Zechariah 3
Intro:
Please open your Bible to Zechariah chapter 3 or you can follow along in your bulletin. Jack asked if would preach today and next week from the OT prophets. The visions in Zechariah 3 and, Lord willing, next week in chapter 4 capture two vital themes for the Christian life. Namely how our sin is taken away through God’s Son and next week we’ll look at how God sustains us by His Spirit. I’m looking forward to preaching both of these sermons to you.
Let’s pray for God’s help as we come to His word this morning.
Sermon:
Zechariah chapter 3 opens with a dramatic court scene. Immediately you feel drawn into the action. This vision is something that Zechariah was shown—you see that in v. 1. He watched it unfold before his eyes, like a short movie clip. But unlike an episode of Law and Order, Zechariah is not left on the couch as a mere viewer. Zechariah is brought into the story.
It’s on thing to watch a trial as a viewer. After all, crime shows are popular. But it’s a whole other issue when you know the person on trial or it’s even you!
Ian Duguid reminded me this week that Scripture points out that all of humanity has a court date with the Lord (Heb 9:27). So we should have a vested interest in how this story works out. We should be riveted to the message that this vision is communicating. What is God saying to us here?
Not everyone really cares though that one day they will have to stand before God. Many people don’t even feel accountable to God. They might flippantly say, “Oh the Man upstairs!” I’m not to worried about it. Some may even play lip service and say they fear God. But in the end they just conclude, you know. God is big. He will forgive. It’s his business to forgive.
Well the people during the time of Zechariah were not so careless. They knew God was serious about sin. Zechariah is writing to a people who are returning from exile.
That is Zechariah’s audience. Returning exiles from Babylon.
Babylon invaded Jerusalem about 587 BC. They burned the city. Destroyed the temple. The people served a 70 year judgment because of their sin against God. Finally Babylon fell to Persia and now a remnant was returning. They returned with heavy hearts. They had big questions on their minds.
Zechariah didn’t gloss over God’s response to their sin. Look at how he opens his Prophecy—he opens with these sober words in v. 2 chapter 1: “the Lord was very angry with your fathers.” (1:2). A few verses letter the pressing question he asks God is this, in v. 12, ch 1: “O Lord of hosts, how long will you have no mercy on Jerusalem and the cities of Judah, against which you have been angry these seventy years?”
This is their pressing question: Will God show mercy? How can God show mercy to sinners? The viewership of this televised court case would have been quite high. Folks glued to this vision to watch how it concludes.
And this should be our looming question as well: How can we sinful man be made right with God? Will God be angry with us forever?
Historically some Christians have really struggled with this very question. I’m currently reading the biography of Martin Luther, the reformer. Well before he did any reforming he was in bad shape. He tried everything to please by becoming a Monk. But he never discovered peace. It wasn’t until the doctrine of justification broke in on him that he finally could answer this question. He read in the Apostle Paul that sinners are declared righteous through faith in Jesus Christ.
This prophetic vision of Zechariah pointed to the heart of the gospel. This vision is for them at that time. And it’s for us today. This vision is futuristic prophecy. In v. 8 we read. “Listen, High Priest Joshua, you and your associates seated before you, who are men symbolic of things to come.”
We have the same hope—again in v. 8, “I am going to bring my servant, the Branch.” This was a metaphor for God’s Messiah, the anointed on who would come from the stump of Jesse, the father of King David. The OT prophets used that image to speak of the Messiah to come.
A Branch signifies life coming out of a tree stump that had been cut. The Messiah is coming to fulfill God’s promises. The Messiah is coming to establish God’s kingdom. Literally these people stood over stood a ruined Jeruslaem. All they saw were tree stumps. No trees. But here, the Branch, the one coming out of the stump, out of the rubble, will make all things right again.
This vision is God’s vehicle to communicate a vital message. The glimpse we see in Zechariah 3 is captured by Romans 8—“there is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” God’s answer to our problem of sin is the cross of Christ, the benefits of which we receive by faith.
The gospel glimpse we see here in Zechariah is that Christ gives us a new standing, a right standing, before God. We’ll also see that out of this promise of a right standing will overflow into new confidence against Satan, a new obedience to God, and a new love for the lost. It’s all here. And it’s all rooted in this new standing.
- First, Christ gives us a new standing before God
Hear ye, Hear ye, the heavenly court is now in session!
All the main actors are present—the angel of the LORD is sitting as Judge. The prosecutor is our great enemy, Satan. The accuser of the brethren. He is there ready to give his case against us. The person on trial is Joshua, the High Priest. He is on the dock. In the OT the High Priest represented the people. So in Joshua we’re on trial too. Whatever verdict comes on the priest is our verdict as well. He stands there for us.
At first appearance the case seems like a slamdunk case against us. No chance for a defense. The evidence will be clear. As the Psalm 130 declares, “If you O Lord, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who could stand?” But the psalmist didn’t end there. He went on to say, “But with you there is forgiveness of sin, that you may be feared.”
This is the story here as well. Right when you feel all is loss. Right when you think the Judge’s gavel is going to slam the desk. Guess who speaks on your behalf? Look who comes to your defense? The LORD Himself. Before Satan even can present his case the Lord speaks and rebukes him. Not once but twice. In v. 2, “The LORD said to Satan, “The LORD rebuke you, Satan! The LORD, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?”
God says, “I, who am the LORD, rebuke you.” It’s incredible. Here we stood. Guilty of sin. Satan had a case against us. But the Lord declared his evidence inadmissible in court. Here is the Highest Ruling Authority on earth. THE Supreme Court. He doesn’t even allow the evidence to be submitted. NO higher ruling council in the universe.
And look at God’s main argument. “Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?”
That is all we are. A piece of wood rescued from being consumed by fire. God plucked us out. God defends us because we are objects of his electing love. If you’re here today, this is your testimony. I didn’t deserve his grace but he saved. He rescued me. He took me out of that miry pit and set my foot on a solid place.
This is grace. And that is God’s response to Satan’s accusations. Because grace finds a way. God’s love found a way to deal with our separation from him. We were alienated from God in two ways. Our sin (past, present, and future). And secondly are lack of righteousness. Both are needed to be able to stand before God.
The image here is that we had filthy clothes on and we needed to be dressed with new clothes. Both of these are necessary if we are to have a right standing with God. To be accepted as His very own. To be brought into His covenant faithfulness and love. God provides a way. That is the drama of this vision.
In the Old Testament the High Priest spent weeks preparing to enter the holy of Holies. It wasn’t a flippant event. They sacrificed animals for their own sin. And then for the sins of the people. And they washed and were clothed in pure vestments.
So to see a High Priest standing before God in filthy garments is absolutely shocking. And there is no solution from our end.
Every attempt we have made to clothe ourselves, to be righteous in our own eyes has failed. Remember our first attempt to clothes ourselves in the Garden—sewed fig leaves together. How pathetic is that. Fig leaves won’t last forever! No. We need God to clothe us and we always have.
We need God to clothe us because our problem is worse than we realize.
In v. 4 he said to those standing near Joshua—“remove the filthy garments from him.” The word used here for filthy, commenters point out, is not filth from grease or mud. [Our Youth Group activity to go caving in Taza] It’s not like he was out with the youth group and showed up late for worship with muddy clothes on.
The word for filth is the same word for excrement. So the filth that is on him is depicted as a gross violation. This is what sin is like before God apart from his cleansing.
The image is shocking but it’s insightful into sin. The problem of sin isn’t from without. It’s from inside us coming out. And it gets all over us. We have a corrupt nature.
The temptation is to limit sin to just the bad things we do on the outside. People feel they are good by saying, I’ don’t steal. I don’t lie. I look for opportunities to do good when I can.
But the problem of sin is much deeper. Remember, we can’t clothe ourselves. Our works won’t make up for sin. Our attempts to clothe ourselves fail.
Tim Keller put it this way: He said, “We must learn how to repent of the sin under all other sins.” He wrote, “It is only when you see the desire to be your own Savior and Lord—lying beneath both your sins and your moral goodness—that you are on the verge of becoming a Christian indeed.”
The prophet Isaiah declared, “We have all become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous deeds are like a polluted garment.”
This brings up a really important point. In this whole trial scene Satan is not our real problem. Sin is the main issue here. It’s the main issue to a holy God. God’s response to our sin is not an uncontrolled passion. No the wrath of God means: “his settled opposition to all that is evil. His holiness leads to this response” (MLJ).
And this isn’t only an OT view of God. In the NT Romans 1:18 begins by saying the wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness. Or in Romans 2:5—“But because of your hard and impenitent heart you are storing up wrath for yourself on the day of wrath when God’s righteous judgment will be revealed.”
The returning exiles are not thinking to themselves. Oh God is big. He will look past all these faults. No. They are taking God seriously and that want to know how can a sinful people stand before God.
And this is the gospel. Grace found a way for God to be both just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus (Rom 3:26).
God exchanges our filthy clothes and dresses us with the right clothes.
And this is what the Lord provided for Joshua. V. 4: “See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put fine garments on you.” He puts on us new clothes, pure vestments. These new clothes represent our new righteousness to stand before God.
When you add all that up it’s incredible—saved from the fire, cleansed from sin, and credited with righteousness. What a Savior!
And we know from the NT that it’s really Jesus who gave us these clean clothes. 2 Cor 5:21 says, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.”
We know form the NT that our filthy garments were not just thrown out. They were worn. Worn by our Savior. Jesus didn’t pay for our sin with money, like some wealthy landowner. Jesus paid the penalty of our sin according to the OT law. He was a sacrifice for us.
God set his affection on those who deserved his wrath. He loved us so much he sent his own Son. To the end that by his blood me made provision for the removal of that wrath.
And we receive his righteousness. It’s credited to our account. This is what we call justification. Jerry Bridges said that justification is like two sides of the same coin. One the one side we are declared “not guilty”—dirty garments removed. And on the others side we are declared to be righteous. That is receiving new clothes.
JI Packer explained it theologically here: “Justification is a judicial act of God pardoning sinners, accepting them as just, and so putting permanently right their previously estranged relationship with Himself.”
This is God’s message for the people of Zechariah’s day and it’s prophetic for us as well.
Three quick applications I want to make: They are promises.
First, with our new standing, Christ gives us a new confidence. embrace the promise of the gospel that it was a complete and finished work for us. If God rebukes Satan why do we listen to him. If God didn’t allow his evidence admissible in court, why do entertain it?
All that Satan is doing, as an accuser of God’s children, is to shake the promise that this salvation is complete. That is all he is doing He is just trying to shake your confidence in God’s completed work for us.
The exhortation is for us to embrace this promise.
There is a variety of copying techniques that you may very well be doing. See if any of these strike home:
- The first one is to ignore the accusations. But this isn’t right since we truly are sinners and deserve God’s wrath and judgment. David didn’t do this—Psalm 51.
- Or maybe your tactic is to compare yourself with “worse” people. But this falls short as well because we don’t know anyone’s heart and the only comparison that really counts is Jesus Christ. He alone perfectly fulfills God’s law, He is the only one that Satan could not accuse.
- A third tactic is to make excuses or blame others. But all the blaming in the world will never absolve you from sin.
- Some even despair and feel unloved by God, when they hear the accusations. This response shows that we have not understood the Christian good news—that now righteousness has been available to us, through faith in Christ. We make this mistake when we have a gospel without the cross. We have a so-called view of God’s unconditional love but fail to recognize it only comes to us as a result of Christ’s atoning death.
There is only one response to Satan’s accusations and that was God’s response. God removed the sin and guilt and we now are now no longer under judgment. The banner that waves over a Christian is Romans 8:1 –There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.
When Satan accusses us his accusations are powerless to harm us (even if he is right on with our sinfulness). But he is powerless because Jesus has blotted out our sins. When we hear these accusations we need to remind ourselves that Jesus has done everything necessary to make us righteous before God, and nothing can separate us from His love.
Jerry Bridges explains it this way. He said there are tow courts—this court of God in heaven and the court of conscience in our souls. When we trust in Christ for salvation God’s court is forever satisfied. We are justified in Christ. Never again will these charges be brought against us.
Yet our consciences are continually announcing us guilty, in line with Satan’s accusations. Therefore, we must bring this verdict from heaven to bear upon our conscience. Remind yourself of God’s higher court. It’s a decision that can’t be appealed. It’s secure with our Father.
This is first part of the message that helps us realize that there is no condemnation in Christ Jesus. We are justified.
Second promise with our new standing. Christ gives us new hearts to obey Him.
In v. 7 the LORD Almighty, says, “If you will walk in obedience to me and keep my requirements, then you will govern my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you a place among these standing here.”
It’s important to see that the gospel doesn’t lead to careless behavior. No, in fact, there is a longing to obey the one who saved you. God’s grace orients us under his Lordship.
God’s grace restores what it means to be made in God’s image. To be his servants. To rule under his Lordship. Part of being made in the image of God is to govern God’s house. Sin damaged that image in us. Instead of serving God we abuse his world. Grace and our new standing with God restore the rightful place we have in this world. To obey God.
Anyone genuinely filled with the love of God will want to obey Him. Like the experience of the psalmist in Psalm 119—“Oh how I love your law! It’s my meditation all the day” (v. 97).
And this is all motived by this promise in v. 7—I will give you a place among these standing here. We are given full access to the Father. He promises to not send us to Babylon again.
We can embrace the promise
Third promise with our new standing, Christ gives us new love for the lost.
We see this in the last verse (v. 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.”
The returned exiles would only see a burned down Jerusalem. And that is the wrong place to look! These exiles are being called to look to the promises of the gospel not to the current circumstances they were in. And so we are.
The gospel according to Zechariah is that God will bring life. The Branch will do it for him. As we are connected to the branch we’ll see this life come. And it’s expressed here as a fruitful field. It’s an agricultural image. We’ll invite our neighbor to come under our vine and fig tree.
We invite people into the shade and protection and to eat the fruit that God has provided for us in the branch. Our new standing with God will bear fruit. And we’ll proclaim this to others. We’ll have a new love for the lost.
This is where Zechariah is going in this prophecy—The Branch has accomplished something wonderful. It’s established on a stone with 7 eyes. With an inscription on it. 7 eyes would mean that he sees it all perfectly—the future.
Look at v. 9 – I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day. Here is a prophetic vision to a day to come that would once and for all settle the penalty of sin.
“But when Christ appeared as a high priest of the good things that have come … he entered once for all into the holy places, not by means of the blood of goats and calves but by means of his own blood, thus securing an eternal redemption.” (Heb 9:11-12)
Jesus Christ has provided a new standing with God. And with that new standing we have new confidence against Satan’s accusations, a new obedience to God’s word, and a new love for the lost.
All for His glory and Praise. He has done it all. It is finished.
