Satan Standing to Oppose Him (Zech 2:6-3:10)

Zech 3:1-2 says, “Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to oppose him.  And the Lord said to Satan, ‘The Lord rebuke you, Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?”

HOW WILL WE KNOW?  How will we know that God’s promises are ours?  We have been chastened, defeated by sin, and He comes promising us blessing, but how can we receive such goodness when we are sinners?

The victory is ours because God takes away our sins in Christ (vs1-5).  He says, “Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and was standing before the Angel.  Then He answered and spoke to those who stood before Him, saying, ‘Take away the filthy garments from him.’ And to him He said, ‘See, I have removed your iniquity from you, and I will cloth you with rich robes”.  You look at yourself in vain, if you seek to find a reason IN YOURSELF for God to save you. The reason is His grace, His GIFT of eternal life, and it comes because of His Son Jesus Christ who took our sins upon Himself, paid them fully, and then He gives us holiness and righteousness as the result.

You won’t be saved because you’re innocent, but because guilt has been purged, away by the death of God’s own Son, and He is ENOUGH to put away sins, “for by one offering He has perfected forever those who are being sanctified” (Heb 10:14)!  Don’t look inwardly at yourself.  Look to the Son of God, and you’ll see how you’ll conquer: He will give it to you by the blood that He shed, and He will be for you because Christ took your place and earned the blessings that you freely get.

Secondly, repentance and reconciliation go together (vs6-9).  He says, “Then the Angel of the Lord admonished Joshua, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of hosts: If you will walk in My ways, and if you will keep My command, then you shall also judge My house, and likewise have charge of My courts; I will give you places to walk among these who stand here… for behold, the stone that I have laid before Joshua: upon the stone are seven eyes. Behold, I will engrave its inscription,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘And I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day”. God doesn’t save us without changing us, without bringing us into new covenant obedience, whereby we serve the Son by faith and love.  We believe on Christ, and we do His will by grace, but it is done, “for by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves; it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast. For we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Eph 2:8-10).  He gives the conditions, so that we can judge our salvation by the truth. He tells us what we must do, so that we may look to Him to complete it.  This isn’t earning salvation; it is what salvation looks like.  We’re never saved to continue in sin.  If you want grace that makes you holy, then you may have it. If not, then God has no grace for you.

Finally, in the day of salvation, brotherly love and gospel preaching go forth, as we speak of Christ and love others for His name’s sake (vs10).  He says, “In that day, says the Lord of hosts, Everyone will invite his neighbor under his vine and under his fig tree”. We are changed into people who do others good, because we have beheld good in Jesus Christ. We bid sinners to Him, and we love the saints because we taste His love delivering us.  We have rest, so others are pointed to Christ to rest with us. We see glory in the Son, so we live that others enjoy Him also.  Grace makes us gracious, generous, giving people, and we GIVE so that others know God.

The motive of godliness is God’s command, and it is also the good that it produces  in ourselves and others. The four lepers who obtained mercy said, “We are not doing right. This day is a day of good news, and we remain silent. If we wait until morning light, some punishment will come upon us.  Now therefore, come, let us go and tell the king’s household” (2 Kings 7:9).  He uses us, so we delight to be used, and we give others the Christ that we’ve experienced, proclaiming the gospel that we see and believe. 

Yet, for this to happen, Christ must come to us freely and remove our sins, He must make us righteous, change us inwardly, and then the gospel fruit will be shown. What He always commanded, which is love for Christ and His glory, He produces by freely pardoning the sins that He’s made us hate, and by breaking the chains that have rightfully bound us – not by our strength, but all by grace, and therefore, to the glory of God.