“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 3:5
In the book of Revelation, in the Lord’s letter to the church at Laodicea, he told them of their true spiritual state which was that they were spiritually “wretched, and miserable, and poor, adn blind, and naked.” (3:17) He then goes on to present to them His remedy: “I consel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment that thou mayest be clothed…” (v.18) There is not doubt that the gold of which He speaks is that precious righteousness that comes only from God, a “rightness” in the sight of God, found only in Jesus Christ, so very precious to the Father. But then He speaks of being clothed. In this case the raiment is white, pure, holy, without spot and more than sufficient to cover all that the sinner is, has ever done independently of God. Adam and Eve first exibited this “shame” of which the Lord speaks, as a result of their sin. So, the believers in Laodicea bear shame for their sin, a sin that has crept in through the acceptance of a false value system. That system teaches that if one is increased with goods, and is of a mentality that one has no need of anything, especially God, then one should be content, being “lukewarm” in their pursuit of the Lord, and His holiness. This mentality, in light of the sacrifice of Christ on the Cross to save all men for eternity from sin, self, the world, and Satan, is totally unacceptable to God, even to the point of saying that He would “…spue thee ouf of My mouth.” (v.16) However, the remedy of Christ is clear. There must be a coming to Him, and to Him alone, for cleansing from sin. It is at this point that God will give His Spirit to the seeking heart, enabling the believer to build his life upon the sole foundation of the saving life of Christ. This is worthy in the spiritual realm, as gold is in the physical. With regard to clothing, there must be the receiving of the holiness of Christ’s righteousness. There is only one “white” clothing given by Christ, and it is that of Christ Himself. Yet, it is also a clothing of that which is well-pleasing to God, good and worthy works by the Spirit. It is as the believer lives, works, and serves God in this manner, that there is no shame, only a subject for great rejoicing.
In the book of Zechariah, we have another picture concerning this matter of clothing. This time it refers to the personal need of a very important person. It will be by the preaching of Zechariah and Haggai that the people will be again stirred up to seek God, and believe Him for the building of the second temple. A person that is key to this endeavor is Joshua the high priest. He is the intermediary between God the the people, with regard to him being a representative before God, but also an intercessor. That position had been given to him by God. To a great extent the success of the endeavor to rebuild the temple depended upon this man of faith. But Satan knows how to hinder the work of God, for he knows that if there is sin that is allowed and tolerated in the life, then the blessing of God will not be upon the believer. We do not know all that Joshua was guilty of, but God did. The problem of Joshua’s sin was that he could not adequately deal with it. God alone can forgive, and remove the guilt and taint of sin. Joshua will remain spiritually paralyzed until, in repentance and faith, God acts to remove his filthy garments, clothing him with clean ones. His renewed calling was to walk before God, and accomplish his mission.
Dear Father, Cleanse and clothe us anew today. In Jesus’ name, Amen.