Pollution Solution

The Western world is very concerned about pollution. Man, of course, is one of the chief polluters, but we know that animals also pollute. Current research indicates that even plants contribute to pollution. And many people, including our own Environmental Protection Agency, are working hard to find a solution to the problem of global pollution.

Western men and women are also concerned with personal cleanliness. Thus, they meticulously clean their houses, groom their lawns and their persons, and are careful to wear clothing without stains. But what about the internal pollution of our stained human hearts? We may claim to be clean, as the Pharisees did, but Jesus explodes our self-confidence: “For out of the heart come evil thoughts, murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false testimony, slander. These are what make a man ‘unclean'” (Matthew 15:19-20). In fact, this internal pollution is the cause of environmental abuse and destruction.

Man’s polluted condition is mentioned throughout the Scriptures. Isaiah said, “All of us have become like one who is unclean, and all our righteous acts are like filthy rags” (Isaiah 64:6). Jeremiah said, “The heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked: who can know it?” (Jeremiah 17:9 KJV). Jeremiah also said, “‘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” (Jeremiah 2:22). And Job asked, “What is man, that he could be pure, or one born of woman, that he could be righteous?” (Job 15:14).

What is the solution to our pollution problem? It is not found in man. God must clean up both us and our environment. God himself must create a new man, a new heaven, and a new earth wherein dwells righteousness.

The Accused

Zechariah 3 tells us how God solves our pollution problem. Zechariah, a young priest and prophet whose name means “God remembers,” was born in Babylon and came to Jerusalem in 538 B.C. In 520 B.C., two months after Haggai began his ministry, Zechariah also began to prophesy to the remnant of Jews in Jerusalem, encouraging them to rebuild the temple. In the eleventh month of the second year of King Darius, Zechariah was given eight visions in one setting.

Chapter 3 concerns the fourth vision. The setting is a courtroom: the accuser is Satan, and the accused is Joshua the high priest, son of Jehozadak, who represents the people of God. Joshua is ministering before the Lord, but he is wearing extremely filthy clothes. The angel of the Lord is also present, representing Yahweh Sabaoth, the Lord of Hosts, the Lord of the armies of heaven and earth, the One in control of all things. In this court, the angel of the Lord is both advocate and judge.

It is interesting to note that Zechariah 3:2 mentions two Yahwehs. The angel of the Lord is called Yahweh as well as Yahweh Sabaoth, indicating two persons of the Trinity.

The Accuser

Who is the accuser? He is identified here as ha satan-the Satan. The Hebrew wordsatan appears fourteen times in Job 1 and 2, where Satan accuses Job of hypocrisy. Now, in Zechariah 3, Satan is standing on the right of Joshua the high priest. He is in the place of the prosecuting attorney, as we read in Psalm 109:6: “Appoint an evil man to oppose him; let an accuser stand at his right hand.”

Satan is also seen as the accuser of God’s people in Revelation 12:10, where he is called ho katíªgor-the accuser. He is also called the dragon, ho drakí´n, in Revelation 12:13. Satan is the old serpent, the dragon-the adversary and enemy of God and his people. He ever opposes God’s plan to save his elect sinners. But Satan is merely a creature; he is not almighty or all-wise. Thus, he can never frustrate God’s plan of saving his people through the Seed of the woman. The Seed of the woman would surely crush his head.

However, Satan sometimes tells the truth. He was speaking truthfully when he accused Joshua of being full of sin. Though he was functioning as high priest, Joshua was wearing extremely filthy clothes, symbolizing his sinfulness. Satan’s accusation was true, “for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). This same Satan caused Adam and Eve to sin. Notice, Satan solicits us to sin, seduces us to sin, and then accuses us of sinning. How clever he is!

Satan’s accusation was this: The mediatorial ministry of this high priest is absolutely invalid because he is a sinner. And Satan’s logic is clear: How can a sinful high priest atone for the sins of God’s people? If Joshua is unclean, his ministry cannot be effective; thus, the elect people of God are left with no atonement and no mediator, and, therefore, cannot be saved. The conclusion is that God has failed and Satan has won.

But this assumption is absolutely false! The devil can accuse, but he is not the judge. He has no power to condemn. God is greater than Satan, and his love for us is greater than the power of our sin.

Satan, our accuser, never rests. Just as he accused Joshua the high priest, and the saints of Revelation 12, so he accused the great reformer Martin Luther when he was hiding at Wartburg Castle in Germany. One night during the winter of 1521 the devil appeared to Luther with a long scroll enumerating Luther’s sins. Luther acknowledged that the list was accurate, but said, “The list is not complete. There are certain sins I committed that the Lord alone knows.” He told the devil to write at the bottom of the scroll: “The blood of Jesus Christ, God’s Son, cleanses us from all sin.” Then Luther took his inkbottle, threw it at the devil, and the devil departed. If you go to the castle today, you can see the ink mark on the wall.

Satan is the accuser of the brethren. He comes in the middle of the night and accuses us. If we do not know the gospel, we cannot resist him.

The Advocate

Thank God, we have a competent advocate to defend us! First John 2:1-2 says, “If anybody does sin, we have one who speaks to the Father in our defense-Jesus Christ, the Righteous One. He is the atoning sacrifice for our sins.” In Zechariah 3, Yahweh, the angel of the Lord, is the advocate for Joshua.

The truth is, this high priest was unrighteous and unclean. His own righteousness is like filthy rags and he cannot cleanse himself. Because he himself is under the wrath of God, he is unfit to represent God’s people; he cannot save himself or them.

But that is not the end of the story. Yahweh, the able advocate, comes to defend Joshua and his people against their accuser. Like Naaman of old, Joshua is covered with sin and full of guilt. The Bible says the wages of sin is death; thus, Joshua deserves to be put to death. Yet the angel of the Lord comes to his defense. The angel of the Lord says to Satan, “The Lord rebuke you, Satan!” Then he repeats it: “The Lord rebuke you!” By this he is declaring that the Lord Almighty, the Lord Sabaoth, the Ruler of the armies of heaven, the Judge of all the earth, the Lord who controls all history and the entire universe, will completely defeat Satan. Satan planned Joshua’s damnation, but God planned his salvation. “The Lord rebuke you” means “May the Lord cause your plan to wither and not prosper; may your plan come to naught.”

Satan can never succeed in frustrating God’s plan of saving a sinful people for himself. Why? The first reason is given in verse 2: “The Lord . . . has chosenJerusalem” (italics added). That is election. Jerusalem stands for God’s people. The Lord chose to save his elect people before the creation of the world, and they shall be saved. Paul tells us in Ephesians 1:4 that God chose us in Jesus Christ “before the creation of the world to be holy and blameless in his sight.” We shall be holy and blameless in his sight, and we are holy and blameless in his sight. God has decreed; who can frustrate his decree?

But there is a second reason. The Lord says of Joshua, “Is not this man a burning stick snatched from the fire?” That picture comes from Amos 4:11. Joshua was burning in the fire of God’s wrath, for God’s word decrees that “The soul who sins is the one who will die” (Ezekiel 18:4) and “The wages of sin is death” (Romans 6:23).

Joshua could not save himself. But all of a sudden, God came and snatched him out-out of total destruction, out of the chastisement of exile, out of the fire of God’s wrath. Now Joshua is safe! He lives! Joshua is given eternal life; he shall never perish, and no one is able to snatch him out of God’s hand. Satan can never accuse us and snatch us out of God’s hand. We can never be thrown back into the fire. It will not happen. This is eternal life! This is eternal security!

There are two aspects to God’s glorious salvation reflected in the comments made by the angel of the Lord. First, he commands those standing before him: “Take off his filthy clothes.” You see, Joshua cannot do it; he cannot save himself. Then he said to Joshua, “See . . . .” “See” means “Open your eyes; behold; think; look at; read the Bible; understand the gospel.” God himself is speaking: “See, I have taken away your sin.” In other words, “I have done it-I, not anybody else. I have taken away all your sins.” There is no other Savior. And he has not just taken away one sin and left millions of others, or taken millions of sins but just left one. He has taken away all our sins-sins of the past, sins of the present, and sins of the future. This is complete cleansing. This is the solution for our pollution.

The truth is, in God’s sight, there is no more filth on Joshua. This is justification. This is why Luther threw the ink bottle at the devil. The blood of Jesus, God’s Son, cleanses us from all our sins.

That is the negative aspect of salvation-our sins are taken away. But there is a positive aspect as well. The angel of the Lord then told Joshua, “I will put rich garments on you”-rich, resplendent, glorious, brilliant garments. The angel of the Lord commanded, “Put a clean turban on his head”-a turban which says, “Holiness to the Lord.” God was saying, “Joshua, I am reinstating you as my high priest. Your sin problem has been solved forever.”

Seeing Salvation in the Scripture

Numerous scriptures speak about this glorious salvation. This is what the command “See” means. We must know the Scripture, because Satan is going to accuse us also. If we do not know the gospel, we cannot resist the devil.

Psalm 32:2: “Blessed is the man whose sin the Lord does not count against him.” This is an amazing defense, is it not? The judge asks: Did you sin? Yes. Are you guilty? Yes. Are you filthy? Yes. And then the verdict comes: You are not guilty. And not only that, you are righteous, just as if you had never sinned. This verse does not imply that God does not count our sin at all. God is just and he does count our sin, but not against us. He counts our sin against another.

2 Corinthians 5:19: “God was reconciling the world to himself in Christ, not counting men’s sins against them.” How can God not count our sins against us? Because our sins are counted against his own Son. Verse 21 says, “God made him who had no sin”-that is, Jesus Christ-“to be sin for us, so that in him we might become the righteousness of God.” This is the rich, glorious garment he clothes us in.

1 Peter 3:18: “For Christ died for sins once for all, the righteous for the unrighteous. . . .” And what is the ultimate purpose? “To bring you to God.”

Philippians 3:9. Here Paul, a great Pharisee who once thought himself completely righteous and faultless, says he wants to “be found in [Christ], not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ-the righteousness that comes from God and is by faith.” Paul recognized that all his self-righteousness was as filthy rags, a stench in the nostrils of God.

Isaiah 53:11. This verse speaks about Zechariah’s “angel of the Lord,” who is the Lord Jesus Christ: “After the suffering of his soul, he will see the light of life and be satisfied; by his knowledge my righteous servant will justify many.”

Isaiah 61:10. Here Isaiah praises God as he understands this idea of justification: “I delight greatly in the Lord; my soul rejoices in my God. For he has clothed me with garments of salvation and arrayed me in a robe of righteousness.” When we fully come to understand the gospel, we will speak likewise.

Psalm 132:9: “May your priests be clothed with righteousness; may your saints sing for joy.”

Matthew 22:1-14. This passage tells the story of a great feast. It was free; anyone could come, and everything, including provisions for bathing and clothing, was provided. But in verse 11 we read, “But when the king came to see the guests, he noticed a man there who was not wearing wedding clothes. ‘Friend,’ he asked, ‘how did you get in here without wedding clothes?'” How many people are trying to get to heaven on the basis of their own filthy garments, without the righteousness of Christ? But they shall never be admitted. Notice, “The man was speechless. Then the king told the attendants, ‘Tie him hand and foot, and throw him outside, into the darkness, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.'” That is a picture of hell.

Revelation 19:7-8: “Hallelujah! For our Lord God Almighty reigns. Let us rejoice and be glad and give him glory! For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his bride has made herself ready.” This is the requirement: we have to come in wedding clothes, in rich garments-in nothing less than the righteousness of Christ himself. And these clothes are a gift: “Fine linen, bright and clean, was given to her to wear.”

The verse goes on to state, “Fine linen stands for the righteous acts of the saints.” But we must remember that even our righteous acts are produced within us by God; we can never claim that they are ours. The rich garment does not belong to Joshua; he is given an alien righteousness, a righteousness from God, apart from the Law. Salvation is by grace through faith.

Who Is Our Advocate?

The angel of the Lord shut the mouth of Joshua’s accuser, and we do not see Satan again in that chapter. He is defeated forever! Oh, he may come back again, like a roaring lion, trying to devour the theologically ignorant-those who come to church but never learn anything, those who refuse to look into the word and see, those who do not want to be enlightened about this great salvation. (PGM) But those who see will resist the devil by the truth. Revelation 12:11 says, “They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony.” Satan must flee from God’s people, and he shall.

In the fullness of time, this advocate, the angel of the Lord, came into the world in the person of Jesus Christ. Zechariah 3:8 prophesies his coming: “‘I am going to bring my servant, the Branch. 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.'” What was that single, momentous day? Good Friday.

The prophecy states that the Messiah, the Branch, the stone with seven eyes, will remove our sin in one day. You see, our salvation does not depend on the high priest Joshua, son of Jehozadak. Our salvation depends on this one who would come in the fullness of time, born of a woman, born under the law, to redeem us from the law.

God calls this advocate “my servant,” for he alone obeyed God completely. He always pleased the Lord, and, finally, he went to Calvary to die in our place because it was the will of God. He is also called “the Branch.” That is a Messianic term meaning that he is the Davidic king who has all authority to rule. So not only is he our Savior, but he is also our King. To say that one can receive Jesus as Savior but not as King is utter theological nonsense. Yet that is the dominant idea in the evangelical world today.

Not only that, he is called “a stone with seven eyes.” Stone means he is our foundation, but it also means that he is the judge. He is the stone that comes down to destroy all opposition once for all (cf. Daniel 2:34-35). We must not think we can receive Jesus only as Savior. We must receive him as Savior, as King, as Foundation, and above all, as Judge. All judgment is given to him.

He is the Messiah who, as God’s servant, will do God’s will completely, and as the true high priest will offer himself as the perfect eternal sacrifice for our sins. He will defeat Satan and crush his head by his own death on the cross. The book of Hebrews is a commentary on this chapter in Zechariah.

Who, then, is this Messiah, this servant, this Branch, this stone with seven eyes? He is the angel of the Lord incarnate. He is the second Person of the Trinity. He is Jesus Christ, the Son of God. He is the righteous servant who by his knowledge justifies the many. By his merit he forgives all our sins. By his righteousness he clothes us. He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. He is the solution for all pollution, particularly our internal pollution, the total depravity of man. No soda, no soap, no chemicals can cleanse us. Only the blood of Jesus can.

The question is, how can God be just and yet justify the guilty and the wicked? He can do so only by accepting the death of the innocent God-man in place of the wicked. This is the divine genius of the whole sacrificial system. There must be a substitute, but not a goat, lamb, or bull. All these merely pointed to this angel of the Lord incarnate, Jesus Christ. Romans 3 explains: “But now a righteousness from God, apart from law, has been made known, to which the Law and the Prophets testify. This righteousness from God comes through faith in Jesus Christ to all who believe. There is no difference, for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, and are justified freely by his grace through the redemption that came by Christ Jesus. God presented him as a sacrifice of atonement, through faith in his blood. He did this to demonstrate his justice” (vv. 21-25). God punished our sin in his Son. Thus, he is just and the justifier of those who have faith in Jesus.

Oh, the genius of our salvation! Jesus died in our place, and now God justifies every sinner who believes in God’s Son. Jesus Christ is our Savior. He is our King. And he is the Stone that will fall on every unrepentant sinner.

As our advocate, Jesus not only justifies us, but he also sanctifies us. Justification is always linked to sanctification. What God has joined together, let no one put asunder. If we are justified, we will live a holy life. In Zechariah 3:6 the angel of the Lord gave a charge to Joshua: “This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘If you 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.'” Notice the condition: complete discipleship is required. When we sin, we have no fellowship with God. But when we follow Jesus, rendering obedience to him and living holy, moral lives, God gives us authority and access to his presence. This is holy communion!

When Jesus saves us, he says, “You are justified. From now on, live a holy life.” This is what he told the woman caught in the act of adultery: “Go and sin no more.” Many people today want to go right back into their sin. They say, “It’s all right. God justified me.” But that is not true salvation. If God justifies us, we will live holy lives.

Zechariah 3 ends with a great promise: “‘In that day each of you will invite his neighbor to sit under his vine and fig tree,’ declares the Lord Almighty.” What a picture of great peace! Having been justified by faith, we have peace with God (Romans 5:1). It is the acme of contentment every human heart longs for. We receive it as a result of holy communion with God. And not only do we have peace with God, but the peace of God that passes all human understanding will also guard our hearts and minds in Christ Jesus.

Personal Application

In conclusion, let us consider the following points:

1. The high priest Joshua, who is filthy, guilty and condemned to die, represents every son and daughter of Adam.
2. Just as Joshua cannot cleanse himself, so we cannot save ourselves. All other religions say that we can, but they all lack a true redeemer, a God-man, a sacrificial substitute that God will accept in our behalf.
3. We have an accuser, Satan, always standing at our right hand, pointing out our filth before God.
4. But, thank God, we also have an advocate, a competent one, who has never lost a case. This angel of the Lord became sinless man, the suffering servant who died in our place, the just for the unjust. By his grace we are snatched out of eternal hell and saved forever. He forgives all our sins and clothes us with the garment of salvation, which is Christ’s own perfect, irreproachable righteousness-a resplendent, brilliant garment. And he tells us, “See what I have done for you! See, I have removed all your sin. See, I have put on you garments that are rich and glorious. See! Understand! Exercise your mind!” And once we see it, we will praise God for this great salvation. Therefore there is now no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. Satan tells God, “Condemn them! They are filthy.” But God cleanses and justifies the ungodly and makes us holy and blameless. We are his priests. We are his kings. We are his holy saints.
5. The devil will come to accuse us, but we must resist him by the gospel. We must throw the ink bottle of the word of God at him, and he shall flee. He fled from Joshua, he fled from Job, he fled from Luther, and he will flee from us.
6. We must live holy lives. God himself has linked sanctification to justification and we must not try to separate them. The justified person will live a holy life of discipleship.
7. When we live holy lives, we will receive authority from God as well as the boldness and confidence that go along with it.
8. When we live holy lives, we will be given access to the very presence of God. The deepest longing of the human heart is to have communion with God. And though all others may forsake us, our God will embrace us.
9. We will enjoy peace with God and peace with other saints-the peace that passes all human understanding.

What about you? Are you filthy like Joshua? Are you worshiping God even while you are filthy at heart? You must realize that no man can cleanse himself. Our problem is internal. Our hearts are wicked, full of sin and guilt. But we have One who is greater than Joshua son of Jehozadak! We have Jesus, our great high priest. No matter how filthy we are, Jesus Christ is able to cleanse us and save us. He alone can do so. Your heart may condemn you, but Jesus is eager to save you and everyone who comes to him. Even now he is saying to you, “See, I have taken away your sin. See, I have clothed you with rich garments.” Jesus Christ is our pollution solution. Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.