Zechariah 3:1-5 (ESV)

[1] Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him. [2] And the LORD said to Satan, “The LORD rebuke you, O Satan! The LORD who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this a brand plucked from the fire?” [3] Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with filthy garments. [4] And the angel said to those who were standing before him, “Remove the filthy garments from him.” And to him he said, “Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments.” [5] And I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with garments. And the angel of the LORD was standing by.

What an incredible picture of the gospel. The high priest is standing before God in filthy garments. Satan, the adversary and accuser, is standing there as well. I can just hear his accusations, “Look at those filthy garments. You don’t deserve to be called a priest. You can’t serve God. You don’t qualify. God would never love you. Look at yourself. How despicable.” But God… 

How often the Adversary, the Enemy, accuses us and points fingers at us. He brings up our past failures. He points out our weaknesses and inabilities. He insists that God cannot use us. But God has a different perspective. God responds by turning to the high priest saying, “Behold, I have taken your iniquity away from you, and I will clothe you with pure vestments” (Zech 3:4). That is the gospel. He has taken away the filthiness. He has taken away the failure. He has taken away the weakness and the offense. Through faith in Jesus, God clothes us with his righteousness and we are pure.

Joshua, the high priest, is not fit to serve as high priest because he is holy in himself. All he had to offer were filthy garments. He is fit to serve as high priest because God made him holy. The same is true of believers today. As believers in Jesus Christ we are called, “a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession” (1 Pet 2:9a). God hasn’t made us a holy, royal priesthood for our own sake. He has moved us from darkness into light, and from filth to holiness “that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Pet 2:9b).

We tend to listen to the Accuser. We tend to see our faults and our failures. We tend to see all the reasons that God cannot use us, or will not use us. But, no matter what your past, no matter what you have done, no matter how many times you have failed, God will make you holy and pure in Christ. He wants the world to see his glory in you. Therefore he has “called you out of darkness into his marvelous light” (1 Pet 2:9b). Do not live in your past failures. Live in your present holiness for your holiness is the very holiness of God gifted to you by his grace. That is the gospel. That is the good news. That is our hope. Stand in it.