Today's Word Radio

Brett Meador: The word for propitiation sort of speaks of a substitute on your behalf. You might even use the word substitution along with satisfaction. If you owe a debt, to have your debt satisfied or paid, the word is propitiation.

Narrator: Pastor Brett Meador reveals how your sin's wages were settled once and for all.

Brett Meador: Jesus is the payment and the satisfaction of what you and I owed. That's why the author of Hebrews says there in Hebrews 12:2, "Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher or perfecter of our faith."

Narrator: Paul's letter to the Romans spells out clearly that the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord. Jesus, being sinless, didn't owe such a penalty, but he took it upon himself at the cross on our behalf. In today's word, Pastor Brett Meador reflects how this gift of salvation is also illustrated in the book of Zechariah.

Brett Meador: Zechariah chapter three. Zechariah is having eight different visions or dreams, and you'll see why. These dreams are powerful and important. But I'd like to fast forward to vision number four of the eight here in chapter three, verse one. It's this courtroom scene, and let's go over just if you would, the key characters of this courtroom scene.

The first key character that we look at here is the judge in the story, and that is God himself. The second one we see is the accused, which is Joshua, or you'd say Yeshua in the Old Testament or even in the New Testament times. But this is not the Joshua or the Yeshua of the book of Exodus. You remember Moses and Joshua? That was Joshua the son of Nun.

This is a Joshua that came hundreds of years later who was actually the high priest in Jerusalem at the time where Haggai and Zechariah and all those guys were there reminding the people you've got to finish the temple and all this stuff. The high priest was the one who would act on behalf of the people but speak on the behalf of God, the high priest.

On that one day he would go there into the holy place where he'd stand before the table of showbread and the altar of incense and the candlestick, and he would worship and beseech God on behalf of the people. Then toward the end of the day—and by this time the whole day was very somber, the Day of Atonement, a very somber day—until the high priest would emerge out of the Holy of Holies, out of the holy place, back out into the courtyard and he'd stand on the steps there of the temple and he'd cry out to all of Israel and he'd say, "Your sins are forgiven" or atoned for. For the next year, they're good to go. That was the way of the Old Testament.

So for the people to hear this prophecy of the vision of Zechariah, to hear that there's this courtroom scene and God the judge is there, and they see their high priest Joshua as the accused, oh dear, that's a problem. You're in trouble because not only is Joshua there, but what's he wearing? This would have shocked them when you read verse three where it says, "Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and stood before the angel."

This would have been unthinkable to the Jews. Our high priest wearing filthy garments? You see, this clothing that is vile and filthy, it's a symbol of his own sinfulness. Check out the way the language goes in verse four: "He answered and spake unto those that stood before him saying, 'Take away the filthy garments from him.'" And then it says, "Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee. I will clothe thee with a change of raiment."

A change of clothes, and that's where he ties in the passing of the iniquity. That's the filthy garments. That's the sinful behavior of Joshua the high priest. Again, the people would have said, "No way, not our high priest. We can't have a defiled, unkosher..." But God is saying that's the best you have to offer.

It reminds me a little bit of Paul's argument there in Romans chapter three, verse ten, where he makes it really clear. He says, "As it is written, there is none righteous, no, not one." Who is Paul talking about here? The answer: us, humanity, the whole world. We all fall short. There's no one righteous, not even one, Paul would say.

So we're all toast except for this. The New Testament tells us we have a high priest who was tempted in all points like we've been tempted, yet without sin. And that's our high priest, Jesus Christ is our high priest, the Bible says. So in a sense you say Joshua of the Old Testament, he kind of fails this, but Jesus, he is our high priest.

The reason this works for us is a doctrine that you should know about: imputed righteousness. I love the doctrine of imputed righteousness. We read about it in many passages, the book of Romans, but also in 2 Corinthians chapter five. I love this passage. It says, "Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away. Behold, all things are become new. And all things are of God who hath reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ and has given us the ministry of reconciliation."

In other words, when you and I sin, we are separated from God. Jesus came to reconcile you back into good standing, good relationship with God. And so it says verse 19, "To wit, that God was in Christ reconciling the world unto himself." Check this out: "Not imputing their trespasses unto them."

Now, this final phrase is so cool: "For he hath made him," that's Jesus, "to be sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." My sin and your sin was piled on Jesus. That's why he who knew no sin literally became sin, embodiment of sin, because of our filth. If you would, our filth was poured on the perfect high priest.

So he who knew no sin became sin that we might be made the righteousness of God in him. That's what imputed righteousness is. We are declared righteous because he is righteous, because he took the hit, the penalty for us. Even in our story of the courtroom of heaven, you've got the person who's accused of sin, Joshua, standing there in filthy garments. The Lord says, "I'm going to give you new clothing. I'm going to take off the old filthy garment and I'm going to replace it."

Isaiah calls it the robe of righteousness. Isaiah also addresses the filthy garments there in Isaiah 64:6. He says, "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags, and we all do fade as a leaf, and our iniquities like the wind have taken us away." So this is our problem. We're filthy, but good news, imputed righteousness where he takes off the old filth, puts on a new robe.

But I kind of get ahead of myself. In this courtroom scene, you've got number one, you've got the judge, that's God. You've got the accused, that's Joshua. But thirdly, you have the prosecuting attorney, and that is Satan himself. And he's pictured here in the courtroom scene. In fact, there in verse one, it says there was Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.

And even the name Satan or as the Hebrews say, Satan, the Hebrews, that's where that word comes from, Satan, and it means accuser. He is the prosecuting, accusing attorney in the courtroom of heaven. And there he is accusing Joshua before God. "Look at his filthy garments." And look what God does. I love this.

Now you say, "Okay, so you got the prosecuting attorney, Satan, and he's there to resist Joshua, as it says, or to be an adversary to Joshua or to accuse." That's by name what Satan's doing. This shouldn't be new to us, by the way. Satan, that's one of his number one jobs that he likes to do is be an accuser. He loves to be the prosecuting attorney.

Revelation 12:10 says this: "And I heard a loud voice saying in heaven, 'Now is come salvation and strength and the kingdom of our God and the power of his Christ.'" For check this out, it says, "For the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night." So Satan accuses the brethren, that's you and me, the Christian church. And he's saying, "Look what Pastor Brett has done, Lord," as he accuses.

Somehow Satan still has access to heaven. Satan's dastardly. When you think about Satan, he likes to dangle sin in front of you and tempt you and lure you into sin. And then when you sin, he goes and says, "Look what Brett did" before God. So in the courtroom scene, we've got the judge, God. We've got the accused, Joshua. We have the prosecuting attorney, Satan.

But lastly, good news, we have the defense attorney. And our attorney is so good that he doesn't even have to say a word. Well, how does that work out? See, that's the thing. You say the defense attorney is Jesus. I don't see Jesus in this story. Well, it's actually an interesting little phrase in the Old Testament that you should know about. We've talked about this even in recent studies. When you come across the phrase "the Angel of the Lord," that's an interesting phrase where it's talking about a pre-incarnate appearance of Jesus.

What does that mean? Well, when God became a man, that's when God was born in the flesh, Jesus born in Bethlehem. That was his coming to this world and he lived in this world, died on the cross, was buried, rose again and ascended into heaven. That's the coming of Jesus. And some people think that's only when Jesus existed.

But the Bible talks about the pre-existence of Jesus. In fact, the Bible even says Jesus was there at creation. The book of Colossians tells us that. We even see that hinted in Genesis chapter one when it says God says, "Let us make man in our image." Who's God talking to? The Holy Trinity, God the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit, all one being. It's a mystery of the Trinity. But all that to say, Jesus was there at creation. That's important for you to know.

So in the Old Testament, there are times where Jesus shows up. Jesus pre-existed when he was born in Bethlehem. You know, we see Jesus as dying on the cross back in 32 AD and that's what happened. But the Bible actually handles that differently. He was called the Lamb that was slain when? He was the Lamb that was slain before the foundations of the world were even created. He was still called the Lamb that was slain.

This starts to make your mind hurt because it has to do with God's existence outside of time. God is not limited to time and space and stuff like that. So when we kind of think of it as a linear thing, Jesus died on the cross for the sins of the world and he died retrospectively for the Old Testament people and he died before we even came and sinned. So he kind of died once for all. That's true.

But the Bible also says that he was the Lamb that was slain even before the foundations of the world were created. So when it comes to even this Old Testament story, you see this phrase "Angel of the Lord." And by the way, 90 percent of the time the word "Angel of the Lord" or the phrase "Angel of the Lord" is speaking of a Christophany or an appearance of Jesus.

So you have here in this courtroom scene, you've got God the Father sitting on the throne. You've got the accused, Joshua the high priest. You've got Satan the prosecuting attorney. But the defense attorney is the judge's son. Do you realize that's already a good thing for you and me? And not only is he just the son, the judge in the Bible constantly says, "This is my beloved son in whom I'm well pleased." And he's my attorney.

That's really good. Well, what's he going to do? Is he going to Matlock it up and say, "I object," and have this big courtroom thing? Nope. Your attorney doesn't even have to say a word. Why? Because he's standing there as the Lamb that had been slain for the sins of the world. He doesn't have to say a word because God the Father sees Jesus standing there.

Standing as it says here in verse one. Did you see what the Angel of the Lord is doing in this? We only see two mentions here in verse one. It says Joshua was standing before the Angel of the Lord, and verse five says, "And the Angel of the Lord stood by." What is he just standing there by? The reason he does that is because he did it all.

He is our defense attorney and he's a living, standing defense. In fact, we read about this in 1 John chapter two. It says this: "My little children, these things write I unto you that you sin not. And if any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." The word advocate there could be like an attorney, defense attorney, with Jesus Christ who's the righteous.

It's funny how the judge is called the righteous, but our attorney is also called the righteous. That's also good news. And he is the propitiation for our sins and not for ours only, but also for the sins of the whole world. I love that word propitiation. It's another fancy doctrinal word like we talked about, you know, how we've been given imputed righteousness. Well, the propitiation, that word just means that the word propitiation sort of speaks of a substitute on your behalf.

You might even use the word substitution along with satisfaction. If you owe a debt, to have your debt satisfied or paid, the word is propitiation. Jesus is the payment and the satisfaction of what you and I owed so that the judge could put the gavel down and say, "Case dismissed." That's what propitiation is.

Jesus stands there as the one who died on the cross for your sins was paying your penalty. And so the judge says he's the propitiation for your sin. So not for our sin only, but also for the sins of the whole world. That's why the author of Hebrews says there in Hebrews 12:2, "Looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher or perfecter," as some of your translations say, "of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him endured the cross, despising the shame, and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God."

There in the courtroom of heaven, our defense attorney, he paid the price willingly, went joyfully even, despising the shame. So what does God see in the courtroom when you look at it from God's perspective? Well, we know he sees Satan accusing us in filthy rags, Jesus as the Lamb who had been slain, his only begotten son that died for the filthy little dude's sins. That's good news for you and me. You and I are in good shape. Why? Because of what we've done? Nope. Because of how good we are or how sorry we are? Nope.

The punishment was already paid because Jesus died on the cross for our sins. Have you ever heard of that term "fighting fire with fire"? That came from back in the old pioneering days when the wagon trains were settling and moving toward West. The mountain ranges were difficult, the rattlesnakes and being attacked by Indians. They had a lot of things they were worried about. But one of the things their greatest fears was lightning.

The grass would grow and then get really thick and then it would all die and be like tinder that was ready to go off, and lightning would strike. And the prairie would just get on fire. There are stories of entire wagon trains, everybody dying because the fire raged. But eventually, they figured out how to do battle against this. The people would light a fire downwind of their wagons. They'd light a fire and let it start burning.

And they'd let it burn and burn, and while the fire was getting closer to them, their fire was moving away downwind. So that when it came time, they'd move their horses and their wagons and their people to the area that had already been scorched, because you can't burn something twice. And there they would stand on that scorched area and they would be safe as the rest of the area would burn all around them.

And so in a sense, Jesus fought fire with fire, didn't he? He took the heat for you and me so that we wouldn't have to. That's how the Bible can say something so amazing like in Romans 8:1, "There is therefore now no condemnation to those that are in Christ." Why? Those that are in Christ, that's safe ground. The pain that Jesus endured and went through, the death on the cross produces safe ground for you and me to stand on, because he took the heat already.

So how are our filthy rags dealt with in this courtroom of heaven? It's not just God saying, "Take the stinky rags off." There was a price paid. There was a work that was done in the courtroom of heaven to make those clothes be able to change. For you to move from your filthy garments to a robe of righteousness is because of what Jesus did. We are sick and we stink. And if we don't recognize it, we're in trouble. I hope you recognize—recognizing you're a sinner is the first part that you need to have. Do you understand that?

I'm reminded of a summer camp. I was a camp director, and these little girls, first, second, and third grade. There was 300 kids, but this little team of girls, they were unusually decked out for little girls at a kids' camp. I don't know what got into these mothers, but they sent these little girls with makeup and glitter and ballerina outfits and stuff. And these girls, we'd be doing tug-of-war in the mud, and these little girls out there in their little petunia outfits or whatever.

This was the funniest part of that. All of us at camp, guys, we were like, when those little girls started coming into the room, you'd smell. It smelled horribly. We're like, "What's that smell?" And we couldn't quite figure it out. They looked amazing, these little petunias walking around, but they just kind of stunk. And we finally asked the counselors, "Do you know what's going on with your team? Like, why does your team smell? At dinner time, it's like hard to even eat your food." And they just said, "We don't know what's they do stink. We just don't know what."

Well, finally it got so bad. Like the fourth night of camp, finally, I just got the camp nurse and a few of the directors and I said, "You guys, when the little girls are at dinner, you should go. You guys need to look what's going on in the room there. We gotta figure out what's going on." I was thinking, we can't send these little girls home to their parents smelling like this. So sure enough, the camp nurse and everything went in there and they figured out what the problem was.

The first day at camp we went to the beach and had a bunch of fun out in the sand. Well, these little girls found a bunch of dead sea life. They found this fish that was like about a foot and a half long, and they found a dead crab and an old starfish and some seaweed and snuck it back to camp and stuck it in all their luggage. And see, it was like 90 degrees and these little girls, this fish was like marinating in their little ballerina outfit.

And it just, it was the worst smell you ever did smell. It was so bad it made your eyes blurry. And we were able to get the laundry and get it all fixed up. But I kind of liken the sinner who doesn't know they stink to that. You can put lipstick on and glitter and your little fancy outfit and everything, and you might look really cute, but you stink. And it's called sin.

And the Bible uses that kind of imagery to talk about it. And good news, the Lord says, "I'll wash you and I'll clean you and I'll give you new clothes," and it's so much better. And it has to do not just with what you're wearing, but where you're going. Are you saved? Are you going to heaven, or are you going to pay for the stinky sins that you've committed? And the Lord says, "I'll take that."

When you get into the courtroom of heaven, you can either have God with his bow ready to go and the sword ready to go and judgment and wrath, or you can repent of your sins and you can say, "Lord, forgive me. I'm a stinky sinner." And you repent of your sins and the Bible says he'll wash you clean and robe you in righteousness and he'll say, "Enter into heaven, thou good and faithful servant."

It's a choice you have. For the Christian, this is a great vision of the courtroom of heaven because just like Joshua the high priest, who was a sinner just like everybody else, he gets a new robe and he gets to heaven. And you can have that too. So as the Christians, we should be rejoicing. For the non-Christian, make sure that you repent of your sins. Don't go another day with the fishy, stinky, sinful life.

The Lord says, "I'll clean you of that and I've done everything that needs to happen." Joshua doesn't do anything in this story. He just stands there. God did everything for Joshua just like he will do for you. "Well Brett, are you saying you can just confess a prayer and accept Jesus?" Yes. Can I, by the way, warn you about pastors and ministries that like to add to that? This is a dead giveaway when they say, "You can't just pray a prayer and go to heaven. You can't just confess Christ and go to heaven."

Well then Paul was very forgetful then when he wrote Romans chapter 10, verse nine and 10 when he was talking about what constitutes salvation. He should have said more. Paul, you big knucklehead, you left it out. What do you mean? Well when he said, "If you want to be saved, you confess with your mouth and believe in your heart the Lord Jesus, that he died on the cross for your sins and that he rose from the grave, you will be saved."

That's confession with the mouth, belief in the heart. That's not going to church. That's not being good all the time. And like I said before, like these pastors, I think some of them well-meaning because they kind of struggle. They don't really understand what the Bible's actually teaching, that Joshua does nothing to save himself. But actually he's saved by God's grace through faith, just like the Bible says over and over again.

But people are so tempted to add, "Well yeah, you saved by grace, but you can't just say a prayer. You gotta live your life for Christ. And you gotta be discipled and you gotta start doing better." And oh, yes, there's nuances where if you are saved, you'll start seeing good fruit and faith without works is dead. I totally understand that. But to add to the work of salvation, that's a huge mistake.

So don't let anybody tell you that, that you gotta do more. And some of these pastors that sound very sanctimonious, watch out. That's a pitfall. We're saved by God's grace through faith, and that's this robing of righteousness. Joshua did nothing in this story to receive that robe of righteousness. That's how you're saved too, by God's grace through faith. Isn't that good news? I think it's great news.

Narrator: Pastor Brett Meador drawing some clear understanding of God's plan of salvation from the vision of the Old Testament prophet Zechariah as our study series continues in today's word. And Pastor Brett will be closing our time together with a word of prayer in just a moment. But first, today's word is the radio ministry of Athey Creek Church in the Portland, Oregon area, where Pastor Brett is the lead pastor.

We invite you to find out more by going to todayswordradio.com. If you've missed any portion of this study, you'll find all of Pastor Brett's messages online at todayswordradio.com. Our vision on today's word is to proclaim the hope of salvation and help people know Jesus through careful study of the Bible. We invite you to find out more by going to todayswordradio.com.

And I also want to mention that in addition to the main Athey Creek campus in West Linn, Oregon, we also have locations in Hillsboro and McMinnville. For more information, go to todayswordradio.com and click on the link "Locations." Well, before we go, here again is Pastor Brett Meador to lead us in a brief word of prayer.

Brett Meador: Lord, how thankful we are for such a glorious truth that you choose to robe us in righteousness, Lord, unworthy sinners, that you ask us to repent of our sins, to confess with our mouth and to believe in our hearts your Son Jesus. And Lord, I pray that everyone in this room, everyone watching online right now, that Lord we'd all have repented of our sins and accepted the work of the cross.

Lord, if not, may you just soften hearts and have people accept you and believe and follow after your truth. Lord, we're saved by your grace through faith. I thank you for that. Lord, I pray for those that are always accused by the enemy, that they feel guilty all the time or not good enough or don't measure up. May they remember this story where Joshua was there in his filthy garments and you just robed him. He didn't earn it, didn't deserve it, you just did it.

I pray that people would be mindful of this truth of your word that you robe us in our righteous robes and you take away our filthy garments. So Lord, thank you for that. We pray that your light would shine in our hearts as we just remember the glorious work of salvation. In Jesus' name we pray. Amen.

Narrator: Amen. Pastor Brett Meador closing our time together on today's word. And that's all the time we have. Next time Pastor Brett Meador will continue in Zechariah and he'll glean important information about Jesus, God's plan for Jerusalem, and the coming millennial kingdom. Today's word with Pastor Brett Meador is an outreach of Athey Creek Church in West Linn, Oregon.