FORGET NONE OF HIS BENEFITS, volume 9, number 4, January 28, 2010
I have taken your iniquity away from you and will clothe you with festal robes, Zechariah 3:4.
Skeletons in the Closet
The Hartford Courant[1] recently ran an article on the top three happiest and unhappiest states in America . Those where people are the most happy are Louisiana , Hawaii , and Florida . The three with the unhappiest people are New York , Connecticut , and Michigan . While this is obviously a subjective survey the researchers did try to use objective data like transportation, pollution, and the economy as means of discerning people’s happiness level. Three of the six New England states made the top ten unhappiest (with Connecticut are Massachusetts and Rhode Island ). I wonder if one reason for such unhappiness is the pervasive rejection of Biblical Christianity which gives people hope, which enables people to deal truthfully and helpfully with the problem of guilt and shame.
Let’s face it—you probably have a few skeletons in your closet. They may be deep, back in the bottom of the closet, piled under board games and winter coats; and you consequently are pretty confident no one will see them. Or maybe they are crouching at the door of the closet, about ready to explode on the scene and proclaim to people your greatest fears, that people will find out you are not the nice, Christian person they thought you were. Or maybe they have already burst forth from the closet, being revealed for all your friends to see. They now know the truth about you. Perhaps these are things done to you years ago, or maybe they are sinful things you did to others. It could be that you have failed to do certain things you should have done, like honoring your father and your mother. Even if you are the so-called “innocent party” in a divorce due to adultery you may be living with a deep sense of shame and guilt. If you have children who have left the faith then you are ashamed of it.
These are nothing new. People have battled this ever since the fall into sin by Adam and Eve. Zechariah, the minor prophet and a contemporary of Haggai, Nehemiah, and Ezra (all lived in the fifth century B.C.) speaks powerfully to this issue of shame and guilt. Yahweh had graciously entered into a covenant of grace with Israel many years before (Genesis 12:1-3, Exodus 19:6-7) and had promised to bless them richly if they kept His commandments (Deuteronomy 28:1-14). He also promised to curse them if they went after other gods (Deuteronomy 28:15ff). Soon after Solomon’s death both the northern and southern kingdoms of Israel began to pursue false gods, resulting in 722 B.C. in Israel ’s (the northern kingdom) demise at the hands of the Assyrians, and in 586 B.C. of Judah ’s (the southern kingdom) captivity by Babylon . Haggai rebukes the post-exilic Jews for “paneling their dens while the temple of God remains desolate,” (Haggai 1:4). Zechariah takes another approach. He seeks to encourage these people who no doubt are downcast, riddled with the guilt and shame of squandering Yahweh’s glorious inheritance. His prophecy promises a better day with numerous references to the coming of Messiah when the nations will stream to Jerusalem (Zechariah 2:11, 6:12, 8:22, 9:16, 10:12, 12:10, 13:9, 14:9).
In the fourth of Zechariah’s eight prophetic visions, we find Joshua the high priest (high priests represented the covenant people before Yahweh) standing before the angel of the Lord (perhaps a pre-incarnate visitation of the Lord Jesus) and Satan who accuses him. Satan still is true to his title as the Accuser of the Brethren (Revelation 12:10), constantly reminding you of the shameful things you have done, seeking to rob you of the joy of your salvation, even of the reality of it. He insists that your sins and failures make your situation hopeless, that the consequences of your sins are so overwhelming that nothing can be done to heal your marriage, your friendships, or your relationships with children whom you have shamed and embarrassed due to your sinful behavior.
So you tend to deal with your shame unbiblically. How so? You may try to ignore it all together. It’s just too painful to ponder. But sooner or later you have to face it so you project it to others, saying, “I work with incompetent fools . . . my miserable husband drove me to hatred and bitterness . . . The stress of my job is making me an angry man . . .” But more than likely you alter your theology to fit your new morality. You buy in to the deistic moralism of today which reduces God to a buddy in the sky and exalts man to godlike status, proclaiming that he is inherently good. This notion results in a culture that says all one needs to do to go to heaven in America is to die. Or your guilt and shame may move you to sabotage relationships, making sure that you incite a blowup with one who is getting a bit too close to you, who may see you as you really are.
But know this very well—only Jesus can take away your guilt and shame. If you have yet to repent and believe the gospel, then you really are guilty, and you really ought to be ashamed of your sin. In fact, your sin is far worse than you can imagine. But Zechariah says that God will remove the iniquity of the land in one day (Zechariah 3:9). That day was the day Jesus died at Calvary . The festal robe which God promised to place on Zechariah and the covenant people was the righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. The righteous acts of the saints, the robe that clothes the saints in glory (Revelation 19:8) is given to us by faith in Christ (Ephesians 2:8-9). You have no righteousness in yourself. His righteousness—seen in His active obedience (He obeyed His Father everyday of His earthly life) and passive obedience (He submitted to death on the cross)—are given to us. The only thing keeping you from hell, the only thing that cleanses your conscious from dead works to serve the living God (Hebrews 9:14), the only thing that can assuage your genuine guilt and shame, the only thing that can deflect the accusations of the devil is the Lord Jesus in His redeeming (Ephesians 1:7), expiating (Colossians 2:13-14), and propitiating (1 John 4:10) death.[2] But how does this work in your own life to remove guilt and shame? You must decide to believe what God says. It is that simple. And you must make restitution to those whom you have harmed. You must forgive those who have sinned against you. You will only make progress in overcoming shame and guilt by applying the death of Christ to your conscience, soul, mind, heart, and will. You then will be free from the skeletons in your closet, free to live in humble obedience to God, free to forgive others.
[1] “Woe, Woe, Woe: Doesn’t Get Much Worse Than This,” The Hartford Courant, December 19, 2009.
[2] Christ redeems us from Satanic bondage, like a rich man who pays a ransom to buy back his kidnapped child. Christ expiates or removes the guilt and shame of our sin by His blood washing over us, like rape victims who often take showers quickly after they are violated, hoping to remove their filth. And Christ’s blood propitiates or appeases the just anger and condemnation of God for our rebellion against Him.
FORGET NONE OF HIS BENEFITS is a weekly devotional by Reverend Al Baker, pastor of Christ Community Presbyterian Church in West Hartford, Connecticut.
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