{"id":10343,"date":"2022-02-20T18:28:00","date_gmt":"2022-02-20T23:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/?post_type=message&p=10343"},"modified":"2022-02-27T18:31:04","modified_gmt":"2022-02-27T23:31:04","slug":"a-vision-of-jesus","status":"publish","type":"message","link":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/message\/a-vision-of-jesus","title":{"rendered":"A Vision of Jesus"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Below is an automated transcript of this message<\/h3>\n\n\n\n Good <\/i><\/span>morning, church. We’re continuing our series today through the book of Zechariah. We will be in Zechariah, chapter three today.

\nWe’ve entitled this series, \u201cRepent and Return.\u201d The theme comes from chapter one, in the early verses, where the people of Israel have returned from exile in Babylon. But, have they returned to the Lord? The Lord says that if you’ll return to Me, I’ll return to you. This is the theme of the book.

\nIn today’s chapter, we’ve entitled this particular message, \u201cA Vision of Jesus.\u201d You will see why as we dig into the truth, as we consider the word of God. It’s certainly a book about us. It’s a book about things in the world, creation and so forth, but it’s primarily a book about God. Specifically, it’s primarily a book about Jesus and about how we can recognize Him and know Him. Today, especially, I think you’ll be glad to be here and read chapter three of Zechariah. It <\/i><\/span> describes a vision of the coming Messiah.

\nMany of us, today, are looking for something. We’re looking for something that would fulfill us, something that would bring us peace and satisfy our souls. We look in so many places as we’re growing up; we’ll look for something or someone that we think will fill our loneliness or give us purpose. But what we find, over time, is that nothing seems to completely satisfy. This is why the bible is about Jesus because we believe that Jesus is the only one that will truly satisfy our souls and our deepest longings.

\nI think it was in the 4th century AD, that a man, named Augustine, wrote this. He said, \u201cThou hast made us for Thyself, O Lord, and our hearts our restless until they find their rest in Thee.\u201d We were made for God. This is why we have this hole in our lives that we’re looking for.

\nAs we’re looking at Zechariah chapter three today, we can be reminded that the <\/i><\/span> people of God had been in exile for 70 years, away from their homeland of Jerusalem. Now, they’re back. More than any other generation, this particular generation is looking for a Messiah. They had heard for centuries that the Messiah would come, but this particular generation has been stripped of its identity. There is no king on the throne at this time. In fact, they’re under Persian rule now. They’re looking for one who would redeem them, who would set them free. They’re looking for a Messiah. They are asking their prophets, the prophet Haggai and prophet Zachariah, \u201cWhen’s He coming?\u201d Instead of answering that question in chapter three, the vision that Zechariah gets, it’s not so much when He is coming, but what He’s going to look like, so you’ll recognize Him when He does come and you can prepare yourself for His coming. This is what we will see in Zechariah, chapter <\/i><\/span> three. The prophet sees his fourth vision of eight visions.

\nIf you’ll remember, last week, we said we had a pretty precise date on when this was written. This was written on February 15, 520 BC. Apparently, Zechariah was up all night. He had eight night visions in a row. We have covered three of them already. We will be covering the fourth one now, in chapter three. This kind of sits at the midpoint. The first three visions were pretty strange.

\nThe fourth and fifth vision are a little bit more normal. The fourth vision is about a real person that lived during Zechariah\u2019s day named Joshua. He was the high priest. The fifth vision will be, primarily, about a man named Zerubbabel, who also lived during that time. The last three visions will get strange again. So, the first three visions are strange. The fourth and fifth visions are kind of real. And then, visions six through eight are strange again. We have <\/i><\/span> these two visions in the middle.

\nWe’re covering the fourth vision; as I read it today, you might think, \u201cWell this one’s pretty strange, too.\u201d It’s not as strange; it is about a real person named Joshua. In Zechariah, chapter three, Joshua is the high priest that Zechariah sees in this vision. Zechariah learned that the vision of Joshua was not just about him as a real person, but it was, also, a sign. It was a foreshadowing, a pointing to the Messiah that was to come and His work of salvation.

\nI believe, as we look at chapter three, we can recognize Jesus as the fulfillment of this Messianic prophecy and of this promise. As we look today, I think the text gives us four reasons that we can recognize Jesus as its fulfillment. Let’s dig in. Let’s look for Jesus in this chapter.

\n Zechariah 3:1-10 (ESV) 1 Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to accusehim <\/i><\/span>him. 2 And the LORD said to Satan, \u201cThe LORD rebuke you, O Satan! The LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this a brand plucked from the fire?\u201d 3 Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with filthy garments. 4 And the angel said to those who were standing before him, \u201cRemove the filthy garments from him.\u201d And to him he said, \u201cBehold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments.\u201d 5 And I said, \u201cLet them put a clean turban on his head.\u201d So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the LORD was standing by. 6 And the angel of the LORD solemnly assured Joshua, 7 \u201cThus says the LORD of hosts: If you will walk in my ways and keep my charge, then you shall rule my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you the right of access among those who are standing here. 8 Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who sit \nbefore <\/i><\/span>you, for they are men who are a sign: behold, I will bring my servant the Branch. 9 For behold, on the stone that I have set before Joshua, on a single stone with seven eyes, I will engrave its inscription, declares the LORD of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day. 10 In that day, declares the LORD of hosts, every one of you will invite his neighbor to come under his vine and under his fig tree.\u201d This is God’s word.

\nHow Jesus is the fulfillment of this Messianic vision:\n1. Jesus is the counsel for our defense.

\nIf you look at these opening verses, you can see that, what we have here in this vision, is what appears to be a heavenly courtroom scene. First of all, the high priest, Joshua, is standing before the Angel of the Lord. He’s, apparently, the defendant. Joshua is standing before the Angel of the Lord. The Angel of the Lord represents <\/i><\/span> the judge, but we also find out that he, also, represents the counsel for the defense. We’ll see that in just a second. The prosecuting attorney, the accuser, is Satan. As we open up here, we’re in a heavenly courtroom here in Zechariah. The curtain was pulled back. Zechariah catches a vision of this, the fourth vision.

\nWho is this \u201cAngel of the Lord?\u201d First of all, the \u201cAngel of the Lord,\u201d as we’ve talked about over the last couple of weeks, we believe to be the pre-incarnate Christ. What we mean by that is, this is before Jesus took on human flesh and became one of us. Christ is the second person of the Trinity: the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. He has always existed. There never was a time when Christ was not. He was present before creation. He’s always been present. He is eternal. But <\/i><\/span> there was a time, 2000 years ago, when he took on human flesh and became a man. This \u201cAngel of the Lord\u201d is speaking as if He is the Lord. Why? Because He is the Lord. He’s the pre-incarnate; this is before Christ came in the flesh.

\nWe see Joshua, whose name, in the Hebrew, is y\u1d4ah\u00f4\u0161\u00fba\u02bf which, when it’s given to us in English, is Jesus. It\u2019s the same name; it means, \u201cGod’s salvation, Yahweh is salvation, Yahweh saves.\u201d That’s what his name means.

\nIf you read in Ezra 3:2 and Haggai 1:1, we can see that this man, Joshua, was a real person. He was part of the 47,000 refugee exiles who came back to Jerusalem from Babylon. He was the son of Jehozadak , who was the son of Seraiah. Now, Seraiah was the last high priest that was over the <\/i><\/span> temple. When Nebuchadnezzar overthrew Jerusalem, destroyed the temple and murdered his grandfather Seraiah, he was the last active high priest under that period. Now, Jehozadak and his son, Joshua, go off to Babylon and Jehozadak never really gets to perform his duties as high priest.

\nNow, here’s Joshua; he\u2019s probably an old man returning with the exiles. There’s no temple to serve him; Zechariah gets this vision of him, of God preparing him for that ministry. There’s two things that need to happen. The temple needs to be rebuilt, but the high priest needs to be recommissioned for this ministry to take place. Here, we have an encouraging word to Joshua; he is not clean, he is not prepared and he is not commissioned, but the Lord is going to get him ready. This encourages Joshua and it’s also a word to encourage the people.

\nOkay, so let me give you a chart because I can’t get through one of these without a chart. Here comes a chart . <\/i><\/span>If you ever hear someone refer to the first temple, they’re talking about Solomon’s temple that was built around 960 BC. That temple was destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar in 586 BC. That’s temple number one. Now, Joshua would have been the one who came in; he would have been the first high priest under the second temple, which was built by Zerubbabel. Now, Zerubbabel was in the line of David. He would have been a king, but now he’s a governor. He’s the governor over the exiles who came back and he’s the one who commissions the temple to be rebuilt. They laid the foundation about 536 BC, but, because of people coming against them, the temple work had stopped. Now, prophets Zechariah and Haggai are contemporaries there preaching. Get back to work. Get the high priest ready. Get the temple ready. This has beenwritten <\/i><\/span> around 536-516 BC. They rebuilt the temple. And so the second temple is called \u201cZerubbabel\u2019s Temple.\u201d \tMany would refer to Herod’s temple as a third temple. I tend to think of it not really as a third temple because Zerubbabel\u2019s temple was never destroyed. It was just supersized by Herod. He expanded the temple mount and so he made it bigger. The third temple in my opinion, is the one that will be built before the time of the tribulation. The fourth temple would be \n\u201cEzekiel\u2019s Temple,\u201d the millennial temple. I usually don’t refer to Herod as the third; it’s more like Zarubabell\u2019s temple, supersized. Here we have Joshua, a real person, who will be the first high priest to serve in the second temple.

\nThe angel of the Lord is there and Satan is standing at his right <\/i><\/span> hand to accuse him. The word, \u201cSatan,\u201d means \u201caccuser, adversary, enemy of God.\u201d Here, you’ll see that \u201cSatan\u201d is capitalized. Why is that? It’s because he’s a real person. He’s not just a symbol of evil; he’s a real being, a created being and he’s a fallen angel. His name was Lucifer, son of the morning star. That was his original name. He was one of the most beautiful and powerful angels in all of the heavens, but he rose up against God and said, \u201cI will be like the most high,\u201d and so, he was cast down. His name literally means, \u201caccuser.\u201d

\nIn fact, if you could read this in the Hebrew, it would say that satan is standing at his right hand to \u201csatan\u201d him. Every time you see the word, \u201caccuser,\u201d in the English underneath it, is the word, \u201csatan,\u201d in Hebrew. He’s standing there <\/i><\/span> as the accuser. He’s the one who still accuses believers today.

\nThe person, known as the \u201cangel of the Lord,\u201d rebukes him. He rebukes him; He says it in a very particular way. He says in verse 2, \u201cThe LORD rebuke you, O Satan! The LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you!\u201d The prosecution stands but before he could say anything against Joshua, the defense attorney stands up, which I believe is the pre-incarnate Christ and rebukes him.

\nOn what basis is He rebuking him\u201d How is this a just courtroom scene if He tell the prosecution to shut up before he even starts? He explains, he says, \u201cThe LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you!\u201d He has chosen them. We’ll unpack this and see why it’s <\/i><\/span> a fair courtroom. We’ll see what God does in order to remove the stain from Joshua.

\nThen, he asked the question of the defense, continuing in verse 2, \u201cIs not this a brand plucked from the fire?\u201d Literally, this is a smoking stick, an ember that’s smoking, but soon to go out, pulled from the fire. Fire usually points to God’s judgment or discipline of which Joshua has now been plucked.

\nI would say, if we rightly understand this, we would have to all admit that every single one of us is like a brand plucked from the fire. For some of you, I can still smell the smoke on you when you came into the room. You\u2019re coming in here to hear God’s word today; you\u2019ve been through a tough season. That’s Joshua; he\u2019s been in 70 years of exile. It’s like God said, \u201dI <\/i><\/span> chose him. I pulled him out of the fire.\u201d Some of you are shaking your head at me right now; you get that because you know where Joshua has been and you have been there. God defends him because He has chosen him. He has plucked him out; He has pulled him out. He’s got more to say, but that’s how He starts it.

\nThis imagery is familiar. The prophet Amos uses it in Amos 4:11 (ESV) \u201cI overthrew some of you, as when God overthrew Sodom and Gomorrah, and you were as a brand plucked out of the burning; yet you did not return to me,\u201d declares the LORD. We can see that the judgment is in view here, but he has been pulled out. The fire symbolizes discipline or judgment.

\nJude 1:23 (ESV) \u201cSave others by snatching them out of the fire,\u201d is a word to believers, saying\nif <\/i><\/span> you see someone that’s under judgment or under discipline, help get them out. This imagery is something you see in the Old and the New Testament.

\nI want you to look at verses one through five; this is the vision. Verses six through ten are the explanation of the vision. We’ve already unpacked verses one and two; we see that the pre-incarnate Jesus here is both judge and defense attorney. He’s the counsel for the defense. We’ve established that, but more than that, He’s even more because we’re going to see now how He is able to rebuke Satan.

\nLook at verse 8; it helps us understand who Joshua is, 8 \u201cHear now, O Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who sit before you, for they are men who are a sign: behold, I will bring my servant the Branch.\u201d What does that mean? Here’s the clue that Zechariah is given now. This <\/i><\/span> is a vision talking about a real person, the high priest; Joshua is to be the high priest of this rebuilt temple. Not only that, he’s a foreshadowing of another person. He’s a sign pointing to a future person that’s yet to come.

\n\u201cMen who are a sign.\u201d Who is that person? He’s not finished; he tells you who that person is in verse 8, \u201c…behold, I will bring my servant the Branch.\u201d Now, how did that help us? Well, the word, \n\u201cBranch,\u201d refers to a Messianic title. Joshua points to the coming Messiah. Notice how the word, \u201cBranch,\u201d is capitalized in your text there.

\nThere’s a couple of things to think about here: One is, this is just too easy. His name is Joshua, which is Jesus. It’s the same name. So that’s the first <\/i><\/span> thing; his name is Joshua. That’s like a giveaway, right? He’s a sign, pointing to the Messiah.

\nSecondly, Joshua is the high priest now; why is that significant? It is because the high priest is the one who went into the Holy of Holies in the temple. The Holy of Holies is the place where the Ark of the Covenant was; he was the only one of the priests allowed to go in there, beyond the veil, where the Holy of Holies is and the ark of the covenant. It’s called the Mercy Seat of God. He would go in and sprinkle the blood of the lamb one day a year. He was only allowed to go in there one day a year. That was on the day that the Hebrews called the \u201cyom kippur,\u201d the day of atonement. He would go in on that day and he would go in as a representative of all the people bringing this blood in to pay for his sins and the sins of all the believers.

\nThis was an action he would take vicariously <\/i><\/span>. What does that word mean, \u201cvicariously?\u201d \u201cVicariously\u201d has the idea of being the representative. This whole precinct thing was always pointing to the Messiah because He would come as the great high priest who would, vicariously as our representative, become one of us, die for us and pay for our sins. The imagery of the high priest and the imagery of Joshua all points to the \u201cBranch.\u201d

\nWhy, \u201cBranch?\u201d This is imagery from Isaiah 11:1 (ESV) \u201cThere shall come forth a shoot from the stump of Jesse, and a Branch from his roots shall bear fruit.\u201d Jesse was the father in the lineage of David; he’s the father of David. Somehow, David’s line has been cut off like a stump. That happened; Nebuchadnezzar overthrew Judah, but shoots are going to come off of the root and a Branch (capital B) is coming. That’s the Messiah; His title is \u201cthe Branch.\u201d

\nJeremiah takes <\/i><\/span> up this same title. Jeremiah says in Jeremiah 23:5 (ESV) \u201cBehold, the days are coming, declares the Lord, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and he shall reign as king and deal wisely, and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.\u201d Notice, he’s referring to the Branch as a he; that singular, masculine pronoun is pointing to the Branch, to this Branch. It is not just a branch; it is a person. \u201cHe shall reign as king and deal wisely and shall execute justice and righteousness in the land.\u201d This phrase, this terminology would have been immediately recognizable by Zechariah and the people of God during this time. The Branch is the Messiah.

\nHere’s what Zechariah is saying: This vision you just saw about Joshua, he’s a real person that’s getting ready to be the high priest, but he’s also a foreshadowing, if you look close, of the Messiah that is to come. That’s what he’s saying.

\nIn 1 John 2:1, we find that Jesus is the fulfillment of this. It <\/i><\/span> says, 1 John 2:1 (NKJV) \u201cMy little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous.\u201d He’s our counsel for the defense. He’s the one who says, \u2018The Lord rebuke you, satan. I’ve chosen that one, that one’s mine.\u2019

\nNow, some of us will hear the evil one whisper to us and tell us we’re not worthy. The truth is we’re not, but He has made us worthy because He’s chosen us. More than that, He has taken on our sins in our place. If you look at this, you can see that He is the one who becomes Joshua for us. In Hebrews 4, He is our great high priest. Hebrews 4:14-16 (ESV) 14 Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. 15 For we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but onewho <\/i><\/span> in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. 16 Let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need. \nHe is our great high priest. He is the fulfillment of this sign. He’s the one who died in our place. Do you recognize Jesus as your defender, your counsel, your advocate? He is the one who stands between you and the accusation of sin.

\n2. Jesus cleanses us of our iniquity.

\nHe’s our counsel for the defense. He’s the one who cleanses us. We’re in verses three and four now; we’ll be jumping down to verse nine to help interpret three and four, just as we jumped down to verse eight to help interpret one and two.

\nJoshua, the man, represents us first of all, because notice how he’s dressed in verse three, He stands before a Holy God and <\/i><\/span> when the Holy God looks at him in verse three, he was standing before the angel clothed with filthy garments, he’s filthy.

\nWho does he think he is, to come into the presence of the Holy One filthy? He can’t help it. Notice that Joshua never says a word. He’s silent before his accuser; he is silent before the Lord. He has no defense unless the Lord himself defends him. Joshua was standing before the angel clothed in filthy garments. The word, \u201cfilthy,\u201d is worse than you can imagine. Literally, in the Hebrew, it has the idea of being smeared with excrement and with the internal parts of an animal. He was nasty. He’s in bad shape, He’s supposed to be the high priest, the one who represents all the people of God and he’s nasty. He’s filthy. He needs help.

\nYou see, many times we think we’re good because we’re better than the person next to us. But no matter how good you think you are <\/i><\/span>, the book of Isaiah says this, Isaiah 64:6 (NIV) \u201cAll of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags.\u201d Our very best is not good enough. He dressed the best he could to come before the Lord in this vision, but he was still clothed in filthy clothes.

\n4 \u201cAnd the angel said to those who were standing before him, \u201cRemove the filthy garments from him.\u201d Let’s get those filthy garments off; let’s clean him up. And to him he said, \u201cBehold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments.\u201d This is very particular language: \u201cI have taken your iniquity away from you.\u201d Where do He put it? He put it upon Himself. That’s how He’s able to say to the evil one, \u201cI rebuke you,\u201d because of what He does.

\nRemember how we said that Joshua is a sign? We saw that in <\/i><\/span> verse eight. Now, when we look down in verse nine, we see this, 9 \u201cFor behold, on the stone that I have set before Joshua,\u201d So the word, \u201cstone,\u201d is another word that points to the Messiah. I talked about this last week, if I told you I had a dream of an eagle that had red, white and blue feathers, you would say that I had a dream about the US of A, because of the red, white and blue. Well, the \u201cstone\u201d is easily accessible to this Jewish audience, to Zechariah, because they have Daniel. They have other images like this.

\nDaniel says this, Daniel 2:34-35 (ESV) \u201cAs you looked, a stone was cut out by no human hand, and it struck the image on its feet of iron and clay, and broke them in pieces\u2026 the stone that struck the image became a great mountain and <\/i><\/span> filled the whole earth.\u201d This was a prophecy concerning the coming Messiah.

\nActs 4:11 (ESV) \u201cThis Jesus is the stone that was rejected by you, the builders, which has become the cornerstone.\u201d 1 Peter 2:6 (ESV) For it stands in Scripture: \u201cBehold, I am laying in Zion a stone, a cornerstone chosen and precious, and whoever believes in him will not be put to shame.\u201d This is the coming Messiah.

\nWe see, in verse nine, 9 \u201cFor behold, on the stone that I have set before Joshua, on a single stone with seven eyes,\u201d Okay, that’s strange. Gary, you said this chapter wasn’t as strange. It\u2019s not as strange, but I didn’t say it wasn’t entirely not strange. If you look at this here again, this is accessible to the Jewish reader. The number 7 was the number of completion. This <\/i><\/span> is an image that points to someone who is all knowing, omniscient, all meaning, complete, all seeing. This stone sees and knows everything. This stone is the Lord; He will engrave it since it’s the stone. \u201cI will engrave its inscription, declares the LORD of hosts.\u201d Apparently, the engraving is this, \u201cI will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day.\u201d There’s coming a day when this Branch, this Stone will remove sin in one day. This is what Zechariah is being told about this coming Messiah, this Branch and this Stone.

\nRemember what he said back in verse five, 5 And I said, \u201cLet them put a clean turban on his head.\u201d So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the LORD was standing by. The filthy garments were images pointing to his sin. How do we know that? Verse four tells us, 4 And the angel said to those who were standing before him, \u201cRemove the filthy garments from him.\u201d And to him he said, \u201cBehold, I <\/i><\/span> have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments.\u201d So that pointed to the fact, \u201cI have taken it away.\u201d Well, where’d he put it? Put it on himself. So Joshua has a double meaning. Here is a real person during that day. Yes, he is really a high priest, but he’s also a picture of Jesus, the coming great high priest who would become one of us because we’re Joshua.

\nBut then Jesus becomes one of us in order to take our sin debt from us. How is He able to rebuke satan? It\u2019s because he paid for it; He took our sin and put it on himself. He will take it away. And so this is the imagery that we see him pointing to here.

\nThen, we have this idea of this engraving, \u201cand I will engrave its inscription.\u201d The early church fathers saw this as the scars upon Jesus\u2019 body, that He was nailed by His hands and His feet and He has a scar on His side where His side was riven <\/i><\/span> by the spear. It was like an engraving in his body.

\nIsaiah 49:16 (ESV) \u201cBehold, I have engraved you on the palms of my hands\u2026\u201d There are many views about what this might be. Some say well the seven eyes actually are seven facets and the stone is a jewel that has seven cuts or seven facets on it. There’s different views. Some say it’s the inscription that goes on the turban.The way I perceive this passage is, first, I always tend to lean towards the ancient church fathers; I have kind of a preference for them. Secondly, I always lean towards something that tells me more about Jesus because I think the bible is primarily about Him.

\nIf you take the time to read other commentators on this, you’ll get into some deep water right here. But I tend to land here , which is the simplest explanation, just letting you know where I’m getting here today. We <\/i><\/span> see that, on a single day, our sin has taken care of.

\nOn the 6th day of creation, humanity was created. And on the sixth day of Passion week, humanity was recreated and given a second chance, when the second Adam, Jesus, came and on a single day paid for our sin and took iniquity away. This is the single stone on a single day that made a new creation possible.

\n1 John 1:7-9 (ESV) \u201c\u2026 and the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. \u2026 If we confess our sins, he is faithful and just to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.\u201d He is the one who takes our sin upon Himself.

\nDo you remember, in the book of John, chapter 11, Jesus\u2019 friend, Lazarus, had died. He’d lay in the tomb for four days. Jesus comes to the tomb and He says, \u201cRoll away the stone.\u201d Lazarus\u2019 sister, Martha, is concerned. She says, \u201cBut Lord , <\/i><\/span> he stinketh,\u201d as it says in the King James Version. The body’s been in there too long; let’s not do this. But Jesus says, \u201cRoll the stone away.\u201d When they roll the stone away, Jesus says, \u201cLazarus come forth.\u201d When Lazarus comes forth, Jesus turns to the people around Him and he tells them to take off Lazarus\u2019 grave clothes and let him go. Very similar language to today\u2019s passage. Take off those old filthy rags, those old filthy clothes and let him go.

\nDo you recognize that Jesus\u2019 blood, His sacrifice, is the only way to shut Satan’s mouth, so that he cannot accuse you. It’s the only way to get rid of those filthy clothes.

\n3. Jesus clothes us in His righteousness.

\nJesus is our counselor, He cleanses us and He clothes us. We’re in the latter part of verse four and verse five. He says, in verse 4, \u201c And to him he said, \u201cBehold, I have taken your iniquity away from you,from <\/i><\/span> I will clothe you with pure vestments.\u201d I will clothe you now. Not only does He take away the old, but he puts on new, righteous clothes.

\nHaving removed Joshua’s filthy garments, he says, \u201cI will clothe you with pure vestments.\u201d I will do this for you. Pure vestments are not ordinary clothes. These are clothes fit for the setting of being the high priest. These are High Priest clothes. their splendid, their costly, they’re pure, their righteous. This is a strange thing that happens in verse five. Up until now, we haven’t heard from Zechariah in the earlier three visions. He is not asking any questions. But he hauls off right here in verse five and says, 5 And I said, \u201cLet them put a clean turban on his head.\u201d So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the LORD was standing by. Zechariah had a suggestion. He gets involved. He decides to participate in the vision <\/i><\/span>. He sees God preparing the high priest; Joshua has all of his clothes on him. Now, let’s top it off. Let’s put the turban on his head. I have a picture of what this may have looked like, what the high priestly garments may have looked like. I think it’s helpful to look at these sorts of things. You can see that there’s a turban on his head that’s made in a certain and particular fashion. There’s a gold medallion that’s set upon his forehead; it\u2019s inscribed with the words, \u201cHoly to the Lord.\u201d God has made him holy. He was not holy, but God has made him holy.

\nYou can see that he has a breastplate that has the 12 stones, each one representing the 12 tribes of Israel. If <\/i><\/span> we could see in the breast pocket behind the breastplate, there’s a pouch there that has the Urim and the Thummim where he could make decisions as he prayed to the Lord and give guidance to the king. You can see the apron because he is bringing sacrifice. You can see bells along the bottom of his garment here. That is so his garment would make a ringing sound when he went into the Holy of Holies, because he was the only one allowed back there. They used to tie a little chain around his ankle, because if the bells stopped ringing, he probably did something wrong back there and they had a way of pulling him back out.

\nHis garments are very particular. Zachariah looks and adds that all he needs now is the turban and they put it on his head. \u201cThey <\/i><\/span>put a clean turban on his head and clothed them with garments. And the Angel of the Lord was standing by.\u201d He was clothed in righteousness. In Isaiah, chapter 61, we see what the Messiah will say. In fact, this is the passage that Jesus turns to when He goes to the synagogue. Isaiah 61:10 (ESV) I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels. Isaiah 61:10 (ESV) \u201cI will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decks himself like a priest with a beautiful headdress, and as a bride adorns herself with her jewels.\u201d That’s what the Messiah will do for his people; He will give them new clothes of righteousness.

\nPaul writes this to the church at Corinth, 2 Corinthians 5:21 \u201c For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no <\/i><\/span> sin so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.\u201d Jesus became like us; He took our sin so that we could receive His righteousness and be clothed in His righteousness. Jesus clothes us in His righteousness.

\n4. Jesus commissions us for His Kingdom ministry.

\nHaving cleaned and clothed Joshua, He commissions him; He calls him to serve. We’re in verse six now. 6 \u201cAnd the angel of the LORD solemnly assured Joshua.\u201d This is a solemn occasion. He’s clean. Satan has been rebuked. He has his new clothes of righteousness on. He assures Joshua that he is ready to serve. He is going to commission Joshua to serve Him. He says, 7 \u201cThus says the LORD of hosts: If you will walk in my ways and keep my charge, then you shall rule my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you the right of access among those who are standing here. This is the only \u201cif then\u201d <\/i><\/span> statement in the vision. This is a conditional statement concerning his salvation. He was silent. He didn’t have to do anything to earn it, but just receive it. But now, here, it’s conditional. The calling is conditional because you have to say \u201cyes\u201d to it. Salvation is free, but the calling that he puts on us as Christians comes out of obedience. If you will walk in my ways and keep my charge, then you have these blessings in your life. You shall rule my house; you will be the high priest over the temple. You have that role. You will be in charge of my courts. These are the courts surrounding the temple courts; you’ll be given the right of access. In other words, you’ll be allowed to go into the Holy of Holies. This will be yours. I’m commissioning you, now, Joshua.

\nThis is a word of great encouragement to the real man, Joshua, but it’s also a great word of encouragement to us as <\/i><\/span> believers. Because He’s saying to us, now that I have defended you, I have cleansed you. I have clothed you in righteousness, I’m asking you to follow Me and to accept My call, My commission to serve Me. I’ve made you worthy. You weren’t worthy, but I’ve made you worthy. That’s important to consider, because we often hear a voice that says, You’re not worthy. You’re not worthy.

\nYou would think that after 30 years, I wouldn’t hear that voice. I’ve been preaching for 30 years. You’d think that I wouldn’t hear that voice. Satan still speaks, he still whispers to me. I’m talking about Satan or one of his minions. He says, you’re not ready. You didn’t study enough. You weren’t a very nice person this week. You’re not worthy to get in the pulpit. I could go on. It’s either him or me because I’m my own worst enemy. The flesh, which is the old nature will say, yeah, but <\/i><\/span> you don’t feel that good today. Your new knees don’t feel so new today. You’re not very enthusiastic. What are you going to bring to the people that depend on hearing you preach the word of God?

\nThis is just me. I cannot imagine what you go through. God has called each and everyone of you. I’m not unique. We’re all commissioned that follow Jesus, but yet, the evil one accuses us, the flesh accuses us, the world accuses us. How will we stand?

\nI’ll tell you how we stand. We have an advocate, we have a counsel for the defense who says, \u201cI rebuke you. Get behind me in the name of Jesus, satan. Get behind me, satan. We have to say we are worthy because He has made us worthy. I’m not worthy to be up here, but He’s worthy and He lives in me, so He makes me worthy <\/i><\/span>. I don’t speak my words. I speak His words. You’re worthy if you are in Christ. He makes you worthy. Preach the gospel to yourself. You’re free. You’re clean. You are clothed in righteousness. You are commissioned.

\nIn Matthew chapter 28. We see what many call The Great Commission, Matthew 28:19-20 (ESV) 19 \u201cGo therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, 20 teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age.\u201d We’ve been given a commission. If you look at verse 10, you can kind of see a little bit of that commission. Verse 10, \u201cIn that day, declares the LORD of hosts, every one of you will invite his neighbor to come under his vine and under his fig tree.\u201d

\nThe fig tree and the vine are symbols of prosperity and peace. This is one of the things that would cause the first century Jews <\/i><\/span> to get confused about who to look for in the Messiah because there are two threads of Messianic prophecy in the Old Testament. One is of a suffering servant, which we see much of here in chapter three, don’t we? But, we also catch a glimpse of the conquering king, which is the second thread of prophecy. We see in verse 10, His second coming. I think in verse 10, it says, \u201cIn that day,\u201d we’re talking about the day of the Lord when Jesus returns and He brings peace and prosperity upon the Earth. But, in the meantime, we can still be preparing by inviting our neighbor to come over to His side and answer His commission. We can see that, in a single day, at His first coming, He took away iniquity. But \u201cin that day,\u201d there will be peace.

\nI see Jesus in this chapter. Oh, how did they miss it 500 years later when they had such clarity given to them through Zechariah? I think it was Jesus <\/i><\/span> who said, Matthew 23:37, NIV: \u201cJerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets.\u201d Zechariah, the son of Jehozadak was killed; the man who wrote this was murdered by his own people.

\nDo you see Jesus? Do you see Him revealed here? He’s our counselor. He cleanses, He clothes and He commissions us.

\nIn 1863, a hymn originally entitled, \u201cThe Advocate,\u201d was written and published by a pastor’s daughter named Charitie Lees Smith. The hymn later became known by its first line. I’m not sure what inspired Charitie, but I’d like to think she was studying Zechariah, chapter three. It goes like this:

\nBEFORE THE THRONE OF GOD ABOVE \nBefore the throne of God above \t\tWhen Satan tempts me to despair\t\tBehold Him there, the risen Lamb\nI have a strong and perfect plea\t\tAnd tells me of the guilt within\t\tMy perfect, spotless righteousness\nA great High Priest whose name is love \tUpward I look and see Him there\t\tThe great unchangeable I AM\nWho ever lives and pleads for me\t\tWho made an end to all my sin\t\tThe King of Glory and of Grace\nMy name is graven on His hands\t\tBecause the sinless Savior died\t\tOne with Himself I cannot die\nMy name is written on His heart\t\tMy sinful soul is counted free\t\t\tMy soul is purchased by His blood\nI know that while in heaven He stands\t\tFor God, the Just, is satisfied\t\t\tMy life is hid with Christ on high\nNo tongue can bid me thence depart (2x)\tTo look on Him and pardon me (2x)\t\tWith Christ my Savior and my God (2x)

\nThis <\/i><\/span> is a vision of Jesus. Do you know Him?

\nLet’s pray. Lord, I pray, first of all, for that person that came in today, far from God, but today they caught a glimpse of You, Jesus. Today, they heard Your invitation to come. Would you answer it, my friend, right where you are right in your seat, you can say \u201cyes\u201d to Jesus. This is why He came. He wants to take away your filthy clothes, your iniquity, your sin. He wants to give you His righteousness in its place. Would you say \u201cyes\u201d to Jesus ? <\/i><\/span> Right now, just pray with me, \u201cDear Lord Jesus, I’m a sinner; I need a Savior. I believe You died for my sin, that You were raised from the grave and that You live today. Come and live in me. Make me the person You want me to be, I want to be a child of God. Adopt me into Your family; forgive me my sin. I want You as my Savior and Lord.\u201d If you’re praying that prayer, believing, He will save you. He’ll adopt you into His family. Others are here, and you know Jesus, you’re in relationship with Him, you’re a Christ follower but the evil one has crippled you. You’ve got some sin area in your past, some brokenness, you’re like \u201ca burning stick pulled from the fire.\u201d You feel disqualified. You feel unworthy right now. Would you hear the word of God? He says, \u201cI rebuke you, Satan.\u201d Walk in the calling that God has given you. Would you say \u201dyes\u201d <\/i><\/span> to it right now? Would you put your \u201cyes\u201d on the table? \u201cYes, Lord, Yes, Lord. Whatever You’ve called me to do, I will do, Lord.\u201d We are your people. We love you. Thank you for this word in Jesus\u2019 name. Amen.\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Have you ever really considered how the whole Bible points to Jesus? Sure, it tells us a lot about ourselves and about the world we live in, but it is primarily a book about God, especially His Son, Jesus.<\/p>\n

The exiles returning to Israel are restless. They\u2019ve returned to the land, but now they wonder, when will their Messiah finally come and deliver them? God doesn\u2019t answer their \u201cwhen\u201d question, but He does give His prophet Zechariah a vision for \u201cwho\u201d they should look for and how they can prepare themselves for His coming.<\/p>\n

In Zechariah chapter three, the prophet saw his 4th night vision, this time of a real person, Joshua, the high priest. Yet, as the vision continued, Zechariah learned that the vision of Joshua was also a \u201csign\u201d pointing to the coming Messiah and His work of salvation<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":10309,"template":"","tags":[2019],"series":[2870],"scripture-book":[1305],"scripture-chapter":[1336],"speaker":[2007],"class_list":["post-10343","message","type-message","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-exposition","series-repent-and-return","scripture-book-zechariah","scripture-chapter-1336","speaker-gary-combs"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/message\/10343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/message"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/message"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/message\/10343\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/10309"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=10343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=10343"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=10343"},{"taxonomy":"scripture-book","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/scripture-book?post=10343"},{"taxonomy":"scripture-chapter","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/scripture-chapter?post=10343"},{"taxonomy":"speaker","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.garycombs.org\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/speaker?post=10343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}