Chapter 47—Joshua and the Angel
The steady advancement made by the builders of the temple greatly
discomfited and alarmed the hosts of evil. Satan determined to put
forth still further effort to weaken and discourage God’s people by
holding before them their imperfections of character. If those who
had long suffered because of transgression could again be induced to
disregard God’s commandments, they would be brought once more
under the bondage of sin.
Because Israel had been chosen to preserve the knowledge of God
in the earth, they had ever been the special objects of Satan’s enmity; he
was determined to cause their destruction. While they were obedient,
he could do them no harm; therefore he had bent all his power and
cunning to entice them into sin. Ensnared by his temptations, they had
transgressed the law of God and had been left to become the prey of
their enemies.
Yet though they were carried as captives to Babylon, God did
not forsake them. He sent His prophets to them with reproofs and
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warnings, and aroused them to see their guilt. When they humbled
themselves before God and returned to Him with true repentance, He
sent them messages of encouragement, declaring that He would deliver
them from captivity, restore them to His favor, and once more establish
them in their own land. And now that this work of restoration had
begun, and a remnant of Israel had already returned to Judea, Satan
was determined to frustrate the carrying out of the divine purpose, and
to this end he was seeking to move upon the heathen nations to destroy
them utterly.
But in this crisis the Lord strengthened His people “with good
words and comfortable words.”
Zechariah 1:13
. Through an impressive
illustration of the work of Satan and the work of Christ, He showed
the power of their Mediator to vanquish the accuser of His people.
In vision the prophet beholds “Joshua the high priest,” “clothed
with filthy garments” (
Zechariah 3:1, 3
), standing before the Angel of
the Lord, entreating God’s mercy in behalf of His afflicted people. As
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