1.
Please pray with me. May the words of my mouth and the meditation
of our hearts be pleasing in Your sight, O Lord, our Rock, and our
Redeemer. Amen. The message from God’s Word this Reformation
Sunday is taken from Zechariah 3.1-5 (READ TEXT) and is entitled, “Justification,”
dear brothers and sisters in Christ.
2.
There’s a historic saying in Lutheranism that
the Church stands or falls on the article of justification. To justify means, “to
declare righteous.” God’s certain declaration that we’re righteous in
His eyes is possible only because of our Savior, Jesus. This is the message that was at the heart of
the Reformation 500 years ago. The message of the Reformers, like Martin
Luther, Philipp Melanchthon, and many others was that through His life, Jesus
satisfied God’s demand for perfect obedience. Through His sacrificial death,
Jesus took God’s wrath and atoned for the sins of the world. The Holy Spirit,
through the means of grace, works in us saving faith, which personally takes
hold of what Christ has done for us. Our justification before God is brought
about by the One who lived, suffered, and died for our salvation. We can’t
merit God’s favor through our obedience. But, what we can’t do for ourselves,
Christ has done for us. He’s the solid Rock on which God builds His Church.
On Him alone, we stand forgiven. (See also Ap IV; SA III XIII; FC Ep III
and SD III.)
3.
Zechariah chapter 3 takes us to the
City of Jerusalem during the days of the prophet Haggai, specifically 16 years
after the foundation was laid for the new temple but no further work was being
done on the project. The Lord wanted the rebuilding to be finished, and in
addition to Haggai he sent his people another prophet: Zechariah. This
text is too juicy for us to pass up, especially on this day we observe the Festival
of the Reformation! Here the prophet depicts the meaning of an important
biblical term, “justification,” without actually using the term.
4.
The text is a portion of a vision
God gave Zechariah, recorded in the first part of his book. In it “Joshua
the high priest”—that is, the high priest at that time—was “standing
before the angel of the LORD” with “Satan standing at his right hand to
accuse him.” The text adds, “Now Joshua was standing before the angel,
clothed with filthy garments” (Zechariah 3:1, 3). It was fitting that the
high priest would have been clad in garments symbolic of sin! After all, he
represented the whole people, and they were all guilty of sin. They had
forgotten the Lord’s temple. First, they were intimidated by their neighbors
who opposed their efforts at rebuilding it. Then, apathy set in. It had been so
long since anyone had done anything about the temple that it was hard even to
get started on it again. Meanwhile, they had built houses and set various
affairs in order, but the temple and their own worship life went neglected.
5.
There was no denying this obvious
fact. Instead of saying, “Come on, folks, you and I both know you can do
better than this,” the Lord went to the heart of the matter with the vision
he granted Zechariah. A huge spiritual problem cried out to be addressed. The
people were as guilty as sin! So Joshua the high priest showed up in the vision
wearing filthy garments, and Satan stood right on the scene to accuse him. We
typically think of the devil as a tempter, and he is. But he tempts so that he
can accuse.
6.
The name “Satan” means
adversary. “Devil” means someone who throws things at you, in this case,
accusations. In this vision, Satan is acting like a prosecutor in a courtroom. The judge in this courtroom scene is called “the
angel of the Lord.” Don’t be misled by the title. This is the same One who
called to Moses out of the burning bush and said, “I AM WHO I AM”
(Exodus 3:1–15). He appeared to Manoah and his wife, the parents of Samson,
accepted their sacrifice, and said his name was “wonderful.” After his
appearance Manoah said, “We shall surely die, for we have seen God”
(Judges 13:22). This “angel of the Lord” is none other than God himself,
Christ before the incarnation. He is the Judge in this vision, before whom
Joshua the high priest stood clothed in filthy garments.
7.
Satan the prosecutor stands ready to
make his accusing case against the defendant when another voice calls out. As
the text puts it, “The LORD said to Satan, ‘The LORD rebuke you, O Satan!
The LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this a brand plucked from
the fire?’ ” (Zechariah 3:2). The speaker here is simply identified as “the
LORD.” He comes to Joshua’s defense. When he rebukes Satan, in effect he
asks, “Are we not going to get this defendant off?” This is exactly what
happens next! “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’ ”
(Zechariah 3:4). The defendant is declared not guilty. Joshua’s filthy clothes
are replaced with clean, festive garments. He stands before the angel of the
Lord having been declared innocent.
8.
The defendant in this case is
justified. He is declared not guilty, declared innocent, declared righteous.
That is what “justification” means.
But how? If a judge in one of our country’s courtrooms were to take an
obviously guilty sinner, simply declare him innocent and let him go, there
would be an understandable outcry. That judge might be impeached or recalled.
The Bible itself says that “he who justifies the wicked and he who condemns
the righteous are both alike an abomination to the LORD” (Proverbs 17:15). Yet
the Lord lets Joshua the high priest off, despite the filthy garments he wears.
How? This question, as we shall see, is not theoretical. It’s a very practical
matter, and it involves every one of us.
9.
Does the defendant get off because
he volunteers to make it up to the court, doing thousands of hours of community
service? Nothing like that happened in this case. The Lord is holy. Nothing
sinners could do would ever be enough, or good enough, to make up for past
sins. People have tried fancy theological versions of this idea that the
defendant would work off his own sin-debt, but it’s a non-starter.
10.
Does the defendant get off because
the Judge happens to be in a good mood that day and relaxes his standards? There
are theological versions of this idea, too, but the standards never get relaxed
in the Lord’s courtroom! He said, “You shall be holy, for I the LORD your
God am holy” (Leviticus 19:2). Besides, if he let you off one day because
he was in a good mood, what might happen the next day if his mood turns bad?
11.
Why does the defendant get off in
this case? One catechism student has volunteered an answer, “Maybe somebody
bribed the judge.” He was getting desperate with this answer, which has the
same sort of flaws we have already mentioned. You don’t bribe the holy God.
Even if you could, what would you use? How could you possibly impress him?
12.
So why does Joshua the high priest
get off? Why is he justified, and with him, the people of Judah? The key to
answering this question lies in another: Where is Christ in this story? As
noted, he’s the Judge, the “angel of the Lord.” He’s also “the Lord”
who speaks up as the defense attorney. But that’s not all. He is also the Defendant. He’s the Defendant in the place of Joshua the
high priest and the people of Judah because he’s the Defendant in the place of
everyone. “Surely he has borne our griefs and carried our sorrows; yet we
esteemed him stricken, smitten by God, and afflicted,” Isaiah had already
prophesied. “But he was wounded for our transgressions; he was crushed for
our iniquities; upon him was the chastisement that brought us peace, and with
his stripes we are healed. All we like sheep have gone astray; we have
turned—every one—to his own way; and the LORD has laid on him the iniquity of
us all” (Isaiah 53:4–6). Comparing Christ to Adam, the New Testament says
that “as one trespass led to condemnation for all men, so one act of
righteousness leads to justification and life for all men” (Romans 5:18). Again,
“in Christ God was reconciling the world to himself, not counting their
trespasses against them. . . . For our sake he made him to be sin who knew no
sin, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God” (2
Corinthians 5:19, 21).
13.
The only One who can defend us from
God’s punishment against sin is God himself. He defended us by stepping into
our place and taking the punishment as our Substitute. He was “delivered up
for our trespasses and raised for our justification” (Romans 4:25). This
includes Joshua and the people of Judah, you, me, and everyone. In the
crucified and risen Christ, God declares us not guilty, he declares us
innocent, and he declares us righteous. He justifies us.
14.
When I see that this wonderful word
of pardon means me, then I get involved. Zechariah appeared in his own vision,
seeing the new clothes being put on Joshua the high priest and blurting out, “Let
them put a clean turban on his head” (Zechariah 3:5). For the prophet
realized that he, too, was included among those who had been justified by God
despite their many sins. He spoke from the God-given faith that personally
receives the blessing of justification. He wanted that clean turban too. So it
is for us: through his Word the Holy Spirit has given us not only to understand
but also to believe that what God did for all in Christ, he did for me. The
justification that is general and for all is appropriated personally and for
me.
15.
You see, this does involve you. Like
God’s Old Testament people, we have our nagging sins, and we live in a
condition of sin continuously in this world. No less than theirs, our own sins
are deadly. As in the text, God doesn’t simply come to us pleading or nagging
for us to behave better. No, he also proclaims to us the killing law and the
life- giving word of justification.
16.
Justification is a courtroom term meaning “to declare righteous.” God
has declared us righteous in his holy courtroom on account of Christ.
Justification isn’t God making us more righteous by degrees, so that the better
we become, the more he will help us along. Instead, justification is a verdict,
like you would get in a courtroom. It happens instantaneously, not gradually. bUT
when the court pronounces you not guilty, you really aren’t guilty before the
law. No one can arrest you. The law can’t hold you. Still more, God’s powerful
Word creates what it says. When he declares us not guilty, we’re not guilty.
17.
Happily, the Lord doesn’t leave it
at one pronouncement, either. He loves to repeat his declaration upon you in
Christ. He repeated it in your Baptism. He repeats it when you hear the
powerful Good News of Jesus, our substitute and Savior. He repeats it when he
gives us bread and wine and says, “this is my body” and “this is the
new testament in my blood.” Every time he tells us of his forgiving love,
he is in fact loving us and forgiving us. Before him, we really aren’t guilty
and innocent and righteous.
18.
That is good, for one day you and I
will stand face-to-face with God before his judgment seat. It would be possible
for Satan, who knows our sins better than we do, to haul out a long list of
accusations for which we can have no good excuse. But up steps Christ, the
Defendant in our place, who becomes our defense attorney before the bar of
divine justice. He pleads his own blood, and once again we’re justified: “if
anyone does sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the
righteous. He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also
for the sins of the whole world” (1 John 2:1–2). Amen. Now
the peace of God that surpasses all understanding guard your hearts and minds
in Christ Jesus until life everlasting.
Amen.
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