Zechariah 3:9

"For, behold, the stone that I have set before Joshua; upon one stone are seven eyes: Behold, I will engrave the graying thereof, saith Jehovah of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day."

Joshua (Jesus), the Branch, and My Servant, all in the previous verse, point squarely to the approaching Messiah; and there is no need to suppose that the stone which appears here is anything except another metaphor of the Son of God. The fact of the stone's having "seven eyes" seals the matter; for anything with eyes is alive; and that identifies this stone as "the living Stone," hailed by the apostles as Jesus Christ (1 Peter 2:6-9; Romans 9:32,33). (For extensive discussion of Christ as the Living Stone, see my commentary on Romans, pp. 352-357.)

Some have read the word "eyes" as "facets," alleging that the verse should read, "a single stone with seven facets."[22] From this, some would identify the stone as, "The stone prepared to be the headstone of the Temple."[23] This, however, would still make it mean Jesus Christ; because, our Lord himself said to the religious hierarchy in Jerusalem, "The stone which the builders rejected, the same was made the head of the corner" (Matthew 21:42), a manifest reference to himself. Still another deduction would make it a precious gem stone for an ornament of the dress of the High Priest; but even an unlikely "guess" of that kind cannot take away its identity with Christ for he is indeed the "precious stone" (1 Peter 2:6)! These and a great many other considerations bring us to full agreement with Clarke who wrote, "This (stone) means Christ and none other."[24] Feinberg also agreed that this is a third name for Messiah in this passage: "The allusion is to all the graces, beauties, and gifts of the Messiah."[25]

Failing to understand the quite Obvious metaphor of Christ the Living Stone in this passage, the critical scholars have emended, changed, rearranged, and perverted the text here in many ways in vain attempts to find a meaning they can comprehend; but as Baldwin said:

"In the absence of textual evidence for such changes, and therefore of objective criteria to act as a control, these changes reflect only the personal judgment of one or more scholars."[26]

We might add that none of the rearrangements, changes, and "improvements" that we have seen affords any clearer meaning or is any more easily understood than the text as it has come down to us.

"I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day ..." Hailey, following C. F. Keil, understood the "stone" of this passage to mean the kingdom of God, or the Church; but those interpretations also leave the identity squarely resting upon our Lord, for the Church, or kingdom, is his spiritual body. Keil has this great word regarding the "one day":

This one day is the day of Golgotha."[27] Amen! It was the day of the great Atonement when Jesus died for the sins of the whole world.