If you will turn back in your
Bibles now with me to Zechariah chapter 2. I think most of us here tonight
know that we have been studying from the book of Ezra, an historical
book which covers the time when the nation of Israel came back
out of captivity, out of 70 years' captivity in Babylon. And we
have seen that they laid the foundation of the temple. King Cyrus, the Persian king,
made a decree that the house of the Lord be built in Jerusalem. They came back. They laid the
foundation. There was joy and there was weeping
at the laying of the foundation, and then the work ceased for
a while, and then it began once again. And we've come to that
place in Ezra chapter six in verse 14, and we're kind of using
that as a springboard to look at these verses in the prophecy
of Zechariah. The verse there in Ezra tells
us, and the elders of the Jews built it, And they prospered. The elders of the Jews built
it, that is the temple, and they prospered through the prophesying
of the prophet Haggai and Zechariah, the son of Ido. Now tonight, in this second chapter,
we are looking at the third of the nine visions, the nine visions
which the Lord gave this prophet. And the prophet, once he was
given the vision, I'm sure that he gave that to the people. And
that is the reason they prospered. They prospered in the work. They
prospered in building through the prophesying of these two
prophets, through the ministry of these two men. When we look
at this vision, we know We know now that it was literally fulfilled
in the building of the temple and the growth of Jerusalem in
the days of Ezra and Nehemiah. But we also recognize that it
had a double vision, a double meaning rather. One that I would
say was historical and the other spiritual. It also foretold about
the church of the Lord Jesus which is given in the New Testament
in the letter of Hebrews, the name Jerusalem. There in chapter
12, we read, we, that is us believers, those of us who trust in the
Lord Jesus Christ, we are come to Mount Zion and unto the city
of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to the general assembly
and church of the firstborn. the church of the firstborn,
the church of the Lord Jesus Christ, called by these several
names, Mount Zion, the city, the city that Abraham sought
for, that had foundations, whose builder and maker is God, the
heavenly Jerusalem, the general assembly, that is, the assembly
of all of God's elect from all ages. Now, as we look at this
vision, we want to see First, the historical fulfillment, and
what was then, when the vision was given, we want to see the
historical fulfillment of this vision, but also we want to see
what was then a spiritual prophecy concerning the future fulfillment. Now, I have three parts in the
message. Let's look at the vision. First,
The first five verses, the man with the measuring line in his
hand. I lifted up mine eyes again and
looked, and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand.
Then said I, Whither goest thou? And he said unto 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, and another angel went out to meet him, and
said unto him, Run, Speak to this man, this young man, that's
Zechariah, speak to this young man saying, Jerusalem shall be
inhabited as towns without walls for the multitude of men and
cattle therein. 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. Now remember, we looked at the
second vision last week in which there were four horns, which
represented the four points of the compass, picturing the church,
picturing Jerusalem, the nation of Israel, as being a very small
thing, a very small thing with enemies all around. There were
four horns, four pyres, but also there were four carpenters, four
men to do the work. Now a measuring line, this vision
begins, I lifted up mine eyes again and looked, and behold,
a man with a measuring line. A measuring line is a tool, no
doubt, that every carpenter would have. He'd have a ruler. He'd
have a rule. He'd have a plumb line. If he
was a carpenter, he's going to build something. This man, in
this vision here, this third vision, this man that Zechariah
saw was not one of the four carpenters, but this man is the Son of Man,
the Lord Jesus Christ, who appeared in the Old Testament pre-incarnate
appearances many times as a man, the angel of the Lord, but he
would appear in the form of a man. And if you look back to chapter
1 in verse 16, Therefore thus saith the Lord, I am returned
to Jerusalem with mercies. Now that certainly was an encouraging
word there. When God said, I've come back,
I've returned to Jerusalem with mercies. My house shall be built
in it. No maybe-so's, no buts or ands
or ifs, no. My house shall be built in it,
saith the Lord of hosts. Now notice, saith the Lord of
hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem. This man that Zechariah sees
in this third vision with a measuring line is the Lord Jesus, the Son
of Man. And we see that he measures the
breadth and the length of the city. As it would be laid out,
he measures it. And as we read there, we see
that it's going to be so enlarged that it's going to include even
the towns, the surrounding towns. For the multitude of men in it,
the population is going to be so great that it's going to be
enlarged to include the towns around it. makes me try to illustrate
it with the population of Houston. If we just say the population
of Houston is six million people, but we know that's not just,
I mean, we know that's more than just the population in the city
limits of Houston. That's going to take in the suburbs,
the woodlands, Spring, Pasadena, probably Katy, Sugarland all
of these surrounding what were at one time small towns Now they're
not so small, but the whole think of Jerusalem This is what the
prophet is being told that Jerusalem is going to be so enlarged and
it's going to be so enlarged because of the multitude of the
inhabitants men and cattle he says Remember that when this vision
was given, there was just a few people there. There was just
a few people, few of the Jews that had come back when they
were given the liberty to come back. In fact, in Nehemiah chapter
11 and verse 1, this is what we read. The rulers of the people
dwelt at Jerusalem. Now listen. The rest of the people
also cast lots to bring one of 10 to dwell in Jerusalem, the
holy city. In other words, inhabitants were
so few that they had to take a census of all of the Israelites
that were in the land, and one out of every 10, 10 out of every
100, 100 out of every 1,000 were made to come and dwell in the
city of Jerusalem. for its safety because there
was such a fewness of the number of people there in the city. What an encouragement this had
to be. What an encouragement this vision had to be to the
workers, to those who were building the temple and later the walls
of the city, to hear how this city, Jerusalem, God said this,
through His prophet, or to His prophet, and then through His
prophet to the people, this city is going to outgrow these narrow
walls to include many other towns. It will have a multitude, it
will encompass a multitude of men and cattle therein. But, now listen, but, Will that
not be a very unsafe place? Will that not be a very unsafe
place, a city without walls? Now remember, in that time, that
was the main line of defense for these cities, the walls,
the walls. When Israel entered into the
land of Canaan back there years before, when they came up out
of Egypt after 40 years in the wilderness, remember the first
city they came to was Jericho. And that city had great walls.
Now I've read of the number of chariots that could run or be
driven around the walls of that city together. And it was great walls. and they
felt like their city was impregnable, that there was no way it could
be conquered, and maybe humanly speaking that was true, but we
saw, or we see rather, how God worked a miracle, didn't he?
A very foolish thing to the world, marching around that city six
days, and then on the seventh day, marching around it seven
times and blowing the trumpets, and the wall came down flat. Wouldn't you have liked to have
seen that? And you know the wonderful thing? There were some saved
in that city, wasn't there? Oh, yeah. Rahab. Rahab, who believed
by faith. She believed those spies. And
she put that scarlet line. as they had instructed her out
of the window. And all the wall of the city
fell down except that place. Except that part of the wall.
It didn't fall. God had his people there that
he saved. But back to our text now. Wouldn't
this be a very unsafe place? A city without walls? That would
be true except You see, God's promise here is that in verse
five, for I, saith the Lord, will be under her a wall of fire
round about. Here is a wall that no one can
break down, a wall impossible to scale, a wall impossible to
tunnel under, the Lord himself. would be a wall of fire round
about her. But that's not all. He would
be in her midst, her glory, her glory. Now that's the historical. Let's think about the spiritual.
The man with the measuring line to build the heavenly Jerusalem,
the church, we know who that is, the same one who is here.
here in one of his pre-incarnate appearances, but in the New Testament
in Matthew chapter 16, after in the fullness of the time he
was made flesh, he told Peter and his disciples, not just Peter,
upon this rock, I will build my church. Who builds the church?
Who adds unto the church? The Lord does. He adds unto the,
he does the saving and he adds unto his church. I will build
my church. It's the Lord Jesus Christ. The
fact that he promised to be a wall of fire about the city, as I
thought about this, it reminded me that when the Lord Jesus Christ
came into this world, he came to break down a wall. Look with
me in Ephesians chapter two. He came to break down a wall,
that wall of commandments, that wall that separated the Jew and
the Gentile. Here in Ephesians chapter 2, you know we have to be careful
speaking, I do, preaching because I want to say this is one of
my favorite passages. But the problem is, I run into
a lot of them. But I love Ephesians chapter
one and two, don't you? But here in chapter two, beginning
with verse 11, Paul writing to these Gentile believers, wherefore
remember. Have you ever considered how
many times God's people are told to remember? To remember. To remember what you were. to
remember where you were, to remember God's amazing grace. Paul says,
remember, remember that you being in time past Gentiles in the
flesh, that means they had never been circumcised, who are called
uncircumcision by that which is called the circumcision, that
is the Jewish people. Circumcision made, circumcision
in the flesh made by hands. God's people are circumcised
in the heart. That's a new birth. Not circumcised by any man's
hands, but by the spirit of God. Removing that heart of stone
and giving a heart of flesh. Wherefore, remember that you
being in time past Gentiles in the flesh who are called uncircumcision
by that which is called the circumcision in the flesh made by hands, that
at that time you were without Christ, being aliens from the
commonwealth of Israel, strangers from the covenants of promise,
having no hope and without God in the world. But now, in Christ
Jesus, you who sometimes were far off are made nigh by the
blood of Christ. For he is our peace who hath
made both one, both Jew and Gentile, one. Christ is the head of one
body, the church, broken down, hath broken down the middle wall
of partition between us. having abolished in his flesh
the enmity." Lost men are enmity with God,
not at enmity. Lost men and women are enmity
with God. Men hate God. That's what it
actually means, literally means. Men and women, natural men and
women, they hate God. Now, they don't hate a God that
they manufacture. Don't misunderstand me. They'll
make themselves a God, and they'll make Him like you do, little
kids do with the Play-Doh, you know? They can fashion it any
way they want to. And men in their minds will fashion
themselves a God that pleases them. But all men, apart from
the saving grace of God, apart from the blood of Jesus Christ,
are enmity with God. And not only was this enmity
between God and men, but there was this enmity between Jew and
Gentile. The Jews hated the Gentiles,
and I'm sure it was pretty much vice versa. You know how the
Jews, how they referred to Gentiles? Dogs. Dogs. They had no use for them. They
would, if obligated, do business with the Gentile, but to go into
a Gentile's house and eat, break bread with a Gentile? Oh, no,
no, no, no. There was an enmity between the
Jew and the Gentile. And what was that? The law of
commandments contained in ordinances, for to make in himself of twain
one new man, so making peace. and that he might reconcile both
unto God in one body by the cross, having slain the enmity thereby."
Has that enmity slain? Has it killed? By the sacrifice
of Jesus Christ. You know, we see that always,
and I'm sure it always has been, always will be, conflicts between
the various nations. I hate to use the word racist
because I know there's only one race, and that's the human race. But I tell you, the only thing
that really solves the problem is the gospel of Jesus Christ. And it does it. It gets the job
done. Men come to love each other. And if a man doesn't love his
brother whom he has seen, he's a liar if he says he loves God
who he hasn't seen. And came and preached peace to
you which were far off and to them that were nigh. Preached
peace both to the Gentiles and to the Jews. Same gospel, gospel
of peace. The way of peace, Paul said,
concerning the natural man, the way of peace they have not known.
There's only one way of peace, peace with God, and that's our
Lord and Savior. For through him, we both, both
Jew and Gentile, have access by one spirit unto the Father. Now, therefore, you are no more
strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints
of the household of God. and are built upon the foundation
of the apostles and prophets. What foundation is that? Jesus
Christ himself, the chief cornerstone, in whom all the building fitly
framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord, in
whom you also are builted together for an habitation of God through
the Spirit. So, the promise was that God
would be a wall of fire about that city, and we know the Lord
Jesus Christ is a wall about His church. There's only one
door into it, and He's the door. He's the door. One door into
the sheepfold, Christ is the way, only way. But as I said, it made me remember
that he came to tear down a wall. Not only is he a wall to his
church, a wall of fire, no one can touch one of his own apart
from his permission. Remember what he told Peter? Satan hath desired to sift thee. But he can't do anything without
my permission. Satan goeth about as a roaring
lion, seeking whom he may devour, not who he can devour. He could
devour all of us, who he may devour. He has to have God's, our Lord's
permission to touch one of his people. In Isaiah chapter 42,
which speaks of Christ as the servant of Jehovah, we read that
he would magnify the law and make it honorable. The promise
of Jerusalem encompassing the town began to be fulfilled. In
the spiritual sense, it began to be fulfilled in the book of
Acts. In Jerusalem, there was 120 people in the upper
room. And then on the day of Pentecost,
there was added 3,000 more. And then I believe it was a couple
of days later, there was 5,000 that were added to the church. And then because of the persecution
that arose over Stephen, they went everywhere. They went into
Judea. Then they went to not only Judea,
but Samaria. It was Philip took the gospel
there, wasn't it? Samaria. And then Paul and Silas
and Barnabas and John Mark, they carried the gospel to the uttermost
parts of the earth. You see how the church was enlarging
and has been ever since. And he's not only a wall of fire
about his church, he's our strength. We have no strength of our own.
He said, without me, you can do nothing. He makes us feel
that too, doesn't he? He makes us know that. He really
does. Especially if you're a preacher.
He makes you know that. Without me, you can do nothing.
And yet, we can do all things through Christ, which strengthens
us. He's our strength. He's our protection. He's a wall
of fire around about His people. But notice, He's also her glory
in her midst. The world looks at these beautiful
church buildings, and some of them are beautiful. One of the
news channels I watch, they show quite often St. Patrick's Cathedral
there in New York. What a beautiful, beautiful building. And they've got all the show,
the ceremony, the robes, the silver crosses, and all that
stuff. A lot of show, a lot of show. But that's not the glory of his
church. The glory of his church is the
Lord himself. It's his gospel, his gospel that
he has given to his church. Well, let's move on. I've got
two more points. The second point is the call
to come out of Babylon, verses six through nine. Ho, ho. Come forth and flee from the
land of the north. That's Babylon, saith the Lord.
For I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heaven,
saith the Lord. Deliver thyself, O Zion, that
dwelleth with the daughter of Babylon. 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 toucheth
the apple of his eye, for behold, I will shake mine hand upon them,
and they shall be a spoil to their servants, and you shall
know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me." The call to come out
of Babylon, historically first. In one of the previous messages
from Ezra, I went through that, I believe it's that second chapter,
and I added up all those people that came back, and it was just
a small number. It's a small number that came
back when they were free to come out of Persia. Well, out of Babylon. The king of Persia had conquered
Babylon, and that's where they had been spread like the four
winds spread things. So the Lord had spread the nation
of Israel. The Jews had scattered them. Well, they were now given the
opportunity to go back. They were given a free pass to
go back. Whosoever wants to go back, go
back. Go back to your homeland. They're
called to come out because many of them had settled down. They had put down roots in this
foreign land. And they were fearful, no doubt.
They were fearful to return. But here we see they are assured
that they would be like the apple of God's eye, as his people,
the apple of his eye. I have to mention what happened
to you yesterday, Jonathan. Bill and him, they were working
on something here on the building, and Bill was sawing, and the
wind was really blowing, And that solved us, it just came
at you, didn't it? You told me, I said, boy, that's
a natural reaction, and it is. When something comes at your
eye, I mean, God has made us, right, so that we react quickly
to protect our eye. And that's what God is saying,
don't be afraid to come back, come out of Babylon. Because
anyone who touches you, it will be like touching the apple of
my eye. God's protection, God's keeping power. And notice this,
we cannot fail to see that the Lord sends this one who is now
speaking. He has all power. He says, I'll
just shake my hand. Notice that in verse nine, for
behold, I will shake my hand upon them. I tell you what, I
couldn't do much by shaking my hand. Could you? But God can. God said, I'll shake my hand.
I'll shake my hand. And the nations, they shall be
a spoil to those who have been their servants. Remember when
the Israelites came out of Egypt? They'd been there for a number
of years. I forget how many, but a long time. And yet, God
said, borrow from the Egyptians. Borrow their earrings, and their
necklaces, and their bracelets. And those Egyptians just handed
it over. Just handed it over. And they
spoiled that nation. And they deserved it. They'd
served them for hundreds of years as slaves. They deserved it. to look at the spiritual, let's
remember in the New Testament that the Lord calls His church
out of Babylon. Now John Gill made this comment. Let me read it. Babylon in the
scriptures is the emblem of whatever is proud, arrogant, wicked, and
opposed to God. And he went on to say that this
is what Paul means in 2 Corinthians 6, 17, when he said, wherefore,
come out from among them. Just as God here was calling
his people out from Babylon, so God calls his people, believers,
out of spiritual Babylon. Wherefore, come out from among
them, and be you separate, saith the Lord, and touch not the unclean
thing, and I will receive you. calls his people to come out
of the world's system, the world's philosophy. God's people are
a peculiar people, zealous of good works. Now the third thing,
and I'll just be very brief, the invitation to sing and rejoice,
verses 10 through 13. Sing and rejoice, O daughter
of Zion, for lo, I come. And I will dwell in the midst
of thee, saith the Lord. Keep your place ever. Look at
that line where it says, Lo, I come. And turn over to chapter
nine, Zechariah chapter nine and verse
nine, where we read, Rejoice greatly,
O daughter of Zion. Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem.
Behold, thy king cometh unto thee. He is just, having salvation,
lowly, riding upon an ass and upon a colt, the foal of an ass. Just a week or two, it'll be
what the world, religious world calls Palm Sunday. And we know
that's when this scripture was fulfilled. The Lord Jesus Christ,
the Sunday before his crucifixion, he rode into Jerusalem and the
palm branches and the clothes and everything was laid for him
to traverse and they were shouting, Hosanna, Hosanna. Blessed is
he that cometh in the name of the Lord. There can be no question
that this is speaking of Christ. And back to our text. Many nations
shall be joined to the Lord in that day. He came into Jerusalem. He was
rejected. He was crucified. He offered himself as the one
sacrifice that puts away the sins of his people. But notice,
many nations would be joined to the Lord in that day. As a
result of his coming and his gospel being preached in all
the world, some from every kindred, tongue, people, and nation, he
redeemed with his blood. It began in Jerusalem. on the
day of Pentecost. It began in Jerusalem, but the
gospel has gone around the world. Many nations, many nations have
been joined. I will bring forth my servant,
the branch. That's the Lord. We know that
as well. But I want to, I want to read
two verses from the apostle Paul. They're found in Romans 9. He
quotes these two verses from the prophecy of Isaiah. Wasn't
just the elect among the Jews the Lord
came to save, but is elect among all nations. And then look at
that last verse. It's kind of strange. Verse 10
says, sing and rejoice, be silent. Be silent. How do you do that? How do you sing and rejoice and
at the same time be silent? Well, we could say this tells
us that when we rejoice and when we sing, we do so with reverence.
Always we worship God with reverence, remembering that he is in heaven
and we are upon the earth, that he is God and we are his creatures. But this verse also may speak
of the day when the Lord, he's raised up out of his holy habitation,
that there's a day coming when the Lord will raise himself up. As a man raises himself up out
of his chair, the Lord will raise up to bring judgment upon this
wicked world. Well, surely, surely you can
find something in this message. to be a blessing. It's kind of
like a scattergun message, right? But surely you can find it. I
do. I find several things. Let's sing a hymn before we go
home.