Satan An Accuser of the Brethren
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Sermon delivered Sabbath afternoon, September 26.
]
“And he showed me Joshua the high priest standing before the
angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him.
And the Lord said unto Satan, 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? Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments,
and stood before the angel.”
Zechariah 3:1-3
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Here we find a representation of the people of God of today. As
Joshua stood before the Angel, “clothed with filthy garments,” so we
stand in the presence of Christ, clothed in garments of unrighteousness.
Christ, the angel before whom Joshua stood, is now interceding for us
before his Father, as he is here represented as interceding for Joshua
and his people who were in deep affliction; and Satan now, as then,
stands by to resist his efforts.
Ever since his fall, it has been the work of Satan to oppose Christ’s
efforts to redeem the race. In the Bible he is called an accuser of the
brethren. It is said that he accuses them before God day and night.
Every time he leads them into temptation, he rejoices; because he
well knows that their power of resistance will thus become weakened,
and that he can then the more easily lead them to commit other sins.
And when they have taken step after step in the wrong direction, he
turns and begins to accuse them of the very sins which he has led
them to commit. He thus causes them to become discouraged, and
to lose confidence in themselves and in the Lord; and after they have
separated from God, dishonored his name, and broken his law, he
claims them as his captives, and contests the right of Christ to take
them from him. Pointing to their sins, as he did to the filthy garments
of Joshua, he says: “They profess to be thy children; but they do not
obey thee. See the traces of sin upon them. They are my property.”
This is the argument that he employs concerning God’s people
in all ages. He pleads their sinfulness as the reason why Christ’s
restraining power should not hold him back from exercising his cruelty
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