3:8 my servant the BRANCH. “The BRANCH” is one of the specifically designated names given by the Lord to His promised Messiah. It is He by whose work Joshua (and his people) can have their iniquity removed and their unclean garments exchanged for robes of righteousness. See other references to “the BRANCH of the LORD” (Isaiah 4:2; 11:1; Jeremiah 23:5; 33:15; Zechariah 6:12).

3:9 behold the stone. The “stone” must also speak of Christ, the “tried stone,” the “head-stone of the corner” (Isaiah 28:16; Psalm 118:22). The “seven eyes” on the stone would thus indicate, through the perfect number seven, the omniscience and omnipresence of the Messiah thus symbolized, through the Holy Spirit. He is also the “Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth” (Revelation 5:6). On this basis alone can iniquities be removed.