“Jeshua’s clothing was filthy as he stood there before the angel. So the angel said to the others standing there, ‘Take off his filthy clothes.’ And turning to Jeshua he said, ‘See, I have taken away your sins, and now I am giving you these fine new clothes.'” -Zechariah 3:3-4
Ok, wow. It’s been a while! But God has been moving and doing great things! First off, I just want to say that I hope everyone’s school semester has started off great, and remember if you ever need prayer for anything just email me. My email is found at the bottom of the page on the “about” tab. Now, business time:
This particular verse is huge! In just a few short lines about his vision, Zechariah completely displays God’s wonderful redeeming work of Grace. But before we complete analyze this particular passage let’s take a second to get filled in on the context of it. The book of Zechariah is an old testament book written by, yep, you guessed it: Zechariah. I want to point that out for this purpose right here: he is foretelling the coming of Jesus Christ, the messiah! And how cool is that?! Every time I read an old testament passage that prophecies about Jesus, I get all giddy like a kid using one of those invisible ink pens that you can see under a blacklight. Jesus was talked about, EVEN IN THE OLD TESTAMENT! So don’t throw it aside. Now, let’s look at some of the verses before this particular one to set the scene.
“Then the angel showed me Jeshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord. The Accuser, Satan, was there at the angel’s right hand, making accusations against Jeshua. And the Lord said to Satan, ‘I, the Lord, reject your accusations, Satan. Yes, the Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebukes you. This man is like a burning stick that has been snatched from the fire.'” -Zechariah 3:1-2
This is so amazing. Let’s break that down. Jeshua (whom we now understand was the high priest of the temple in Jerusalem) had a vision where he had been brought before the Lord. For what purpose? It doesn’t explain, but we can infer based upon the verses that follow that it was for Jeshua’s salvation. We see that as he stood there Satan was accusing him before the Lord. Now let’s think about that. What could Satan possibly be accusing him for?? It could have been anything, but the scriptures left out the exact reasons on purpose. That’s because Satan’s accusations hold no power against us through the redeeming power of our Lord. The Lord rebuked Satan and instantly we don’t see anything else from him! We were destined for the fire (hell) but Christ snatched us out and gave us a new beginning!
- Think about this: Have you, as a solid believer, ever felt like you weren’t good enough to serve God, due to your past sins? That is Satan’s way of accusing us and halting the advancement of God’s kingdom. He attacks our weaknesses and causes us to second guess ourselves, but let me tell you something: SATAN HAS NO POWER AGAINST US IN THE NAME OF JESUS CHRIST!! Amen.
So after Satan disappears from this story, (as he does with our story, as well) we catch a glimpse of Jeshua again in verses 3 and 4 (as seen at the beginning). This time we see the result of Jeshua’s sins: the metaphorical filthy clothes. These clothes represent his, and our, sinful nature making us unworthy for God. But God looked down at him with a love that none can ever fathom, the same exact way He looks at us and insisted that that old filthy nature be removed. He explains to Jeshua that he has taken away his sins and is giving him a brand new clean attire! What does that even mean? It certainly doesn’t mean that Jeshua was given a clean robe to put over the old one to cover it! No, he was stripped of the old and made new! (Just like us through Christ! Getting it yet?) This is vital to understanding salvation. It is not the covering of the old! It is the tearing down of the old, and the making of something brand new!
- Look at this picture. What strikes you about it? How about this: The workers saw a patch of road that needed fixing and so they decided to fix it by paving over it with this fragile asphalt. At first the road looked nice and clean, and for a while it remained that way, but after a while of trucks driving over it and the wear of the weather it began to crack and give way revealing whats underneath. You see, it was never really fixed at all. This same principle applies to our Spiritual lives! Countless times I have met people who believe that they are born again believers, when all they really did was pave over their past lives with good moral ethics, and a solid attendance in church. This, of course, fails them when things get tough. But a true salvation in Christ means ripping up that old road and replacing it with something brand-spanking new! Something that won’t crack or give way! Examine yourselves today! Do you have the new, or did you just pave over the old?
One more little thing: I know that some of you may be reading this and going through some difficult changes in your life. Your heart may be broken and you may be crying out to God in anguish wondering why things are so bad, and I get that. But, you have to understand that fulling ridding yourself of the old will hurt. It has to. It is a complete cleansing.But the end will always justify the pain it took to get there. (A Reliant K lyric for all you fans out there.)
See, He has taken away those old filthy rags of your past. It’s time to start a NEW beginning now.
Thank you and God bless you. Keep your eyes on the prize! 🙂
-GLS
Bearlee Afloat 