I was so blessed this week as I read through the Book of Zechariah. I came upon some precious nuggets in chapters 3 and 4, and wanted to share them with you.
Zech. 3:8-9
8 “‘Listen, O high priest Joshua and your associates seated before you, who are men symbolic of things to come: I am going to bring my servant, the Branch. 9 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. NIV
Further down, in Zech. 4:6-10, we also read…
Zech. 4:6-10
6 So he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty. 7 “What are you, O mighty mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become level ground. Then he will bring out the capstone to shouts of ‘God bless it! God bless it!'” 8 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 9 “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple; his hands will also complete it. Then you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you. 10 “Who despises the day of small things? Men will rejoice when they see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel. “(These seven are the eyes of the Lord, which range throughout the earth.)” NIV
God speaks to His high priest, whose very name is the same as Jesus (Yeshua), and says he and the others with him are symbolic of things to come. Why? This was spoken during the time when a few Israelites had returned from exile, and they were restoring Israel, and building a second temple for the worship of God. But their labors were symbolic of the coming of Christ and the building of the true temple which is spiritual, the temple of the Holy Spirit, the Church.
God tells Joshua and the others that He will bring His Servant. This harkens back to the Servant Songs of Isaiah (Is. 42 – 53). There we learn of this enigmatic Servant who will save Israel and bring the nations to God, but will do it through unspeakable suffering and death.
Yet here in Zechariah, the Servant is also the Branch. Isaiah used this description (Is. 4:2; 11:1) in speaking about Messiah as did Jeremiah (Jer. 23:5; 33:15). Later on Zechariah will speak of Him again (Zech. 6:12), to explain how the Branch will branch out from Israel and build God’s Temple.
Then God speaks of the stone He has set in front of Joshua. The Servant is the Branch is the Stone! All three are descriptions of the Messiah.
God lays or sets the stone before Joshua. That’s just what Isaiah had prophesied years before! (Is. 8:14; 28:16). He said He was laying in Zion a sure foundation, a tried and precious stone. This too, refers to Jesus the Messiah. Jesus is the Cornerstone of the new people of God, the Church, the new, expanded Israel. He is the first stone laid, and the most important. But now, because of Him, we can be made into “living stones” and be built into the new “temple” of the Holy Spirit (1 Pet. 2:5). It’s also interesting that Is. 28:17 speaks of a plumb line, and Zech. 4:10 does too. Righteousness is the plumb line for building the temple of the Lord. Only those who have been justified and sanctified, those who have been declared righteous through Christ, have a part and may be built into that House!
In Zech. 3:9, God says He will engrave the stone, engrave an inscription on it. Is. 49:16 says He has “graven” Israel, His people, upon His hands. I always think of this as happening when the nails were punched through those precious hands on the cross, hands which had created all things and brought healing to so many. Those nails created a permanent scar, a mark which will constantly remind the Lord of what He paid for us.
The stone is said to have seven eyes on it. Seven is the number of perfection or totality. Jesus is all seeing, all knowing. The seven eyes also speak of the Holy Spirit, the sevenfold Spirit (Rev. 5:6) who filled Jesus and fills those of us who serve Him. In 4:6, Zerubbabel is told that it is the Spirit who will accomplish the purposes of God, not human effort. By the presence and empowerment of the Holy Spirit, Zerubbabel will build the house of the Lord in Zechariah’s time, and by the power of the same Spirit, the Church, the greater “house of God” is being built today, and nothing can ultimately stop that work!
God says He will remove the sin of Israel, the sin of all the people of God, in one day. How could such a thing be possible?! 1 Jn. 2:2 tells us that Jesus made atonement for the sins of the whole world when He died that one day on the cross. He said “It is finished,” which can also be translated, “It is paid in full.” That one Sacrifice of sacrifices, that offering of the sinless Son of God Himself, in perfect worship and submission to the Father, it was sufficient for all of us, to make atonement for all our sins. Can we ever fully appreciate this? Can we ever be thankful enough, or fully comprehend the depths of what Christ did for us? Oh how great is the mercy and grace of God!
All of this is prophesied in these few verses of Zechariah, some 500 years before Christ. The Bible is so amazing, isn’t it? If only more people would search its precious pages! If only more of us would know and spread (and live by) its holy message! May God help us spend more time meditating and searching through the scriptures, and do our part to spread the glorious message they hold!