Zechariah’s little book is like a photo album. Its words paint pictures and images that communicate God’s message to his people. The people’s inability to be the holy people of God is shown in a picture. The high priest Joshua has come to the temple in dirty clothing. He is unfit to carry out his function as the one who performs the sacrifice for the people. Thus there is no way for the people to have their sins atoned for.

Joshua is not there alone before God. The Accuser (Satan means accuser) is there accusing him, pointing out that Joshua is unfit to stand in the presence of God. If Joshua presents a sacrifice, it should not be accepted. And here is the kicker: Satan is right. Joshua has no business standing before the Lord looking like that. He did not wash. He did not dress. He did not do what he had to do to follow the direction of God. Satan was accurate in all of his accusations. If you have ever felt the accusations of Satan against you, then you understand the hopelessness of Joshua’s situation.

The good news is that someone else is also there—the Angel of the Lord, who is the Lord himself. Look at the language in v2: The Lord said to Satan, "The Lord rebuke you. The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick, snatched from the fire?" This is unusual language. The Angel of the Lord uses the Name of the Lord to rebuke Satan. The Lord brings the full force of his Name to cancel any accusation as if to say, "Back off, Satan. This is the Lord talking." This is the Lord coming to Joshua’s defense in no uncertain terms. Before the Lord, the voice of the Accuser falls silent.

The Lord does not excuse Joshua. Does he say, "Look, Satan, you are being too hard on this man. After all, he had a hard week. Cut him some slack. He is not that bad." Not at all. The Lord does not excuse Joshua for his unworthiness. That is not the way God does business. God’s way is to make the unworthy one worthy. It is the same thing with your sin. The Lord does not ignore your sin, but in Christ makes you worthy for service. Dear Christian, God does not want you to rack yourself in order to try harder at doing what he has commanded. He wants you to know the joy and peace of being forgiven and empowered for ministry.

The Lord knows that Joshua cannot make himself ready by himself. That is what this whole vision is about. The Lord makes him ready. The Lord makes him clean. The Lord tells his angels to take the dirty clothes off Joshua the priest and clean him up. The Lord tells them to put clean clothes on him. Put a clean turban on his head.

When is the time for cleansing? It is when you are dirty. Joshua was dirty. He did not need to have the accuser tell him how dirty and unworthy he was. You don’t need to hear that either, do you? If you are still fooling yourself that you don’t need the cleansing blood of Christ to provide you with forgiveness, then you need to be reminded of your need. You need to turn to the Savior. But if you have realized your unworthiness before God, you don’t need Satan to tell you that all is hopeless. You need only look to your Savior to receive all you need once again.

When is the time for cleansing? It is now as God calls you into his service. It is now when God calls you to speak with love to those in your family who need it. It is now as God gives you opportunities to live for him. It is when you are called to live this Christian life. It will not do to continue in your sinful ways, trying to get yourself ready to serve the Lord. Joshua does not pretend that he is worthy and able to do the great task of conducting the sacrifice. It will not do for you to push on ahead in your unworthiness either.

Who is to do this cleaning? Who is able to get you ready to be the Christian that God has called you to be? The person who is to make you worthy and ready is not you. It is the Lord himself. God who takes our sin away when we first come to the Savior is the one who continues to take it away and make us his children in deed and in truth.

What are you to do? Continue to repent of the sin that God shows you. You must be continually cleansed from your sin in order to be used of God. May God give you a humble heart to see your need to be made clean. May the Lord give you a humble heart to lean on the Lord and not on your own self. If you hold on to your pride, you hold on to your sin as well. You need cleansed.

Why was Joshua cleansed? So God could use him to point others to Christ. His whole function as priest was to stand as a signpost for Christ. Verse 8 tells us that the priest’s job was to stand as a symbol pointing to the day when Christ, the righteous Branch will take away the sin of the people in a single day. Why have you been cleansed? So God can use you to point others to Christ. You are a signpost as well. In that day, each of you will invite his neighbor to sit under his vine and fig tree (v 10). The result of the new life that Christ brings means we will invite our neighbors to join into this new life that we have been given in Christ.

Dear Christian, God has saved you for a reason. That reason is God’s glory. What greater way to increase the glory of God than to have more people rejoicing in it? God will use you to invite others to know our Lord Jesus. If you are truly his, you will be a witness. You want to be a good one, don’t you?

Now is the time to rededicate your heart and life to Christ. Don’t listen to the voice of the accuser. Listen to your Lord who makes you holy and effective.