We live in a world of condemnation. Even when we do our best to say and do right things we are often misunderstood and judged incorrectly. It hurts when people misunderstand us and say things about us that are not true. It hurts even more when those who accuse us are our close family and friends.
Joshua was the high priest of those returning to Israel from the exile of seventy years. In Zechariah chapter 1 we see a scene that is set in heaven. Satan is accusing Joshua before the Lord. His accusations are always the same: we are unrighteous, sinful beings who have no right to the presence of God. Satan’s accusations would be true except for one very important fact. Jesus died for us and has cleansed us of all sin and wrongdoing by His precious Blood.
Zechariah 3:1-7 Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the Angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to oppose him. And the LORD said to Satan, “The LORD rebuke you, Satan! The LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?” Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and was standing before the Angel. Then He answered and spoke to those who stood before Him, saying, “Take away the filthy garments from him.” And to him He said, “See, I have removed your iniquity from you, and I will clothe you with rich robes.” And I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head, and they put the clothes on him. And the Angel of the LORD stood by. Then the Angel of the LORD admonished Joshua, saying, “Thus says the LORD of hosts: ‘If you will walk in My ways, And if you will keep My command, Then you shall also judge My house, And likewise have charge of My courts; I will give you places to walk Among these who stand here.
Notice that standing before the Lord with satan, is the “Angel of the Lord”. This is none other than Jesus Christ before He permanently took the body of a human being at Bethlehem.
As satan brings his accusation against Joshua, Jesus is standing there to defend him and rebuke satan.
The text of this portion of Zechariah says that “The Lord has chosen Jerusalem as a brand plucked from the fire.” When Jesus found us and cleaned us of our sins, we were also “brands plucked from the fire”. Hell was our eternal destination, we were without hope and completely lost.
Ephesians 2:1-7 And you He made alive, who were dead in trespasses and sins, in which you once walked according to the course of this world, according to the prince of the power of the air, the spirit who now works in the sons of disobedience, among whom also we all once conducted ourselves in the lusts of our flesh, fulfilling the desires of the flesh and of the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, just as the others. But God, who is rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in trespasses, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved), and raised us up together, and made us sit together in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, that in the ages to come He might show the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.
The high priest Joshua is described as having “filthy garments” as he stood before the Angel of the Lord. The literal Hebrew language here is much more descriptive than the English language that this verse was translated from. In Hebrew the idea is that not only are Joshua’s garments dirty, they are covered with escrement.
As Jesus speaks, he commands that the filth of Joshua’s garment be “taken away from him and that he be given clean garments. In the Bible, the Lord often speaks of all human efforts to be righteous as being “Filthy Garments”. The prophet Isaiah describes all of our works of righteousness without Jesus Christ as being “filthy rags”.
Isaiah 64:6 But we are all like an unclean thing, And all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags; We all fade as a leaf, And our iniquities, like the wind, Have taken us away.
Joshua’s standing before the Lord and his qualification to serve God and be the high priest of Israel, was made possible because of his reliance upon the future cleansing power of the coming Messiah Jesus Christ. Because of Jesus payment for our sins, there is therefore NOW no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus.
Romans 8:1 There is therefore now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus, who do not walk according to the flesh, but according to the Spirit.
Your friends and your family may not believe that you have any right to call yourself a Christian. They may know you as someone who has often said and done things that they view as being the opposite of a person who is truly a Christian. What they do not realize is that all of us constantly make these missteps is our speech and our deeds. On this side of heaven, it is not possible for any human being to consistently be without sin.
However, from the moment that you sincerely believed in Jesus Christ as the Savior of all your sins and placed your full confidence in Him, God viewed you as a truly righteous person, worthy of heaven and all the benefits of eternal life. Every day as you continue to make mistakes and commit sin, when you confess those sins to the Father, in Jesus name, you have continuing fellowship with God and remain in His favor.
Today as you walk with Jesus, meditate on the fact that you exist now and forever as a perfect, sinless being before the God of the Universe. There is no spot or stain upon your record. Jesus having paid for all your sins on the Cross, has given you a right and perfect standing with the Father. That knowledge should encourage you to sin even less and appreciate even more, the sacrifice that Jesus made for you and the eternal forgiveness that is yours.
Rob Robinson
