God’s Over-the-Top Grace | Zechariah 3 | Eric Ortlund

I just want to do something very simple this

afternoon. I just want to look at the problem

in this chapter and how over -the -top, abundantly

gracious God is to Joshua, going far beyond what

Joshua strictly deserves. We're going to have

to use our imagination to appreciate how awful

it would have been to have seen a high priest

clothed in filthy clothes. You see that in verse

3. That's the problem. The word there, that doesn't

just mean kind of stinky, throw him in the...

washing machine, they'll be fine. It's excrement.

It's stuff that if you touched it, you wouldn't

be able to think until you washed your hands

for a long time, right? Now that's bad enough,

but a high priest's clothes represent his ministry

in a way they are his ministry. The high priest

can only go into the holy place when he's dressed

as the high priest. So for a high priest, in

his priestly clothes, for that to be, certain

English words are coming to my mind which I don't

want to say, to be filthy. That means that Joshua

has completely disqualified himself as priest.

A high priest in filthy clothes is like a surgeon

with broken hands who can't move his fingers,

or an airplane pilot who can't see, or something

like that. The whole point to a high priest is

to guide people out of the realm of uncleanness

and death into God's holiness and life. But if

he's dressed in filthy clothes, that means he

needs to be priested. He absolutely cannot do

this. This is as bad as it gets for a high priest.

Now, we don't know exactly why this happens.

He says in verse 2, he's a brand plucked from

the fire. We don't know if Joshua made some horrible,

catastrophic mistake on his own and he's defiled

himself. We don't know if some great injustice

was done to him and it broke him and he just

wasn't able to keep going. We don't know if it

was something that just happened to him that

traumatized him. Whatever it is, this man has

been in the fire, and he's completely compromised

and broken in his ministry. That's how bad the

problem is at chapter 3. Now, everything else

is going to be about God's grace, okay? I keep

losing track. There's like nine ways God is gracious

to Joshua here. First is right there in verse

2. The Lord rebuke you, Satan. The Lord rebuke

you. Now, okay, in the vision, it's the divine

courtroom. So you've got different angels standing

around. Zechariah in the vision is able to see

this. I think Joshua experiences it too. And

we don't know what Satan exactly says, but it's

not that hard to tell. Satan is there going,

guys, am I the only one here not taking crazy

pills? He's defiled. He can't be a priest anymore.

We're actually not told what Satan says, but

you know that's what he was saying. And the devil

is objectively correct about this, right? Right?

and the Lord won't have any of it. Twice he says,

the Lord rebuke you. God has a kind of vehemence

and jealousy and protectiveness for his servants.

He will not put up with an accusation against

them, even when it's blatantly true. In verse

2, the Lord is speaking. Why does he say, the

Lord rebuke you? Why doesn't he say, I rebuke

you? I'm not sure. I think my guess is that it's

as if God's rebuke of the devil's accusation

is so vehement and powerful, it almost becomes

this thing in itself. It's like God becomes a

verb for a while. And you see, he says it twice.

Even when their guilty is charged, they have

given God every reason to give up on them. The

Lord is so protective. Twice he says, I will

not hear that from the accuser. That make anyone

feel kind of loved and protected and special?

Yes, that's the first grace. Not just that he

says it twice. Notice, we don't even hear what

the devil says. The devil doesn't get any speaking

lines. It's obvious what he was saying. But the

Lord's rejection of the devil's accusation, true

though it is, is so total and final that it's

like in the heavenly records what the accuser

has to say, it's just not even written down.

It doesn't even matter. Okay, that's the second

grace. Third grace. Do you notice the order verses

1 through 3 are written in? It would make more

sense if it had Joshua in filthy clothes, the

accuser accusing, and then God says, no, the

Lord rebukes Satan. We don't even figure out

what the problem is until after hearing about

God's rebuke. It's as if the text is so protective

of Joshua, even though he doesn't deserve it.

We don't even learn what the problem is until

Joshua is, as it were, safe from the devil's...

valid accusations within God's protection. Guys,

I feel like I'm not doing justice to this. It's

objectively true that Joshua is dressed in dirty

clothes, and God won't hear any accusation, true

though it might be. He will not permit it in

the heavenly courts. What a good person. Wow.

And we don't even find out what the problem is

until God has already said, no one can accuse

that man, no one, even when it's true. Here's

another grace. When Joshua's objectively guilty

and the devil makes his accusation, God doesn't

say, oh, I wonder what I should do. What do you

have to say for yourself, Joshua? Without even

being asked, Joshua says, I will not let you

accuse my servant. I think that's the fourth

grace from now on. I think number five is, what

does God do next? Put clean clothes on him and

put a clean turban on him. He cleans Joshua up.

And notice, this is at God's initiative. Joshua

is not standing there saying, Lord, please clean

me up. Do you notice Joshua is silent and passive

through the whole chapter? He doesn't say anything.

He just receives. Without being asked, God puts

clean clothes on him, and that means a restoration

to ministry. If Joshua is dressed in clean clothes,

he can keep on being a priest. And do you notice

how you get to the Lord rebuke you in verse 2,

and you get two stages to the put on clean clothes,

put on a clean turban? Almost as if it's too

good to skip by too quickly. We just want to

enjoy this. And notice the angel was standing

by in verse 5. I bet this was very much not a

boring experience for Joshua. Quick side note.

You all know that angels are not cute, chubby,

naked babies. Yes? If you didn't grow up in this

country, there's a painter named Paul Rubens.

He paints scenes from the Gospels. Chubby, naked

babies are angels. That is not very unbiblical.

Apparently, some angels look like human beings.

This is going to sound weird. Some of them look

like big, fiery snakes. Ask me about that in

lunch. It's actually true. Cherubim look like

the kind of thing we read about in Ezekiel 1,

this amazing, terrifying amalgamation of creatures.

God, in his wonderful creativity, myriads and

myriads of supernatural angelic servants and

of different kinds. I don't think it's an accident.

Anytime an angel shows up, almost the first thing

they have to say is, don't be afraid. Because

they're so impressive on their own. And the angel

is standing by as Joshua gets clean clothes put

on him. And he doesn't even have to ask for it.

Now, verse 7, God does lay a charge on Joshua.

There's an if -then. If you do this, you will

get this privilege. And if you don't, you won't

get this privilege. God does not here say, Joshua,

I clean you up. Now go live any way you want.

He says, Joshua, if you walk in my ways and keep

my charge. Walk in ways is just a very general

term for obedience. Just obey me. keep my charge,

shamar, God's mishmared, it gets used in different

ways. It is specifically used in Exodus for priestly

duties. That means God says to Joshua, now that

I've cleaned you up, Joshua, I want you to obey

me, and I want you to do your job as a priest.

There's a grace there, because God doesn't put

Joshua on probation and say, all right, we'll

see how this goes. He just looks at him and says,

you're a priest again. And also, God doesn't

lay any extraordinary extra burden on Joshua

as punishment. He just says, do your job as a

priest. At the same time, there is a command

here. God has this poor man who's been in the

fire, who's been defiled and broken. God has

restored him and cleaned him up. And then God

looks him right in the eye and says, Joshua,

I want you to obey me and I want you to do your

job as a priest. The parallel to that. whether

or not you're planning on being a teaching elder

or not. The stuff about elders and deacons, you

know, not being quarrelsome, able to teach, gentle,

good families, and so on. That's the kind of

thing. I want this to linger with us. The God

of the Bible has this wonderful bias and disproportion

toward grace. I'm convinced every single chapter

in God's Word shows he's not kind of half good

and half mean. He will tilt toward grace all

the time. But you read any chapter you want to

in the entire Bible, you know God is the most

morally serious person you will ever meet, yes?

And here, God looks at his servant who's been

saved and says, I expect you to obey me. Now

I fully believe, having been clothed from on

high, Joshua did walk in God's ways and kept

God's charge, yes? But can we all hear this?

Friends, I'm reading this chapter because it's

not impossible at some point in your life you'll

need Zechariah 3, or someone close to you will

need it. you or someone close to you, you'll

have a time when you're in the fire and you need

to be restored. And I want everyone to hear the

grace, but I want everyone to hear verse 7, walk

in my ways and keep my charge. Does that make

sense? Okay. It's an if -then. If you do this,

if you just do your job, then two results follow.

First of all, you'll be assigned, I think the

NIV had the men, oh, sorry, no, no, sorry, sorry,

back up. The first thing, the NIV said it differently

in verse 8. No, no, sorry, end of verse 7, the

ESV has, I will give you rights of access among

those standing here. Those standing here doesn't

mean other priests. It means the angels standing

there. That's the language in the passage. For

an Old Testament priest like Joshua, the tabernacle

was the intersection of heaven on earth. The

most holy place was literally the divine throne

room. And Joshua, just being a priest is a privilege

enough. Just getting back to being a priest is

a privilege enough. Joshua says, God says to

Joshua, Joshua, you're going to be ministering

among my supernatural servants who would frighten

you if you could see them and you have rights

of access. None of them gets to look at you and

say, what are you doing here? You need to leave.

You're not where you should be. Friends, if the

scales could fall from our eyes and if we could

see everything that's happening in church on

a Sunday morning, I think we'd be on our faces

before God. Seeing God's supernatural servants

at work to carry out God's will. seeing the spiritual

warfare that's going on and seeing the Lord Christ

himself move among his people and heal and embrace.

And if Joshua, if he obeys God, does his job,

nothing extraordinary, none of those supernatural,

Joshua will have, God's servants have rights

of access among those angels standing there.

No one gets to look at them and say, you're in

the wrong place. Not only that, they're symbolic.

The ESV has your signs in verse eight of the

branch. You all know branch is Messiah, right?

So if Joshua obeys verse 7, he and his other

priest will be signs of a much greater priest

to come who will remove all the iniquity of the

land in one day. The stuff about the stone, it's

probably one of the stones in Joshua's breastplate,

and it represents total forgiveness, right? When

it says in verse 9, I will remove all the iniquity

of that land in one day. God is saying, Joshua,

your old covenant high priestly ministry is daily

sacrifice and forgiveness for sin. That is real,

but it's not absolute. It can't absolutely kill

sin. But people will be able to look at you,

Joshua, and they'll be able to say dimly, there's

a greater priest coming who's going to so finally,

absolutely atone for sin. It will all be gone.

Friends, like good news from a far off country,

God, through Joshua and through the branch, everything

you don't like about yourself, every way you

know you don't measure up, everything you're

ashamed of, God comes to you, embraces you, and

he says, I'm going to clear all of that out in

a single day. I will heal and beautify and cleanse

and embrace and kiss and atone and expunge and

all the words in English we have for this so

that you could deeply breathe a sigh of relief.

and stand before God and his divine servants.

And the privilege Joshua has is that his ministry

is symbolic of that, is looking forward to that.

That's like the eighth grace I think we had so

far. Does everyone see how passive Joshua is

in this passage? He does nothing. Does everyone

see? It's not the quality of Joshua's repentance

that brings this kindness from God. It's God

himself on his own initiative going way beyond

what he needs to do for someone whom God could

justly say, you're no longer a priest. Does everyone

see how kind God is to his servants when we've

given the devil every reason to accuse us? Yes?

Amen? Yes? Thank you. Thank you. Amen. One more

thing. Under your own, invite each other under

your own fig tree and all that. That's Old Testament

poetic language. for enjoying everything good

God has to give you in the promised land. Experientially,

it means having a really great day. And that

can sound anticlimactic after this dramatic thing

of like angels and everything. But you receive

God's forgiveness and there's the most wonderful

normalcy that can happen. You just can kind of

forget about yourself and enjoy other people.

And saints are going to be inviting each other

over and hanging out with the most relaxed. Easy

self -forgetfulness and just enjoying each other

and having a good day. Can we take 30 seconds

or so and just savor how disproportionately good

God is in Zechariah 3? And then we'll sing again.