Zachariah chapter 3, and this
is a relatively short chapter, and I'm just going to read the
whole thing because it sets the tone for our studies in the near
future. And he showed me Joshua the high
priest. Joshua, excuse me, Zachariah
chapter 3 verse 1. And he showed me Joshua the high
priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing
at his right hand to resist him. And the Lord said unto Satan,
The Lord rebuke thee. O Satan, even the Lord that hath
chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee. Is not this a brand plucked out
of the fire? Now Joshua was clothed with filthy
garments, and stood before the angel. And he answered and spake
unto those that stood by him, saying, Take away the filthy
garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold,
I have caused thy iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe
thee with a change of raiment. And I said, Let them set a fair
mitre upon his head. So they set a fair mitre upon
his head, and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the
Lord stood by. And the angel of the Lord protested
unto Joshua, saying, Thus saith the Lord of hosts. If thou wilt
walk in my ways, and if thou wilt keep my charge, then thou
shalt also judge my house, and shalt also keep my courts, and
I will give thee places to walk among those that stand by. Hear
now, O Joshua the high priest, thou and thy fellows that sit
before thee, for they are men wondered at. For behold, I will
bring forth my servant the branch. For behold, the stone that I
have laid before Joshua, upon one stone shall be seven eyes.
Behold, I will engrave the gravings thereof, saith the Lord of hosts,
and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. In that
day, saith the Lord of hosts, shall you call every man his
neighbor under the vine and under the fig tree. Now, this passage,
like so often we find in Zechariah or anywhere else that we study
in the scriptures, is a wonderful chapter that shares with us the
types of Christ and pictures of Christ that are developed
by these prophets. Now, I would like to reread verses
one and two, and there's where we're gonna spend the bulk of
our time tonight. He showed me Joshua the high
priest. standing before the angel of
the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.
And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan,
even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee. Is not
this a brand plucked out of the fire? Now this vision of Joshua
is in a form of a judicial process. We notice here that there's a
judge. We have the angel of the Lord. And we have Joshua, who
is the accused. And we have the charge, filthy
garments. And we have the accuser, Satan. And we have the sentence. The
sentence is carried out against the accuser. Now that's an interesting
way that we find the Lord acts on our behalf. The sentence is
carried out against the accuser, for we find in verse 2, the Lord
said unto Satan, The Lord rebuketh thee. The sentence fell on him. Then it says, Even the Lord that
hath chosen Jerusalem rebuketh thee, the one that hath chosen
the church rebuketh thee, Satan. is not this a brand plucked out
of the fire, speaking specifically about Joshua the high priest,
but also about every believer, everyone that's in the church,
everyone that God chose before the foundation of the world,
is truly a brand plucked out of the fire, and that brand is
plucked out by the Lord of hosts. As we look at this passage of
scripture, we are introduced, and there's gonna be several
things said in this chapter as we read it, we're introduced
to the high priest. We know something about the angel
of the Lord. We've studied a little bit about
that in the past, but we're gonna look at some more tonight. And
we have some thoughts about this Satan that is mentioned. And we know some about the almighty
power of the Lord. If we said we know everything,
we are fooling ourselves because we learn more about that every
day. And we know somewhat of the power
over every enemy of the church And that's brought out in this
passage of scripture as he's dealing with Satan. Now, the
angel of the Lord is also the messenger of the covenant. The
angel itself means one sent or a messenger. And we see as the
Lord of glory that he truly is the messenger of the Lord. He
is the angel of the Lord. He is the angel of Jehovah. He
is Jehovah. He is the angel of Jehovah. He
is the messenger of Jehovah. He is the spokesman of Jehovah. He is the spoke... mouthpiece
of Jehovah and what he has to say is always to the benefit
of the church and for the glory of God. And he spoke to Pharisees. It was for the benefit of the
church and for the glory of God. So this one, the angel of the
Lord. Now, there's a passage of scripture
I wish that we'd go see here just momentarily. It is found
in the book of Micah. Next book. Oh, back up, I'm sorry. Micah. Back up just a little
bit. Micah chapter three, and there
in verse one. Maybe it is Malachi. I think
it is Malachi. Let me look there. I Wrote an abbreviation Yes, Malachi forgive me I guess
you're used to that but from me by now Oh Malachi chapter
3 in verse 1 and Behold, I will send my messenger,
and he shall prepare the way before me, and the Lord whom
ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple, even the messenger
of the covenant, or the angel of the covenant, and we know
that to be the Lord. Now, I'll send my messenger,
and as we were going through this some time ago, we realized
that as the Lord spoke this through his prophet Malachi, speaking
of the forerunner of the Lord, and that is John. But the messenger
of the covenant, whom ye delight in, behold, he shall come, saith
the Lord of hosts. So we have here in this passage
of scripture in the book of Zechariah, we have the angel of the Lord.
And I didn't count how many times I found that very phrase in the
scripture, but multiple times do we find that the Lord is called
the angel of Jehovah. And here he appears, this book
of Zechariah chapter 3 as that messenger of the Lord the messenger
of Jehovah Jehovah speaking as we realize this now we also find
here that Satan It's interesting as we look at this word. Would
you turn back with me to the book of Zechariah there in chapter? Zechariah chapter 3 We find this
the saw Zechariah chapter 3 and We have the accuser. We have
Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. Now, this is an
interesting word. It's translated to us from a
Hebrew word that's found multiple times in the Old Testament, but
not always is it translated with a capital S, an S-A-T-A-N. Really, that's a transliteration
of the word. Now, there's a time in the scriptures where the Lord
himself calls himself by this very word. And I would that you
turn with me back to the book of Numbers. In the book of Numbers
chapter 22, we have a man that's spoken to by a donkey. The book
of Numbers chapter 22. And God uses this term about
himself in the book of Numbers chapter 22. It's not always about
this and is depicted in so many ways
by religionists today. I remember driving down the freeway,
I-5, after the Lord gave me His salvation, driving down I-5 there
in Medford, Oregon, and having this thought come to me because
in the religion I was in, Satan was responsible for all the bad
things that were happening in the world and that Tripped driving
down there with this heart that had been created by God, the
input of the spirit within me, I said, I don't have to be afraid
of the devil. And you know, from that time
to this time, I don't have that fear that was implanted in me
by religion, and I don't blame Satan for all the bad things
that are going on, because I find out in Scripture that the things
that go on are the results of a heart that is desperately wicked,
and incurably wicked, and who can know it? That's the problem
we have. So turn with me back here to
the book of Numbers chapter 22 and verse 22. Numbers chapter
22 and verse 22 we have the word adversary and this word is often
translated that adversary and here in the book of Numbers chapter
22 and verse 22 God's anger was kindled because he went, and
the angel of the Lord stood in the way for an adversary against
him. Now this is against the writer
of that mule, and that is Balaam. And you remember the account
here. God caused this donkey to talk to Balaam. But in this
passage of scripture, the Lord himself calls himself the adversary
against Balaam, and says, now he was riding upon an ass, and
his two servants were with him. So, the Lord calls himself this.
We know that the Lord is not the Satan that is talked about.
He became an adversary to Balaam, and we often find in the Old
Testament that there were adversaries, adversaries of God's people,
adversaries against God, adversaries against the people of God, the
prophets of God. There were these things, and
we find that as we look into the scriptures, that Satan is
a created being, and I mentioned not too long ago, but I wanted
to emphasize it again tonight, that when we study about Satan
coming here and accusing the high priest, Joshua, and the
Lord speaking to him, this being is not omnipotent, and this being
is not omniscient, and this being is not omnipresent. This is a
created being and we have religionists have given him so much power
over the world and over people and how he can influence people
and all this. He never made Adam sin. He never
made Eve sin. He can lay out temptations. He
did in the Old Testament how much he has that power today.
But I know that the real problem in this world today is people
that have hearts that are deceitful above all things and desperately
wicked, who can know them. And unless God intervene, we'll
go out of this world with that heart, but he has promised to
all of his people that were given by God to the Son in the covenant
of grace that he will create in them a new heart. And this
heart shall love God and this heart will respect God and honor
God And even though we in the flesh oftentimes don't do that,
what is left in us, the Holy Spirit does 24-7, 365. And that's what we rest in. We rest in the work of Christ
in us. So, God's anger. Now, turn with
me, if you would, to the book of 1 Chronicles. First Chronicles,
I had someone many years ago point this out, that Satan was
able to do this, First Chronicles chapter 21 and verse one. First
Chronicles chapter 21 and verse one. It tells us here, and God
had instructed his kings, don't count the people. Don't count
the people. Well here in First Chronicles,
and the adversary, and an adversary, and here it's translated Satan,
stood up against Israel and provoked David to number Israel. Now,
if we didn't take the time to find out what else the Bible
has to say about this, we would have, well, look at that, Satan
was able to get inside of David's head and able to provoke him. We find that also, if you'll
turn with me to the book of 2 Samuel, 2 Samuel chapter 24, 2 Samuel chapter 24, we have these
words, 2 Samuel chapter 24 and verse 1. How much that this being
is able to do is known only by God and what we know from the
scriptures. Let's not go beyond scripture
when we're dealing with this being. Let's keep it in a scriptural
context and realize that however much, whatever he is, he is not
omnipotent, he's not omnipresent, and he cannot know our thoughts,
our minds, and he can't be in every place at the same time.
He has the same limitations. that every angel has. He is a
fallen angel. He was created by God, and he
is God's fallen angel. Here in the book of II Samuel
chapter 24 and verse 1, and again the anger of the Lord was kindled
against Israel, and he moved David against them to say, Go
number Israel and Judah. Now however much God was in charge
of this, God prompted it, God moved it, and he has the right
to do that and he has the right to punish for people following
that. So he does, he does, David himself. So this one. This one's Satan. He is the accuser. And we have
him standing here. Now, there could have been anybody
standing there, lost person standing there besides Joshua, in this
courtroom as God, as it says, the Lord of hosts, or the angel
of the Lord there, and Joshua stand before him, and he's shaking
his finger and saying, this man is dirty. Look at his clothes. And we go to the New Testament
and we hear what was pronounced there in the book of Zechariah
chapter 3 and verse 1 and 2. We hear the New Testament say
this as it's written by the Apostle Paul led by the Holy Spirit,
who can lay anything to the charge of God's elect, it is God that
justifieth. So we have God, we have God on
our side, and it doesn't matter who's going to bring up the charge.
The Lord Jesus Christ has the ability, as he demonstrated here
in the book of Zechariah, he has the ability of silencing
any accuser against anybody that belongs to God. He can silence
them. He has in the past, he continues
to do it today, he did it through the New Testament, and we find
with regard to Satan himself, he is brought to a stop and a
halt by the power of God. In the book of Matthew, would
you turn there with me as we look at a thought about the apostle
Peter. Now, Peter was never a Satan
as is painted by the religious today, and yet the Lord Jesus
uses that term of accuser with regard to him. Now, Peter is
no different than you and I. Peter is no different than anybody
that's ever stood in any pulpit, anybody that's ever taught the
Bible, or anybody that has sat in the pews and knows the gospel
of God's free and sovereign grace, and has been created anew by
Almighty God. Peter is just like us, and we
have here that the Lord speaks out with regard to Peter's comment
about his sovereignty. Now God's sovereignty chafed
Peter, and God's sovereignty often chafes us. And here we
find in the book of Matthew chapter 16, turn there with me if you
would, Matthew chapter 16, and we have the Lord himself, Matthew
chapter 16 and verse 23. And he turned and said unto Peter, Peter rebuked the Lord. And what
did he really do? He says, Lord, this isn't right. Lord, this is not good. Lord,
this is truly not your plan. And we find ourselves in the
same plight at times. And it tells us here that the
Lord, he turned and said unto Peter, get thee behind me. Now the translators put in here
Satan. Well, Peter is not the capital S-A-T-A-N. Peter is an adversary at that
moment against God and against God's purpose, and he's a believer
in Christ Jesus. The Lord says, Thou art an offence
unto me, for thou savest not the things that be of God, but
those that be of men. Now, aren't you thankful that
God never changes? I change not, therefore ye sons
of Jacob are not consumed. You know, this accusation, this
statement that the Lord made to Peter and called him an adversary,
our translators put the word Satan in there, and he has done
nothing more or less than we have every day of our life. And
yet the Lord is gracious to us. The Lord is gracious. Whom He
saves, He keeps. And He's the one that pronounces,
they shall lay no charge against the elect. They shall lay no
charge against the blood-bought ones. This is the grace of God
to its nth degree that He would have no charge. He didn't condemn
Peter for this. He didn't say, well, I'm going
to strike you out. He said, just get behind me,
adversary. Well, we find ourselves in that
plight, and yet we find the Savior is the Savior of His people,
and He saves His people completely. We make statements, foolish statements,
outlandish statements, ungodly statements, unscriptural statements,
and yet God is gracious to His people. He will not lose one
of them. In the book of Revelation, we
have this great song that's written, this wonderful song that's sung
in the book of Revelation. I believe that the book of Revelation
was written before most people think it was. I think it was
written contemporary with the other passages that we find in
the New Testament and didn't have to wait to the end and then
have to be declared an end times book, it is a revelation of Jesus
Christ, but here in the book of Revelation chapter 12 and
verse 10 we read these words, and I heard a loud voice saying
in heaven, Revelation chapter Chapter 12, verse 10, I heard
a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation. When did salvation come? Well,
we know it is an eternal salvation. We know it was a salvation promised
in Christ before the foundation of the world, promised in Jehovah
before the foundation of the world, promised in the angel
of the Lord before the foundation of the world. This is a promise.
As salvation come and strength and the kingdom of our God and
the power of Christ. Wow, hallelujah. I just read
stuff like that and it just makes me tingle at the glories of God. And then it goes on to say here,
For the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them
before our God day and night. The accuser of the brethren is
cast down. Whatever that means, whoever
that accuser is, some apply it to Satan, some apply it to others,
but the accuser of them. Now, this accuser is an enemy
of God and an enemy of the church and God is all powerful and he
will take care of all these accusers. Who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect? We have accusers. I've had family
accusers. We've had friends that are accusers.
You really don't mean that. We only speak that which we know,
and we know what the Word of God says about this. Now, the
real problem is our heart. The real problem of the world
is the heart. That's what's going on. People are doing exactly
what their heart dictates to them, and we're thankful that
God gives to His people a new heart that love God and he becomes
their God and we become his people. Now he's always been the God
of the church and he's always had a people that he calls his
own. It's an everlasting love he's had for his people. in the
book of Colossians. Would you back up with me to
the book of Colossians? Here in the book of Colossians,
we have these words recorded for us to give us comfort. Colossians
chapter 2 and there in verse 15. Colossians chapter 2 and
verse 15. Now, this is the success of our Savior. He came to this
earth to be absolutely successful, to declare Himself as the Almighty
God, to declare Himself as the Savior who actually saves His
people from their sins. He didn't leave it up to them.
He didn't say, well, I'll save you, now you keep yourself. The
keeping power is in the hands of God too. We have nothing of
ourselves. We don't trust ourselves for
our salvation and we don't trust ourselves for our continued salvation,
for our security. We trust the Lord with all of
that. And here in the book of Colossians
chapter two, let's read verse 14. and blotting out the handwriting
of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us,
and took it out of the way, nailing it to the cross, having spoiled
principalities and powers. He made a show of them openly,
triumphantly over them in it. Now, what is this? It's the promise
fulfilled that was made in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15. The promise
fulfilled. I will deal with all the problem. I will deal with sin. I will
deal with death. I will deal with the grave. And
I'll deal with this adversary. If you'll look with me over into
the book of Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 14, Hebrews 2 and verse
14, we have these wonderful words written for our praising of God,
all that He's done on our behalf. He's left nothing undone. Everything
is complete in Him. He has left nothing to us, nothing
to chance, nothing to our failings. He may call us as He did Peter,
but He never, ever said, I rescind my act on your behalf. here in
the book of Hebrews chapter 2 and verse 14 for as much then as
the children are partakers of flesh and blood he also himself
capital e H e and capital H I am SELF he also himself took Likewise
took part of the same he took part of flesh and blood he took
part of He was involved with our nature, yet without sin.
It was absolutely essential that he be born of a virgin. There
could be no involvement of humanity in him. His father was God the
Father. Mary was his mother, and she
did not pass on those bad things that we do as males. And here
we have it. He likewise took part of the
same, that through death, He died. He didn't go there and
just pass out. He died. He gave up the ghost. He gave over His purpose to the
Father. He submitted Himself to all that
the Father had to pour out on all of those chosen in Christ
before the foundation of the world. All that our sin imputed
to Him God the Father poured out his wrath upon him, and he
died. This one died, and that he might
destroy him that had power of death, and that is the devil. Now I don't understand all that's
said in that verse of scripture, but I'm thankful that the Lord
took care of all the problems. He took care of all my sin, He
took care of all my issues, He took care of all the characteristics
and attributes that I had in Adam, and He took care of all
the enemies of God and all the enemies of the church, and He
did it by Himself on the cross alone, and He left it not to
someone else to take care of. It is by His blood by Christ's
blood we can overcome anything and nothing else we don't have
anything else given to us Over in the book of 1st. John would
you turn with me there 1st. John? 1st. John chapter 4 in
1st. John chapter 4 and There in verse
4 1st. John chapter 4 and verse 4 ye
are of God little children how that just comforts me and to
think that God would say to his children, ye are of God. God
has born you. I'm your father. I am the one
that gave you life. Ye are of God, little children,
and have overcome them. Because greater is He that is
in you. Underline it. Mark it. Highlight
it. Memorize it. Do whatever you
do with scripture. And remember this. Greater is
He that is in you than He that is in the world. Whatever adversary that is, whatever
form it takes, whatever sin it is, greater is He that is in
you than he that is in the world that I have in my heart and mind
or anywhere else. Greater is He that is in you. And that is the indwelling of
the Holy Spirit. Greater is that. Greater is He. than anything else. And this
is our protective care. This is the one that watches
over us with great joy. He does it. It's joyous to him
for what he does. And as we go back there to the
book of Zechariah for just a moment. Zechariah chapter 2. We notice here in Zechariah chapter
3, we notice here as this falls out, as Zechariah is called to
bring up this wonderful subject, this picture of Christ in this
high priest and then the picture of the church in this high priest.
There is something that is absolutely necessary be done. It doesn't
matter what partition we are in this world. or what character
we are in this world, or what our background is in this world.
There is only one thing that can and must be and will be done
for every one of his children. And we find that the Lord, first
of all, deals with the problem. It says there, Satan was standing
beside him and accusing him to resist him. And it just struck
me today as I was going through this, that the person that is
accused is not challenged by the judge, but the accuser of
the person accused is brought to naught. It says there in verse
two, and God Almighty has done this in the past. He has shared
with us with regard to the very burial of Moses. And we'll look
at that in just a moment. The Lord said unto Satan, this
adversary, Whatever it is, whoever he is, what power he's been granted
by God, God said, the Lord rebuked thee, O Satan. And that rebuke
is an almighty rebuke. That rebuke is from heaven. That
rebuke is of God. That rebuke carries weight. That rebuke is almighty rebuke. Whatever power may come up against,
when God rebukes, it says, I rebuke thee, O Satan, rebuke thee, O
Satan, even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem, the one that
has chosen the church, the one that has chosen all the elect,
the one that has chosen, and all those you bring an accusation
against, every one of these, I rebuke you. Satan to your face,
and he is stymied and stopped and bound and held to silence
when the Lord God Almighty speaks to him with those words. The
Lord rebuke thee. The Jehovah rebukes thee. The angel of the covenant, the
angel of the Lord, the angel of Jehovah, this one. You brought
this one into court, it appears. but I'll tell you what, he belongs
to me. I've snatched him as a brand
from the fire. I've plucked him out of the fire,
as it were. I will save him, I am saving
him, and I will forever save him, and you don't have a charge
against him. I rebuke thee. The Lord, even
the Lord, that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee, is not this a brand
plucked, and we could put it, by me, out of the fire. Joshua had nothing to do with
getting out of the fire dead and trespasses in sin and God
raised him up Would you join me over in the book of Jude for
a reading the book of Jude? Over here in the book of Jude
we find an event that took place many hundreds of years prior
to this Moses was not permitted to go into the promised land
and And God said, because you didn't speak and you struck,
I'm not going to let you go in there. Well, with regard to what
Moses represented, Moses, the law, could do nothing else. It has never spoken. It is always
struck. It is never pleasant. It is always
struck. It's all it can do. There's only
condemnation in the law. There is no hope, there is no
grace, there is no mercy, there is no peace, and even those that
attempt, in this life even, to keep it, there is no hope, there
is no peace, there is no grace, it is just Phariseeism after
Phariseeism after Phariseeism. But here, in the book of Jude,
we find what God said with regard to that Moses. Jude, and there
in verse nine, yet Michael the archangel. Now
there's only one archangel. Many angels. The Lord said I
call legions of angels. There's only one archangel, and
that archangel is the messenger of the covenant. He is the angel
of the Lord. He is Jehovah. Yet Michael the
archangel, when contending with the devil, he disputed about
the body of Moses, said, Durst not bring against him a railing
accusation, but said, Didn't argue with him. Didn't argue. The Lord didn't have to argue
with anybody. The Lord didn't have to argue
with any of his creation. the Lord doesn't. His Word is
declared. He doesn't have to argue with
anybody. He didn't argue with us over whether there's a God
or not. He just declared it. He doesn't argue with anybody
over the gospel. He just declares it. And to those
that He has chosen, He reveals it. How glorious is that? He
shares here, yet Michael the archangel, When contending with
the devil he disputed about the body of Moses, Durst did not
bring against him a railing accusation, but said, The Lord rebuke thee. How glorious, how peaceful, how
gracious that the Lord himself would come up against the enemies
of the church and say, I rebuke thee. He came up against sin,
and in his death rebuked it. He came up against our death,
and in his death he rebuked it. And he came up against every
enemy of the church, every enemy of God, I rebuke thee. And God's
word is carried out. that all that he said and promised
to do, he's going to carry out. It's God speaks and it's carried
out. When we read in the book of Genesis
and then in the book of Hebrews, we read some of the same things
about the creation. In the beginning God said, and
it was, and that has not stopped. He continues to declare the life
that is going to be placed inside of every one of his people that
are dead in trespasses and sin. He does it on purpose. I rebuke
death and we're made alive. I rebuke sin is put away. So
God is so gracious to his people to deal with them in what they
could not do. They couldn't do it, they couldn't
do any of it. But he could, he does, and he's
rebuked it all. He's put it away. So now, if
we go back there to the book of Zechariah, for just a moment
before we close, Zechariah, one more time, chapter three, the
book of Zechariah. We have him going through this
wonderful picture of what he does. Zechariah chapter three,
and there in verse three. Now Joshua was clothed with filthy
garments. Now we'll spend some time on
that next time, but that word filthy means filthy. And irreparably, cannot be cleaned. It is so stained, it cannot be
cleaned. Was clothed with filthy garments
and stood before the angel. the angel of Jehovah, and he
answered and spake to those that stood by him, saying, Take away
the filthy garments from him." What did Joshua do? Stood there. He wasn't involved in this. He
stood there. And unto him he said, behold,
I have caused thy iniquity to pass from thee. I will clothe
thee with a change arraignment. And the church is clothed with
the righteousness of Christ. that glorious righteousness that
God has always had, that Christ has always had, that the Son
has always had, the Lamb has always had, this perfect righteousness
that He closes us with, the imputed righteousness of Christ, and
the Church says, thank you, Lord. Thank you for all your goodness
to us. You are able to speak out against
every enemy that I am and have. You speak out against my very
nature, rebuke thee, and it is brought to naught. So the Lord
is gracious to his church. As he goes on through this passage
of scripture and through the book of Zechariah, we continue
to find how gracious he is to the church. to bring out these
things and to share with us the glories that the church has in
Christ Jesus. We have none of it ourself, it
is all of God, and we give him all the glory. We will be, as
that great host, singing, worthy is the lamb that was slain, to
receive glory and honor and praise. all the work he's done and all
the ministry has performed and he has taken that first promise
in the book of Genesis and carried it out to the very fullest and
declared all his people without spot or without blemish. And
the church says, hallelujah.