Spurgeon: November AM
* 11/27/AM
"Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord."
--Zechariah 3:1
In Joshua the high priest we see a picture of each and
every child of God, who has been made nigh by the blood of
Christ, and has been taught to minister in holy things, and
enter into that which is within the veil. Jesus has made us
priests and kings unto God, and even here upon earth we exercise
the priesthood of consecrated living and hallowed service. But
this high priest is said to be " standing before the angel of
the Lord," that is, standing to minister. This should be the
perpetual position of every true believer. Every place is now
God's temple, and His people can as truly serve Him in their
daily employments as in His house. They are to be always
"ministering," offering the spiritual sacrifice of prayer and
praise, and presenting themselves a "living sacrifice." But
notice where it is that Joshua stands to minister, it is before
the angel of Jehovah. It is only through a mediator that we
poor defiled ones can ever become priests unto God. I present
what I have before the messenger, the angel of the covenant, the
Lord Jesus; and through Him my prayers find acceptance wrapped
up in His prayers; my praises become sweet as they are bound up
with bundles of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia from Christ's own
garden. If I can bring Him nothing but my tears, He will put
them with His own tears in His own bottle for He once wept; if I
can bring Him nothing but my groans and sighs, He will accept
these as an acceptable sacrifice, for He once was broken in
heart, and sighed heavily in spirit. I myself, standing in Him,
am accepted in the Beloved; and all my polluted works, though in
themselves only objects of divine abhorrence, are so received,
that God smelleth a sweet savour. He is content and I am
blessed. See, then, the position of the Christian--"a priest--
standing--before the angel of the Lord."