‘This is what Jehovah of armies has said, “If it is in my ways that you will walk, and if it is my obligation that you will keep, then also it will be you that will judge my house and also keep my courtyards; and I shall certainly give you free access among these who are standing by.”’”​—Zechariah 3:5-7.

26, 27. What obligations to Jehovah would Joshua conscientiously keep, in order to enjoy what privileges?

²⁶ Joshua surely must have desired to judge Jehovah’s “house” of Israel according to divine law and to keep the courtyards of God’s temple.

²⁷ Hence Joshua would take to heart the admonitory witness from the angel and walk obediently in Jehovah’s way and conscientiously keep his obligation to Jehovah, so as to prove worthy of the privileges mentioned.

28. Who were those standing by in the vision among whom Joshua was to have free access, and how was this to be?

²⁸ Besides that, Joshua would be given “free access among these who are standing by.” It was the heavenly angels who were standing by in the vision; and just as they had access to God in heaven, so Joshua as high priest could approach God directly as an intermediary for the house of Israel. He would also be honored with the privilege of entering into the Most Holy of the completed temple of Jerusalem on the annual Day of Atonement.

29. In the postwar period, what does the heavenly High Priest do about walking in Jehovah’s way, keeping His obligation, judging His house and keeping His courtyards?

²⁹ Jesus Christ is, of course, the ideal High Priest for all the world of mankind.

He has always walked in God’s way and kept his obligation to God. But after the experiences of his dedicated, baptized disciples on earth during World War I, he sees to it that the remnant of his underpriests learn more clearly God’s way in order to walk in it, and he helps them to discern more fully their holy obligation to Jehovah God, so as to keep it completely. His glorious priestly garments are pictured in the Revelation that he gave to the apostle John, in which the glorified Lord Jesus is seen walking among the seven golden lampstands. (Revelation 1:12 to 2:1) He faithfully judges the house of spiritual Israel according to the law of the new covenant. He guides them in the earthly courtyards of Jehovah’s spiritual temple, assigning to them their spiritual duties there.

30. How does the heavenly High Priest have “free access among these who are standing by,” and from when on and to what extent?

³⁰ The earthly high priest, Joshua the son of Jehozadak, began entering the Most Holy of the temple of Jerusalem in the year 515 B.C.E. (Ezra 6:15); but the spiritual High Priest, the Greater Joshua, entered into the antitypical, real Most Holy, heaven itself, in the year 33 C.E. He ascended to heaven and presented the merit of his human sacrifice in the very presence of Jehovah of armies. He now being made “better than the angels” and having “inherited a name more excellent than theirs,” he also can have “free access among these who are standing by,” that is, among the angels of heaven. He, above all others, can approach God directly and intercede in behalf of Jehovah’s worshipers on earth. As Jehovah prophetically said of him: “I will cause him to come near, and he must approach to me.”​—Jeremiah 30:21.