Friday, December 20

WHO?

Zechariah 3

     “Who is on the Lord's side?  Let him come unto me. And all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto Moses.”  The Levites were blessed that day because they came to honor the Lord and God who made them His priests.  Many hundreds of years later, Joshua was the High Priest of Israel.  The priestly office was to offer up sacrifice for his own sins, and then, for the sins of the people.  Jesus did not have to atone for His sins because Jesus was blameless, holy, pure, and without sin. He was a perfect priest who atoned for the whole world, and even shed His own blood on the cross for every one of us.  Who will this Jesus be?  He will be our Supreme High Priest.

     When Joshua, the High Priest, was standing before the Lord, Satan was accusing him because of his filthy garments.  The Lord rebuked Satan for hindering Joshua because he was chosen by God to carry out the priestly duties. “But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousnesses are as filthy rags.”  In Luke 15, the prodigal son went away from his father's house and spent his money on filthy living.  The prodigal son is just like us before we come to be a Christian.  The Lord has a plan for us, but for His plan to work, we must humble ourselves and come to Him.  Joshua, the high priest, the prodigal son, and all of us have on filthy, sin stained garments that need to be purged and replaced with fine, clean, and bright linen which is the righteousness of Christ. Who will this Jesus be? He will be our Righteousness.

     “And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots.”  Jesus will be a living Branch. The branch will be beautiful, glorious, and fruitful. In John 15, it says, “I am the vine, ye are the branches.”  We must come to Him and be fruitful, “being filled with the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.”  To be fruitful, we must abide in Him, and He in us.  Who will this Jesus be?  He will be the Branch.

     Jesus, the Builder of the temple, wants to build the temple of the Lord in our hearts and engrave His law there.  A cornerstone is the principal stone that unites together two walls to form the building's corner.  For the foundation to be straight the cornerstone must be straight.  We can be a foolish builder or a wise builder depending on our foundation.  To be wise we will trust in Jesus and we will stand in a storm and not be shaken.  “As lively stones, we are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.”  Who will He be?  Jesus will be our Cornerstone.

~ Anthony J. Parrotta