A stick pulled from the fire.

Zechariah 3

Click for a description of the mark of the beast.
Click for a description of the image of the beast.

“Come now, and let us reason together,” says the Lord,
“Though your sins are like scarlet, they shall be as white as snow;
Though they are red like crimson, they shall be as wool.”
Isaiah 1:19

• The Lord rebukes the accusers of those living for Jesus Christ.
• Jesus Christ removes the spiritual filthiness from us and clothes us in the Holy Spirit.
  • We were clothed in the garments of a filthy spirit.
  • Jesus Christ removes the garments of a filthy spirit from us.
  • Through Jesus Christ we are clothed with garments of a rich Spirit.
  • Jesus Christ clothes our mind with Holiness.
• Those who are born again in the Holiness of Jesus Christ will rule with Him.
• Jesus Christ has come and is coming again to redeem those who receive Him.

 The Lord rebukes the accusers of those living for Jesus Christ. “Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to oppose him. And the Lord said to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?” Zachariah 3:1-2

The Joshua mentioned in the verse above is not the same Joshua who replaced Moses as leader in the book of Joshua. The Joshua in the above verse was a prominent figure during the restoration of Jerusalem and the rebuilding of the temple. That restoration and rebuilding happened after the Israelites were freed from Babylonian captivity. Satan was rebuked accusing and opposing an instrument of God.

The Holy Spirit is sharing with us about the mercy, grace, forgiveness, and redemption of God that we have through Jesus Christ. Even though we are forgiven, Satan will always be there to accuse us of the sins already forgiven and to oppose our life in Jesus Christ. The response to Satan is, “The Lord rebuke you, Satan!”

The Lord has chosen us to be inhabitants of the eternal New Jerusalem and will always be there to rebuke Satan when he brings up past sins which are forgotten by God. When Satan brings up a case against us God says, “Case dismissed!” God knows we are a stick plucked from the fire. He knows we were living in the ways of this world before His Son Jesus plucked us from the fire of eternal hell. We are forgiven. “For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their lawless deeds I will remember no more.” Hebrews 8:12

The thing which has power over physiology will always form our thoughts to make us think of all the ways we failed the Lord Jesus Christ in the past. It will form our feelings to make us feel remorseful and shame for the sins already forgiven. It will form our words to try to make us curse the Salvation given to us through Jesus Christ. It will form our behaviors to try to make us do things to jump back into the fire. We are that burning stick, but we make a commitment not to return to the fire.

My little children, these things I write to you, so that you may not sin. And if anyone sins, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. And He Himself is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but also for the whole world.

1 John 2:1-2

Satan works through people who welcome the thing forming what they say, do, think, and feel. They are empowered with uncanny knowledge and heightened intuition as the image of the beast lives and speaks through them. They become Satan’s tool to accuse and oppose those who are pulled from this world to be set apart for Jesus Christ. By what they say and do, they bring up the failures, shortcomings, and sins of our life to mock what Jesus Christ did for us on the Cross. They even criticize the imperfection of common mistakes like misspelling a word, dropping a cup, using an eraser, etc. Apparently, they think because they know all about our terrible past then somehow God has not forgiven us. Untrue! That is when Satan is told, “The Lord rebuke you, Satan” Those working for Satan against Christianity are conformed to the global culture as they are groomed to the mark of the beast.

I would even say that it is obvious Satan is the prince of the airways because accusations materialize out of thin air against those living for the Holiness of Jesus Christ. “The Lord rebuke you, Satan!”

Jesus Christ removes the spiritual filthiness from us and clothes us in the Holy Spirit.
“Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and was standing before the Angel. Then He answered and spoke to those who stood before Him, saying, “Take away the filthy garments from him.” And to him He said, “See, I have removed your iniquity from you, and I will clothe you with rich robes.” And I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head, and they put the clothes on him. And the Angel of the Lord stood by.” Zachariah 3:3-5

We were clothed in the garments of a filthy spirit. The spirit is the garment that our body wears. Before we started to live in the Spirit of Holiness through Jesus Christ, we were living a life that created a filthy spirit enveloping our body. A filthy spirit is created when we reject the goodness of God, reject the forgiveness of sin through the Lord Jesus, and reject the Holy Spirit from being part of who we are.

When people choose to live by the thing forming their thoughts, feelings, words, and behaviors, they are rejecting the Holiness of the Spirit. People allow the image of the beast to live and speak through them as they welcome the thing that forms what they think and feel. They are enveloped by a filthy spirit, whitewashed by the practices of humanism, as they serve the creature human being while rejecting God the Creator. They are conformed to the “democratic” global culture as they are groomed to the mark of the beast.

The Lord promises us through Jesus Christ that when we separate from the practices of this world and wash our garments in the sin-atoning blood of Jesus, He will receive us. He will be a Father to us and

Therefore, having these promises, beloved, let us cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God

2 Corinthians 7:1

Jesus Christ removes the garments of a filthy spirit from us. God has chosen us for Salvation by being set apart from serving the flesh and carnality of this world through the Spirit of Holiness. When we believe in Jesus Christ, our sin is put in remission and the Holy Spirit is given to us. That is the Gospel of Jesus Christ. He died on the Cross to atone for sin and whoever believes in Him will be cleansed from sin and be given a new spirit. “Therefore if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creature; the old things passed away; behold, new things have come.” 2 Corinthians 5:17

“If we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us our sins and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.” 1 John 1:9

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a steadfast spirit within me. Do not cast me away from Your presence, and do not take Your Holy Spirit from me.

Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, and uphold me by Your generous Spirit. then I will teach transgressors Your ways, and sinners shall be converted to You.

Psalms 51:10-13

Through Jesus Christ we are clothed with garments of a rich Spirit. Holiness is the rich spirit which envelopes those who live for Jesus Christ by the remission of sin. “I will give you a new heart and put a new spirit in you; I will remove from you your heart of stone and give you a heart of flesh.” Ezekiel 36:26

Jesus Christ clothes our head with Holiness. To have a clean turban put on our head means the ugliness of our thoughts are counteracted by the Holiness of the Spirit. The thing with power over physiology is able to form what we think, and thoughts will constantly invade our mind opposing our life in Christ. Those of this world are conformed to welcome those thoughts which give them uncanny knowledge and heightened intuition. They are allowing the image of the beast to live and speak through them. The Holy Spirit has this to say, “And do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, that you may prove what is that good and acceptable and perfect will of God. Romans 12:2

The Holiness of the Spirit is a turban around our head to help us to bring every thought into captivity and obedience to Christ,

 For the weapons of our warfare are not of the flesh but mighty in God for pulling down strongholds, casting down arguments and every high thing that exalts itself against the knowledge of God, bringing every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ…

2 Corinthians 10:4-5

The word of God is a discerner of thoughts and the intents of the heart,

For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.

Hebrews 4:12

Those who are born again the Holiness of Jesus Christ will rule with Him. “Then the Angel of the Lord admonished Joshua, saying, “Thus says the Lord of hosts: ‘If you will walk in My ways, and if you will keep My command, then you shall also judge My house, and likewise have charge of My courts; I will give you places to walk among these who stand here.” Zachariah 3:6-7

The Holy Spirit gives us encouragement that when we live for God through Jesus Christ and live by His Gospel, then we will reign with Him in the eternal New Jerusalem.

Then the sovereignty, power and greatness of all the kingdoms under heaven will be handed over to the holy people of the Most High. His kingdom will be an everlasting kingdom, and all rulers will worship and obey him.’

Truly I tell you, at the renewal of all things, when the Son of Man sits on his glorious throne, you who have followed me will also sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel. And everyone who has left houses or brothers or sisters or father or mother or wife or children or fields for my sake will receive a hundred times as much and will inherit eternal life. But many who are first will be last, and many who are last will be first.

This is a faithful saying: For if we died with Him, we shall also live with Him. If we endure, we shall also reign with Him. If we deny Him, He also will deny us. If we are faithless, He remains faithful; He cannot deny Himself.

Daniel 7:27 and Matthew 19:28-30 and 2 Timothy 2:11-13

Jesus Christ has come and is coming again to redeem those who receive Him. “‘Hear, O Joshua, the high priest, You and your companions who sit before you, For they are a wondrous sign; For behold, I am bringing forth My Servant the BRANCH. For behold, the stone That I have laid before Joshua: Upon the stone are seven eyes. Behold, I will engrave its inscription,’ Says the Lord of hosts, ‘And I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day. In that day,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘Everyone will invite his neighbor under his vine and under his fig tree.’ ” Zachariah 3:8-10

Joshua and his companions are those who were prominent during the time of rebuilding Jerusalem and the Temple after being freed from their captivity to Babylon. Likewise, as followers of Jesus Christ, we are those who will be populating the eternal New Jerusalem in the new heaven and earth. We are also those in which the temple of God is being rebuilt. The churches are no longer the buildings made with human hands, but God has made us the Temple of the Holy Spirit through Jesus Christ.

The battle for the soul is within the Temple of God, our body. God has made us to be the Temple of the Holy Spirit, “Or do you not know that your body is the temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God, and you are not your own?” 1 Corinthians 6:19 In opposition to God, there is a thing which wants to sit in the temple of God, as if it were God, “…who opposes and exalts himself above all that is called God or that is worshiped, so that he sits as God in the temple of God, showing himself that he is God.” 2 Thessalonians 2:4 That is done through the thing which forms what people think, feel, do, and say. Click here for a description of the “man of sin”. The Holy Spirit says this, “And what agreement has the temple of God with idols? For you are the temple of the living God.” 2 Corinthians 6:16

God brought forth His Servant the Branch when He sent Jesus Christ. To engrave the inscription on the rock is a seal of His promise, which is the covenant of the New Testament, which is this, “For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have everlasting life.” John 3:16 Through the Lord Jesus, our sin is put in remission, and we are given the Holy Spirit to make us the Temple of Holy Spirit. There is now a New Jerusalem and a new Temple. The eyes of God are on every continent of the world watching those who are walking in Holiness according to the Gospel of Christ.

God’s Servant the Branch is coming back again to redeem the sin riddled body of those who live for Him. We will be given an eternal and sinless body like the one Jesus has and we will live with Him eternally in the New Jerusalem. In one day, in the twinkle of an eye, we will all be changed, “Behold, I tell you a mystery: We shall not all sleep, but we shall all be changed— in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.” 1 Corinthians 15:51-52 In that day, the whole family of God, born through Jesus Christ, will live together under His Tree.

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“….to you who do not hold to her teaching and have not learned Satan’s so-called deep secrets,“
‘I will not impose any other burden on you, except to hold on to what you have until I come.’”
“I am coming soon. Hold on to what you have, so that no one will take your crown.”
Revelation 2:24-25, 3:1