“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. The LORD said to Satan, “The LORD rebuke you, Satan! Indeed, 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 standing before the angel” (Zech 3:1-3).
Picture the scene. Satan strides up to the throne of God. Full of confidence, cocky, smug. He comes ready to gloat. He comes to accuse. This time he’s got his guilty man. This time he will win.
See, unlike Job, who Satan also accused, and who God describes as blameless and upright (Job 1:8), Joshua doesn’t fare so well in God’s assessment. Nor do the people of God, for in this text Joshua, as a high priest, stands representing the nation of Judah.
Did you notice the description of Joshua’s clothing? Filthy garments. These symbolized a sinful heart marred by transgressions. Of the people of Judah God says, “The LORD was very angry with your fathers” (Zech 1:2); hence their persecution and invasion by other nations for over 70 years (Zech 1:12). So surely Satan had his man this time.
The Adversary would accuse, and God would have to concede. His people had abandoned Him. They had worshiped another. They would have to die.
So Satan sneers, ready to lash out the first accusation. But he isn’t even given a chance to speak.
For Joshua is to be a recipient of mercy. He is a brand, or branch, plucked from the fire. Rescued. Saved. Redeemed.
The reality is that Satan is right. Joshua, representative of all of us ultimately, is dirty with sin. We are stained. None righteous. So Satan comes to accuse us. He hates mercy, but God delights in it. And God loves giving guilty people grace. He loves pulling us from the fire.
Joshua did nothing to get rescued. A dry branch cannot avoid destruction in the midst of flames. Not even a branch drenched in water can escape a blazing fire, which is what many of us try, thinking our good works will cleanse and cover up our broken, marred hearts.
I often struggle with feeling condemned, with being bombarded of thoughts of being less, or of not living up to some standard. The truth is I am. I stand guilty. I have not lived up to God’s standards. I have failed Him. I have dirtied myself with rebellion and sin. Pop culture and many counselors might tell me to combat these thoughts and perhaps reframe them in a positive light somehow.
But I wonder if it wouldn’t be better to say, Amen. I stand helpless before God the Creator. And as Satan and his cohort come to accuse me, God steps in. “She’s mine, and there’s nothing you can do. Dare you condemn whom I have chosen!” Mercy.
Seeing how God defends us makes Paul’s words sink in deeper, “Therefore there is now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus” (Rom 8:1). No, I suppose not. When the only One who can legitimately sentence us decides to pardon us and gift us with the death and resurrection of His Son (plucking us from the fires of hell), who else can stand against us? When God silences the Accuser, who else stands to speak?
So I’m learning to discern the voice of the enemy and the voice of my Advocate. I’m first learning to accept as true my guilt. Many of the thoughts that come against me are in fact accurate. But instead of a period following the accusation there is a comma followed by the words but God-“but God being rich in mercy, because of His great love with which He loved us, even when we were dead in our transgressions, made us alive together with Christ (by grace you have been saved)” (Eph 2:4, 5).
Do you feel condemned? Perhaps instead of fighting the thoughts, the first step is to acknowledge them. To come before God ,helpless and dirty. We have an enemy who knows we are dirty. But God is stronger. He silences him. Let the words of God shut him up on your behalf, “Who will bring a charge against God’s elect? God is the one who justifies; who is the one who condemns? Christ Jesus is He who died, yes, rather, who was raised, who is at the right hand of God, who also intercedes for us” (Rom 8:33, 34).
Rather than convince ourselves we aren’t good enough, let God quiet those thoughts with grace. We do deserve death. We are wrong. But we are loved. Undeserving of the grace we have been given. But as we humble ourselves in the presence of His love we will be continually changed by His mercy.
