All right, let's look into this
passage of scripture in Zechariah chapter two. Now this is the
third vision that God gave Zechariah in the night. You remember as
we open up this book of the Bible, the prophet Zechariah, as he
prophesied to the people of God, the people of Judah, returning
from the Babylonian captivity, returning there under the sovereign
hand of God and commissioned to rebuild the temple, to rebuild
the walls of Jerusalem, the city, which at this time was in ruins.
Zechariah is given these eight night visions, eight visions
in one night as an encouragement to the people of God to serve
the Lord in whatever way He commands them. So this is the third vision
that the Lord gave Zechariah. Now this particular vision amplifies
and explains a little bit further what had already been revealed
in the first vision in verses 16 and 17. Look over in chapter
1. Verse 16, the Lord said, this
is in the first vision that He gave. He says, therefore, thus
saith the Lord, the Lord of glory, the Lord of the covenant, God
of grace, I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies. That's the watchword
of all of God's dealing with his people. That's really the
watchword of God's dealings with Israel in a temporal way, but
it is especially the watchword and foundation of God's dealing
with us in an eternal way. Mercy, mercy, mercy. His mercy
endureth forever. It's of the Lord's mercies that
we're not consumed. We're sinners in need of mercy.
I'm a sinner in need of mercy just as much today as I ever
was. And tomorrow, if the Lord lets
me live, I'll be the same thing. A sinner in need of mercy. And
we're recipients of the sure mercies of David in Christ. That's certain mercies. And he
says, I'm returned to Jerusalem with mercies. He says, my house
shall be built in it. Now the first application of
that is to that temple in Jerusalem. His house is going to be built.
And God has determined to use his people to do it. But the
spiritual and eternal application is to the church, the house of
God, the temple of God, the dwelling place of God. where his glory
dwells in the person and finished work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Christ said, upon this rock I will build my church and the gates
of hell will not prevail against it. And he says, saith the Lord
of hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth. Now that line
is going to be talked about here in this third vision. That's
a measuring line. I've entitled tonight's message,
The Man with a Measuring Line. And he says, the line shall be
stretched forth upon Jerusalem to measure it, to count it, to
identify it, and distinguish it. And so he says, cry yet,
saying, in verse 17, thus saith the Lord of hosts, my cities,
through prosperity, through goodness, his goodness, God's goodness
now, not man's goodness, we have none. You see, he's talking about
prosperity here. He's talking about success. He's
talking about salvation. And that's not by the goodness
of men, that's by the goodness of God in Christ. Mercy. And he says, shall yet be spread
abroad. We're going to preach the gospel and the Lord shall
yet comfort Zion, his people, his church, and shall yet choose
Jerusalem. Now, when it says shall yet choose
Jerusalem, it doesn't mean that God chose them and then he unchose
them and then he chooses them again. What that is, that's a
phrase that describes to our little minds, something of the
uninterrupted love of God towards his people. It never stops. Well,
look at verse 1 of chapter 2. He says, I lifted up mine eyes
again and looked, and behold, a man with a measuring line in
his hand. Here's the man with the measuring
line in his hand. Now, the question that we need
to ask ourselves as we go through this passage, is this, do I measure
up? Do I measure up according to
God's measuring line? You know, many times the Lord
will symbolize or describe salvation in this way, a measuring line.
In the book of Daniel, it was a balance, a scale. Remember,
when the handwriting on the wall When Belshazzar, when he was
having that wild party and dishonoring God by misusing the vessels of
the tabernacle, and the handwriting on the wall came along and said,
thou art weighed in the balance and found wanting. Do I balance
out was the question there. And of course, in ourselves,
none of us balance out. The scales are tipped towards
sin and depravity, and ruination, and we deserve death. The only
way the scale can balance out is in Christ. Well, do I measure
up? That's the question here, according to the measuring line.
Look at verse 2. He says, about the angel, this man with
the measuring line, this messenger of God, this man rather, the
messenger of God, and he said, I'm going to measure Jerusalem.
I'm going to measure the city of God. Jerusalem means a city
of peace. That's what it means. And we
can liken this to peace with God and those that dwell in peace
with God. And he said, I'm going to measure
that. Verse three, he says, and behold, the angel that talked
with me. Now here's the interpreting angel. Each time that Zechariah
had a vision, there was an interpreting angel. And the angel that talked
with me went forth, and another angel went out to meet him. This
angel went forth and met another angel. Verse four, and said unto
him, run, speak to this young man. Now this is an urgent message
here. This is not a casual message. This is not nonchalance, this
is something that is urgent and needs to be communicated. Run, he says, and speak to this
young man, saying, Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without
walls for the multitude of men and cattle therein. And he says,
verse five, for I, saith the Lord, will be under her a wall
of fire round about and will be the glory in the midst of
her. So here's this other angel. He's commanded to run and to
speak. Go and preach. Speak to Zechariah,
he says. He's got a message. It's urgent
to assure him of the prosperity and the safety and the security
and the glory of Jerusalem. What a joyous message, as well
as an urgent message. You know, this is much like Ezekiel's
prophecy. Read Ezekiel chapter 40 sometime
on your own. We won't go over there. There's
so many verses there. But Ezekiel speaks this way,
too, of the measuring line. Ezekiel, he was a prophet during
the captivity, remember? He was Daniel's younger contemporary. And then it speaks like Revelation
11. Let's go over there just for a second. Revelation 11. The revelation of Jesus Christ
to the Apostle John and to the churches. And in chapter 11,
He says in verse 1, listen to the language here. This language
is consistent throughout scripture, you see. He says, and there was
given to me a reed like unto a rod. And he says, and the angel
stood saying, rise and measure the temple, the dwelling place
of God. That's the church. Measure the
temple, measure the altar. The church is where God dwells.
The altar is where God meets with sinners upon what basis?
The altar, that's the blood. And he says, and to them that
worship therein, those are the redeemed of the Lord. And he
says, you measure them. That's what John... So this is
the same thing going on here back here in Zechariah chapter
two. Jerusalem would be preserved
in spite of all opposition and the sin of the people because
the Lord will make it so Men, he says, look back here at Zechariah
two, look at verse four. He says, and he said unto him,
run, speak to this young man saying, Jerusalem shall be inhabited.
The Lord will make it so. God's gonna populate it. Now
that's how God populates his church. by his sovereign power
and grace in the Lord Jesus Christ. He chose him, he justified him,
he redeemed him, and he'll call them into the fold by the power
of the Holy Spirit in the new birth through the preaching of
the gospel. And he says, as towns without walls, walls back then
meant defense against all enemies. But this, we don't need physical
walls, you see. We have Christ as a wall of fire,
he talks about that. But he says, for the multitude
of men, that's God's elect people, God's chosen in Christ. And then
he says, and the cattle, that's God's blessings upon them. Remember
the language of the Old Testament and New Testament sometimes killing
the fatted calf? It means you have an abundance.
And so all of God's elect are blessed with all spiritual blessings
in the heavenly places with Christ. And His presence, verse five,
as a wall of fire round about her, makes physical walls unnecessary. And notice the last line of verse
five, it says, and will be the glory in the midst of her. Christ
will be her glory. Not her buildings, not her beautiful
big defensive walls, but Christ will be her glory. Now who is
the glory of the church? The Lord Jesus Christ is the
glory of the church. He is the Shekinah glory of God. He is the very presence of God
that dwells in the person and finished work of the Lord Jesus
Christ. And so we distinguish here between
the physical application and the spiritual application. You
see, the strength of the church is not in men. It's not in pastors. It's in Christ. And this applies
to national Israels. They returned from the Babylonian
captivity. They couldn't have delivered themselves. They couldn't
have destroyed their conquerors and returned on their own power.
God had to do it. But it also applies to spiritual
Israels. God brings us out of the bondage
of sin and into the glorious liberty of the Lord Jesus Christ.
We couldn't deliver ourselves from sin. We can't even rise
above sin now as sinners saved by the grace of God. We can't
preserve and keep ourselves. It's the glory of God's grace
and power that preserves us in the heavenly Jerusalem forever
and ever. And that's all we need. He's all we have. He's all we
need. He's more than we need. Just
as physical Israel's temporal salvation and preservation was
of pure, free, sovereign mercy, The eternal salvation of spiritual
Israel is also of pure, free, sovereign mercy in Christ. Sovereign
grace. This speaks of the sure salvation
of all of God's elect people. It speaks of God's special, constant,
tender care for His people. It speaks of the ultimate glory
of Christ in the complete and ultimate salvation of His church
under glory. He will not let us go That's
amazing to me, isn't it to you? He won't let us go. There are
times I feel like He ought to let me go. There are times I
feel like I don't deserve to be saved or kept, but He won't
let us go. If His blood was shed for me,
if His righteousness was established for me, He will have me. That's
what this is all about. Now, who is this man with the
measuring line? Well, it's none other than the
Lord Jesus Christ Himself. going forth to conquer his enemies
and to protect his church as we saw in one vision riding the
red horse, but here he's Jesus Christ our Lord, the God-man,
our Redeemer, our Mediator, our Savior. Here he is, the man who
once stood among the myrtle trees in the low place, dwelling in
the midst of his people on earth for our salvation. Here he is
measuring the church, his kingdom. and listen only he has the right
to do that to measure the church he chose his church he bought
it with the price of his own blood he built it he preserves
it he protects it he'll complete it and he'll glorify it and he
is the glory of it now what exactly is this measuring line now this
is where we need to understand this issue because if i'm going
to answer this question in myself if the holy spirit is going to
Witness with my spirit that I am a child of God. I need to know
that I measure up Well, what is this? What exactly is this
measuring line? Well, you remember over here
in verse 16. He talked about a line that stretched forth upon
Jerusalem That's the theme. That's the common theme of the
line going out. And as I said, that's common
in Scripture Think about this look over at the book of Jeremiah
with me. Look at Jeremiah chapter 31 Jeremiah 31. And here he talks about the New
Covenant. Look down at verse 38. He's talking
about how the New Covenant that's going to be established by the
coming in time of the Messiah. The New Covenant, and I like
the way one of the old writers, I can't remember who it was,
I believe it was John Owen, but the way he defined the New Covenant
was this way. He said the New Covenant is the
establishment in time of the terms of the everlasting covenant
of grace made before time. In other words, everything that
God purposed before time in the everlasting covenant of grace
had its establishment and fulfillment in time by the Lord Jesus Christ,
and when that came about, that's the new covenant. Galatians 4.4,
in the fullness of the time, God sent forth his son, made
of a woman, made under the law to redeem them that were under
the law. Well, Jeremiah's talking about that in verse 31, or chapter
31. But he says in verse 38, look
at it, he says, Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that the
city shall be built to the Lord from the tower of Hananiel unto
the gate of the corner. Now, all of that has to do with
the city of Jerusalem. And it's typical of what of that
heavenly Jerusalem. And he says, and the measuring
line, verse 39, the measuring line shall yet go forth against
it up on the hill Gerab and shall compass about to Goath. All these
were areas around Jerusalem. And verse 40, and the whole valley
of the dead bodies and of the ashes and of the fields unto
the brook Kidron or Kidron. Remember that's the brook it's
called in John 18, Sidron. That's the brook that Christ
crossed. That was a brook where it is
said that in many of those days in Jerusalem, they poured the
refuse of the city in, and it's a picture of Christ crossing
that brook, of him going in proximity through the sin of humankind
to go to the cross. He walked in that, I can't, the way you describe
it would be that corrupt, that corruption, that he did not take
unto himself, but that he walked through and had to deal with,
you see. He was a man, a perfect man among
corruption. And that's what that Brooke Kidron
recognizes. Unto the corner of the horse
gate, toward the east, remember the horse gate and the wall of
Jerusalem. And he says, shall be holy unto the Lord, it shall
not be plucked up nor thrown down anymore. More forever. Now
God's the one who measures all this. God's the one who sets
the boundaries. God's the one who says this is
how much, this is how deep, this is how wide, this is how high.
That's what he says. And then look over to Ezekiel
chapter 47. In Ezekiel chapter 47. And look at, well look at verse
1. This is called the vision of
the holy waters. Ezekiel, he's prophesying here,
afterward he brought me again into the door of the house and
behold waters issued out from under the threshold of the house
eastward. for the forefront of the house stood toward the east
and the waters came down from under the from the right side
of the house in the south side of the altar see all this is
picture uh... pictorial language symbolic language
talking about looking for salvation to come from god through his
messiah from the east then brought he me uh... he uh... me out of
the way of the gate northward and led me about into the way
into the other gate by the way that looketh eastward, and behold,
there ran out waters on the right side. And when the man that had
the line in his hand, the measuring line in his hand, went forth
eastward, he measured a thousand cubits, and he brought me through
the waters, the waters were to the ankles. He measured it out
and he brought me into it. Now that's the kind of analogy,
that's the kind of symbolism that we see here in the book
of Zechariah about this measuring line. What is he talking about
in all these places? He's talking about the dimensions
of the city of God, the city of peace. It has to do with the
city whose builder and maker is Christ. Christ who is the
chief cornerstone by whom everything is measured and everything is
held together. The place where God dwells in holiness. The place
where His people dwell to the praise of the glory of His grace. It has to do with the glory of
God and what God requires for people to dwell in His city with
Him. That's God's measure. What does
God require for me to be a citizen in His kingdom? What does God
require for me to dwell where He dwells, to dwell with Him?
That's the issue. Now this line, this measuring
line, in fact, if we were to put this in kind of a modern-day
way of thinking, we'd look at it like a surveyor. My dad was
a surveyor. He was a land surveyor. And I'd
go out and help him. I was his helper. I was his gopher. That's what I was. I always tell
people, I say, when I'd go out and work for my dad, I held the
dummy end of the chain. If you know what that is, if
you've ever seen a surveyor, they've got a long chain. That's
the line, the measuring line. And they put the dummy on the
front of it with a machete and snake boots. That was me. And
my dad, he stood there with a transit. You know, those tripod transits.
And from the bottom of that transit to the ground hung a line with
a plumb bob at the end. And he would measure the dimensions,
the length and the degrees and all of that so that we can mark
off the boundaries of the land. Well, that's kind of like the
modern day analogy that we would use here, this man with the measuring
rod. Well, with that in mind, turn
over to Isaiah chapter 28. Back in Isaiah chapter 28. In other words, do I measure
up according to this measuring line, according to the standard
of this measuring line? That's the issue. And according
to the measuring line then, where can sinners go to measure up? Well, look here in verse 16. This is Isaiah prophesying. And it says in Isaiah 28, 16,
it says, Therefore thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in
Zion for a foundation of stone, a tried stone, a tested stone,
a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation. And he that believeth
shall not make haste, or shall not be ashamed." Now, if you
know anything about Scripture, and you've read much of the New
Testament, you can't get very far in the New Testament without
seeing this particular verse and others like it quoted quite
often in reference to one person, and that is the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is a clear prophecy of Christ. He is the foundation
of the church. He is the stone, the rock upon
which the church is built. He's the tried stone. He was
tested in every way. The Bible says he was tempted
in all points like as we are yet without sin. And he's the
precious cornerstone. He was the stone that was set
at naught, held to be nothing to the religious builders of
that day. But God has made him the chief cornerstone, the precious
cornerstone. Unto you therefore which believe,
he's precious. And he says, he's a sure foundation,
he's our surety. He's that rock upon which the
church is built, on which the winds blow and the rains come
and descend and fall on it and it will not fall because he's
the sure foundation. And those who trust him will
never be ashamed. Salvation is of the Lord. But
now look at the next verse, verse 17. He says, judgment also will
I lay to the line. Same kind of line Zechariah is
talking about. and righteousness to the plummet,
that which descends from the line and holds it straight according
to gravity's law, God's law of gravity. Plumbob, that's what
I think of when I read that. I can remember seeing that. He
said, I'm only righteousness to the plummet and the hail shall
sweep away the refuge of lies. And here's what he's saying,
when you see that measuring line, that plumb line, when you see
that line, as straight as it is, that measuring line, if you
don't measure up, all your refuges of lies will be swept away. And
he says, and the water shall overflow the hiding place, whatever
you try to hide in. See, if it doesn't measure up
to this measuring line, to this plumb line, then it will be flooded
and you'll drown in a sea of sin. That's what he's saying.
Well, what is this measure? It's righteousness. There it
is. I'll lay the law... Righteousness! He says to the
plummet. What is this measuring line?
It has to do with all that God requires. Go back to Zechariah
2. All that God requires to save a sinner from sin. It has to
do with God's law and justice, righteousness, perfect satisfaction
to God's law and justice. Here's what I've got to ask myself
when I ask myself this question, do I measure up? Am I righteous? And the answer is this, in myself,
absolutely not. You say, well, I'm more righteous
than others. Well, God's measuring line doesn't
deal in degrees. I'll tell you something, you
know, when I was surveying with my dad, if that plumb bob wasn't
straight to the ground, and it couldn't be anything but straight
to the ground because that's God's law of gravity, you know,
but if it went off a few degrees or if that transit was turned
just one degree and you get to the end of the line, the whole
thing would be off. It could be off for miles. See,
degrees has nothing to do here. It's righteousness to the plume. Am I righteous before God? Well,
in myself, absolutely not. There's none righteous, no not
one. There's none that doeth good,
no not one. We fell in Adam, ruined in Adam. and as a result born spiritually
dead in trespasses and sins. We have no righteousness to recommend
us unto God. Our best works will not make
us so. Our religion will not make us
so. Joining a church will not make you so. Getting baptized
will not make you so. Giving your tithe will not make
you so. The Bible says that God has commanded
all men everywhere to repent and that he hath appointed a
day in which he will judge the world in righteousness." He's
going to lay it to the line, so to speak. "...judge the world
in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained, and that
he hath given assurance unto all men, and that he hath raised
him from the dead." Christ is the only one who ever measured
up. You can't, I can't. The best men on earth are altogether
vanity. That's what he said. Man at his
best states altogether vanity. We still don't measure up. Outward
reformations won't do it. Prayer won't do it. Preaching
sermons won't do it. What do I need to make myself
righteousness? One thing, I need Christ and
Him crucified. And that's it. That's it. This measuring line has to do
with what God has provided by His grace in the person and work
of Christ. Turn to Romans chapter 9. Paul
used this measuring line when he spoke of his own nation according
to the flesh. Zechariah is doing the same thing.
And we're going to see the same thing in the fourth vision too.
By nature and by practice and by works, none of us measure
up. He says in Romans chapter 9 and
verse 31, look at it. He says, but Israel, which followed
after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law
of righteousness. They didn't measure up. Why didn't
they? Verse 32. Wherefore, why didn't
they? Because they sought it not by
faith, but as it were by the works of the law. They were trying
to make themselves righteous. They were trying to make themselves
accepted before God. by their works. And they stumbled
at that stumbling stone, and then he begins to quote from
the very verse that we read in Isaiah 28. Verse 33, he says,
As it is written, Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone, a
rock of offense, and whosoever believeth on him shall not be
ashamed. Verse 1 of chapter 10, Brethren,
my heart's desire and prayer to God for Israel is that they
might be saved. For I bear them record that they
have a zeal of God, but not according to knowledge." You see, the only
way that we're going to know if we measure up or not is to
know the standard. If we don't know the standard,
how can we know if we measure up? Those who don't know the
standard always lower the standard. Do the best you can do. That
ought to count for something. Well, this measuring line won't
allow for that. He says in verse three, for they
being ignorant of God's righteousness and going about to establish
their own righteousness have not submitted themselves to the
righteousness of God. God's measuring line. Verse four,
for Christ is the end, the fulfillment, the finishing, the completion,
the perfection of the law for righteousness for everyone that
believeth. Christ is the only way to measure
up, to believe in Him, to rest in Him, to plead His blood and
righteousness alone. Now what we see there in this
measuring line, and for us to know that we measure up, is that
we must go to the Scriptures. In essence, you could say the
Scriptures are the measuring line because it's all according
to the Scriptures. We talk about Christ died, Christ
was buried, Christ arose again the third day. In 1 Corinthians
15, it says He died according to the Scriptures. He was buried
and rose again the third day according to the Scriptures.
Isaiah 8.20 says if they speak not according to this word, they
can't measure up. You don't know the right standard.
There's no light in them. This measuring line is revealed
in the gospel, the preaching of the gospel. Those who obey
not the gospel cannot measure up, for they're ignorant of,
just like Israel of old, and not submitted to the righteousness
of God in Christ. Look back at Zechariah 2. So
what does he say to do? Now that sets the tone. He says
in verse 6, look at it. Here he's talking about the call
of the gospel of God's grace in Christ. Ho, ho, listen, listen. Pay attention here. Come forth
and flee from the land of the north, saith the Lord, for I
spread you abroad as the four winds of the heavens, saith the
Lord. They'd been punished for their sin. God had provided a
way. Flee from the land of the north,
the land of Babylon. Verse 7, he says, Deliver thyself,
O Zion, that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon. When he
says, deliver thyself, he's not saying save yourselves. We can't
save ourselves. He's talking about separate yourselves.
God has provided a way. Separate yourselves. Peter said
that in Acts chapter 2. To those who look to Christ for
salvation, separate yourself from this untoward generation,
this evil generation. You see, don't stay in Babylon. Why would anyone stay in Babylon
if they know that it's damnation, that it's bondage, that it's
corruption and cursedness? Well, they wouldn't if they knew.
That's right. And that's the call of the gospel.
Why stay in a false, self-righteous religion of work salvation when
it is certain death? You wouldn't stay in it if you
didn't know better, if you knew better. Come to Christ. Run to Him. He says in verse
8, Think about that. You know what the apple of your
eye is physically? It's the pupil. You ever touched
your pupil? You ever had anybody touch it? It's the most sensitive part
of the body. Right there. The most sensitive
part of the body. I mean, you can just get a little
speck in there, don't you? And it just feels like a big
block's in there or something, doesn't it? And that's what he's
talking about. If you want to talk about the
most sensitive part of God's glory, It's in the salvation
of his people by his grace through the Lord Jesus Christ. And when
you touch his people, that means when you harm them or persecute
them or speak ill of them, he takes it personally. Remember
in Matthew chapter 25 and verse 40 when he's talking about the
judgment, he said, inasmuch as you've done it unto one of the
least of these my brethren, you've done it unto me. Brother Tim
James said something about that. He said, what he's saying is
this, when you kick one of the Lord's children, he feels it.
Because he takes it personally. This is one whom God chose. This
is one whom God has justified. This is one whom Christ has shed
his precious blood for. This is one whom God has called
out. You didn't have anything to do
with that. I didn't have anything to do with that. That's not our
business, you see. All we have to just say is, amazing
grace, God chose, justified, redeemed, and called me. That's
the issue, isn't it? And he says, when this happens,
he says, you'll know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me. Look
at verse nine. He says, for behold, I will shake
mine hand upon them. That means literally God will
destroy him with a wave of his hand. It's like he just said,
get away from me, and he destroys him. And he says, and they shall
be a spoil to their servants, even the ones they persecuted
and put down in bondage, there'll be a spoil to them, and you shall
know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me. And so he closes out
this third vision with the song of the redeemed. You know, I
love these passages that set forth what we call the song of
the redeemed. If you want to see one of the
greatest Copies of that song read revelation 5 worthy is the
lamb that was slain But this is this is very similar just
in these few verses look at it verse 10 sing and rejoice old
daughter of Zion for lo I come and I will dwell in the midst
of these saith the Lord He's gonna do it. The word was made
flesh and dwelt among us And why did he do that? for our redemption,
for our salvation, for our justification, to give us spiritual life, to
bring us to himself, verse 11. Now this shows you that he's
not talking in... here he's speaking prophetically.
He's not talking about just one nation, he says, and many nations
shall be joined to the Lord in that day. God has a people out
of every tribe, kindred, tongue, and nation, all who come to Christ,
all who submit to his righteousness, his standard, his measuring line
in Christ, in that day, and shall be my people, the people of God,
the people that populate his city. The people who are at peace
with God through the blood of Christ. And I will dwell in the
midst of thee. He'll be their heart. That's
what that means. The heart of the church is Christ
and Him crucified. And thou shalt know that the
Lord of hosts hath sent me unto thee. There'll be no doubt. This
is of God. This is not of man. This is of God. This didn't come
from the earth. This came from heaven. Salvations
of the Lord, verse 12. And the Lord shall inherit Judah,
his portion in the holy land, You know, that land, they call
that the holy land today. It's not holy. But at one time,
it was set apart. In that sense, holy for the people
of God. In that sense, it was set apart
for them. God gave it to Abraham. He didn't give it to anybody
else. It was set apart for Abraham and his descendants. Now Abraham,
he never owned really a piece of it, but later on, his people
did for a while. For a while. But this holy land
that he's speaking of, I believe he's talking about the new heavens
and the new earth wherein dwelleth righteousness according to that
measuring line. Peter spoke of it. In other words,
there's not going to be one person who dwells in that land who is
not righteous and forgiven and pardoned and justified in the
Lord Jesus Christ. That's the way. And he says,
and he shall choose Jerusalem again. Again, that's not saying
that he stopped choosing and then chose. No, it's just talking
about it's a continual relationship with God in Christ. So he says
in verse 13, be silent, O all flesh, before the Lord. This
ought to shut everybody's mouth right here. And he says, for
he is raised up out of his holy habitation. God has risen. to do his great work through
the Lord Jesus Christ. And from Zechariah's point of
view, he's looking at it in this way, Christ will come the first
time to put away our sin and establish righteousness so that
all his people will measure up in him. Well, he's already come. We look at it in this way, He
will come the second time to gather us for glory and bring
judgment upon His enemies. And when we stand with Him and
in Him in that last day, don't ever think otherwise. We'll measure
up because we are in Him. We're washed in His blood. We're
clothed in His righteousness. And there's no flaw in Him. There's
many flaws in us. But our measuring line is not
ourselves, it's Christ and Him crucified. and risen again and
he who is our portion declares here that we're his portion he
owns us by redemption and he who is our inheritance here declares
that we're his inheritance that which he earned by his work on
the cross and he who is our fullness here declares that we're his
fullness the fullness of glory it's his glory that's on the
line here in the salvation of his people you realize that don't
you His reputation. He said He came into the world
to save His people from their sins. If He'd fail to save one
of them, His reputation will be shot. But He won't fail. He'll save all His people. And
then, He who is our glory, here declares that we're His glory.
For there's no greater glory than the glory of God in the
salvation of sinners by the Lord Jesus Christ.