The Measure Of What God Will Do Series

MINOR PROPHETS MAJOR MESSAGE:

THE MEASURE OF WHAT GOD WILL DO

ZECHARIAH 2:1-13

INTRODUCTION… Hallucinations (step1.medbullets.com/psychiatry/114022/delusions-hallucinations-illusions-and-loose-associations) [adapted]

I have never been so sick with fever that I had a hallucination. I have never had a waking dream or a vision of some kind because of an illness. I have never seen something that I could not explain other than people flipping out over a solar eclipse or Eastern Greene HS winning a football game. Those are experiences I have not had. I was praying about the passage that we are going to read today (Zechariah 2) and I got into reading about “hallucinations.” The human brain and emotions and senses are so complex and can be misinterpreted and depending on the conditions, a hallucination can occur. Did you know there are seven different kind of hallucinations? I didn’t.

There are visual hallucinations which are common in delirium when one has a medical issue. Auditory (hearing) hallucinations, I read, are common in schizophrenia and with psychiatric issues. Believe it or not there are olfactory (smell) hallucinations which can come because of a brain tumors. Gustatory (taste) hallucinations exist, but are rare. Tactile hallucinations are common in substance abuse withdrawal. And then there are hypnagogic hallucinations when one is going to sleep and hypnopompic hallucinations when one is waking up from sleep. Because this is not something I have ever personally experienced, I did not realize how complex such a thing can be.

I do sometimes kick when I am kicking someone in a dream, but that is not any kind of hallucination, that is called REM sleep behavior disorder and that is probably some other kind of issue.

SERIES INFORMATION… Background of Prophets

I mention those things because, in the Bible, when God wanted to get His people’s attention He would often do something demonstrative like speak from a burning bush or lead by a pillar of cloud or shake the ground or do a miracle in nature. God did all of those things and more and none of them were hallucinations or misinterpretations of a dream or just someone with a brain tumor or someone smoking the wrong plant. God spoke to and through people we call prophets. Prophets had many roles and many jobs. One of the jobs of prophets was to predict the future and what God would do among His people revealing His plan.

This morning as we continue our sermon series in the last twelve books of the Old Testament called “Minor Prophets Major Message.” I want to focus on one of these specific prophets and the message that he brought to the people of God because those messages are important for us. This morning it is a great message of hope!

Today, we will be in the Book of Zechariah (if you want to turn there in your Bibles). Zechariah is a little bit different than some of the other prophets. God gives Zechariah waking symbolic visions of what He will do and what He wants from His people. Over and over again in Zechariah the words “I lifted my eyes and saw” (1:18, 2:1, 5:1, 5:5, 5:9, 6:1) describe what happened to Zechariah. Even in 4:1-2, the Prophet Zechariah shares with us that an angel woke him up so he could physically see the next vision. He is not ill in any way, but rather God is showing him symbols of what will take place. Zechariah also receives oracles and burdens and Words from God like the other prophets, but Zechariah alone seems to be one who has these vivid images come to him while he is awake and sees them, in my opinion, like he is watching a movie on a wall.

His visions are eight. He has visions of horses and chariots and craftsmen and a high priest made holy and lampstands among olive trees and a flying scroll and a basket of sin being taken away to a distant land. If I had to pick a favorite, the woman in a basket being carried away is my favorite. I would like to focus on one of the other eight visions of Zechariah this morning… the third vision which is written about in Zechariah 2.

TRANSITION

Let’s read from the second chapter in Zechariah.

READ ZECHARIAH 2:1-13 (ESV)

And I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand! 2 Then I said, “Where are you going?” And he said to me, “To measure Jerusalem, to see what is its width and what is its length.” 3 And behold, the angel who talked with me came forward, and another angel came forward to meet him 4 and said to him, “Run, say to that young man, ‘Jerusalem shall be inhabited as villages without walls, because of the multitude of people and livestock in it. 5 And I will be to her a wall of fire all around, declares the LORD, and I will be the glory in her midst.’” 6 Up! Up! Flee from the land of the north, declares the LORD. For I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heavens, declares the LORD. 7 Up! Escape to Zion, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon. 8 For thus said the LORD of hosts, after his glory sent me to the nations who plundered you, for he who touches you touches the apple of his eye: 9 “Behold, I will shake My hand over them, and they shall become plunder for those who served them. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent me. 10 Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for behold, I come and I will dwell in your midst, declares the LORD. 11 And many nations shall join themselves to the LORD in that day, and shall be My people. And I will dwell in your midst, and you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent Me to you. 12 And the LORD will inherit Judah as His portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem.” 13 Be silent, all flesh, before the LORD, for He has roused Himself from His holy dwelling.