This chapter gives a foreshadowing of the coming Day when Christ will come and redeem Israel. They will be cleansed from their iniquities, and they will be a holy priesthood, fit to serve Christ during His Millennium Kingdom. This is all pictured in verses 1-5, “Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to oppose him. And the LORD said to Satan, ‘The LORD rebuke you, Satan! The LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire? Now Joshua was clothed with FILTHY GARMENTS and was standing before the Angel. Then He answered and spoke to those who stood before Him, saying, ‘Take away the filthy garments from him.’ And to him He said, ‘See, I have REMOVED YOUR INIQUITY FROM YOU, and I WILL CLOTHE YOU WITH RICH ROBES.’ And I said, ‘Let him put a CLEAN TURBAN on his head. So they put a clean turban on his head, and they put the clothes on him.” Joshua clearly pictures the nation of Israel, first as a defiled nation and then as a cleansed nation who has been “plucked from the fire.”

Many have written Israel off today and believe they will never be restored, but here we learn that God will not only remove their iniquities, but He will clothe them with priestly garments so they can serve Him. They surely deserved eternal punishment in the “lake of FIRE,” but God’s grace will redeem them through the finished work of Christ. They will come to believe the prophet Isaiah’s message in Isaiah 53:4-6, “Yet we esteemed Him stricken, smitten of God, and afflicted, BUT He was wounded for OUR TRANSGRESSIONS, He was bruised for OUR INIQUITIES; the chastisement for our peace was upon Him, and by His stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned, everyone, to his own way; and the LORD has laid on Him the iniquity of us all.” What a day that will be when Israel will REPENT and BELIEVE on the Lord Jesus Christ as their Savior Messiah! Then God will fulfill all the promises He made to Israel by making them the “head of the nations again” with Jerusalem as the capital of the world. Though this speaks of Israel’s future salvation, we can apply this to a sinner today who REPENTS and BELIEVES on Christ, for we too are then “plucked from the fire” (John 3:16) and clothed with “garments of salvation and a robe of righteousness” (Isaiah 61:10 with Luke 15:22-24).

In verses 7-10 the Angel of LORD gives Joshua precious promises for the future of Israel:

*Verse 7: “You shall also JUDGE My house and likewise have CHARGE of My courts.”  Israel will RULE in the “house (the Millennial Temple) of the Lord” and from there they will “JUDGE the nations.”

*Verse 8: “You and your companions who sit before you, for they are a wondrous sign; For behold, I am bringing forth My SERVANT the BRANCH.” Israel’s priests will rule the nations with their Messiah, who is not only the Son of God, but God’s SERVANT (Isaiah 42:1; 50:10; 52:13; 53:11) who is called “the BRANCH” (Isaiah 4:2; 11:1; Jeremiah 23:5; 33:15; Zechariah 6:12-13).

*Verse 9: “For behold, the STONE that I have laid before Joshua: upon the STONE are seven eyes. Behold, I will engrave its inscription,’ say the LORD of hosts, ‘and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day’”.  Here Israel’s Messiah is called “the STONE” for He will “remove the iniquity of the land” by judging Israel’s enemies, the Gentile kingdoms, as prophesied in Daniel 2:44-45; and by judging unbelieving Israelites who rejected Christ (Matthew 21:42-44). Those who believe on Christ will see that He is their true foundation, the “chief cornerstone” (Isaiah 28:16).

*Verse 10: “In that day, says the LORD of hosts, ‘Everyone will invite his neighbor under his vine and under his fig tree.” Here is the promise of true PEACE and SAFETY that will characterize life in Israel during the 1,000-year Kingdom reign of Christ (see 1 Kings 4:25 and Micah 4:4).  (DO)  (744.5)