Zechariah 3 describes the account of the high priest Joshua who had sinned in some way and, in an ethereal sense, was standing before The Angel of the Lord, who was the pre-incarnate Christ.
The fascinating story depicts Satan standing next Joshua as the ultimate tattle-tale. The scriptures don’t detail what Joshua did that was wrong, but it clearly was a big-time offense if Satan thought it worthwhile to ridicule the priest in front of the Ultimate Angel.
How did the second Person of the Trinity respond?
Did He bash the priest for messing up so terribly?
No, He chose to overlook the accusations against the silent, humble priest and then He rebuked Satan.
“This man is like a burning stick that has been snatched from the fire,” the Angel of the Lord said in verse 2.
Satan was not bringing any news flash to Christ. For the future Messiah knew the priest had messed up.
Unlike Satan, though, Christ saw into the future regarding what a forgiven high priest could mean to the ministry of God’s Kingdom in that day.
Satan could only see failure and rejoiced at the idea of others falling terribly just as he had.
And unlike Satan, though, Joshua was humble and didn’t rationalize or cop an attitude toward Christ.
So as Joshua stood there with “filthy clothes” of sin, Christ told other angels to give the priest a different set of spiritual clothes. And these were not just any clothes. They were new clothes. And then he was given a new priestly turban, too.
Complete and new garments. That’s what Joshua received because of grace shown him by Christ.
Hmmm….. Instead of burning in fire, Joshua was given new garments of service.
Like I said….Hmmm…..
And then Joshua was given instructions on the care and use of those new clothes.
“This is what the Lord of Heaven’s Armies says: If you follow my ways and carefully serve me, then you will be given authority over my Temple and its courtyards. I will let you walk among these others standing here.” (verse 7).
Wow. In return for forgiveness and a restored commission to serve, Joshua simply had to do what he was supposed to be doing all along — obey and serve Christ.
If the high priest did that, he’d eventually stand eternally among the angels of glory.
I love the encouraging nature of this story.
Why? Because I fail from time to time and I need to know that humble acknowledgement of that fact to my Lord will not only lead to Christ rebuking Satan’s taunts but will also lead to my restoration of proper standing with the Lord and with serving the Church.
Please go to Christ when you’ve sinned. You can be sure that Satan is already there tattling.
If you’ll go with a humble heart, you’ll find a loving attitude wanting to pour grace and restoring power into your life.
That’s SO much better than thinking God didn’t see your sin and acting like you did nothing wrong.
As always, I love you
Martin
