“Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before
the angel of the Lord, and Satan[a] standing at his right hand to accuse him. 2
And the Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, O Satan! The Lord who has
chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this a brand[b] plucked from the fire?” 3
Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with filthy garments. 4 And
the angel said to those who were standing before him, “Remove the filthy
garments from him.” And to him he said, “Behold, I have taken your iniquity
away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments.” 5 And I said, “Let
them put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head
and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the Lord was standing by.”
Zechariah had a vision of Joshua, the high priest, standing
in the presence of “The Angel of the Lord” with Satan at his right hand. Satan was there to accuse him of wrong
doing. The devil was there to throw
Joshua’s past in his face. This is an
example of Satan’s tireless efforts to discredit the people of God and hinder their
desire to worship Him.
In the man of God’s vision, Joshua is clothed in “filthy
garments” and the untiring accuser of God’s children was there to declare that
he was tainted that no acceptable sacrifice could be offered to the Lord for
his sin. Satan is always anxious to
suggest to the people that they might as well stop rebuilding and reinstituting
the worship of the Lord God because it’s too late and their sins have taken
them too far from God’s presence this time.
Satan’s effort to discredit Joshua were a failure, it says
that the Lord rebuked Satan, God told the devil to shut his mouth and “The
Angel of the Lord” removed the “filthy garments,” which were a symbol of sin,
and the Lord took away Joshua’s iniquity he and clothed him with “pure
vestments” and a “clean turban” was placed on his head.
There is much that we can appropriate for ourselves from
Zechariah’s vision as we too struggle with sin and Satan’s accusations on a
daily basis. Sin can still a blight on
our spiritual priesthood:
I Peter 2:9-12
“But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy
nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies
of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light. 10 Once you
were not a people, but now you are God's people; once you had not received
mercy, but now you have received mercy. 11 Beloved, I urge you as sojourners
and exiles to abstain from the passions of the flesh, which wage war against
your soul. 12 Keep your conduct among the Gentiles honorable, so that when they
speak against you as evildoers, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on
the day of visitation.”
I Peter 5:6-9
“Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God
so that at the proper time he may exalt you, 7 casting all your anxieties on
him, because he cares for you. 8 Be sober-minded; be watchful. Your adversary
the devil prowls around like a roaring lion, seeking someone to devour. 9
Resist him, firm in your faith, knowing that the same kinds of suffering are
being experienced by your brotherhood throughout the world.
Satan is still as persistent as ever to accuse and
discourage us in our every efforts to serve the Lord.
Satan is always there standing ready to accuse us, but the “Angel
of the Lord,” whom we know to be our Lord Jesus Christ, stands as our Advocate:
I John 2:1
“My little children, I am writing these things to you so
that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the
Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. 2 He is the propitiation for our sins, and
not for ours only but also for the sins of the whole world.”
Satan, the accuser is very real and we should take notice of
an important fact mentioned in the text: the purpose for Satan’s presence was
to accuse. We would be wise to consider
the admonition given to the believer by Peter and James:
“Be sober; be vigilant; because your adversary the devil
walks about like a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. Resist him
steadfast in the faith.”
"Resist the devil and he will flee from you."
The devil is a lie! He wants to keep us out of God’s
presence and he will try anything and everything to accomplish his goal. He
wants to get us to the point where we want to just throw our hands in the air
and surrender to defeat and step back from the Lord. But I come with a word of encouragement; don’t
do it stand strong, throw your hands in the air and begin to praise God instead.
Stand strong in the Lord and know that God will give you strength to endure. The Lord tells us that He won’t allow more to
come upon us than we can handle and Satan knows this, and he knows God’s
burdens are light so he will take the smallest things and place it them a
microscope to make your circumstances and burdens appear to be bigger and
heavier than what they actually are.
Since I started this blog, I’ve really been battling the
enemy. It seems as though once I told
the Lord yes, the enemy has been working overtime to stop me. He is constantly
reminding me of the failure of my past, and I have to say I don’t always
dismiss his reminders so easily. I left
the door wide open and Satan came in and stole from me what I should have been
vigilant to protect. He is always saying
things like, “No one cares what you have to say anymore, you’re sins have
tainted your ministry and silenced your voice.
A few years ago that may have been true, but now it is just
another attempt of the enemy to keep me out of God’s presence, another attempt
to silence the anointing that God has placed on my life through His Holy
Spirit. My pastor spoke a word over me
last Sunday, “God is going to restore what Satan had taken from you.”
By the grace and mercy of my Jesus I have my voice back, I
have the Holy Ghost’s presence and power back in my life, and I won’t let the
lies of the enemy keep me from my calling.
The devil is the one who should watch out because the wind has blown
into my life and the dry bones have been restored. I am a born again Holy Ghost filled child of
the Living God and a soldier in the Army of the Lord. No weapon formed against me can prosper and I’m
on a mission to kick in the gates of hell!
Who’s with me?
.
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