THE ONLY CLOTH PRIDE NEVER LIKED “And he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. And the LORD said to Satan, “The LORD rebuke you, O Satan; even the LORD that has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you: is this not a brand plucked out of the fire?” Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel. And he answered and spoke to those that stood before him, saying, “Take away the filthy garments from him.” And to him he said, “Behold, I have caused your iniquity to pass from you, and I will clothe you with change of raiment.” And I said, “Let them set a fair mitre upon his head.” So they set a fair mitre upon his head, and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the LORD stood by.” (Zechariah 3:1-5) Here, it is not about the dragon with the woman clothed with the sun now, but about Satan with the high priest clothed with filthy garments: Though he was wearing filthy garments, he was humble before God because he was a brand plucked out of the fire and most especially because he will accept the change of garments which the LORD offers to him. Now the filthy garments represented the righteousness of the priest or the righteousness which he was able to attain by his own works, but the new clothing and change of raiment given to him is the righteousness of Jesus Christ which is true righteousness. You may ask, had Jesus come by then? In verse 8 of the same chapter, the LORD says, “I will bring forth my Servant called the BRANCH and Stone with Seven eyes, and then the iniquity of the Land shall be taken away” (Zechariah 3:8-10). That BRANCH and Stone with Seven Eyes was Jesus Christ, who takes away the iniquity of the land. It takes humility for a man to accept that his own garments are filthy, and to accept the change of garment God is offering to him through Jesus Christ: God resists the proud (Satan), but gives grace (change of clothing) to the humble (Joshua the High Priest) – James 4:6. 1. Was Joshua high or clothed with glory? Yes, because he was a High Priest, and every High Priest is clothed with glory and beauty (Exodus 28:2); moreover, he was standing before an Angel of God. 2. Was Joshua clothed with humility? Yes, because he was a brand out of the fire, who was ready to the grace (change of clothing) the LORD was offering him in his humility: meaning he was ready to discard his own self-righteousness based on the laws of Moses (filthy garments), in order to accept the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus (Fine Linen, clean and white). If Satan could bring down one-third of glorious stars in heaven, he could also bring down men of God who are not clothed with humility. 1. To watch against the devil that walks about as roaring lion seeking whom to devour according to verse 8, one must first be clothed with the humility according to verse 5 of the same (1 Peter 5:5, 8); and, 2. To resist the devil and have him flee from you, one must first be humble and submissive according to (James 4:6-7). Therefore, do not try to resist the devil unless you are submissive in humility (James 4:7). Humility is not about pain or suffering or wounds or shame or clothing; true humility is about the submissive of the heart of man: A naked man was humble enough to accept Jesus Christ as his LORD and KING, even while was suffering on the cross; but another man who was in the same condemnation was too proud to see the salvation of God even on the cross (Luke 23:39-43). It is the humble in heart dwells in a high and holy place with the Most High God (Isaiah 57:15). God requires the humility of the heart as the spirit behind the dressing of one’s physical body: Remove pride, arrogance and self-righteousness even in your clothing and dressing. Any physical clothing that has no room for pride or glory of the flesh is called Sack-Cloth. Sack-cloth is any clothing in humility minus the pride. One of the most wicked and corrupted cities of all time, was saved from the wrath of God just because of Sack-Clothes: That is the city of Nineveh, to whom Jonah was sent (Jonah 3:8-10). When Ahab put on sack-cloth, even the prophecy of Elijah could not come to pass in his own days; for God saw the sack cloth over a humble mind as a wonder to God (1 Kings 21:27-29). Jesus expected the cities of Chorazin and Bethsaida to repent in sack-clothes, after doing so many mighty works in them, but they did not (Matthew 11:21). The clothing of sack-cloth is better than the clothing of self-righteousness, respectability and show of pride. The two witnesses have more power than all other men on earth in their earthly days, yet they were clothed with sack clothes all through the days of their witnessing (Revelation 11:3): Where there is great power and glory, great humility is needed as clothing.
Posted on: Fri, 23 Aug 2013 08:10:51 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015