Advent Day 9 :: He Fights For Us
“The commander of the Lord’s army said to Joshua, ‘Take off your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy.’ And Joshua did so” (Joshua 5:15)
We are all very familiar with the paintings and pictures, depictions and images of angels, especially during the holiday season. They are shining and bright, oftentimes majestic looking human-like figures. There are some indications in the Scriptures that what some of these angels and heavenly beings looked like but for the most part I think we would be surprised as to what biblical research says about our preconceived thoughts of the heavenly court.
We see angels and heavenly beings all throughout Scripture. They have given physical help to those in need, delivered messages to different individuals and pronounced judgement on the nation of Israel and different people groups surrounding them. In our passage today we see we are introduced to the commander of the Lord’s army. Many have identified this angel with the pre-incarnate Christ. The angel of the Lord may be a “christophany” which means that it is an appearance of Jesus Christ before He came and took on human form and nature. This is signified because Joshua bows in worship to the commander of God’s army and is not rebuked (Joshua 5:13-15) as we see the opposite happening to John in his writings in Revelation 22:8-9.
One thing to note in this passage is that although Christ is typified here as the commander of the Lord’s army, we are not to assume that he is automatically on our side. Although Joshua and the Israelite army are moving towards taking Canaan, the commander of God’s army does not give a yes to Joshua’s question on whether he is for Israel or not. Neither does he motion to take Canaan’s side. We are never to assume that we are on the right side. In fact in Deuteronomy we see that only as we possess the faith we profess and seek to do the will of God can we count on Him to fight for us (1:19–46).
As we eagerly await and celebrate the coming of the Savior of the world - Jesus Christ - we are not to assume that we are automatically given aid and rescued. It is only when we profess our faith and trust in Him that we are given the gift of salvation by the grace of God. Even as we walk out of Christian faith daily we are to ground our goals and positions in Scripture, the Logos which is Christ. Then and only then we can reasonably expect the Lord to fight for us. Our concern should be to be on the Lord’s side, the right side, as opposed to being worried if He is on our side or not.
Whose side do you stand on? Are you with the commander of God’s army, or against Him?
Further Reading: Numbers 22
