A Picture of the Gospel

Our text this morning comes from the prophet Zechariah. I chose this text for one simple reason. It gives a beautiful and very helpful picture of the Gospel. One great need in the Church in America today is a clear understanding of the Gospel. The powerful and freeing truths of the Good News are being overshadowed either by things that are just false or by things that are merely secondary. If the Church is going to have an impact on our world once again the key will be a renewed grasp of the Gospel. And it will be clear that we are getting it again when there is a renewed sense of awe at what the Father has done through Jesus. We will accomplish the task that Jesus has given to us as His Church only by believing, proclaiming and living the Gospel. And that’s why we are looking at Zechariah today.

Please listen as I read Zechariah 3.

First, let’s consider some background. God has communicated His truth to us through the history of Israel. So, what has been going on when Zechariah shows up on the scene? After the death of David, Israel experienced a slow but steady decline in its walk with God. This led to the division of the nation into the northern kingdom, named Israel, and the southern kingdom, named Judah. As this deterioration continued, God excommunicated the northern kingdom. They were conquered and then scattered among the nations, never to return. That was punishment. Later, God disciplined the southern kingdom which hadn’t learned from what happened to the people of the north. Because it continued to reject God’s ways for another 150 years or so the southern kingdom was removed from the Promised Land and sent into exile in the distant nation of Babylon. In kindness, however, God restored Judah, the southern kingdom, to the Promised Land. And this is when Zechariah makes his appearance. He is a prophet among the returning exiles of the southern kingdom. God had called him to assist the people as they return home to once again work at a faithful relationship with the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. It’s Zechariah’s job to encourage them as they pick up the pieces to try to put them back together. That gives you some context.

The prophecy of our text has three main characters. There is the Angel of the LORD, Joshua who is High Priest, and Satan. I won’t go into all the details, but the Angel of the LORD is also the LORD Himself. He is the one who is with God and is God. We can see hints of the Trinity here. So, the Angel of the Lord is God, the Son, who would come and be born as Jesus. Joshua, as High Priest, represents the people of Israel before God. So, for one example, he is the one who brings the sacrificial blood into the Holy of Holies on the Day of Atonement. So, what we read in our text about Joshua is not about him as an individual. It’s a way of talking about all the people as they relate to God. He represents the people before God. 

Then, there’s Satan. It’s actually unclear if the Hebrew word here is a name or a title. The word ‘satan’ in Hebrew means ‘accuser’. What is clear is that he is here to accuse Joshua. ‘Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him.’ This is something that Satan does and not just here in our text. ‘And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, “Now the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of his Christ have come, for the accuser of our brothers has been thrown down, who accuses them day and night before our God.”’ What is this accusation about? The text is pretty clear. It’s about the filthy garments that Joshua is wearing. And the text makes clear that this is an image of the sins of Joshua. Remember that the High Priest was to wear special garments as he entered the Tabernacle or Temple in order to intercede for the people before God. These garments were to symbolize the holiness of the High Priest as the representative of the people. But Satan makes a fuss. ‘Look at him. Look at his sin and the sin of the people he represents. He can’t approach God like that. He’s a terrible sinner! They all are terrible sinners.’ Remember that the people, the southern kingdom of Judah, had recently returned from their exile from their God and the Promised Land. They had been disciplined because of their sin. All this is represented by the filthy garments the High Priest was wearing. And Satan, always looking for some advantage, makes a fuss and accuses.

The first thing to note here is that this is spiritual warfare. Satan hates the people of God. He hates you. So, he will attack any way that he can. And he has lots of options. Our text shows one. ‘Look at your sins! And you call yourself a Christian. How can God accept someone as sinful as you?’ There is great power in this accusation. And I think that you can see why. There is great power in this accusation because he’s right. We sin. A lot. Joshua’s garments were filthy. They are an apt picture of great sinfulness. So, what’s the right response to this accusation? Some try to minimize what they have done. ‘Well, it’s not that bad. What I did isn’t anywhere as bad as what he did.’ Comparing does no good. God doesn’t make any distinction between kinds of sins. God hates them all. Then there are those people who agree with Satan. ‘You’re right, Satan. I am a horrible sinner, and there is no way that God can accept me. Look at what I did!’ This admission is often followed by some degree of despair. If that is the right response, then we all should despair because we are all horrible sinners. There is another group that has a variation on this. These folk agree that they sinned, but they promise to make up for it by doing better next time. They figure that if they are extra good they’ll be able to win back God’s acceptance and affection. And that empty hope continues until the next time that Satan accuses them, which is soon enough. There is, of course, that other option of just ignoring it all. Who cares about sin anymore? Well, God does. 

Those are some popular responses among Christians today. But how does Joshua respond to Satan’s accusation? What does he say? What does he do? You’ll note that Joshua says nothing and does nothing. He just stands there. It’s the Angel of the LORD, Jesus, who responds. And that holds a lesson for you. Don’t respond to Satan when he points his accusing finger at your sin. What you need to do is look to Jesus to respond. After all, what could you say to Satan to defeat his accusations? This is a major principle of spiritual warfare: look to Jesus to defend you. He will fight your battles against Satan. He is your Savior.

And how does Jesus deal with Satan’s accusations? Well, consider what He says. ‘The LORD rebuke you, O Satan! The LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you!’ Did you notice the basis of Jesus’ response? The Father has chosen His people. ‘The LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you!’ Jesus points not to the faith of the people of God. Rather, He points to the electing love of the Father. And this is so helpful. Think about it. What if Jesus did respond by talking about the faith of the people? You know what Satan would have said next. ‘Faith? What faith? Jesus, we’re talking about people who were banished from God because they blew it, and they blew it royally. If they were people of some bold faith why were they exiled?’ And he would of course have a point. Responding to Satan by pointing to something that you have done, whether it’s faith or anything else, will never work. Whatever you do, you never do it well enough to silence Satan’s accusations. So, Jesus doesn’t talk about anything we may have done. He points to the Father and what He has done. He chose you. And what can Satan say about that? You faith is important, and we’ll see that more clearly in a bit. But you can never defeat Satan by pointing to your faith. The quality of your faith isn’t that good. Satan knows that, and you know that. If you want to respond well to Satan, don’t look at yourself or anything you’ve done. Look to Jesus. Depend on the Father’s electing love. Satan has nothing to say when it comes to this. And just as a side note, this explains the importance of Peter’s exhortation: ‘Therefore, brothers, be all the more diligent to make your calling and election sure…’ I hope to come back to this in a future sermon.

Let’s move on. What happens next? Jesus speaks to the angels who were there, and He tells them to remove the filthy garments. Jesus then describes to Joshua what this means. ‘Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you…’ Joshua’s sin is being dealt with. And Jesus reports how this will be done. He quotes the Father: ‘I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day.’ What’s that about? It’s about the Cross. The sin of the people will be dealt with when Jesus suffers it’s punishment in a single day, on Good Friday. God is just. He doesn’t just ignore sin or cover it up. He suffers for it. And that’s why Joshua’s filthy garment, a picture of your sins, can be removed. God’s justice has been satisfied.

But that’s incomplete. It leaves us with a High Priest without any garments. Could he enter the Holy of Holies like that? Absolutely not! He needs holy garments. Jesus knows this, and He provides them. Listen again. ‘Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments.’ Jesus does not just remove your sin. Doing that will establish you as innocent. But it’s not enough just to be innocent. That just means that you haven’t done anything wrong. But you need more. Jesus clothes you with His own perfection so that you can be called righteous. The Father requires perfect righteousness, not just innocence. Jesus provides that. And that’s where the turban comes in.

There is one place in our text where Zechariah speaks up. ‘And I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.”’ What’s with this turban? Well, it’s part of the holy garments of the High Priest. This is how it’s described when the garments were being made: ‘You shall make a plate of pure gold and engrave on it, like the engraving of a signet, “Holy to the LORD.” And you shall fasten it on the turban by a cord of blue. It shall be on the front of the turban.’ You could say that the turban is the crowning touch of it all. Joshua, the High Priest, is declared not just innocent, but ‘Holy to the LORD’. Likewise, you are not just innocent, but holy, ‘Holy to the LORD’. The Father considers you righteous. 

Here’s why that’s so important. From time to time, I am visited by Jehovah’s Witnesses who are going door to door trying to convert people. Do you know why they do this? They believe, like we do, that they are sinners. They also believe, like we do, that Jesus has provided forgiveness for their sins. And they also acknowledge, like we do, the difference between being forgiven – innocent – and being righteous. So, while they know they are innocent, they also know that they have no righteousness. Jesus did not give them His righteousness. They have to create their own righteousness. And one way to do that is by going door to door, trying to convert people. They are in the process of making themselves holy to the Lord, or so they think. But Joshua didn’t have to create his own righteousness. He has Jesus’ righteousness. And that’s why Jesus gives Joshua the turban with the plate of pure gold on which it is written, ‘Holy to the LORD’. You are not only innocent. You are also righteous. Jesus has provided you with His own righteousness. And one big result of this is that you are acceptable to the Father, always acceptable to the Father. And why? Because you’ve done something special? What special thing did Joshua do to gain this standing as righteous? He does nothing in this whole account but stand there. Jesus does everything. All this became yours when you were included into God’s family. Grace.

That leaves one more thing that I want you to look at from this text. ‘And the angel of the LORD solemnly assured Joshua, “Thus says the LORD of hosts: If you will walk in my ways and keep my charge, then you shall rule my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you the right of access among those who are standing here.”’ Jesus speaks to Joshua and He wants to impress this upon him. The language of ‘my house’ and ‘my courts’ is about the Temple of God. Those who were standing are the angels who have ready access to God. Jesus is talking about being able to approach the Father. And in this context Jesus use the word ‘if’. There is a condition. ‘Joshua, do you want to enjoy a relationship of love with the Father? Well, there are some things you need to do. Walk in my ways and keep my charge.’ What is this? Is Jesus sneaking works in through the back door? Do you maintain your standing with the Father by being good enough according to these conditions? Sad to say, there are some who understand being a Christian in exactly this way. ‘The Father will like me only as long as I keep the rules.’ And grace goes out the window. This isn’t that far from the thinking of those Jehovah’s Witnesses I mentioned. There are Christians who suffer so needlessly because they misunderstand what is going on here. This isn’t about trying to keep the Father happy by meeting some conditions. This is where faith shows up. 

The obedience that a Christian gives to Jesus, this walking in His ways, is not about being good enough. This obedience is an act of faith. There you are walking with Jesus, and He tells you that He wants you to take a left up ahead. And so, you turn left. Why? It’s not because you want to keep Him happy with you. That’s obedience to earn brownie points. It’s not because it’s ‘the right thing to do’ in that sterile sense of duty. Why do you turn left? You do it because you trust Him. He has promised you life, the life of eternity. And at the heart of that is enjoying the nearness of the Father. Or to use the language of Zechariah, enjoying ‘the right of access among those who are standing here’. But you will not grow in your experience of that life unless you trust Jesus. Faith isn’t just about how to end up in heaven later. Faith is about getting a growing taste of it now. Faith is about trusting Jesus to lead you into more and more of life now. So, Jesus is telling Joshua, ‘Do you want to enjoy this life I offer? Trust Me. When the path that I have for you turns to the left, follow it. Don’t fight Me on this. Trust Me.’ Paul calls this ‘the obedience of faith’. It is the obedience that is an expression of trust in Jesus. There is another kind of obedience. It might be called the obedience of duty or of earning. That kind of obedience has nothing to do with the Gospel, and it will end in death. But Jesus has come to give life. So, the filthy garments are removed, and beautiful and holy garments replace them, crowned with the turban, ‘Holy to the LORD’. At that point you are accepted by the Father. Done deal. Now that that’s settled, what follows is the obedience of faith. ‘Jesus, I believe You when you say that there is more of life for me to enjoy. I trust You when you say that the route to that life is up ahead, to the left. So, I’m turning left.’ Duty? Earning? What do they have to do with the Gospel? They have no place here. You have been set free from all of that. Set free to enjoy life. And that is exactly where our text ends. ‘In that day, declares the LORD of hosts, every one of you will invite his neighbor to come under his vine and under his fig tree.’ The imagery of the vine and fig tree are the Old Testament way of talking about peace and happiness and lots more. It’s a picture of life. 

We live in a day when the Gospel is widely misunderstood even by well-meaning Christians. Real grace is missing. There is no power in that kind of Gospel. There is no life there, only slavery. But a grace-filled Gospel is the power of God that will change everything. So, for the sake of your own souls and for the sake of a needy world, consider our text and pray for understanding so that you might grow in your belief in the Gospel of grace.