Today's Video Devotion

Wednesday 11/13/24

Pure Linen of God's Righteousness

📺️ Zechariah 3 🔊

¹And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.

 ²And 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?

 ³Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel.

 ⁴And 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.

 ⁵And 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.

 ⁶And the angel of the LORD protested unto Joshua, saying,

 ⁷Thus 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.

 ⁸Hear 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.

 ⁹For 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.

 ¹⁰In that day, saith the LORD of hosts, shall ye call every man his neighbour under the vine and under the fig tree.

Written By: God through Inspiration

Penned By: Zechariah

Date Penned: (1-8 520-518BC)(9-14 480BC)

Overview: Messages while Rebuilding the Temple (c 1-8)

Theme: Zechariah's Night Visions (c 1-6)

Message: Zechariah Sees the High Priest (v 1-10)

Zechariah 3 Commentary

(3:1) Joshua was Israel's High Priest when the remnant returned to Jerusalem and began rebuilding the walls (Haggai 1) Satan accused ("resisted") Josuha, who represents the nation of Israel here. The actuations were accurate - Joshua stood in filthy garments (sins) Yet God revealed his mercy, stating that he chose to save his people anyway. Satan is always accusing people of their sins before God (Job 1) But he greatly misunderstands the breadth of God's mercy and forgiveness toward those who believe in him. Satan the Accuser will ultimately be destroyed (Revelation 12) while everyone who is a believer will be saved (John 3) To be prepared we can ask God to remove our clothing of sin and dress us with his goodness. 

(3:2) God punished Judah through the fire of great trials but he rescued the nation before it was completely destroyed, like "a brand plucked out of the fire" 

(3:3,4) Zechariah's vision graphically portrays how we obtain God's mercy. We do nothing ourselves, it is at God's initiative that our filthy garments (sins) are removed, and God provides us with new, clean clothes (The righteousness of God - 2 Corinthians 5) All we need to do is repent and ask the Lord to forgive us. When satan tries to make you feel dirty and unworthy, remember that the clean clothes of Christ's righteousness make you worthy to draw near to the Lord.

(3:5-7) The Greek name for Joshua is Jesus, meaning "the Lord saves" This Joshua should not be confused with the warrior of the book of Joshua. Both the warrior Joshua and the High Priest Joshua, however, have been seen as symbols of Jesus, the Messiah.

(3:7-10) There was no priesthood during the exile so it had to be reinstated upon the return to the land in this vision, Joshua was installed as the High Priest. One of the High Priest's duties was to offer a sacrifice on the Day of Atonement to make amends for all the sins of the people. The Priest was the mediator between God and the nation. He represented the coming Messiah (Isaiah 11) who would change the entire order of God's dealings with people's sin (Hebrew 10) Jesus the Messiah was the High Priest. who offered once and for all the sacrifice of himself to take away our sins in his new order, every Christian is a priest offering, a holy, cleansed life to God (1 Peter 2) 

(3:8,9) The Branch refers to the Messiah. The meaning of the stone with seven facets ("eyes") is unclear, It could mean the Branch himself as the foundation stone of the Temple, or the rock struct by Moses that produced water for the Israelites (Numbers 20) or the Renewed spiritual priesthood of the church. These verses were fulfilled hundreds of years later by Jesus Christ. God said "I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day and this was fulfilled in Christ who "hath suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that he might bring us to God'' (1 Peter 3) You cannot remove your sins by your own effort. You must allow God to remove them through Christ.

(3:10) God promises that each person will have his own home during Christ's reign (Micah 4) This is a symbol of peace and prosperity

Each day we walk through the Bible chapter by chapter making an application of our text to help us grow in the Lord. Many applications can be made from each day's text. Today we continue in the book of Zechariah with Chapter 3. In our text today Zechariah sees a vision of Joshua , the High Priest, standing before God with his filthy rags being exchanged for fine new clothes with Satan's accusations being rejected before God. In making application we see how as saved individuals our sins are washed away and the Lord sees us as redeemed with Satan's accusations falling on deaf ear. How about you? Do you see yourself as saved with your sins forgiven? Let us learn from our text today and the Vision of Zechariah who give us a picture of how the Lord see us as saved in garments of pure linen of God's Righteousness.