Remember that Joshua actually was serving as high priest.
These prophecies are not just the visions or musings of some other worldly
mystic, but of a man of God deeply rooted in the ongoing reality of his day. At
the same time they point towards the coming of Christ.
Maybe people were accusing Joshua or casting doubt on his
suitability to be high priest, or perhaps just despairing in general about who
could possibly be a high priest good enough to represent them before God.
God shows Zechariah a vision of what is actually happening.
We see the reality of what is going on in the heavenly realms. In Ephesians
Paul speaks about the heavenly realms, and in Colossians 3:1-4 he urges us to
have our minds set on what is going on in heaven. This is not escapism, not a
flight from reality. but a focus on what reality really is.
Now Joshua was indeed being accused. God is there and Satan
is there. The word for Satan is the same root as the word for accuser.
So part of the truth is that Satan is indeed accusing
Joshua, just as he does indeed accuse us. We need to realise this, for
sometimes we can just wish that Satan would not accuse us. This is futile
thinking, for he does indeed accuse us. The second part of the truth, and the
source of our salvation, is that God has chosen us. God declares that He has
chosen Joshua so Satan’s accusations count for nothing.
God is not blind to Joshua’s plight or state. He is here
described as a stick snatched from the fire. This is an allusion to his rescue
from Babylon. Note that Jude 23 uses a similar analogy.
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