Joshua the High priest

I'm still studying Zechariah 3:1-10. 

I decided to delve deeper into who the man Joshua was.  I thought at first he was the Joshua who was Moses' predecessor and took the Israelites into the promise land.  Not so.  This Joshua is mention in Haggai 1:1 as the son of the high priest and a friend of Zerubbabel. 

I did research years ago through Ezra and Nehemiah when writing a children's bible series on the seven Hebrew words for praise.  Occasionally I popped in to read Haggai and Zechariah also as there were some good nuggets in there concerning the work God had called for Ezra and Nehemiah. 

As I mentioned he was a high priest.  He was the first person chosen to rule over the Second Temple when it was restored.  It is uncertain if the vision of Joshua in Zech. 3 is at the time that he was alive or not, and if it were it was at the time that Nehemiah was cleansing the temple after his grandson was found guilty of intermarrying.

He comes before The Angel of the Lord in rags.  And satan is standing next to him.  It could be that there is a fight between the two as to where Joshua is going.  But his eyes are kept in the Angel of the Lord.

How many times have we done that? We've sinned and we are dirty.  and we are fighting thoughts going through our minds because we've done wrong, and yet we don't think God will take us back.  satan is lying to us.  However, Joshua does the right thing,  I call this a Kingdom Principle.  He looks into the eyes of God.  He doesn't acknowledge satan ribbing him at his side, because he has done the First commandment. 

Thou shall have no other gods before Me".  He has set his eyes on the things of God.  The things of God are represented in His name.  In Psalms 91:14 the Amp discribes a person who knows God's name as being  one who "has a personal knowledge of My mercy, love, and kindness—trusts and relies on Me, knowing I will never forsake him, no, never."  That is a Kingdom Principle.   Keep your eyes on Jesus, The High Priest, the author and finisher of our faith!

The high priest Joshua of the Second Temple kept his eyes, on the eyes of Jesus (Joshua)the High Priest of Heaven!  The devil didn't have a chance! 

The Lord rebuked satan. 

He didn't even say his name, as its not only not worthy to be captilized.  We don't have to say it!  All we have to say is "The Lord rebuke you!"

The Angel of the Lord called the other angels to bring him the finest of clothing and a turban for his head.  The turban was important as in the Temple it had the inscription "Holy is the Lord" on it. 

Then, God tells him his duties as a high priest. "Walk in my ways and perform my service." Joshua could not do this until he was clean. 

We can't walk in God service until we are clean.   This morning I was getting ready to pray for a friend in India and before we started, he replied that he needed to be cleansed by the blood first.  I need that reminder. I knew that once I repented of anything known or unknown I would be ready to look fully into the Eyes of God. The blood of Jesus is the only blood that can cleanse any sin.  The blood used in the temple at Joshua's time only took care of the sin for that time, not all of the sin for an entire population for generations to come as Jesus came to do.

Joshua is promised rewards on the earth as well as authority and position in Heaven.

Then God in a vision that Zechariah is seeing, prophecies to Joshua about His own Son, Jesus, that He is a Branch that is coming. Earlier, God when rebuking satan called Joshua a burning branch plucked out of the fire. Now God is talking about an eternal Branch one that is coming that will rebuild the temple being a king and a priest. Jesus is talking about Himself!

So tomorrow begins a new day.  Who will you gaze at?  Will your gaze be ahead looking into the eyes of Jesus our High Priest or will the be to the right, looking at satan?  Those are the only two choices.  Choose wisely.