Celebrate Cleansing
Celebrate Cleansing
Read: Zechariah 3
In that day each of you will invite his neighbor to sit under his vine and fig tree.
Zechariah 3:10
IN WORD The Judge told Joshua that He would remove the sin of the land in a single day (v. 9). In immediate terms, that judgment was effected for the captives upon their return to the Promised Land. In ultimate terms, however, it wasn’t applied until a sinless man acting as an offering for the human race was sacrificed on a Roman cross. The decree of the court was swiftly and officially implemented with the execution of an innocent man.
But God’s removal of sin wasn’t the final step of His judgment. Those who are freed are to share their freedom with the community. The Judge’s decision is universally applied to those who will accept it. Liberty isn’t much fun unless it’s a shared experience.
The picture Zechariah gives us is of a group of released, guilt-free people celebrating their freedom with those around them. They invite their neighbors to sit under their vines and fig trees. They eat and drink together, laugh together, and tell stories of the merciful Judge who exonerated them. Captivity had twisted their thinking, suppressed their desires, and shamed their souls. Now everything has been set right.
IN DEED How do you celebrate your freedom? Don’t worry; this passage is not a command to go plant a vine and a fig tree in your yard so you can invite the neighbors to sit under them. It is, however, a snapshot of what salvation is supposed to look like. Our cleansing is supposed to be celebrated among many.
Those who have been released from a huge sense of oppression from sin are more likely to express their exuberance, but the release is just as dramatic for all of us, whether or not we feel it. If we really saw the whole truth of what the Judge has decreed and how emphatically He cut off the accuser’s testimony, we would feel like throwing a party. And we would invite all the neighbors.
All our life is a celebration for us . . . God is always everywhere.
—CLEMENT OF ALEXANDRIA
From the book
