Our Advocate and our Adversary

He showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.» Zech. 3:1.

The third chapter of Zechariah contains truths that afford a profitable lesson for all. The people of God, in the person of Joshua, are represented as a criminal on trial. Joshua, as high priest, is seeking a blessing for them. While he is thus pleading before God, Satan is standing at his right hand as his adversary.

Satan is an accuser, and is making the case of Israel appear as desperate as possible. He presents before the Lord their faults and failures, hoping that they will appear so dark in the eyes of Christ that he will render them no help in their great need. Joshua, aware of the imperfections of Israel, stands under condemnation, clothed with the filthy garments of sin, while Satan is pressing upon his soul a sense of guilt that makes him almost hopeless.

How does Christ look upon the case? What position does he take toward Joshua and the accuser? «The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan; even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?» Thus Christ replies to the accuser.

Satan would ruin the people of God, covering them with the blackness of guilt, but Jesus interposes. The people had sinned; but he took the guilt of their sins upon his own soul. He snatched the race as a brand from the fire. With his human arm he encircles humanity, while with his divine arm he grasps the throne of the infinite God. Thus the adversary is rebuked, and help is brought within reach of perishing souls.

«Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and stood before the angel. 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. And I said, Let them set a fair miter upon his head. So they set a fair miter upon his head, and clothed him with garments.»

Satan began his work as an accuser in heaven. This has been his work ever since the fall, and it will be his work in a special sense as we approach nearer to the close of time. He is aroused when he sees a people on the earth, who, even in weakness and sinfulness, have respect to the law of Jehovah. He delights in their unworthiness. He has no intention that they shall obey the divine law, and has devices prepared for every soul, that all may be ensnared and separated from God. He would accuse and condemn God, and all who try to carry out his purposes in mercy and love, in compassion and forgiveness.

Every manifestation of God’s power for his people arouses the enmity of Satan against them. He instigates them to evil, and when he has succeeded, throws all the blame upon the tempted ones, presenting them before the Advocate clothed in the black garments of sin, and endeavoring to secure the severest penalty. He urges justice without mercy, not allowing repentance. He argues that the penalty of sin can never be remitted, and God be just.

The sinner cannot contradict or answer the charge of Satan against him; but our Advocate makes an effectual plea for those who have placed their cases in his hands. He silences the bold accuser by the unanswerable argument of the cross, presenting his wounded hands and feet, and pleading his own blood in behalf of the sinner. He has power to change our raiment, to remove the filthy garments, to place upon the repenting, believing sinner his robe of righteousness, and write pardon against his name; and the Saviour will not turn away from the purchase of his blood, the objects of his care.

The counterfeit justice that Satan advocates is abhorred by God. His censuring must not be imitated by any who are partakers of divine mercy and love. Guard your own soul, my brother, my sister; watch closely for the first jealous thought, the first suggestion to question or judge others. We must not be severe with the infirmities of others, but attend zealously to our own individual case.

Child of God, angels are watching the character you develop, they are weighing your words and actions;. therefore take heed to your ways, examine closely your own heart, prove whether you are in the love of God.

Courage, fortitude, faith, and implicit trust in God’s power to save are needed. These heavenly graces do not come in a moment; they are acquired by the experience of years. But every sincere and earnest seeker will become a partaker of the divine nature. His soul will be filled with intense longing to know the fulness of that love which passes knowledge. As he advances in the divine life, he will be better able to grasp the elevated, ennobling truths of the word of God, until, by beholding, he becomes changed, and is enabled to reflect the likeness of his Redeemer.

The angel, with the authority of the Lord, made a solemn pledge to Joshua: «If thou wilt walk in my ways, and if thou wilt keep my charge, then thou shalt also judge my house, and shalt also keep my courts, and I will give thee places to walk among these that stand by.»