“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.”
” –Zechariah 3:1-5
Is this not one of the most beautiful Gospel texts in all the Bible?!
It is a courtroom scene, a judgment scene. There stands Joshua, obviously guilty in His filthy garments. The author of that filth the one who made Joshua filthy is also demanding justice. He, Satan, is the prosecuting attorney. Isn’t it ironic the one that authors our sin, leads us into sin, is in the end the one that will ultimately demand our lives. How quickly evil turns on itself.
I love how in this passage we don’t see Joshua, the one accused, the one guilty, the one needing to defend himself even speak a word; but he doesn’t need to! The Lord stands up and speaks on his behalf. The Lord tells Satan to be quiet. The Lord then commands the filth, the guilt be removed. And then the Lord speaks again and commands that new clothes, freedom, guiltless living be put on Joshua.
We make the Gospel very hard, but when we stand before the Lord He reads our hearts. He reads our sorrow. He knows our regret and our desire for things to be different. And because God looks on the heart He speaks over us forgiveness and newness of life.
I pray today no matter how guilty you are, that you will be willing to stand humbly before the Lord and let Him clean you and make you new through the blood of Jesus.
If you haven’t heard Harold Camping is predicting that the end of the world will take place May 21…that is tomorrow in case you were wondering. Maybe as you are reading this for some of you Down Under. I wanted to take a moment to share a few thoughts I had regarding this prediction.
Harold Camping’s prediction and the prediction of William Miller in 1844 should not be seen in the same light. William Miller came to the wrong conclusion but the process by which he got to that conclusion is still in existence today within Adventism and without. Camping uses numerology to get to his conclusion, William Miller used a Bible based exegetical process.
That said, my second thought is that while William Miller’s methodology was more sound his prediction was still wrong! His prediction was wrong, just like Theudas in 44 AD and probably John Denton’s will be in 2034 A.D.. (There have been 242 known apocalypse predictions since the life of Jesus). We should never get caught up in predictions! God will come when God will come. Our only hope for being prepared is to live each day completely committed to Jesus Christ as our Lord and Saviour!
As Adventists I hope we would not mock Harold Camping, we should remember that in our history many of our forefathers were once confused as well! I have heard many folk comment about how stupid and foolish people must be to believe such claims. Was our church founded by stupid fools, or people that were sincere, just sincerely deceived? I believe that rather than mocking the followers of Camping we should pray that just as God led our founders to discover greater truth as they went back to their Bibles following “The Great Disappointment”, that the folk following Camping will in their disappointment do the same and come to a greater understanding and appreciation for the Word of God!
My friend Kessia Reyne Bennett tweeted the following: “Seems like so many people are insisting that heaven isn’t coming on May 21st but we haven’t stopped to ask why we’re so glad that it’s not.” I believe this statement is very thought provoking. I can think of only one reason that we should rejoice that Heaven isn’t broaching our solar system: Because it means we have more time to reach more people for Jesus. If this is not the reason you are glad that Heaven is not here, than there should be an examination of our heart. In all of us I believe there should be tinge of sadness each day that this world and it’s sin continues on! Probably something we rarely think about, but this world is not our home…and every day I am away from my earthly home I spend a moment thinking about my wife and my boys and wishing I was with them. Do we do that in regards to our heavenly home?
I believe people need to be careful. I like sports, and I like some sports talk radio. One of my favorites is Colin Cowherd. Well today I was very disappointed, Cowherd labeled his email inbox: the Judgement Day inbox. He was mocking what Camping was saying was going to take place. In the process of mocking Camping, which I don’t believe is right either, but they were truly mocking God. I think folk need to be careful, just because May 21st, 2011 may not be the day of judgement, a judgement day will come and folk will have to give an account of the words they spoke and did not speak, and the deeds they did and did not do.
These are some of my thoughts on this Sabbath evening. I look forward to worshiping our Lord tomorrow and I live with the knowledge of the truth, though I do not know the day or the hour “He who is coming will come and will not delay.” –Hebrews 10:37