#8-ZECHARIAH’S 5TH VISION: THE HIGH PRIEST – PART 8

FULL MEETING WITH MIDRASH HERE

NOTE: THE TRANSCRIPT IS NOT THE SAME AS THE RECORDING.

The more I study Zechariah, the more I realize the density of the symbolism. Symbols convey meaning in a way that words cannot. One symbol can replace whole sentences or even paragraphs in the explaining. YHVH speaks to us in symbols so that we can see His intent. Symbols are an economic way for Him to tell us what He said and what He meant when He said. Our job is to make sure we getting His meaning and not the cultural meanings of millennia that change the meaning of His symbols. Each symbols tells a complete story that will always be the same from Genesis to Revelation and they can be defined within the Bible itself.

The next prophecy is full of symbols for and pointing to Yeshua and His reestablishment of His sovereignty and authority over the earth, a process that is 7,000 earth years long. Did the 520 BC Jews understand what YHVH was saying to them? We don’t know since we barely understand the depth and complexity of them ourselves. However, because we are 2600 years beyond 520 BC, and because Yeshua came 2,000 years ago, our generation has a perspective that it is likely the 520 BC Jews did not have. It is always easier to grasp meaning and concepts in hindsight which is why the final generation will be punished in the Tribulation ever so much more than previous ones. Literally, we have no excuse for not knowing.

YHVH will now show the 520 BC Jews why He has chosen Jerusalem. He has been alluding to Jerusalem’s future to them up to now and to the Jews’ protection and provision while they work in the previous visions, but now He will explain why.

To explain the why, He will now tell the 520 BC Jews, and us, exactly who He is. And who is He? The one referred to as “angel” and as “man riding a red horse” is pre-incarnate Yeshua. The “man riding on a red horse” who stands among the myrtle trees in Zechariah 1:8 is explicitly identified in verse 11 as “the angel of the LORD”, “the angel of YHVH”. He holds supreme authority over the other horses and the other angels which appear in in Zechariah. And He accepts the descriptions and reverence associated with God, YHVH, Himself.

In Zechariah 1:12, the Angel of the LORD (pre-incarnate Yeshua) interceded for Jerusalem, crying out, “O YHVH of Hosts, how long will you have no mercy…?” This is a binitarianism wherein God speaks to God and it acts as a foreshadowing of His ongoing mediatorial and High-Priestly role which He fulfilled and reinstituted (taking back His earthly High-Priestly authority) on the Cross even though He was not from the line of Levi (Romans 8:34, Hebrews 7:25).

That is what this 5^th prophecy is about. It reminds us that He was, is and will forever be our High Priest in the Order of Melchizedek which makes Him also our King.

Moreover, the Book of Zechariah proves that Yeshua IS YHVH!

Zechariah 3:1  He showed me Joshua the high Priest standing before Yahweh’s angel [pre-incarnate Yeshua[, and Satan standing at his [pre-incarnate Yeshua’s] right hand to be his adversary.

Let’s start here. Joshua’s name and Yeshua’s name are the same name. “Yehoshua” and “Y’shua”, the Hebrew and the Aramaic pronunciations are different but the names are the same name.

Joshua was a mere man. Yeshua is not a mere human male. His Father is YHVH. They share the identity, “YHVH”. Father and Son.  

Joshua was the son of Josedech. Josedech and Joshua, being his son, appear only in the Books of Haggai and Zechariah. It is like a tribute to, and profile of, The Father and The Son. Get it?

The fact that Joshua stood before YHVH (pre-incarnate Yeshua) as the High Priest means, though, that Josedech had died. The High Priest office cannot pass to the successor son unless the High Priest has died.

Now, this is important. Think of the Book of Hebrews. The earthly High Priesthood is a type and shadow of the Heavenly High Priest (Hebrews 8:1-6). Hebrews explains that Yeshua’s covenant is better than the Levitical covenant because Yeshua is eternal. Hebrews 7:23-25 explains this.

Hebrews 7:23  Many, indeed, have been made Priests, because they are hindered from continuing by death.
Hebrews 7:24  But He [Yeshua], because He [Yeshua] lives forever, has His [Yeshua’s] Priesthood unchangeable.
Hebrews 7:25  Therefore He [Yeshua] is also able to save to the uttermost those who draw near to God through Him [Yeshua], seeing that He [Yeshua] lives forever to make intercession for them [us].

The Levitical Priesthood has not, nor will it, pass away. It still has uses in the coming Kingdom as Ezekiel has described. However, the limitation of the High Priests because of death no longer hinders the office of the High Priest. We once again have our eternal High Priest. For this reason, it is no coincidence that Joshua and pre-incarnate Yeshua are in the same vision. They are being contrasted!

I am going to interject here with Zerubbabel along with Joshua the connection here is the return of the Melchizedek King-Priesthood! This is why Zerubbabel is Yeshua’s symbol of authority and now Joshua is the contrast between the Priesthood whose High Priests die and the Melchizedek High Priest who never dies (except for those 3 days after which He resurrected).

Both Haggai’s and Zechariah’s visions confirms the reinstitutions of this prophecy; the coming reimplementation of the order of Melchizedek. Their visions do this by juxtaposing each one of them side by side with “the angel of YHVH” and “the man on the red horse”.

Why did the Order of Melchizedek need to be restored on earth? Because Jacob had separated the roles of Priests and Kings in Genesis 49. Verse 10 prophesied that the scepter, the symbol of Kingship, would go to Judah while in verse 7 it was Levi who would be scattered within the tribes. This happened because of Levi’s violence and because his portion is YHVH. The tribe of Levi does not inherit land of its own. They live among the Israelites. But that is not all.

It was YHVH’s intention that Israel have a Firstborn Priesthood to serve Aaron. The golden calf worship ended that! Numbers 3:12, 41 and 45 says YHVH took the Levites, the entire tribe, “instead of” the Firstborns. This is why Exodus 34:20 commands the money redemption, the ransom, of the Firstborns. It was to remove them, or buy them out of their automatic Firstborn obligation to serve Aaron.

The Order of Melchizedek combines the functions of King and High Priest to one individual: Yeshua, once it is restored.

The “King” prophecy was for Zerubbabel, though he was not a King of Judah. He was only a governor. This was done by YHVH to distance Zerubbabel from the line of Solomon while still providing us with the testimony that this vision was telling the 520 BC Jews that the temple they were rebuilding would result in the restoration of the Order of Melchizedek on earth! This is why Yeshua made Zerubbabel to be YHVH’s own signet ring. It was prophecy of Yeshua reimplementing His own Kingship.

And now, in this prophecy, He was prophesying His own High Priesthood, thus recombining the offices of King and High Priest into one office again held by Him alone.

Continuing on, we also see that Satan was standing in the milieu.

Zechariah 3:2  Yahweh said to Satan, “Yahweh rebuke you, Satan! Yes, Yahweh who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Isn’t this a burning stick plucked out of the fire?”

This is the same YHVH who, in His human manifestation, rebuked Satan in Matthew 4:10 and told him to worship His God, which just happened to be Yeshua.

Matthew 4:10  Then Jesus said to him, “Get behind me, Satan! For it is written, ‘You shall worship the Lord your God, and you shall serve him only.’”

Yeshua was referring to Himself. And this reference to Himself made Satan leave, didn’t it? Satan had tempted Yeshua 3 times not because he actually believed Yeshua would bow and worship him. No. Instead, Satan was poking the information to find out if this was really YHVH in human form. He found out that it was and left immediately upon proving his suspicion. And then he wrongly thought that YHVH had taken on the weakest possible form: human. A human can be killed and done away with! Satan thought God had outsmarted Himself, but he found out that God had outsmarted Satan!

Satan was standing in the milieu around Joshua because he had been accusing Joshua to pre-incarnate Yeshua, YHVH, so YHVH, pre-incarnate Yeshua, now rebukes Satan on behalf of Joshua just as He would later rebuke Satan on His own behalf.

What does “burning stick (or brand) plucked out of the fire” mean? That is an idiom that means that Joshua almost didn’t make it out of Babylon. YHVH rescued him from total destruction along with the other Jews in 536 BC. It wasn’t going to be long before Persia would be at war with Greece. But that was not the only fire YHVH plucked them out of, and Joshua along with them. They also had faced all-out war with the Samaritans and Canaanites who surrounded them. YHVH literally plucked them out of both fires!

Zechariah 3:3  Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and was standing before the angel [pre-incarnate Yeshua].

The reason Joshua’s clothing was filthy is three-fold. First, the Priesthood was to never leave Israel. It could not function outside Israel but the Babylonian captivity had changed that. With the Priesthood’s removal from Jerusalem came the first defilement, and one which the Priesthood could not clean up by itself. YHVH had not given a protocol or commandments telling them what to do in case of deportation from their own land when they finally returned. The only one who could cleanse that defilement of off Joshua was YHVH Himself. But this defilement not only needed cleansing; it also required the reinstatement of the High Priest and the Priesthood which now, only YHVH Himself, can accomplish. In fact, this is implied for the coming Millennium with the implementation of the line of Zadok, as well.

Second, the High Priest’s garments became defiled throughout every year from one Yom Hakippurim to the next. There were 4 atonements made on Yom Hakippurim, one of which was for the Tabernacle. That atonement was for everything inside the Tabernacle as well as for the Tabernacle structure itself. One of the items inside the Tabernacle was the High Priests garments. They became defiled from one Yom Hakippurim to the next.

The defilement of Joshua’s garments came from the lack of a proper Yom Hakippurim for 77 years, at that point. How could the Jews have had a proper Day of Atonements? There was no Ark of the Covenant and no Table of Incense for gathering the coals and incense for his censor for the ceremony within the Holy of Holies.

The High Priest atoned for his and his household’s sins before atoning for the Priest’s, the Tabernacle’s and people’s sins. The High Priest bore the sins of the entire Priesthood and the nation of Israel on himself as symbolized by filthy garments.

What did Yeshua bear on Himself on the Cross? The sins of all Israel! The sins of the High Priest. The sins of the Priesthood. The resulting defilement of the temple. And the sins of every individual Israelite along with the sins of the whole world, the people who are not from Israel, starting with Adam going all the way to the end of the world. Joshua’s filthy garments symbolized what Yeshua would take on Himself on the Cross!

The third problem with Joshua’s filthy garments was that Passover was coming in the next 6 six weeks. Joshua had to be clean and his garments must be clean for that. So this was a practical problem, not just a spiritual one.

YHVH showed Haggai the uncleanness of the Jews (Haggai 2:14). They had repented for their and their forefather’s sins (Zechariah 1:6). There had been no red heifer ashes so the Jews had thrown themselves on the mercy of YHVH and the Blood of the Lamb. But the next step was to clean, reinstitute and elevate once again the High Priest in time for the celebration of the Lamb – Passover. Yeshua was clean and sinless when He went to that cross and, metaphorically, Joshua had to be clean and sinless (without filthy garments) officiating over Passover in 520 BC and forward. 

Zechariah 3:4  He [pre-incarnate Yeshua] answered and spoke to those [the retinue of angels] who stood before him [Joshua], saying, “Take the filthy garments off him [Joshua].” To him [Joshua] he said, “Behold, I [YHVH as pre-incarnate Yeshua] have caused your iniquity to pass from you [YHVH can do that because only YHVH can forgive iniquity [if Yeshua was not God, then He could not have done this]], and I [YHVH, pre-incarnate Yeshua] will clothe you [Joshua] with rich clothing.”

The rich clothing is the clothing of the High Priesthood. The temple had been ransacked by the Babylonians. The High Priest’s garments were gone but Yeshua was going to clothe Joshua Himself so that Joshua could perform the Passover service that year.

Zechariah 3:5  I [Zechariah] said, “Let them set a clean turban on his head.” So they [the angels] set a clean turban on his [Joshua’s] head, and clothed him [Joshua]; and Yahweh’s angel [pre-incarnate Yeshua] was standing by.

Pre-incarnate did for Joshua in Heaven what the Jews would have been doing while the rebuilding was going on which was sewing new garments. The principle of “first in the Spirit, then in earth” applies here.

Zechariah 3:6  Yahweh’s angel protested to Joshua, saying,
Zechariah 3:7  “Yahweh of Armies [the Father] says: ‘If you will walk in my ways, and if you will follow my instructions, then you also shall judge my house, and shall also keep my courts, and I [pre-incarnate Yeshua] will give you a place of access among these [the angels] who stand by.

YHVH’s covenants always contain the IF.

Exodus 19:5  Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:
Exodus 19:6  And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of Priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.

To remain in the covenant, you must keep – meaning DO – the commandments because you being in the covenant is conditional.

Obedience was a condition for establishing Solomon’s throne.

1 Chronicles 28:6  He said to me [David], ‘Solomon, your son, shall build my house and my courts; for I have chosen him to be my son, and I will be his father.
1 Chronicles 28:7  I will establish his kingdom forever if he continues to do my commandments and my ordinances, as it is today.’

1 Kings 9:4  As for you, if you [Solomon] will walk before me, as David your father walked, in integrity of heart, and in uprightness, to do according to all that I have commanded you, and will keep my statutes and my ordinances;
1 Kings 9:5  then I will establish the throne of your kingdom over Israel forever, as I promised to David your father, saying, ‘There shall not fail from you a man on the throne of Israel.’

IF is a small but important conditional word. But then there is also a “then”. If you do, then I will. Us remaining in the covenant depends on us! People don’t like to hear that. They want their salvation to come with no strings attached and no conditions. Sorry. That is not how it works for us or Solomon! This is not YHVH’s punishment. It is His blessing of letting us choose our fate.

The same “if-then” condition was made for Joshua and his lineage. Joshua was in the line of Zadok. The line of Zadok will be chosen to serve YHVH directly in the Millennial temple. That means Joshua succeeded in keeping the commandments unlike Solomon. However, there is a caveat to this because the Priesthood began to fail after Joshua died. By the time Yeshua came, the Priesthood, and especially the High Priesthood, was completely corrupt. But this promise was to Joshua and it will pass from him to the Zadokite line.  

Zechariah 3:7 …and I [pre-incarnate Yeshua] will give you a place of access among these [the angels] who stand by.

What was the place of access Yeshua promised to Joshua for his obedience? Access to the Holy of Holies, the reinstitution of Yom Hakippurim and the rededication of the High Priesthood. Joshua would be allowed to enter God’s presence in the same way the angels in Heaven access His presence.

Zechariah 3:8  Hear now, Joshua the high Priest, you and your fellows who sit before you [the other Priests of Levi who had come out of Babylon]; for they are men who are a sign: for, behold, I will bring out my servant, The Branch.

The restoration of the entire Priesthood was the sign that The Branch would restore the Melchizedek Priesthood. It was the High Priest and the Priesthood getting cleaned up that made it possible for Yeshua, The Branch, to come forth 500 years later so He could die to re-establish the Melchizedek King-Priesthood. The re-establishment of the Priestly function of the Order of Melchizedek is ultimately what these visions have been pointing to. Yeshua died for many reasons and many causes. The reestablishment of the Order of Melchizedek was one of those reasons.  

Zechariah 3:9  For, behold, the stone that I have set before Joshua; on one stone are seven eyes: behold, I will engrave its engraving,’ says Yahweh of Armies, ‘and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.

The stone set before Joshua is the foundation stone. The eyes of YHVH are another metaphor for YHVH’s sovereignty over the whole earth. But whereas horses like those in Zechariah’s second vision, go to and fro to search, find and report information, YHVH’s 7 eyes actually see what is going on. He perceives the truth behind what He sees, the motivations of the nations and individuals. The plans the warmongers make around tables in the large war rooms of Persia, Greece, Rome, Washington D.C. and Davos, Switzerland. There is nothing that He doesn’t know about. 

The stone is related to the 7 Spirits of YHVH (Isaiah 11:2). The Lamb of God also has 7 eyes and 7 horns in Revelation 5:6. All of these things tie Zechariah’s prophecy to the Book of Revelation in unique ways.

What does “I will engrave its engraving,’ says Yahweh of Armies, mean? There are many variations for this verse in the Bible versions. The NET Bible has the best rendering, I think.

Zechariah 3:9  As for the stone I have set before Joshua – on the one stone there are seven eyes. I am about to engrave an inscription on it,’ says the LORD of Heaven’s Armies, ‘to the effect that I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day. -NET

Zechariah 3:9 …Yahweh of Armies [said], ‘and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.

When did that happen? Looking forward from the 520 BC Jews’ perspective, they had no idea. Looking back from ours, we know it as the day of the crucifixion.

Zechariah 3:10  In that day,’ says Yahweh of Armies, ‘you will invite every man his neighbor under the vine and under the fig tree.’”

The context of “in that day” is not the Tribulation. It refers to the day of Yeshua’s death on the Cross. After His resurrection He gave the Disciples the “Great Commission”:

Matthew 28:18  And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven and in earth.
Matthew 28:19  Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost:
Matthew 28:20  Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

Mark 16:15  And he said unto them, Go ye into all the world, and preach the gospel to every creature.

Luke 24:46  And said unto them, Thus it is written, and thus it behoved Christ to suffer, and to rise from the dead the third day:
Luke 24:47  And that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name among all nations, beginning at Jerusalem.

“To the Jews first”, Paul said in…

Roman 1:16  For I am not ashamed of the Good News of Christ, because it is the power of God for salvation for everyone who believes; for the Jew first, and also for the Greek.

The Great Commission fulfilled Zechariah 3:10 which said: ‘you will invite every man his neighbor under the vine and under the fig tree.’”

How was it fulfilled? We preach the Gospel to bring people into the vine, the covenant, and into the blessings of Israel, the fig tree.

The Order of Melchizedek will return in 2 stages. The first stage is already complete because of Yeshua’s sacrifice. The second stage is yet to come when He returns to rule over the whole earth as the King-Priest of the Order of Melchizedek.

Psalms 110:1  A Psalm by David. Yahweh says to my Lord, “Sit at my right hand, until I make your enemies your footstool for your feet.”
Psalms 110:2  Yahweh will send out the rod of your strength out of Zion. Rule among your enemies.
Psalms 110:3  Your people offer themselves willingly in the day of your power, in holy array. Out of the womb of the morning, you have the dew of your youth.
Psalms 110:4  Yahweh has sworn, and will not change his mind: “You are a priest forever in the order of Melchizedek.”
Psalms 110:5  The Lord is at your right hand. He will crush kings in the day of his wrath.
Psalms 110:6  He will judge among the nations. He will heap up dead bodies. He will crush the ruler of the whole earth.
Psalms 110:7  He will drink of the brook on the way; therefore he will lift up his head.