“OUT, DAMNED
SPOT”:
GOD’S SOLUTION FOR
THE POLLUTED SOUL
Lady Macbeth could not stop rubbing her hands together.
She
sleepwalks and mumbles a conversation she had with her husband when they
conspired to murder King Duncan. Once they had the crown, she tells her
husband, there would be nothing to fear. Lady Macbeth did not count on the
amount of blood Duncan would produce.
As Lady
Macbeth replays this scene for the eavesdroppers, her doctor and her lady in
waiting, she not only incriminates herself, but also reveals the pangs of
conscience she had ridiculed in her husband. She rubs her hands as if to wash
away the blood. Her maid notes that she does this for fifteen minutes straight,
pauses, and then begins again. Lady Macbeth eyes an imaginary spot on her hand,
a blood stain, and yells, “Out, damned spot.”
This is
no coffee stain, it is blood. Macbeth himself said how an ocean could not wash
his hands clean. Such is the nature of a guilty conscience. Shakespeare keenly
observed how the sinful act was impossible to erase from one’s mind.
Jeremiah
noted too, “Although you wash yourself
with soda and use an abundance of soap, the stain of your guilt is still before
me,” declares the Sovereign LORD,” (Jer. 2:22).
Our
world is polluted. We have become fastidious about environmental waste and
restoring our ecology. We groom our lawns, wash with antibacterial soap, and are
careful to wear clothes without stains. But our hearts have suffered pollution
too, the pollution of living in a sinful world. We bear the stains of sin
simply by our dwelling here. How can we serve a holy God when our souls are
polluted with sin?
God solves
our pollution issue by an act of grace ministered through a perfect priest.
Zechariah
3 tells us how God solves our pollution problem. Zechariah was a young prophet,
born in Babylon but who returns to Jerusalem in 538 BC. Impoverished, without
resources and a dim future, the Jews who returned to Jerusalem after 70 years
of exile have little hope. Zechariah began to prophesy to the Jews and
encouraged them to rebuild the temple. In the eleventh month of the second year
of King Darius, Zechariah was given eight visions. This is one of them.
1. Satan accuses while God chooses
In the vision, Joshua, the high priest, stands before the
LORD to minister for the people. Satan (the adversary/the accuser) stands
beside him on the right side in the place of the prosecuting attorney. Satan’s
plan is always to oppose God’s plan to save his people. Joshua, as priest,
represents the remnant of Jews who returned to Jerusalem. So Satan attacks them
all by focusing on Joshua.
What is
Satan’s accusation? Satan argued before the LORD that the ministry of this high
priest was invalid because he was a sinner. How can a sinful high priest atone
for the sins of God’s people? If Joshua is unclean, his ministry cannot be
effective and so the people themselves are still in their sin and cannot be
saved.
Normally
we say that when Satan talks he speaks his native language: he lies. But for a
brief moment here, he is right. How can we minister the gospel of grace to
people who need to hear the good news of Jesus when we ourselves have a
regretful past? We have sinned; we still sin. Where is the victory in that?
Even the
good we do is stained with the blood of our guilt. Isaiah said, “All of us have become like one who is
unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags…” (Is. 64:6).
Satan has a case against us.
God
knows Satan’s aim is to prevent people from being accepted by God. The LORD
rebukes Satan in this vision and utters a proverbial saying, “Is not this man a burning stick snatched
from the fire?” (cf. Amos 4:11). The LORD has chosen Jerusalem (aka the
People) and delivered them from exile in Babylon, he will not abandon them. God
has chosen them.
You know
how it is when you grab a stick of wood out of the fire – it is blackened by
the soot of the fire – makes your hands dirty. The people have been rescued but
they are not without stain from their time spent in a foreign land.
Believers
in God, you have been snatched from the fire, delivered from destruction, but
bear the black soot of your past. God chooses you to serve Him, but how do you
serve with your past sins staining your person?
2. New clothes make the man…or woman
The Persian king, Darius, allowed the Jews to return to
the land of Israel to rebuild Jerusalem and the temple. But they were poor and
had few resources. Joshua served before the LORD in tattered, filthy clothes.
They were all he had.
Satan no
longer appears in the vision. God has dealt with him by the declaration that
Joshua was chosen. When God chooses you there is no argument against that
choice.
The
angel of the LORD commands some unidentified persons near Joshua to “take off
his filthy clothes.” Then the LORD says, “See,
I have taken away your sin, and I will put fine garments on you,” (4b).
There
are two aspects to God’s gracious act. First, he does what Joshua cannot do
himself – take off the filthy clothes. Second, he invites Joshua to “see” –
“see” means “open your eyes; look at; consider God’s Word.” The LORD said, “I
have taken away your sin,” in other words, “I alone have done this; I alone can
do this.” He has not taken away a million sins and left one – he has taken them
all away.
These
filthy clothes, these are a picture of sin removed. They have taken every piece
of his priestly vestments away, everything that was defiled, and there he
stands in nakedness. But there is no defilement on him – all filth is gone. So
it is with every pardoned sinner who comes before the cross of Christ in
repentance. As easily as we take off the barn clothes and put on a suit, so
easily does God take away our sin. And not only does the LORD take away our
sin, but the consciousness of it too. If you feel that you could not serve God
because sin was too heavy on you, look to Jesus who bore all that sin away and
hear him say “It is finished.” Yes, you still sin, but know that you are
blood-washed sinner, saved by grace, and now wear your Savior’s clothes – holy
clothes – clothes that allow you into the presence of God.
They say
that clothes make the man. Shakespeare actually said something of that nature.
Woman or man, it doesn’t matter, when you put on good clothes, you feel like a
different person than when you wear your dirty work clothes. An internal change
takes place. Try going to a banquet in ripped and dirty jeans and see if you
psychologically can stand it. The suit or outfit does something to you. God
does something to you more powerfully when he dresses you.
3. New clothes, new responsibility
A popular clothing company sponsors a suit drive every
year. They invite people to donate their gently used suits for a discount on
new suits. The donated suits are then given to men who are re-entering the
workforce. I don’t know if they are recently released prisoners or folks who
have experienced hard times and homelessness. The suits help them feel good,
equipped to work.
Joshua
was given new clothes. And with new clothes came a charge. Joshua was recommissioned
to serve in the temple on behalf of the people. “This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘If you walk in obedience to me
and keep my requirements, then you will govern my house and have charge in my
courts, and I will give you a place among these standing here” (7).
There
are two parts to this charge: First, Joshua is to walk in God’s ways. That
means committing himself to knowing and living according to God’s revealed
character and purposes. Sounds easy, right? Well you know it’s not. Second, Joshua
must perform faithfully the rituals of his priestly duty. This was an area of
failure for Israel before the exile. Basically, God is asking for faithfulness
and obedience.
What
does God expect of the restored servant? To serve. Satan wanted to disqualify
you because you bore the filthy clothes of your past – you could not serve. God
has put new clothes on you – we are clothed with Christ – to re-enter the
workforce of God’s kingdom and serve.
This
part of the vision reminds me of Jesus’ parable of the talents. Each servant
was given a charge and the master expected the servant to do something with it.
Two servants took this charge and made it grow. The third took his suit, as it
were, and buried it. You have been given clothes to serve the LORD with, now
what will you do with them?
4. Can we keep these clothes clean?
No! We still live in a sin-polluted world. Do you
remember when we used to have wear Sunday clothes to church and then wear them
all day? I did. It was hard to watch my friends playing outside our house in
the autumn leaves. If I went out and joined them, my clothes would not only be
awkward for play but would become dirty.
In the
final scene of this vision, the LORD tells Joshua that his role as priest, and
the role of Zerubbabel (the governor/king rep) are but a foreshadow of things
to come. While the job of the king is to establish a righteous and just
kingdom, the job of the priest is to minister to the souls of the people. These
two roles are going to be fully met in one person, something unheard of in the
history of Israel.
The LORD
tells Joshua that he will send his servant whom he calls “the Branch,” whom he
turns and describes as an all-seeing stone. Through the ministry of this
branch/stone, the LORD says, “and I will
remove the sin of this land in a single day” (9b). That is an amazing feat.
Can you imagine the sins of this land gone in one day? The Jews, with all their
rituals and sacrifices offered bulls for days and days for the sins of the
nation. One day would have seemed unbelievable.
The
Branch is not identified in this text. The LORD does not give any clues to his
person. But we read further in 6:12-13 about this Branch. It is said he will
build the temple – this is the dwelling place of God. Where will this temple be
located? Then it says that the Branch will rule on the throne like a king and
he will be a priest also. And there will be no conflict in his performing both
roles. Who is this Branch?
You know
its Jesus. In Hebrews 4:14-16 we read about this dual role. The writer tells us
we have a great high priest – the one performs the ritual to remove sin – and
he is Jesus the Son of God – “Son of God” is an ancient term for the Israelite
king. Jesus is priest and king who clothes us with grace to approach the throne
of grace in our time of need.
Can we
keep these clothes clean? No, but he will. “Unlike
other high priests, he does not need to offer sacrifices day after day, first
for his own sins and then for the sins of the people. He sacrificed for their
sins once for all when he offered himself” (Heb. 7:27). Sin and guilt are
covered by Jesus. We can serve God without wringing our hands and worrying over
the spots of blood stain. We are free!
“The woman who was caught
in adultery (John 8:1-11) and brought before Jesus was viciously accused by a
ring of self-righteous finger-pointers. She was torn from the bedroom-caught in
the very act-the Scripture says. If she was clothed at all she must have been
clothed somewhat like Joshua was in this vision, in some shred of clothing,
grabbed at the last moment. Disheveled-certainly guilty-she stood in public
before the Lord himself. The servants of Satan ringed her, accusing pointing
their fingers, deriding and belittling her, spewing out incontrovertible facts
about her. The crowd wanted to stone her and urged Jesus to lead in the
judgment of this woman. But his word, his actions, his strength and his power
saved her. He was the one who silenced the voices of accusation. No one else
could have done so. His understanding of human nature and his authority from
God stopped all of her accusers and sent them away in subdued self-examination.
The word of Jesus Christ had clothed her in clean garments as well: Neither do
I condemn you he said. Because he had the authority to forgive her she was
forgiven utterly for what she had done.”[i]
Zechariah’s prophecy began with the word of the LORD: If
you return to me, I will return to you. Joshua, the priest, was standing before
the LORD. That’s exactly where he needed to be.
If you have stood before the cross of Christ and repented
of your sin and declared that Jesus is both Lord and Savior, nothing can hinder
your service to him. Satan can accuse you, your own conscience can betray you,
but Jesus has chosen you and in him you are clothed anew.
Look at your hands – do you see the cursed spot? It’s not
there. Look at your neighbor’s hands – do you see that cursed spot? No, it is
gone, covered by the blood of Jesus. Now use those hands to serve the LORD!
AMEN
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