Like A Burning Stick Snatched from the Fire!

 Click Here to Listen to or Read the One Year Daily Bible Lessons Online

3 Then the angel showed me Jeshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord. The Accuser, Satan, was there at the angel’s right hand, making accusations against Jeshua. 2 And the Lord said to Satan, “I, the Lord, reject your accusations, Satan. Yes, the Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebukes you. This man is like a burning stick that has been snatched from the fire.” 3 Jeshua’s clothing was filthy as he stood there before the angel. 4 So the angel said to the others standing there, “Take off his filthy clothes.” And turning to Jeshua he said, “See, I have taken away your sins, and now I am giving you these fine new clothes.”

Jeshua, or Josiah, was the high priest at the time of Haggai's prophecy (1:1). In the vision Zechariah saw an angel of the Lord, who spoke for the Lord when Satan accused Joshua. The term Satan means "adversary" or "accuser". Satan hated the whole scene, he hates it when we come into the presence of the Lord (Guzik). 

This is why when you go to pray, read the bible, or go to church there are so many distractions. Satan knows that as you get built up in God's Word and the power of the Spirit, he has little chance to harass you. But notice it is the Lord who rebukes Satan for his accusations. The Lord intercedes for Joshua. There was a good chance Satan was pointing out Joshua's dirty clothes and accusing him for his own sinfulness.

The word used for "filthy clothes" here was a graphic word in the Hebrew language. The Hebrew word translated filthy is “the strongest expression in the Hebrew language for filth of the most vile and loathsome character” (Feinberg, cited in Barker).

Then, the Lord says that Joshua was like a burning stick snatched from the fire. The implication was that though Joshua was a sinner like all of us, God saved him out of the fire just like a piece of wood is taken out of the fire does not get completely consumed. Paul says something similar in 1  Corinthians 3 as we come before the judgment seat of Christ and our works are tested for their purity. 

"If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved—even though only as one escaping through the flames."

Similarly today there are people who have been saved but they never do anything with their lives for the Lord. At the judgment day they will be judged for having done nothing with God has given them, but they will be saved only as one who has been rescued from the fires of hell. 

Importantly though Joshua had dirty clothes and he and the angel of the Lord knew it, the angel told the other angels around him to take off his dirty clothes and give him fine new clothes. This was a symbol of the cleansing of his sins. In Revelation 3:4 John uses this kind of language to talk about a few Christians in Sardis who had not soiled their clothes. 

"But you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their garments; and they will walk with Me in white, for they are worthy." Revelation 3:4 

Bottom line: As Christians we have all stained our clothes with the stain of sin. Isaiah said this,

"For all of us have become like one who is unclean, And all our righteous deeds are like a filthy garment." Isaiah 64:6

Jesus has clothed us in his clothes of righteousness. We have taken off our filthy rags and been given clean clothes because of what Jesus did on the cross. 

So what's the point? If you have been given clean clothes why would you go back into the mud again? Why would you go back to filthy living? Thanks be to God for what we could not do for ourselves (clean ourselves up), Jesus did for us by giving us His righteousness as a gift. Therefore when we stand before God someday, He will see only our clean clothes not our filthy rags! 



Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Acts 22 - Paul Sees the Light

Image
6  “About noon as I came near Damascus, suddenly a bright light from heaven flashed around me.   7  I fell to the ground and heard a voice say to me,  ‘Saul! Saul! Why do you persecute me?’  8  “‘Who are you, Lord?’ I asked.  “  ‘I am Jesus of Nazareth,  whom you are persecuting,’  he replied.   9  My companions saw the light,  but they did not understand the voice  of him who was speaking to me.  10  “‘What shall I do, Lord?’ I asked. “  ‘Get up,’  the Lord said,  ‘and go into Damascus. There you will be told all that you have been assigned to do. This is the famous story of the apostle Paul's conversion on the road to Damascus.  Paul was going there to persecute Jewish Christians and throw them into prison and he meets Jesus is a spectacular way.  Not only is he blinded by a briliant light, but he hears the Lord's voice audibly.  And the Lord asks him, "Lord, Lord why are you persecuting me!"  Paul thought he was serving the Lord, but he was persecuting him b
Read more

Hebrews 6 - Have You Graduated From Elementary School of Faith Yet?

Click Here to Read or Listen to Hebrews 6 6 Therefore let us move beyond the elementary teachings about Christ and be taken forward to maturity, not laying again the foundation of repentance from acts that lead to death, and of faith in God, 2 instruction about cleansing rites, the laying on of hands, the resurrection of the dead, and eternal judgment. 3 And God permitting, we will do so. The author once again picks up with the theme of moving on to Christian maturity.  He teaches them to move on from the "elementary" teachings about Christ. What does he mean by that?  He gives clues by citing repentance, faith, cleansing rites, the laying on of hands, and teaching on the judgment and resurrection from the dead. We might call these the basics of the Christian faith. If you read through the Apostle's Creed, which our church confesses in our 8am service, it contains many of these core doctrines.  Click here to see the Apostle's Creed Written Around “When we consider the
Read more

2 Timothy 4 - Fight the Good Fight! Finish the Race!

Click Here to Read or Listen to 2 Timothy 4 4 In the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who will judge the living and the dead, and in view of his appearing and his kingdom, I give you this charge: 2 Preach the word; be prepared in season and out of season; correct, rebuke and encourage—with great patience and careful instruction. 3 For the time will come when people will not put up with sound doctrine. Instead, to suit their own desires, they will gather around them a great number of teachers to say what their itching ears want to hear. 4 They will turn their ears away from the truth and turn aside to myths. 5 But you, keep your head in all situations, endure hardship, do the work of an evangelist, discharge all the duties of your ministry. Paul gives a closing charge to Timothy. First of all, he is to preach the word. God's Word speaks to all situations and seasons. The Word of God will sometimes correct us. Our lives can get of out alignment with God's will as outlined in
Read more