I want to wrestle as we move forward in this theme of consistency with the idea of the mentality of victory. If you’re taking notes, write this thought down to kick this whole thing off: one of the reasons you have to be consistent is because your enemy is persistent. Say it again. Come on, let’s write this down: one of the reasons you have to be consistent is because your enemy is persistent. That’s what we are going to see in the text here. So, let’s go back to Zechariah chapter 3, verse 1. This is an incredible passage of scripture. The Lord, as He is raising up Zechariah as a prophet at a time when they are rebuilding the temple, is literally placing the word of the Lord in this prophet’s mouth. Zechariah is commissioned to speak to the children of Israel and let them know that their season of despair and disillusionment has passed. They are getting ready to rebuild the temple, and the gates of hell, along with nothing in life, will be able to stop it. The voice of the Lord is coming to Zechariah to begin to educate him, because Zechariah will have to be a mouthpiece for God’s people. This is a vision that God shows Zechariah. It says, «Then he showed me Joshua, the high priest.» That name, Joshua, is important; we will come back to it, so put a bookmark there. Then He showed me Joshua, the high priest, standing before the angel of the Lord, with Satan standing at his right hand to oppose him. Now, it’s important to understand the job, role, and function of the angel of the Lord. The job, role, and function of the angel of the Lord is to accomplish what God has spoken over His children. Can I teach this morning? The angel of the Lord is God’s handyman. It is God’s guarantee in the earth that what God has spoken and decreed will take place in the earth. You have angels assigned to your life; you have angels assigned to bring breakthrough in the areas God has prophesied to you. You are not by yourself. I wish I had time to unpack that idea right there, but there’s a bigger point I want to make. So, Zechariah shows Joshua a picture—God shows Zechariah, rather, a picture of Joshua standing before the angel of the Lord, which means that he was standing in the presence of a breakthrough. The angel of the Lord is right there, and the other guy has the audacity to show up right there to oppose him. This is a very, very important point. That word, «Satan,» I want to talk about because a lot of times, we don’t like to talk about Satan. The devil is just not a positive topic. Well, there are a lot of things that aren’t positive in life. The reality is that we all have to understand—whether you want to call it Satan, the devil, or Diabolos—there is resistance, an invisible resistance that you and I have to be aware of, and we must learn how to navigate it in order to remain first and to remain consistent. That word, «Satan,» literally means an opponent. You have an opponent; this is a reality, and that opponent is always there, even when you are on the brink of a blessing, even when the angel of the Lord is right there. Your opponent is right there! I mean, just the audacity of being right there! That word, «Satan,» literally means opponent, and the primitive root of that word means to attack. Here is the reality: we live in a world where there is never a moment, on this side of heaven, that we are not confronted with the presence of resistance. You cannot be shocked, blown away, or dismayed by the reality of the opponent who is ordained to attack you and who ultimately is there to resist you. Watch this: the angel of the Lord is there, which means that God is getting ready to do something, but the opposer is there as well. His job is to attempt to stop, hinder, or resist what is getting ready to happen in your life. You must know that even when there is blessing, there is an opponent. You have to understand this because if you don’t, you’ll be mad at God and think that God is not with you when you begin to experience some resistance. There is a passage of scripture in Ephesians that talks about putting on the whole armor of God, which is in Ephesians 6, but then it says, «For we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, powers, and spiritual wickedness in heavenly places.» That word «wrestle» is an interesting word; it’s a Greek word that has the idea of vibrating. So sometimes, we stand in one of the greatest seasons, where there is one of the greatest opportunities in our lives, but we feel that vibration. We feel a wrestling.
