The Robe Of Grace (October 23, 2022)

THE ROBE OF GRACE

Text: Zechariah 3:1-10

Zechariah 3:1-10 Then he showed me the high priest Joshua 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 man a brand plucked from the fire?" (3) Now Joshua was dressed with filthy clothes as he stood before the angel. (4) The angel said to those who were standing before him, "Take off his filthy clothes." And to him he said, "See, I have taken your guilt away from you, and I will clothe you with festal apparel." (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 the apparel; and the angel of the LORD was standing by. (6) Then the angel of the LORD assured Joshua, saying (7) "Thus says the LORD of hosts: If you will walk in my ways and keep my requirements, 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) Now listen, Joshua, high priest, you and your colleagues who sit before you! For they are an omen of things to come: I am going to bring my servant the Branch. (9) For on the stone that I have set before Joshua, on a single stone with seven facets, I will engrave its inscription, says the LORD of hosts, and I will remove the guilt of this land in a single day. (10) On that day, says the LORD of hosts, you shall invite each other to come under your vine and fig tree."(NRSV).

In Zechariah's fourth vision that we are observing in today’s text, he sees a vision that resembles a courtroom setting. “The angel of the Lord is thought to be a Theophany meaning God in physical form”. (Who is the angel of the Lord? | GotQuestions.org). Therefore, God is the judge, Zechariah sees in this vision, Joshua as the accused/defendant, Satan is the is the prosecuting attorney and we know from the New Testament that Jesus is our defense attorney. This vision seems to be not only prophetic but also symbolic. This vision is about Zechariah’s nation as God’s chosen people. It also appears to operate like an allegory in the sense that like the nation of Israel, Joshua represents Israel a high priest with filthy rag righteousness, we too, as individuals in every age stand guilty as charged. Jesus is our High Priest who paid the price for our sin with His own blood!

Today we want to talk about being guilty--- guilty as charged, having unmerited grace and restoration.

GUILTY

What were the children of Israel guilty of in this vision?

1) Breach of covenant: The children of Israel were called to be a holy nation----to lead others to the Lord and they failed (Isaiah 42:6 and 1 Peter 2:9).

2) Generations failed: Moses had been God’s chosen instrument to get the children of Israel out of Egyptian captivity. Joshua was Moses’s successor. Yet, their mission to be a covenant people was the same. Even after Joshua became their high priest, he failed to get his people clean according to this vision.

3) Unrequited love: Once they were delivered they had a new beginning and they failed to be the people that God called them to be because of their sin. As someone (Harold Cooke Phillips) once said, “We are at liberty to reject the love of God, but never at liberty to escape the judgment that falls on that rejection. We are free to sin, but never to escape the wages of sin, which is death”. (George A. Buttrick. ed. The Interpreter's Bible. Volume 6. Harold Cooke Phillips. “The Book of Hosea: Exposition”. Nashville: Abingdon Press, 1987 [thirty-seventh printing], p. 572). God deliverance of us always gives us a new beginning. God does not want us to be careless and foolish once God has delivered us.

What are the biggest dangers of failing to repent?

1) Foolish: Proverbs 26:11-12 Fools are famous for repeating their errors, like dogs are known to return to their vomit. (12) There’s only one thing worse than a fool, and that’s the smug, conceited man always in love with his own opinions (TPT).

2) Denial: A prison chaplain writes of a study in which he talked with twelve inmates in the penitentiary. He asked each "Why are you here?" The answers were instructive: "I was framed." "They ganged up on me". "It was a case of mistaken identity". "The police had it in for me". Not one said he was guilty of something. They were all innocent. An insurance adjuster said that he would estimate 90 percent of the people involved in automobile accidents see themselves as blameless" (Emerson Colaw. Beliefs Of A United Methodist Christian. Nashville: Tidings, 1972, pp. 44-45). When it comes to sin, no one is blameless for all have sinned and have fallen short of the glory of God (Romans 3:23).