From Rags to Robes of Righteousness
Look at that picture, what do you see?
Did you come to Jesus as bankrupt as this man did? Oh, he wasn’t penniless, the man depicted in this picture was a spiritual leader in Israel – the high priest Joshua in the days of the prophet Zechariah. His bankruptcy was not financial it was spiritual and the rags he wore represented the loathsomeness of the sins of Israel (and his own) in God’s sight – he was performing his priestly ministry, praying for the sins of the people and his own.
But I want you to look again.
What you don’t see is Satan, the accuser of the brethren, standing beside this man ready to oppose him – ready to protest any grace which may be afforded on behalf of the man or the people by God and to mercilessly accuse him before the Lord. You don’t see him but he’s there.
Before I go further, let’s look for a minute at where in the Bible this “picture” can be found (Zechariah 3:1-5 NKJV):
“Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to oppose him. And the Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?” Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and was standing before the Angel. 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.” And I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head, and they put the clothes on him. And the Angel of the Lord stood by.”
In the passage, “The Angel of the Lord” stood before Joshua and rebuked the accuser but note what He did not do – He did not condemn Joshua, instead He pronounced over him the grace of God which Satan hates.
In the picture, you may have noticed that the Angel of the Lord is depicted to look much like we have imagined the Son of God – the Lord Jesus Christ looks like. The reason for this is simply that in the Old Testament, every reference to and appearance of “THE Angel of the Lord” is a reference to the preincarnate Christ. Remember that Jesus always was, always is and always will be (see Revelation 1:8); Jesus has no beginning or end, He was present at creation (see John 1:1-4, 9-10,12-14) and at various times in the OT (see Dan 3:24-25). He appeared before Hagar (the handmaiden of Sarah and the mother of Ishmael) in Genesis 16:7-11; before Abraham as he prepared to offer Issac as a sacrifice as God commanded (see Genesis 22:11-19) and before Moses at the burning bush (see Exodus 3:2); these are a few of the numerous Old Testament appearances of the Lord Jesus as THE Angel of the Lord.
Returning to the picture, Jesus (aka THE Angel of the Lord) is depicted to be covering the man’s filthy rags with what appears to be a scarlet robe. In the fourth verse of the passage we read, “See, I have removed your iniquity from you, and I will cloth you with rich robes.” All of us come to Jesus in the same way – dead in trespasses and sins (Ephesians 2:1) and, spiritually speaking, wearing the “filthy rags” of unrighteousness (Isaiah 64:6) but the Lord covers us as He did the man in the picture – in garments of salvation and the robe of His righteousness (see Isaiah 61:10).
You see, when I look at this picture I also see me – do you see you?
This picture is a powerful illustration of each of our lives the day we met Jesus. Now I may be projecting myself onto Joshua at this point but can you hear the man saying through his tears, “Me Lord?! Who am I that you should do this for me?” Can you see the humility of this man and the profound gaze of Him who is not afraid to make sinners His friends? His gaze is not to say “This robe is expensive, it cost Me My life – don’t mess it up!” but to say, “I am giving this to you because you need it and I love you.”
The grace of the Lord is costly! His righteousness is priceless, but the Lord will so clothe you if you will but turn to Him in faith.
To hear more on the subject of grace and Christ-likeness, click the link https://www.thetextmessages.org/sermons/striving-for-christ-likeness-pt-8/
Sent
As a general rule, I don’t like to get my hands dirty but that doesn’t mean I avoid getting them dirty.
For example, I love chicken wings and ribs but I hate having the buffalo and barbecue sauce all over my hands; does that stop me from eating wings and ribs – no way! There are also times when I need to work on my lawnmower or SUV but I hate getting my hands filthy from the work. In those times, there is the additional apprehension of not being fully sure as to HOW to fix what’s broken and sometimes that uneasiness will cause me to stall for a little while but because I need to get them fixed, eventually, I jump in, get my hands dirty and give it my best shot.
The reason I mention a few of my quirks to you is not to give you a better understanding of who I am but of who we are; you see, sometimes we as Christians attempt to avoid getting our hands dirty when it comes to reaching the world around us for Jesus.
In a recent Barna research survey on the subject, polls indicated that because of peer pressure, Millennials in general believe that it is wrong to share their faith with those who believe something else. Be that as it may, it has been my experience that MOST believers – Elders, Boomers, Millennials and Gen X-ers are reluctant to share their faith no matter how important they believe sharing it is. Based on that observation, let me ask you what Paul asked his Roman audience in [Romans 10 :14-15]:
“How then shall they call on Him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in Him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher? And how shall they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the gospel of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!””
The fact IS that every believer has been sent on mission to seek and save that which IS lost. Jesus said in [John 20:21]:
“Peace to you! As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.”
On the day of His resurrection, as the sun was going down and He appeared to His disciples (see John 20:19-23), their part in the ongoing redemptive mission of His Father was the only thing on the Lord’s mind.
The men were afraid when they saw Him so He declared peace to them and showed them the wounds that made perfect peace with God possible – wounds which the living Lord bore to prove His power over death. Those wounds, and His words, coupled with the great joy of His followers at the Lord’s appearing would make the formerly fearful followers of Christ some of the most courageous witnesses for the Lord that the world has ever known.
In the New Testament, on at least four occasions Jesus or someone speaking about Him made a do as I did statement to believers: In [John 13:34] the Lord Jesus told us to love others in the same way that He has loved us. In (John 13:15) after washing the apostles feet, the Lord instructed believers beginning with those disciples, to serve others as He has served us. In (Colossians 3:13) we are instructed to forgive others as the Lord Jesus Christ as forgiven us (Jesus said as much in Matthew 6:14-15); and in (John 20:21) as we just read above, Jesus sends His followers both in that day and in our own, in the same way and for the same purpose as He was sent by God.
In what ways are the ways that God sent His Son similar to the way His Son is sending us?
Donald McLeod suggested some similarities in his book titled, A Faith to Live By: Understanding Christian Doctrine; there he wrote:
“[Jesus] did not, as incarnate, live a life of detachment – He lived a life of involvement. He lived where he could see human sin, hear human swearing (cursing) and blasphemy, see human diseases and observe human mortality, poverty and squalor. His mission was fully incarnational (and intentional) because He taught men by coming alongside them, becoming one of them and sharing in their environment and their problems.”
Jesus was NOT afraid to get His hands dirty. His mission was to become like us, to live among us and to be involved with us ultimately dying for us so that those who would believe could find forgiveness from and be reconciled to God and so that those who believed on His name would live forever in the presence of God.
To be sent by Him as He Himself was sent is to be as involved in the lives of those around us as He was and is in ours.
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