Now, open your Bibles with me
to the book of Zechariah, chapter three. Zechariah, chapter three. Now,
last Wednesday evening, I preached the first part of this message.
This is part two, but now if you didn't hear the first part,
you won't be lost in what is said this evening. Each message
can stand on its own, and I pray that the Lord will bless us tonight
in every message as we set forth the glorious gospel of God's
grace in Christ. But the title of this message
tonight is The High Priest before the Lord. This is part two of
that. I would urge you to get the tape if you haven't heard
it because it just brings everything together here. As you know, Zechariah,
he was a prophet to the people of Judah upon their return from
the Babylonian captivity. They'd been in captivity 70 years. God had providentially, by his
power, enabled them to return to their homeland and commissioned
them to do two things. Number one was to rebuild the
temple in Jerusalem, thus reestablishing the worship of God and what that
worship is all about. And that's what this chapter
here is really about. That's what it's concerned with.
It's concerned with God, through the prophet Jeremiah, encouraging
the people to rebuild that temple, but not just for the beauty of
a building, not just for ceremony's sake, but to understand what
that temple was all about. And of course, that temple, what
it represented, or who it represented, what it pictured, and all of
the worship that was to go on in that temple as prescribed
by the Lord under the Old Covenant, was a glorious picture of the
Lord Jesus Christ and His church. Christ and how God saved sinners
by His grace through the blood and the righteousness of Christ,
and how all of that that they had in picture and type, in symbolism,
right there before them in a physical representation would be filled
in a great and glorious, eternal and spiritual way by the coming
of the Messiah. That's another thing that this
chapter is about. And so, God gave Zechariah the
prophet eight visions in one night. Each one of those visions
dealt in some way, some aspect of this very subject, this great
and glorious gospel of how God saves sinners through the Lord
Jesus Christ by his sovereign mercy and grace. And this here
in chapter three is the fourth vision that he gave him. It concerns
a man named Joshua. He was the high priest of Israel
at this time. And he stands before the Lord.
This is the vision God gave Zechariah, the high priest standing before
the Lord. Now I dealt with the first five
and six verses, so let's just read them through though. I want
you to see this. It says, He showed me Joshua,
the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord. That angel
of the Lord is the messenger of the covenant, literally. That's
none other than the Lord Jesus Christ himself. He sometimes
is called the angel of the covenant. in the book of Malachi. So here's
the Lord, Joshua, standing before him. And it says, and Satan standing
in his right hand to resist him. Satan the adversary. And the
way that you'll see this, this is a courtroom scene. This is
what this is. This has to do with justification. This has to do with a sinner
standing in the court of God's justice. under the law and how
a sinner appears as the law of God judges each and every one
of us and of course we know how that is the Bible tells us in
so many ways and so many different passages that all have sinned
and come short of the glory of God and the wages of sin is death
and here's Satan the adversary and the reason that Satan is
seen in this vision is because the capacity that he's operating
here is like an accuser You know in Revelation chapter 12 he's
called the accuser of the brethren. That's what the word devil means,
it's an accuser. And he's accusing Joshua the
high priest. He's standing at the right hand
of Joshua to accuse him. So think about it that way. Accusations
being brought. You know when somebody brings
an accusation against you, The only thing you have to worry
about is, is it true? Does it stick? Does that accusation
stick? So here's Satan accusing Joshua,
the high priest. Now, you know the high priest.
He was a man who represented in his office the Lord Jesus
Christ, who is our great high priest. But here, in this vision,
we see Joshua just as a man, as an individual man, just like
you and me. And here it says Satan's accusing him, verse two,
look here. He says, and the Lord said unto Satan, the Lord rebuke
thee. This is Christ interceding, stepping
in as the mediator, as the advocate. And he says, the Lord rebuke
thee, O Satan. You notice, and I brought out
in the last message, you gotta notice here that Joshua stands
there and he does not open his mouth. And the reason is because
he's a sinner. The Bible says that those, in
Romans chapter 3, that those who are guilty before God, what
does the law do? It shuts our mouths. Because
we don't have any excuse. When the real facts are brought
out about who we really are in ourselves, we don't have any
excuses, we don't have any defense. All we can do is just hang our
heads in shame as guilty, guilty, guilty. But Joshua, by the grace
of God, and by the sovereign appointment of God, he has one
who stands for him and speaks for him. That's what you need.
That's what I need. That's what Job talked about
when he said, I need someone to stand for me. He called him
an umpire. That's one of the words that
you can translate there. I need somebody to take my place
and speak for me. And it says the Lord, the title
Lord here, mentioned three times in in verse 2 is Jehovah, the
Lord of the covenant. So whatever the Lord is going
to say here, it's covenant language. Whatever he's going to say here
in defense of Joshua and in the rebuke of Satan, it has to do
with the everlasting covenant of grace. It has to do with the
covenant made before the foundation of the world between God the
Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit. How do you know
all that, preacher? Because of the name, Lord, Jehovah,
God our Savior. That's what that is. And he's
saved by grace, he's saved by promise. Joshua has no points
of recommendation here now. He's a sinner. And he says, and
when the Lord says, the Lord rebuked thee, O Satan, even the
Lord, now he gives two points, remember here, in verse two,
he gives two points in defense of Joshua. Here's the first point. He says, the Lord rebuked thee,
O Satan, number one, even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem
rebuked thee. Now Joshua is a citizen of Jerusalem. How did he get to be that? Well,
number one, God chose him. That's God's sovereign electing
grace. That's election, that's what
it is. He didn't say the Lord rebuked thee, O Satan, Joshua
answered the call, or Joshua made a decision for Christ. He
said the Lord chose him. And it's the election of grace.
That's the only election the Bible knows. I know men talk
about God looking down through a telescope of time and foreseeing
what sinners would do. That's not what happens here.
In fact, if God had looked down through a telescope, what he
would have seen here, according to verse 4, is a man standing
there clothed in filthy garments, literally excrement. That's what
that word is, filthy. That's what he would have seen.
But he says the Lord chose him. God's sovereign electing grace.
And then here's the second point of his defense. He said in verse
2, "...is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?" This man's
been redeemed. That's what he's talking about.
God is sending one to redeem this man. He's going to redeem
his church, his people, his chosen ones. This is redemption. This is one who's under the fire
of God's wrath as a brand ready to be burned up, but he's been
plucked out of the fire by a sovereign God. Now look at verse 3. He
says, Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, that dirty
robe of sin. That's what he's talking about.
That's talking about the demerit of sin. This is a vision, and
it's used in symbolic language. Joshua was a sinner, and he stood
before the angel. This is the best that he could
offer. Remember I mentioned there, somebody might say, well why
didn't, if Joshua's standing before the Lord here, why didn't
he wear his best? And I'm here to tell you, he
is wearing his best. Because that's the best thing
a sinner has. Man at his best state is altogether
vanity. Even the best things that man
can do, as far as being recommended to God, are nothing but filthy
garments in the sight of a holy God. That's what we are by nature. Lord, if thou, Lord, shouldest
mark iniquities, who would stand? You see, that's why salvation
cannot be based upon our works, not even our best. That's why
salvation is totally by grace. That's a picture of every sinner
by nature right here. Joshua. That's what we are. We're
like Joshua. In ourselves, by nature, as fallen
in Adam, has born into this world dead in trespasses and sin, guilty,
standing there, and the best that we can show for it, even
in our religious efforts, even in our most sincere efforts,
are nothing but filthy, filthy garments. What do we deserve? Well, the wages of sin is death.
That's what we deserve. That's what we've earned. If
God ever gave any of us what we deserve and what we've earned,
what would it be? Eternal damnation. That's what
this book teaches. That's what God told Adam. Before
the fall, he said, in the day that you eat thereof, you shall
surely die. Why? Why would he die? That's
what he deserves. When you disobey God, sin against
God demands death. That's why the Lord gave the
word to the Apostle Paul in Romans chapter 5, in speaking of grace,
he said, for as sin hath reigned unto death, Even so might grace
reign through what? Righteousness unto eternal life
by Jesus Christ our Lord. You see, we need righteousness,
but we don't have any. Romans 3 and verse 10, there's
none righteous. No, not one. There's none that
doeth good. There's none that seek after
God. We're all under sin, the scripture says, just like Joshua
here in Romans 3.9. This is our state before God. So what's our hope? We'll look
at verse four. He says, and he answered and spake unto that
stood before him, those that stood before him saying, take
away the filthy garments from him. Take away, take them away. And unto him he said, behold,
I've caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe
thee with chains of raiment. Now symbolically speaking, that's
what we need, a change of clothing. Not literally, What is this talking
about? Well, as I said, this is talking
about the issue of issues. This is talking about the question
of questions. This is talking about the very
ground of salvation, the very heart of the gospel, how God
can be just and still justify the ungodly. How God can be true
to himself as a righteous judge. And let me tell you something,
God will always be true to himself. He will not diminish or deny
or dishonor himself in order to save any sinner. And I'm afraid
that's the main kind of God that's being preached today in religious
circles. Oh, He's a loving God, but at
the expense of His justice. He's a merciful God, but without
His righteous truth being honored. You see, God must be a righteous
judge and a loving Father. He must be a righteous judge
as well as a God of grace. He must be just when He justifies,
and that's what this is all... You know, that's what that temple
was all about. Actually, sinners coming before God to be accepted
on what ground? on the ground of the blood of
Christ. And that blood equals what? What does the blood of
Christ equal? Well, look at Romans chapter
3 quickly here. Let me show you this. What does
the blood of Christ equal? He speaks in verse 23 of Romans
3, he says, For all have sinned and come short of the glory of
God. That means we've missed the mark, just like Joshua. But
he says in verse 24, being justified, being declared legally factually,
really not guilty, being declared righteous freely by His grace
through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus. That's what
we're talking about. Talking about redemption. This is a man
who's been plucked out of the fire, a brand that's been plucked
out of the fire. How did God do that? Well, He said, take
away his filthy garments. I've caused your iniquity to
pass from you." How are you going to do that? Well, he's going
to answer the question in the later verses here, but look at verse
25. He says, "...whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation."
What is a propitiation? That's a sin-bearing sacrifice
that brings satisfaction. That's what that means. A propitiation,
a sin-bearing sacrifice that brings satisfaction. It's related
to the Old Testament word for mercy seat. What was the mercy
seat over the Ark of the Covenant, in the holiest of all, where
the high priest came and sprinkled the blood? And he says, through
faith in his blood, to do what? Look at it. To declare his righteousness
for the remission of sins that are passed through the forbearance
of God. To declare, I say at this time, his righteousness,
that he might be just and the justifier. That he might be a
righteous judge as well as a God of mercy and grace and love of
him which believeth in Jesus. What does his blood equal? It
equals satisfaction to God's law and justice. It equals righteousness. Go back to Zechariah 3. He said,
take away the filthy garments from him. I've caused thine iniquity
to pass away. What's he talking about? He's
talking about imputed righteousness there. He's talking about a righteousness
that I have before a holy God that I had no part in producing.
I didn't produce this righteousness. I didn't work for it, didn't
earn it, didn't have any part in it. It was totally the work
of God outside of me in and by the Lord Jesus Christ. It's called
in Romans chapter 1 verse 17, in Romans chapter 3, and in Romans
chapter 10, it's called the righteousness of God. It's not the righteousness
of men. Adam had that before the fall,
but he lost it. Here's a righteousness that you
can't lose. Here's an everlasting righteousness of infinite value
which can never change and never be taken away. This is one that
sin cannot mar. This is the work of God. He took
away the filthy garments. We who are saved by God's grace
stand before God not in our own good deeds, but in the righteous
merits of Jesus Christ, charged to us, accounted to us, imputed
to us. And it's not a lifelong process
of God infusing or imparting enough righteousness into you
so that you eventually qualify for heaven. That's not it. My
friend, once Christ did His great work, there's the qualification
met. Everything that God requires
of me to be saved, to be accepted, to be glorified, is found completely
in the person and finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. You
realize that? And it's a judicial decision.
It's the decision of God, the righteous judge, who always judges
according to truth. It's not a pretend righteousness.
Now, I'm a sinner in myself. You're a sinner. Brother Terry
read from 2 Samuel chapter 9, wasn't it? About Mephibosheth. You know the story of Mephibosheth,
how David, according to the covenant that he made with Jonathan, he
wanted to show mercy, show kindness, covenant kindness to one in Saul's
house, and he did it for Jonathan's sake. A picture of God showing
us mercy for Christ's sake, according to the covenant. And he went
down there and fetched Mephibosheth. He didn't hold an invitation
and sing, Just As I Am. He said, go get him. Isn't that
right? He said, go get him. That's what
God does. That's how Christ gets his sheep.
He goes and gets them. They're lost sheep. They don't
even know which direction to look, let alone go. That's us
by nature. All we like sheep have gone astray.
You read it. And so he went down and he fetched
Mephibosheth. And what was Mephibosheth? He
was lame on his feet. You know how he got lame on his
feet? You all remember? His nurse dropped him. Picture
of the fall. He couldn't walk. And that's
us, in the fall, we're dead spiritually. That's exactly what it was, we
can't walk spiritually, we can't see spiritually, can't think
spiritually, we're spiritually dead. But he fetched him and
brought him into his kingdom, dressed him up and put him at
the king's table and he ate at the king's table. He was qualified
to eat at the king's table. You know why? For Jonathan's
sake. We're qualified to eat at the
King of Kings table. Why? Because we're so good? No. Because we're so dedicated? No.
Because we're so sincere? No. Because of Christ's sake.
For Christ's sake. We're washed in his blood. We're
clothed in his righteousness. But you know the last verse of
that, you remember what I said, Terry? He was sitting at the King's
table, but he's still lame on his feet. And that's us. We're
righteous in the sight of God, but we're still sinners in and
of ourselves. Now that righteousness is not a pretense. Go look here
at Zechariah 3 again. He said, verse 4, take away the
filthy garments from him. They're taken away. I quoted
that chorus we sang this morning. Did you hear what Jesus said
to me? They're all what? Taken away. My sins are pardoned. I'm free. They're all taken away. I've caused thine iniquity to
pass from thee." It's a judicial decision and declaration on God's
part that takes place in an instant. Just like the clothing of Joshua
here pictures, take away the filthy garments. He's cleaned
up, washed in the blood of Christ, and put on him a new garment.
God justifying the sinner. That's what's happening here.
Clothed with a change of raiment. You see, that's imputed righteousness.
It means that the Lord Jesus Christ is my righteousness before
God. It means that as I truly stand
before God, God sees no sin in me as a matter of divine justice. There is therefore now no condemnation
to them which are in Christ. It means that Satan's charges,
even though he keeps accusing, They don't stick. Romans chapter
8, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's
God that justifies. God did this. Now if it was a
pretense, Satan's charges would stick. But they don't stick. And that's why the Lord rebukes
Satan on the ground of his finished work, we'll see. It means God
sees the record books of heaven record no iniquity, no transgression,
no sins against God's people. Behold the Lamb of God which
taketh away the sin of the world. He bore them away. For Christ
is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth. God
will not impute sins to his people or require satisfaction from
us because our sins were made to be Christ's. They belong to
him. He took them on himself. He was made sin. God was in Christ,
reconciling the world unto himself, not imputing, charging, accounting
their trespasses unto them. What did he do there? He took
them away. Look back at Isaiah 53 that Brother Bill read. And
we could go all through the scripture to show this. There's so many
prophecies and pictures of this that you can't hardly count them.
I mean, you can go all the way back to Genesis chapter 3. in
the first promise of Christ in Genesis chapter 3 and verse 15
and immediately not only did the Lord show that he was going
to send the woman's seed, the Lord Jesus Christ, who would
die but not suffer corruption, he would, remember he told Satan,
you'll bruise his heel, he'll bruise your head. But he also
pictures in the sacrificial system that he instituted there in verse
21 in Genesis 3, when he slew an animal and made him coats
of skin. That's the death of Christ, the
blood of Christ. You see, without the shedding
of blood, there's no forgiveness, no pardon, no remission. Death
is a sin, a sin demands death. Christ died, and as a result,
what do we get out of that? His coat, his righteousness. It's not a literal coat. It's
not just on the outside of me. It's God accounting to me the
full value and power and merit of what Christ accomplished on
Calvary. It's mine. Why? Because He gave it to me. Freely. He charged it to me. But look
there at Isaiah 53. This is how He did it. In Isaiah
53 verse 10, it says, It pleased the Lord to bruise him. He hath
put him to grief when thou shalt make his sow an offering for
sin. That's how it happened. He was a sin offering. He shall
see his seed, that's his children, his offspring. That's what he's
talking about, the offspring that came out of his death. Read
that in John chapter 12 sometime. Except the corn of wheat fall
into the ground and die, it won't bear fruit. This is the fruit
of the death of Christ. That's talking about his people.
They're justified, sanctified by his one offering for sin.
He shall prolong his days and the pleasure of the Lord shall
prosper in his hand. Now look at verse 11. He shall see of
the travail of his soul and shall be satisfied. And by his knowledge
shall my righteous servant justify many. Now how's he gonna do that?
For he shall bear their iniquities. Everything that his people deserve
and earned because of sin, Christ bore it on the cross. The curse
of the law, He was made a curse for us. The sin itself, He was
made sin for us. Christ who knew no sin, that
we might be made the righteousness of God in Him. The guilt of sin,
He bore my guilt. The damnation, the hell of it
all, he bore it all. He said, my God, my God, why
hast thou forsaken me? He was forsaken. That's what
you earned and I earned. That's what I deserved and you
deserved. But he became forsaken based upon that filthy robe of
sin being placed on him. And that's symbolic language,
that's the language of imputation. And all that, he said, for he
shall bear their iniquities. I can think of other symbols
and types of that. Think about the scapegoat. Remember
the scapegoat? There's two goats, one was killed,
sin demands death, and out of that the high priest placed his
hand on the other goat and he was led out into the wilderness,
never to be seen again. That's Christ going out into
the wilderness of God's wrath for our sins. All of that. Go
back to Zechariah 3. That's what this means. Now,
our justification before God is described right here. And
I want you to notice something. Now, he says here, this cleansing
that Joshua is going through here, it's not a potential cleansing
waiting on the response of the sinner. It's actual cleansing.
clearly the work of a sovereign and powerful God, not of any
goodness or power in the sin. But now, salvation, and I made
this statement last week, salvation is first and foremost a legal
matter here. But salvation is not only a legal
matter, now let's go to verse five, listen to this. He says,
and I said, let them set a fair mitre upon his head." Now, if
you can recall back in the book of Exodus, and we'll turn back
there in just a moment, but I want you to see this. That fair mitre
was a turban that was made for the high priest. It was a headpiece. And it was set on his head, and
he says in verse 5, so they set a fair mitre upon his and clothed
them with garments, the priestly garments." What is all this talking
about? Well, he says, "...and the angel
of the Lord stood by." And what he's talking about here is now
he's making Joshua aware of what's going on. You see, salvation
is first and foremost a legal matter. We've got to be justified
before God. That took place in Christ. But
as a result of that, salvation is not only a legal matter, it's
also a spiritual, moral matter. It's something that as a result,
God the Holy Spirit brings to a sinner and brings that sinner
under the preaching of the gospel and we hear about it. That's
the new birth. Now that new birth is the result,
it's the fruit and the effect of what Christ accomplished.
You see? That's the fruit. Christ is the
ground. His work for us is the ground.
The Holy Spirit's work in us is the fruit. It's the result. And that's why Christ told Nicodemus,
you must be born again. You can't be saved without being
born again. But my friend, if Christ is your substitute, if
he is the Lord your righteousness, you will be born again. That's
what he said. He said, if I be lifted up will
draw all unto me, John chapter 12. He said, all that the Father
giveth me shall come to me. Now, the reason I'm saying all
that is this. Now, this fair miter being placed
upon his head, I want you to see something about that. Turn
to Revelation chapter 7. And keep in mind that what he's
talking about here is in line with the priesthood. The priesthood,
Joshua was the high priest. Turn to Revelation chapter 7.
And I want you to look at verse 1. Here he's talking about the opening
of the seals of God's judgment against the earth. That's what
Revelation 7 is part of that. God is bringing judgment on this
earth. And I'll tell you, we can see it. I mean, every manifestation
of God's judgment. Now, that's not to puff us up
as if we don't deserve it. We know that any time we see
a measured manifestation of God's judgment, whether it be a hurricane
or a war or whatever, sickness or plague or whatever, whenever
we see a measured manifestation of God's judgment, the way that
we should think is, but for the grace of God. If it weren't for
the Lord's mercy, I deserve the same thing. Thank God for Christ. It's of the Lord's mercies that
we're not consumed. And I say that because, you know,
when big disasters happen, you know, I think I mentioned in
our Sunday school class, we're studying Revelation. You know,
when the hurricane hit New Orleans, what was the hurricane's name?
Katrina. I can't even remember Katrina
for some reason. But when Katrina hit New Orleans,
there were a lot of religious people saying, well, see there,
New Orleans deserved that. It's such a wicked city, you
know. Well, that's self-righteous. I'm going to tell you, Ashland
deserves it too. Houston deserves it too, Brian.
We all deserve it. And if we don't get it, it's
of the Lord's mercies. Thank God for Christ. But this
is talking about these measured manifestations of God's wrath.
But look at verse 1 of Revelation 7. He says, And after these things
I saw four angels standing on the four corners of the earth,
holding the four winds of the earth, that the wind should not
blow on the earth, nor on the sea, nor on any tree. That's
the full measure of God's wrath, the end of the world, and that's
not coming yet, he's saying. I saw another angel ascending
from the east, having the seal of the living God. And he cried
with a loud voice to the four angels to whom it was given to
hurt the earth and the sea, saying, Hurt not the earth, neither the
sea nor the trees, till we have sealed the servants of our God
in their foreheads." He's talking about sealing us in our foreheads.
What's that mean? That's our mind. That's our mind. In the Bible, the forehead represents
the mind, and the hand represents the works. All right? What we
think, what we do. And he says, I'm going to seal
the servants of God in their forehead. In other words, this
world, what he's saying there, is this world is not going to
be utterly destroyed, finally, until every one of God's elect,
Christ's sheep, His church, are brought to faith in Christ and
repentance of dead works. That's what he means. That's
how you're sealed in your mind, in your heart, in the forehead.
He brings it to your mind, in your heart, by the power of the
Spirit. In other words, this world's
not going to be, it's not going to end until every one of Christ's
sheep are brought into the fold. Well, I want you to look back
at Exodus chapter 28. Turn back to Exodus 28. Now it
says, until they're sealed in their foreheads. The first time
the word forehead is even used in the scripture is here in Exodus
28, and what's being spoken of here is the attire, the garments,
the headpiece of the high priest. And it was all made by God's
pattern, God's instruction, God's commandments, by skilled workmen
whom God had skilled to do these things, just like everything
in the tabernacle. Everything was made according to plan, and
everything was made according to God's purpose and God's pattern,
And it was all made by skilled workmen that God especially gifted
to do. And all that's a picture of God
bringing His church together under the preaching of the gospel
by His servants. Well, look at Exodus 28 and look
at verse 36. He's talking about the priest
here and he says, "...and thou shalt make a plate of pure gold."
This is verse 36. Engrave upon it now. This is
a plate of pure gold and here's what you're to put on that plate
You're to engrave something on it like the engravings of a signet
and here's what it says holiness to the Lord Now that was a plate
and he says and thou shalt put it on blue on a blue lace that
it may be upon the mitre Remember, Zechariah 3, he's gonna put the
fair mitre on his head, the high priesthood. He's gonna engrave
it upon the mitre, upon the forefront of the mitre it shall be, and
it shall be upon Aaron's forehead, that Aaron may bear the iniquity
of the holy things which the children of Israel shall hallow
in all their holy gifts, and it shall be always upon his forehead
that they may be accepted before the Lord. Well, look back at
Zechariah 3. That's what he's talking about.
He's talking about God bringing a sinner to faith in Christ. Here, he's using that same emblem
to show that when God brings one of his people under the preaching
of the gospel, the first thing he impresses upon that sinner
is the holiness of God in light of our sin, and that God must
be holy, God must be just when he justifies the ungodly, and
the only way he can do that is through Christ. Remember Isaiah chapter 6? You
don't have to turn there. Isaiah saw the Lord high and
lifted up, and his train filled the temple. And the seraphim
and the cherubim cried, Holy, holy, holy Lord God Almighty. And what did Isaiah see out of
that? He saw, I'm a man of unclean lips, and I dwell amidst a people
of unclean lips. I've got no hope in myself. There's
no hope for me. There's no salvation for me.
God's holy and I'm a sinner and he must punish sin. He's right
to do so. Oh Lord, if you should mark iniquities,
who would stand? Not me, I'm unholy. Then what
happened? One of those seraphim flew and
they grabbed a coal from the altar, a burning coal from the
altar. What does that represent? That's the altar of redemption.
That's the altar of sacrifice. That's where the death of the
substitute occurs. And he brought that coal and
he put it on Isaiah's lips. He's showing him the way of salvation,
holiness unto the Lord. How can God save me? How can
he justify me and be holy and just and righteous? How can man
be clean in God's sight? Man born of woman. The heavens
are not even clean in God's sight. How can I be clean? Well, here's
the answer. Take away those filthy garments
and give him another garment. and that's what he does when
he brings us under the sound of the gospel he shows us what
happened in God's court of justice before the Holy God and he takes
us and he seals it in our minds through the preaching of the
gospel of his grace in the Lord Jesus Christ the mercy and the
grace of God and the goodness of God in Christ he seals it
in our minds and our hearts and he shows us that he's put a new
robe on us a righteousness that'll never Never die. Never be corrupted. But look
at verse 6 of Zechariah 3. It says, "...and the angel of
the Lord protested unto Joshua..." Now that word, protested, means
he charged him, he's given him a command. That's what that means. "...he commanded Joshua, saying,
Thus saith the Lord of hosts, If thou wilt walk in my ways,
and if thou wilt keep my charge, Then shalt thou also judge my
house, and shalt also keep my courts, and I will give thee
places to walk among these that stand by." What's he talking
about? He's talking about the walk of faith. He brings it to our hearts
under the preaching of the gospel. We're born again by the Spirit,
we're brought to faith in Christ in repentance, and then we walk
by faith in the Lord. We walk in His ways. What are
His ways? It's the ways of grace, the ways
of mercy in Christ. We run the race of grace, Hebrews
12, two, looking unto Jesus, the author and the finisher of
our faith. And he said, what is his charge? Well, his charge,
he's entrusted us with the gospel. That's what we are, we're witnesses
for Christ in this world. We glorify him, we worship him,
we point sinners to him. We're like John the Baptist,
he must increase. I've got to decrease. Show a
sinner Christ. Brother Mahan, you say, show
him Christ and then get out of the way. And that's it. And he says, judge my house.
How do we judge his house? By preaching the gospel. That's
all you do. Just preach the gospel. Preach
Christ and him crucified. Keep his courts. How does God
keep his people and preserve his worship? Through the continual
preaching of Christ and him crucified. And He gives us places to walk
among these that stand by, that is, amongst those who are accepted
and near unto God in Christ. Now, how is all this going to
take place? Who's going to accomplish all
this? How's this going to come about? Well, everybody get baptized. No. Everybody turn over a new
leaf or everybody sign a pledge card. How about that one? Or
y'all send in your seed money, how about that? How's all this
gonna get accomplished? Look at the last three verses,
here it is. Here now, O Joshua the high priest, thou and thy
fellows, that's the other priest, Joshua's the high priest, then
you had the other attending priest, that sit before thee, for they
are men wondered at. Literally, that means they are
types. That's what that literally means. Joshua, the high priest,
and these other, you're a type. In other words, you're not there
as high priest as an end in and of itself. Just so we can say
you have that position. And you can be in the historical
list. Or that it can bring attention to you. You're there for something
greater than you. The high priest is a type of
Christ, our great high priest. Those other priests were a type
of the church. And he says, your men wondered
at your symbols. You're men of type, you represent
someone and something greater than yourself. And it speaks
of the future, a greater glory, something that's gonna outdo
this physical temple and this physical priesthood, all fulfilled
in and by the Lord Jesus Christ, whom he identifies here in verse
eight. For behold, I will bring forth my servant, the branch. Christ is the branch of the Lord. Over in Zechariah 6 and verse
12, he's called the branch. In verse 12 it says, "...and
speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of hosts, saying,
Behold, the man whose name is the branch, he shall grow up
out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord."
That's talking about Christ building his church. He's called the the
branch of David, the branch of Jesse because according to the
flesh he came of the seed of David according to the flesh.
We read it in Jeremiah chapter 23 and verse 5 of the Lord our
righteousness. You remember that I read it in
the opening of our service. It says there that Behold, the
days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous
branch, and a king shall reign and prosper and execute judgment
and justice in the earth. That's why he came. And in his
days shall be, that Judah shall be saved, Israel shall dwell
safely. That's a picture of the church, spiritual Israel. And
this is his name, whereby he shall be called Jehovah Sidkenu,
the Lord our righteousness. It's repeated in Jeremiah 33,
verses 15 and 16, applying to the church. Because when the
church is married to Christ, we take his name. the Lord our
righteousness. God would not let this earthly
priesthood be abolished until Messiah would come and do his
perfect work. And look at verse 9 of Zechariah
3, for behold the stone that I've laid before Joshua. That one who is the branch, Messiah
the branch, he's also the stone. Remember back in Daniel chapter
2, he was the stone that was cut out of the mountain? He's
the foundation stone, he's the chief cornerstone, he's the rock
upon which the church is built, he's the rock from which we get
our spiritual water. He said upon this rock I will
build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against,
that's Christ. He said upon one stone shall
be seven eyes, seven representing representing the completeness
of his knowledge and wisdom, because Christ is the all-seeing
foundation stone. In him are hid all the treasures
of wisdom and knowledge. He knows it all. Seven eyes, behold, I will engrave
the engravings thereof, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will
remove the iniquity of that land in one day. Let me just take
you back to Exodus. Exodus 28, one more time before
I close. There's a lot of speculation
over what this engraving is. He said, "...Behold, I will engrave
the graving thereof, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will remove
the iniquity of that land in one day." What engraving is he
talking about? Well, who's he talking about
here? Talking about Joshua the high
priest. He's talking about Christ, the high priest of his people.
Go back to Exodus chapter 28 and look with me at verse 9.
Listen to what he says. He says, Thou shalt take two
onyx stones, engrave or engrave on them the names of the children
of Israel. They were amulets put on the
shoulder of the high priest that held the tunic up. Six of their
names on one stone, six names on the rest of the other stone,
according to their birth. He says, with the work of an
engraver in stone, like the engravings of a signet, shalt thou engrave
the two stones with the names of the children of Israel. Thou
shalt make them to be set in ushes of gold, that is, settings
of gold. And thou shalt put the two stones
upon the shoulders of the ephod for stones of memorial unto the
children of Israel, and Aaron shall bear their names before
the Lord upon his two shoulders for a memorial. The government
shall be upon his shoulders, Isaiah 9. So that's the names
of the children of Israel. And then later on, you can read
it if you want to, look over in verse 21, it says the stone
shall be with the names of the children of Israel, 12 according
to their names. Like the engravings of a signet,
every one his name shall be according to the 12 tribes. That's the
breastplate. He has his people upon his shoulders as all of
our salvation is conditioned on him. And he has his people
upon his heart. Back here in Zechariah 3, that's
exactly what he's talking about. Who did the high priest of Israel
go into the holiest of all for? God's chosen people, Israel. 12 names engraved. Who did Christ enter into the
holiest of all for? God's elect, chosen before the
foundation of the world, spiritual Israel. That's what the engraving's
about. And he removed the iniquity of
that land in one day. Now, as that applies to national
Israel, that's the day of atonement each year. One day, he went in
with the blood. As it applies to spiritual Israel,
the church, it's the day of the cross. When the Lord Jesus Christ
hanged on that tree, bearing the names of His people, His
sheep, He died for us. That's particular redemption.
That's real redemption. And in that one day, He removed
all the iniquities of all the people that were made to meet
on Him. And then verse 10, listen to this, of Zechariah 3, In that
day, saith the Lord of hosts, shall you call every man his
neighbor under the vine and under the fig tree. What's that a symbol
of? That's peace. That's peace between God and
sinners through the blood of His cross. Those who are made
righteous in Him. That vine in the fig tree is
an emblem that's taken as a reference back in 1 Kings chapter 4 and
describes Israel under Solomon. Remember, David was a man of
blood. He was a man of war. Solomon was called a man of rest.
This pictures the eternal peace and the rest of God's people
in Christ. He said, come unto me, all ye
that labor and are heavy laden, and I'll give you what? Rest. That's what this means. Under
the vine and under the fig tree. He is our rest. Read it in Hebrews
chapter 4, the Sabbath. Christ is our Sabbath rest. He
finished the work. He took away our sins. He established
everlasting righteousness. And when the Holy Spirit brings
us under Him, what do we do? We find our peace in Him and
we rest in Him for all salvation, for all forgiveness, for all
righteousness and glory. All right. Let's sing as our
closing hymn, hymn number 393, Take My Life and Let It Be, 393.