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Scripture Reading: Zech. 2
In this message we come to chapter two of Zechariah, which is a very mysterious chapter.
In this chapter Zechariah saw a vision of a Man with a measuring line in His hand. "I lifted up my eyes and I saw, and behold, there was a Man, and in His hand was a measuring line. And I said, Where are you going? And He said to me, To measure Jerusalem; to see how great its breadth is and how great its length is" (vv. 1-2).
This Man is Christ in His humanity as the Angel of Jehovah, the One speaking with Zechariah (vv. 1a, 2-3a; cf. Ezek. 40:3; Zech. 1:9-11).
The measuring line (2:1b) signifies measuring in order to possess. For example, when we buy land or cloth, we may first measure its length and width. After we measure the land or the cloth, we then proceed to possess it.
The Man with the measuring line intended to measure Jerusalem for the purpose that Jehovah may repossess it (Zech. 2:2, 4b). Jerusalem was given up by God for the seventy years of captivity. After the captivity, God came back to Jerusalem to measure it for His possession. This measuring is not only to know the size but also to know the condition and the situation. The measuring was done by a Man, not by an angel. An angel is unqualified to measure anything human, because he does not have the human nature. Only Jesus, who has both the divine nature and the human nature, is qualified to measure Jerusalem.
Whereas the temple is the sign of God's house, the city of Jerusalem is a sign of God's kingdom for His administration. The city of Jerusalem was measured and was found to be without limit (v. 4). This indicates that the size of God's kingdom is the size of God Himself. Therefore, the measuring has revealed two important matters: that God's kingdom is unlimited and that God Himself is the size of His kingdom.
"I will be her wall of fire round about, declares Jehovah, and I will be the glory within her" (v. 5). Here we see that the wall of the city of Jerusalem and the glory within her are Jehovah Himself, indicating that Jehovah will be the protection of Jerusalem at her circumference and her glory at her center. Both the glory in the center and the fire at the circumference are Christ. This shows the centrality and universality of Christ in God's economy. Today Christ is the glory in the center of the church, and He is also the fire burning around the circumference of the church for her protection. In the New Jerusalem the Triune God in Christ will be the glory at its center (Rev. 21:23; 22:1, 5), and this glory will shine through the transparent wall to be its protection of fire (Rev. 21:18).
Zechariah 2:6-13 tells us the crucial significance of this vision to the people of Zion.
In verse 6b Jehovah declares concerning His people, "I have spread you out like the four winds of the heavens." We may think that God scattered the people of Israel when they were taken into captivity. However, this verse says not that God scattered them but that He spread them. This is like the spreading of the believers in Acts 8. Thousands of believers were in Jerusalem, but God was not satisfied. A persecution was raised up which scattered them. That persecution was not good, but it brought in a glorious spreading (Acts 11:19). Likewise, if the children of Israel had not been captured, God's testimony would have been limited to the small city of Jerusalem with its temple. But when the children of Israel were scattered to Babylon, four young people became witnesses of God and a testimony for Him. In this way, God's testimony was spread to Babylon. If God's testimony had not come to Babylon, how could people realize that He is able to make the fire in the blazing furnace of none effect and able also to shut the mouths of lions? God is great and sovereign, and He has a broad heart. Therefore, He wanted His testimony to be spread to faraway places.
"Ho! Ho! Flee from the land of the north, declares Jehovah....Ho, Zion! Escape, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon" (Zech. 2:6a, 7). Here we see that God wanted His people to leave Babylon and come back to the holy land.
Verse 8 says, "Thus says Jehovah of hosts, After the glory He has sent Me against the nations who plunder you; for he who touches you touches what is in the pupil of His eye." What is meant by the expression "after the glory"? It refers to after the return of the captives. In the seventy years of captivity, the glory was absent from the center of Jerusalem. But when the children of Israel returned to Jerusalem, the glory also returned. Although Joshua and Zerubbabel were godly, many of the others who returned to Jerusalem from Babylon were not. Nevertheless, in the sight of God, their return was a glory. Therefore, "after the glory" means "after the return."
The first part of verse 8 says, "Thus says Jehovah of hosts, After the glory He has sent Me." Who is the He, and who is the Me? The He refers to God, Jehovah of hosts, and the Me refers also to Jehovah of hosts. Jehovah of hosts sent Jehovah of hosts. This means that Jehovah of hosts is the Sender and the One sent.
In the Old Testament, Jehovah is a divine title that refers to the Triune God. This is revealed in Exodus 3, where we see that Jehovah is the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. Although there is a distinction between the God of Abraham and the God of Isaac and also between the God of Isaac and the God of Jacob, this does not mean that there are three Gods. To say that there are three Gods is to fall into the heresy of tritheism. God is triune — the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. Ephesians 1 tells us that God the Father chose and predestinated us, that God the Son redeemed us, and that God the Spirit sealed us. Thus we have the choosing and predestinating Father with the redeeming Son and the sealing Spirit. This is the Triune God, the three-one God. The word triune is composed of the Latin tri, meaning three, and une, meaning one; hence, three-one. We have one God, the unique God, but He is three-one.
The Father, the Son, and the Spirit are not three separate Gods but three "hypostases...of the one same undivided and indivisible" God (Philip Schaff). The Greek word for hypostasis, the singular form of hypostases, is composed of two Greek words: hupo meaning "under" or "below" and stasis meaning "substantial support." Hence, hypostasis refers to a support under, a support beneath, that is, something underneath that supports, a supporting substance. The Father, the Son, and the Spirit are the hypostases, the supporting substances, that compose the one Godhead.
In Zechariah 2:8 one of the three in the Godhead sent another of the three. The Sender is called He, and the sent One is called Me. Surely the He refers to the Father, and the Me, to the Son. After the glory, the Triune God decided to do something marvelous. The decision was that the Father would send the Son. This corresponds to what is revealed in John 5 and 6. "He who does not honor the Son does not honor the Father who sent Him" (5:23). "I do not seek My own will but the will of Him who sent Me" (v. 30). "The works which the Father has given Me to finish, the works themselves which I do, testify concerning Me that the Father has sent Me" (v. 36b). "The Father who sent Me, He has testified concerning Me" (v. 37a). "I have come down from heaven not to do My own will but the will of Him who sent Me" (6:38). "No one can come to Me unless the Father who sent Me draws him" (v. 44a). "The living Father has sent Me" (v. 57a). Zechariah 2 and John 5 and 6 all speak of the Father's sending the Son. Both the Father and the Son are Jehovah.
Christ as the One sent by Jehovah of hosts and as the Sender, Jehovah of hosts, will be against the nations who plunder the people of Zion and touch them as the pupil of His eye. Our eyes are extremely sensitive and immediately react to anything that touches them. "His eye" refers to the Father's eye. God's people are very dear to Him, and whoever touches them touches the pupil of His eye. This was a word of comfort, encouragement, and consolation to Zerubbabel, Joshua, and all the other returned ones.
Zechariah 2:9 goes on to say, "For I am now waving My hand over them, and they will be plunder for those who served them; and you will know that Jehovah of hosts has sent Me." Here we see again that Jehovah of hosts sent Jehovah of hosts.
In verse 10 the daughter of Zion is commanded to give a ringing shout and rejoice, for now Jehovah is coming and will dwell in their midst. The I in this verse is the same One as the He and the Me in verses 8 and 9.
Many nations will join themselves to Jehovah and will become His people. He will dwell in the midst of Zion, and Zion will know that Jehovah of hosts has sent Him to them (v. 11). In this verse, once again both the I and the Me refer to Jehovah.
Jehovah will inherit Judah as His portion upon the holy land, and He will again choose Jerusalem (v. 12).
Verse 13 says, "Hush, all flesh, before Jehovah! For He is roused up from His holy habitation." Before the glory returned to Jerusalem, Jehovah was silent. But after the glory He was roused up from His holy habitation. All flesh — including the flesh of the Babylonians, Persians, Greeks, and Romans — must be silent. Only Jehovah has the right to speak, and only He is the deciding factor. Today our Triune God is no longer silent in His heavenly habitation. He is moving, working, and doing things in the church. This indicates that the glory is here in the church. The measuring brings in such a glory that we all must hush and allow the Lord alone to speak.
