Building God's House # 8: The Pigpen Priest, Zechariah 3:1-10

Intro: Do we have any Charlie Brown fans in the house? Who is your favorite character? Charlie? Snoopy? Lucy? Linus? Peppermint Patty? What about Pigpen?

You remember Pigpen, the perpetually dirty character who carried with him the dirt and dust of countless ages. Who was he to disturb history, right? We’ve all known a few Pigpens, haven’t we? If we’re honest, we’ll admit that we’re all Pigpen.

Could you imagine Pigpen as a Priest of God? That’s what we’re going to see today, Joshua the High Priest- covered in filth because of his sins.

Zechariah 3:1-10, 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. 2 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?” 3 Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and was standing before the Angel.

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.” 5 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.

I won’t bury the lead. If you are a Christian, do you know that you are a priest unto God? 1 Peter 2:5-9, you also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house, a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.… 9 But you are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, His own special people, that you may proclaim the praises of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light

This doctrine is called the priesthood of the believer. Christ is our High Priest, that’s why we don’t need an earthly priest to gain us access to God. We get to God through Jesus, and through Jesus we become a kingdom of priests for God.

Let’s be honest. We’re filth magnets. Much like Pigpen, we attract the dirt & the grime of this present evil age because of our own internal evil desires. James 1:14-15, But each one is tempted when he is drawn away by his own desires and enticed. 15 Then, when desire has conceived, it gives birth to sin; and sin, when it is full-grown, brings forth death. In this state of realizing, even though we are saved that we are still sinners, that someone comes into our life to remind us of just how dirty we are.

1. WE STAND ACCUSED, VS. 1.

This is now Zechariah’s 4th vision. Imagine it like you would a courtroom scene. Zechariah sees Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of the Lord like a defendant would before a judge. Satan is on his right side to oppose him like a prosecuting attorney bringing a case. Joshua is standing there covered with filthy clothes, representing his sins and the sins of the people.

Oppose- be at enmity with, or be hostile towards, in the sense of bringing an accusation, or leveling a charge, against someone.

Satan- adversary, or opponent, in the sense of someone who brings opposition. The Hebrew word does not always refer to the devil, unless it has a definite article- THE Satan- the adversary, the devil.

We understand that we will have many adversaries, or opponents. There will always be someone against us, or contrary to us, whether they just don’t like us or like what we are doing. Here is our reminder that as a Christian “we do not wrestle against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this age, against spiritual hosts of wickedness in the heavenly places” (Eph 6:12). Our fight is really against the devil and his angels.

Jesus said that Satan was a murderer and a liar from the beginning (John 8:44). He is the thief who comes to steal, kill, and destroy (John 10:10). If the devil could kill you, he would, but God won’t let him.

E.g., Job- God let Satan take away his family, his wealth, & his health, but not his life. And that frustrates Satan to no end. Instead, 1 Peter 5:8, your adversary the devil walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. He can’t kill you, but he can oppose and accuse you. Revelation 12:10 calls him “the accuser of our brethren.”

Satan is our adversary who accuses us night and day before God but thank the Lord we have an advocate.

2. WE HAVE AN ADVOCATE, VSS. 2-5.

Notice that the Lord is the advocate. He is the one who rebukes Satan. He reminds him of who Joshua is- a brand plucked from the fire. A firebrand is a piece of burning wood, maybe a stick used to stir to a fire. It illustrates that God had graciously rescued Joshua and the rest of the remnant that had come from Babylon.

Filthy garments- describe Joshua’s clothing; disgustingly dirty, smeared with offensive matter, i.e., stained with excrement

The Lord tells those before him- angels or other priests, to take away Joshua’s filthy garments & clothe him with rich robes. Priests were to wear specially consecrated garments (Exodus 28)- breast piece, ephod, robe, a tunic, & a sash. The priest wore a turban, long strips of cloth wrapped around the head. On the front of the turban was a pure gold medallion, fastened to the turban by a cord of blue yarn. On the turban was engraved the words: HOLY TO THE LORD. Joshua gets a clean change of clothes and a clean turban. Vs. 5 says the Angel stood by. In vs. 1 it says He was before Joshua, now he is beside him!

It should not be hard for us to imagine that this is what Christ has done for us in salvation. By His blood, He removes our iniquity and our sin, taking those wretched garments off of us and replacing them with the white robes of His righteousness. But can we remain unstained from sin?

We are righteous because of the Lord but we still deal with remaining sin. Sin is in the world, and it rubs off on us. Sin is even within & it works its ugly way out of us, like sweat on gym clothes. It stains and it stinks.

Does a Christian have to sin? No, they are free from sin. In Christ, we are free from the penalty of sin, and free from the power of sin, but we are not quite free from the presence of sin. We still have a sin-nature warring against the Spirit nature, and sometimes we will sin. We don’t want to, we’re sorry when we do, but sometimes sin will win.

When sin wins, Satan mercilessly accuses, but Jesus is a merciful advocate for us-

1 John 2:1-2, My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.

Jesus died to save us from our sins, and to satisfy God’s demands because of sin, to make us right with Him. Christ’s sacrificial death is what we remember when we observe the Lord’s Supper.

LORD’S SUPPER: (deacons come forward) The elements are symbolic of Jesus’ body & blood. The bread is unleavened because leaven symbolizes sin. Jesus’ body had no sin, but all our sins were laid on His perfect body. His righteous blood flowed & washed our sins away. We believe this symbol is only meaningful for those who have already been saved & baptized by immersion. If that’s you, feel free to take it with us.

If you are lost, we pray this visible remembrance of the Lord’s death will convict you to trust Christ as your Savior. For those who are saved, the scripture says we should examine ourselves, so let’s have a brief moment of silence to confess our sins to God.

Ushers will pass out the elements. There are 2 cups stacked on top of each other, so be sure to get both. After everyone is served, we will have a prayer of blessing for the bread & cup, read Scripture, & take it.

PRAYER OF BLESSING FOR THE BREAD | Matthew 26:26-30, 26 And as they were eating, Jesus took bread, blessed and broke it, and gave it to the disciples and said, “Take, eat; this is My body.” - EAT THE BREAD

PRAY FOR THE CUP | 27 Then He took the cup, and gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, “Drink from it, all of you. 28 For this is My blood of the new covenant, which is shed for many for the remission of sins. –

DRINK THE CUP | 29 But I say to you, I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on until that day when I drink it new with you in My Father’s kingdom.” 30 And when they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives. We’re going to sing a song that illustrates what Christ has done for us- Thank You Jesus for the Blood Applied (3 min).

Transition: As the Lord’s priests, we stand accused by Satan, but Christ is our advocate- He cleanses us. After cleansing us, He admonishes us about how we live our lives.

3. We are ADMONISHED, vss. 6-10.

6 Then the Angel of the LORD admonished Joshua, saying, 7 “Thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘If you will walk in My ways, and if you will keep My command, then you shall also judge My house, and likewise have charge of My courts; I will give you places to walk Among these who stand here.

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. 9 For behold, the stone That I have laid before Joshua: Upon the stone are seven eyes. Behold, I will engrave its inscription,’ Says the LORD of hosts, ‘And I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. 10 In that day,’ says the LORD of hosts, ‘Everyone will invite his neighbor Under his vine and under his fig tree.’

This last section is hard to interpret and apply. It almost deserves its own sermon, but it is connected to the previous scene. After Joshua’s cleansing the Angel of the Lord admonishes him and says that he & his companions are a “wondrous sign” (v. 8). The phrase means a symbol, something that intentionally represents something else. In this case, Joshua & the other priests probably prefigure the future cleansing of the nation of Israel. Vs. 9 says the Lord will remove “the iniquity of the land in one day”. “One Day” language is usually atonement language, but it can also be Day of the Lord language. It could be a reference to Christ’s crucifixion or to His return, & I’m not ready to say which.

Here’s what I’m prepared to say- I made it plain at the beginning and I want to close it out the same way- Joshua the priest symbolizes Christians, the priesthood of the believer (saved, cleansed, & called).

As priests unto God there are at least 3 things we need to keep:

KEEP OURSELVES CLEAN- walk in His ways & keep His commands (6-7).

Titus 2:11-14, For the grace of God that brings salvation has appeared to all men, 12 teaching us that, denying ungodliness and worldly lusts, we should live soberly, righteously, and godly in the present age, 13 looking for the blessed hope and glorious appearing of our great God and Savior Jesus Christ, 14 who gave Himself for us, that He might redeem us from every lawless deed and purify for Himself His own special people, zealous for good works.

STAY CONNECTED TO CHRIST- the Servant, the Branch, the Stone (8-9). The future cleansing of Israel is linked to the One who would come to remove sin- that’s Jesus. Three Messianic Titles are given here- My Servant, The Branch, The Stone. As the Servant, Christ came to do the Father’s will. As the Branch, He fulfilled the Davidic Covenant. As the Stone, He is a stumbling stone and rock of offense but “whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame” (Romans 9:33).

John 15:3-4, 3 You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. 4 Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.

A CULTURE OF INVITATION- “that day” in vs. 10 probably refers to the peace that follows the return of Christ and restoration of the kingdom. Truly, people can experience the peace of God right now through the person & work of Jesus Christ. So, we invite people right now- be my guest, sit with me at church, receive Christ as Lord.

According to a Lifeway research poll, “82% of people would come to church if a friend invited them.” That means 4 out of every 5 people you invite to church will likely say yes.

Jesus exemplified a culture of invitation- to His disciples, He said Come and See, (John 1:39); to the hurting, Come to me and I will give you rest (Matthew 11:28); to would be followers, Come, take up the cross, and follow me (Mark 10:21). What is Jesus inviting you to do today?

Jesus may be calling you to receive Him. Receiving Christ is simple, but it is not easy. You must get Authentic before God & admit you are a sinner. You must Believe on Christ & trust in Him only to save you. You must Confess Christ as your Lord. Romans 10:9, If you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved.

The Lord may be calling you to baptism, church membership, or some kind of specialized service as one of His priests. If that’s you today, when the invitation begins why don’t you respond to the Lord’s invitation?