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Zechariah 3:8-10

8"'Listen, O high priest Joshua and your associates seated before you, who are men symbolic of things to come: I am going to bring my servant, the Branch. 9See, the stone I have set in front of Joshua! There are seven eyes on that one stone, and I will engrave an inscription on it,' says the LORD Almighty, 'and I will remove the sin of this land in a single day. 10"'In that day each of you will invite his neighbor to sit under his vine and fig tree,' declares the LORD Almighty."


Those who were seated there are said to be symbolic of things to come. I believe these are the patriarchs and types and shadows of Christ in the Old Testament. They are symbolic of the things to come, colon, God's servant the Branch. Later on, Joshua is called the Branch, because he does become symbolic of the Branch to come. This reference is to the reality, Jesus. See Isaiah 11:1; Jeremiah 33:15. The true Branch is a descendant of David of the tribe of Judah. This man, Joshua, is a priest and therefore of the tribe of Levi. Joshua would join this group of men whose lives were a foreshadowing of Jesus, if he walked in the ways of the Lord.

The stone, Jesus, is referred to as the rock, the rock of offense, the cornerstone, and the capstone. A rock is something solid that remains. In Revelation chapter one, John sees the seven spirits of God before the throne. There are seven eyes upon this rock in front of Joshua. In several ways we see Jesus in this rock. And the LORD Almighty says He will (future tense) engrave an inscription on it and remove the sins of the land in one day. When were the sins of a nation ever removed in one day? Good Friday! And what was the inscription on the rock? What marks on the rock have to do with our salvation? Isaiah 53 tells us, "Surely he took up our infirmities and carried our sorrows yet we considered him stricken by God, smitten by him and afflicted." They are strikes of the Engravers tool on the rock.

Consider: There, forever on display for the spiritual world to see, are the marks that verify our redemption.