[0:00] Now in this third chapter of the prophecy of Zechariah, we have the prophecy itself, the book itself is divided up into various visions. This is the fourth vision that is recorded here in the book.
[0:13] The first such vision began in chapter 1 from verse 7. The second one, still in chapter 1 from verse 18, again another vision.
[0:24] In chapter 2 you've got the third vision and now in chapter 3 this fourth vision. He showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord and Satan standing in his right hand to resist him.
[0:38] Now we think, okay, here's Satan about to accuse the Lord's priest, but does that mean that he's a bad priest? Does that mean that he is then, you know, one of those who has betrayed the Lord? And we see from elsewhere in scripture that no, that isn't the case.
[0:52] If you turn back a page or two pages, depending on how your Bible is worked, and you'll find that this Joshua, the son of Josedach, is the high priest. At the same time, Zerubbabel, the son of Sheolteal, is the sort of civic governor.
[1:08] And Haggai the prophet is likewise prophesying to the Israelites as they come back from exile, that it is time for them to rebuild the house of the Lord. And we read in verse 12 of Haggai chapter 1, And then Zerubbabel, the son of Sheolteal, and Joshua, the son of Josedach, the high priest, with all the remnant of the people, obeyed the voice of the Lord their God, and the words of Haggai the prophet, as the Lord their God had sent them, and the people did fear before the Lord.
[1:35] And so the Lord stirred up the spirit of Zerubbabel, the son of Sheolteal, governor of Judah, and the spirit of Joshua, the son of Josedach, the high priest, and the spirit of all the remnant of the people, and they came and did work in the house of the Lord of hosts, their God.
[1:50] So Joshua is the spiritual leader of the people, while Zerubbabel is the civic governor, and Haggai is the prophet of the time. Zechariah then is clearly a contemporary of Haggai, which means that in terms of the Israelites, in terms of those who are faithful and those who have fallen away, Joshua is one of the goodies, you could say, as opposed to the baddies.
[2:12] He's there not because the Lord is ready to condemn him, but because Satan is trying to accuse him. Why is Satan trying to do this? Because this is what he does.
[2:23] He seeks to condemn, to accuse the Lord's people constantly. So we find, you know, in Revelation, when he's finally overthrown, I heard a voice, in Revelation 12 verse 10, I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, Now is come salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ, for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night.
[2:51] Now, it's not that Satan doesn't have anything to go on for us, because he can accuse any one of us, including Joshua the high priest or any of us in our ordinary walks of life, and say, look, you're guilty of this and this and this and this.
[3:06] Look at this lie you told. Look at this bit of deception you did. Look at these filthy thoughts you may have had. Look at this little bit of petty thievery that you did, and you told yourself it was okay and it didn't really matter.
[3:16] And all these things he can point to and accuse us, and it would be true, because all of us are guilty to a greater or lesser extent before God. But Joshua is not here standing simply for his own sake.
[3:32] He is here in his capacity as high priest, and he is standing before the angel of the Lord, as it were, the Lord's tribunal, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.
[3:44] Now, in the olden days in ancient Israel, when somebody was before the judges, then the accuser of it, the prosecutor would be at the right hand of the accused.
[3:54] It might be some dubiety here as to whether he's standing at the right hand of the angel or the right hand of Joshua the high priest. But we can see in Psalm 109, at verse 6, where it says, Set thou a wicked man over him, and let Satan stand at his right hand.
[4:12] In other words, to be his accuser. Now, if he's at the right hand of the accused, that pretty much settles it. And this would tie in with what we would understand, because if he's on the right hand of the person accused, it means that as the judge is facing the court, then the accuser is on the left, and the person defending the party, who's innocent until proved guilty, is on the right of the judge.
[4:39] And this would tie in again with how we perceive the Lord appearing to his people. Because if you think of when John the Baptist died, another Zechariah, Zechariah's in the New Testament, when he was in the temple of the Lord and offering up the incense, the angel of the Lord appeared to him, where?
[4:57] Appeared on the right side of the altar, the right side of the symbolic presence of God. It would have been in Zechariah's left hand, as opposed to where his accuser would appear, it would be in his left hand to speak these words of comfort to him, that he was going to be the father of the boy that proved to be John the Baptist.
[5:18] But here is Satan standing at the right hand of Joshua the high priest, to accuse him. And the Lord said unto Satan, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan, even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee.
[5:31] Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire? So although Satan may be making truthful accusations against Joshua, he's not just picking on Joshua as an individual.
[5:45] Joshua is here as the representative of the Lord's people of Israel, the returning exiles, the people of the Jews. He is the representative as their high priest.
[5:59] He is literally, in this vision, standing before God. And that is what the priest was meant to do. He was meant to go in and stand before God on behalf of the people.
[6:11] And to have something to offer up, whether it was blood on the day of atonement, on the sacrifices or whatever, he would offer on behalf of the people. He stood in for them before God and before the judgment seat, before the mercy seat, the throne of grace.
[6:28] And he represented the people. That's what he's doing here. He is representing the people as their priest. And it is as the representative of the Lord's people that he is being accused, that he is being resisted by Satan.
[6:46] But the Lord, who hears all the accusations of Satan, replies, The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan. And I might think, well, that's not a very strong truth there, is it?
[6:58] You know, it's not exactly tearing him into shreds and destroying his case. He's just saying, The Lord rebuke thee. This is the kind of restrained language that we find the Lord uses.
[7:09] Because he has such power, he doesn't need to rant and rave and shout, which, if you think about it, is what we do when we feel powerless.
[7:20] We throw into a rage because we're frustrated and because things haven't gone as we want or really angry with somebody or something that we feel we can't do anything about. But if we know we have complete, total control of the situation, you can speak softly and you can just speak potently.
[7:39] And though you don't have to get angry, don't have to raise your voice because complete power is in your little finger. And this is what we read in Jude 9, for example.
[7:50] Michael the archangel, when contending with the devil, he disputed about the body of Moses. Dursh not bring against him a railing accusation but said, the Lord rebuke thee.
[8:01] And we find here that what the Lord says to Satan on behalf of Joshua the high priest and by implication on behalf of his people based in Jerusalem, is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?
[8:15] And again, going back to Jude, verse 23, others save with fear, pulling them out of the fire, hating even the garment spotted by the flesh.
[8:26] Now, if there are a brand plucked out of the fire, then something that is in the fire is already going to be a bit burnt. It's already going to have taste, as it were, the heat and the pain and the difficulty of the fire.
[8:41] And if it's being pulled out, it's not going to be completely consumed, but it will have felt the heat. It will have been singed. It will have been barely saved as a brand plucked from the burning, which the Lord says, you know, Jerusalem, they may have been burnt and they may have been chastised, but they're not going to be destroyed.
[8:58] I'm plucking them out of the burning. And it's like what Peter says, 1 Peter 4, you know, he says, for the time has come that judgment must begin at the house of God.
[9:09] And if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God? And if the righteous scarcely be saved, where shall the ungodly and the sinner appear?
[9:21] Now it doesn't mean that, oh, where salvation's touch and go, you may not be saved, you may or you may not be, as though somehow what Christ has done is not adequate. What Christ has done is perfect.
[9:33] It is completely satisfying the justice of his divine father, the divine judge. But the judge of all the earth requires payment in full for the sins of every one of his people.
[9:49] For the nation of Israel near the Old Testament, for his church, the Lord's people, every one of them who is genuinely saved, it's their sins that Christ has paid for in full.
[9:59] But it takes every last drop of blood. It takes all that Christ has to offer. It takes the sacrifice of the divine Son of God upon the cross.
[10:14] The cost is huge. It is massive. And therefore, every single soul that is saved, it's not that they're only just saved because somehow there's inadequacy in Christ.
[10:27] It's just that they are paid and saved exactly. There's not a penny to spare for the payment of this bill. There's not a drop left over.
[10:37] For it is perfect in all that is done. But every last ounce of sacrifice that is made is needed. Therefore, if the righteous scarcely be saved, as Peter says, if a brand plucked from the burning, it's only just that they are saved.
[10:56] Nobody who doesn't have Christ is going to stand a chance. You can't just multiply false religions to you and say, we're covering all our bases. Covering them with what?
[11:07] Covering them with that which is going to do you no good. The Lord rebuked thee, O Satan. Even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuked thee. Is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?
[11:20] Now, the basis for the Lord's mercy on his people is that he has chosen them. It is his divine will. I hear the evidence. I see what you're saying.
[11:33] I even accept the truth of what Satan's accusations are. But he is rebuked and overruled because the Lord has chosen Jerusalem. He has chosen to save those who are his people.
[11:47] It doesn't mean that he will turn a blind eye to their sins or a deaf ear to the accusations. The price must be paid in full. But the price will be paid. Has been paid.
[11:58] The lamb slain from the foundation of the earth. It is paid. Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and stood before the angel.
[12:10] What are the filthy garments? Well, the filthy garments, we could say all our sins, yes, but it's more than that. You know, Isaiah 64 tells us, remember verse 6, we are all as an unclean thing and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.
[12:29] And we all do fade as a leaf and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away. You know, the best works that we have are like filthy rags.
[12:39] You know, you could even say that it's not just the sins of Jerusalem or the sins of the people of Israel that Joshua's there clothing, representing them, clothing that sinful filthiness.
[12:52] But their best works, all their so-called righteousnesses of their own, they are as filthy rags. And it's the same with us. If we are outside of Christ, then all our best works are, as St. Augustine put it, you know, in the 3rd century or the 4th century, they are but splendid sins.
[13:12] They look good to the world, but they're still just sins in the eyes of God. As the example I keep on using, if you are underwater, everything you do will be wet.
[13:23] And if you are in a state of unbelief, everything you do will be sinful. If you're going to get dry, if your works are going to not be wet anymore, you have to come out of the water and get dried by the warmth of the sun.
[13:38] If you're underwater, everything you do will be wet. If you're under judgment, if you're in a state of sin, everything you do will be sinful. It will be tainted by sin.
[13:50] Joshua was clothed with filthy garments. Not just the overt sins and transgressions of Jerusalem, of the Lord's people, but it shows in Jerusalem, you know, chapter 1, verse 17, the Lord shall yet comfort Zion.
[14:05] He shall yet choose Jerusalem. And this is what he's doing. The Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem, rebuked thee, but the filthy garments are still there. All their best works.
[14:16] All their own righteousnesses. Filthy garments. No use to anyone. Good for nothing, but to be stripped away. And he answered and spake to those that stood before him, take away the filthy garments from them.
[14:31] And he said unto him, Behold, I have caused an iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of rivet. Now, just as it says in verse 9, if you look ahead to verse 9, it says, I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.
[14:50] This means that the garments represent the iniquity, the best works, the righteousnesses, and the overt sins. All of it is in a state of sin until and unless the Lord redeems and cleanses his people.
[15:04] I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee. The taking away of the filthy garments symbolizes the removal of the iniquity. Verse 9, I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.
[15:18] And he said, I said, let them set a fair miter upon his head. Now notice what's happening here. It's not now the angel that is saying this. It's not the Lord that's saying, set the fair miter upon his head.
[15:29] This is like the sort of crown or turban that the high priest would have worn. He's already got clean garments. But now the prophet in his vision is saying, crown him with the high priest's crown.
[15:43] And it's him that's saying, I said, let them set a fair miter upon his head. It's not the Lord said, not the angel said. So you have the prophet in his vision asking this of the Lord.
[15:54] And yet they do it. So they set a fair miter upon his head. Does the prophet suddenly have power with God? Well, any believer, any child of God who asks according to God's will will always receive what they ask for.
[16:11] This is what John says. If we ask anything according to his will, we know that we have our petitions. We know that we have the thing we ask for. Now, Jeconiah has already seen the high priest having his filthy garments taken away, stripped of them all, presumably is that some kind of wash or whatever, and then he gets his clean garments put on and says, oh great, yes, now set the miter upon his head.
[16:36] Now set the high priest's crowning bonnet upon his head. He is asking for that which he sees is in line with the Lord's will. It's always, always acceptable with God to ask for that which is in line with his will.
[16:53] We think, well, how can we know what's in line with his will? Well, we'll know, firstly, as we go back to his word, what does his word teach? Are we asking something in line with his word?
[17:03] Say, well, yes we are, but we don't know if that's God's will for this person's life or my life or somebody else's life. So, you can ask in faith still. If it is not the Lord's will, you know, fine, you won't do it.
[17:16] He'll give you something better or something else that if you ask in line with his will, it is his delight to give what you ask. I said, let them set a fair miter upon his head.
[17:29] It is a request. So, they set a fair miter upon his head and clothed him with garments and the angel of the Lord stood by. He witnessed, he saw, he oversaw all this re-clothing of the symbolic individual representing the Lord's people taking away their filthiness, clothing them in these perfect righteous garments.
[17:54] And the angel of the Lord protested unto Joshua. Now this word protested makes us feel as if, you know, you're declaring something, giving them a round for something or pointing out something that's wrong, protesting against something.
[18:06] It's not really that, in that sense. It's more in the sense of solemnly charged him. It's like laying a solemn charge. It's like, you know, when ministers or elves are ordained, you know, they get the solemn questions put to them and they respond and what we commonly describe as the vows that they take.
[18:25] The angel of the Lord protested unto Joshua. He solemnly charged him. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, if thou wilt walk in my ways and if thou wilt keep my charge, then thou shalt also judge my house and shalt also keep my courts.
[18:40] And I will give thee places to walk among these that stand by. Now, first of all, there's an if there. And we think, you know, oh, if, so it's conditional.
[18:52] It's not so much a conditional if, but it's rather like, like Jacob's if with the Lord, you know, at Bethlehem. He says, if the Lord will go before me and give me fruit to eat and raiment to prong, then he shall be my God and I'll serve him with everything I have and a tithe of all that I have, I'll give to him directly.
[19:11] It's more of a, it's more of not an if in the sense of conditional. It's since the Lord has done this, seeing as how the Lord has done this. So if thou wilt walk in my ways, because now you're able to walk in my ways, because your filthiness has been taken away, because you've been clothed in righteousness, this is the direction the Lord gives.
[19:36] It's like the person being come up out of the water. You're not soaking wet anymore. You're dried off. You've got dry clothes, clean clothes. Now you've got the opportunity to do what you do out in the sunshine, to do it dry instead of underwater.
[19:51] So it won't always be in a state of sin. And now that you have this fresh start, this new beginning, if thou wilt walk in my ways, as you are directed to walk in my ways, thou wilt keep my charge, then thou shalt also judge my house, and shalt also keep my courts, and I will give thee places to walk among these that stand by.
[20:13] In other words, now that you're clean, you can do the thing for which as priest you were designed to do. You can fulfill the task to which Joshua you were called.
[20:26] And when we are redeemed by Christ, whether we are priests or ordinary people doing ordinary jobs in our daily employments, each of us requires to be redeemed by Christ.
[20:39] Each of us requires to have our filthy rags, our own false righteousness stripped away. We need to be clothed in his righteousness, his perfect pure garments, brought up out of the state of sin, put on the dry ground, as it were, and then said, right, if now you'll serve the Lord, if you'll walk in my ways and keep my charge, then you'll be able to be and to do all that you were called to and designed for.
[21:07] In the case of Joshua, the high priest, he says, you'll judge my house, keep my courts, I'll give thee places to walk among these that stood by. So if someone was a joiner or a bricklayer or a nurse or whatever that particular task may be, then be able to say, right, if you'll follow me faithfully, I'll enable you to do all that you do to do it as unto the Lord, to be the most faithful, successful bricklayer that you could ever be, to be the most diligent, faithful nurse you could ever be, to be the most faithful, diligent joiner you could ever be.
[21:44] I'll make the wood prosper under your hand, I'll make the stone rise before you as you build. I'll make everything as it was designed to be because you are called to be so much more than you are in this world if you're in it without Christ.
[22:01] We only become the men, the women, the fullness of this human race that we were called to be once we are in Christ, clothed in his righteousness.
[22:12] If thou wilt walk in my ways and if thou wilt keep my charge, then thou shalt also judge my house, shalt keep my courts. Now when he says, I will give thee places to walk among these that stand by, what's he referring to?
[22:28] Well, who is standing by just now? Well, we see it in the end of verse 5. The angel of the Lord stood by and he says to those that stood before him, verse 4, take away the filthy garments from him.
[22:40] In other words, it's the angels of the Lord who are standing by. He says, I'll give thee places to walk amongst, among the angels of God. Well, that is what we are called to do.
[22:51] If we are called to be in Christ and in the fullness of time, we won't just continue on this earth. We will walk where the angels walk. The angels of God walk. And not only that, but the angels of God.
[23:03] Angel means messenger. That's the literal meaning of the term in the Hebrew and in the Greek. It means messenger of God. We turn a couple of pages and we turn on to Malachi and we see in the last book of the Bible there in chapter 2 and verse 7, we read, For the priest's lips should keep knowledge and they should seek the law in his mouth for he is the messenger of the Lord of hosts.
[23:31] And the word messenger is literally the word angel. It's the one who delivers the message. I will give thee places to walk amongst these that stand by, amongst the angels, amongst the messengers of God.
[23:45] In chapter 3 of Malachi, Behold, I will send my messenger and he shall prepare the way before me and the Lord whom ye seek shall suddenly come to his temple and so on.
[23:56] Even the messenger of the covenant. And of course, the word messenger is translated messenger. In English, it can interchangeably mean angel. This, chapter 3 in Malachi, verse 1, we know to be a prophecy of John the Baptist.
[24:10] I send my messenger before my place to prepare the way before me and the Lord will come to his temple, even the messenger of the covenant or angel of the covenant because the Lord, Jesus Christ, is sometimes described as the angel that went before the people in the wilderness.
[24:26] So I enable you to walk among these that stand by, to walk among the angels, to take on part of their task, to proclaim the message that the Lord desires to bring.
[24:41] Now, we declare God's message to forgiveness of sin, a transformation of lives, not simply with our lips because it's one thing to say it. You know, if I were to say, oh, the team I support is the best team in the country, I'd say, well, yeah, yeah, you would say that because you're one of their fans.
[25:01] But if I was able to say, the team I support is the best in the country, look, they've won this, they've won that, they've won the next thing, they've won, look at all the trophies, they'd have to say, well, yeah, okay, fair enough, at the moment they probably are the best team in the country.
[25:13] But if you didn't have the evidence to back it up, it would just be your partisan and say, and if I'm able to say, well, Christ said he redeems and he changes people and say, well, okay, that's your opinion, fine, you're entitled to it.
[25:29] But the greatest witness and message to give out is the evidence of our changed lives, that people see a difference in us, that we don't walk as others walk.
[25:41] We walk as it were amongst the angels. Our lives are changed, our priorities are changed. We're not just serving ourselves, we're serving Christ. We're not just saying, what will suit me best, what will fit in with my own particular desires or my own particular timetable or my own particular wish.
[25:59] What does God command in his word? How can I conform my life more and more to what the Lord desires? This is such a high priest who will represent his people, such a high priest who will stand in for them.
[26:16] Now, Joshua, of course, is an Old Testament figure, and of course, he has the same name, Joshua, meaning Jehovah is salvation, is the same name in Hebrew, as most of you I'm sure will know, as the name Jesus is in the Greek.
[26:31] And here we have, as it were, an Old Testament Jesus, pointing away to the New Testament fulfillment, the true, ultimate Jesus. Hebrews 7, we read verse 26, for such a high priest who is holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners and made higher than the heavens, who needeth not daily as those priests to offer up sacrifice, first for his own sins and then for the people's.
[26:58] For this he did once when he offered up himself. Chapter 8, verse 1, Now the things which we have spoken, this is the sum, we have such a high priest who is set on the right hand of the throne of the majesty in heaven, a minister of the sanctuary and of the true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man.
[27:19] For every high priest that ordained to offer gifts and sacrifices, wherefore it is a necessity that this man have somewhat also to offer. What did Christ offer?
[27:30] He offered up himself the perfect sacrifice once and for all. And because of what Christ has done, not only does he rule and reign and walk where the angels of God are, but he invites his people likewise to do so.
[27:47] To not only have that as the ultimate destination, but to be amongst the messengers of God, literally angels, those who bear the message of God and that message will be yes, partly with our lips and we ought to testify to the Lord when we have the opportunity and we can and we're asked for a reason for the hope that is in us, but it will be our lives that will speak most clearly to others the priorities that we give to the Lord or not in our lives.
[28:19] Hear now, O Joshua, the high priest, that O my fellows that sit before thee. For there men wonder that. For behold, I will bring forth my servant, the branch. In other words, Joshua, you're a high priest, you may be faithful just now, but there's more to come.
[28:35] There's better to come. A branch, of course, it's part and parcel of a tree. You can't say, well, the tree ends there and the branch begins there. You can see where a branch comes off, but it's part of the tree.
[28:46] It's the same wood. It's the same body. And so likewise, the branch, the Messiah, is part of God himself. God the Son.
[28:57] But he's called a servant. Well, that's what the Lord does. He calls, you know, the Messiah his servant. Isaiah 42, Behold my servant whom I uphold, my elect in whom my soul belighted.
[29:07] Chapter 52, verse 13, Behold my servant shall yield provably. He shall be exalted and extolled and be very high. Chapter 53, verse 11, He shall see of the travail of the soul and shall be satisfied.
[29:21] By his knowledge shall my righteous servant justify many, for he shall bear their iniquities. There's nobody that's talking about except Christ. And likewise, Christ being the branch, the servant, is the one who is to come, who will truly redeem the Lord's people.
[29:39] Joshua the high priest is what the old-fashioned commentators call it, anti-type. It doesn't mean against the type, but rather a sign going beforehand. As they used to have the term anti-natal, meaning before birth, when expected mothers would go into hospital to get an anti-natal check.
[29:56] It means before birth. And then there's post-natal, after birth. So this is the anti-type. Before Christ comes, he is the one who precedes of one of those a sign that points forward to Christ.
[30:10] But the branch who comes, the true servant who comes, will fulfill all that is promised. For behold, the stone that I have laid before Joshua.
[30:20] Upon one stone shall be seven eyes. You think, well, what are the seven eyes? That's a bit kind of strange, a bit creepy looking. I will engrave the graven thereof, say the Lord of hosts.
[30:31] I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. Now, eyes usually symbolize knowledge because if you can see in all directions, then you know what's going on.
[30:43] Knowledge of God, providence of God. 2 Chronicles 16, verse 9, we read, For the eyes of the Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth to show himself strong on the behalf of them whose heart is perfect toward him.
[30:59] Herein, thou hast done foolishly, therefore from henceforth thou shalt have wars. The Lord sees everything. He knows what goes on. And upon this stone, which of course the builders rejected, this again, is the Christ, it is engraved.
[31:15] In other words, it's deep-sept. You can't change this. Upon one stone shall be seven eyes. Now, seven of course is the biblical number for perfection, divine perfection.
[31:26] So he has perfect knowledge and his perfect providence. He sees all things. That's the symbolism of this seven eyes being upon this one stone. I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.
[31:39] In that day, said the Lord of hosts, shall he call every man his neighbor under the vine and under the fig tree. Now, sitting under the vine or under the fig tree was usually taken as a symbol of comparative peace and prosperity.
[31:54] In 1 Kings 4, read verse 25, Judah and Israel dwelt safely. This is in the days of Solomon. Every man under his vine and under his fig tree from Dan even to Beersheba all the days of Solomon.
[32:07] Micah 4, and again at verse 4, we read, but they shall sit every man under his vine and under his fig tree and none shall make them afraid for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it.
[32:18] So it means they're sort of waiting, sitting, just enjoying the Lord's good gifts, but when Zechariah talks about sitting under the vine and under the fig tree, he's saying being called whilst they are there.
[32:32] The peace that we may think we have here is not a lasting peace. We're to be called from that. Called to what? Well, if somebody else remember, Jesus said, you know, before Philip called thee, when thou wast under the fig tree, I knew thee, I saw thee.
[32:51] He says there about Nathaniel, John 1, verses 48 and 50, and Nathaniel's just blown away by this. He says, oh, master, you're the son of God, you're the king of Israel. Because I said, I saw you under the fig tree, you'll see better things than these, you'll see greater things than these.
[33:04] It is implied that under the fig tree, under the vine, was a place of contemplation, a place where the devout would sit and contemplate the Lord and think on his word and focus upon him in a big time of prayer, that Nathaniel was a devout Israelite waiting for the consolation of Israel.
[33:23] And Jesus says, before Philip called you when you were under the fig tree, I saw you there. In that day, saith the Lord of hosts, shall ye call every man his neighbor under the vine and under the fig tree.
[33:36] This is a peace which the Lord gives, but he calls us from that earthbound peace to a greater fulfillment. Whatever the earth can give, whatever the blessings of the world, everyone's sitting under his vine under his fig tree, we are called from that state, called from the best that the world can give to the even greater blessings that the Lord desires to give.
[34:05] Maybe we can't conceive of that with our mind, but we walk by faith, not by sight. We trust and believe in what the Lord says, that he has laid up for them that fear him and that love him, things that the eye hath not seen and the ear hath not heard.
[34:20] We ourselves cannot get there by ourselves. We are clothed in filthy rags, just as Joshua is the symbolic representative of the Lord's people.
[34:31] But his filthy rags are taken away. A fair might that is set upon his head. He is crowned. He is clothed in clean new garments. He represents a redeemed people who are called from their vine, from their fig tree, to see that there is a greater fulfillment to be had.
[34:50] A perfect knowledge of God. With the seven eyes on this stone, and yes, in the force of time, the builders rejected. But he removed the iniquity in one day.
[35:01] All the years of our sad transgressions in the past, all the years we look back on with sorrow, with regret, thinking, well, if only the Lord knew me, he would never want to save me.
[35:13] He does know you. But he desires to save and redeem because he alone can do that. You may be sitting under your vine, you may be sitting under your big tree, but the Lord calls you from wherever you are sitting, from wherever you are in comparative peace or stillness or thinking yourself untroubled and being okay with the Lord.
[35:36] You're not okay with the Lord if you're not redeemed by the Lord. And he calls you from that to the fullness of the blessing, the redemption and the glory that he alone is able to give.
[35:51] And he calls us to. And he calls today because he himself has stood in place of us. He himself has been clothed in our sin and filthy rags.
[36:02] It has been put to death upon his cross and now risen and ascended. He is clothed in glory. And he calls us to be all that we were designed and that the Lord desires us to be.
[36:17] All that you can be. You can be only in Christ who calls to you right where you are this day. That's it.
[36:28] Say goodbye. Don't forget to share what you are with me. I think it was in this 주 you have a stab alive.