Go, climb Mount Zion, and rebuke the darkness that covers it for at least 3 nights. How? By going outside at night with a humble attitude and saying this statement of rebuke against our evil forces:
“The Lord rebukes you, Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem, rebukes you!” — Zechariah 3:2
What happened afterwards? Joshua was given salvation by the angels standing around him. “Now Joshua had on filthy garments and was standing before the angel. He said to those standing before him, ‘Take off his filthy garments.’ Then he said, ‘See, I have removed from you your iniquity, and I will clothe you with rich robes.’ I said, ‘Let them place a pure turban on his head.’ So they put a pure turban on his head and garments on him while the angel of the Lord was standing by.”
The filthy clothes on Joshua (garments), symbolized his sinful state. They took those garments off of him in exchange for righteousness (rich robes and turban) The rich robes and turban points to a renewed Joshua, courtesy of God’s grace upon him.
So what happens after salvation? We are told to carry out God’s will. While we carry out the Father’s will through Christ, He will start fulfilling the rest of His Promises personally to us.
“So do not throw away your confidence. It will be richly rewarded. You need to persevere so that when you have done the will of God, you will receive what He has promised. ‘For in just a little while, he who is coming will come and will not delay.’ Also, ‘But my righteous one will live by faith, and I take no pleasure in the one who shrinks back.’ But we do not belong to those who shrink back and are destroyed, but to those who have faith and are saved.” — Hebrews 10:35-39, 2 Corinthians 7:1
“The angel of the Lord admonished Joshua, saying, ‘Thus says the Lord of Hosts: If you walk in My ways and keep My charge, then you will judge My house and guard My courts, and I will give to you access to these who are standing here.’ ” — Zechariah 3:6-7
” ‘For I will take you from among the nations and gather you out of all countries and will bring you into your own land. Then I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and you shall be clean. From all your filthiness and from all your idols, I will cleanse you. Also, I will give you a new heart, and a new spirit I will put within you. I will take away the stony heart out of your flesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. I will put My Spirit within you and cause you to walk in My statutes, and you will keep My judgments and do them. You will dwell in the land that I gave to your fathers, and you will be My people, and I will be your God.’ ” — Ezekiel 36:24-28
Before you accuse me of “dabbling and encouraging others to dabble with other spirits,” Scripture also tells us that pure angels are only messengers of God who also carries out God’s will. “Of the angels He says: ‘He makes His angels spirits, and His servants a flame of fire’ ” and, “Are not all angels ministering spirits sent out to minister to those who will inherit salvation?” — Hebrews 1:7, 14
I’ve read too many who complained about sin and suffering. But not many of you have carefully examined this part of the Gospel and obeyed it. There is no salvation prayer because God doesn’t listen to sinners. That’s why being a sinner is a horrible curse upon us all (Genesis 3). Zechariah and other Scripture passages reveal that salvation comes after we first confront the darkness. It is written,
“For He will command His angels concerning you to guard you in all your ways. They will lift you up in their hands, so that you will not strike your foot against a stone. You will tread on the lion and the cobra, you will trample the great lion and the serpent,”
another,
“All this is from God, who reconciled us to Himself through Christ and gave us the Ministry of Reconciliation, that God was reconciling the world to Himself in Christ, not counting people’s sins against them. He has committed to us the message of reconciliation.”
Come on, people, we can do this! How hard can it be? “For it is time for judgment to begin with God’s household, and if it begins with us, what will the outcome be for those who do not obey the Gospel of God? So,
if it is hard for the righteous to be saved,
what will become of the ungodly and the sinner?”
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