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Readings: Zechariah 3:1-10 (text); Revelation 7:9-17
Rev. Nollie Malabuyo * March 15, 2015
Trinity Covenant Reformed Church * Pasig Covenant Reformed Church
Introduction
Congregation of Christ: Have you ever witnessed a trial in a courtroom? I haven’t. Most Americans are given the chance to participate in the trial of a person indicted of a crime as part of a 12-person jury who will hear and decide a case. Several times, I have received a jury duty summons, but I have never been picked. So I have witnessed courtroom trials only in the TV and movies.
A courtroom trial is full of drama. One of our favorite TV shows is Law and Order. The first half of this show is how detectives solve a crime, and the second half is the trial of the suspect. Forensic experts, professors, medical examiners, computer specialists, and many other professionals are called to testify. In most courtroom trials, there are presentations of evidence in photos, charts, and demonstrations of how the crime was committed; witnesses in tears or anger; back-and-forth accusations and arguments by lawyers; and the defendant denying any wrongdoing, or pleading for mercy.
Our text today does not lack this courtroom drama. Zechariah witnesses the heavenly council of God trying a case that has eternal and universal repercussions. He was a member of a priestly family who returned to Israel from the Babylonian exile in 538 B.C. When the returnees tried to rebuild the Temple, fierce opposition came from the neighboring peoples, so the Jews were discouraged and left the Temple still in ruins. Zechariah’s ministry was to encourage the people to continue the project because of God’s promises.
In Chapters 1 and 2, the Lord has promised to help the Jews by preventing their powerful neighbors from opposing them. Here in Chapter 3, he also promises that in the end, he will remove their sins when his Servant the Branch arrives. The land will then experience peace, harmony, security and prosperity under the coming Messianic king.
Zechariah reveals these promises in a drama that unfolds in God’s heavenly throne-room. The cast of characters is made up of a high priest, the heavenly council made up of Yahweh, the Angel of Yahweh, the host of angels, and that ancient fallen angel, Satan himself. Satan presents his accusation against the high priest, but the Angel of the Lord completely repudiates his evil charge. The verdict follows, but who was pronounced guilty and who was absolved of crimes? The sentencing follows, but who was sentenced and what are the sentences? Let us now look at this high drama in the divine courtroom in three points: (1) The “Celebrity” Trial Cast; (2) The Dual Verdict; and (3) The Reverse Sentencing.
The “Celebrity” Trial Cast
The trial cast of characters is nothing short of a “celebrity” list.
There is Yahweh himself, “the Lord” (verse 3), the Creator and King of the universe, the Judge of all men and angels. Seated on his heavenly throne in all his power and glory, the thrice-holy Lord God Almighty is praised by the hosts of heaven while they fall down on their faces before him, “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created” (Rev 4:11).
There is the Angel of the Lord, the “Messenger of Yahweh” (verse 1), also on his throne. Time and again, the Angel of the Lord appeared to his people when Yahweh is about to do a mighty work for them. This is the same Angel of the Lord who confirmed to Abraham his promise of a covenant child (Gen 22:15-18), but who also sent fire and brimstone to wicked Sodom and Gomorrah (Gen 18:1-2). He appeared again on the night of the Passover to destroy all the firstborn sons of Egypt in order to redeem his people (Exo 12:23; 2 Sam 24:16). He appeared to Joshua before the conquest of Canaan (Josh 5:13-15); Num 22:31), and to the people of Israel under King David to punish them (2 Sam 24:16). Whenever he appears in the history of the redemption of God’s people, the Angel of the Lord reveals either blessings or judgment.
Before the Angel of the Lord stood the defendant, Joshua the high priest, clothed in filthy garments – garments soiled with sickening, foul-smelling human waste. Instead of holy priestly garments required to enter the Holy of Holies, he was wearing detestable rags. Instead of a royal turban with a gold plate engraved with the words “Holy to the Lord” (Exod 28:36-38), he wore a turban as filthy as his garments.
Lastly, there is Satan, the “accuser,” “adversary,” “enemy,” “deceiver,” “father of lies,” and “the evil one,” standing at the right hand of Joshua the high priest. He is the prosecutor who comes with his false and wicked accusations. Who does he accuse?
Even in the very beginning when Adam and Eve were in the Garden of Eden, Satan already made accusations. He said to Adam and Eve they heard God wrong, “Did God really say that?” Ages later, Satan would again appear in the heavenly council to accuse Job of being a sinful “priest,” Job only performing his intercessory duties on behalf of his family because of his prosperity. Take his prosperity away, and he would curse God. Finally, we read in Revelation that the dragon fails in his attempt to kill the newborn Christ, but then succeeds in killing him at the cross, only to fail again to keep him in the grave. The Christ ascends into heaven, casting the dragon out of heaven down to the earth.
Satan is the big pretender. He stands at Joshua’s right hand, pretending that he is Joshua’s advocate, protector and defender. But instead, he accuses Joshua of not being worthy to be present in the heavenly courtroom. Joshua is a picture of the shameful sinfulness of God’s people, because as High Priest, he represents Israel. Israel herself is filthy with sins, shamefully entering God’s Holy of Holies. “Guilty!” says Satan the prosecutor.
The Dual Verdict
But the Angel of the Lord, not Satan, is Joshua’s Attorney and Defender. He presents his own defense, countering, “Yahweh rebuke you, O Satan!” The guilty one is not Joshua, but Satan the Accuser, whose accusation against Joshua is inadmissible in court. The Angel of the Lord tells Satan, “The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you!” No one has the right to accuse God’s people, because they are a chosen people who were predestined by Yahweh before the creation of the world. How can anyone condemn God’s elect? Satan is actually accusing God of choosing the wrong people!
So the Angel of the Lord asks Satan, “Is not this a brand plucked from the fire?” Joshua is a blackened burning stick removed from the fire. The people had been through fiery judgment as exiled slaves in Babylon, and God rescued them from total destruction and restored them to the Promised Land (Deu 4:20). They were as if in the threshold of destruction in hell before God removed them from the furnace. Satan had every right to accuse Joshua the high priest and the people he represents. God’s people are guilty and condemned for their idolatry, injustice and rebelliousness.
But Satan presents only half of the whole evidence: the filthy garments and turban. He ignores God, who by his grace justifies undeserving, sinful Joshua and the people he represents. How can God not justify them, since they are his elect before the creation of the world? The Angel of the Lord has pardoned Joshua, “I have taken your iniquity from you,” so they have been pardoned of their sin.
This is justification, a Biblical word. According to the Heidelberg Catechism Q&A 60, being justified before God means two things: First, God “grants and imputes to me the perfect satisfaction, righteousness, and holiness of Christ, as if I had never committed nor had any sins” (emphasis added). Second, being justified means that God sees us as having “accomplished all the obedience which Christ has fulfilled” for his people. This is God’s immeasurable blessing of justification accomplished by Christ’s death and resurrection. How can a wretched sinner like me look perfectly clean before God? How can I, whose deeds, words and thoughts are evil, appear to God as having perfectly obeyed Yahweh? Only because God imputes, or counts, Christ’s perfect righteousness to our account.
This is why Paul declares, “Who shall bring any charge against God’s elect? It is God who justifies. Who is to condemn? Christ Jesus is the one who died—more than that, who was raised—who is at the right hand of God, who indeed is interceding for us” (Rom 8:33-34). Christ, the Angel of the Lord, the Judge of the Universe, has become our Advocate. On the once-for-all Day of Atonement when he was crucified, he removed all our filthy sins. Instead of slaughtering animals to offer as sacrifice for our sins, he willingly offered himself as our Passover Lamb so he would be our Angel of Life, not the Angel of Death. In the heavenly council, he now sits at God’s right hand as our Attorney, defending us from Satan’s accusations. His sole evidence for our defense? His own sacrifice on the cross, “For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2 Cor 5:21).
Therefore, Satan’s accusations backfire on him. In the Garden of Eden, God rebuked him as he is cursed and condemned to destruction; the Seed of the woman will “crush your head,” God declared (Gen 3:15). In his earthly ministry, Jesus repeatedly rebuked Satan and his evil angels (Mark 8:33; Matt 17:18) to deliver God’s people from his tyranny. Finally, Jesus is the divine warrior who by his Spirit, will rebuke the Antichrist, Satan’s agent of apostasy, “whom the Lord Jesus will kill with the breath of his mouth and bring to nothing by the appearance of his coming” (2 Thess 2:8; Rev 19:15; 20:9-10). At the same time, Satan himself and all his hordes will be destroyed by the same sword of the Spirit, and cast into the lake of fire for eternity.
But Joshua the high priest was acquitted and pardoned because his iniquity was removed by the Angel of the Lord. Like sinful Joshua who was clothed with clean garments and a clean turban, believers too are sinful people who have been clothed with the garments of Christ’s righteousness. We too were filthy beggars clothed with sin who needed new clothes of righteousness. This is very hard for many unbelievers to accept: that they are hopeless, helpless sinners in need of a righteous High Priest, who will free them Satan’s tyranny of sin.
So the verdict on Christians on Judgment Day is “Not guilty on all counts!” On the counts of sexual immorality, idolatry, adultery, and homosexuality, “Not guilty!” On the counts of stealing, greed, drunkenness, reviling, and swindling, “Not guilty!” In his closing arguments, Christ our Defender declares: “And such were some of you. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God” (1 Cor 6:9-11).
The Reverse Sentencing
Like unbelievers, we also often do not even realize, that we are wearing dirty clothes of iniquity. Sometimes, we seem to have very little sensitivity to sin. We may say with the church in Laodicea, “I am rich, I have prospered, and I need nothing, not realizing that you are wretched, pitiable, poor, blind, and naked. But Christ condemns you and says, “I counsel you to buy from me … white garments so that you may clothe yourself and the shame of your nakedness may not be seen” (Rev 3:17-18).
Joshua was the guilty one, but he was acquitted of his sin and guilt. The Angel of the Lord, glorious, holy, and righteous, came down from his throne in the heavenly council and willingly offered himself to be pronounced guilty and suffer an accursed death on the cross. In the eyes of man, this is a gross injustice. But in the eyes of a holy and righteous, gracious and merciful God, this is divine justice. Man is condemned to death because of sin, and the Son of Man suffered the condemnation.
A great reversal also happened to Satan. He appeared in the divine courtroom as the prosecutor, with great accusations against the sin of Joshua and God’s people. He also accused God of being unjust and unfair. How could God allow a filthy, sinful high priest to enter his holy courtroom? But in the end, it was Satan who was condemned. Have you ever seen a courtroom trial that ended in the prosecutor being condemned, not the accused? Satan is now condemned. When Jesus ascended into heaven, he was thrown out of heaven. And when Jesus returns, he will be cast into eternal hell.
In our court systems, an accused who had been found guilty will later appear before the judge for sentencing. After he was acquitted and clothed with clean garments, Joshua appeared before Yahweh, but not for sentencing. Instead, Yahweh had commands and assurances for Joshua.
Because they have been cleansed of their sin and declared righteous by God, the high priest and the people he represents are commanded with promises, “If you will walk in my ways and keep my charge…” (verse 7). Walking in the ways of the Lord means living in holiness and righteousness according to God’s Word. And God’s command, “keep my charge,” relates to Joshua’s duties as the temple’s high priest, “performing what the Lord has charged” (Lev 8:35).
Remember God’s covenant with Abraham? The Lord’s command was: “walk before me, and be blameless” (Gen 17:1-2). Again, in his covenant with Israel at Mount Sinai, God chose them to be a holy nation of priests, and commanded obedience, “Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice and keep my covenant … you shall be to me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation” (Exo 19:5-6). God warned them of all kinds of national curses if they were disobedient, “then all these curses shall come upon you and overtake you” (Deu 28:15). The last curse is their destruction by the Babylonians (Deu 28:36), when the land that the Lord gave them vomited them out (Lev 20:22). Like Adam and Eve after they disobeyed God’s covenant, they too were driven out of the land.
Similarly, has God chosen you to be his holy nation of priests so that you may be proud and satisfied with yourself? No, you were chosen so that you “may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Pet 2:9).
Beloved friends: This then relates to your service to God as a priest, so that a Christian may say, “I also may present myself a living sacrifice of thankfulness to Him, and with a free conscience may fight against sin and the devil in this life” (HC 32). So we are priests whom John describes as servants of God’s temple, the church, “Therefore, they are before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple” (Rev. 7:15).
How often do we see people today who claim to be Christians, but are not walking in the ways of God’s Word! How often do we see Reformed Christians disconnect doctrinal proficiency from serving God with all their heart, soul, mind and strength!
Yahweh then shows Zechariah a stone with seven eyes with an inscription, much like the inscription on the turban of the high priest Joshua which says, “Holy to the Lord.” The people represented by Joshua are now holy before God. God, whose vision is perfect (“seven eyes”), sees and observes the whole earth. He keeps his eye especially on his exiled people (Jer 24:6; Deu 11:12). He assures them that the temple, represented by the stone with seven eyes, will be completed and all of God’s people will be temple servants.
The Angel of the Lord’s counsel to Joshua not only has consequences for him and the Jews who have returned from Babylon. It also has future promises beyond them into the new covenant, and finally into eternity, “Behold, I will bring my servant the Branch… I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day. 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 Lord will send Christ, his Servant the Branch from the tree of David (Jer 23:5), to remove the iniquity of the land in a single day. On that Passover Day, Good Friday, Christ the Branch removed the sin of his people when he hung on the cross.
And when Christ returns from heaven, the final blessing of peace, prosperity and security would be given to his people, symbolized by a man sitting peacefully in his garden “under his vine and under his fig tree.” Micah also saw this endtime vision, “But they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree,and no one shall make them afraid” (4:4; Rev 7:16-17).
As you approach the annual remembrance of Christ’s death and resurrection, be mindful that Christ has plucked you from the fires of hell and has given you his robes of righteousness. Therefore, you are to rejoice with Isaiah,
I will greatly rejoice in the LORD; my soul shall exult in my God, for he has clothed me with the garments of salvation; he has covered me with the robe of righteousness (Isa 61:10).
And as you rejoice in our salvation, be mindful that Christ commands you to walk in his ways and keep his commandments all the days of your lives. Amen.