Passage: Zechariah 2
The Big Idea
A man goes out with a measuring line to measure Jerusalem, but God says the city will overflow beyond any walls, because He Himself will be a wall of fire around it and the glory in its midst. Above all, God’s promise is not “I am coming to rule” or “I am coming to judge,” but “I am coming to dwell with you.”
The Measuring Line (Zechariah 2:1-2)
Zechariah sees a man with a measuring line going to measure Jerusalem’s width and length. He’s checking things out, sizing up the city.
A City Without Walls (Zechariah 2:3-5)
An angel runs to tell the young man: Jerusalem will be inhabited like open villages without walls, because of the multitude of people and livestock in it. And the Lord promises to be a wall of fire around her and the glory within her (Zechariah 2:4-5).
What does this mean? Jerusalem will be rebuilt and will overflow its boundaries. It won’t need walls, because God Himself will be its protection.
Many teachers connect this with Ezekiel 38-39, where a future invader from the far north comes against “a land of unwalled villages,” a people living in peace and safety (Ezekiel 38:11). In that day, God defends His people with fire, earthquake and hail, and makes Himself known to the nations (Ezekiel 38:18-23). Whatever the details of the future, the point is the same: God Himself is the wall.
Flee from Babylon (Zechariah 2:6-7)
God calls the exiles still living in Babylon and the land of the north to come home. He had scattered them to the four winds, and now He’s gathering them back.
The Apple of His Eye (Zechariah 2:8-9)
Whoever touches God’s people touches the apple of His eye (Zechariah 2:8).
The fastest reflex in your body is the one that protects your eye. Any nation that touches God’s people is poking God in the eye. Nations need to understand this. His heart is to protect His people.
Notice the speaker says, “The Lord of hosts has sent Me.” The Lord is sending the Lord. This is the Son, sent by the Father.
“I Am Coming to Dwell” (Zechariah 2:10-13)
Daughter Zion is called to sing and rejoice, because the Lord is coming to live among her (Zechariah 2:10).
He doesn’t say, “I am coming to rule,” or “I am coming to judge,” though both are true. That’s not what He’s most excited about, and it’s not what the people needed most. They needed a God who wanted to live with them. In their midst. Not high above or far away.
The High and Lofty One who inhabits eternity also dwells with the humble and contrite, to revive them (Isaiah 57:15). In Christ Jesus, we who were once far away have been brought near by His blood (Ephesians 2:13).
That’s the promise: closeness, both in place and in relationship. It’s like picking teams on the playground, and Jesus says, “I promise I’ll pick you.”
Many nations
Many nations will join themselves to the Lord in that day and become His people (Zechariah 2:11).
That’s you and me. The Scripture foresaw that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, and announced the gospel to Abraham ahead of time: all nations would be blessed through him. Those who have faith are blessed along with believing Abraham (Galatians 3:8-9).
When Peter preached to Cornelius’s household, the Jewish believers were astonished that the Holy Spirit had been poured out on the Gentiles too (Acts 10:45). God came to dwell in them.
It doesn’t matter what your past is or what people group you come from. God wants to save you and live with you.
“The Lord of hosts has sent Me”
Jesus spoke constantly about being sent by the Father. A few examples:
- His food was to do the will of the One who sent Him and finish His work (John 4:34).
- Whoever hears His word and believes the One who sent Him has eternal life and has passed from death to life (John 5:24).
- The work of God is to believe in the One He sent (John 6:29).
- The Father’s will is that Jesus lose none of those given to Him, but raise them up at the last day (John 6:39-40).
- The One who sent Him is always with Him (John 8:29).
- Eternal life is knowing the only true God and Jesus Christ whom He sent (John 17:3).
- As the Father sent Him, so He sends us (John 20:21).
The One Zechariah heard speaking is the One who came, dwelt among us (John 1:14), and now dwells in us by His Spirit.
Be silent before Him
All flesh is called to be silent before the Lord, because He has risen from His holy dwelling (Zechariah 2:13). When God moves toward His people, the right response is hushed wonder.
Grace Takeaway
You don’t need walls when God is your wall of fire. And you don’t need to climb up to Him, because He came down to dwell in your midst. You are the apple of His eye, chosen, brought near by the blood of Jesus, and never alone.
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