Zechariah 2:1-13
In our series of sermons from the prophet Zechariah, in order to understand the context and scope of this book of the Bible, I thought it would be helpful to begin with a synopsis of Zechariah written by Eugene Peterson in his translation of the Bible, The Message.
Zechariah shared with his contemporary Haggai the prophetic task of getting the people of Judah to rebuild their ruined Temple. Their preaching pulled the people out of self-preoccupation and got them working together as a people of God. There was a job to do, and the two prophets teamed up to make sure it got done.
But Zechariah did more than that. For the people were faced with more than a ruined Temple and city. Their self-identity as the people of God was in ruins. For a century they had been knocked around by the world powers, kicked and mocked, used and abused. This once-proud people, their glorious sacred history starred with the names of Abraham, Moses, Samuel, David, and Isaiah, had been treated with contempt for so long that they were in danger of losing all connection with that past, losing their magnificent identity as God’s people.
Zechariah was a major factor in recovering the magnificence from the ruins of a degrading exile. Zechariah reinvigorated their imaginations with his visions and messages. The visions provided images of a sovereign God that worked their way into the lives of the people, countering the long ordeal of debasement and ridicule. The messages forged a fresh vocabulary that gave energy and credibility to the long-term purposes of God being worked out in their lives.
But that isn’t the end of it. Zechariah’s enigmatic visions, working at multiple levels, and his poetically charged messages are at work still, like time capsules in the lives of God’s people, continuing to release insight and hope and clarity for the people whom God is using to work out his purposes in a world that has no language for God and the purposes of God.
Zechariah had a vision one night that is broken up into three acts with a total of eight scenes. Elliot and Cory preached from the first two of these. These visions address the needs of the Jews who had suffered great humiliation when Jerusalem was sacked and the Temple was destroyed. In great pain and misery they had been marched into captivity in Babylon. About seventy years later they returned to Jerusalem and then began the long, slow process of rebuilding the city and the Temple.
As Peterson points out, it was not just the Temple that had been destroyed; their faith in God suffered a near fatal blow. Everything their faith had been based on was destroyed. They came back to nothing and the question was: Is the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob still our God?
The message Zechariah preached that came from the vision he received was soothing balm over the still open sores of their pain and suffering. The first vision told them that they were still God’s chosen people. He was still their God. As Elliot told us, “God is committed to us.”
God spoke to the Jews who returned through his prophet Zechariah (Zechariah 1:16–17)
“Therefore this is what the Lord says: ‘I will return to Jerusalem with mercy, and there my house will be rebuilt. And the measuring line will be stretched out over Jerusalem,’ declares the Lord Almighty.
17 “Proclaim further: This is what the Lord Almighty says: ‘My towns will again overflow with prosperity, and the Lord will again comfort Zion and choose Jerusalem.’ ”
The Jews heard the reassuring and comforting message that they were loved by God. The disobedience of their ancestors was not a breaking of the relationship between God and the descendants of Abraham. God’s promise to Abraham was still going to be fulfilled.
The second scene of the vision, from which Cory preached, was a continuation of the message of the first scene. The nations God used to punish Judah for its disobedience and idolatry went too far and now God was going to bring judgment on these nations.
God is sovereign over his people and God is sovereign over the enemies of his people. God is sovereign over all. This was a comforting and reassuring message then. It is a comforting and reassuring message to us today.
The third scene of the vision begins with Zechariah seeing an angel holding a measuring line, what we call a tape measure. Zechariah asks him what he is doing. He responds that he is going to measure Jerusalem, to find out how wide and how long it is.
There was a debate going on. There were some who said the first priority was to rebuild the Temple. There were others who said it was useless to rebuild the Temple if there was no city wall to protect it.
Reason stands on the side of the angel holding a tape measure. There was opposition to rebuilding Jerusalem. We read in Ezra 4 that the enemies of Judah heard that the Temple was being rebuilt and worked against this project. They tried to discourage people who were working on the project and bribed officials to work against the rebuilding. Even eighty years later when Nehemiah was on the scene, workers had to carry a sword in one hand while they worked on the wall because of those who were fighting to prevent Jerusalem from becoming a walled city.
So it made sense to build the wall first and then build the Temple. But as Proverbs 16:9 tells us, “In their hearts humans plan their course, but the Lord establishes their steps.” We use the minds God has given us, and many times that is what we are supposed to do. That is how God directs us. But there are also times when human reasoning does not arrive at the proper decision because God knows the future and we do not. So we use our minds but then stay open to God for his direction. This is what happened in this vision.
As Zechariah saw the angel with the tape measure leave, a second angel arrived.
3 While the angel who was speaking to me was leaving, another angel came to meet him 4 and said to him: “Run, tell that young man, ‘Jerusalem will be a city without walls because of the great number of people and animals in it. 5 And I myself will be a wall of fire around it,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will be its glory within.’
This is obviously a higher angel and he brings a message from God that sees beyond the human wisdom that would build a wall to protect the inhabitants of Jerusalem.
This is a message of encouragement to the Jews who had returned from exile. The ruins of Jerusalem will be rebuilt and Jerusalem will be a prosperous city with a great number of people and animals in it. Jerusalem will be a city pulsating with life.
Who will protect this prosperous city? God will be the protection for the city. Seventy years earlier the walls of Jerusalem had been breached by the Babylonians and Jerusalem and the Temple had been destroyed. If the Temple and wall were rebuilt but God was not there, there would be no protection. The protection Jerusalem needed was not walls but God.
I myself will be a wall of fire around it,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will be its glory within.’
This is the struggle God has always had with the humans he created to be with him in his eternal kingdom. God wants us to trust in him but we are continually putting our trust in walls, in other humans, and in the wealth of this temporary world. Psalm 146:3–5 tells us,
Do not put your trust in princes,
in human beings, who cannot save.
4 When their spirit departs, they return to the ground;
on that very day their plans come to nothing.
5 Blessed are those whose help is the God of Jacob,
whose hope is in the Lord their God.
This is the third scene in the vision God gave to Zechariah. Following this, Zechariah had two messages to deliver that came from an interpretation of this vision. Although we can’t tell from the English translations, these messages are written in poetic Hebrew. The first was a message for the Jews living in exile in Babylon and elsewhere.
“Come! Come! Flee from the land of the north,” declares the Lord, “for I have scattered you to the four winds of heaven,” declares the Lord.
7 “Come, Zion! Escape, you who live in Daughter Babylon!” 8 For this is what the Lord Almighty says: “After the Glorious One has sent me against the nations that have plundered you—for whoever touches you touches the apple of his eye—9 I will surely raise my hand against them so that their slaves will plunder them. Then you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me.
God’s love for his chosen people is expressed in an invitation, “Come,” and in an intention to judge the nations that had punished Judah. In the second scene of the vision God gave Zechariah, from which Cory preached last week, God told Zechariah that the nations that had been used to punish Judah for idolatry would themselves be punished. Elliot preached the week before that about God’s continuing commitment to his chosen people.
Here, in this message to the Jews living in exile, God once again tells the Jews that they are the apple of his eye. God loves them. They are precious in his sight. He has not abandoned them. And because they are the apple of his eye, because he loves them, he tells them to come back to Jerusalem. Come home.
The nations where they are living will be plundered. Don’t settle down and accept the life you have there. Don’t get comfortable in a foreign land. Come home. Come home to Jerusalem.
The second message that comes out of Zechariah’s vision is addressed to Jews living in Jerusalem.
“Shout and be glad, Daughter Zion. For I am coming, and I will live among you,” declares the Lord. 11 “Many nations will be joined with the Lord in that day and will become my people. I will live among you and you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you. 12 The Lord will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land and will again choose Jerusalem. 13 Be still before the Lord, all mankind, because he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.”
David had celebrated with all his might when the Ark of the Covenant was brought up the hill into Jerusalem. This was cause for celebration again. The Jews had felt abandoned by God when Jerusalem and the Temple were plundered and they had been sent off into exile. Now God was reassuring them that he had not abandoned them. He was present with them. They were the apple of his eye.
There is a sense of expectancy in the last verse of this second interpretation. Eugene Peterson translates verse 13 this way:
Quiet, everyone! Shh! Silence before God. Something’s afoot in his holy house. He’s on the move!
God is on the move. Something grand is going to happen. Stay alert. Be on your toes. Don’t miss it. Watch to see what God will do next. As Paul wrote in his letter to the church in Rome (Romans 8:15 – The Message)
This resurrection life you received from God is not a timid, grave-tending life. It’s adventurously expectant, greeting God with a childlike “What’s next, Papa?”
How does this vision and the two messages that came as Zechariah interpreted the vision speak to us?
The measuring line has mapped out the extent of the walls of Zion and they are no longer limited to the walls of Jerusalem. Peter Wagner talks about there being three Pentecost experiences in the book of Acts. In the first Pentecost in Acts 2 the Holy Spirit was poured out on Jews in Jerusalem. Peter preached the first sermon of the church and the church grew dramatically.
The growth of these followers of Jesus began to be a threat and persecution broke out. After Stephen was stoned to death, the followers of Jesus scattered throughout Judea and Samaria. When Phillip preached in Samaria and there was an enthusiastic response, John and Peter came and in a second Pentecost in Acts 8:5-25, the barrier between Jews and Samaritans was broken as the Holy Spirit was poured out on the despised Samaritans.
Once again it was Peter at the forefront when God orchestrated his meeting with Cornelius in Acts 10 and now the even more despised Gentiles were brought into the family of God as the Holy Spirit, in a third Pentecost, was poured out on Cornelius and his household.
As the good news of Jesus went out into Jerusalem, then Samaria, and then into the Roman world, the eternal city of Zion had new citizens who trickled into the kingdom of God.
When Paul took the good news of Jesus to the Gentile world, the trickle became a stream. And as the good news of Jesus has made its way to the nations of the world over the past two thousand years, the stream has become a river. We are the fulfillment of this prophecy of Zechariah. RIC is a microcosm of what is happening in the world. The forty or so nations represented among us are evidence that what Zechariah prophesied is in the process of being fulfilled.
The prophecy of Zechariah was intended to encourage the Jews who had returned to Jerusalem and renew their energy and commitment to build up the city of Jerusalem. As we hear this prophecy it should encourage us to renew our energy and commitment to work with Jesus as he is building his kingdom. Today, as I speak, there are new brothers and sisters coming to faith from countries and ethnic groups all over the world.
This past week I witnessed the baptism of a sister who came to faith and received the healing love of the Holy Spirit as she went under and came up from the water. This is what matters. This is what is important. This is what will endure for eternity. This is the work we are to engage in. Jesus is at work. We want to work with him as he brings into his kingdom his beloved daughters and beloved sons.
The Jews who heard Zechariah’s interpretation of this vision had a lot on their minds. Some were thinking about who they would marry. Others were having children and concerned with how to provide for them and protect them. Some were seeking employment and a promotion to greater responsibility and more pay. There were a lot of important decisions that needed to be made. But Zechariah did not call them to focus on these decisions. His encouragement was to work to rebuild Jerusalem and the Temple.
We too have a lot of pressure and responsibilities and decisions to be made. They are not unimportant. They deserve careful thought. We need to make good decisions. We have the responsibility to do well at our school, at our work, in our family. But the higher call is to focus on the work of Jesus as he is building his kingdom and never lose sight of that as we carry out our responsibilities.
A second application for us is to be patient as God works his purposes out in the world.
What was the message that Zechariah preached to the Jews who had returned from exile to a ruined city? “ “Run, tell that young man, ‘Jerusalem will be a city without walls because of the great number of people and animals in it.”
Most of the Jews who returned had never seen Jerusalem. They had only heard of it and when they returned, what they saw could not have been very encouraging. The had heard stories of Jerusalem and they expected damage, but when they arrived, what they saw was nothing but ruins. So the message from God that Jerusalem would be a great city with a great number of people and animals in it gave them hope.
When was this prophecy fulfilled? When was Jerusalem a great city with a great number of people and animals in it? Eighty years later when Nehemiah was working to build the walls of Jerusalem, Jerusalem was a mostly empty city and lots were cast in order to force people to move into the city. (Nehemiah 11:1–2)
Now the leaders of the people settled in Jerusalem. The rest of the people cast lots to bring one out of every ten of them to live in Jerusalem, the holy city, while the remaining nine were to stay in their own towns. 2 The people commended all who volunteered to live in Jerusalem.
One out of ten people volunteered to live in Jerusalem, but only because they had been chosen by lots to do so. The rest of the people commended them – and said to themselves, “I am so glad I was not chosen.”
Because of the violent opposition to the rebuilding of Jerusalem and the walls to protect it, it was a dangerous place to live. Eighty years after Zechariah’s prophecy, Jerusalem was not a prosperous city full of people and animals.
440 years later at the time of Jesus, Jerusalem approached the scope of this vision when it was full of people during the three annual festivals when Jews came from the cities and towns of Israel and surrounding nations. But the boundaries of the heavenly city of Zion are far larger than the city walls of Jerusalem.
Two thousand years later we are still waiting for the fulfillment of this vision of a heavenly city bustling with life.
The church of Jesus has expanded beyond the borders of Jerusalem, beyond the borders of Israel, beyond the borders of the known world at the time of Jesus, and into the distant nations of the world. And there are still people groups who do not have the Bible translated into their language. There are still people groups who have not heard the good news of Jesus in their heart language. There are still tribes and nations who have yet to come into the city of Zion, God’s eternal kingdom.
There is a great hymn, written in 1894 as a tribute to the Archbishop of Canterbury in England. Here is the first stanza:
God is working his purpose out
as year succeeds to year:
God is working his purpose out,
and the time is drawing near;
nearer and nearer draws the time,
the time that shall surely be,
when the earth shall be filled
with the glory of God
as the waters cover the sea.
We need to be patient as God’s purposes are being worked out in the world.
A third application for us is that we are each being called to come into Zion. Coming into Zion is not a one-time event. If you ask me to share my story of how I came to faith in Jesus and my story is only that when I was 20 years old I gave my life to Jesus, I need to come deeper into Zion. I need an ongoing story that speaks of what God is doing in and through me now. Salvation is not a one-time event. Salvation is a process.
In Paul’s letter to the church in Rome he talks about three stages of salvation. We have been saved. This is what happens when we reach out to the hand Jesus extends to us and accept his gift of salvation. We are being saved. This is the process of becoming more holy over time. We cooperate with the work of the Holy Spirit to transform us into being like Jesus. We will be saved. This is what will happen when we appear before Jesus at the end of time and are glorified and enter into his eternal kingdom. We have been saved. We are being saved. We will be saved.
Zechariah shared God’s promise to bring blessing to Jerusalem. Let me share Ray Stedman’s summary of this third vision that is printed in the bulletin.
This is the picture of God’s promise to those who return. It is always one of blessing. Come back, and blessing flows from that act of return, for God is the center of blessing. Blessing can come from no other source. If your life is empty, you need God. If you are a Christian and your life is empty, you need to return to God. It is out of the resources of God that blessings come. The man with a measuring line is simply a very descriptive symbol of the unlimited, measureless blessing that God is ready to pour out into the life of one who comes back into a relationship with him.
Come to Jesus. Return to Jesus. Bring those you love to Jesus. Bring those you study with, those you work with, to Jesus. Bring those God puts in your path to Jesus. It is not your responsibility nor are you capable of making them followers of Jesus, but you can live your life in a way that makes them ask questions about what you believe and why you believe it. You can pray for them. You can love them and serve them in the name of Jesus.
In Jesus’s parable of the man sowing seed on different soils, the devil works to take away the seed that was sown. Resist the devil. Some seed is sown on rocky soil and while there is an initial joy, when it becomes difficult to follow Jesus because of trouble or persecution, the seed is lost. Some seed falls among thorns and the worries of this life and the deceitfulness of wealth chokes the word making it unfruitful.
The world, the flesh, and the devil will work against seeds that are sown into the hearts of men and women. Beware of the deceitfulness of wealth, power, and fame.
Psalm 146:3
Do not put your trust in princes,
in human beings, who cannot save.
Philippians 4:6
Do not be anxious about anything, but in every situation, by prayer and petition, with thanksgiving, present your requests to God.
James 4:7
Submit yourselves, then, to God. Resist the devil, and he will flee from you.
Receive the blessing of God in your life. Come to Jesus. Return to Jesus. Draw deeper in intimacy with Jesus.
Isaiah 1:18
“Come now, let us settle the matter,” says the Lord.
“Though your sins are like scarlet,
they shall be as white as snow;
though they are red as crimson,
they shall be like wool.
Isaiah 55:1–3
“Come, all you who are thirsty,
come to the waters;
and you who have no money,
come, buy and eat!
Come, buy wine and milk
without money and without cost.
2 Why spend money on what is not bread,
and your labor on what does not satisfy?
Listen, listen to me, and eat what is good,
and you will delight in the richest of fare.
3 Give ear and come to me;
listen, that you may live.
Matthew 11:28–30
“Come to me, all you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you and learn from me, for I am gentle and humble in heart, and you will find rest for your souls. 30 For my yoke is easy and my burden is light.”
Come to the holy city of Zion John caught a glimpse of in his revelation.
Revelation 21:2–4
I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband. 3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God. 4 ‘He will wipe every tear from their eyes. There will be no more death’ or mourning or crying or pain, for the old order of things has passed away.”
Hold on. Be patient. Jesus is coming as he promised.
Revelation 22:12, 17
“Look, I am coming soon! My reward is with me, and I will give to each person according to what they have done.
The Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” And let the one who hears say, “Come!” Let the one who is thirsty come; and let the one who wishes take the free gift of the water of life.
