When The Enemy Comes To Accuse You
And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan; yea, the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?—Zec 3:1-10. v.2 Text
As we look at our text the Israelites were engaged in rebuilding the Temple, but notwithstanding their own zeal and earnestness, and the apparent permission and encouragement of the Babylonian king, they found themselves making little progress. They were being continually defeated. The work halted in their hands. I can imagine the thoughts which may have troubled many at such an unexpected event.
In this book God gave the prophet Zechariah a series of eight visions and revelations on one special night. They were called “Zechariah’s Night Visions”. Each one of them had its own message but all of them together had one larger message, a larger message which supports the theme of the message of Zechariah’s book, which is the “return to God” message of 1:1-6. This vision is the fourth of those eight visions. We call it “Clean Garments for the High Priest” (NIV) or “New Clothes for Joshua”. The vision focuses on Joshua, who was a real person in Zechariah’s time; he was the priest who came back from the Exile to serve as high priest.
And as the vision starts, Joshua is on trial. The LORD (God) is there as judge. The angel of the Lord/LORD (whom I believe is the pre incarnate Jesus) is there as defender. And “satan” (“the accuser”) is there as prosecutor. And his job is fairly easy because Joshua is obviously guilty. His clothes (that is, his garments, his vestments, his high priestly robes) are dirty, filthy.
That dirt/filth represents his sins and the sins of the entire postexilic/remnant. (Joshua, as High Priest, is representing all the people). He represents the shame that they themselves are fully aware of at this time; they are aware/have become aware of what they have done.
He represents their guilt. And Satan is using/exploiting/picking at that sin, shame, and guilt. He’s making sure God sees it and he’s telling God what God ought to do about that. While we don’t actually hear what he says here; Zechariah doesn’t record that; but we can imagine it. We can imagine he is telling God, “Joshua and the people are not good. They are bad. They are defiled and damaged and you ought to get rid of them. You ought to break your relationship with them.”
Now there is some logic to that. That makes sense. That’s seems right. It is right by law according to the Word of the Lord. But that’s not what God does. That’s not what the angel of the LORD allows.
The angel of the LORD does something else. He says to whoever else is in the courtroom, whatever bailiffs or officials are there, “Take off his filthy clothes.” Joshua’s filthy clothes were what Satan was exploiting; that sin/shame/guilt was the basis of his accusations, so the angel of the LORD does away with them. He has the court officials take off those clothes, thus taking away his and the people’s sin/shame/guilt, and replaces them with new, clean clothes, new vestments.
The symbolism of that is clear. This is forgiveness; this is, “though your sins be as scarlet they shall be white as snow though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool” (Isaiah 1:18); this is “as far as the east is from the west so far hath he removed our transgressions from us” (Psalm 103:12). And Zechariah loves it. He understands what he is seeing here, as I said before, and he gets into it. He cries out, “Put a clean turban on his head.”, that is, complete the forgiveness process. And the court officials do that. They give Joshua these new, clean vestments and turban. And with that symbolic act, Joshua and the people are forgiven. They are cleansed. They are pardoned.
Isaiah 61:3 says that God gives us beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness;
that we might be called trees of righteousness, the planting of the LORD, that he might be glorified.
With that being said, the trial apparently ended. Satan apparently creeps away. His accusations, though right and logical and reasonable, are nullified by God’s forgiveness, so he has nothing left to say, no accusations left to make. But the vision doesn’t stop there, though.
The Lord Almighty says a few things to Joshua before it is all over.
He makes a prediction of prosperity. He makes a messianic prophecy (8-9; a very strange one). Most important to us today, though, is He makes Joshua a promise of reward.
He says, If you will walk in my ways and keep my requirements, then you will govern my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you a place among these standing here.
The rewards were promised on the condition of obedience (v. 7b).
If Joshua and the people walked in the ways of the LORD and respected God’s requirements, then they would receive what was promised.
Joshua would be given authority over God’s house.
The house and courts of the LORD referred to the temple and the people’s worship. If the High Priest was faithful in his duties, he would keep the special office the LORD had given him—that of leading the people in worship and obedience to the LORD. This was a privileged and honored position, but it required absolute faithfulness.
Joshua would live in God’s presence. If the priest kept the commandments of God, he would have a place among those standing there. Those standing there were angels who had direct access to the LORD and who lived in God’s presence. Angels received special missions from the LORD and special empowerment to fulfill these missions. Thus, if Joshua remained faithful to the LORD he would be strengthened to complete the great work of the LORD and to faithfully perform all the duties of his office.
This is the same thing as saying, “return to me”, which is the theme message of the book. But God says, “If you obey me in general principle; if you turn your heart to Me.” You won’t be condemned, you won’t go to Hell. As a matter of fact your relationship with me won’t ever be broken. Not only will you be forgiven, cleansed, pardoned. But you will be exalted. Because you have overcome, you have triumphed, you have won.
Now that’s a great vision. It is a vision with a great meaning. But that meaning isn’t limited only to Joshua and this remnant. It extends to us today. This vision is a messianic vision; there is a messianic (Jesus) element to it in verses 8-9, as we already said, and that element affects the whole. What happens here is what happens and only can happen under the reign of the Messiah Christ.
So we know it isn’t something that applies only to this people at this time. We know that it must apply to all people under the reign of the Messiah Christ at all times. And it does. It applies to us. And it is good that it applies to us because we need it to apply to us.
The angel of the LORD on that day made a great announcement: that God’s promised Messiah is coming (vv. 8-10). The LORD spoke directly to Joshua and made an astounding declaration that: he and the men seated before him were a sign of things to come.
These men—Joshua and his associate priests—had been given the vital job of representing the people to God, and of representing God to the people. In preparation for this ministry, they had been cleansed of sin and given new clothes—an illustration of being made righteous and receiving a new spirit and heart. In Je. 31:33 God said, This shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel; After those days, saith the LORD, I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and will be their God,
and they shall be my people.
This spiritual cleansing pointed to the promise of the coming Messiah, Jesus Christ. Christ would wash away the sins of all who trusted in Him and make them acceptable to God. In addition, those who trusted in Christ would be given His righteousness. Thus, Joshua and his associates represented not just Israel but the whole human race.
What a powerful passage! In these verses, we see a clear revelation of one of the greatest promises ever given to the human race the promise of salvation, the forgiveness of sins. When we trust Christ for our salvation, our sins are forgiven and we receive Christ’s own righteousness, as symbolized by Joshua’s new clothes. It is our faith, our trust in Christ, that is counted as righteousness even though we are still sinners. Just as significant in this formula is the important connection between faith and obedience. How many of you recall when Abraham believed God. He obeyed the LORD by leaving his homeland of Ur for a distant land he knew nothing about—precisely as God had commanded him (see He. 11:8). His act of obedience was evidence of Abraham’s real trust in the LORD. And when the LORD later promised Abraham an heir from his own body, even though the patriarch was far beyond the age of bearing children, Abraham again believed the LORD. It was this belief, this faith that Scripture says was counted as righteousness (Ge. 15:1-6; He. 11:17-19). Likewise, our faith is also proven by action—by what we actually do day in and day out. We must trust God’s promises and live by His Word each and every day. Our lives must be completely surrendered to Christ. We prove that we trust God when we seek His will for our lives and then courageously follow it no matter how daunting it may seem. Like Abraham, our obedience is a sure sign of real faith. And it is this kind of faith—a faith that trusts and obeys the LORD—that is credited to us as righteousness.
I don’t care how much the enemy makes his accusations……because of the Blood of Jesus……. You and I are forgiven ! And now we have a reason for living Jesus keeps giving and giving…. Giving til our hearts overflows. We are forgiven!
Just like Joshua and the remnant saints, we today are being accused by "satan”.
Accusing the people of God is his primary job; that’s what he does especially in the book of Job and in Revelation 12; that’s what Jesus said he wanted to do to Peter in Luke 22; it’s what his name literally means. And it is what he is doing to us today. The spiritual realms depicted in this vision really exist. satan is really entering into the heavenly realms to accuse us before God, to ask God to break relationship with us. But because you have been washed by the Blood of Jesus and are covered you don't need to be worried or
be affected by that; as a matter of fact you don't even need to be intimidated by that.
To some it might be intimidating to know that you are on the enemy’s list. Im here to tell you so was Jesus. Yes we may be on the devil's list but so what. Everyone who claims the name of Jesus Christ, who enters the family of God, is on his list. He is literally accusing us before God, and some of you are literally giving him plenty to accuse you of; like Joshua, your clothes are dirty; you are guilty; you've given him something to use against you. But God is not persuaded by these accusations; God has nullified these accusations. That’s the main idea behind this vision here, what God wanted the remnant to understand then and what He wants us to understand today; it is what He wants us to feel today, what He wants us to cling to today. He nullifies them by His grace made possible through the sacrificial death of Jesus Christ.
There is nothing wrong with saying , “I cancel every assignment and claim being made against me . I rebuke and dismantle every plan or any insight that the devil and his demons have against me. Let them be destroyed in Jesus name. I send confusion into the enemy’s camp right now. I send arrows dipped in the blood of Jesus Christ right now into the enemy’s camp. I burn down the banners and scrolls of any evil plot that they have against me and my family, the body of Christ and My ministry. I call the fire of God to fall upon the enemy’s camp and destroy every demonic altar that has my name on it, in Jesus name! I call upon the Holy Spirit right now to make me invisible in spirit realm, as well as the body of Christ, my family,
my ministry, and my loved ones, so that the devil and his
demons cannot find me.
Colossians 2:14,15 says that Jesus blotted out the handwriting of ordinances that was against us, which was contrary to us, Jesus took it out of the way, nailing it to his cross; And having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them openly, triumphing over them in it.
This is true. Since He doesn’t hold anything against us, He doesn’t let the enemy hold them against us, and He doesn’t want us holding them against ourselves. He freed us from these accusations; even though at one time they may have been true, Jesus freed us from them and He wants us to live free from them.
Closing:
There’s a hymn entitled “Before the Throne of God Above“
that says,
Before the throne of God above
I have a strong and perfect plea;
a great High Priest whose name is Love,
who ever lives and pleads for me.
My name is graven on his hands,
my name is written on his heart.
I know that while in heav'n he stands
no tongue can bid me thence depart,
no tongue can bid me thence depart.
When Satan tempts me to despair,
And tells me of the guilt within,
Upward I look, and see him there
Who made an end of all my sin.
Because a sinless Savior died,
My sinful soul is counted free;
For God, the Just, is satisfied
To look on Him and pardon me;
To look on Him and pardon me.
Behold him there, the risen Lamb,
my perfect, spotless righteousness,
the great unchangeable I AM,
the King of glory and of grace.
At one with him, I cannot die;
my soul is purchased by his blood.
My life is hid with Christ on high,
with Christ my Savior and my God,
with Christ my Savior and my God.
This is what Zechariah saw. It is what God did to/for Joshua and what He continues to do for us today.
It is what you ought to do/believe/think/feel/understand when Satan accuses you.
Look to Jesus, Rebuke the enemy and say satan the Lord rebuke you!
I am Gods property!
I was made in God's image
I am God's coin, and therefore I belong to God entirely.
I am who God says I am. I am the child of a great King. I have privileges of sonship with God. God approves me for greatness and I am becoming who He says I am. I am no longer living a life of mediocrity. I am staying focused on my God-given assignment so I can soar high like the eagles.
God says I am His choice out of a million others he chose me for a specific reason. God says I am chosen specifically for a purpose and He will fulfill that purpose in my life. God says I am greatly admired and His heart is full of compassion for me. God says I am unique, I am one of a kind and I cannot be compared to anybody else.
God says that I am worthy to be a part of His kingdom. God says that I am forgiven. God says I belong to Him and that I am worthy to be called His child. God says that I am part of His royal family and I carry a special anointing. God says that I belong to Him and I have a special place in His heart. God says that I am worthy of forgiveness and I am saved by His grace.
God says that I am gifted and I am talented. He calls me the light of the world and I bring the right energy into my world. He calls me the salt of the earth and I enhance the quality of lives around me.?He says I am the solution to the world’s problems and the world is waiting for me to manifest my glory. God says that I am appointed as a priest to nations and many will hear the good news of Christ through me. God says that I am anointed to perform wonders on earth. Through me the blind will see, the deaf will hear and the lame will walk, all to the glory of God.
God says I am the creation of His hands and He delights in me.?I am carefully crafted and creatively created. I carry the breath of the living God and it gives me life daily.?God says I am fearfully and wonderfully made.?God says I am worthy of forgiveness and I am forgiven?God says His mercy is upon me.
God says I am courageous. He has given me the courage of a soldier and the boldness of a lion.
He says I am His warrior on earth and He backs me to win every war.
God says He is my helper and He strengthens me.
He says He is my shield and He is for me at all times.
When He looks at me, He says I am perfect in His eyes.
Help me Holy Ghost
Even So Come Lord Jesus
Apostle Dr Charles C Jones D.D., PhD
