Standing before the Lord: Exposition of Zechariah 3:1-7. A message given by Tom Whiteman at Cornerstone Church Omaha, NE 11/24/2013

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1 Standing before the Lord: Exposition of Zechariah 3:1-7 A message given by Tom Whiteman at Cornerstone Church Omaha, NE 11/24/2013 Introduction: Well, this morning we re going to be looking at the Old Testament book of Zechariah and I ve simply titled this message Standing before the Lord although I could have just as easily titled it The Gospel according to Zechariah. That s exactly what the Lord has revealed to Zechariah in this vision and thankfully the Lord has preserved this vision in the text of His word so that we can see what Zechariah saw along with him. I m hoping to show you a couple things; one is a compliment from the Old Testament to what Pastor Jim has been preaching on over the last weeks from the book of Romans, that God is Completely Sovereign & Man is nonetheless responsible and those two propositions are totally compatible though how they are is yet a mystery. Another though, and more important to me, is I want you to see just how much God loves and graciously treats His people despite their great sin against Him and how Awesome He is and worthy of our worship. Lastly, I want you see the promise of God to His people for redemption. Let s go ahead and take a peek and then I ll do my best to put this in historical context for you, join me in reading Zechariah Chapter 3:1-7 3 Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. 2 The LORD said to Satan, The LORD rebuke you, Satan! Indeed, the LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire? 3 Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and standing before the angel. 4 He spoke and said to those who were standing before him, saying, Remove

2 the filthy garments from him. Again he said to him, See, I have taken your iniquity away from you and will clothe you with festal robes. 5 Then I said, Let them put a clean turban on his head. So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments, while the angel of the LORD was standing by. 6 And the angel of the LORD admonished Joshua, saying, 7 Thus says the LORD of hosts, If you will walk in My ways and if you will perform My service, then you will also govern My house and also have charge of My courts, and I will grant you free access among these who are standing here. Provinence: As always, before we can just dive in and start swimming in the immediate text before us, we must back up and take a look at the pool it belongs to and where it is in the pool. Last time I showed you Micah 7 and we saw the Lord delivering messages of judgment and hope about the coming exile His people would be experiencing soon because of their rebellion and sin as a nation, do you remember? He was going to be exiling them to Babylon in order to cleanse the nation and also exact judgment. Now fast forward 70 or so years and we re seeing the first group of exiled Israelites returning to Jerusalem and beginning to rebuild the city and the Temple under the leading of the High Priest Joshua and Zerubbabel the Governor who had traveled back to Jerusalem from Babylon also under the orders of King Cyrus of Persia. But they have begun to receive some opposition from the people who had moved into their land and we can read about that in Ezra Chapter 4. Put your finger in the page and turn with me there. We read in Ezra 4:1-5 Now when the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the people of the exile were building a temple to the Lord God of Israel, 2 they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of fathers households, and said to them, Let us build with you, for we, like you, seek your God; and we have been sacrificing to Him since the days of Esarhaddon king of Assyria, who brought us up here. 3 But Zerubbabel and Jeshua and the rest of the heads of fathers households of Israel said to them, You have nothing in common with us in building a house to our God; but we ourselves will together build to the Lord God of Israel, as King Cyrus, the king of Persia has commanded us. 4 Then the people of the land discouraged the people of Judah, and frightened them from building, 5 and hired counselors against them to frustrate their

3 counsel all the days of Cyrus king of Persia, even until the reign of Darius king of Persia. You can read on and Ezra describes in more detail what this discouragement looks like, they have sent deceitful messages and accusations to the Kings of Persia after Cyrus and made untrue appeals that are simply causing legal delays and general hindrance much like today when an attorney files all kinds of paperwork to tie up a legal matter in court for so long that it eventually gets dropped altogether. That s what they were working for; they wanted to vengefully stop the Temple from being rebuilt. As a result, in Jerusalem, God s people began to imagine that their God had perhaps abandoned them. These outsiders were threatening violence and Despite that they had seen God s prophecy through Micah and others come true that they would return to their promised land the Israelites have already begun to doubt God and His promise and so the work on the Temple grinds to a slow crawl and eventually a halt. We can all relate to this I m sure on one level or another. The last time you ordered something from a catalog or online and then 2 weeks later it still hadn t arrived, who doesn t begin to wonder whether or not the place where you ordered it from has forgotten you or your order? Now imagine this same situation but now you also have one of the stores competitors sending you messages saying that they ve clearly forgotten you, you should just order it from us instead. Imagine the frustration and exasperation and anxiety that goes along with that. Well obviously the metaphor isn t perfect but you get the idea, those who d returned from exile are discouraged and confused and just becoming depressed really and so they are beginning to revisit rebellion and progress on the temple has basically stopped. So God raised up two prophets to encourage and urge on His people to complete the temple, Haggai and Zechariah. Little is known about Zechariah himself except that he was a priest who had come back with this first group of returned exiles. Through the prophesies and visions God gave to him though the people were reassured of the Lord s presence and sovereignty and so the work on the Temple began again and was eventually finished around 516 B.C. This is the historical

4 setting of the passage before us today in Zechariah 3, God has given the prophet a dream (night vision) that is meant to be greatly encouraging about God s presence with His people, his deliverance of them from the evil they re experiencing, how he will treat them in judgment and also includes a salvific promise for the whole nation. So now let s dive in and begin looking at Zechariah s vision. (The Good Part!!) Verse 1: Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. God seems to sneak Zechariah into His heavenly courtroom to have a look at what s going on. Regrettably, the Hebrew language is often very wooden and understated, and that s true of this whole passage. What this text seems to only say in a plain as day manner is really much more amazing and Terrifying than is being let on so let me set up the play that is about to be enacted before us. The characters involved are Joshua the high priest, this is the same Joshua mentioned in Ezra and Haggai as Jeshua. He begins the scene Standing before a character named The angel of the Lord. Later we ll see this character referred to as simply The Lord. That, coupled with other places in scripture where this title Angel of the Lord is used lead us to understand that Joshua is not merely standing before an angel, one of God s messengers, but in fact he is standing before the creator of the Universe Himself, Jehovah God. Standing next to Joshua on his right side, which is known as the place of accusation, is Satan. Even today in courtrooms we hold to this setup, the defendant on the left and the plaintiff or prosecutor on the right before the Judge. And here in this verse Satan is the only character whose motives and actions are revealed, he is here to accuse or make charges against Joshua the High Priest. At this point some of you may be wondering exactly how is this terrifying? Well in order to understand that we need to understand what the high priest is to Israel. God didn t just choose any old character for this vision to Zechariah, He chose Joshua the High Priest of Israel, someone who, as a priest himself, Zechariah would have complete knowledge of and understanding regarding his role. You see The High priest represented the whole nation before God. In Leviticus 4:3 we read if the anointed priest sins so as to bring guilt on the people, then let him offer to the LORD a bull without defect as a sin offering

5 for the sin he has committed. Do you see it? The sacrifice required if the High Priest sins is the same as that required for the sins of the whole nation! And if the High Priest does sin, he brings guilt on all the people of Israel. And now Zechariah is being shown The High Priest standing before Jehovah God and Satan the accuser standing there bringing charges of exactly that before the Lord. He is calling out Joshua (and by extension the nation of Israel) on his sins, he is there to say to God Look at this wretched man! He is unworthy, he is sinful, he is unrighteous and you should wipe him off the face of the earth! There s another thing I want you to notice too. What is Joshua doing? Is he offering a defense for himself? No, he isn t saying a word, he is just standing before the angel of the Lord, because he has no defense. There is nothing he CAN say. He deserves exactly what Satan is calling for, immediate and eternal destruction, and by extension so also does the whole people of God. And Zechariah knows this too, he isn t ignorant of what this means. So now you see what the wooden language of the text doesn t immediately reveal to those of us who didn t grow up in Jerusalem 2600 years ago, it s a very tense beginning to the scene and with all eyes wondering What will Jehovah do? Will he destroy Joshua? Things are looking pretty grim but Check out what God does next. Verse 2: The LORD said to Satan, "The LORD rebuke you, Satan! Indeed, the LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?" The tension mounts and finally The Lord speaks! But amazingly it s not in judgment against Joshua, no instead it s against his accuser! The Lord rebukes Satan! This word Rebuke doesn t just mean put down or correct. The Lord repeats Himself for emphasis and used here rebuke is an action meaning to utterly sweep away completely. It s as if God, with a wave of His mighty hand, completely wipes not only Satan but his accusations also from the scene and we hear no more of either. And Notice the Lords explanation of why, He says He has Chosen Jerusalem. Joshua represents Israel, which is often just referred to as Jerusalem in the Old Testament and so The Lord is indicating in His rebuke that He has Chosen Israel and will not just wipe them away. He takes ownership of them as His chosen people and because of this divine election he will keep His promises to

6 them and not merely wash them away. The Lord finishes His rebuke with Is this not a brand plucked from the fire? The picture is that before the brand (or stick) can be burned up in the flames, He pulls it out and preserves it from destruction. He keeps it from the eternal punishment for sin. But that s not all He is going to do for Israel. He won t only be preserving them from destruction. Look at the next couple of verses again: Verses 3-4-5: Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and standing before the angel. 4 He spoke and said to those who were standing before him, saying, "Remove the filthy garments from him." Again he said to him, "See, I have taken your iniquity away from you and will clothe you with festal robes." 5 Then I said, "Let them put a clean turban on his head." So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments, while the angel of the LORD was standing by. Israel now has a problem. How does it deal with the idea that God will wipe away the accusations and yet they are still sinful? Even though Satan and his Charges have been wiped from the scene, Joshua is standing there dirty, in his filthy garments before God, where he does not belong because of his unrighteousness. This word Filthy here is the strongest descriptive term for filth and vileness in the whole Hebrew language. It s not just dirty like dirt or the stuff your vacuum picks up. No, this word is describing dirty as in feces or dung or all the stuff in a sewer in New York, with all the offensive senses that go along with it. So the picture is Joshua standing before the Lord in Dungy, sewer soaked robes. How can God bless His chosen people when they are so filthy it is not right that they even be standing before Him? And notice that Joshua is still culpable for this filthiness and by extension Israel is culpable for it. No one in the scene has said otherwise and every action by every party seems to acknowledge this fact. They are responsible for this sin, they are at fault, and now The Lord must take action because they are unable. He has said He has chosen them and so He will now make them able to stand before Him legally. See what He does in Verse 4? Apperantly there are some angels in the scene we didn t know about till now and the Lord speaks and tells them to remove Joshua s dirty clothes! I can imagine at this point that Zechariah is, while still in a little shock from the interaction with Satan, starting to

7 get excited by what the Lord is doing. He has removed Joshua s filthy clothes, wiping them too from the scene as He had done with Satan and his charges and now Joshua stands naked before the Lord. He is completely exposed but free from the offense of his Filth. Now, the thing that had made Satan s charges true and had given God every reason to remove them from His presence is Gone! Do you see it yet? In His awesome divine mercy God has taken their sin away! It s gone! And it doesn t stop there! God says See, I have taken your iniquity away from you which is so merciful and awesome in and of itself but then He says and will clothe you with festal robes! What a gracious, Loving God this is! Not only is He showing how Merciful He is by clearing away their offense, their sin, by removing Joshua s polluted robes But He is Showing how Gracious He is by giving Joshua new robes too that he doesn t remotely deserve! And not just any new robes either, but these are special robes fit for a festival! And at this point Zechariah can t hold it in any more. He s crazy excited by what The Lord of heaven is doing before his eyes and he just blurts out in verse 5 Let them put a clean turban on his head! In effect the prophet is saying Finish it off, go all the way! because the High Priests turban was no ordinary hat either. It had a sign on it which read Holy to the Lord so what Zechariah is calling to see is for God to declare Joshua accepted and holy as the High Priest of Israel. Because he knows that this acceptance of Joshua also means the Lords acceptance of all the nation of Israel! And the Lord does not disappoint. You see at the end of verse 5 So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments, while the angel of the LORD was standing by. The Lord is now standing there in approval, no longer in the place of judgment but to the side, waiting for the ministering angels to finish clothing Joshua in the beautiful new righteous robes He has given him. Joshua can now stand blameless before God. But the Lord isn t finished, no it just keeps getting better. Look at verses 6 & 7. Verses 6 & 7 And the angel of the LORD admonished Joshua, saying, 7 Thus says the LORD of hosts, If you will walk in My ways and if you will perform My service, then you will also govern My house and also have charge of My courts, and I will grant you free access among these who are standing here.

8 God now also has a promise for Joshua. But it s a promise with some conditions. God tells Joshua that he will be in charge of His house and His courts and he will be able to gain counsel and wisdom and help from all those left in the scene. He will be able to access God s presence, But only if he will walk in the ways of God and perform his priestly service to Israel as their High Priest who is now blameless, justified by God. And as the representative of Israel this means God is also making a promise to them, that if they will be obedient to Him and that if they will again be His beacon of Holiness, His righteous example to all the nations of the world, then they will too enjoy His presence and counsel and blessing and have access to Him. What a great God!! He has seen the depth of the sin of Israel and yet He has chosen them for himself and snatched them from the fire and made them justified in His sight and blotted out their sin! Application: Well, You can see how this would be a great message of encouragement to a people newly returned from exile and now experiencing all kinds of internal and external opposition. Their God is still with them! And not only is He still with them, but He still loves them, They are still His chosen people, He will still be merciful and gracious to them and will bless them! Next week Pastor Jim will begin Romans 11 and the first verse of that chapter of Romans fits in perfect with God s message in this vision. Paul says I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew. But what does Zechariah s vision offer to Christians today? The answer is really simple, The very same encouragement and message. First it s an incredibly clear picture of the Gospel and how that works. As we ve read in Romans 8:33 Who will bring a charge against God s elect? God is the one who justifies; 34 who is the one who condemns? You see, Just as in Zechariah s vision where God takes the filthy robes off of Joshua and replaces them with righteous robes of His own, When we come Standing before the Lord He takes our filthy sewage polluted robes from us and Gives us robes of His very own, making us righteous in His sight. Theologians (and Paul in the verse we just read) call this Justification. This is a legal standing, God makes His people legally

9 able to be in His presence by removing their sin and replacing it with His own righteousness, namely the righteousness of Christ. Those who come before the Lord in confession, exposing their sinfulness to the Lord as Joshua had exposed his on his Robes before God, will receive the same treatment Joshua did here. The Lord will remove their filthy robes and replace them with the righteous robes of Jesus Christ and bring them into His presence. Jesus himself described this reality in His parable about the prodigal son recorded in Luke 15, and I m convinced that He had this vision in mind in that parable, but do you remember what happens? The son comes before the Father in verse 21 and says Father, I have sinned against heaven and in your sight; I am no longer worthy to be called your son. It s the exact same position that Joshua was in with Satan accusing him. He was no longer worthy and neither was Israel. But just as the Lord said to Joshua in our text today, the father says in Jesus parable of Luke 15 in verse 22 Quickly bring out the best robe and put it on him. So God hears the confession of the repentant sinner and removes from them the guilt for their sins and instead puts on them the righteousness of His very own Son Jesus Christ, making them righteous in His sight and legally able to stand before Him because He no longer see s their filth and instead sees Jesus Christ. For anyone here today not already a believer, know that at this very moment you are in the same dangerous place that Joshua was in. You are covered in filthy robes as a result your sin, as a result of your rebellion against a Holy God! But also like Joshua, you too can be made clean! God can take away your sin! In fact the guilt for your rebellion has already been paid for by one who was perfect and Sinless Himself, The Lord Jesus Christ on the Cross! And by turning from your rebellion, stopping your sin, and coming before Him and showing Him your sin as Joshua did in the text we looked at today, He can and will make you new, wiping away your guilt and putting on you the bright clean robes of Jesus. It doesn t matter what you ve done or thought, God is great and powerful and can wipe them away if you ll only come before Him and turn away from sin. And if you re a believer in this room today, be encouraged! See how awesome and sovereign and loving and gracious your God is; that He would take away your guilt for your very own sins, even those you have yet to commit, and instead gives to you the righteousness of His Son Jesus Christ. The very righteousness that Jesus Suffered and died on the cross to make yours

10 by taking your guilt on Himself. And also beloved, notice that God s command is fit for you. If you will make His ways your Ways and perform the service that Paul says God prepared beforehand in Ephesians 2:10, Then you will also experience the rich blessing of growing in God s presence and goodness for all eternity. Lets Pray.