ZECHARIAH 3


1 And he shewed me Yahoshua the high priest standing before the angel of Yahweh, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.

The apocalyptic or Roman-Satan is the great enemy of Jerusalem, and of all related to her. Zechariah saw it in vision, when he saw the Satan standing at the right hand of Joshua to resist him. In all the times of the Gentiles, during which Jerusalem and the saints are trodden under their feet, the Holy City is subjected to the Satan.

When these are fulfilled, then Yahweh who hath chosen Jerusalem, will rebuke the Satan, in "rebuking strong nations afar off," and making them powerless (Mic. 4:3); and

"pluck Jerusalem as a brand out of the fire" - Zech 2: 5.

Her warfare will then be accomplished; and her deliverer will be a wall of fire round about her, and the glory in the midst of her.

Eureka 12.15

.


'...the Adversary should not finally prevail is indicated by the words of Yahweh to the Adversary...


2 And the Yahweh said unto Satan, Yahweh rebuke thee, O Satan; even the Yahweh that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?

This is, that although the Adversary that possessed Jerusalem might resist the High Priest of the Order of Melchizedec, and wound him in the heel, He shall, nevertheless, wrest Jerusalem from his grasp, and restrain, or bind him, as is apocalyptically represented in ch. 20:1-3.



3 Now Yahoshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel.

The filthy garment was the Human Nature, which the Word of the Deity was clothed with in His flesh-manifestation.

"Jesus Anointed" is expressive of this idea.

Eureka 19.5.


He sees Yahoshua, the High Priest of the Restoration, angelized, and clothed in filthy garments. That is, he represents the Christ, in the capacity of Yahweh's Messenger, "the Angel of the Covenant," clothed with "the flesh of sin," in which, Paul tells us "dwells no good thing."

While Yahoshua was in these filthy garments, Zechariah sees the Adversary at his right-hand; that is, in power, standing to resist him. This represents the resistance of power that would be brought to bear against the Christ in the days of his flesh.



Yahoshua was clothed with filthy garments

The filthy garment was the Human Nature, which the Word of the Deity was clothed with in His flesh-manifestation.

"Jesus Anointed" is expressive of this idea.

Eureka 19.5.



...the scriptures of the prophets all testified for him. They show that Israel's Messiah is to appear among them in two characters, first like Joshua, the son of Josedeck, in his filthy garments in humiliation with the iniquity of Israel laid upon him; and secondly, like the same high priest in a change of raiment and a fair mitre upon his head, judging the Lord's kingdom, and keeping his courts, being

"clothed with the garments of salvation, and covered with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels."

The iniquity of Israel met upon the head of Jesus and laid him in the grave; but God gave him a change of raiment in raising him from the dead; by which resurrection he became God's Son with power according to his holy spiritual, or incorruptible, nature.

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, Apr 1851



We do not deny‭ "‬the perfect sinlessness of Christ.‭"

‭ ‬This is another fiction of the baptistic editorial brain.‭ ‬We believe and teach that he was‭ "‬holy,‭ ‬harmless,‭ ‬undefiled,‭ ‬and separate from sinners‭;" ‬and that‭ "‬he was in all points tried as we,‭ ‬yet without sin.‭"

This was his intellectual and moral status‭; ‬yet was he not perfect.‭

This he says of himself,‭ ‬and therefore we may safely affirm it with him.‭ ‬He tells us that he was not perfected until the third day‭; ‬when he was perfected in recompense for his obedience unto death.‭ ‬That which was imperfect was‭ ‬the nature with which the Logos,‭ ‬that came down from heaven to do the Father's will,‭ ‬clothed himself.‭ ‬That nature was flesh of the stock of Abraham,‭ ‬compared in Zech.‭ ‬3:3,‭ ‬to‭ "‬filthy garments,‭" ‬typical of

‭ "‬the infirmity with which he was compassed.‭"

For this‭ "‬infirmity‭" ‬called‭ "‬himself,‭" ‬and for all of the same infirmity associated with him by faith in the covenants made with Abraham and David‭; ‬and in Him as the Mediator thereof‭; ‬he poured out his blood as a covering for sin.‭ ‬Upon this principle

‭ "‬his own self bare our sins‭ ‬in his own body to the tree.‭"

‬Sins borne in a body prove that body to be imperfect‭; ‬and characterize it as σαρξ ἁμαρτιας‭ ‬sin's flesh.‭ ‬Sin's flesh is imperfect,‭ ‬and well adapted for the condemnation of sin therein.‭ ‬Sin could not have been condemned in the flesh of angels‭; ‬and therefore the Logos did not assume it,‭ ‬but clothed himself with that of the seed of Abraham.‭ ‬Hence,‭

‭"‬the Deity sent his own Son in the identity of‭ ‬Sin's flesh,‭ ‬and for sin,‭ ‬condemned sin in the flesh‭; ‬that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us,‭ ‬who walk not after the flesh,‭ ‬but after the Spirit.‭"

This condemnation accomplished,‭ ‬the body slain was made alive again,‭ ‬and perfected,‭ ‬so that it now lives for the Aion of the Aions,‭ ‬as‭

‭"‬the Lord the Spirit.‭"

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, Jan 1860



4 And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment.

While Zechariah was beholding, he saw the garments of Joshua, the High Priest, changed; and was instructed that the action represented the putting away of iniquity which the priest is supposed to bear. In this we see, by the light of the New Testament, the change of nature, or body, in relation to the Christ, "whom," says Paul, "we know henceforth no more after the flesh." He was crucified in "flesh of sin;" and then sin was "condemned in the flesh." But when he rose again he became spirit-body, called by Paul spirit of holiness (Rom. 1:4).

Eureka 1.1.5.


The garment of humanity became changed raiment by the transforming power of Spirit in the moment of its ascent to consubstantiality with the Father. In this instantaneous quickening on the third day, the name of King of kings and Lord of lords, the name of the Invisible Father, was written, or engraved, into the blood-stained substance, or veil, that was rent upon the cross.

In this process of inscription, the humanity was transmuted into the Divine Nature

Eureka 19.5.



8 Hear now, O Yahoshua the high priest, thou, and thy fellows that sit before thee: for they are men wondered at: for, behold, I will bring forth my servant the BRANCH.

Christ is now the High Priest over the household of God, which is composed of those who believe and obey the gospel of the kingdom; and of such only. This is true. He is not now the Advocate with the Father for the Jewish nation, nor for any of the non-Israelite races of the earth.

At his future advent he does not cease to be a priest; he only discontinues the work of making reconciliation for his household. When the last member shall be added, and reconciled, he will leave the presence of the Father, commissioned to announce, who of all that have been immersed are regarded by the Father as worthy of sharing with Jesus in the kingdom and glory:" for many will have been called; but of these few only will be chosen.

After this, he will officiate for the saints as a priest. They will be all acting priests, and he their chief; by being then in possession of "the great salvation," he will not be mediating for them in the work of the redemption.

This household work accomplished, he enters upon the business of setting up the kingdom, which is to break in pieces and consume all other kingdoms. When he has effected this, he sits upon the throne of that kingdom as a Priest upon his throne, and bearing the glory. Zech. 6:13.

He then occupies the positions of Aaron and of David; of Aaron, as High Priest of the twelve tribes of Israel; and of David, as king over them. He continues the High Priest and King of that nation for a thousand years; during which time, as the nations are then tributary to Israel, Christ is High Priest and King to them all; that is, to the whole world.

Those of the millennial generations who desire to live forever after the thousand years are expired, will have to conform to conditions which are not yet revealed; but which are summarily indicated "as the law which goes forth from Zion, and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem."

Having reigned till he has put all enemies under his feet, the millennium will have closed, and Christ's mission will be fully accomplished, which is to extirpate sin and its consequences from the world. There being then, no more sin to expiate, the Son delivers up the priestly kingdom to the Father. The wicked having been exterminated, the righteous only remain, who by this time have become, all of them, immortal; for "there is no more death," and "every curse ceases."

Consequently, all the inhabitants of the earth are then immortal. Christ and the premillennial saints cease to be priests; but continue to be kings in all the post-millennial eternity: while the commonalty of their dominion are those that have been taken out from the milleniel generations by the obedience of faith peculiar to the dispensation-equal in nature to Christ and his brethren, but of inferior rank and dignity.

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, June, 1855



There was peculiar appropriateness in using Joshua as a type of Christ, because of his name, his office, and his work. His name is the name of Jesus . . . not merely that it has the same meaning as Jesus, but that it is the same name. Jesus is but the form of the Hebrew Joshua or Yah-hoshua, when it has come through the Greek language into English.

...as to his office, Joshua, son of Josedec, was AARONIC HIGH PRIEST, in which capacity he was the already constituted type of him who is the real intercessor between God and man unto life eternal. Then as to his work, Joshua had to build in the temple of God on the return of the nation from captivity in Babylon.

In this also he fitly represented the Melchisedec High Priest, who is not only the builder of the spiritual temple of living stones, but who at the restoration from the modern Babylon will build the latter house, spoken of by Haggai and shown to Ezekiel, whose glory will exceed all former temples - to which the nations will seek, in which the throne of the lord will be established, and in which peace will be assured to all the world.

Then "the crowns will be to them of the captivity," even to Joshua and his fellows (Jesus and his brethren), who after long and bitter suffering, will reign in glory.

"And they that are far off shall come and build in the temple of the Lord," and then, says the prophet, as representing Christ, "shall ye know that the Lord of Hosts hath sent me unto you."

There is wonderful force in this as applied to the situation of affairs that will exist when Jesus is manifested in the earth as Yahweh's servant,

"to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved of Israel" (Isa. 49:6).

When Jesus presented himself to Israel at his first appearing, they denied that the Lord of Hosts had sent him unto them. For 18 centuries they have been permitted to blaspheme his name in all the countries in which they have been scattered for their sins.

What can they say when, at his return, he shows himself to be their Messiah in the expulsion of the enemy from the land, in the rebuilding of desolate cities, and when "they that are afar off," the sons of the stranger, troop in glad crowds from all lands at his summons to build up their walls, yea, even to "build in the temple of the Lord." Mild but powerful are the words

"Ye shall know that the Lord of Hosts hath sent me unto you."

The knowledge of it will humble them as never nation has been humbled. They mourn and are ashamed to discover that he whom their fathers crucified and whose name they have execrated with every bitterness of malediction during the long night of their dispersion, is the very Son of the living God.

Such an arrangement is a beautiful triumph of divine wisdom. A nation exalted as the Jewish nation will be, as the first people of the kingdom of God under Christ would be liable to that pride which has been shown by the imperial peoples of all history, and which is seen more or less in every metropolis of the present day - a sentiment utterly inadmissible in the Kingdom of God.

The way to it has been barred by the Jewish rejection of Christ. They will have nothing to boast of, but everything to be abased about. Their very existence at all will be a monument of mercy.

"An afflicted and a poor people," "all righteous," "rejoicing in the Lord,"

is the picture we have of them in the glad day when "righteousness shall spring out of the earth and mercy shall look down from heaven."

It is the national application of the principle observed in the selection of the highest apostles-Peter and Paul. Peter was allowed to deny his master; Paul, to persecute him in the persons of his brethren. They never could forget it.

"I am not worthy to be called an apostle."

The effect was to humble themselves in their own eyes - an essential qualification for the doing of any work of God. It is revealed that no man is acceptable with god who is proud. This is in accordance with the purest reason; man the powerless, favoured, permitted offspring of ALMIGHTY POWER, must be odious in the eyes of both God and man when swayed by a sentiment so out of keeping with his real standing in creation.

"That no flesh should glory in His sight,"

is the result aimed at in all His dealings with man. It is the explanation of the present position of the Truth; and here the matter comes home to ourselves.

Seasons 2.21.



9 For behold the stone that I have laid before Yahoshua; upon one stone shall be seven eyes: behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, saith the Yahweh hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.

The mind of the prophet, having been thus fixed upon Him who is to deliver Israel, and to rule over them in Jerusalem, becomes the subject of a vision in which is brought before him the Apocalyptic Stone, the Jasper and Sardine Stone, with Seven Eyes, the Head Stone, whose graving is of Yahweh; and which being laid before Yahoshua and Zerubbabel, men of sign, is representative of the Divine Governor and High Priest of the house of David.

He saw A STONE - laid before Joshua, upon which were Seven Eyes, which are declared to be the Eyes of Yahweh; therefore that Stone represented Yahweh the High Priest; the servant of his Father Yahweh, and named the BRANCH. Concerning this Stone, the reader can consult the following texts:- Ps. 118:22; Isa. 28:16; 8:14; Gen. 49:24; Dan. 2:34.

This Stone is Yahweh's signet, the inscription upon which is "HOLINESS TO YAHWEH," an engraving inwrought by the workmanship of Yahweh himself, as Zechariah was informed; and through which he will remove the iniquity of the land of Israel in one day; upon which every man therein shall call to his neighbour under the vine and under the fig-tree, emblems of the kingdom of the heavens.

Eureka 1.1.5.b



I will engrave the graving thereof

 It consists in the writing, stamping impressing, or engraving, of the thing designed, upon the subject, or material, to be engraved, stamped, or impressed. The writer, or engraver, is the Seven-Horned and Seven-Eyed Spirit (Apoc ch. 4:5; 5:6) who "engraves the graving thereof" (Zech. 3:9).

When the dead body prepared for the Spirit (Heb. 10:5) was restored to life, and had come fort from the sepulchre, the Spirit, "in a moment, in the twinkling of a eye," engraved upon it, or impressed it with, every attribute necessary to constitute it "the Lord from the heaven" - He "made it both Lord and Christ".

The precious stone had come out of the earth, whence a precious stones also come; but it had to be cut, polished, embroidered and adorned, to bring out all the beauties of which it was susceptible. This the Spirit effected in the operation of raising the risen body to consubstantiality with the Deity.

Now, it matters not whether it be one man to be made "the Lord from heaven," or a countless multitude of earthborns to be made the Holy Jerusalem "descending from the Deity out of heaven" - the operation is the same. Every individual is subjected to a like polishing embroidering, and adorning, as saith the Spirit who will do the won "Him that overcometh," saith he,

"I will make a pillar in the Nave of my Deity, and he shall go no more out; and I will write upon him the Name of my Deity, and the Name of the City of my Deity, New Jerusalem which cometh down out of heaven from my Deity; and my new Name" (ch. 3:12).



I will Remove the iniquity


"I will be as the dew unto Israel; he shall blossom as the lily, and strike forth his roots as Lebanon. His branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the Olive-Tree, and his smell as Lebanon. They that dwell under His shadow shall return; they shall revive as the corn, and blossom as the vine; the scent thereof shall be as the wine of Lebanon. Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols? I have heard, and observed him; I am like a green fir-tree. From me (O Ephraim) is thy fruit found. Who is wise, and he shall understand these things? Prudent, and he shall know them? For the ways of Yahweh are right, and the just shall walk in them; but the transgressors shall fall therein" (Hosea 14:5-9).


12 And I answered again, and said unto him, What be these two olive branches which through the two golden pipes empty the golden oil out of themselves?

"Ye are the Branches," said Jesus to his disciples; "and severed from me ye can do nothing." This is true, whether Jesus be regarded as a Vine, or as a Seven-Branched Lampstand. The branches of the Olive-Trees are connected with the Bowl by the two golden tubes, which makes them thus Branches of the Lamp. The Olive-Trees represent Israel after the flesh, and Israel after the Spirit, in their post-resurrectional relation to the Lamp of David's house.

Eureka 1.1.5.