Now we come to the fourth vision of
Zechariah. The good news is that this one is a bit easier to understand, as
long as you have the right tools, and it’s a beautiful picture of what the
Lord's done for us as believers in this age.
In his vision, the prophet sees
before him the current Priest of that time whose name happened to be Joshua.
The setting is a courtroom, the Court of the Most High God. And in every
courtroom, you need a judge, an accuser, the accused, and the accused defender.
The accused is Joshua, who as High Priest represents the entire nation of
Israel. So who’s the Judge, and who’s the Defender? Well, the Defender
obviously is the Lord, but the strange thing is that the Defender of Joshua is
called both the “Angel of the Lord” in vs. 1 and “the Lord” in vs. 2. The best
interpretation I’ve found is this is not “an” angel but “the” Angel of the
Lord, which I believe is a
Pre-Incarnate vision of the Lord Jesus himself.
This "Angel of the Lord" rebukes Satan
(literally “The Accuser”) who—like his name suggests—accuses Israel before the
Lord of being unworthy of its blessings and preservation as a nation. For its
sins, it ought to be destroyed once and for all. What does the Angel do? Does
he dispute the accusations, saying that Israel really isn’t that bad? No. He
says that the Lord has chosen Israel and has snatched it from the flames. It
belongs to him, no matter what it does.
And then we see one of the clearest
and most poignant images of our salvation I’ve ever seen in either the O.T. or
N.T. He tells the angels assembled there to take off the filthy garments of the
High Priest (the Hebrew is very explicit about how nasty these garments are)
and clothe him in new garments, fresh and clean. My friend, this is your
salvation and mine. The prophet Isaiah put it this way: “I
delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me
with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of his righteousness, as a bridegroom
adorns his head like a priest, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.”
You and I, as sinners both inside and out, could never clean ourselves off. No
matter what soap we used, no matter how hard we scrubbed, we could never get
the stain out.
So the Lord doesn’t try to clean the
garments we’re wearing. He doesn’t tell us to reform or do better. He takes our
filthy garments off and gives us new ones. This “robe” is the righteousness of
Christ.
Like the poor animal who gave its life to clothe our First
Parents, this robe came at the ultimate cost.
And our salvation doesn’t stop
there, no sir. After they re-clothed Joshua, they placed a clean turban on his
head. This turban isn’t just a hat to keep the sun off your head. This turban completed the
“work uniform” of the priest. It said “Holiness To The Lord.” This reminds me
that my salvation contains more than mere salvation from ultimate judgment, as
wonderful as that is. No, when we’re redeemed from the Pit and clothed in his
righteousness, he makes us a priest in his name and
gives us an exalted purpose. You might think you’re insignificant and not
nearly as important as the great “Movers and “Shakers” in the world and in the
church, but you couldn’t be more wrong.
Verses 6-7 are the next step. As we
obey him and do things more and more his way, he gives us more authority.
Please notice that the Lord tells Joshua that he will have his place of work
“among those standing here,” “those” meaning angels. Yes, we will work
alongside angels in bringing about God’s purpose in the world.
And
finally the chapter answers the question which might be on the mind of the
reader: How will the Lord bring this about? How will he accomplish this? Well,
as N.T. believers we know the answer, but this chapter tells us as well.
It is the “Servant of the Lord,” the
“Branch,” both of which are terms for the Messiah, referring to his humility,
the human side of the God-man. He’s also the “Rock” who’s mentioned in vs. 9.
It’s “seven eyes” denote omniscience, a divine trait, so the passage also
speaks to his divine nature.
And when he completes his work,
everyone will “sit under [his] vine and fig tree,” a symbol of universal peace
and prosperity.
See, here’s the procedure we see in
this chapter: 1) God takes the initiative in calling us, 2) He removes our
nasty garments and clothes us in his righteousness, 3) He gives us a purpose,
our part in building up his Kingdom and in representing him to the outside
world, and 4) We gain a better understanding of what following him really
means, and when he’s finished his work, 5) all will be made right with the world
and the universe.
If you haven’t experienced what this
chapter is talking about or you’re not sure, then please read this. If you've received Christ, then visualize in your mind what the Lord did for you, and
what it cost him. Picture in your mind the removal of your own nasty sins and
the clothing of his righteousness. And wonder at his grace.
Lord Jesus, thank you so much for your
Robe of Righteousness. I know what it cost you. Help me to live up to what
you’ve called me to do, by your grace.
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