Dirty garments no more

tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-13580053.post-33742703013173573562008-05-10T11:45:00.007-04:002008-05-10T12:00:47.705-04:00Dirty garments no more<a href="http://bp2.blogger.com/_vKkR-trpeZ0/SCXGD6JIzTI/AAAAAAAAAVs/TikOaE9d4rY/s1600-h/zechariah2.jpg"><img id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5198779115318594866" style="FLOAT: left; MARGIN: 0px 10px 10px 0px; CURSOR: hand" alt="" src="http://bp2.blogger.com/_vKkR-trpeZ0/SCXGD6JIzTI/AAAAAAAAAVs/TikOaE9d4rY/s320/zechariah2.jpg" border="0" /></a>Here is the worksheet for Zechariah 3 that I presented at the Simeon Trust Workshops on Biblical Exposition: Text: Zechariah 3:1-10 "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. 2 And the Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, O Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this a brand plucked from the fire?” 3 Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with filthy garments. 4 And the angel said to those who were standing before him, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” And to him he said, “Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments.” 5 And I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the Lord was standing by. 6 And the angel of the Lord solemnly assured Joshua, 7 “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. 8 Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, you and your friends who sit before you, for they are men who are a sign: behold, I will bring my servant the Branch. 9 For behold, on the stone that I have set before Joshua, on a single stone with seven eyes, I will engrave its inscription, declares the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day. 10 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.” Title: A temporary fix and a permanent solution Theme: Before there can be a new temple, the representative and redeemed priest must be defended, transformed, and coronated. Aim for the hearers: The Servant Branch has defended the church against her accuser, removed her guilt, given her a righteousness not of her making, and has coronated her as priest kings in his temple. This Branch, the High Priest, has born the guilt of the church and clothed her, making her acceptable before the Lord. Access to the king’s banquet table requires an exchange of “garments”, an exchange of unrighteousness for a righteousness not of our own making. Immediate Context: The repentant exiles, a remnant, have returned to Jerusalem. God also returns to Jerusalem in mercy and announces his intentions of again making Jerusalem the city and garden of God and building a temple. Jerusalem is to be God’s dwelling. God’s jealousy for his people (1:14) is juxtaposed over against his anger (which was once poured out against his people, 1:2) for the nations (1:15). There is an expectation of covenant renewal as God says he will again dwell in the midst of his people (2:10) and his people will no longer dwell in Babylon (2:7); where God is among his people, there his glory resides (2:5). Once again, he will be their God, and they will be his people (2:11). The escape from Zion is pictured as another exodus from Egypt in which Israel again upon her departure plunders the nation that plundered her (2:9). The difference between the first and second exoduses is that this time, “many nations” will be joining Israel, and they too, will be God’s people (2:11). There is movement from God’s dwelling in heaven (2:13) to God’s dwelling among his people on earth (2:10). Message of the book: God intends to dwell among his people in Jerusalem and in his temple, foreshadowing the day when he will permanently dwell among his people in a far superior temple ruled by a Davidic branch. Before the building of the temple can begin, Israel’s sin must be dealt with and the priesthood must be restored. However, there is more… the book begins with God and Israel outside of Jerusalem and the temple. The book ends not only with the imminent re-inhabiting of Jerusalem and rebuilding of the temple, but the boundaries of Jerusalem and the temple pushed to the farthest corners of the earth. Outline: 3: 1-2: God defends Joshua; Satan accuses, God rebukes 3: 3-5: God transforms Joshua; The dirty clothes are removed, Clean clothes and a turban are given 3: 6-7: God coronates Joshua 3: 8-10: God promises a servant branch The fourth vision of Zechariah begins where chapter 2 left off: God’s dwelling place (2:13). The setting is God’s dwelling place in the heavens, the center of the cosmos in which God is enthroned among angels. Here in the Holy of Holies is where court is being held (“standing before the Lord” is courtroom language; standing is mentioned 6 times). The cast of characters is extensive and notorious: God, Satan, the Angel of the Lord, attending angels, and the rest of a heavenly council. But this convening of court is not completely heavenly… it is also earthly, because Joshua, the earthly representative of God’s people in the earthly copy, the Holy of Holies, is here (3:1). God has chosen Jerusalem to again be his dwelling place among his people (note the “chosen” vs. “choose” in 1:17 and 2:12) and he plans to symbolize that dwelling with a temple to be built. But there is spiritual opposition to such a plan. Satan doesn’t like it. Here we have images of the garden in Gen. 3: a man, a serpent, and God in council is now Joshua, Satan, and God in council. And here, like we find in Job, Satan stands before the Lord accusing God’s people. God has said he will be their God and they will be his people, but Satan accuses Joshua and Israel of being “not-my-people” (Edmund, the white witch, and Aslan); they are dirty covenant breakers under condemnation. God cannot re-inhabit Jerusalem and cannot build his temple because they are “not my people”. There is a kernel of truth to Satan’s accusation. But the Angel does not vindicate Satan. The Angel of the Lord steps forward as an Advocate for Joshua and His people. He rebukes Satan… he vanquishes Satan by emphatically stating that he has redeemed for himself a people (the brand plucked from the fire, vs. 3). With the accusing Satan silenced, the Advocate spends the rest of the chapter making remedy for the dilemma alluded to by Satan. The Advocate now becomes Judge (vs. 3ff). Shockingly, Joshua is in the Holy of Holies bearing the dirty garments of Israel’s covenant breaking guilt. A judicial pronouncement is made by the Judge: remove the dirty garments. This is an acknowledgement that indeed Joshua and Israel are guilty of breaking the Sinaitic covenant. However, all is still not well. Removing the dirty garment is not enough to make Joshua “right” before God. It is not enough for the sins to be removed. The Judge makes a second pronouncement: Indeed the sins will be removed, but Joshua will be given pure vestments. Joshua and Israel must be given a positive righteousness that is from outside of themselves (Matt. 22:11-12; Rev.7:9, 19:8). Thus, a very real exchange takes place: the dirty for the pure. The Judge, then, makes a third pronouncement: Joshua is to be coronated with the High Priest’s turban… this is Joshua’s coronating consecration or ordination (Exodus 29). This turban will be outfitted with the medallion stone (vs. 9) that marked God’s people as sanctified, holy to the Lord (see Ex. 28:36-38). Once coronated, the terms of the covenant are reestablished with Joshua and Israel (“if you walk and keep, I will...”, vs. 7). Noteworthy is that no longer are the covenant terms tied to the land as they were before the exile (comp. vs. 7 w/ Deut. 8:6 and Deut. 5:33). Now – after the exile, those covenant terms are tied to the temple. Joshua is promised a rule, a charge, and a right of access into God’s throne room where heaven and earth meet: the Holy of Holies. The chapter ends with a sign (vs. 8): Joshua is a sign of something bigger and better to come. And this sign comes with 2 pronouncements. As glorious as this coronation is, it isn’t good enough. It is still temporary. The covenant reestablished can be broken again. Those garments will be dirty again. A permanent remedy is promised in the first pronouncement: the Servant-Branch, which is the Angel of the Lord himself (“I” will remove – the pronoun used in vs. 4 and vs. 9 is an indication that the Angel of the Lord will be that Servant-Branch). The second pronouncement (vs. 9) provides the two-pronged means of the remedy: there will be a permanent stone-plague placed on the turban of the Servant-Branch, a stone-plaque that is sealed by the seven-eyed Spirit of God. And there will be a once for all removal of the iniquity of God’s people. This sin-bearing atonement provided by the Angel of the Lord, the priest who is himself the sacrifice, will result in the peace and prosperity of God’s covenant blessings on His people (vs. 10). It is the Judge-Advocate, the Angel of the Lord, who will Himself atone for the guilt of His people and give them peace. Noteworthy is use of “that day” indicating that the peace and prosperity will be the lot of God’s people over against the judgment of sin and Satan, a judgment inherent to the atonement provided by the Branch – an atonement which guarantees the final judgment on sin and Satan. The atonement made sure that never again, will the garments of God’s king-priests be dirty. -- crbBreuss Wanehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03880337516584157981noreply@blogger.com