A lesson from Zechariah - The Magnificent Courtroom Scene

This post is rather long and bit in depth, but I hope you may have some time to spare.....


The Magnificent Courtroom scene

Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the lord, and Satan standing at his right rand to accuse him.

And the Lord said to Satan, "The Lord rebuke you, O Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?" 

Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with filthy garments.

And the angel said to those who were standing before him, "Remove the filthy garments from him". And to him he said, "Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments."

Zechariah 3:1-4

• Let us take a second and try to understand the book of Zechariah

• The Context
• This passage is the fourth of the eight visions of Zechariah

• Vision of Horsemen who "patrol the earth" and report the condition of the earth; the Lord promises to build His house in Jerusalem - 1:7-17

• The Lord is jealous for Jerusalem and promises that His house will be built there and that the Lord's cities will overflow with prosperity

• Vision of four horns and four craftsmen; the horns have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem, and the craftsmen come to terrify and cast down the horns - 1:18-21

• The craftsmen will cast down those who have oppressed Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem
• Vision of a man with a measuring line in his hand who comes to measure Jerusalem
• Jerusalem will be inhabited , and the Lord will be in the midst of His people
• Vision of Joshua the high priest and the removal of his iniquity as the representative of the people
• Joshua will rule the Lord's house and courts, and the coming of His servant "the Branch" 

• Zechariah was sent as a prophet to encourage weak minds
• It was difficult to have hope in the midst of so much confusion
• A small portion of the nation had returned with the tribe of Judah, and then immediately there arose many enemies who hindered the building of the city and of the temple.
• When the faithful viewed all their circumstances, they could hardly entertain the thought of any hope of redemption, like was promised by God.
• So Zechariah strived to show that the faithful were to look beyond reason and logic, and direct their eyes and thoughts to the power of God.

 This is my favorite passage in the old Testament, because it so clearly portrays the Gospel of Jesus Christ. It is so magnificently beautiful. As I read it, I feel like I am sitting on a hill not far away, watching while this wondrous courtroom scene plays out.

• In my mind , I picture very a dark and gloomy place, a place without any hope, without any dreams 

• I can see a throne, but the One on the throne, The Judge, I can not look at because His perfection and righteousness is too much for me to bear.
• I can see a speechless man wearing horrible looking clothes, and the stench of his clothes I can smell even on the hill I am sitting on, and he is standing before the throne , about to be judged.
• I can see a prosecuting attorney, who looks like the most evil, demonic being I have ever seen. It is more than frightening just to look at him.

The scene is set, at least it is in my mind...

Then He showed me Joshua the high priest...

• Joshua the high priest is the Defendant 
• Who is Joshua the high priest?
• He is not the same Joshua as in Exodus
• He was one of the returned exiles (Hag. 1:1; spelled "Jeshua" in Ezra and in Nehemiah)
• As High Priest,
• He was an intermediary who was supposed to remove the Israelites defilement on the "Day of Atonement" 
• According to this passage he was of the chosen people "brand plucked from the fire".
• Better said or easier understood... He was the best the Israelites had to offer

....standing before the angel of the Lord...

•  The angel of the Lord is seated as Judge
• Who is the angel of the Lord?
• These passages give us a pretty good understanding of who the angel of the Lord is, (Gen. 16:7-13, Ex.3:1-6, Numbers 22:22-35, Judges 13:15-22, Psalm 34:7, Isaiah 63:9). In Scripture, particularly in the Old Testament their is a distinction between "the" angel of the Lord, and "a/an" angel of the Lord. Their is no instance where "the" angel of the Lord appeared in the New Testament, because He came down to live on earth for 33 years, His name was Jesus Christ.

• Jesus is the Judge 

• This makes sense after reading,
•  "And I will declare to the them, I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness." (Matt. 7:23)
• "The Father judges no one, but has given all judgment to the Son." (John 5:22)
• "For judgment I came into this world, so that those who do not see, may see, and that those who see may become blind." (John 9:39)

•  "I charge you in the presence of God and of Jesus Christ, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom" (2 Tim. 4:1) 

 ..., and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him.

• Satan is the Prosecutor
• This has been Satan's sport since he was cast out of heaven. He is the  "accuser of our brothers" (Rev. 12:10). 
• "The thief comes only to steal, kill, and destroy" ( John 10:10).

•  This was very bad for Joshua, because the best prosecutor in the universe was standing right beside him , accusing him!!
• But what sin or crime had Joshua committed?

Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with filthy garments.

• In this passage, the high priest of Jerusalem was standing before Jesus the Judge wearing "filthy garments"
• According to the Hebrew text that meant "clothed with garments that were soiled with excrement". He was standing before Jesus wearing clothes that were soiled with dung!
• This posed a tremendous problem
• What a terrible thing to do! To come and stand before Jesus , the King of Kings wearing dung rags? He deserved nothing short of death! He deserved wrath!
• Joshua had nothing to say for himself. He had no defense.
•  And this was the man who was to be mediator through whom the defilement of the Israelites on the "Day of Atonement"!?
• What was Joshua going to do? He had no defense lawyer, he had nothing. There was no hope.... until the Judge decided to give the verdict

And the Lord said to Satan, "The Lord rebuke you, O Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not a brand plucked from the fire?

• Jesus the holy Judge ruled Satan's charges inadmissible
• Only on the basis of His election of Jerusalem and Joshua "The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem.....is not a brand plucked from the fire?"
• This is wondrously and amazingly beautiful

And the angel said to those who were standing before him, "remove the filthy garments from him." And to him he said, "Behold I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments."

• Christ commanded the removal of Joshua's "filthy garments", his dung-filled clothes
  
• Christ then clothed him with "pure vestments"
• These "pure vestments" were garments suitable for him to wear in the presence of  the King of Kings

• The "filthy garments" represented Joshua's sin
• The "pure vestments" represented Christ's righteousness, which was imputed to Joshua by Christ himself

Do you see why I love this passage? Isn't it beautiful?

But I must go a step further...

• How does this passage apply to you and I?

•   The Triune God is the Judge
• Psalm 7:11-12 - He is a righteous Judge, who has indignation every day, and if a man does not repent, He will sharpen His sword; He has bent His bow and has made it ready. 

• Psalm 11:7 - He is righteous, he loves righteousness; the upright will behold His face.

• Isaiah 5:16- He will be exalted in Judgement, He will show Himself holy in righteousness

•  You and I are the defendant
• Gen.6:5 - every intention of our heart is inclined towards evil

• Rom.3 - There is no good thing in us, we are totally depraved spiritually

• Jeremiah 17:9 - Our heart is deceitful and desperately sick

• Eph. 2. - 
• We are dead spiritually and can not activate ourselves
• We are defiled morally and can not rehabilitate ourselves
• We are dominated Satanically and can not liberate ourselves
• We are debilitated volitionally and can not elevate ourselves
• We are doomed eternally and con not exonerate ourselves

•  God's angry, fiery, wrath abides on you and I
• How can we defend ourselves?

• Satan is our accuser
• He is the grandest accuser in the whole  universe
• He is right in all of his accusations towards us
• He knows the depths of our sin better than we do
• He knows the scriptures and the consequences of not obeying them better than we do
• We are no match for him

• What can we do? We can do nothing, 
•  Can't we offer a sacrifice? No, because it will be an unholy sacrifice
• Can't we start trying to live perfect lives? No, that is impossible since we are totally imperfect
• Even if we could start living perfect lives, we would still have to somehow atone for our imperfect life from beforehand
• Basically,we are doomed 
• Unless the perfect, righteous God comes down in human form and lives amidst temptation, persecution, and in all areas of life.

And, guess what... HE DID!!!! praise be to God!!

•   "Men of Israel, listen to these words : Jesus the Nazarene, a man attested to you by God with miracles and wonders and signs which God performed through Him in your midst, just as you yourselves know - this Man, delivered over by the predetermined plan and foreknowledge of God, you nailed to a cross by the hands of godless men and put Him to death. "But God raised Him up again, putting an end to the agony of death, since it was impossible for Him to be held in its power. "For David says of Him, 'I SAW THE LORD ALWAYS IN MY PRESENCE ; FOR HE IS AT MY RIGHT HAND, SO THAT I WILL NOT BE SHAKEN. 'THEREFORE MY HEART WAS GLAD AND MY TONGUE EXULTED ; MOREOVER MY FLESH ALSO WILL LIVE IN HOPE ; BECAUSE YOU WILL NOT ABANDON MY SOUL TO HADES, NOR ALLOW YOUR HOLY ONE TO UNDERGO DECAY. 'YOU HAVE MADE KNOWN TO ME THE WAYS OF LIFE ; YOU WILL MAKE ME FULL OF GLADNESS WITH YOUR PRESENCE.' "Brethren , I may confidently say to you regarding the patriarch David that he both died and was buried, and his tomb is with us to this day. "And so, because he was a prophet and knew that GOD HAD SWORN TO HIM WITH AN OATH TO SEAT one OF HIS DESCENDANTS ON HIS THRONE, he looked ahead and spoke of the resurrection of the Christ, that HE WAS NEITHER ABANDONED TO HADES, NOR DID His flesh SUFFER DECAY. "This Jesus God raised up again, to which we are all witnesses. "Therefore having been exalted to the right hand of God, and having received from the Father the promise of the Holy Spirit, He has poured forth this which you both see and hear. "For it was not David who ascended into heaven, but he himself says : 'THE LORD SAID TO MY LORD, "SIT AT MY RIGHT HAND, UNTIL I MAKE YOUR ENEMIES A FOOTSTOOL FOR YOUR FEET."' "Therefore let all the house of Israel know for certain that God has made Him both Lord and Christ -this Jesus whom you crucified." Now when they heard this, they were pierced to the heart, and said to Peter and the rest of the apostles, "Brethren , what shall we do ?" Peter said to them, "Repent, and each of you be baptized in the name of Jesus Christ for the forgiveness of your sins ; and you will receive the gift of the Holy Spirit." (Acts 2:22-38)

• For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him shall not perish, but have eternal life.(John 3:16)

• He who believes in Me, as the Scripture said, 'From his innermost being will flow rivers of living water. (John 7:38)

• For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son,  in whom we have redemption, the forgiveness of sins. (Col. 1:13)

•  Now after John had been taken into custody, Jesus came into Galilee, preaching the gospel of God,  and saying, "The time is fulfilled, and the kingdom of God is at hand ; repent and believe in the gospel." (Mark 1:15)

       My dear friends, we are all sinners. We are under the power of sin and the wrath God. Unless our sin can be atoned for, we are doomed and will suffer eternally in hell under the wrath of God.

But there is a way,

•  Repent of our sin - which is a work of God by which we make a conscious turning of our back toward sin. We will not be perfect, but our motivation and action will be a constant hate towards sin 

• Believe in Jesus Christ's work on the cross - which is a work of God by which we will no longer look to our good works for salvation , but we will look to the atoning sacrifice of Jesus Christ on the cross for our salvation

• And we will be saved, we will be new creatures in Christ, and His righteous will be imputed onto us.

• Life will not be easy , in fact it will be much harder, because we will be battling sin and temptation, dealing with possible persecution for our faith, and all the effects of living on this fallen sinful earth.

• The Spirit of God will be constantly and continuously sanctifying us into the image of Christ, until our time on earth is finished. 

• At that point, the day we stand before the Triune God, we will be able to boldly stand before Him on judgement day on the basis of His Son's perfect atoning work on the cross.

• We will no longer have to battle the effects of the world (sin, tragedy, temptation, death.. etc.) because we will be changed into new beings! We will get to spend all of eternity enjoying all of the pleasures of worshiping and glorifying God! Amen!

• In the Old Testament book of Hosea 

• Israel at that time was rebelling against God 

• They had been rebelling against God and living in sin  

• What was God's response?
• Therefore, behold, I will allure her, bring her into the wilderness and speak kindly to her. (Hosea 2:14)
 

• In the New Testament book of John
• There was a woman who had been caught in the act of adultery
• At that time the consequence of that was death by stoning

•  What was Christ's response?
• Jesus said to her, "Woman, where are they? Did no one condemn you?" She said , "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "I do not condemn you, either. Go. From now on sin no more."

Oh, The wonder and grace of our Lord which surpasses all knowledge and understanding!

Are you still without the grace of Christ?

• Repent and believe in Him for your salvation
• Dethrone yourself
• Stop trusting in yourself and your good works
• Look to and fall in love with, His perfect finished work on the cross!

Oh, I beg you! Run to Him! 

In Jesus Christ, you will find grace, peace and salvation my dear friend!