by Reading through Zechariah 3, I could not help from verse 1 to be reminded of those Tom & Jerry cartoons — where Tom had a good angel on one shoulder and a bad angel on the other — where Tom battled with a tug-o-war between choosing to do right or wrong towards Jerry — where Jerry always got away without a scratch.
- Tugging on one shirt collar = “the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord”
- Tugging on the other shirt collar = “Satan standing at his right hand to resist him”
While the context is Israel and the hope of their promised land in the millennial reign, the application is clear to the church and believers today. Zechariah 3 is rich with nothing but hope for all of God’s people, no matter how many times we have failed in the tog-o-war between right and wrong.
Like Israel, we stood “filthy” in verse 3 in our righteousness before God, in salvation He clothed us in verses 4-5 with His righteous “change of raiment,” now in our Christian walk the struggle begins as we must choose in verse 7 to “walk in my ways, and … keep my charge,” where ultimately we will not lose our home in Heaven by our choices after salvation in verses 8-10 because of God’s “servant the BRANCH,” who is our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. By the 3 names of Christ in verses 8-10, and because of all the Christ is for us as “Servant,” “Branch” and “Stone,” we have all that we need for our temporal and eternal hope, allowing us to resist Satan now and forever.
Let’s rejoice in this chapter’s application to believers today:
- We stood FILTHY before Christ (3:3) — Before our SALVATION
- We were CLEANSED by Christ (3:2,4-5) — At our JUSTIFICATION
- We now CHOOSE for Christ (3:6-7) — Now our SANCTIFICATION
- We have HOPE in Christ (3:8-10) — Soon our GLORIFICATION
