The Commander
Now when Joshua was near Jericho, he looked up and saw a man standing in front of him with a drawn sword in his hand. Joshua went up to him and asked, “Are you for us or for our enemies?” “Neither,” he replied, “but as commander of the army of the LORD I have now come.” Then Joshua fell facedown to the ground in reverence. Joshua 5:13-14
Had there been a wall nearby, I would have loved to be a fly on it. Can you imagine Joshua’s reaction when this figure identified himself as the Commander of the armies of God? Actually, we don’t have to wonder. The text tells us that Joshua immediately fell facedown before the figure.
I’m not sure how the chain of command works in heaven, but the Commander of the Lord’s armies was no lightweight. I mean, who commands angels but God himself? Hmmmmmm . . . . .
We actually get more data later in the text when the Commander tells Joshua, “Remove your sandals from your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy,” (Joshua 5:15).
That tells us who this Commander really is. No angel ever received worship. No angel ever called for men to bow before him. And yet this being did. So he obviously wasn’t an angel.
Bottom line: Joshua was standing before Jesus himself.
There are several pre-Bethlehem appearances of Jesus in the Old Testament, and this is one of them. And if you think about it, it makes perfect sense.
The Father, Son and Spirit always work together as a team. There is no work of the Father that is separate from the Son or Spirit. Thus, God’s work in the nation of Israel would have included the work of both the Son and the Spirit. And this was one of those occasions where the work of the Son—before he became a human—was rather overt.
Jesus is the Commander of the armies of Heaven. He is the leader of the armed forces of God. He is the Chairman of Heaven’s Joint Chiefs-of-Staff.
And when you need defending, when you need rescuing, when you need deliverance, he will command the very angles of Heaven itself to have your back.
He can do that. He’s the Commander.
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