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Prophets and Kings
“Hear now, O Joshua the high priest, thou, and thy fellows that sit
before thee: for they are men wondered at: for, behold, I will bring
forth My Servant the Branch.”
Verse 8
. In the Branch, the Deliverer to
come, lay the hope of Israel. It was by faith in the coming Saviour that
Joshua and his people had received pardon. Through faith in Christ
they had been restored to God’s favor. By virtue of His merits, if
they walked in His ways and kept His statutes, they would be “men
wondered at,” honored as the chosen of Heaven among the nations of
the earth.
As Satan accused Joshua and his people, so in all ages he accuses
those who seek the mercy and favor of God. He is “the accuser of
our brethren, ... which accused them before our God day and night.”
Revelation 12:10
. Over every soul that is rescued from the power
of evil, and whose name is registered in the Lamb’s book of life,
the controversy is repeated. Never is one received into the family of
God without exciting the determined resistance of the enemy. But He
who was the hope of Israel then, their defense, their justification and
redemption, is the hope of the church today.
Satan’s accusations against those who seek the Lord are not
prompted by displeasure at their sins. He exults in their defective
characters; for he knows that only through their transgression of God’s
law can he obtain power over them. His accusations arise solely from
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his enmity to Christ. Through the plan of salvation, Jesus is break-
ing Satan’s hold upon the human family and rescuing souls from his
power. All the hatred and malignity of the archrebel is stirred as he
beholds the evidences of Christ’s supremacy; and with fiendish power
and cunning he works to wrest from Him the children of men who
have accepted salvation. He leads men into skepticism, causing them
to lose confidence in God and to separate from His love; he tempts
them to break the law and then claims them as his captives, contesting
Christ’s right to take them from him.
Satan knows that those who ask God for pardon and grace will ob-
tain it; therefore he presents their sins before them to discourage them.
Against those who are trying to obey God, he is constantly seeking
occasion for complaint. Even their best and most acceptable service
he seeks to make appear corrupt. By countless devices, the most subtle
and the most cruel, he endeavors to secure their condemnation.