The Devil Wears False Accusations (Zechariah 3)
The Devil Wears: False Accusations
Zechariah 3:1-7
INTRODUCTION:
One of my favorite Disney animated movies came out in 2003, called Brother Bear. Brother Bear is a musical Brother Bear follows an Alaska native boy named Kenai who kills a grizzly bear as retribution for his older brother's death. The Great Spirits, incensed by the unnecessary killing, transform Kenai intao a bear himself as punishment. In order to become human again, Kenai travels to a mountain where the Northern lights touch the earth, forging a relationship with a cub named Koda along the way.
I want to share with you some lyrics from a song from that movie. The song was written and sung by Phil Collins. The scene where the song is heard is when Kenai admits to Koda that he killed Koda’s mother when he waas a human. Koda runs away, heartbroken by the loss of his mother. These lyrics reflect, I think, the pain that you and I feel sometimes when we reflect on the sins we commit against God.
And Satan can use our thoughts against us by making some false accusations against us in our own mind… I’ll talk more about that in a moment. Here are the lyrics…
Everywhere I turn I hurt someone
But there's nothing I can say to change the things I've done
Of all the things I hid from you I cannot hide the shame
And I pray someone something will come to take away the pain
There's no way out of this dark place
No hope, no future
I know I can't be free
But I can't see another way
And I can't face another day
Tell me where did I go wrong
Everyone I loved, they're all gone
I'd do everything so differently
But I can't turn back the time
There's no shelter from the storm inside of me
There's no way out of this dark place
No hope, no future
I know I can't be free
But I can't see another way
And I can't face another day
As we study through God’s word and taking a look at Satan, we have seen three pictures of him so far… Satan wears subtlety, as we saw from Genesis 3. Satan wears shackles (Job 1 & 2). Last month, we saw that Satan wears pride, in the sense that he can use our strengths against us when we pridefully depend on our own strengths instead of the power from the Lord. Today, we look at the flip-side of that idea. That is, Satan can also use our weaknesses, our sinfulness, to discourage us, to accuse us falsely - to plant into our minds the lie that we cannot be saved. Our sins are so great or so frequent, there is no forgiveness.
A few Saturdays ago, the Ridge Road church of Christ held a “Spiritual Saturday,” and the theme for all the lessons was “The Lies We Sometimes Tell Ourselves.” One of those lies, which the preacher for the Ypsilanti congregation spoke on, was: “I’ve got too much dirt.” That’s the point of this lesson as well: “I’ve got too much dirt.” I have sinned so greatly that there cannot be any forgiveness for me.
As we meditate on that theme, we go to the final reference to Satan, by name, in the OT: Zechariah 3…
THE BACKGROUND:
The prophets especially demand that we understand the background of the book in order to understand its message. And thankfully, most of the prophets give us the historical setting for the message in the first few verses of the book. For Zechariah, that background is given in 1:1 - the eighth month of the second year of Darius. Darius was King of Persian so we know that Israel, God’s people, are returning home from their exile in Babylon where they have lived for 70 years.
God sent Israel into exile because of their sins. God caused them to remain there for 70 years - basically two generations. Now, Israel has been sinful since the day God created them as a nation in Egypt! They have hardly lived one single generation without giving themselves especially to idolatry. It has been a considerable challenge for God to keep Israel faithful to Him through the years.
Perhaps you can imagine a little boy who has a hard time being obedient to Mom and Dad and his most recent act of rebellion has put him in a time-out chair. And he’s sitting in that time-out chair thinking to himself: “I can’t ever be good. I’m a bad boy. I will never make Momma and Daddy happy.” My own dad was not a harsh father; he was very loving. But he also had high expectations and I remember a few times thinking to myself that I could never make Dad happy. Maybe you have felt the same way about your own dad.
That’s kind of what Israel is thinking right now when Zechariah is preaching to them.
WHAT GOD HAS TOLD ISRAEL SO FAR:
Zechariah 1:2-3: “The Lord was very angry with your fathers…. Return to Me that I may return to you.”
Zechariah 1:4: “Do not be like your fathers… [who] did not listen to Me or give heed to Me.”
Zechariah 1:6: “Then they repented.”
Zechariah 1:7-11 - Here we have the four horses of Zechariah which creates the imagery for the horsemen in the book of Revelation. In fact, the imagery of Zechariah is very much like the imagery of Revelation. Keep in mind these are visions which God gives to Zechariah and they are not necessarily to be understood literally.
So these horsemen convey the idea to Zechariah: “All the earth is peaceful and quiet.” Think of the dad who has punished his son and put him in the timeout chair and now the dad’s anger has subsided. Not only is dad “okay” now, but the relationship between dad and son is okay as well. Perhaps the dad goes over to kneel by his son, he tousles his hair, and tells his son he loves him and he disciplines him so he can learn how he needs to behave properly.
Zechariah 1:16 - “I will return to Jerusalem with compassion; My house [the temple] will be built in it, and a measuring line will be stretched over Jerusalem.” The measuring line is a metaphor for God’s protection and His defense of the city of Jerusalem - because Jesus has to come into the world and preach and die in Jerusalem.
Zechariah 2:5 - “I will be a wall of fire around her, and I will be the glory in her midst.” So God will forgive and He will protect Jerusalem from being destroyed as it was by the Babylonians.
Zechariah 2:8 - “He who touches you, touches the apple of His eye.” This is Israel, in the eyes of God.
Zechariah 2:10-11 “Sing for joy and be glad, O daughter of Zion; for behold I am coming and I will dwell in your midst,” …Many nations will join themselves to the Lord in that day and will become My people. Then I will dwell in your midst, and you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent Me to you.” Here, God promises that His new people, in the New Covenant, will include all nations, not just Israel.
Zechariah 2:13 - “Be silent, all flesh, before the Lord; for He is aroused from His holy habitation.” Be patient; wait on God to work.
SATAN APPEARS ON THE SCENE - 3:1-7:
Joshua the high priest is standing before the angel of the Lord (ver. 1). The high priest, of course, is supposed to be the one who represents the people to God. He is the one who is supposed to make the sacrifices - especially on the Day of Atonement - that provide forgiveness of sins for Israel so they can be righteous in God’s eyes.
So Joshua is standing before this angel of the Lord but there is Satan in the picture. Notice that he is there “to accuse” Joshua! Satan wears false accusations; Satan is a liar and the father of lies Jesus tells us in John 8:44.
Satan is there to accuse Joshua, to falsely accuse Joshua. In fact, while the name “Satan” means “adversary,” the name “Devil” means “slanderer” or “accuser” because, as John tells us about Satan in Revelation 12:10, he slanders or accuses our “brethren” or “Christians.”
But then Jehovah God speaks up and rebukes Satan (ver. 2). The One who “chose Jerusalem” rebukes Satan! Why? Because apparently Satan was telling the lie that Jerusalem could no longer be God’s city. Apparently Satan is telling Joshua the high priest that he can no longer be righteous in God’s eyes nor can Israel be righteous any more in God’s eyes.
Notice in verse 3 that Joshua, the high priest, was clothed in filthy garments. Of course, he would be unclean and not able to fulfill his role as a priest if he were wearing filthy garments and these garments, in this vision, are a metaphor for sin!
But Jehovah told others - angels in the vision - standing before Him to remove those filthy garments from Joshua (ver. 4). Why? Because forgiveness of sins is available! Because righteousness in the eyes of God is possible!
Jehovah goes on to say, “See, I have taken your iniquity away from you and will clothe you with festal robes.” Robes for celebration, for joy for gladness just as God told Israel to sing in 2:10.
Then Zechariah the prophet speaks in verse 5 and says to put a clean turban on Joshua’s head; and the angels do, as well as clean garments.
But, just as God had told Zechariah in 1:6 that their ancestors had repented of their sins, so the angel tells Joshua the high priest in 3:7 that he - and Israel - need to walk in God’s ways and perform God’s service and then He will govern God’s house - His temple - and have charge over God’s courts and have “free access” into God’s presence.
For Israel coming back from the exile, this is a message that they would have a high priest to represent them to God in the temple with their animal sacrifices. However, there will not be a king to sit on the throne in Jerusalem…
THE BRANCH - 3:8-10; 6:11-15:
In verse 8, the angel tells Joshua that he and his friends - perhaps other priests, perhaps the nation of Israel - are a symbol…
Joshua, in particular, is a symbol of God’s servant, known here as the Branch (ver. 8). This word connects with the “root of Jesse” from Isaiah 11:1, so we know that Zechariah is seeing the Son of David, better known as the “Messiah” in this vision.
The “seven eyes” in verse 9 are a symbol of God’s omniscience. He knows what is going to happen in the future and we see again in verse 10 that God is going to remove the iniquity from Israel, from Jerusalem. And they will invite others - surely a reference to those who are not members of the nation of Israel - to come enjoy that forgiveness too!
But now we have to jump forward to chapter 6… We get a clearer picture of “Joshua the high priest” and who he is supposed to picture. Notice in 6:11 that Jehovah told Zechariah to place a crown of silver / gold on the head of Joshua. The “crown” symbolizes royalty! Under the Law of Moses, the priests were to come from the tribe of Levi; the kings came from the family of David from the tribe of Judah!
What is pictured here, then, is a man who will serve both as King and as High Priest! And there is only one man who is both King and High Priest! Jesus Christ!
Notice that the Branch will build the temple of the Lord - verse 12 - a reference to the Kingdom of the Messiah or the Church of Christ (1 Cor. 3:16-17; 6:19-20).
Verse 13 - “Thus, He will be a priest on His throne, and the counsel of peace will be between the two offices.”
There is only one man who is a priest reigning on His throne - Jesus Christ - and that is the whole message of the book of Hebrews!
Once again, in 6:15, the angel tells Zechariah to share the message with Israel: “it will take place if you completely obey the Lord your God.” There is forgiveness of sins if you will “completely obey” the Lord God. Jesus governs as King and saves as Priest. He governs those He saves and He saves those He governs.
We studied last week that Jesus came to shed His blood for the forgiveness of sins. I pointed out that the expression “forgiveness of sins” is used also in Acts 2:38. I misspoke that that is the only other passage that uses this phrase and that is incorrect. The phrase is used twice in reference to John the baptizer’s baptism in Mark 1:4 and Luke 3:3. And it is used one more time in Luke 24:47 where Jesus Himself says that “repentance is for the forgiveness of sins.”
So can there be forgiveness of sins today? Yes! Can we be righteous in the eyes of God? Yes!
Let me briefly go back to that song from Brother Bear written by Phil Collins. The chorus goes like this:
I can't believe the words I hear
It's like an answer to a prayer
When I look around I see
This place, this time, this friend of mine
I know It's hard but you found somehow
To look into your heart and to forgive me now
You've given me the strength to see just where my journey ends
You've given me the strength to carry on
I see the path from this dark place
I see my future
Your forgiveness has set me free
Oh, and I can see another way
I can face another day
There is a path from the dark place of sin, from the dark place of guilt, from the dark place of lies we tell ourselves through Satan’s persuasion. He wants us to think that it is impossible to live in a way to be righteous in the eyes of God. Zechariah teaches us that that is a lie. Jesus teaches us how to be right in the eyes of God.
Take home message: Don’t listen to Satan’s lies! You don’t have too much dirt that the blood of Christ cannot cleanse you! Listen to Jesus and do what He says to do.