In Heaven's Courts, Which Side Are You On?

Zech 3:1-5

Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him. 

 

The Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, Satan! The Lord, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?” 

 

Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel.  The angel said to those who were standing before him, “Take off his filthy clothes.”

 

Then he said to Joshua, “See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put fine garments on you.”

 

Then I said, “Put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him, while the angel of the Lord stood by.

The setting is one of a courtroom.

The prosecuting attorney,  Satan, in all his snide arrogance, points his crooked finger at Joshua and declares him, "GUILTY"!! 

And he is correct.

Joshua stands there, silent, alone in his guilt and shame...symbolic of each and every one of us....clothed in filthy garments.  I'm told the original Hebrew is more accurately transcribed as "excrement bespattered clothing".  It is a picture of guilt and shame as ugly as it comes.

How often has the shame and guilt overwhelmed you?  Is it gnawing at you even now, like a starving dog gnaws on a meatless bone?  Do you feel the despair?  Do you sense the hopeless situation you are in?  Do you feel utterly alone?

Well, my friend...you are NOT alone!   Jesus is there and it is He who stands in that courtroom with you, as your Defense Attorney, crying "OBJECTION!!!"

"Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?  Is this not one of mine, for whom I shed my blood...whom I have called?"  I have chosen this one!!

God chooses you!!  He will perpetually choose YOU!!

Not only does He choose you, but he removes those filthy robes and clothes you in clean garments.

Did you notice that Zechariah is so excited at this act of grace and mercy that he steps into his own vision and calls for a clean turban to be put on Joshua's head?  

How often have we, the courtroom audience, taken the side of the prosecution?  We find our brother or sister caught in sin, and we click our tongues and shake our heads.  "How could they?" we mutter under our lips.  "I knew there was something wrong with that guy."  "Could have told you that was coming."   And once again, we kick our fallen brother to the curb.  We might as well hire ourselves out to the prosecution.

We need to get onboard with God's plan and stop shooting our wounded.  We need to be like Zechariah...caught up in the exciting grace and mercy of God....and shout out, "Put a clean turban on his head also!"

The end of this courtroom drama is, as God had planned from before the foundation of the world...the redemption of Jerusalem...the bride of Christ...plucked from the fires reserved for Satan and his ilk.  The question is....are we working with God in this plan?  Are we helping to pull them out of the fire?  Or, are we, along with the demons, throwing lit matches in a barrel of gasoline?

Which side of the courtroom are you on?  Its not to late to cross the aisle.  You, too, can know the glory and joy of His grace.

God bless you....CHOSEN ONE!!