Satan’s Strategy for Your Life #4: Your Past

“Then he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to accuse him.”

 —Zechariah 3:1

Everyone has a past, because everyone is a sinner. We all have done something that is sinful and shameful that we don’t want others to know about. And Satan will be sure to use our past against us.

Satan’s name means “Accuser” and in the book of Revelation he is called “the accuser of our brothers,” who “accuses them day and night before our God”—Revelation 12:10. In our passage for today, we have Joshua the high priest in the heavenly courtroom being accused by Satan. Zechariah tells us that Joshua was clothed with “filthy garments” (Zechariah 3:3), which represent sin, but the wording in English doesn’t really bring out the full flavor of how filthy the garments really were. The wording in Hebrew goes beyond filthy—Joshua was covered in excrement.

While Joshua stands before the “angel of the LORD” who is seated as judge, Satan is busy accusing Joshua. Satan’s case was airtight, because wearing such a horrid garment defiled Joshua and his defilement meant that he could not be the intermediary between God and His people, thus preventing atonement being made and forgiveness issued. Nevertheless, before Satan could finish presenting his case, the LORD ruled his charges as inadmissible (Zechariah 3:3) because He had chosen Jerusalem, and Joshua’s position was as one “plucked from the fire”—Zechariah 3:2. Because God had already chosen Jerusalem there was nothing to argue. And God Himself would take care of Joshua’s sin. The angel then proceeds to have Joshua’s filthy garments removed and replaced with “pure vestments” as a symbol that his iniquity was taken away (Zechariah 3:5) and he was free from condemnation.

As believers in Christ, Satan wants to continually throw our past back in our face, reminding us of the sins that we have done, the wicked acts we have committed, and the evil thoughts that we nourished. Nevertheless, Christ paid the full price for all of our sins and  

“There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus”—Romans 8:1. 

 Jesus paid the price and we are set free! We are no longer under God’s condemnation and our past can no longer harm us! Satan wants to convince us that we are still in bondage, by showing us the past chains that once clung to our soul, but he has no authority over us and we don’t have to submit to the chains any longer! We have been transformed! We were blind but now we see! We have been transferred from the kingdom of darkness to the kingdom of light! We are no longer what we were, but not yet what we will be, but we know that we have been set free because of what Christ did on Calvary’s tree!

Don’t give into the lies that your past is too great to be overcome! Jesus’ sacrifice on the cross was effective to save even the greatest of sinners! And once He sets us free, then we are free indeed (John 8:36). May we turn a deaf ear to the Accuser of the brethren, and may we live in the newness of life that was purchased and purposed for all of us who have come to know and trust in Christ as the Savior of the world and Lord of life! Amen.