Satan stands at the head of all the accusers of the brethren; but when he presents the sins of the people of God, what does the Lord answer? He says, “The Lord rebuke [not Joshua, who is a representative of the tried and chosen people of God, but] thee, O Satan; even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire? Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the Angel.” Satan had represented the chosen and loyal people of God as being full of defilement and sin. He could depict the particular sins of which they had been guilty. Had he not set the whole confederacy of evil at work to lead them, through his seductive arts, into these very sins? But they had repented, they had accepted the righteousness of Christ. They were therefore standing before God clothed with the garments of Christ’s righteousness, and “He answered and spake unto those that stood before Him, saying, Take away the filthy garments from him. And unto him He said, Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment.” Every sin of which they had been guilty was forgiven, and they stood before God as chosen and true, as innocent, as perfect, as though they had never sinned. {TM 39.2}

Satan standser for at høre alle (40) brødrenes beskyldninger; men når han fremlægger synderne fra Guds folk, hvad vil Herren da svare? Han sagde, »Herren true dig[ikke Josua, som er et eksempel fra det prøvede og udvalgte Guds folk, men] Satan, Herren true dig, han, som udvalgte Jerusalem. Er denne ikke en brand, som er reddet ud af ilden? Josua havde snavsede klæder på og stod foran englen;« Satan havde repræsenteret det udvalgte og trofaste Guds folk som et væsen fyldt med besmittelse og synd. Han kunne påvise de særlige synder ved hvilke de har været skyldige. Havde han ikke sat hele det ondes forbund i arbejde for at lede dem, ved hans forførene kneb, til disse store synder? Men de havde angret, De havde taget imod Kristi retfærdighed. De stod derfor foran Gud iklædt Kristi retfærdigheds klædning, og »denne tog til orde og sagde til dem, som stod ham til tjeneste: »Tag de snavsede klæder af ham!« Og til ham sagde han: »Se, jeg har taget din skyld fra dig, og du skal have højtidsklæder på.« Enhver synd, i hvilken de var skyldige, var tilgivet, og de stod foran Gud som udvalgte og sande, som uskadelige, som fuldendte, ligesom de aldrig havde syndet.