In the prophecy of Zechariah,
we see some tremendous pictures of the kingdom of God, of the
city of God, Jerusalem, of the gathering in of his people, of
the salvation of his people through their savior, the Lord Jesus
Christ. The gospel is pictured in many ways and many visions. And in various aspects we see
similarities between the visions recorded in this prophecy and
those visions which John saw, which were given to him by revelation
and recorded in the book of Revelation. In chapter 1 of Zechariah, Verse
7 we read, Upon the four and twentieth day of the eleventh
month, which is the month Sabbat, in the second year of Darius,
came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah, the son of Berechiah,
the son of Iddo, the prophet, saying, I saw by night, and behold,
a man riding upon a red horse, and he stood among the myrtle
trees that were in the bottom, and behind him there were red
horses speckled and white, Then said I, O my Lord, what are these?
And the angel that talked with me said unto me, I will show
thee what these be. And the man that stood among
the myrtle trees answered and said, These are they whom the
Lord hath sent to walk to and fro through the earth. And they
answered the angel of the Lord that stood among the myrtle trees
and said, We have walked to and fro through the earth. And behold,
all the earth sitteth still and is at rest. In verse 18. The Prophet lifted up his eyes,
and saw and beheld four horns. And I said unto the angel that
talked with me, What be these? And he answered me, These are
the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem. And the Lord showed me four carpenters. Then said I, What come these
to do? And he spake, saying, These are
the horns which have scattered Judah, so that no man did lift
up his head. But these are come to fray them,
to cast out the horns of the Gentiles which lifted up their
horn over the land of Judah to scatter it. Chapter 2, I lifted
up mine eyes again and looked, and behold, a man with a measuring
line in his hand. Then said I, Whither goest thou?
And he said unto me, To measure Jerusalem, to see what is the
breadth thereof, and what is the length thereof. And behold,
the angel that talked with me went forth, and another angel
went out to meet him, and said unto him, Run, speak to this
young man, saying, Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without
walls, for the multitude of men and cattle therein. For I say,
if the Lord will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and
will be the glory in the midst of her. And then in chapter 3
we read, 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 I have 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 before him, saying, Take away the filthy
garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold,
I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will
clothe thee with 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, that 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. 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 graven 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 ye call every man his neighbor,
under the vine and under the fig tree. Chapter 3, verse 2,
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? Is not this a brand plucked
out of the fire? It's wonderful pictures of the
salvation of the city of God, Jerusalem, of the people of God. of their being gathered in out
of a world full of darkness and sin. Out of God going forth into
this world with his gospel to gather in his people and to bring
them into the walls of the city which are measured in chapter
2. and are found to contain a multitude of men and cattle therein, a
multitude gathered with a wall round about them, a wall of fire,
their God who protects them, and with their God in the midst,
their glory. And all of this brought to pass
because of that which is done in saving them and plucking them
out of the fire which is their just desserts. It's because of
what we see in chapter three that these who are dressed by
nature in filthy garments of iniquity are made clean and righteous,
are dressed in other garments and brought into that wonderful
city. All this is brought to pass through
the Gospel. Through that Gospel which proclaims
a Saviour, the Son of God, who came into this world to save
sinners, who went to a place of execution in their place,
who was nailed to a cross, and took upon himself their iniquity
and their sins, and was judged and slain by Almighty God as
if he was them. And in so doing, he took away
their sins that he might clothe them with his righteousness,
the very righteousness of God in Christ. That's the gospel which brings
about their salvation and the preaching of that gospel is what
will gather them in to this kingdom. In chapter 1 and verse 7 we read
how this word This message, this vision of the preaching of this
Gospel and its effects is brought to Zechariah on the 4th and 20th
day of the 11th month which is the month Sabbat in the second
year of Darius. Just as we saw recently in Haggai
the dates and the timings of these prophecies are not random. And again here we see this broadcast
on the 24th day. An allusion to the 4 and 20 elders
that sit around the throne of God in the kingdom to come. An allusion to the 12 patriarchs
and the 12 apostles of the Lamb. All the save from the Old Testament
and all the save from the New Testament. all being gathered
into that kingdom. And then in chapter one and verse
20, we read something of how God will proclaim his gospel
in a fallen world to fallen sinners. And the Lord showed me four carpenters
Then said I, What come these to do? And he spake, saying,
These are the horns which have scattered Judah, so that no man
did lift up his head. But these are come to fray them,
to cast out the horns of the Gentiles, which lifted up their
horn over the land of Judah, to scatter it. Yes there are
horns, there are powers as verse 19 tells us which have gone through
this world to scatter Judah, Israel and Jerusalem. There are
powers in this world which work with all their strength and their
might to scatter the people of God, to crush the people of God,
to prevent the preaching of the Gospel, to prevent the gathering
of the saints, to prevent the building up of the Kingdom of
God, and to quench and silence the sound of the Gospel. Satan
goes about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. And
he sends legions of spirits and devils and powers to try to keep
everyone in this world from hearing the voice of Jesus Christ, from
hearing the gospel, and from bowing the knee before God and
His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Satan does all he can to stop
you from hearing about the one man, the one God that can save
your soul. There are horns, powers gone
forth in this world, going forth, working every day relentlessly
with one aim and that is to stop you from being saved. To stop
you, me and every other man, woman, child in this world from
hearing the gospel of Christ, from being gathered into his
church, from being delivered from darkness, sin, corruption
and the wrath to come, and being brought into everlasting righteousness
and salvation. Satan and his legion of fallen
angels does not want you to believe. And this is why the nations,
particularly in the days in which we live today, move with all
their force and power to bring forth laws that will hold back
the message of the gospel, that will crush Christianity, that
will crush the sound of the truth in the land. They bring forth
laws to promote evil. and to put evil words onto people's
lips and to force people's hands to promote evil and to prevent
the sounding of the truth in the land. These things are not
random, they are not scattered and they are not without deliberate
orchestration behind them. There are spiritual powers moving
the nations, moving the governments, moving the media, moving the
masses to bring about their laws and their ideals to promote evil
and to resist good. all with the single aim of preventing
the gospel being preached, of preventing the name of Jesus
Christ being heard and ultimately of preventing people like you
and I from ever hearing the sound of salvation, from ever hearing
of Christ who can save your soul. they will damn you, they will
lead you astray, they will lead you to follow their ways, they
will lead you with a false promise of pleasure and hope in this
world which goes in a moment and then they will lead you like
the Pied Piper led the children of Hamelin, they will lead you
to your destruction and only a fool follows them. Don't be that fool. But God has
sent forth four carpenters into this world to fray and to cast out the horns,
the powers of the Gentiles, which lifted up their horn over the
land of Judah to scatter it. God has sent forth carpenters
to build his church, to preach his gospel, to scatter the enemies
of Christ and to gather His people together to hear of their salvation,
to hear of their Saviour and to be washed by His blood as
they're brought to faith to know what His blood has already done
for them. Carpenters, four carpenters. figure of the carpenters, God's
servants that he sends forth with his gospel. Carpenters. Now, of course, Christ himself,
we are told, was a carpenter and the son of a carpenter. And
that's no random choice of occupation for the son of God. In Matthew
13, 55, we are told that Christ is the carpenter's son. Is not
this the carpenter's son? Pointing to his father being
a carpenter, who sent forth his son. In Mark's gospel, chapter
six and verse three, Christ himself is referred to as the carpenter.
Is not this the carpenter, the son of Mary? Because in Mark's
Gospel, Christ is presented to us as the messenger, the apostle,
the servant of God, of the New Testament. And here he is presented
as the one who works, the one who comes, as the carpenter. But in Matthew's Gospel, Christ
is presented to us as the Messiah, the promised Saviour, sent forth
by the Father into the world. Sent forth by the master carpenter. He's the son of the carpenter.
Like his father, he's a carpenter. In Luke we're told he was found
in the temple and asked why he was there, he answered, I must
be about my father's business. My father's a carpenter and I
am a carpenter too. I'm a worker of wood. One who takes the axe to the
tree, one who cuts the tree down, and one who fashions that tree.
a worker of wood. And as with the Father, and as
with the Son, so with the Son's servants. So the servants of
God sent forth with the gospel are likened under carpenters.
They're sent forth to be workers of wood. Those who come with an axe to
be laid to the foot of the tree. to the trunk, to the root. Because we're all like trees
growing up out of the earth. And by nature we grow up full
of our own glory, full of our own self-importance, full of
our own pride and self-righteousness. And we need to be cut down. You
need to be cut down. We need to be shown what we are. Nothing before a holy and a righteous
God. Corrupt and full of sin and iniquity. Full of rebellion against him
and his ways. Full of rebellion against his
rule over us and this world. Full of our own will and our
own importance. So the carpenters come with an
axe. And they lay it to the root of the tree. And when that axe
hits us, it hurts. When God, by His Spirit, comes
with His gospel, or comes and takes of His law, and shows us
how corrupt we are, how dead we are, how vile we are, how
vile our affections and thoughts are, how far short of God's glory
we fall, however righteous we think we may be, however self-righteous
we may be, however religious we may be, when he comes and
shows us what we really are, oh how it feels like there's
an axe chopping us down. But when God lays the axe to
the root of the tree of his people, he doesn't leave them. He takes
them and he grafts them into another tree, into another vine,
where they become the branches of another vine. They become
one with Christ, who's taken their iniquity and taken their
sin and their rebellion and in his death has taken it away. They become one with that carpenter
who came into this world to save them from their sins. And they
become the branches of that vine who brings forth fruit through
them. Yes, these servants, carpenters,
like their master, the carpenter, are workers of wood. Consider
the wood of the sacrifice. Christ the carpenter was offered
up as a sacrifice for the sins of his people, nailed to a tree
of wood. He carried that cross of wood
upon his back, upon which he would be executed. As pictured
in the Old Testament by Isaac, who went with his father Abraham
up the mount to make an offering unto the Lord, and carried the
wood for the offering, carried the wood upon which they would
offer a sacrifice. And Abraham had been told by
his Lord that Isaac was the one he should offer. So the son carried
the wood up the mount as Christ carried the wood of his cross
upon his back. Oh, the wood that this carpenter
carried to a place of execution, that place where Jesus would
save his people from their sins. Dying in their place, nailed
to that cross, he suffered and travailed for them. But though
he was the one who felt all the pain, though the nails were driven
through his hands and not ours, though the spear was thrust through
his side, though he hung in agony in the midday sun, suffering
the anguish and the torment, Though God's wrath was poured
out upon him for the sins of his people which were laid upon
him, though he felt the torment and the agony, nevertheless they,
with him, spiritually died with him. He bore their sins because
they were with Him in death. He was made sin because He was
united with them spiritually in death. I am crucified with
Christ, Paul says, I am crucified. He felt the pain, but it was
me who was dying there with Him. He didn't suffer for His own
sin, He suffered for mine. He was made sin because I am
sin. He bore sins because of my sins
which were laid upon Him. I was crucified with Him. He was one with Him in death. And all God's people were one
with Him in death. He was made what they are that
they should be made what He is, the righteousness of God. that
he should wash them clean in his blood as he was laid under
the axe of God's wrath, under the sword of judgment, bearing
the righteousness of God in judgment to save this people. Yes, they
died with him upon a tree, nailed to wood, The carpenter crucified
upon a tree because of the sins of those he came to save. But consider that people. That
people want growing up full of their own glory. That people
who in the gospel are brought down convicted by sin with the
axe laid to the root of the tree and grafted into Christ. They are as a result grafted
to Christ's branches upon his vine, one with Christ called
trees of righteousness. Having had their sins judged
in Christ upon the cross according to the righteousness of God,
having had those sins washed away by his blood, having had
their sin taken away in his body, burnt under the wrath and judgment
and fury of God against sin. As the sacrifice which was slain
in the Old Testament had the blood poured forth and then the
carcass was taken outside of the camp and burnt to nothing.
so Christ his blood was poured forth to wash away sins and the
carcass the body under God's wrath was as it were spiritually
burnt to nothing outside the camp that sin might be taken
away so God's people's sin was taken away that in him they might
be made the righteousness of God. It's that very righteousness
that met them in Him in judgment. When they were united in Him,
when their old man in Adam at the cross was united in Christ
under the judgment of God, that righteousness was brought forth
down from heaven upon them in Him. And having judged their
sin, and having judged their sins and having delivered them
from it, they are made in him to be the righteousness of God. Trees of righteousness. Trees
of righteousness. Oh, how Christ fashions his people
as a potter with clay. As a carpenter with wood, he's
the master craftsman. He takes this base material,
lumps of clay, nothing. Chunks of tree, nothing, nothing. And he crafts them into beautiful
creations. Consider this carpenter, this
craftsman at work in his greatest work. His greatest work of salvation
upon the cross. Oh, how He laboured for them
in those hours upon the tree. Oh, the work He put in to deliver
them from sin. Oh, the torment He went through. Oh, the cup He drank. Oh, the
sorrow He felt. the pain he endured. Oh the work
of the cross! How the accusations were brought
forth from the accuser of the Brethren against those people
united with Christ in death. Oh how the accuser, the serpent,
comes with the law. comes with that tree of knowledge
which brought about man's fall, comes with the knowledge of good
and evil and says of that people who ate of that tree and fell,
oh what a fallen people, what a wicked people, what a rebellious
people, oh Lord God slay them, slay them in your justice. Destroy
them! Look what they've done! And God
did slay them. And God did judge them. But not
in the way the serpent imagined, because the judgment and the
axe came down not on them, but on the Saviour. And they in the
Saviour. And because he felt the pain
and because he felt the judgment, they were spared. spared the
pain, spared the consequence, spared the condemnation because
it rained down from heaven upon him. All the accusations came
forth from the accuser but they were answered. Every last one
was answered, answered by the Savior upon the cross. Every
last sin was paid for, every last judgment was met. There
was no sin of that people which was unanswered, no sin which
went by unnoticed. Everyone was judged, but judged
in Christ that they might be delivered. that they might be
saved, that they might be ransomed, that they might be redeemed.
God delivered them. And in so doing, he destroyed
every accusation of the accuser. He destroyed his every plan to
condemn them. He took away all his strength
from his hands. That serpent bruised the heel. of the carpenter upon the tree.
But that carpenter bruised his head and crushed him. We see what happened at the cross
with the carpenter in judgment beautifully set forth in Isaiah
in chapter 41 and verse 7. Isaiah 41 and verse 7. where it says, so the carpenter
encouraged the goldsmith, and he that smootheth with the hammer,
him that smote the anvil, saying, it is ready for the soldering,
and he fastened it with nails that it should not be moved.
The carpenter encouraged the goldsmith. Oh, how at the cross
we see the carpenter and the gold. We see the wood and the
gold. We see the tree upon which Christ
was nailed, upon which he was fastened with nails. We see the
carpenter nailed to that tree. And we see the holiness and the
righteousness of God pictured by gold, brought forth from heaven
in judgment. as the Ark in the Old Testament
and as the so much of the Temple was pictured by wood covered
in gold. The wood covered by the holiness
and the purity and the righteousness of God. How are these two things
meet? Covered. Covered. We need to be covered in gold. We need to be covered in righteousness. We need a covering for our sin. Without a covering we're naked
and we're exposed before the eyes of God, the all-seeing eyes
of righteousness, which look within and without, which see
what we do without and see what we are within. God looks upon
our heart. We may keep ourselves from committing
the grossest sin in terms of outward conduct but every manner
of sin bubbles forth from our hearts, passes through our minds. Oh, what would people think of
us if they knew what we fought, if they knew what we are thinking,
if they knew what you're thinking today. Oh, if we couldn't keep
quiet, if everything was shone forth before everyone, how exposed
and naked we'd be, yet that's exactly how we are before God,
naked. unable to hide our corruption. Just like Adam and Eve in the
garden when they'd sinned, they became absolutely aware that
they were exposed, they were naked, they could not hide. They
knew what they'd done and they knew they'd be found out and
they sought to cover it all up. They sought to bake garments,
they sought to find a cover. Man knows he must be covered. And mankind, every one of us,
spends our lives covering ourselves, covering our sins, covering our
steps, trying to present an image before others that we're good. That there's something good in
us, that there's something great about us, that there's something
worthy about us. How aware we are of how others
will view us. How we like to present an image
of ourselves so different from the truth. So much of our action
and our conduct is governed by a desire for others to think
well of us in some manner or other. We go about through our
lives making garments. And like those hopeless garments
that Adam and Eve tried to make, they do not cover our sin, and
they do not hide our sin from an all-seeing, all-knowing God.
And that's exactly what we find when we come to chapter 3 of
Zechariah, where we read of Joshua the high priest, standing before
the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to
resist him. Here's the accuser as we've just
heard. Here he comes, accusing Joshua,
accusing this child of God, accusing this sinner and saying look at
him and his sin. And Joshua stands there clothed
with garments. He's done his best to cover his
sin through his lifetime. Like Adam and Eve in the garden,
he's done his best He's tried to live right. He's covered in
his good works. He's covered in his self-righteousness
just like you. Just like you. Whether you're
religious or irreligious, you've sought to present an image before
others and before God should you stand before him that presents
you in the best light. If you're religious you sought
to live as you think you should, you sought to keep God's law,
you sought to live in a righteous manner. You've tried to make
garments but God says of them they're filthy. Now Joshua was
clothed with filthy garments and stood before the angel. They're
filthy. Even our righteousnesses are
as filthy rags. We have filthy garments. We know
we must be covered. We know our sin must be concealed. We know it must be hidden from
God's view. We know if we stand before him
naked that he will slay us unjustly. So we try to cover it up, but
the garments we've made to cover it up are filthy. And Joshua
stood clothed with filthy garments. And the accuser, Satan, said,
look at him, look at him, full of sin. Yet the Lord, the Lord
said to Satan, the Lord rebuked thee, O Satan. Even the Lord that hath chosen
Jerusalem rebuked thee. Is not this a bran plucked out
of the fire? Joshua here, whom you accuse,
stood in filthy garments, who you'd throw into the fire of
torment and leave there. I've plucked him out. I have chosen him with Jerusalem. He's one of mine, and I've plucked
him out. I've judged his sin. I've judged
his sins. I've taken away his iniquity. I've plucked this brand out of
the fire. I've plucked him out of the fire. He's mine. Now Joshua was clothed
with filthy garments and stood before the angel. And he answered
and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away
the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold,
I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will
clothe thee with 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. Oh, what a wonderful picture
of the salvation of a sinner. Full of sin, full of iniquity. having sought to cover it up
but clothed with filthy garments, and yet God, despite Satan's
accusations, despite how right those accusations are, despite
the fact that this is a worthless, hopeless sinner like you and
I, God comes and says, look what I've done. Look what I've done
for him through my Son. I've taken away his iniquity. I've taken away his filthy garments. And I've covered him with new
garments. I've made him to be the righteousness
of God in Jesus Christ. Now consider the name of this
Joshua the High Priest. He's presented here to us as
a figure of a sinner, of a child of God, full of iniquity, covered
with filthy garments. ready to be thrown into the fire
of judgment but plucked from it by the grace of God and clothed
again. He's presented to us as a picture
of the sinner but he's also described by name as Joshua and described
as a high priest. And this is not random. Why call
this sinner? Why have Joshua the high priest
presented to us as an example of the sinner? Because of his
union with Joshua, Jesus Christ, his savior. Because he's one
with Christ. His great high priest, Jesus
Christ, went into the fire for him. His great High Priest, Joshua,
Jesus Christ, the Son of God, was so united with this sinner
that he took upon himself this sinner's sin, this sinner's iniquity,
and was made to be it. And he took upon himself this
sinner's garments of sins, that which he had woven throughout
his lifetime, all that he had done, all those sins which had
sprung forth from his iniquitous heart and Christ took upon himself
those sins and they were laid upon him, that garment of sins
was laid upon Christ. and one with Joshua, one with
this child of God, one with this sinner, Christ, Joshua, Jesus
went to the cross, went to the furnace, went to the fire for
him and because Christ went in that fire was thrown in that furnace. Like Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego
were thrown in the furnace because Christ was thrown in the furnace. One, like unto the Son of God,
the Son of Man, was seen with that people in the furnace and
the fire did not consume him or them. Joshua here went with Joshua
his saviour through the fire and the fire did not touch this
sinner. It burnt up his sins, it burnt
up his filthy garments, it burnt up his iniquity in the saviour. But out the other side they came
without sin, without sins. And this Joshua was then clothed
with a new garment of righteousness. Righteousness. Oh how one God,
Christ and his people are made and seen to be here. Joshua,
the high priest. How united they are. Christ went
into the furnace of death with the filth and iniquity of his
people, with their filthy garments upon his back, and clothed them
anew. 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 court, and
I will give thee places to walk among these that stand by. Oh,
what a privilege there is given unto the saved sinner in Christ! What responsibility in the kingdom
of God! you will keep my charge, you'll
judge my house, you'll be a priest, you'll be a prince in my house,
you'll rule over it, you'll keep my courts and walk among them. Hear now, O Joshua the high priest,
thou and thy fellows that sit before thee, for they are men
wandered at. For behold, I will bring forth
my servant the bride, my servant, My Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ,
the branch, the carpenter, nailed to a tree, described as a branch,
a branch of wood. This is He who has delivered
you, Joshua, and your fellows. This is He who has caused you
in Him to be men who are wondered at. The world will look upon
you and wonder. What has come about upon them? Look at them, look at the change. Look what's happened. They were
like us and now look at them now. Oh, look at their faith. Hear what they have to say of
God and His salvation. They're wonder now. 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 that land in one day. Here we see the stone, the stone
Christ Jesus, the chief cornerstone of his church. The church, Joshua
and his fellows, these men who are wondered at, is described
as the pillar and ground of the truth. And Christ, that stone
with seven eyes, that chief cornerstone, is laid upon the foundations
of the revelation of his gospel. And the apostles, stones laid
upon him, built up the gospel rising up upon the church and
sent forth into the world from that church, founded upon Christ
the chief cornerstone, that stone with seven eyes, that stone with
perfect sight, that stone that sees all things as it is, that
stone which saw Joshua as he was, which saw his sin, which
saw his hypocrisy, which saw his filthy garments, and which
took them away, took them away and laid upon him new garments,
new garments, new garments to cover us, new garments to make
us clean, covered in righteousness. We need to be covered. Adam and
Eve when they sinned knew they needed to be covered. All men
by nature try to cover up their sin and fail, but in the gospel
in Christ we have a perfect covering, a covering of righteousness,
a covering of blood to speak of that righteousness of God
which has been met and answered in the death of Christ. This
is pictured by the ark which Noah and his house built and
went in to be spared the judgment of God in those 40 days of rain. That ark was built of shitting
wood, wood. But it was overlaid, it was covered
within and without with pitch or cover. It was covered with
cover, inside and outside. Because that cover would keep
the rains, would keep the judgment away. If covered then that judgment,
that righteousness could not come down upon those inside. Because that cover spake of righteousness. And if you're covered with that
cover, God will find no fault in you. But that ark had to be
covered inside and out. And you and I need to be covered
inside and out. We need a garment. A garment
of righteousness. We need that righteousness inside
and out. We need a garment on the outside
and we need our iniquity removed from the inside and righteousness
applied within our heart. Inside and out. How was this
garment which was laid upon Joshua wrought? It was wrought through
death, wrought through the death of Christ. That garment is the
blood of Christ and that blood was brought forth when he died. It was shed when judgment was
poured down upon him, the judgment of God against his sins. and
it was wrought for us and the blood was shed for us if we're
His when judgment came down upon Christ for our sins when the
judgment of God came down the righteousness of God and that
is what we are covered in blood the righteousness of God consider
that ark made of that shedding wood, overlaid in cover, pitched
within and without. Noah is described as a preacher
of righteousness because that ark was a figure of righteousness,
a figure of salvation, a figure of his deliverance in Christ.
He was a carpenter. He cut down the trees, he crafted
the wood to build the ark. A carpenter like Christ, a carpenter
like these preachers of righteousness, preachers of the gospel who are
sent forth with the gospel into all the world. And yet the wood
that he crafted was covered. He was told to cover it because
he had to have that wood covered by blood. The blood of Christ. The blood of that carpenter.
who went to the cross, who was nailed to that wooden cross which
he carried there, upon which his blood, his righteousness,
his life was shed. Here we see the gold again. Gold
in righteousness meeting the carpenter. The holiness which
is brought forth by the blood being shed. And that blood which was shed
upon the cross for sinners must be applied. One thing to hear
of it is one thing to know of your need of it, it's one thing
to make mental assent to the fact that it was saved for sinners,
but it's another thing to have it applied, to be clothed in
it outside and in, for the Holy Spirit to take the things of
Jesus Christ to present the Lamb of God unto you and to open your
eyes to see Him and to believe on Him. It's one thing to hear
of Him with the ear, but it's another thing to hear of Him
by faith, to see and to know that Christ died for you, to
see and to know that His blood was shed because of your sins,
to see and to know that that blood has washed away your sins
and covered you, covered you in righteousness. and to see
and to know that that blood has been sprinkled upon your heart
within, soothing your conscience, saying unto you that your sins
have been forgiven, all is well, all is at peace. Oh I ask have
you been covered Have you been dressed with garments of righteousness? Are you covered with blood this
day? Has the Holy Spirit taken off
these things and sprinkled to you, applying the blood of Christ
to your soul and conscience? or are you still running around
in the foolishness of this world seeking riches and glory in the
short span of your life here while the threat of judgment
and wrath steps closer to you each and every day whilst you
keep your eyes shut and your ears shut to it? Don't play a
fool with the gospel because there is a furnace and there
is a fire and you do need to be plucked out of it. Is not this a bran plucked out
of the fire? once covered in filthy garments,
now dressed anew. What a garment of righteousness
God put on Joshua here. Oh praise God for his saving
grace. Grace which saves, grace which
reigns through righteousness as Romans 5 tells us. Grace which
takes brands and plucks them out of the fire. Grace which
can take you, no matter how hardened in sin you may be, and pluck
you from the fire. Has it? Is it? Is it? Will you look up in wonder
at a Saviour who went into the fire for you? And will you know
that his garments have been taken and laid upon you, and your filthy
garments have been taken aside, and you in him by grace are made
to be the righteousness of God? Are you? Will God say of you,
when the accuser, when Satan comes alongside, will he say
of you, is not this a brand plucked out of the fire? Amen.