The Accusation Was Accurate and It Was Overruled Anyway

There is a category of trouble that no encouragement reaches, and it is the one where the accusation is right.

Most of what gets said to a struggling person assumes they are being harder on themselves than the facts warrant. Somebody tells them they are being too hard on themselves, and they nod, and they know it is not true, because they have the facts and the person encouraging them does not.

They did the thing. It was not a misunderstanding. Nobody has exaggerated it, and if the whole account were read out in that room word for word, they would not be able to correct a single detail.

So what is left? Encouragement is off the table, because encouragement requires the charge to be overstated somewhere, and this one is not.

Zechariah 3 is about a man in exactly that position, and the astonishing thing about the chapter is what is never said in it.

The scene, and the clothes are the evidence

Here is the setup, and everything about it is deliberate.

And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him... Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel. (Zechariah 3:1,3, King James Version)

Clothed with filthy garments. The Hebrew word is strong and it is not a word about dust. It is the least dignified word available, and it is being used about the high priest, in the sanctuary, on duty.

So the accusation does not have to be argued. It is visible. The evidence is on him and everybody can see it, which is precisely the situation of somebody who agrees with the charge.

And standing before the angel. He has not run. He is present, in the room, in the clothes, which is more than most people manage.

You are still standing in the room, and Scripture records that as where the man was. Zechariah 3:3 has him present and clothed in the evidence, and it is by the Spirit, Zechariah 4:6, that the whole vision is summed up as not by might nor by power but by My Spirit.

Nobody denies a word of it

Read the answer, and then read it again looking for a defense.

And the LORD said unto Satan, The LORD rebuke thee, O Satan; even the LORD that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire? (Zechariah 3:2)

There is no counter-evidence. There is no character witness. Nobody says the garments are cleaner than they look, nobody says Joshua has been misrepresented, and nobody explains anything.

The accuser is rebuked and the ground given is not innocence. It is chosen, and then a picture: a brand plucked out of the fire, which is a description of a half-burnt stick that somebody reached in and took, and the burning is admitted in the image.

That is the whole answer to somebody whose charge is accurate. The case is not answered on the merits. It is dismissed on the ground of who reached in.

You are a brand plucked out of the fire, and the burning is admitted in the description. Zechariah 3:2 gives the rebuke on the ground of choosing rather than of innocence, and it is by His Spirit, Zechariah 4:6, that the work in that whole vision is said to be done.

Then somebody changes his clothes while he stands there

The next verse is where the passage does something almost nobody expects.

And he answered and spake unto those that stood before him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him he said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment. (Zechariah 3:4)

Take away the filthy garments from him. An instruction given to others, about him, while he is standing there saying nothing.

Joshua does not undress himself. He is not told to go and get cleaned up and come back. He is not asked to explain how the garments got that way. Other people are instructed to remove them, in front of him, and he contributes nothing to the entire operation.

And then the sentence: I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee. Past tense, God as the subject, stated as an accomplished fact in the middle of the room where the accusation is still hanging in the air.

You have had it caused to pass from you, and Somebody else did the causing. Zechariah 3:4 puts the verb in God's mouth in a completed tense, and it is by His Spirit, Titus 3:5, that the washing and renewing are described as done rather than achieved.

The prophet speaks up about the turban

There is a small human detail in verse 5 that I love, because it is the only moment anybody in the scene volunteers anything.

And I said, Let them set a fair mitre upon his head. So they set a fair mitre upon his head, and clothed him with garments. (Zechariah 3:5)

And I said. That is Zechariah, the man watching. He has been silent through the whole vision and suddenly he speaks up and asks for one more thing, and it is granted immediately.

The mitre was the headpiece with the plate on it that said Holiness to the LORD. So the prophet is asking not only that the man be clean but that he be restored to function, publicly, wearing the thing that identifies him as the one who goes in.

And nobody objects. The request is granted in the same verse, which tells you what the atmosphere in that room actually was.

You are restored to function and not only to cleanness, and nobody objected to it. Zechariah 3:5 grants the mitre in the same verse it is asked for, and it is the Holy Spirit, Ephesians 1:13, by whom a believer is sealed for exactly that kind of standing.

The accuser has a job title and a deadline

Revelation names the same figure and says something about the volume of the work.

for the accuser of our brethren is cast down, which accused them before our God day and night. (Revelation 12:10)

Day and night. That is the schedule, and anybody who has lain awake at three in the morning has met that schedule personally.

And the ground of the victory in the next verse is not the quality of anybody's defense.

And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony. (Revelation 12:11)

By the blood of the Lamb. Which is a payment rather than an argument, and it is why the accuracy of the charge is not the deciding factor. A payment does not dispute the amount.

And by the word of their testimony. Which is the second half and it is spoken. There is something a person says, out loud, and it is not a denial of the charge; it is a statement about what was paid.

You have overcome by a payment and a spoken word rather than by a defense. Revelation 12:11 names the blood and the testimony rather than any counter-evidence, and it is by the Spirit of our God, 1 Corinthians 6:11, that a person is described as washed and sanctified and justified.