Joshua the High priest

I'm still studying Zechariah 3:1-10. 

I decided to delve deeper into who the man Joshua was.  I thought at first he was the Joshua who was Moses' predecessor and took the Israelites into the promise land.  Not so.  This Joshua is mention in Haggai 1:1 as the son of the high priest and a friend of Zerubbabel. 

I did research years ago through Ezra and Nehemiah when writing a children's bible series on the seven Hebrew words for praise.  Occasionally I popped in to read Haggai and Zechariah also as there were some good nuggets in there concerning the work God had called for Ezra and Nehemiah. 

As I mentioned he was a high priest.  He was the first person chosen to rule over the Second Temple when it was restored.  It is uncertain if the vision of Joshua in Zech. 3 is at the time that he was alive or not, and if it were it was at the time that Nehemiah was cleansing the temple after his grandson was found guilty of intermarrying.

He comes before The Angel of the Lord in rags.  And satan is standing next to him.  It could be that there is a fight between the two as to where Joshua is going.  But his eyes are kept in the Angel of the Lord.

How many times have we done that? We've sinned and we are dirty.  and we are fighting thoughts going through our minds because we've done wrong, and yet we don't think God will take us back.  satan is lying to us.  However, Joshua does the right thing,  I call this a Kingdom Principle.  He looks into the eyes of God.  He doesn't acknowledge satan ribbing him at his side, because he has done the First commandment. 

Thou shall have no other gods before Me".  He has set his eyes on the things of God.  The things of God are represented in His name.  In Psalms 91:14 the Amp discribes a person who knows God's name as being  one who "has a personal knowledge of My mercy, love, and kindness—trusts and relies on Me, knowing I will never forsake him, no, never."  That is a Kingdom Principle.   Keep your eyes on Jesus, The High Priest, the author and finisher of our faith!

The high priest Joshua of the Second Temple kept his eyes, on the eyes of Jesus (Joshua)the High Priest of Heaven!  The devil didn't have a chance! 

The Lord rebuked satan. 

He didn't even say his name, as its not only not worthy to be captilized.  We don't have to say it!  All we have to say is "The Lord rebuke you!"

The Angel of the Lord called the other angels to bring him the finest of clothing and a turban for his head.  The turban was important as in the Temple it had the inscription "Holy is the Lord" on it. 

Then, God tells him his duties as a high priest. "Walk in my ways and perform my service." Joshua could not do this until he was clean. 

We can't walk in God service until we are clean.   This morning I was getting ready to pray for a friend in India and before we started, he replied that he needed to be cleansed by the blood first.  I need that reminder. I knew that once I repented of anything known or unknown I would be ready to look fully into the Eyes of God. The blood of Jesus is the only blood that can cleanse any sin.  The blood used in the temple at Joshua's time only took care of the sin for that time, not all of the sin for an entire population for generations to come as Jesus came to do.

Joshua is promised rewards on the earth as well as authority and position in Heaven.

Then God in a vision that Zechariah is seeing, prophecies to Joshua about His own Son, Jesus, that He is a Branch that is coming. Earlier, God when rebuking satan called Joshua a burning branch plucked out of the fire. Now God is talking about an eternal Branch one that is coming that will rebuild the temple being a king and a priest. Jesus is talking about Himself!

So tomorrow begins a new day.  Who will you gaze at?  Will your gaze be ahead looking into the eyes of Jesus our High Priest or will the be to the right, looking at satan?  Those are the only two choices.  Choose wisely.

Keeping our eyes on God

I've been meditation on Zechariah 3:1-10 for several weeks. 

Zechariah 3:1-10

New King James Version (NKJV)

Vision of the High Priest

3 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. ² 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?”

³ Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and was standing before the Angel.
⁴ 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.”
⁵ 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.

The Coming Branch

⁶ Then the Angel of the Lord admonished Joshua, saying, ⁷ “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.

⁸ ‘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.
⁹ 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.
¹⁰ In that day,’ says the Lord of hosts,
‘Everyone will invite his neighbor
Under his vine and under his fig tree.’”

 

Today as I was thinking on it, I was reminded of Elijah and Jezebel and how Jezebel's threats caused Elijah to panic and run.

 

How many times do we take our eyes off of God when someone speaks evil about us, or to us, puts us down?  What would happen if we kept our eyes on  God during those times?  Would we remember His love for us?  If we did something wrong, would we repent quickly, never taking our eyes off Him? 

 

I think Elijah's attitude would have been so different had he looked at God, instead of running away in fear from Jezebel.  He would have seen himself as God sees him, a servant of the most high God.  He wouldn't have cared if he was the only prophet or one of several hundred.  His goal was to please God.  Instead and as it it with us humans, God took Elijah on a journey for several days and taught him many things.  It was not a punshiment for Elijah, it was more of a learning experience so that he would know for next time.

 

When we look at God we remember His name.  Psalms 91:14 is His promise what He will do:

 

¹⁴ Because he has set his love upon Me, therefore will I deliver him; I will set him on high, because he knows and understands My name [has a personal knowledge of My mercy, love, and kindness—trusts and relies on Me, knowing I will never forsake him, no, never].

 

 

Remember His name.  When you  look Him during those times remember that you have a personal knowledge of His mercy, love and kindness, and that you can trust on rely on Him and God will never forsake you. Heb 13:5 even states that.

 

So today when someone said something to you negativitly, cuts you down, look at Him.  He sees you with mercy and love and kindness. 

 

 

 

Kingdom lifestyles

I've finished reading 2000 years of Charismatic Christianity by Eddie Hyatt and started reading his second on on Christian Revival Heritage.  Both books are very good to read to understand why as Christian Believers we have the different denominations we have and very different viewpoints on what the Holy Spirit does in today's society, and it stems from a lot of things that took place in the Early Church period. 

One thing that has remained through out the centuries has been the Power and the workings of the Holy Spirit, even though there are denominations that believe that the gifts have ceased. 

After reading the first book, I learned several different things about the Christian faith that I didn't understand fully.  There were groups of people in the early church that were sent off to be in monasteries mainly because the church at the time didn't have a problem with healings, and tongues and but the church also didn't believe it belonged there and that is how the monks were first established.  The acts of intense praying, healing and tongues and such belonged there, and not in the church. 

Today you have people like James Goll, Ian Clayton, John Crowder and others that are putting that which had been hidden for so long in the forefront of Christianity.  Some call it "Mystic" as it is almost as if its the best term for what is still part of the Charismatic Movement.

The church is moving in a new era,  and its moving quickly.  However as I've been reading its part of an era that has been going on for centuries.

Okay in simple terms its like this.  The Bible hasn't changed.  Its still the same.  However when you read it again and again, you see so much more then you did the time before.  Its the same as living a life in Christ, which is as if we were living in the Kingdom. He has never changed, but the more you get to know Him and His Character, the more you change, but He stays the same.

There is a verse in the Bible that says "My people perish for lack of knowledge" and when we choose to not search His word for the answers to our every day activities, we do perish as we use the world's techniques. 

As I'm reading in another book called "Sacred Romance" by Bret Curtis and John Eldridge, It showed me some things that I hadn't really thought of before but in this journey of learning of prayer that has been guiding me into a Kingdom Lifestyle, I was intrigued to read the section on The message of the Arrows.

Arrows are those times in life that happen when our dreams of a Sacred Romance is shattered.  Those times when we are trying to give comfort to those that need it, yet we get slapped in the face for it, when we attempt to do good but our attempt gets rejected. 

Add the arrows of the times when we've hurt others by words and actions and when learned how to develop a Sacred Romance, we will get rejected at several times at first because our motives have changed, because we have been able to remove the Arrow, but the lack of trust has to be regained.

This all is tying together.  We lack the knowledge from past pains and suffering because of the Arrows.  We don't know how to act in the Sacred Romance because the Arrows are too deep.  The Arrows are those times when we've trusted in the world way of handling situations because at times using the Sacred Romance failed us at some time in our lives.  We end up using "the message of the Arrows" and teaching them to our children who then never learn what it means to walk in the Sacred Romance or for that matter the Kingdom as God has fully intended.

I was watching a program last night and as the people were using the terms in the fictional show as I've started using them for living in the Kingdom I was dishearten because I could see how "The Message of the Arrows" is what so many cults and such use which is  a false translation of the Sacred Romance.  This is where back in the 80's when Jonestown occurred, Waco and other cults where minds are controlled where the Arrows were mistaken for the Romance.  And its a suffering of a lack of knowledge, and through that lack of knowledge many people suffered.

The Kingdom of God is a Sacred Romance.  It is a beautiful thing, and its a desire of God that we all are with Him.  Yes cults use the same terminology, but they are using the Message of the Arrow. The Sacred Romance is truly based on the Word of God.  The Word stays the same and never changes.  His Kingdom is grand and beautiful and wonderful.  The Message of the Arrows are removed, not added on  in His Kingdom.  Its a genuine lifestyle of learning to love as the Master loves, and caring for those that the Master cares about. 

There is still so much to learn about the Kingdom, and I hope as we learn together what it means to live in the Kingdom here on Earth to debunk the lies that satan tries to tell us.  We've been lied to far to long and we need to be getting back on the road that God has intended so very long ago.

Searching job descriptions in the Kingdom

In Kingdom living, God loves to honor those who love Him.

Today I felt honored to recieve the name of Intercessor of the Warrior Bride.

I asked a friend what that meant and she thought it was to be a prayer warrior for the church.

In Kingdom living, you learn to find what the job description is by looking at His word.  So I looked up 2 Samuel 6 and 1 Chr 16-17.  Going to be an interesting study

Treating a mistake before it becomes sin

The other day I was triming back my rose bush. In picking up the brush I got a thorn from one of the branches  that went through my glove.  I pulled it out and didn't think anymore of it.  This morning when I started driving My left hand felt different and when I looked at it I saw where the thorn had pricked my skin.    I realized when I got to work I needed to wear gloves more then normal as it was an open cut on my hand and I needed to protect it more from any germs getting in there.

As I was thinking how to protect it I got to thinking about how the thorn represents sin in our lives.  It can start out as a mistake, and a mistake is not a sin, but how we handle the mistake can be.   If we don't work on protecting it and fixing the mistake and instead we make a mountian out a mole hill and start attacking others then it becomes a sin.  When a mistake involves a person, its best to protect the person as much as possible. Gossiping about it or making a bigger deal about it only harms the person  more. 

Protecting their wound will help it heal faster. Saving their face in the circumstance is the best way to keep the wound from getting bigger and getting it out of hand.  Like salve to an open wound, a kind word or act does wonders to a person who's been hurt emotionally.

Be kind to one another.  Its a quote we hear often on TV.  We all make mistakes, but don't allow it to become sin.  Reverse what happened if you can and bring kindness if possible.  And if all else fails, pray.  God can remedy any wounded heart.

"Lest I forget"

When we think of sin, we don't think of the extreme circumstance.   We don't think about the consequences that entail until afterwards, when we have that nawing feeling that something isn't right when we go before the Father. 

Its because when we choose to sin, we forget the promises we have when we are walking in His Kingdom.  We forget about all that God has given us, and in the same sense forget Him.  And He turns His back on us for a time until we are ready to repent, because He cannot look at our sin.  But, He doesn't forget us. 

When we repent, He remembers only who we are in Him. He doesn't remember the sin.  We might remember but we aren't to with any confiction as its been taken care of and we are in freedom. 

A good example of what happens is in Zech 3:1-5.  Zechariah sees a vision of Joshua standing before the Angel of the Lord and satan is on his right side to oppose him. All Joshua sees is the eyes of the Angel of the Lord, and can't hear a word that satan is telling him.  Joshua in his fithly dirty rags is standing before the King of Kings and looking at Him while the King asks for a clean clothes and a turban for his head. 

Before this, the Lord turns to satan and rebukes him.  satan has no legs to stand on, no accusations to put forth for the King of Kings had thrown them as far as the eyes could see.   They are no more in the eyes of the King. 

So when you are feeling like you haven't done enough after you've repented, read Zech 3:1-5.  Look in the eyes of the Lord, and satan will have no ground to stand on.

This is not our home

While going to and from one of my assignments today God showed me some things that I'm going to put more thought into.

1) on living on faith, look at Noah when God told him to build an ark. Noah had never seen rain, didn't know what a flood was nor an ark.  Yet Noah trusted God and His word because he was a friend of God.  it took him 100 years to build the ark to take on every animal on the earth plus his family.  100 years of ridicule from friends and neighbors yet Noah kept to the task because God told him to do it.


2) This world is not our home.  In biblical times the jewish people, God's chosen, knew that better then anyone when they were held captive in Babylon and their city was destroyed and the government was no more.  They longed to go home, to where they knew that once they rebuild Jerusalem would be home to them.  It was their city.

Heaven is our city, we are not home yet.  We are still as the God's chosen people in Babylon, if you know Christ you are God's chosen people here on earth.  God has protected us as He protected Noah in the flood.  We are safe in His arms.  As those who did still believe in God while in captivity had Jeremiah, Isaiah and other prophets as well as faithful ones like Daniel and his friends and like Niemiah and Ezra who longed to bring God's people home and waited for the day to do so, so do we.  We gave the promise of Christ at His word that He would return and take us home with Him. 

Christ is waiting for God's word to bring us home. In the mean time we can still live in God's Kingdom on earth.   We do that by living by faith.  By listening to God speak to us through His Word as events begin to unfold that are out of our realm of possiblities to solve.  Every situation that we face we can solve it by reading His word.  Even though this is not our home, we can still live like we are in the Kingdom already.