Zechariah 2 | Living with God
1Then I looked up, and there before me was a man with a measuring line in his hand. 2I asked, “Where are you going?” He answered me, “To measure Jerusalem, to find out how wide and how long it is.”
3While the angel who was speaking to me was leaving, another angel came to meet him 4and 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. 5And I myself will be a wall of fire around it,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will be its glory within.’
- The ‘Jerusalem’ God is speaking of was not the current Jerusalem, he was picturing something quite different
- ‘without walls because of the great number of people and animals’
- From a premillennial standpoint this could be quite literal, as there would be a mass gathering of believers to Jerusalem at Christ’s return, so many that the numbers would simply spill out all over and around the city
- From a postmillennial/amillennial standpoint this would be symbolic of the new Jerusalem and is just figurative of the prosperity and peace of God’s kingdom
- ‘I myself will be a wall of fire around it’- this is not descriptive of the New Jerusalem in Rev 21 but could be figurative and symbolic of the peace and protection of the city (‘nothing impure will enter it’)
6“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!”
- God is calling his people back from Babylon (the land of the north), out of their exile, to come and dwell with him once more
8For 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— 9I 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.
- This seems to be the Messiah speaking, that God will send him against the nations as a ‘warrior and saviour Messiah’ fight for and redeem the people who are precious in God’s sight
- How amazing to think that God’s people were the ‘apple of his eye’ and truly precious in his sight, and now that is true of the church also
10“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. 12The Lord will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land and will again choose Jerusalem.
- God is going to redeem his people so he can once more dwell with them, getting back to what was lost at the fall.
- Many nations will be joined – the salvation of the gentile world is occuring, as the gospel spreads throughout the world and creating believers in every nation and tongue, so we will all be joined with the Lord and his people.
- This is still the Messiah speaking in that God has sent Him to his people
- God is going to claim his people as his portion and inheritance
13Be still before the Lord, all mankind, because he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.”
- God is about to do something, he is about the turn this situation on it’s head and our only response would be to ‘be still’ before God, to humble ourselves before Him and be attentive to what he is about to do
Summary
God’s plan and intention is to dwell with his people again as their God and King. God is going to gather his scattered people from the lands where they have been exiled and bring them back, together with believers from all across the world too, to live in harmony with them.