Dirty Laundry

Joshua the High Priest (Zechariah 3)

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   One of the chores that seems almost endless in the home is doing laundry. I'm convinced that elves, our cat, or someone is coming into our closet each night and increasing our pile of dirty clothes. Try as we might, we can never seem to keep up with the laundry. And it's just my wife and me. I can't imagine what it must be like for everyone else who have kids do deal with.

   This image of dirty clothes is a common one even in Scripture. One such image is found in the book of Zechariah, where Joshua the high priest is standing before the angel of the Lord and is being accused by Satan. In chapter 3, beginning in verse 3, Zechariah records the following, "Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments and standing before the angel. He spoke and said to those who were standing before him saying, 'Remove the filthy garments from him.' Again he said to him, 'See, I have taken away your iniquity from you and will clothe you with festal robes.' Then 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, while the angel of the Lord was standing by (Zechariah 3:3-5)." In a similar way to the high priest Joshua, Revelation 12:10 describes Satan as the one "who accuses [the brethren] before God day and night." However, listen to the rest of the verse. "Then I heard a loud voice in heaven saying, 'Now the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ has come, for the accuser of our brethren has been thrown down, he who accuses them before God day and night."

   It is so tempting to see ourselves in the light of who we were before our redemption. We either live in our old garments without regret, content with our old rags, or we beat ourselves up over who we were, believing the voice of our accuser. However, Paul writes in Ephesians 4:20-24, "But you did not learn Christ in this way, if indeed you have heard Him and have been taught in Him, just as truth is in Jesus, that, in reference to your former manner of life, you lay aside the old self, which is being corrupted in accordance with the lusts of deceit, and that you be renewed in the spirit of your mind, and put on the new self, which in the likeness of God has been created in righteousness and holiness of truth."

   Like Joshua, the high priest of old, God has taken away our iniquity and given us new robes in its place. This week, as you see that never-ending pile of laundry, let it remind you to put on Christ and the righteousness He supplies, knowing that our accuser has been defeated.