Our Judgment

Scripture: 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. 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?” Now Joshua was standing before the angel, clothed with filthy garments. 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.” Zechariah 3:1-4

Observation: Joshua is being redeemed through judgment, standing before the angel of the Lord with Satan as his accuser. However, the Lord forgives Joshua, takes away all his sin, and washes his clothes white.

While this is a VERY confusing passage, it appears there are actually FOUR participants in this.

-- Satan, who is accusing Joshua.
-- The Lord, who rebukes Satan and accepts Joshua.
-- Joshua, who does nothing.
-- The "angel of the Lord", who stands before Joshua - between Joshua and the Lord? - and is the one who washes Joshua clean and removes his iniquities/sins.

If this is true, this is certainly the model of how our judgment before God will appear some day ... with Jesus as our intercessor, between us an God, removing our iniquities and thus creating the situation where the Lord will ignore and rebuke Satan's accusations about us.

Application: If this is true, I am comforted by one element of this: the role and actions of Joshua. Joshua does not make his own defense ... likely because he has none, as we all fall short of upholding God's law and thus are deserving of punishment. However, with the "angel of the Lord" there, purifying Joshua, no other actions are needed.

I am comforted by this because there is no way I will ever be worthy to stand before God on my own. I cannot be good enough, and I would never be able to justify anything about myself before the perfect love of God. However, with the "angel of the Lord" - Jesus Christ - on my side, I will be forgiven, washed clean, forgiven, redeemed, and accepted.

Prayer: Lord, please do forgive me of my sins - all actions I do every day that cause me to fail to uphold your teaching, to harm others, and to disobey. To you is ALL glory, which is most manifested by this - you love us all so much that you provide Jesus as the perfect offering to intercede for us and allow us to receive your redemption. Jesus is the way!! I know this, I profess it, and I embrace it. Again, please forgive me when I lose sight of this moment by moment, and please give me the strength to cling to your promise in those moments more often. Amen, and amen.