The Silent Accuser Remains Silent

“And he shewed me Joshua the high priest standing before the angel of the LORD, and Satan standing at his right hand to resist him. And the LORD said unto Satan, The LORD rebuke thee, O Satan; even the LORD that hath chosen Jerusalem rebuke thee: is not this a brand plucked out of the fire?” (Zec 3:1-2 AV)

What the Spirit reminded me of this morning was the silence of Satan.  What He mean by that is if one will note there are no words spoken by the devil from which he will accuse the high priest.  The high priest, by the way, is a representative of Israel.  The devil stands ready to resist Joshua.  Yet, he does not say a word.  The Spirit also reminded me of the discourse of God and the devil over Job.  The devil neither initiated the charges against Job nor initiated the conversation.  God did.  Which makes complete sense.  God, being the Sovereign, would start any discourse between Himself and His creation.  However, the is another principle here.  THE DEVIL DOES NOT HAVE THE LIBERTY TO ACCUSE THE BRETHREN UNLESS THE LORD ALLOWS IT.

Furthermore, the devil also knows the LORD knows all our actions, thoughts, and dispositions.  The devil only knows our actions.  There is nothing of which the devil can accuse that the LORD is not already aware.  Therefore, his accusations are not for the purpose of finding us guilty.  We already are condemned before a holy God.  His accusations are not to inform an ignorant judge.  Our God already knows.  His accusations are not for the purpose of embarrassing the God who loves us more than we can ever understand because, as He did with Joshua, His grace cleans us up.  The only reason which comes to mind that explains the devil’s accusations are to discourage the saints.  That is it.  Which brings us to our glorious application.

When the devil stands to resist us, he does so for the sole purpose of discouragement.  The grace of God answers every concern the LORD might have with us.  The devil has no rights of jurisprudence over us, so the accusations cannot be acted upon from his point of view.  His accusations will not absolve that for which he is guilty and he is going off to hell for all eternity anyway.  The only damage he can do is to our spirit.  This is why it so important to realize when the devil seeks to accuse the brethren before the LORD, he cannot speak a word unless the LORD allows it.  If that is the case, why do we allow him the victory of speaking in our ear?  Why do we listen if the LORD does not listen?  Nothing he will say will change our Father’s love.  Nothing!  So, see it for what it is.  A sore loser who is trying to discourage us away from the matchless grace of God.