Joshua and the Angel
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redemption. We cannot answer the charges of Satan against us. Christ
alone can make an effectual plea in our behalf. He is able to silence
the accuser with arguments founded not upon our merits, but on His
own.
Yet we should never be content with a sinful life. It is a thought that
should arouse Christians to greater zeal and earnestness in overcoming
evil, that every defect in character, every point in which they fail to
meet the divine standard, is an open door by which Satan can enter
to tempt and destroy them; and, furthermore, that every failure and
defect on their part gives occasion to the tempter and his agents to
reproach Christ. We are to exert every energy of the soul in the work
of overcoming, and to look to Jesus for strength to do what we cannot
do of ourselves. No sin can be tolerated in those who shall walk with
Christ in white. The filthy garments are to be removed, and Christ’s
robe of righteousness is to be placed upon us. By repentance and faith
we are enabled to render obedience to all the commandments of God,
and are found without blame before Him. Those who shall meet the
approval of God are now afflicting their souls, confessing their sins,
and earnestly pleading for pardon through Jesus their Advocate. Their
attention is fixed upon Him, their hopes, their faith, are centered on
Him, and when the command is given, “Take away the filthy garments,
and clothe him with change of raiment, and set a fair miter upon his
head,” they are prepared to give Him all the glory of their salvation.
Zechariah’s vision of Joshua and the Angel applies with peculiar
force to the experience of God’s people in the closing up of the great
day of atonement. The remnant church will be brought into great trial
and distress. Those who keep the commandments of God and the faith
of Jesus will feel the ire of the dragon and his hosts. Satan numbers the
world as his subjects, he has gained control of the apostate churches;
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but here is a little company that are resisting his supremacy. If he
could blot them from the earth, his triumph would be complete. As he
influenced the heathen nations to destroy Israel, so in the near future
he will stir up the wicked powers of earth to destroy the people of God.
All will be required to render obedience to human edicts in violation
of the divine law. Those who will be true to God and to duty will be
menaced, denounced, and proscribed. They will “be betrayed both by
parents, and brethren, and kinsfolks, and friends.”