3:4: “And he answered and spoke 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 you, and I will clothe you with change of raiment.”
So the reader knows in advance where the following explanation is going, it is helpful to first state that the filth described is simply NOT JOSHUA’S! Start with this in mind as you read. It will become crystal clear.
When I began studying this subject four years ago, along with our Headquarters ministers, serious questions came to mind. First, if verse 3 is describing Joshua’s sin(s), why would God choose such a leader—one He knew in advance would commit major sins? Imagine God putting His Church in a position where it must wait (for a short or long time) for its sin-laden leader to repent. If the sin(s) was in Joshua’s past, I was left asking, Where are they? The Hebrew for iniquity means “perversity, (moral) evil, fault, iniquity, mischief, punishment (of iniquity), sin.” There was no doubt what this referenced.
I certainly did remain in a spiritually filthy environment in the Global Church of God for years (this also describes the latter WCG years)—full of division, accusation, covetousness, nepotism, every kind of favoritism, respect of persons, doctrinal compromise, false accusations, false doctrine and gross ignorance of the Bible. But these things describe all the splinters!