Rebirth
Zech. 3:1-10
Forgiveness and restoration are not the end, but the beginning.
Photo by Sterling Lanier on Unsplash
Then he showed me the high priest Joshua standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. And the Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, O Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this man a brand plucked from the fire?” Now Joshua was dressed with filthy clothes as he stood before the angel. The angel said to those who were standing before him, “Take off his filthy clothes.” And to him he said, “See, I have taken your guilt away from you, and I will clothe you with festal apparel.” 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 the apparel; and the angel of the Lord was standing by. Then the angel of the Lord assured Joshua, saying “Thus says the Lord of hosts: If you will walk in my ways and keep my requirements, then you shall rule my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you the right of access among those who are standing here. Now listen, Joshua, high priest, you and your colleagues who sit before you! For they are an omen of things to come: I am going to bring my servant the Branch. For on the stone that I have set before Joshua, on a single stone with seven facets, I will engrave its inscription, says the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the guilt of this land in a single day. On that day, says the Lord of hosts, you shall invite each other to come under your vine and fig tree.” - Zech. 3:1-10
Joshua here represents all of Israel.
He is standing before the Lord and Satan in filthy clothes. The state of the clothing represents the state of people. They have sinned against God.
Satan rubs Joshua’s nose in it, accusing him. Making him feel worthless. But God restores Joshua, cleaning him up and giving him new clothing and a turban. The people are redeemed before Satan by God.
But that is not the end of the story. The challenge now is for the people to continue in the ways of the Lord.
Redemption is day one.
We tend to think of salvation as an end state, rather than as a new starting point. Sometimes we have to be broken down to be rebuilt as something new, something better.
There is a myth you may have seen on social media about the eagle that smashes its beak and pulls out its claws and feathers to become reborn and new. It sounds impressive, but the eagle would die if it did that.
What the eagle does is molt many times, growing new feathers, strengthening its beak and claws. We need to go from broken to being in constant rebirth, molting to improve one area of our lives at a time.
We don’t need to make drastic changes all at once. But we do need to take steps toward a better life.
More to come...