Welcome to Reign of Grace. This
program is brought to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries,
an outreach ministry of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany,
Georgia. It is our pleasure and privilege
to present to you the gospel message of the sovereign grace
and glory of God in the person and work of the Lord Jesus Christ. We pray that today's program
will be a blessing to you. Thank you for listening. And
now for today's program. I'd like to welcome you to our
program this morning. And if you'd like to follow along
in your Bibles, I'll give you a little time to find it. I'm
going to go back into the Old Testament, into the book of Zechariah,
the prophet Zechariah. Every now and then, I like to,
on this program, I like to go back into the Old Testament and
show you how the whole Bible, from Genesis to Malachi, from
Matthew to Revelation, is a book of the Lord Jesus Christ. revealing
his glorious person and his finished work for the salvation of his
people by the grace of God. And so this is an exercise in
that, the book of Zechariah. Malachi is the last book of the
Old Testament. Well, next to that, before you
get to Malachi, you get to Zechariah. And the title of this message
is A Change of Raiment. A Change of Raiment, which is
a change of clothing. And I want you to look at Zechariah
chapter three. Now, the prophet Zechariah prophesied
in the days when the Jews were allowed by their conquerors.
They had been conquered by the Babylonians and taken into captivity
in Babylon. for seventy years and then later
on the Medes and the Persians conquered the Babylonians and
the Jews, the people of Judah, had come under the conquering
power of the Medo-Persian Empire. But the first emperor or king
of the Medes and the Persians, Cyrus, By God's providence, he
allowed the Jews to come back to the homeland and rebuild the
walls of Jerusalem in the city and rebuild the Temple of Solomon,
rebuild it, because Babylon, the Babylonian army under Nebuchadnezzar
had just totally, totally wasted and destroyed Jerusalem and the
Temple. And so they were allowed to come
back to do that. Well, as they came back, not
all of them went back, but a small number of them did, of the nation,
and they began work on the walls of the city and the temple. But
as it always is the case, there were problems. They became very
negligent in building the temple and they began selfishly building
their own homes and making elaborate homes for themselves rather than
doing the work of God. And so God sent prophets, Zechariah
was one of them, to stir them up. to build the temple. And one of the motivations, the
main motivation, in fact, was the fact that God had not forsaken
them, that he would keep this nation together because it was
through them that the Messiah was going to come, be brought
in. And of course, we know that several hundred years after that,
the Lord Jesus Christ was born, according to the prophecies of
the Old Testament. Well, here in Zechariah 3, he
gives Zechariah a dream, a vision in a dream. And it's a vision
that is meant to stir the people up. to rebuild the temple, to
engage themselves energetically, zealously, and consistently,
persistently, to rebuild the temple because the main thing
that was so important in the establishment and the continuance
of that nation was the worship of God in light of the Messiah
to come. And it says, here's the division,
Zechariah chapter three, look at verse one. It says, he showed
me, that is, Zechariah says, the Lord showed me Joshua the
high priest standing before the angel of the Lord and Satan standing
at his right hand to resist him. Now the high priest of Israel
at that time was a man named Joshua. This is not the Joshua
who years and years and years and years before fought the battle
of Jericho and led the people into the promised land. This
is another name, that was a common name. In the Hebrew it would
be something like Yeshua. And of course we know that in
the trans, as that comes down and it's transliterated, in the
Greek it becomes Jesus. So here we have a picture, the
high priest was a picture of Christ, but now here Joshua,
is just simply a sinner. I'll show you what I mean. He
says, He showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the
angel of the Lord, Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.
What we have in this passage is a courtroom setting. And he's
standing before the angel of the Lord, who is the judge of
all, and Satan, who that name means adversary, standing at
his right hand to resist him, to accuse him. Satan's accusing here. Satan's
like a prosecuting attorney here. This man's guilty. This man's
a sinner. Well, look at verse two. It says,
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 bran plucked out
of the fire? This Joshua. And what he's doing
here, we see the Lord who is the judge of all, but we also
see the Lord being the defense attorney for this man Joshua. Satan is accusing him. Satan
is saying, this man is guilty. This man is a sinner. And then
the Lord steps in and says, now listen, Satan, even the Lord
hath chosen Jerusalem, rebuke thee. Is not this a man, a brand,
like a burning ember, plucked out of the fire? Now, he's defending
Joshua. And he's bringing two bases,
two things to defend him with. Number one is election. See, that's something today that
most people who call themselves Christians don't even like to
talk about. Who are the elect? Well, that's what the Lord says
here to Satan. This man is one of the elect.
Is not this, he says, even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem
rebuke thee. God chose his people. And then
the second point of his defense is redemption. Is not this a
bran plucked out of the fire? That's what Christ did when he
redeemed his people from their sins. He plucked them out of
the fire of God's wrath. That's what he did. He went under
God's wrath himself and plucked them out of the fire. But now
look at verse three. This is interesting. He says,
now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments. and stood before the
angel. What does that tell us? It tells
us that Joshua is guilty by nature. That he is a sinner. He's standing
there with filthy garments. That's a picture of our sin.
We're sinners. But he'd already mentioned the
points of defense that God chose him and redeemed him, plucked
him out of the fire. Well, on what basis? We'll look
at verse four. And he answered and spoke unto
those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy
garments from him. Take away that filthy raiment.
And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity
to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment. There's the change of raiment.
I'll cause your iniquity to pass from you, and I'll clothe you
with change of raiment." Now what does all that mean? Well,
that's a picture of how God saves sinners in a just and proper
way. It's marvelous. God chose him. God redeemed him. God chose him
in Christ. God redeemed him by Christ. And
so his iniquity is passing away. That means the forgiveness of
sins. That means that sin cannot be charged to him. Take away
the filthy garment. Now how can God do that and be
just? Well, the only way is through
the redemption that is in Jesus Christ. Christ had the sins of
God's people, God's chosen people, imputed, charged to him. In other words, you could say
it this way, he was clothed with our sin. He didn't become a sinner. He didn't become corrupt in His
nature or in His mind. He wasn't contaminated. But He
was legally, justly, really imputed with the sins of His people.
Christ was made guilty. Christ was made a curse. The
Lord has laid on Him the iniquity of us all, all of His chosen
people. And what did Christ do? He went
under the wrath of God. That's how he plucked his people
out of the fire. He went into the fire as their
substitute, as their representative, and he took the full wrath of
God. You have another great picture
of that in the book of Daniel, of the three Hebrew children,
Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego, who went into the fiery furnace,
and there was a fourth man in there. That was Christ. And the fire didn't burn the
Hebrew children. But now Christ literally went
under the wrath of God on the cross. He said, my God, my God,
why hast thou forsaken me? Now he was a perfect, sinless,
spotless lamb. He knew no sin, he did no sin,
he had no sin. So how could God justly punish
him? Based on our sins, the sins of
his people imputed, charged, accounted to him. So God justly
did it. Now how can God justly say, take
away our filthy garments and put on us a change of raiment? By his grace through the righteousness
that's in Christ. That's the picture here. God
takes away our sins, the sins of His people, and He gives us
a change of raiment. What is the change of raiment?
What is the new coat? That's the imputed righteousness
of the Lord Jesus Christ put upon us. Now that's a metaphor. That's not a literal coat that
we wear. What it means is that when it
comes to the people of God, as evidenced by their believing
in Christ, Now, if you don't believe in Christ, you cannot
enter into this blessing scripturally. But all who are brought by God-given
faith, who are born again by the Spirit and brought by God-given
faith to receive Christ, they've been the recipients of a change
of raiment. Their filthy garments, their
sins cannot be charged to them. They don't wear them anymore.
Romans 8, 33, who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect? It's God that justifies. It's
God who forgave me of my sins. It's God who declared me righteous
in His sight. Who can condemn us? Romans 8,
34. Who can condemn us? It's Christ that died. Yea, rather,
is risen again and is seated at the right hand of the Father,
ever living to make intercession for us, for His people. So if
you're a believer, you stand before God, not in your own works,
not in your own will or your own decision, you stand before
God in the righteousness of His Son, the righteousness of Christ. David said, as Paul recorded
in Romans 4, 6, blessed is the man to whom the Lord imputeth
righteousness. without works. And David said
that when he wrote in Psalm 32, blessed is the man to whom the
Lord imputeth not iniquity. You see, that's the change of
Raymond. Take away the filthy garments
and clothe him. Cause his iniquity to pass from
him. How? On a just ground. It was given
to Christ and Christ drank damnation dry. He paid the debt in full.
That's what the Bible calls a propitiation. A justice satisfying sacrifice
that brought in righteousness for his people. Well, the change
of Raymond goes on, verse five. It says, and I said, the Lord
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. The fair mitre, that was like
a helmet that the high priest wore. And any time you're talking
about the head and what's worn on it, you're talking about the
mind. And what he's teaching here is anybody who has had this
change of raiment, By God's grace, who shall lay anything to the
charge of God's elect, it's God that justify it. You see, it's
all by God's grace. Anybody who has had that happen,
they will have the fair miter. They will be brought to faith.
They'll be brought to know and believe and rest in Christ for
all salvation. They'll be brought to repentance
of dead works. As they lay hold of Christ, They will be brought to repent
of their own dead works and idolatry. What are dead works? It's the
efforts of sinners to make themselves righteous enough before God to
be accepted. Those are dead works. Now why
are they dead? Because they lead to death. Listen, salvation is
not by works. And every work that a sinner
does aimed at saving themselves or making themselves saved, getting
themselves saved, is a dead work. It's what the scripture says.
No matter how it appears. It may be moral. It may be charitable
in the eyes of men. But it's an abomination in the
eyes of God because it does not glorify Him. It does not exalt
Christ. It's a work of pride. and self-righteousness. That's why the Bible says, that
which is highly esteemed among men. This is Luke 16, 15. That
which is highly esteemed among men is an abomination to God. What do men highly esteem? Their
own self-efforts, their own works, their own morality. What does
God highly esteem? His Son. This is my beloved Son
in whom I am well pleased. Hear ye Him. And then what is
that idolatry? Well, before a sinner is brought
to faith in Christ, to know in his mind, his heart, the glory
of God in the face of Jesus Christ, and while he's trying to work
his way into God's favor, he has in his mind a God who will
accept his best efforts. That God's an idol. It's not
the God of the Bible, because that's an abomination to the
God of the Bible. What happens when this fair mitre,
metaphorically, is put on your head, that is, when you're brought
by God-given faith to faith in Christ and repentance of dead
works, is you come to see that Christ is all. He's all your
salvation. He's all wisdom. He's all righteousness. He's all holiness. He's all redemption. Your works and efforts, they
don't mean a thing as to attaining or maintaining salvation. The
works and efforts of believers are to the praise of the glory
of His grace. They're the work of God within
them. And so you're brought to believe in Christ and to repent
of dead works and idolatry. Let's look on in Zechariah 3,
verse 6. It says, 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,
or my ordinance, 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. Now, what he's telling Zachariah
here is that Joshua, who's the high priest, he is to spur the
people up. He is to urge the people, let's
rebuild the temple. Now, they're not doing this for
salvation. Again, salvation is not by works.
But to walk in God's ways is to do what God says. You know,
somebody talks about when Christ says, if you keep my commandments.
Well, that's true. But God never commanded anybody
to seek salvation by their works. That's against His commandment.
The commandment is believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. Call upon
the name of the Lord and you shall be saved. And that's by
grace. So what he's saying to Joshua
here, you're to be a leader of the people and a judge of the
people in these things of the temple and the worship of God.
And so he says in verse eight, now look here, he says, here
now, oh Joshua, the high priest, thou and thy fellows that sit
before thee, for they are men wondered at. And then he goes
on to say, for behold, I will bring forth my servant, the branch. If you have a concordance in
your Bible, that term wondered at, it could be translated, they
are men of wonder, or they are men who are a sign. What's he
talking about? Joshua and his fellows. Who are
they? Well, Joshua was the high priest.
His fellows are the other priest of Levi. You know, under the
Old Covenant, God set up the priesthood, the Levitical priesthood,
which began with Moses' brother Aaron. And Aaron was appointed
the high priest. And Aaron being from the tribe
of Levi, it was that tribe that was appointed to be the serving
priest of the tabernacle that God commanded Moses to have built. So Aaron was the high priest
and his descendants down through the time of the Old Covenant,
which was about 1500 years, they were to be the high priest. So
apparently this Joshua was a direct descendant of Aaron. But the
other Levites of that tribe, of that family, they were the
attending priest of the tabernacle. Now you remember, if you studied
this, The tabernacle had sections. You had the outer court of the
tabernacle, and you had the walls around it, the outer court. And
when you come into the first gate, there was the brazen altar. That's where the judgment of
God fell upon the sacrificial lamb. And then you had another
tent inside, which was the holy place. All the priests of Levi, they
could serve out in the outer court and in the holy place where
you had pieces of furniture like the table of showbread, the golden
candlestick, the golden laver, all of that where they washed.
They served in that holy place. But then in that holy place,
it was divided. It had a curtain, a veil. And
behind that veil was the Holy of Holies, and in there was the
Ark of the Covenant, that box, which was made of Shittim wood,
overlaid with gold, and had the lid called the Mercy Seat, and
inside that box was the Broken Law. And only the high priest,
one time a year, could go into the Holy of Holies. That was
on the Day of Atonement, the most important day of the Jewish
calendar. On that day of atonement, they
would slay the spotless lamb on the brazen altar and they
would catch the blood in a basin and the high priest would go
into the Holy of Holies behind the veil. The other priest couldn't
go there. The Holy of Holies behind the veil and he would
sprinkle the blood on the mercy seat. Now all of that was a picture
of Christ who went into the very holy presence of God on behalf
of his people And that's another point you need to understand.
The high priest went in there for Israel alone, not for all
without exception. He didn't go in there for the
Hittites and the Jebusites and the Amalekites. He went in there
for the Israelites. He had 12 names on his breastplate
and on his shoulder. And he sprinkled that blood over
the mercy seat. That was a picture of the Lord
Jesus Christ, our great high priest, who passed through into
the heavens, Hebrews 4 tells us, and went into the very presence
of God with the blood, with his own blood, the blood of the spotless
Lamb of God. Now, that high priest was a picture
of Christ. The other priest is a picture
of the church, his people. who are priests under God, who
have a right to approach God through the blood of the high
priest, the blood of the Lamb of God. And that's what he's
saying. In Zechariah 3, 8, here now,
read it again. Here now, O Joshua, the high
priest, thou and thy fellows that sit before thee, for they
are men wondered at. They are men of wonder. They're
types, they're symbols, they're metaphors, they're pictures.
And what do they picture? Look here, for behold, I will
bring forth my servant, the branch. They're a picture of Christ and
his church. Who is that branch? That's Christ.
He's the branch. That speaks of his humanity,
his holy, sinless humanity. He was made of the seed of David,
according to the flesh. Back in Genesis 3.15, he's the
seed of woman, born in a miraculous way, conceived and born in a
miraculous way, conceived in the womb of the virgin by the
Holy Spirit of God, and born of the virgin, a perfect, sinless
humanity. His name shall be called Jesus,
for he shall save his people from their sins. His name shall
be called Emmanuel, which being interpreted, God with us. God
manifest in the flesh. And so he says, look at Zechariah
three in verse nine. For behold, the stone that I
have laid before Joshua, upon one stone shall be seven eyes.
Behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, saith the Lord of hosts,
and I will remove the iniquity of the land in one day. Now he's
talking about the day of atonement. And as it applied to the nation
Israel physically, it was a temporal ceremonial atonement based on
the blood of animals. And that was the judgment of
God, the one stone and the seven eyes, that's all the omniscient,
the complete knowledge of God and the complete work of God
in judgment based upon the blood of animals in that ceremonial
way, the ceremonial covenant. but that was only a picture of
something much, much greater. And that is the judgment of God,
those seven eyes, the judgment of God of his people, when Christ,
the greater and eternal high priest, died upon that cross
and God judged all the sins of all of his people as they were
imputed and charged to the person of Christ in one day. And that's
the day of the cross. That's when Christ redeemed his
people from their sins. That's when he put our sins away
and satisfied the justice of God. That's the way God did it. Now, the blood of bulls and goats
could not accomplish that, but the blood of Christ did. And
then he concludes 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. That's every believer. Here,
temporally, it's every Israelite, but spiritually, it's every believer.
That is the fellowship. That describes the fellowship
of all who trust Christ for all salvation, all forgiveness, all
righteousness, all eternal life, and all glory. I hope you'll
join us next week for another message from God's Word. We are glad you could join us
for another edition of Reign of Grace. This program is brought
to you by Reign of Grace Media Ministries, an outreach ministry
of Eager Avenue Grace Church in Albany, Georgia. To receive
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Grace Media Ministries or Eager Avenue Grace Church, write us
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today and may the Lord be with you.