Scripture Daily

Context No. 3465 of 4322 · Zechariah

Context · Reflection

Zechariah 3:6-10: in context

6The LORD’s angel solemnly assured Joshua, saying, 7“The LORD of Armies 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 will give you a place of access among these who stand by. 8Hear now, Joshua the high priest, you and your fellows who sit before you, for they are men who are a sign; for, behold, I will bring out my servant, the Branch. 9For, behold, the stone that I have set before Joshua: on one stone are seven eyes; behold, I will engrave its inscription,’ says the LORD of Armies, ‘and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. 10In that day,’ says the LORD of Armies, ‘you will invite every man his neighbor under the vine and under the fig tree.’”

After cleansing and reclothing Joshua the high priest, God gives him both a charge and a promise. The charge: if you will walk in my ways and keep my charge, then you shall govern my house. Grace comes first, but it calls for a faithful walk in response.

And then a stunning promise pointing to the Messiah: behold, I will bring my servant the Branch, and I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day. What generations of sacrifices could only picture, God would accomplish in one day, the day, we now know, of the cross, when the iniquity of his people was taken away once for all. And the result is peace: in that day, God says, you shall invite one another to come under the vine and the fig tree. The removal of sin in one day, by God's servant the Branch, is the very heart of the gospel, and the fruit of it is the peace of restored fellowship, with God and with one another.

Do I rest in the promise that God removed the iniquity of his people in a single day through his servant the Branch, and does that draw me to walk faithfully in his ways?

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