace till the
millennium has come, no millennium until Israel is restored; no true
restoration of Israel until the Lord comes with His saints. What
Zechariah hears about that blessed time of peace Micah and other
prophets received also from God, "Every man shall sit under his vine
and under his fig tree; and none shall make them afraid" (Micah iv:
4).