snatched.

zechariah 3.
then He showed me joshua, the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and satan standing at his right side to accuse him.
the Lord said to satan, "the Lord rebuke you, satan! the Lord, who has chosen jerusalem, rebuke you! is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?"
now joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel.
the angel said to those who were standing before him, "take off his filthy clothes." then He said to joshua, "see I have taken away your sin, and I will put fine garments on you."
...
"and I will remove the sin of this land in a single day.
"in that day each of you will invite your neighbor to sit under your vine and fig tree," declares the Lord Almighty.

and why?

filthy,
sin-soaked like a slice of bleached white bread lost in a calf-deep puddle of rich muddy clay,
but our Representative stands on our behalf to declare us clean, righteous, before the Judge who judges each man according to what he has done.

why?

love.
and i guess i just don't accurately comprehend yet what love means.
a gift offered, not for exchange,
free and unnecessary,
only necessary for rescuing the little image-bearing bits from the fire.

so we fix our eyes on Jesus, and we store up for ourselves a treasure that will last.

ps. sometime this week, this link will have available today's sermon [rod vansolkema / zechariah 3 / joshua / sept. 1]. a ridiculously firm foundation of truth on which we stand.