Welcome to our program. Now today
I'm going to be preaching in the Old Testament from the book
of Zechariah. That's the next to the last book
of the Old Testament just before Malachi. The prophet Zechariah
and I'm going to be preaching from Zechariah chapter 3. Now
this is a very interesting and a very full portion of scripture. So I've entitled the message,
A Change of Clothing. a change of clothing. Now, that
may seem to be a strange title, but you'll understand what I
mean as I go through this chapter, Zechariah chapter 3. Now, Zechariah
was a prophet in Israel, and he spoke to the people of Judah,
the southern kingdom of Judah, which we sometimes just refer
to as Israel, and Jerusalem, the city of Jerusalem. After
they had returned home from being in captive, being captive to
the Babylonians for 70 years. This is the return home and they're
in their homeland and Zechariah, along with others, were trying
to encourage the people of Judah in the rebuilding of the temple
and the reestablishment of the Old Covenant worship. Now the people had delayed, they'd
gotten lazy, they'd gotten involved in their own affairs, and they
began to forget and slack off on the rebuilding of the temple
and the worship of God. You see, to rebuild that temple
and worship God according to the old covenant law, what was
to show and express their love for and their reverence for the
Lord God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of the covenant,
the God who had promised to send a Redeemer, the Messiah, the
promised Messiah who would come later in time, and that's none
other than the Lord Jesus Christ, the Savior of sinners. And everything
around that temple was a picture and type of how God saves sinners
by His grace through the Lord Jesus Christ. how God justifies
or declares not guilty, declares righteous and right a sinner
before himself based on the shed blood and the righteousness of
the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what that temple worship
served to teach and to point sinners to. And they were slow
in doing that. And so Zachariah the prophet
was appointed of God as a prophet to Judah to stir the people up
and encourage them in the rebuilding of the temple. Now, in Zechariah
chapter 3, what God does is He gives Zechariah the prophet a
vision. Some call it a dream, but it
doesn't matter. It's a word from God, a revelation
from God. And it's a vision of the man
who at that time was the high priest in the temple. His name
was Joshua. That was a common name in the
Old Testament. As you know, Joshua, there was
a Joshua who led the children of Israel on into the Promised
Land. And that Joshua, that word Joshua,
or the Hebrew name would be Yeshua. And sometimes that's the equivalent
name of the Greek name Jesus, which is God our Savior. And so Joshua here is the high
priest of Israel at this time. And Zechariah is given a vision
of Joshua, the high priest. And it's a real interesting vision.
I want you to follow along in your Bibles as we see this, but
I want you to see why I've entitled this message, A Change of Clothing,
many times in Scripture, the standing of God's people before
him is represented by a change of clothing, the changing of
a garment. the exchange of the garment of
sin, which we are by nature as in Adam, that's us by nature,
deserving of death and hell and condemnation, and the exchange
of that garment of sin for a garment of righteousness, which is the
righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, His obedience unto death. And it's upon the ground of the
righteousness of Christ legally accounted, or charged, or credited,
or what the Bible says, imputed to a sinner that gives that sinner
a right standing before God. And many times in scripture that's
represented as wearing a garment of salvation, a garment of righteousness. So let's look at this. It says
in verse 1, Zechariah says, God showed me Joshua the high priest
standing before the angel of the Lord and Satan standing at
his right hand to resist him. Now, what we have here is a courtroom
scene. Here's the judge, the angel of
the Lord, the messenger, the instrument of the Lord to institute
and execute justice. And the accused one is Joshua,
the high priest of Israel, the high priest of the temple. You
see, every man born of woman is a sinner, born of Adam. All
have sinned and come short of the glory of God. But now look
who the accuser is. And the word Satan here, the
title Satan, is literally an adversary, but it is translated,
and we find it, as the name that is commonly attributed to Satan. And Satan is called in the Bible
many times the accuser of the brethren. So here you have the
angel of the Lord, the judge, to execute justice, You have
Joshua the high priest on trial, and you have Satan accusing Joshua. He's the accuser. Over in the
book of Revelation chapter 12 and verse 9, when it's speaking
of the great dragon, which is none other than Satan himself,
that's a symbolic picture of Satan. It says in verse 9, "...and
the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent called the devil,"
that's our adversary, "...and Satan," he's also called Satan,
"...which deceiveth the whole world. He was cast out into the
earth, and his angels were cast out with him." Now that's referring
to Satan's defeat by the death of Christ on the cross when he
shed his blood as the full payment of all the sins of all his people. But listen to verse 10 of Revelation
12. He says, and I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, now is
come salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the
power of his Christ. Again, that's referring to Christ's
finished work on Calvary by which he satisfied the justice of God. And upon his death he was buried
and he arose again the third day because of the justification
of his people. And he says, for the accuser
of our brethren, that's Satan, The accuser of our brethren is
cast down, which accused them before our God, day and night."
In other words, Satan would not stop. He's the accuser of the
brethren. So back here in Zechariah 3,
we have this same picture here of Joshua standing before the
judge, God the judge, and he's being accused by Satan. Satan
standing at his right hand to resist him or to accuse him. Well, what is Satan accusing
Joshua of? Well, obviously he's accusing
him of sin. Satan is saying, this man is
a sinner. It's much like the Pharisees
in the New Testament, in the days of our Lord, when they would
look upon certain people and they would say, that person is
a sinner. One time they accused the Lord
before his disciples of eating with publicans and sinners. You
see, they did not see themselves as sinners. And what they're
saying in that is that this is a person, when they make that
accusation, when they make that judgment, they're saying this
is a person who deserves to be judged, condemned. This is a
person who deserves death and hell. Now in saying that, the
Pharisees, and of course Satan himself here, They're saying
by implication, I don't deserve heaven. I don't deserve hell
and death. I deserve heaven. But that person
is a sinner. Now you know as well as I do
what the Bible says about such people. They're hypocrites. They
are self-righteous religionists. The Bible tells us there's none
good, no not one. There's none righteous, no not
one. For all have sinned and come short of the glory of God.
That's what we are by nature. There's not one of us. who deserve
heaven, who deserve even the least of God's favor and blessings.
We all deserve in ourselves death and hell. We've earned nothing
but death and condemnation. But now look at verse 2 of Zechariah
3. He says here, 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 is something to see
here. The Lord speaks for Joshua. Joshua does not speak for himself.
The Bible says in Romans chapter 3 that the law was given to shut
the mouths of the guilty. You see, here's the point. Joshua
is or was a sinner. That's the point of the whole
scripture to show us by the law. Why was the law brought in? It
was brought in to expose our sinfulness. So Joshua has no
defense for himself. Joshua has nothing to say. My
friend, people spend their lives in religion opening their mouths
to defend themselves against the accusation of either being
a sinner or being deserving of hell. But you see, when we see
the reality of the law, when God the Holy Spirit, as Paul
wrote in Romans chapter 7, slays us or kills us by the law, It
shuts our mouths from defending ourselves. We have no defense.
But here's something that is an issue of God's grace. It says,
"...and the Lord said unto Satan..." You see, it was the Lord who
rebuked Satan, not Joshua. If Satan accuses me, I don't
have anything to defend myself, but I need one to stand in my
place and speak for me. And here we see the glory of
the mediatorial work of Christ, who is the advocate of his people. 1 John chapter 2 and verse 1
speaks of this, that when God's people sin, and we sin every
day, we have an advocate with the Father. Now, who is our advocate? Who is it who stands up and speaks
for God's people. It's none other than the Lord
Jesus Christ, Jesus Christ the Righteous. And it goes on to
say He's the propitiation, He is the sin offering, the sin
bearer who's satisfied by the shedding of His own blood, the
justice of God against our sins. He's the propitiation for all
our sins. So here the Lord says, the Lord
rebuke thee, O Satan. Now He has two points in Joshua's
defense. The first point is God's election
of grace. He says, even the Lord that hath
chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee. Jerusalem is symbolic here. It's
the city of David, but not King David of the Old Testament, but
the one whom David typified, the Lord Jesus Christ. It's the
city of God. It's the place where God's chosen
people Israel dwells. And here it's speaking of spiritual
Israel. God's chosen people out of every
tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation. All who come to Christ for salvation. God chose them. And that's what
he's telling Satan. This is one who has been chosen
by God. But you see, when God makes his
choice, he must be just. He must be righteous. He must
be holy. Joshua is a sinner. And God's
choice of Joshua had nothing to do with anything that Joshua
deserved or was qualified for. It is called unconditional election. You see, God's sovereign mercy
and electing grace is what chose Joshua. But God did choose him. Now, in doing so, God must be
just. So then he says, here's the second point of his defense,
is not this a brand plucked out of the fire? Now that speaks
of redemption. In other words, this person was
like a firebrand, like a brand that was in the fire burning
up under the wrath of God, burning up under sin, under the condemnation
of death, like that brand that's going to be consumed. This is
a foretaste of hell itself, that place where sin will be forever
punished but never quenched. And this person, Joshua, has
been plucked out of that fire, out from under the wrath of God,
out from under the condemnation of death and sin. Now, how did
that happen? Well, the Bible teaches that
there's only one way that a sinner can be saved from the burning
wrath of God which he deserves. And that is through the obedience
unto death of the Lord Jesus Christ. That's what the gospel
is all about. It's the gospel of God's grace,
how God saves sinners from wrath by putting His beloved Son, the
Lord Jesus Christ, under the wrath that we deserve. And how Christ took the full
measure of the fiery wrath of God on the cross based on the
sins of His sheep charged to Him. You see, Christ was an innocent
victim. Christ was perfect and righteous
within Himself. But God credited, charged, accounted
all the sins of His chosen people to the Lord Jesus Christ. So
that when He went under the fire of God's wrath on the cross,
God was just to punish Him for our sins. The Bible tells us
in Isaiah chapter 53 that He was bruised for our iniquity. It was for the chastisement of
our peace, you see, that all the iniquity of God's people,
His chosen people, was laid upon Him. The Bible says in 2 Corinthians
chapter 5 and verse 21, it says that God made Him sin. Christ was made sin. That means
He was constituted, legally accounted to be sin for us. Christ who
knew no sin, that we might be made or become the righteousness
of God in Him. You see, our sins were charged
to him. And in exchange, his righteousness,
all the entire merit of his whole work of obedience unto death,
is accounted to his people. Now, that's what is pictured
in the next verses. Verse 3, it says, Now Joshua
was clothed with filthy garments and stood before the angel. Joshua
stood there guilty and defiled by his sins. He wore it like
a clothing. Now, that doesn't mean that sin
is just on the outside of a person. You know, Christ talked about
sin as being a matter of the heart, and it is. Not only must
we be saved legally and justified before God, but we also must
be saved eternally in the heart by the new birth, the Spirit
regenerating us. But the ground of salvation and
the whole central issue of salvation is how can a sinner be made just
and right before a holy God? And that's represented in symbolic
language here of the garment of sin. Here the sinner stands
before God guilty, defiled, a sinner. Now sin reaches the heart, but
this is picturing how God justifies a sinner. So what he says here,
here's Joshua clothed with his filthy garments, and he stood
before the angel, And he couldn't deny his sinfulness. There it
is, his filthy garments. That's the symbol. Well, look
at verse 4. And he answered, that is, the
angel of the Lord answered and spake unto those that stood before
him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. Take away
his sin. Remove that which condemns him. Remove that which shows his deservedness
of hell and condemnation. Take the filthy garments away
from him. And unto him he said, Behold,
I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, I will clothe
thee with change of raiment." A change of clothing. God said,
now this is the angel of the Lord, Christ himself speaking
here. You see, Joshua has no part in
this, in this change of clothing. This is totally a work done outside
of Joshua. His works, his cooperation, His
willingness had nothing to do with it. Now, will Joshua, will
he be willing? Yes, he will. We'll see that
in just a moment. But what he's picturing here in this change
of clothing is totally the work of the Lord Jesus Christ on the
cross. That's how the sins of God's
people were put away. All the sins of God's people,
Christ's sheep, Old Testament and New Testament, were taken
away, born away, put away by Christ on the cross when he drank
damnation dry and cried, it's finished. You see, every sin,
every ounce, every part of it was laid upon Christ and he took
it away. God put on him the garment of
my sin by imputation. He didn't make Christ to be a
sinner as some would say. He didn't infuse him or inject
him with sin. His nature of deity and humanity
remained pure and perfect the whole time. But he became legally
credited, accountable for the sins of his sheep. And that's
what he says, take the filthy garments away. Behold, I have
caused thine iniquity to pass from me. Joshua, your iniquity
is passed from you. It's been put away by the blood
of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he says, I'm going to give
you a change of clothing. Well, what do we get? You see,
God doesn't leave Joshua there naked. In other words, the work
of Christ on the cross was more than just to take away the filthy
garments. The work of Christ on the cross
was to bring in the ground of righteousness and justification,
to clothe Joshua with righteousness. That's the change of Raymond.
And this is the glorious exchange of how God is able to justify
the ungodly. How He can be both a righteous
judge and a loving Father. He's both. He's a just God and
a Savior. How can He be so? Well, Christ
took my place on Calvary, and He took my filthy garment upon
Himself, and He put it away. He drank damnation dry. He satisfied law and justice.
And then he established righteousness by which God looks upon a sinner
like me, like Joshua, as being not guilty and righteous. And
that's real. It's not fiction. And you see,
as a result of that, as a result of that, as the fruit of that
great work of Christ on the cross, Every one of God's people, His
chosen people, those whom He chose, those who were plucked
out of that fire, every one of them will be born again by the
Spirit. They will have life. Now look
at verse 5. He says here, 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. You see, they clothed him with
the garments of salvation. Now the fair mitre, that was
a cap that the high priest wore and on that cap there was a plate
and engraved on that plate was HOLINESS TO THE LORD. And in
that we see that upon that high priest's mind the whole time,
you know when the high priest brought the sacrifice from off
the altar and brought it into the Holy of Holies and sprinkled
the blood on the mercy seat, on his mind and his heart was
to be continually the holiness of God. You see, when we seek
salvation, we must seek it in line with God's holiness. And the only way that a sinner
can seek salvation in line with God's holiness is through the
person and the finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ. If
you approach God and seek anything by way of blessing or salvation,
with anything but the blood of the Lord Jesus Christ and His
righteousness alone, then you don't have on your mind the holiness
of God. In fact, you're denying the holiness
of God. That's what happened to Cain when he brought the works
of his hands before the Lord. My friend, if you know that God
is holy and just and righteous, you'll know that you deserve
nothing but death and hell, and the only way you can be saved
is by His grace through Christ. He goes on in verse 6, he says,
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 these that stand by. Now here, an emblem of the new
birth. Those whom God chose, those whom
Christ redeemed, shall be born again. They'll walk in His ways.
It's the way of grace. It's the way of love. It's the
way of salvation. And here in these last verses,
he proves that this is a prophecy in type and picture of salvation
by the Lord Jesus Christ. He says in verse 8, Here now,
O Joshua the high priest, thou and thy fellows that sit before
thee, the other priests, He says, for they are men wondered at,
they are men who are types in pictures. And he says, for behold,
I will bring forth my servant the branch. Now that is the Messiah. That's the branch of the Lord. In other words, this is all showing
the gospel of how God saves a sinner by His grace through the blood
and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. And he says in
verse 9, For behold, the stone that I have laid before Joshua,
upon one stone shall be seven eyes. That's the perfect revelation
in light of God. Behold, I will engrave the graving
thereof, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity
of that land in one day. One day every year on the Day
of Atonement in picture and type. But my friend, it was one day
when the Lord Jesus Christ went to that cross. On that day, and
the fullness of the time, and put away the sins of all of his
sheep in one day." And then he says in verse 10, "...in that
day, saith the Lord of hosts, shall you call every man his
neighbor under the vine and under the fig tree." Now what he's
talking about there is that the salvation that Christ finished
on the cross is not just for the Jews, but it's for the Gentiles
also. It's not just for God's elect
out of the Jewish nation, but it's for God's elect out of the
Gentile nations. You know who it's for? It's for
any sinner who wants it. How about that? Because, you
see, that's the issue. Do you want salvation God's way? Now, many people will want salvation,
but they want it their own way. But you know what you need? You
need a change of clothes. You need to exchange your sin
for His righteousness. Many people will want to exchange
their sin for their own works. Not so. This is not how God saves
sinners. It's a change of clothes. It's a change of clothes that
comes about by grace. Well, I hope that message has
been helpful to your understanding of the Scriptures. And if you'd
like to receive a copy of this message, listen to the announcer.
He'll give you the details. The title of the message is,
A Change of Clothing. And I hope you'll join us next
week for another message from God's Word.