ZECHARIAH 2:1-5
GLORY IN HER MIDST (The Third Vision)
[Isaiah 61:4-9]
[Background Study: Gen. 22:17 & 18; Ps. 72:8-11; Isaiah 54:2,3, Chs 60-62; Jer. 31:31-40, 32:36-40; Amos 9:11-15; Mic. 2:12 & 13, 4:1-8, ch 5]
The second and third visions stand in close connection with the first. The consoling and comforting messages that God was angry with the nations who oppressed and scattered His repentant people and that He would rebuild Israel and would destroy any power that stood in His peoples' way, find even greater enhancement here.
While the second vision sets forth the destruction of the powers that were behind those hostile to Israel, the third represents the development of His people and His kingdom till it completely unfolds into its final glory.
When we look at the vision's largest scope, we have God's ultimate plan for His people of faith, the true children of Abraham in the last age of time. And here we have God revealing the expansion and greatness of His earthly kingdom and these unfathomable promises so that Israel might have opportunity to grasp that while touching upon fulfillment in that day the promises extend to a far greater day than they could bring about.
This should have helped lead the Jews of that generation and especially the following ones to the realization that the literal fulfillment of God's promises could only come about in a climatic time when the city of Jerusalem would become the capital of the millennial kingdom.
(Sing: The Lily of the Valley)
I. THE SURVEYOR, 2:1.
II. THE SURVEYOR'S TASK, 2:2-3.
III. THE SURVEYOR'S ACCOMPLISHMENT, 2:4-5.
I. THE SURVEYOR, 2:1.
The previous scene has faded, and while the prophet was pondering its significance, another divinely given vision presses itself upon Zechariah's attention in verse 1. Then I lifted up my eyes and looked, and behold, there was a man with a measuring line in his hand.
The prophet had been ordered in 1:16 to assure the people that a surveyor's line will be stretched forth over Jerusalem. Here we have that promise illustrated and confirmed (and extended). The marking out of the city would be the first step toward its restoration.
The third vision builds on the previous one by again (the same phrase as in 1:18) beginning with, "Then I lifted up my eyes and looked and beheld a man." The Man with the measuring line foretells the hope of a rebuilt Jerusalem and a restored people. But here we have a different word used for measuring line than in 1:16 for here we have a man measuring and planning out what we will see is the boundless capital of God's earthly kingdom, instead of the temporary Jewish capital of Jerusalem.
The man is important as is pointed out by the emphatic adverb, behold. Who is this man with the measuring line (Zech. 6:12, Ezek. 40:23; Heb. 3:3)? Although one cannot be positive, most likely He is the man who in the first vision was riding on the red horse, the Divine Messenger of the covenant, the pre-incarnate Christ, the second person of the Holy Trinity. For who else could measure and establish a city that has no walls or boundaries.
This earthy restoration and eternal hope is captured in the One who told us that "I go and prepare a place for you" in John 14. Here we have Him preparing His earthly capital.
First we saw the Surveyor, now ...
II. THE SURVEYOR'S TASK, 2:2-3.
Encouraged by the visions he has already received, the prophet eagerly seeks information concerning what was now being so vividly portrayed in verse 2. So I said, "Where are you going?" And he said to me, "To measure Jerusalem, to see how wide it is and how long it is."
In the previous vision, God promised to humiliate the horns of proud, oppressive, destructive power. But that alone was not enough to make His people numerous or exalted. So now the Master Builder is shown planning the expansion of His city after His craftsmen have destroyed the demonic opposition.
Zechariah inquires of the Surveyor with the measuring rod to know what He is doing; what was to be measured, and why it was to be measured.
The man replies that He is going to measure Jerusalem. Is the Surveyor establishing dimensions of the present city or the millennial city? Since the man is expected to be the pre-incarnate Christ and the city's dimensions are not indicate, it could be the city of the future, earthly new Jerusalem. So here we possibly see Christ establishing how large and great the capital city of the future kingdom is to be. For it seems to reflect the way Ezekiel had talked about the size of the renewed city (Ezek. 45:6), or the picture that Jeremiah had presented of the measuring line stretching out over the rebuilt Jerusalem (Jer. 31:38-40). [John L. Mackay. Focus on the Bible: Haggai, Zechariah, Malachi, E4 Group, Zechariah,]
So not only is the idea of measurement intended, but also the idea of expansion. The capital city of the millennial kingdom will need to be large and well planned because of the expansion of the kingdom of Christ that starting from Jerusalem after His death and resurrection. For His kingdom has continued to expand from that time under His leadership and guidance to all the countries and peoples of the earth!
In verse 3 Zechariah's interpreting angel moves out to greet another angel. And behold, the angel who was speaking with me was going out and another angel was coming out to meet him.
To further answer the prophet's inquiry, the interpreting angel leaves the prophet and is intercepted by another angelic messenger. The intervening angel brings addition information to God's man.
It seems that when we are actively involved in seeking answers is when God is sending them to us.
III. THE SURVEYOR'S ACCOMPLISHMENT, 2: 4-5.
Verse 4 contains the second angel's message. And say to him, "Run, speak to that young man, saying, ‘Jerusalem will be inhabited without walls, because of the multitude of men and cattle within it.
Run! Speak! Such good news demands urgent heralding. Such are the angel's words to the interpreting angel and thus to the young prophet concerning the meaning of the measuring of Jerusalem (The young man must be Zechariah because it is his interpreting angel that is given the message).
It seems the prophet was given such revelations from God when he was young. Yet, no man ought to look down on God's man because he is young for God had honored him with His revelations (1 Tim. 4:12).
Joseph was 30 when he became second in command of Egypt. David was thirty when he became King. Ezekiel was 30 when went forth into his prophetic ministry. Jesus was thirty when he enter into His full time ministry.
To challenge the pervasive defeatism of the people and to counteract their limited vision of what the future held, the LORD presents a threefold promise. This promise undoubtedly spoke to the immediate situation of Zechariah's day, but it cannot be contained within that period.
The first promise is the expansion of God's capital. The Surveyor has been planning and setting out "a city without walls." [Perazoth - from paraz, to exceed limits, to overflow bounds, spread, expand]. A city flowing like an open plain which has no limit or restraint upon the growth of its inhabitants (Ezek. 36:10; 38:11). A land where people dwell in peace and prosperity without walls, gates or locks. The absence of walls does not signify exposure to danger, but rather the massive increase in numbers of people and animals to be found in the restored city, so that it could not be enclosed within walls.
In the days of old cities harbored cattle as well as people (Jer. 33:10, 13; John 4:11; Psalm 144:13). Cattle, a sign of prosperity, were the food of the wealthy. Notice it is a city of men and cattle, not men and angels, indicating an earthly Jerusalem.
The message for us who live after Christ's life, death and resurrection is this: we ought to never erect a barrier to our expansion, our outreach. For walls also have a tendency to confine within and what God has for the world should not be confined within walls. The life changing message of the gospel is to go forth into the whole world as the Master Builder planned!
Yes, Jerusalem existed in Zechariah's time without walls for the people were repentant for a few decades, so God made sure they needed no walls. Later the Jews returned to their own ways and God called on Nehemiah to restore the walls of Jerusalem. Yet, let it be noted that it was more than 50 years later (519-444 BC) before he built the walls.
(We of the church today are free to proclaim God's message outside these walls, yet if we do not repent and do so we will eventually be forced to withdraw the telling of our message except behind these walls).
Thus, with the walls restored and Jerusalem never reaching the dimensions indicated in this passage, it is obvious that another future fulfillment is necessary. For even the expansion and growth of the church out of Jerusalem cannot be the total fulfillment of the prophecy for we have no proper figure to tie Jerusalem to (Jerusalem does not symbolize the church), except to the Jerusalem Christ establishes when He returns again.
Clearly then the final fulfillment lies in the 1,000 year reign of Christ in the earthly Jerusalem and then in the eternal city, Jerusalem, in the new earth under the new heavens in the boundless city built four square!
The second promise found at the start of verse 5 is protection. ‘For I' declares the Lord, ‘will be a wall of fire around her (5a).
Being without walls will not leave the city defenseless. In an resounding statement the LORD asserts that He Himself would be all the protection the city would need. The I in verse five is emphatic and is buttressed by "declares the Lord," stating He stands behind His promise.
God's presence there explains why walls will no longer be needed. The promise concerns a place and condition of confidence and protection since during danger, men flee to fortified towns. Now the people are ask to run to the Lord for their protection, security, and safety. It also designates a city as safe and great as the presence of God can make it.
This is one of the most beautiful and comprehensive promises in the Old Testament. It contains the promise of protection though the limitless city would have no physical, visible walls or fortifications. The city will be perfectly safe from attacks and dangers for He Himself will be a wall of fire around His city, which will be a perfect defense for those within but a sure destruction to enemies from without.
As fire keeps away the marauding wolf from the sheep while the shepherd rests and as a wall provides a barrier and a place of defense so will God be (providing rest and defense). The pillar of cloud and fire separated and protected the Israelites from the Egyptians (Ex. 14:19-24). It was like a wall. So the Lord Himself will be His people's light and comfort and sure wall of defense against threatening forces without.
Like the hedge God placed around Job (1:10) and the chariots of fire all round Elisha (2 Kgs. 6:17) these encircling flames will consume all antagonism and defy all approach. God will not only make a wall of fire about her but He Himself will be such a wall for our God is a consuming fire in His people (Isa. 33:14) and to His enemies Isa. 42:25; 30:27-30).
This promise would be literally fulfilled in Jerusalem during a few decades of Zechariah's life because God's people were repentant. And it is today being fulfilled in a parallel way for individuals as it was for Job, and for His church as a whole, but we still await its final fulfillment (Isa. 4:5, 60; 19:20, Ezek. 38:11).
Notice that although the focus of their rebuilding at this time was the Temple, there is no mention of the Temple in this vision at all. The city and its wall-lessness is the focus. The divine reassurance was to a people who were feeling exposed, wondering if their efforts in building the Temple would be overthrown if there were no fortifications round the city. They were trying to build their lives on the divine promises regarding Jerusalem's restoration, and yet were fearful of being exposed and of their work on the Temple being destroyed. Their thinking was the thinking of the past. It did not measure up to the challenges of the future. What good had Jerusalem's walls been in 586 B.C.? What mattered was the relationship between Jerusalem's inhabitants and the LORD.
The third promise is the manifested divine glory found in the second part of verse 5."And I will be glory in her midst."
The Lord Himself will be more than a wall of protection against external foes for He promises that He Himself, His personal presence, will be glory in her midst (Ps. 3:3). (Glory-kabod is the weight that is made by God's self-manifestation). As He will be her protection from without so will He be her glory from within. And God's presence with His people in their midst is in itself unspeakable glory.
Glory refers to the presence of the LORD. In Exodus 13:21 & 16:12, 20 was the first appearance of the Shekihiah Presence of the glory of God. There He was a pillar of fire to guide and protect (Ex. 14:19). This luminous cloud covered the Tent of Meeting when the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle (Ex. 40:34-35). The glory–cloud, or Shekinah as the Jewish rabbis called it, also indicated the LORD'S presence at the dedication of Solomon's Temple (1 Kgs.8:10-11). It was the presence of the LORD as represented by the glory–cloud that gave the dwelling of the LORD its real glory. Before the fall of Jerusalem the prophet Ezekiel had been permitted to see the glory departing from the ark of the covenant (Ezek. 9:3), from the Temple (Ezek. 10:19), and from the city (Ezek. 11:22-23). [Mackay, ibid.]
The promise given here is that the LORD's glory will return to his city and its people. Yet this revelation of greatness of His glory is extended to the incomprehensible degree of completely encompassing and entwining His people (Hag. 2:7, 9).
This promise, of course, finds greater fulfilment with the coming of Christ to dwell upon the earth. God will again tabernacle amongst His people. But this time in a greater manifestation of His glory than in His first coming (Jn. 1:14). Those that have God for their God will dwell in His glory and those who have Him in their midst have glory in their midst. And those persons and places that have God glorified in the midst of them also have Him as a wall of fire around them.
Physical walls can be scaled or broken through, no matter how high or strong they are. But we as God's children have the best wall of protection anyone can have – God's personal presence. Nothing can pass through to us without first passing through Him and His will. In Him we are safe and secure. For safety is not found in the absence of danger, but in the presence of God.
Even today we can have this future promised personalized. The church today needs no walls against the fiery darts of the evil one if we have the shield of faith in Christ which gives us outward protection and the inward illumination of the glory of the Living God abiding in ourselves and our midst by His Holy Spirit. For He today can be our protection from without (Ps. 34:7) and our salvation within (Ps. 27:2, 3).
CONCLUSION
Many shortsighted Jews of Zechariah's time had too limited a concept of the future glories of Jerusalem. Yet, in this amazing prophecy, Jews and Gentiles of any time should perceive that the complete fulfillment of this prophecy must extend beyond them to a future date of God's knowing. The greatness of Jerusalem's scope cannot be limited to the development and construction of man. God will not accept any tower of Babel where man by their own growth and achievements reach God. No, this Zion is a place which God Himself must plan and prepare.
Oh, the people that looked and looked to see these promises fulfilled at this era must wonder that God has not preformed His word that He spoke. But if they had seen Christ weep when He foresaw its inevitable destruction when the Romans would destroy the temple Zechariah's people were presently building and seen the streets running with blood. Oh, what has become of the vision of the wall of fire about her?
This apparent failure of the promise in Zechariah's day needs to be heeded as a lesson for the churches and individuals today. Many of the promises people attempt to claim today are millennial promises and will not be inherited until then.
Though the literal fulfillment has not yet taken place, it has partially been fulfilled. If God had not been as a wall of fire around the church, it would have been wiped off the face of the earth long ago. If nothing else had killed it the faults of its members would have done so. The continuance of the church in its weaknesses, errors, follies, stupidities, legalism and the sins of the people who in any given generation represents it should have destroyed it. That it stands at all is a miracle, and it has not only stood, it has won great battles (Isa. 54:17). Surely God has been a wall of fire about us. Because He lives, we live also.
Today many of you have come into this church and praised the beauty of His holiness in prayer and song and proclamation. Yet, you will leave and not proclaim His name to the world. Is it because you think that behind these walls you are safe to proclaim Him? No, God needs no walls to keep you safe or to contain His glory.
Do you walk out and look up to the sky in fear because there is no pillar to hold up the heavens. There is no fear of the heavens falling for an unseen hand holds them up. A church, a people, who hide behind their walls has no vision for expansion. That is why this church has not really grown as God promised it could because we have hid our Christianity behind these walls. As long as we only proclaim our Christianity behind these walls, this church will not grow as God intends ( A. Maclaren, Exposition of Holy Scripture, Vol. 6, p.279).
(Ezekiel 43:1-7; Isaiah 4:2-6).
