Joshua’s Exaltation

Will Jerusalem become beautiful?

Will the city of God be so established, spread over the whole earth, and glorified with the glory of God that the enemies no longer can molest her?…

But, O God of the covenant, how will that be possible?…

Still the enemies rage as a storm round about her. Jerusalem still lies in ruins. The temple is not rebuilt. There is no sanctuary in which the priests can function. Israel is returned from captivity but only to bear the reproach of all.

And then, how shall it be possible for Jerusalem to stand?…

Will not Jerusalem be redeemed by righteousness alone? Truly Jerusalem’s citizens are still full of unrighteousness, and thus they stand guilty and damnworthy before the face of the Lord. The blood of many bulls and goats has been shed, but it has availed nothing. O Lord, our righteousnesses are as filthy rags!

Yet there is still this promise: “Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls for the multitude of men and cattle therein: For I, saith the Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her.”

And that promise shall certainly be fulfilled, for the Lord is as faithful as he is strong.

His work begun in me, he will finish.

His is the kingdom, the power, and the glory forever.

Yes, his alone.

Amen and amen.

Will Jerusalem become beautiful?

Will the cause of God’s covenant have the victory in the world?

“‘I swear by myself, it shall be,’ saith God,” says the angel of the covenant.

“So let it be, O Lord. Come quickly,” says the high priest who stands at the head of God’s people.

“It shall never be,” says Satan, who also swears by himself.

Oh, the misery!

And here they stand, all three: the angel of the Lord; Joshua, the high priest; and Satan, the adversary and accuser of the brethren. It is very clearly a judgment day because Joshua does not stand before the face of the angel of the Lord as high priest to serve in the holy sanctuary, but he stands there to be judged. At Joshua’s right hand and also before the face of the angel of the Lord, stands Satan in the place of the accusers.

The angel of the Lord is also called the Lord, Jehovah. But the angel is clearly distinguished from Jehovah. The angel is the Old Testament revelation of the God of the covenant and the revelation of the Anointed of Jehovah, the Christ of God. He is set over the whole house of God, and to him judgment is given. So the angel appears here as greater than Moses, as God’s Anointed over the house…

God’s house is the issue here!

That is because Joshua stands before the angel. Yes, truly Joshua stands before the angel, right in front of the angel’s face. And Joshua stands there in reality always and not merely for a moment in this vision. For Joshua is the high priest who is set over the house of God, indeed, as the head of the whole priesthood and of all the people of God. Israel was a nation of priests, though in and through her own priests culminating in the high priest. Therefore Joshua stands before the face of the angel of the Lord. Because the angel is the high priest and not Joshua. Joshua can be the high priest only until the Lord himself comes to his temple. Joshua can only declare him who comes, represent him, stand before his face, and in his name perform the things that pertain unto God.

So in that official capacity, Joshua stands in the vision.

This is how we must view Joshua. The issue in this judgment is not the person of Joshua—that is, what kind of man he is, whether he himself is righteous or guilty, and what will happen to him personally. No, Joshua stands in the vision as the high priest.

And look, he is wearing filthy garments!

These clothes too do not belong to Joshua himself as a man. They are his priestly garments. How does he dare to put on these priestly garments before the Lord? Does he not know that he cannot enter God’s holy place with such clothes? These filthy garments are not symbolic of the sins of the man Joshua, but the filthy garments are symbolic of Joshua’s high-priestly sins, his official uncleanness and guilt, and therefore of the sins of the whole nation of Israel. Oh, terrible situation! For “who, O Lord, with Thee abiding, in Thy house shall be Thy guest? Who, his feet to Zion turning, in Thy holy hill shall rest?”¹ Certainly not this high priest and the people whom he represents. The house of God, these vile people whom this high priest represents, certainly cannot stand.

So it thus appears.

And Satan so judges too.

Oh, as the adversary, Satan also stands before the face of the angel of Jehovah. Satan as the accuser walks up to the right hand of the high priest to oppose Joshua, to press charges, to point out Joshua’s filthy garments, to damn him, and to demand that he be deposed from his office.

When Satan brings up those filthy garments, he appeals to God’s righteousness. No, not because he loves God’s righteousness and is zealous for the name of the Lord. The opposite is true: Satan hates God’s righteousness. Satan is the adversary of the Most High and of his cause in the world. But Satan knows that God never can deny himself and that he will always accede to an appeal to his own righteousness, even when it is Satan who argues for that righteousness.

Thus Satan sets Joshua with his filthy garments in the light of God’s perfect righteousness.

Throughout the whole Old Testament too, Satan always stands in the position of an accuser, as long as the clothing of the high priest is filthy.

And, O God, Satan is right!

Thus it cannot be. Thy holy name and perfect righteousness must judge that this priest cannot abide in God’s house.

What then shall become of God’s house, his temple, and the cause of his covenant?

Will Jerusalem become beautiful?

“Oh, let it be, O God,” says the high priest. But he has on filthy garments, and all his sacrifices cannot wash away the stains.

“Never shall it be,” says Satan, and he appeals to God’s very own justice.

But wait! There is the promise.

There is tension in the courtroom.

Tension for Satan. Oh, yes. He argues his case with an appeal to God’s justice and the high priest’s filthy garments.

Tension for Joshua, who with his filthy garments knows no way of escape, and he speaks no word of self-defense before the face of the angel of the Lord.

Tension at the back of the courtroom too, where the brethren of the high priest wait for the verdict and wonder in themselves why their representative does not plead his and their case. There stand the demons too, hoping that their prince will win the case. There also are Michael and his angels, deeply concerned with the situation of the brethren…

Now, listen. The angel speaks. The angel of the Lord—not as God, though he is God, but as the anointed servant, who is appointed over God’s house—pronounces the verdict in this trial.

The tension is suddenly elevated.

Just listen to him. “The Lord rebuke thee, O Satan; even the Lord that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee.”

To rebuke Satan, the angel appeals to Jehovah, the God of the covenant. The case of this high priest is God’s own case. Jehovah will have to judge the high priest to be righteous. Jehovah will have to rebuke Satan, condemn him, reject his appeal to God’s most holy justice, damn Satan, and drive him away with rebukes until he falls from heaven as lightning—falling, falling, falling into hell, outer darkness, his own rightful place, where he will be tormented forever.

Listen!

“Do you not know, Satan, that Jehovah has chosen Jerusalem? Are you so utterly mad—such a lunatic—in your satanic darkness and folly that you imagine that you can change the eternally electing God? Do you not know and are you not even aware of history? Has it not occurred to you that this Joshua is a brand plucked out of the fire? Was he not with the remnant in Babylon? And has he not returned to Jerusalem? Has it not occurred to you, Satan, that many priests who returned could not find their registry among the priests, and thus they could not prove their right to the priesthood?² And has it not occurred to you that as a divine wonder of grace there is still a high priest remaining from the house of Aaron? And if that has impressed itself on you, then are you so full of folly as to suppose that I, Jehovah, will pluck a brand from the fire only to damn and depose him?”

Yes, yes, but then what of those filthy garments?

“Take away the filthy garments from him.”

“Put clean raiment on him.”

“No, still more, let it be a different kind of clothing—gorgeous apparel. And put a new, fair, and princely miter upon his head. Because I will not only justify him and take away from him his unrighteousness, but I will also exalt and glorify him at the head of chosen Zion and beautiful Jerusalem that God has elected. I will clothe him with power and dominion, for God’s Servant must be king and God’s Friend must reign.”

Jehovah rebuke thee, O Satan!

Yes, but what then becomes of God’s justice? Can you so capriciously change Joshua’s filthy garments for clean and elegant clothes?

Silence, Satan!

The angel of the Lord has spoken!

He who has spoken is the Anointed of the Lord, the Servant of Jehovah par excellence, with whom God has centrally established his covenant, the elect one among all the elect, and the firstborn of every creature.

Soon the Anointed himself will come.

He will come in the form of a servant, clothed with the filthy garments of his people, of the elect Jerusalem, but beautiful himself and without sin. Then, Satan, you may gather all your henchmen and go to stand at his right hand before the face of the Lord, and in your hour—also his hour—bring him to the place of judgment. Then he too, as Joshua in the vision, will not open his mouth, but he shall willingly enter into death, descend into hell with those filthy garments, to the bitter end endure the wrath of God against those filthy garments, and bear them away.

And God will take away his filthy garments.

Justify him.

Clothe him with the beautiful garments of the resurrection.

Set on his head the fair and royal miter.

All in perfect harmony with his perfect justice.

And you, Satan, the accuser of the brethren, shall fall like lightning from heaven when you see the Anointed of the Lord ascending and being exalted to the right hand of the Father.

Jehovah rebuke thee, O Satan.

The tension is gone.

Hallelujah!

God be praised, for of him, through him, and to him are all things.

Or does it not strike you that in this whole vision that the Lord through the angel of the covenant does everything alone—perfectly alone?

Or does it escape your attention that this high priest, this man Joshua, who stands at the head of God’s people, does absolutely nothing? He stands before the face of the angel of the Lord with his filthy garments and apparently does not know what to do about them. Satan—no wonder that this spirit of outer darkness is so good at finding the filthy specks on the garments of Joshua—resists him, points to his uncleanness and unrighteousness, and argues for his judgment and deposition as high priest. And Joshua says nothing. He does nothing. He does not remove his vile clothes. He does not exchange his raiment. He does not set the fair miter on his own head. He asks no questions. He does not plead his own case.

Everything is done for him!

The garments are taken off him; new clothes are put on him, and a fair miter is set on his head.

And then comes the word to him: “Behold, I have caused thine iniquity to pass from thee, and I will clothe thee with change of raiment.” And later, another word: “If thou wilt walk in my ways, and if thou wilt keep my charge, then thou shalt also judge my house…”

Joshua is a high priest only by faith.

And therefore in obedience.

This means that God does everything for Joshua.

Because God has chosen Jerusalem—no, not Jerusalem that is in ruins but his Jerusalem. Not because Jerusalem in Canaan was more beautiful and better than Babylon but because God wills to make Jerusalem beautiful and glorious for the glory of his name.

There is the fountain.

And from the fountain all things flow to us.

By grace.

To God be the glory!