"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?"
Who is the Speaker here but Christ? Surely he that is called in the first verse the angel of the Lord, before whom Joshua stood, is the same person here called the Lord. And so he was, who is the angel of the covenant. And do observe the graciousness of the expressions. Satan is not only rebuked, but reasoned with. Jerusalem is the chosen of the Lord. And did not the Lord know what Jerusalem is, and would be? Moreover, coming out of the fire, and smoke, and furnace, could she appear otherwise than as a smoking brand, saved by sovereign grace?
Reader! do not fail to observe whose province it is to rebuke Satan, and to counteract all his devices. And do not overlook also, how the Lord Jesus is unceasingly engaged to do so. What, though Satan stand day and night to accuse, Jesus is always on the throne to justify. No accusation of Satan can escape his knowledge, or be unanswered by Christ's advocacy. Sweet thought!