A Filthy Priest and the Grace of God

Jim ButlerZechariah 3

Zechariah 3 sets before the reader a courtroom scene in which Joshua the high priest — clothed in garments the Hebrew describes with language reserved for human feces and vomit — stands before the Lord with Satan at his right hand, ready to accuse. The vision is an unsparing portrait of what every sinner looks like before a holy God, and the response is entirely God's: He silences the accuser, strips the filthy garments, and clothes Joshua in an alien righteousness he did nothing to earn. The sermon expounds this fourth night vision under three headings — the cleansing of Joshua, the charge given to Joshua, and the promise concerning the Branch — demonstrating that the imputation of Christ's righteousness is not a Reformation novelty but a reality enacted in visible, typological form five centuries before Calvary. The application drives toward assurance grounded not in the believer's obedience but in sovereign election and justifying grace, while calling the unconverted to believe on the Branch who came to do what God purposed for Him.