Zechariah 3: 1- 4
1 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. 2 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?”
3 Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and was standing before the Angel.
4 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 clothe you with rich robes.”
I love this portion of scripture! God in His total love for us gives us a glimpse of what happens in the supernatural once we come into salvation. In this passage we see Joshua the priest (not to be confused with Joshua from the Book of Joshua) Standing before the Lord. He is dressed in filthy garments and Satan was standing at his right hand to oppose him. Then God says something absolutely amazing; God says, “Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?" In John 15:6 Jesus says, “If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast [them] into the fire, and they are burned." It is when we turn from our wicked ways that we are plucked from the fire. In essence, until we know Jesus, The Word of God made flesh, until we abide in Him, we are basically hell bound. We are in the fires of hell until we cry out to the Lord and ask Him for forgiveness and to change us into new creations. This is the picture that we get to see through the experience of Joshua. We see how we are plucked from the fire and allowed to stand in the presence of God.
Something important to note; in this passage Joshua stands before God filthy. He is in the presence of the Almighty God, filthy. Why? Because we can’t make ourselves clean, only God can make us clean. He is the only one that can change who we are. So many people feel that they need to come to God in a perfect state; that we have to clean up our act before we come to God and God is saying “no”. He is saying that He is the only one that can change our filthy rags and make us whole.
Also, in this portion of scripture we see God as a protector and a defense. Joshua didn’t open His mouth and neither do we. God will always speak on our behalf and will always rebuke the enemy from the ones He calls His own. Just as Jesus did not open His mouth to speak when He was being accused, neither do we. Because I believe that while Jesus was silent God was proclaiming amazing things in the heavenlys. And what’s even more amazing, there is no indication that Satan even spoke. It says that he was standing there to oppose Joshua, it didn’t say that he started opposing him, or had opposed him it said “to oppose” him. There will be times in our lives at various stages in our walk where the enemy will want to oppose us, but God won’t even let him speak. Right before he can say anything God says “I rebuke you Satan”. God puts an end to the accusations before they can be said. Why? Because God already know the things we have done, He already knows what we will do and He doesn’t care about our past. He washes it away! And God won’t let anyone try to bring to remembrance what He has already pardoned.
There is so much to glean from this passage and in essence God is saying that He alone can redeem us and clean us. He alone can protect and defend us. He alone can cause us to be a new creation. He pardons our sins and removes them far away from us. God’s love for His people is so strong and I thank Him for His love, protection, defense and cleansing power.
