Zechariah 3:2

The Lord then spoke to the accuser citing His own authority as Yahweh who had chosen Jerusalem. This is one indication that Joshua represented Israel since God linked Joshua with Jerusalem. Joshua was secure from Satan’s accusations because of the Lord’s sovereign choice of Jerusalem (cf. Zechariah 12:2; Romans 8:33). The Lord may be distinct from the angel of the Lord, but they seem to be synonymous. Most conservative commentators equate them and believe the angel of the Lord is the second person of the Trinity. In other contexts, adversaries argue their cases before God, not before His representatives (e.g., Job 1-2). The Lord rebuked Satan twice, the repetition adding force to the initial rebuke (cf. Judges 1:9).

The Lord then referred to Joshua as a burning stick plucked from the fire, evidently for His future use (cf. Amos 4:11). If Joshua represents Israel, then the fire must refer to the Babylonian captivity from which Israel had come almost destroyed, and the stick refers to the surviving remnant. Israel had experienced another brush with extinction at the Exodus (Deuteronomy 4:20; Deuteronomy 7:7-8; Jeremiah 11:4), and she will do so again in the Tribulation (Zechariah 13:8-9; Jeremiah 30:7; Revelation 12:13-17).