1992 issue 1 - sermons on zechariah: the measuring line - counsel of chalcedon

8/12/2019 1992 Issue 1 - Sermons on Zechariah: The Measuring Line - Counsel of Chalcedon

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Kenneth L Gentry Jr

S RMONS

ON ZECH RI H

Zech.2:1-13; Rev. 21:9-17,24-27

As

we

look into

this

vision,

we

should

remember

that

this

is

the

third

inaseriesofvisionsZechariahreceived

ononenight.lnthefirstoneinvolving

the angelic horsemen, Zechariah was

granted insight into the overwhelm

ingresourcesavailabletoGod'speople.

The multitude of God's

host angels

are at

work in the

world.

In the

second one

involving

the

four crafts

men, he was

informed

of

the

coming

destructionofthefoesofGod'speople.

The enemies of

God

would

get

their

due, despite their present peace.

Now in the third vision of the

man

with the measuring line, God

prom

ises to enlarge, secure, and glorifyHis

people.

The three visions are closely

related. RememberthatDaviddesired

the

horns of the

wicked

be cut

off

so

that the homs of the righteous

would

be exalted

(Psa.

75:10).

So

after

Zechariah

1:18-21

comes2:

1-13.

The

Measuring Line

vision therefore

unfolds the development of God's

glorious

purposes for

His people

through history into the future.

.

An

important fact regarding

prophecy is that

very

often it is given

in seminal or germ

form.

That

is,

it

contains a primary seed aspect

that

has

animmediaterelevanceforancient

Israel. But then it grows beyond

that

to far more glOrious aspects, which

are unfolded in

full

bloom in the

Messianic kingdom.

For instance,

the present proph

ecy is

designed

to encourage theJews

in the rebuilding ofJerusalem and the

temple despite their present circum

stances. The reason,

as

we

shall see, is

that

this

is

in preparation

for some

thing coming in the future that is far

more glorious. This approach is a

necessary

interpretation in

light

of

certain elements that did

not come to

fulfillment

in

that day, as

we shall

see.

1. The Ancient Call to God s People

In

Zechariah

1:16

we

learned that

God

had promised to stretch

the

surveyor s line

over

the ruins of

Jerusalem with a view to

its

rebuild

ing.

In

this

vision preparation for the

beginning

of

the surveying

work by

an angel is

seen

by Zechariah, Zech.

2:1-2. Of the significance of

this,

one

angel

commands another

to

run to

tell

Zechariah, whois

the young

man,

Zech. 2:4). This is good

news for

those

with whom

God

had been an

gry, Zech. 1 2.

But

it is not ust a rebuilding of the

oldJerusalem that is in view. Appar

enily the idea symbolized is that the

ruins

of Jerusalem were

to

be

mea

sured

so

that her rebuilding would

ptoceed toward

enlarging

Jerusalem,

Zech. 2:4. his

should be a

glOriOUS

prospect

for

the Jew who loved

Jerusalem,

the city

ofGod

(pss.

46:4;

48:1; 87:3),

the

city of the

Great

King (Pss.

48:2).

The

Jews should

take heart inGod's promise for itis no

distant prospect. n fact, God has

already arisen inheaven to

see

that the

work be begun,

Zech.

2:13.

But

there

is a

problem.

We noted

earlier that

only

about 50,000

Jews

returned from captivity. Many re

mainedin

paganBabylon,Zech.

2:6-7.

Those

who returned were unfaithful

enough;

what about those who re

mained

behind? God

was calling

them home.

Why had

they

remained there?

After

70yearsof

captivity,

they

adapted

to the pagan environment. They had

no burning love for the Promised

Land

and

temple.

The worship of

God, which required the temple,

meant litile to them. Furthermore it

would be too cosily

to

pack up and

move

to

where God wanted them.

How often is it the

case

that many

who

profess to

be Christians today

become

conformed

to

the world

rather than transformed by the re

newing of the

mind

(Rom 12:1,2).

They have tasted of the

Lord's good

ness, buthave withdrawn to theways

of their

former

lifestyles

CHeb.

6:2-4).

Are there any among us who like their

religion,

but like it cheap? Do we

January, 1992

1HE

COUNSEL ofChalcedon I

21


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hunger for

the fleshpots

of

Egypt,

as

Israel when she left Egyptian bond-

age?

But God'scall to Israelofoldand to

those

who profess Him today is to

"flee"

from

idolatry and secularism.

Just becauseZechariahisinJudah,

the

southern kingdom,

He does

nqt rep-

resent God s,

c ll

as:

"Mosey on down to

the Promised Land

when you get a

chance."

It is no laid

back,

~ l l come."

It

is

more pressing by far:

"Flee '" This is

n

ur-

gent call to get out

quickly.

Andthereare

reasons for that.

One is very practi-

cal: God's

judgment

hangs precariously

over Babylon, where

they dwelled; Zech.

2:7,8. The angel

speaking

declares

that

God has Sf ;Ilt him to

get God's

glory, Zech.

2:8. That is, God had

sent

im

to avenge

is

people; who

had been

so

mistreated.

God will

soon angrily shake is fist to destroy

Babylon,

WelmowthatBabylontried

to

overthrow

Persia

and

was

horribly

devastated,

never

to regain its former

glory.

The other reason is

very

spiritual

and ust

as

urgent:

Theywere

told that

there are things God will be doing in

Jerusalem with which

they

must be

concerned Inverse

10

they are

called

to the

worship of

God. Singing

in-

volves

a combination

of

joy and

wor

ship. The deepestemotion associated

with the truefaith is an abidingjoy in

the presence

of

God,

which

moves

the

believer to delight

in is

worship.

Why

should

they take comfort in

Babylon, away

from God, the Prom

ised Land,

and

the

temple?

Despite the current ruins of

Jerusalem and

God's

recent

exile

of

the

people, is glory will

come in the

future to reside in Zion in a special

way. ShouldnotGod speoplelongio

bethere?

Should

theynot,likeDavid,

be

spiritually moved

to say, "I was

glad when they said unto me, Let

us

go into the house of

the

Lord. Our feet

shallstand within

thy

gates, 0 Jerusa

lem" (psa.

122:1,2).

But as we have said,

there

is

often

morein

~ o p h e c y t h n theimrnediate

historical relevance,

as

important

as

that may be.

2.

TheFutureGloryofGod sPeople

Let us

remember that

Jerusalem

(which

means "the city

of peace") in

l l iE

COUNSEL of ChaIcedon January, 1992

prophecy

is

Hype of

the

Church of

Jesus Christ.

The

things

spoken

to

Jerusalem point

to

that

which is even

greater

th n

ancientJerusalem itself.

Jerusalem

was

buta type,

ashadow,

of

that which was more glorious.

Remember that in Galatians 4:26

the New Covenant

Church

is desig

nated "the Jerusalem

above."

Itls called that

and a ''newJerusalem"

in Hebrews U::22;

Revelation 3:12; 21:2,

10. AndtheNewTes-

tament

insists

that

the

Old Testament spoke

of our days, obviously

through

such

symbols.

Now the

most es

sential, all glorious ba

sis for their future hope

is

contained especially

in verses

10,

11.

Here

we learn the funda-

mental

hope is

spiri

tual:

God Himself will

'come to dwell in the

midst

of

is

peopleina

new and

special

way.

Most commentators agree that

these

are

references

to

the

coming of

Christ, which

we celebrate

at

Christ

mas.

At

the

incarnation Hebegan

tabernacling (literally)

with

us in or

der

to declare the

Father

to us,

John

1:14. He is one

with

the Father,John

10:30. HewhohasseenHimhasseen

the Father,

John

14:9. He

sent His

Spirit

so

that

He could reside

with

us,

John 14:16-18.

When Christ left the

world,

He

sent

is

Holy Spirit to

indwell

believ

ers.

Theindwelling of Christ through

the Holy Spirit is a terribly important


3/4

feature

of

the

New Covenant, which

advances

it insuperiorityover the Old

Covenant.

This

indwelling is spoken

of as the very terms of the

New

Cov-

enant, whichwecelebratein

thel..ord's

Supper, Matt. 26:28;

Luke 22:20;

1

Cor. 11:25. Hewillliveinulehearts

ofHispeoplebythe powerof the Holy

Spirit,Jer.31:33. This was begun in

literal Jerusalem at Pentecost, when

the outpouring ofthe

Holy

Spidtwas

granted, beginning

the

new,

spiritual

Jerusalem

above. He is

with

us

until

the end

of

the

age, Matt. 28:20.

God

promised to

be

Jerusalem's

glory within, Zech. 2:5. The

idea

is of

the beauty

of holiness

caused by

ule

divine indwelling. How often do

we

just seek

God's

temporal,

physical

blessings,

but not

His

rich, full, con-

trolling

indwelling

3. The illtin1ate Glory

for

God's People

Themainfeatureofthevisionitself

involves

an

angel

that

is

sent

to mea-

sure

Jerusalem, Zech. 1:2. There is

more to this than just the physical

rebuilding of ancient Jerusalem.

n

fact, inRevelation 21 the

New

Jerusa-

lemorChurch,

is also

measured

by

an

angel.

The

full picture here in

Zechariah, then, is

a look

ahead be-

yond

the Bethlehem event of Christ's

birili,beyond

even

theJerusalemevent

of the outpouring

of

the Holy Spidt.

Standing on these, Zechariah points

through

the mist of history

to

the ulti-

mate gloryforall

God's

people on earth.

An

idea

prominent in

this measur-

ing

is

that

God,

through

His

minister-

ing angels, determines the New

Jerusalem's size and jnfluence. Thus,

Christ is

said

inule NewTestament to

"build"

His

house, or

His

Church,

Heb.

3:3; Matt.

16:18.

The Church

will be established, beginning at

Jerusalem,

Luke

24:49;

Acts 1:8.

But

not only will it be built, but it

will overflow in population and

abound inprosperity, Zech. 2:4. His-

toric

Jerusalem

was never literally in-

tended

to

be

in11abited

without

walls.

This is symbolic terminology, as is

evident in the appearance of

fire

aroundher,

Zech. 2:5.

Itspeakstothe

ultimate earthly future of the new

Jerusalem, the Churchof]

esus

Christ.

And

the ancient

Jews

could

take

heart

in this,

for

the Messiah, aposues and

the

first

Christians

were

to be

Jews.

The gospel was to be "to the J

ew

first,

and

also

to

the

Greek," Rom.

1:16.

Christianity did arise in Jerusalem.

The

idea

so

pictured in

verses

4 and 5

is extremely important.

The new Jerusalem

is to grow so

dramatically that it

will

not only

over-

flow its

walls but multiply

in its

pros

perity. This explains the reference

to

catue,aneconomicindicatorofwealth,

Deut.

28:11;Josh.

22:8; Psa. 107:38.

The new Jerusalem

will

burst forth

from

restricting boundaries.

Now in the

Old Testament,

the

Promised

Land,

the home of heJews,

was specifically delimited

y

God-ordained borders, Gen. 15:18;

Exo.23:31). It

was

a

political

entity

and

was never

intended

to

be imped

alistic,

gaining

new

temtory.

But thenewJerusalemisaspidtual

entity and is intended to be spidtually

imperialistic,

bursting forth

from any

linlitations in11erent in its mustard

seed beginning. In

fact,

it

is

to incor

poratemanynations, Zech. 2:11. In-

terestingly, Paul

speaks

along these

lines

when he points

to

the breaking

down of the middle wall of pamtion,

Eph.

2:14-15. Of course, the wall

mentioned

is

that which separated

the

temple environs so that gentiles

could not

go

past a certain point into

the sacred rooms.

In verse

12

the people of God are

said to inherit the holy land. Accord

ing to the analogy of Scdpture, any

place Jehovah places himself is holy,

Exo

3:5. So since many nations will

join

to

God's people (v. 11), and since

Jerusalemwill

have

no boundaries (v.

4),

neither

will

the holy land. The

odginal holy land

was

Palestine,

whichwasreclainledbyGod.Itserved

as a typeof all the world that would be

reclainled by God,

Rom.

4:

13.

In Christ all are welcomed into the

new

temple,

His

Church. The wall

is

forever removed. The boundalies

become as wide as the world and

include

ll

nations,

Matt.

28:19;

Acts

1:8;

Acts

13:47-48.

Is

this not glori-

ous?

Is

this not the fulfillment men

tioned in verse II?

Is this

not what

our

missionalY

outreach

seeks?

God

promises

it

The lack of walls will not expose

His

Church

to

danger, either. For

God

will be around us, to protect

us,

Psa.

125:2. Salvation will be our

walls, Isa. 26:1; 60:18. Christ will

not allow the gates of hell to prevail

against His Church,

Matt.

16:18.

f

God

be for us, who can be against

us?

(Rom. 8:31)

Indeed, God will notice every at

tempt

to

harm us,

for

His

eye is always

upon us,

Zech.

2:8. The apple of the

eye is

the pupil. When

you

look into

someone's pupil you

see

a reflection

of

yourself in miniature. We are

reflected in God's pupil, for His eye

is

January,

1992 J THE COUNSEL

of Chalcedon

'

23


4/4

upon us. The pupil is so delicate

that when touched it is so irritat

ingly painful

that

it evokes anim-

mediate reaction.

We are very dear to God and as

zealously protected

as

one would

protect

his own

eye.

The

indwelling of Christ especially

makes this true. When we are

afflicted,

He

is affJ.icted, Matt

25:34ff;

Acts 9:5. And as

Zechariah s prophecy

puts

it: those

who

seek to spoil God s people,

will themselves

be

spoiled, Zech.

2:8,9. You are never alone n

the

:

world. God is with you.

onclusion

A fitting close is appended

to

this

prophecy. It serves

as

an encourage

ment to missionary outreach for the

dlUrch. Because of the prophecy,

the Lord summons

all

flesh to wait

slli:ntlyin reverence before the com

ing of

the Lord. Messiah is coming;

Christmas lay

in

the future as hope

formanynations. Godhadraistrlup .

to see that the work would be ac

complished.n

24 t TH

COUNSEL

9Chalcedon January, 1992

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1992 issue 1 - sermons on zechariah: the measuring line - counsel of chalcedon

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