Middlebury register. (Middlebury, Vt.) 1886-1937, 1893-01-20
FILTHY GARMENTS.
LESSON ", FIRST QUARTER, INTER-
NATIONAL SERIES, JAN. %.

Text of the Lesson, Zech. iii, 1-1O-Mem-
DRY Verses, I, s-Golden Text, Heb. Nv,
IL - Commentary by the Rev. d. NJ.
Stearns.
BY comparing verses IA and Is with verse;
Of Hag it will be seen that in about three
weeks after his first message the work was
resumed. Then he had other messages for
them in the seventh and ninth months of
the same year (Hag. H. l. 10, 20). The first
message came to Zechariah in the eighth
month of the same year Czech. i, y, and on
the night of the twenty-fourth day of the
eleventh month he receives series of seven
or eight visions which are recorded in chap
ters /, Z, to vi, 10. Our lesson is the fourth
of these visions, the first three teaching
that the hosts of heaven act on behalf of
Gods people; tnat for every destroyer there
is II repairer, and that God, having chosen
Jerusalem, will surely perform all his
pleasure concerning her.
|. 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." A prophet represents God
to the people, while priest represents the
people before God. This high priest rep
resents the nation of Israel as appearing
before God for blessing, and the great adj
versary is there also to prevent this bless
ing if he possibly can. | suppose that no
individual or nation ever came to God
without knowing something of the resist
ance of the adversary.
9. "And the Lord said unto satan: The
Lord rebuke thee. o satan even the Lord
that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee
Ic lie al Il # Z bn
See chapter ii, IL; Ps cxxXii, 10. God had
chosen Israel and Jerusalem, and that set
tied it. Ananias thought that Saul of Tar
sus was too desperately wicked to expect
anything good from, but Gods go thy
way, for he is a chosen vessel unto me-"
settled all that (Acts tx, 15). God knows
His instruments before He chooses them,
and is prepared to cleanse and qualify for
Fills service at any cost.
3. Now Joshua was clothed with filthy
garments and stood before the angel"
Here is the ground of satan's resistance
Israel could not deny her filthy garments;
no more can we. We must cry out with
Isaiah, "Woe is me, for am man of un-
clean lips" lisa. vi, 81, and with job, 81 alb
hor MYSELF Dob Xiii, @, for ''all our right
businesses (our very best things) are as
filthy rags" lisa. Xiv, @. Every mouth
must be stopped and all the world plead
guilty" before God CRom. iii, 49,.
1. Take away the filthy garments from
him. And unto him He said, Behold, !
have caused thine iniquity to pass from
thee, and will clothe thee with change of
raiment." Thus He will yet remove the
iniquity of that land and of that people in
one day Verse 81, and they shall be all
righteous Qsa TX, 2D. Thus He now for
gives SINS and says to every true pentent
who confesses all and hides nothing ''Son,
daughter, thy sins are forgiven thee" (Math.
tx, 9, 90 All our efforts at goodness are
like Adam and Ewes fig leaf aprons com
pared with the garments of light which
they lost. But the Lord God provides gar
ments of salvation, and we have only to
drop our fig leaf aprons, cast aside all our
own righteousness and gladly accept Gods
provision, and then sing Isa. Xxi, 10.
5. so they set fair inter upon his
head and clothed him with garments, and
the angel of the Lord stood by" The inter
was the linen headdress worn by the priest,
the most conspicuous part of which was
the golden plate or crown, upon which was
inscribed, "HOliness Unto the Lord'' (EX
xviii, $685.. In the days of Israel's res
toration and salvation Jesus, their king,
will be "A Priest Upon His Throne" Chap
ter vi, 13), a priest king after the order of
Mclchizedec The church will reign with
Him as priests and kings, for such are we
even now by faith in Him (Rev. V, 8, 10;
/, 6).
ca. "Antl the angel of the Lord protested
unto Joshua, saying, Thus saith the Lord
of Hosts, If thou wilt walk in my ways,
and if thou wilt keep my charge" Saliva
ton from beginning to end is of the Lord.
He alone is the author and the finisher,
and we are the recipients. But being
plucked from the burning and cieansed
and separated unto God, Israel is to walk
with Him and show forth His power and
glory. So with the believer. He is saved
not simply to escape the wrath of God and
reach heaven at death, but to abide here
in a mortal body amid conflict ard trial
az long as it please the Lord, showing forth
the life of Jesus in His mortal flesh Oil
Cor. iv; 10, III. This is to the natural man
impossible; but what Christ has done in a
mortal body He can surely do again, and
one of the Christians notices is, Not l.
but Christ, who liveth in me" Gal. ii, 20).
8. Hear, now, o Joshua, the high
priest, Behold will bring forth my serv-
ant, The Branch" While the words of the
Book have to do with the time when the
words were spoken, there is always "a look
ing forward to the grand contamination
when Jesus shall come in power and glory
for the complete overthrow of all enemies
and the permanent establishment of His
kingdom on the earth. In connection with
His name, The Branch, hope you will look
up chapters vi, 70; lisa. w. .; Jer. xiii, 81;
xxXiii, Is. Here He is the servant fully
seen in Marks Gospel; in Jer. xiii, 3, lie
is the King of Matthew's Gospel; in Zech
vi, IL, He is the Man of Luke's Gospel
while in lisa. iv, ?, He is the beauty and
glory of Johns Gospel. He is alpha and
omega, the altogether lovely one, in whom
dwelleth all the fullness of the Godhead
bodily.
o. For behold the stone that | have
laid before Joshua; upon one stone shall
be seven eyes" He is the stone of Israel.
despised by the builders and rejected, and
yet to be head cornerstone. He is the stone