Week of February 22nd, 2026
Encouragement from God's Word
Zechariah 3:1–9
1 Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right side to accuse him. 2 The LORD said to Satan, “The LORD rebuke you, Satan! The LORD, who has chosen Jerusalem, rebuke you! Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?”
3 Now Joshua was dressed in filthy clothes as he stood before the angel. 4 The angel said to those who were standing before him, “Take off his filthy clothes.”
Then he said to Joshua, “See, I have taken away your sin, and I will put rich garments on you.”
5 Then I said, “Put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him, while the angel of the LORD stood by.
6 The angel of the LORD gave this charge to Joshua: 7 “This is what the LORD Almighty says: ‘If you will walk in my ways and keep my requirements, then you will govern my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you a place among these standing here.
8 “ ‘Listen, O high priest Joshua and your associates seated before you, who are men symbolic of things to come: I am going to bring my servant, the Branch. 9 See, the stone I have set in front of Joshua! There are seven eyes on that one stone, and I will engrave an inscription on it,’ says the LORD Almighty, ‘and I will remove the sin of this land in a single day.’ ”
Besides his filthy work of tempting us, Satan excels as an “accuser.” He accuses us of sin – and he is often correct!
But the Lord will not listen to Satan. In v. 2, the Lord emphatically silenced Satan. The Lord is filled with forgiveness and love for his people. The Lord did not want to hear – and he did not want Joshua to hear – accusations of sin that carried with them the implication that the Lord was angry at Joshua.
In a vivid picture for us, the Lord then put clean clothes on to Joshua the high priest. These clean clothes symbolized the purity of Joshua because his sins were forgiven.
Finally, as the end of these verses, the Lord looked ahead to Jesus. Here, Jesus is called “the Branch.” Jesus was coming to fully remove all sin. In fact, “I will remove the sin of this land in a single day” looks ahead to Good Friday. In one, powerful act, Jesus Christ has removed all our sins.
The devil is a liar in all he says. His temptations are lies. His accusations are also lies. Jesus has set you free from sin. Live in that peace and confidence.
