Image: "Foretaste of Heaven", 2018, North Beach Scene, Oahu, HI
Zechariah 3:4 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.”
Zechariah 3:8 ‘Hear, O Joshua, the high priest, You and your companions who sit before you, For they are a wondrous sign; For behold, I am bringing forth My Servant the BRANCH.
Zechariah 4:6 So he answered and said to me: “This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the LORD of hosts.
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Sometimes we are tempted to think: "It's just too hard!" We want to achieve some significant goal, or undertake a great, important task, and as we get started the problems mount, we discover our own deficiencies, and we just want to give up. Then Satan really gets in our head. We start hearing the serpent's hiss the discouraging word. We find ourselves more concerned with "blame" than solutions, and we know that we're in trouble.
This situation faced Joshua (the high priest) and Zerubbabel (the governor) as they undertook to build the Lord's temple. The people had lost enthusiasm (Haggai 1:2) and there was constant opposition from the surrounding peoples who feared a resurgent Judah. It was exactly here that God spoke to them and called His people and their leaders to a renewed dedication and renewed hope in their efforts.
As is always the case, we see the religious leader, Joshua (parallel to Jesus) being tempted and accused by Satan. (3:1) The key to uniting the people of God together unto some great work, or perhaps, any good work, is that they be inspired to the task. This is where the minister comes in. He is to lead the people into a vision of God's glory inherent in the work before them. Satan, of course, knows this and as he did with Jesus and as he does with every zealous shepherd of God's flock, he undertakes to undermine the man. Here we are told that he comes before "the Angel of the LORD" (Whom I take to be the pre-incarnate Christ) with intent to "oppose" Joshua. Our Lord, in an action beautifully descriptive of how all sinners are justified, rebukes Satan and then turns to Joshua and cleanses him of all his iniquity and dresses him in "rich robes" of righteousness. (3:4)
Brothers and sisters is this not a terrifically "great thing?" How can any man not be inspired to undertake great works for the Lord when he truly knows what the Lord has done for him? To have Satan silenced, to have all his accusations flung in the trash or, better metaphor, "nailed to the cross so that we bear them no more", is gloriously astonishing in its scope. This is all done before we ever even get started on good works! How can any sane individual think that some "good work" on our part moves God to grant us grace? Justification, the declaration that we are righteous before God, is the foundation of our good works and the only claim we have to His eternal blessings.
God then gives Joshua even more encouragement. Joshua and his "companions", fellow servants, are to be a "wondrous sign," a signal of something ahead. God is using them and the work that they will complete to foreshadow another great "thing." He will bring forth, in time and space, His "Servant the Branch." This pregnant description was well known to Joshua and the other religious leaders. The "Branch" was, of course, the Messianic Son of David Who would come and complete the work that this temple Joshua was building was to be a "stone." Joshua is here told that this work means far more than just restoring worship to God's Old Covenant people. It was a building block in God's purpose of building a New Covenant people who would fulfill the promise this temple represented. How could Joshua not have thrilled in enthusiasm for the difficult job that lay ahead. It was truly God doing a "great thing."
In chapter 4 God speaks to the other partner in this great work, Zerubbabel. It was he, as Governor, who had to maintain order and provide the finances and organization for the work. He also must have been discouraged and who can blame him? If he failed then there were real world consequences that would descend on him from the Babylonian court. So, I imagine Zerubbabel was pulling out his hair. How could he make it happen. He was surrounded by a "great mountain" of difficulties (4:7) and God tells him, plain as day, that this mountain would become a "plain." What appeared astonishingly difficult to him would, when undertaken, to be not only possible but not as hard as he expected.
How was this to be understood? God tells him plainly. These difficulties will not be removed by (your) might or power, "but by My Spirit." All Zerubbabel had to do, as every minister of God discovers, is "show up." He had to place himself in the Lord's service, do the tasks immediately before him and discover, amazingly enough, that God would bring the fruit of success. Any good work, that is, a work that is undertaken for the glory of God and in accordance with His leading, will be conducted in the Lord's Spirit.
This is truly a great thing.
Much more can be said about these chapters but this will have to suffice. They serve to remind us that this life is hard and Satan is always there, seeking to discourage us, but the great truth is, that God is the one who not only saves but inspires and empowers us to our tasks. We just need to embrace that truth and rejoice in it.
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