Okay, well, we're coming to Zechariah
chapter two this morning, to what is actually the third of
the visions, because we saw two of them last week in chapter
one, and now we come to the third of the visions in chapter two,
a man with a measuring line. Why did God give visions to Zechariah,
and what has it got to do with us? Why did God give visions
to Zechariah? Do these things mull over in
your mind? Well, he did it to speak to his
people about his kingdom. Pretty sure that's the case,
because when Jesus came preaching, he preached, repent, for the
kingdom of God is at hand. So he gave visions to his people
in Zechariah's day, 500 years before Christ came, to speak
to his people about his eternal kingdom and their place in it. So it's about, give or take,
500 years before Christ, and they come back from their 70
years exile. Maybe it's nearer 400, I'm not
sure. And the people were commissioned to rebuild the ruined temple
and to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem. And they were commissioned by
a heathen emperor, Cyrus, whom God said 200 years before he
came on the scene that he would raise up his servant, Cyrus,
and get this set in motion. And the way was opened in those
very difficult days of communications. for these people to come back
after their 70 years of exile for their idolatry in the run-up
to that prophesied by Jeremiah and others of the prophets. They
were commissioned to come back and build again the ruined temple. Solomon's temple, the magnificent
temple, the beautiful temple, and Jerusalem, which lay in ruins. And they came back, they did
come back. Ezra and Nehemiah, the books before the Psalms. Read those books, because that's
the history of them coming back. And they were beset by opposition. Oh, because the emperor had said
it all would go swimmingly, wouldn't it? Well, no, it didn't, and
it never does in this world. They were beset by opposition,
trying to crush their efforts and to stop them from completing
the work. And also, they were beset by
a sense of failing to see the relevance of what they were doing.
So they lost heart, and they gave up, and they didn't proceed,
and they made nice houses for themselves, you know, with the
sealed walls, as it says, in Haggai. And Haggai was raised
up as a prophet, the one before Zechariah, to stir them up, to
get on with the work, to finish it. And Zechariah was raised
up by God to give them visions of what the overall purpose of
it was. You see, I'm sure some of them
were saying, well, we've done this, we've come back here. Why
not just accept the situation? It's too difficult for us, isn't
it? And why don't we just get on with life in an unbelieving
world? Why don't we just accept the
situation and get on with it? The answer is this. Because Jerusalem
must be rebuilt. Because the temple must be rebuilt. Because Christ was coming to
redeem his people. He was coming to that land to
walk the streets of Jerusalem. To preach in the temple courts,
there must be a temple there. To fulfill the scripture, which
again and again says it must happen. Because why? All of it,
that Old Testament temple and the city of Jerusalem, peace
of God is basically what it means. All of that was a picture of
redeeming grace, of the salvation of sinners from their sins, in
the blood sacrifice, in the priesthood mediating between sinners and
God, picturing the one mediator between God and man, the man
Christ Jesus. to fill all of those pictures
with the blood sacrifice of the animal sacrifices, the priesthood,
picturing the priesthood of our Lord Jesus Christ. And thereby,
when he came and fulfilled the pictures, that enabled the removal
of it finally in AD 70, and it's never been re-established. It's
in the news today, Right at the head of all the news bulletins
today about trying to seek peace there in Gaza and Jerusalem and
all around that area. But that is just historical political. This is about the Kingdom of
God. Why should we press on to finish
this work, they must have asked. Answer, because it's part of
God's plan. Show me, show me how it's part
of God's plan. It's a key piece in the jigsaw
of salvation. They must have thought, show
me, show me. How does this help with the triumph of the kingdom
of God? And okay, what has it got to
do with us today? If you're a citizen of God's
kingdom today, And how are you a citizen of God's kingdom today?
Well, it's, as Paul tells the Thessalonians, it's by sanctification
of the spirit and belief of the truth. God, the spirit, has set
you apart. Why has he set you apart? Because
God chose you in Christ before the foundation of the world,
if you're his. And how do you know you're his? You believe
the truth. You believe everything that God
says. Let God be true and every man
a liar, but you believe God. The motivating promises that
God gave to these people in Zechariah's day, two and a half thousand
years ago, they apply. These promises apply equally
to all of his elect in all ages, including us today. Keep that
in mind. If you come back and read this
chapter again, meditate on the things here. When I first read
this chapter, I thought, well, I can't see what you can get
out of that as a sermon. But the more you meditate on
it, the more the Spirit of God uncovers bits and pieces. And Zechariah chapter two, in
this vision, it's a vision, I'll just outline it. This is the
vision, a man with a measuring line. A man, you know, like a
surveyor with a tape measure and a theodolite. That's the
idea. A man with a measuring line going out to measure Jerusalem. A multitude of people in Jerusalem. So many that walls can't contain
them. They're overflowing with population.
You know, you're not just this persecuted little number, those
who came back with Ezra and Nehemiah to do the work. The picture is
of an overflowing population. And it's a picture that has God
himself in the very midst, in the midst with a firewall of
impregnable defense all around. You know, you can climb over
a wall, you can dig under a wall, but a firewall is impenetrable.
He's protecting his people. And then there's a call of grace
to come out of Babylon. And then there's an affirmation
of protection. and then there's a cause for
rejoicing. This is God's unchanging purpose, and their part in it,
these people of Zechariah's day to whom he was speaking, their
part in it is to rebuild the ruins for Christ to come a few
hundred years later. Let's look at these elements,
and we're going to start with the fourth one, and it's in verse
eight. The protection. an affirmation
of protection, the apple of his eye. It's in verse eight, for
thus saith the Lord of hosts, after the glory hath he sent
me unto the nations which spoiled you, for he that toucheth you
his people, toucheth the apple of his eye. He that toucheth
you, toucheth the apple of his eye. God likens his people, his
elect multitude, the citizens of his kingdom, whom he has redeemed,
chosen in Christ before the foundation of the world, every one of them,
numbered, written in the Lamb's Book of Life. He likens them
to the apple of his eye. What's the apple of his eye?
It's that bit in the middle, your pupil, the pupil of your
eye. And it's the most sensitive bit. Don't do this, but I challenge
you. You can't even touch it yourself
it's so sensitive, can you? Never mind allow anybody else
to touch it. When you go and you have your eyes photographed,
I have to go and have them photographed to see if diabetes is doing anything
to the back of my eye. And the worst bit about it is
that before he takes the pictures, he has to open your eye and come
very, very near to the apple of your eye with a very stinging
little drop that makes your pupil dilate. It's so jealously guarded,
is that part of your body. God likens his people to the
apple of his eye. Not just here, we read in Deuteronomy
32 and verse 10. He found him. He found Jacob.
He found his elect people. He found them in this world in
a desert land. A desert land is a land that
is not fit for living in. There's no water there. There's
no vegetation there. He found him in a desert land.
It's this world. Spiritually speaking, it's this
world. in the waste-howling wilderness. This world is a waste-howling
wilderness. He led him about, his people,
in this world. He instructed him, and look,
even though the environment was so hostile, he kept him as the
apple of his eye. He protected him so jealously,
so sensitively, as the apple of his eye. The people of God
are the most precious thing to God. Psalm 17, And verse eight,
the psalmist, a prayer of David, he asks this, keep me as the
apple of the eye. Hide me under the shadow of thy
wings. Keep me as the apple of thy eye.
Satan and this unbelieving world tries to touch you. They're trying,
if they do that, they're trying to touch the apple of God's eye. He cannot allow it. He loved
his people from eternity. He says, I have loved you with
an everlasting love. It's an unstoppable love, an
unending love, from before the beginning of time, everlastingly. In Malachi chapter three, the
next prophet, the last one of the Old Testament, In verse 17
of chapter 3, he says this, his jewels, he calls his people his
jewels. They're precious to God. The
people of God that he chose, the people of God that Christ
came to redeem, to save from their sins, they're precious
to God. He keeps them as the apple of
his eye. Because why? This is the overriding
reason. The glory of God. is the supremely
important thing. And the glory of God is inextricably
tied up with the salvation of his people from their sins. The
glory of God, God must be glorified. God and God alone must be glorified. He cannot share his glory with
another. He must be glorified. And how
is he glorified? In the salvation from sin of
a multitude whom he loved before the beginning of time. and for
whom their destiny eternally is to be citizens of the kingdom
of God. To enjoy, we can't get our heads
around this because we're creatures of time, but to enjoy unending
intimate communion with God, with no sin to get in the way.
That's the certain destiny of the people of God. Earthly life,
this life, is just fleeting. Don't we see it all the time,
all around us? This life is just fleeting. We're
all of us going to die, to leave it. We're going to die and leave
this life. Here, in this world, we have
no, as Hebrew says, we have no continuing city, but we seek
one to come. Set your heart and your minds
on things above where Christ is. So, what motivation for God's
people of Zechariah's day to get on with the building. You're
part of this eternal purpose of God, is what this vision is
saying to the people of God. They're flagging in their enthusiasm
to get on and complete this work, which must be done for the gospel
to be fulfilled, for Christ to be able to come. What a motivation
this is, that you are part. You're not just here now and
then you're gone like a vapor. You're part of God's eternal
purposes for his elect multitude. So get on with the building,
yes. And what comfort for God's people today, for you and me
if you're a child of God today. What an encouragement and a comfort
to us to keep looking up, to keep looking up. Not looking
down at the trials and troubles, but to keep looking up at the
glorious kingdom of God and our destiny by Christ in that kingdom. So with what does God motivate
his people? Well, let's come back to verse
one. I lifted up mine eyes. This is Zechariah being given
a vision by God the Holy Spirit. I lifted up mine eyes again and
looked at what God was revealing to him. And what was he revealing?
Behold, a man with a measuring line. in his hand. And so he
asked him a question. Where are you going? And he said
to me, to measure Jerusalem, to see what is the breadth thereof
and what is the length thereof. And behold, the angel that talked
with me went forth to measure, and another angel went out to
meet him. And he, the first one, said to the second angel, run
and speak to this young man, Zechariah, saying, Jerusalem
shall be inhabited as towns without walls for the multitude of men
and cattle therein. This man, in verse 1, who is
speaking, is, verse 5, the Lord. I, saith the Lord, will be unto
her a wall of fire. That's the same one. This is
the Lord Jesus Christ who is speaking. This is Christ Jesus,
and he is determining the dimensions of Jerusalem. Why is he determining
the dimensions of Jerusalem? Surely he doesn't need to find
out, because he's God. No, of course he doesn't need
to find out. Not because he needs to find out, but because he has
determined the dimensions of Jerusalem. What does it mean
when we say he has determined the dimensions of Jerusalem?
And let me be clear, we're not talking about Jerusalem as in
that pile of stones in the Middle East today, no. We're talking
about what Paul calls Jerusalem above which is free, Galatians
4.26. Jerusalem above which is free. It's the kingdom of God. It's
the city of God. I saw a new Jerusalem coming
down out of heaven. It is measured. Why is he determining
the size of it, the dimensions of it? It is measured because
it is the elect of God. That's why it's the determined
number, determined by God. The multitude of those redeemed
by the Lord Jesus Christ. Who did Christ die for on the
cross of Calvary? Oh, everybody, to make it possible.
That's the lie of Satan. That's the lie of false Christianity. He didn't die for everybody. The Lord Jesus Christ died for
his people. My sheep, he said, I give my
life for my sheep. He redeemed many, but not all. It was for his sheep that he
died. It's them and them alone. These are words that we use doctrinally
around this, theologically. Limited atonement, the atonement,
the at-one-ment that Christ accomplished was limited to the multitude
that he chose in Christ before the foundation of the world.
It's, another way of putting it, is particular redemption.
I've put an article by Todd Neibert in the bulletin, which says there's
an easier word than those. It's just this, substitution.
Substitution. The Lord Jesus Christ was the
substitute for a specific people. Not for anybody that wants to
make themselves one of those people. He was the substitute
for a specific people. It's pictured in Revelation 11.
Do you remember there? He's given a measuring line.
John is given a measuring line. Go and measure the temple, but
just measure the inner core. Don't bother with the outside.
Don't bother with the city. That's just trampled by the Gentiles.
Don't bother with that. Measure just the core of it.
What's he talking about? He's talking about the elect
of God, the people that God will redeem, has redeemed, from their
sin in the blood of the Lamb. These people are the apple of
God's eye, the apple of God's eye, his elect multitude, chosen,
united with Christ before time, so that Everything in the justice
and the legal framework of the God of this universe that applies
to that people united with Christ is determined by Christ and Christ
alone. Oh, what if I do this, that,
and the other? it makes me lose that situation. It's determined
by Christ and Christ alone. But I tell you this, the corollary
of that is that if you are redeemed by Christ, then you won't say,
shall we sin that grace may abound? Oh yes, you'll sin, but you won't
say, let us sin that grace may abound. No, each one of them
is the sovereign choice of God. It's a mighty army. Let's look
at another picture of it. In Ezekiel chapter 37, Ezekiel
37, And verse 10, verses 10 and 11. This is the chapter with the
valley of the dry bones and Ezekiel is sent there and he's told to
preach, to prophesy to these dead bones. And what was it about
these bones? Oh, they were very dry, very
dry. Verse two, they were very dry.
And then he's told by God to prophesy, to preach to them.
So verse 10, so I prophesied as he commanded me. and the breath
came into them, and they lived. They'd formed bodies, skeletons,
but the breath came into them, and they lived, and they stood
upon their feet, an exceeding great army. I've said so many
times that when you look at ranks of troops on things like the
Trooping of the Colour on Horse Guards Parade in London in June,
when a representative of the army is there, and they're all
in their ranks. They're all in their ranks. So
long as it's not an exceedingly hot day or one or two of them
faint, you look at them and there's none missing. It's all there
in their ranks. An exceeding great army. Then
said he unto me, son of man, these bones, these that are standing
up now, this is the whole house of Israel. Galatians 6 verse
16, the Israel of God. Behold, they say, our bones are
dried and our hope is lost. Therefore prophesy unto them.
And so he goes on. innumerable to us as a multitude
that cannot be numbered. It's likened to trying to count
the grains of sand on the seashore. It's impossible. It's like trying
to count the stars in the sky. The deeper you look, the more
you discover that you've no idea how many there are. Yes, it's
a fixed multitude known to God. But to us, Revelation 7, you
see the tribes of Israel symbolically there, the people of God, the
144,000. And then he looks, and behold, a multitude that no man
can number of every tribe and tongue and kindred, not Jews,
every tribe and tongue and kindred. You builders, this vision is
saying from Zechariah, to those people, those despondent people
in Old Testament Jerusalem, having returned from the exile with
a commission to build but losing the will to build, you builders
in ruined Old Testament Jerusalem are restoring that which pictures
the true Jerusalem above. And you're counted in its ranks.
as are we, believers, today. We're counted in these ranks.
God will not let this not be accomplished, these ranks and
ranks. Jerusalem will be inhabited by
a multitude. That's the next point, verses
four and five. He said to the second angel, Run, speak to this
young man, Zechariah, saying, Jerusalem shall be inhabited
as towns without walls. There's so many people that they're
overflowing the boundaries, the multitude of men and cattle therein.
For I, saith the Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire round
about. She won't have physical walls,
but God will be a wall of fire round about. And not only round
about, but the glory of her in the midst of her. Jerusalem will
be inhabited by a multitude. The kingdom of God, God's peace. The kingdom of God will be inhabited
by a multitude. It says, men and cattle herein. And again, turn back to Ezekiel,
if you can, or if not, just listen. But in chapter 34, In chapter
34 and verse 31, God, again speaking, says, you are my flock. The flock
of my pasture are men, and I am your God. He pictures it like
herds of animals, men and cattle. That's just simply the picture
there. The flock of his pasture overflowing
the boundaries. In Ezekiel 38 and verse 11, we
turn there. And thou shalt say, I will go
up to the land of unwalled villages. I will go to them that are at
rest, that dwell safely, all of them dwelling without walls
and having neither bars nor gates. Well, what protects them? God
will be a wall of fire round about them. You see how in scripture,
one Holy Spirit has given the truth of God. to men. God, who
at sundry times and in divers manners spake unto the fathers
by the prophets. Prophet reinforces prophet in
the mouth of two or three witnesses. God gives himself two or three
witnesses in these prophets, one reinforcing another. Here
is the eternal destiny of God's people today, along with those
of Zechariah's day. He says in Revelation 7 verse
9, Behold, I beheld a multitude that no man can number, but every
one of them known to God, as the ranks of a mighty army, everyone
known to God. In chapter 19 of Revelation,
in verse 1, he says, I beheld, and lo, the sound of much people
in heaven. This is it. And they're not on
their own. These people are not on their
own. will be the glory of them and in the midst of them. Verse
five, for I, saith the Lord, will be unto her the people of
God. Jerusalem, the heavenly people
of God, will be a wall of fire round about and will be the glory
in the midst of her. The firewall all around it for
protection. What's the key manifestation
of the glory of Almighty God? In what above all else is God
glorified? I've said it already, but I'll
say it again. It's the salvation of his elect multitude that no
man can number. Let me read you some scriptures.
Psalm 21, verse five. His glory is great in thy salvation. The glory of God, child of God,
church of God, body of Christ. His glory, God's glory is great
in thy salvation from sin. Psalm 79 verse nine. Oh help us, oh God of our salvation. Why? For the glory of thy name. Help us, oh God of our salvation,
for the glory of thy name. Isaiah 46 verse 13. Salvation
in Zion, another term for the heavenly Jerusalem, the people
of God, the kingdom of God. Salvation in Zion of Israel,
my glory, my glory. New Testament, 2 Timothy 2 verse
10, that we should obtain salvation in Christ Jesus with eternal
glory, with eternal glory. Revelation 19 verse 1, that verse
I quoted about the voice of much people in heaven. Alleluia, this
is what they were saying. Alleluia, salvation and glory. The glory of God is bound up
with the salvation of his elect multitude. And it's manifested,
it's shown, it's revealed. in God incarnate, in God in flesh,
in the God-man Christ Jesus, who as God himself shares the
glory that God will not share with another. The next time that
Jehovah's Witnesses and the like try to tell you that Jesus is
inferior to God and is not God, point these things out to them.
In Isaiah 42 verse eight, God says he will not share his glory
with another. He will not give his glory to
another. But in John chapter 17 verse five, in his high priestly
prayer before he went to the cross, the Lord Jesus Christ
said this. I'm gonna turn to it just to
be sure I get the words exactly right as they are here. John chapter 17 and verse five. And now, O Father, glorify Thou
me. Can you imagine being in that
upper room with the other disciples on the night of the Last Supper?
And these are the words that the man in your midst speaks. And now, O Father, glorify thou
me with thine own self, with the glory which I had with thee
before the world was. The Lord Jesus Christ is very
God of very God. He is the eternal God. So what is the wall of fire round
about? Well, in scripture again, walls,
he says that the city of God is surrounded by walls of salvation. Accomplished salvation is this
wall of fire. It's divine justice which is
satisfied. Satan, the accuser of the brethren,
is completely disarmed and excluded by the redemption that Christ
has accomplished. Who shall bring any charge to
God's elect? He can't, because he's been completely
disarmed. This salvation that Christ has
accomplished and completed is a wall of fire around the people
of God. Satan cannot touch them. They
were motivated, these people of Zechariah's day were motivated
to build and to complete because a walled Jerusalem with a temple
pictured God's triumphant kingdom and would be instrumental in
its accomplishment when Christ came and walked its streets and
walked its courts and preached in its precincts. We look back,
it was completed. Christ came and fulfilled it
all. And then, in A.D. 70, it was finally removed. And
now, we look by faith at the reality, which is our inheritance
as believers in the heavenly Jerusalem, that city which Abraham
sought, a city which has foundations, whose builder and maker is God. But it isn't yet complete, and
that's why we're still here. because the next point is that
there's a call of grace in verses six and seven. Ho, ho, it's like
Isaiah 55, everyone that thirsts. Ho, come forth and flee from
the land of the north, said the Lord. For I have spread you abroad
as the four winds of the heaven, said the Lord. Deliver thyself,
O Zion, that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon. In Zechariah's
day, many of the Jews who'd gone into exile had remained in Babylon
and had not come back when the call went out to return. They
were called to come out. They were called to return to
Jerusalem, the physical Jerusalem. They were called to flee because,
verse nine, behold, there's judgment coming. I will shake mine hand,
says God, upon them. That's the people of Babylon.
And they shall be a spoil to their servants. And ye shall
know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me. You know what physically
happened. Babylon was destroyed. Babylon was just a mound of dust
in the desert. It still is, largely, to this
day. Saddam Hussein apparently had a plan to re-establish Babylon,
but he completely failed in his intentions. Judgment was coming
then, and judgment is coming now. So now, some of God's elect
continue in this world, living as unbelievers, as children of
wrath, even as others. But the call goes out. The gospel
call goes out. Come out. Come to Christ. Flee
from the wrath to come. Flee from the judgment for sin
that is to come. Seek refuge in redeeming grace. You say, well, that was for them,
that was the call for them to physically come back from Babylon,
but Babylon represents this world. In the days in which we live,
there's a call that goes out to the people of God, yet living
as children of wrath, even as others, to come out from this
world, to come to Christ. You protest, you say, yes, I
hear what you're saying, but I might not be among the elect
multitude. Well, let me ask you a question
in return. Are you burdened with sin? Do you have a heavy load
of sin that you know you will be separated from God for eternity?
If you do, then listen to this. Jesus said, I will give you rest
for your souls. Come unto me, all ye that labor
and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Lay your burden
on me. I've taken it. I've paid the
penalty for your sins. My burden is light. He gives
us a burden that is light. His commandments are not grievous.
Come and welcome. Listen to what the scripture
says. Right at the very end of the Bible, Revelation 22 and
verse 17, The Spirit and the Bride say, come. Yes, salvation
is determined before time began in the elect multitude, but to
you and me today, if you're under a burden of sin and feel that
you're separated from the grace and blessings of God, listen
to what the scripture says right at the very end. The Spirit and
the Bride say, come, come, come unto me. Let him that heareth
say, come, come. Let him that is a thirst, a thirst
for what? A thirst for the waters of life.
Jesus spoke again and again about the waters of life, welling up
inside his people. Come, if you're thirsty for that
water of true life, the life of God, come, come. Whosoever
will, whosoever wants to, do you want to? Whosoever will,
you say, well, How am I going to come if it's just me that
wants to? He says he makes his people willing in the day of
his power. God makes his people that he
chose in Christ before the foundation of the world willing in the day
of his power. And it says, let him come and
let him take of the water of life. How much is it going to
cost? Freely, nothing. Does that lift
your spirit out of the darkness of this world of unbelief? Does that prospect of what we
see here, a kingdom to inherit, a confidence beyond the grave?
Well, if it does, verse 10, sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion. For lo, I come, this is God saying,
I'm coming to accomplish it and dwell in the midst of thee. Lo,
I come, in the volume of the book it is written of me, said
Christ. Lo, I come to do your will. What was the will of God?
To save his people from their sins. That's why he was called
Jesus. And many nations, not just Jews,
many nations, every tribe and tongue and kindred shall be joined
to the Lord in that day, and they shall be my people. He's
even in the Old Testament, he says, by one of the Jewish prophets,
that Assyria and Egypt will be my people. Amongst them there
will be the people of God. And I will dwell in the midst
of thee, and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent
me unto thee. This is Christ. The hidden God
that no man has seen is manifested by the Lord Jesus Christ coming.
Sing and rejoice. Can you sing? It is well with
my soul, it is well with my soul. God is in the midst of his multi-ethnic
redeemed multitude. Christ has come, sent by the
Lord of Hosts. The Lord of Hosts has sent him.
Christ is sent by the Lord of Hosts. Verse 9, end of verse
9. Ye shall know that the Lord of Hosts has sent me. All is
accomplished. It cannot fail. Rest confident
in God. Verse 13, be silent. Be silent. Be silent. O all flesh, before
the Lord, he is raised up out of his holy habitation, or out
of the habitation of his holiness. Be silent, don't question him,
don't doubt him. Don't raise your objections.
You know, it says in Ecclesiastes 5, verse 2, that when you see
something of God, every mouth should be stopped. Keep quiet.
Keep quiet. Let your words be few. You're
in the presence of God. Just rest in what he has said
and in what he has promised. There it is. It was a vision
to encourage them in the day of Zechariah. It's a vision to
encourage the people of God today, to set our hearts on that kingdom,
on that city which is above. Not this world, that kingdom
which is above.