"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."
Charles Spurgeon
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