We are all infected and impure with sin. When we put on our prized robes of righteousness we find they are but filthy rags.

   [The Lord gave this message to His prophet, Zechariah:] Then the angel showed me (in my vision) Joshua the High Priest standing before the Angel of the Lord; and Satan was there too, at the Angel's right hand, accusing Joshua of many things. And the Lord said to Satan, "I reject your accusations, Satan; yes, I, the Lord, for I have decided to be merciful to Jerusalem - I rebuke you. I have decreed mercy to Joshua and his nation; they are like a burning stick pulled out of the fire."

   Joshua's clothing was filthy as he stood before the Angel of the Lord. Then the Angel said to the others standing there, "Remove his filthy clothing." And turning to Joshua He said, "See, I have taken away your sins, and now I am giving you these fine new clothes."

   Then the Angel of the Lord spoke very solemnly to Joshua and said, "The Lord of Hosts declares: '. . . Listen to Me, O Joshua the High Priest, and all you other priests, you are illustrations of the good things to come. Don't you see? - Joshua represents My Servant, the Branch Whom I will send. He will be the Foundation Stone of the temple that Joshua is standing beside, and I will engrave this inscription on it seven times. I will remove the sins of this land in a single day . . .' "

   Do not live any longer the futile lives of the Gentiles. For they live in a world of shadows, and are cut off from the life of God through their deliberate ignorance of mind and sheer hardness of heart. They have lost all decent feelings and abandoned themselves to sensuality, practicing any form of impurity which lust can suggest.

   But you have learned nothing like that from Christ, if you have really heard His voice and understood the truth that Jesus has taught you. No, what you learned was to fling off the dirty clothes of the old way of living, which were rotted through and through with lust's illusions, and with yourselves mentally and spiritually remade, to put on the clean fresh clothes of the new life which was made by God's design for righteousness and the holiness which is no illusion.

Taken from Isa. 64, Zech. 3, Eph. 4, The Living Bible and The Phillips Translation.
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