A Man With a Measuring Line
1 Then I looked up—and there before me was a man with a measuring line in his hand! 2 I asked, “Where are you going?”
He answered me, “To measure Jerusalem, to find out how wide and how long it is.”
3 Then the angel who was speaking to me left, and another angel came to meet him 4 and said to him: “Run, tell that young man, ‘Jerusalem will be a city without walls because of the great number of men and livestock in it. 5 And I myself will be a wall of fire around it,’ declares the LORD, ‘and I will be its glory within.’
6 “Come! Come! Flee from the land of the north,” declares the LORD, “for I have scattered you to the four winds of heaven,” declares the LORD.
7 “Come, O Zion! Escape, you who live in the Daughter of Babylon!” 8 For this is what the LORD Almighty says: “After he has honored me and has sent me against the nations that have plundered you—for whoever touches you touches the apple of his eye— 9 I will surely raise my hand against them so that their slaves will plunder them. Then you will know that the LORD Almighty has sent me.
10 “Shout and be glad, O Daughter of Zion. For I am coming, and I will live among you,” declares the LORD. 11 “Many nations will be joined with the LORD in that day and will become my people. I will live among you and you will know that the LORD Almighty has sent me to you. 12 The LORD will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land and will again choose Jerusalem. 13 Be still before the LORD, all mankind, because he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.”
My Understanding: A man with a measuring line in his hand was going to measure Jerusalem, to see how wide and long it was. It does not appear he actually got to measure Jerusalem, because we are then told, by Jesus Christ (God), that Jerusalem will be a city without walls and that God himself (Jesus Christ) will be a wall of fire around it, and that he would be its glory within. This is speaking about the church, the heavenly Jerusalem.
Zion was a term in the Old Testament for God’s temple and the hill upon which the temple sat, symbolizing God’s presence within. Zion is now the kingdom of God. Jesus is the embodiment of that kingdom, and we are his body, so Zion is the church, the people of God. Jesus thus told his people - “O Daughter of Zion” - that they were to shout and be glad, because Jesus Christ, their Messiah and Savior, was coming to live among them.
Jesus Christ (God the Son) did come to earth, was born as a baby (became flesh) and he lived among us. He died on the cross for our sins so that we could go free from the ultimate penalty of sin (eternal damnation in hell) and so we could go free from the control of sin over our daily lives, and could be free to walk in victory over sin, self and flesh. He did not remain in the grave, though. He rose again, and when he was resurrected, he conquered death, hell, Satan and sin. He ascended into heaven where he sits with his Father, and one day he is coming back and will reign and rule on the earth for a thousand years, at which time he will once again live among us. Yet, he still lives among us now in the person of the Holy Spirit, who lives in the hearts of true followers of Jesus Christ. So, he has lived among us, he is living among us and he will live among us during his millennial kingdom reign.
Without Walls
So, when the passage says that many nations will be joined with the LORD in that day and will become his people, this is speaking of Jesus Christ’s earthly ministry, the time since his death and resurrection in which he dwells with us in the person of His Spirit within us, as well as it applies to his millennial kingdom reign. Prior to Jesus Christ coming to the earth, the people of God were the Jews. Since Jesus Christ came, the people of God have now become those who have put their faith in Jesus Christ as Lord and Savior, and the people of God has now expanded to all nations, and is a city without walls, because it is a spiritual city in which God now dwells, not a physical city. The physical city of Jerusalem is now associated with Hagar, the slave woman, not with Sarah, the free woman, because the Jews, as a nation of people, have rejected Jesus Christ as their Messiah.
Babylon, the land of the north, is often a figure of the world and the world’s system, including the worldly church. Jesus Christ is calling out to his people, the church, to flee the world and its sinful passions and desires. He is calling out to us to escape the world and to no longer conform to its shape and mold for our lives. We are to live in the world, but not of it. We are not to love the world with its passions and desires. Instead, we are to be lights to the world for Jesus Christ and for his gospel. We are to come out from the world and be separate, and we are to stand out from the world and to be remarkably different. The church of today has become so much like the world that it is barely distinguishable between the church and the world. The church has just become a cleaned-up version of what the world is offering, but it is still the world. Our job is not to attract the world to the church via worldly methods, either. Our job is to share the truth of the gospel of Jesus Christ with the world, calling them to repentance and to obedience to Christ and his commands.
The Scattering
The scattering of God’s people is a figure of judgment, for they were exiled from their land for a period of seventy years and were captives to the Babylonian kingdom. Now they were to return home, for God would now judge those he had used to judge his people. Yet, in this context, I believe this is also a promise of judgment against God’s people, the church, who are still living according to the pattern of the world, and who have not fled the world’s system. Revelation 18:4-5 warns the people of God, the church, to come out of Babylon (the world’s system) so that we will not share in her sins and in her punishment.
As well, consider this passage in Ezekiel 38 where it says:
“‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: On that day thoughts will come into your mind and you will devise an evil scheme. 11 You will say, “I will invade a land of unwalled villages; I will attack a peaceful and unsuspecting people—all of them living without walls and without gates and bars. 12 I will plunder and loot and turn my hand against the resettled ruins and the people gathered from the nations, rich in livestock and goods, living at the center of the land.”
“Therefore, son of man, prophesy and say to Gog: ‘This is what the Sovereign LORD says: In that day, when my people Israel are living in safety, will you not take notice of it? 15 You will come from your place in the far north, you and many nations with you, all of them riding on horses, a great horde, a mighty army. 16 You will advance against my people Israel like a cloud that covers the land. In days to come, O Gog, I will bring you against my land, so that the nations may know me when I show myself holy through you before their eyes.”
Restoration and Renewal
After God disciplines his children, the church (true Israel), Jesus Christ will judge those whom God used as his divine instruments of judgment against his church, because truly his church is the “apple of his eye,” i.e. a vital part; special; important; valuable to God. Then Jesus Christ will return for his bride and he will live among us during his millennial kingdom reign. The “holy land,” thus, is now a spiritual land, not a physical one. The Holy of holies now dwells within the hearts of those who are Christ’s true followers. We are his temple. We are the heavenly Jerusalem. He will once again choose Jerusalem: After he has disciplined us, the church, he will restore us and renew us and he will bless us once again.
“Be still before the LORD, all mankind, because he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.” We are to stand in awe and respect of God, and to honor him as the holy God that he is, because he is coming one day to judge the earth. This is a call to repentance and to faith in Jesus Christ, for this is the way in which we truly are still before the Lord and we truly give him the honor and respect due him.
My Jesus, I Love Thee / William R. Featherstone / Adoniram J. Gordon
My Jesus, I love thee, I know thou art mine;
for thee all the follies of sin I resign.
My gracious Redeemer, my Savior art thou;
if ever I loved thee, my Jesus, 'tis now.
I love thee because thou hast first loved me,
and purchased my pardon on Calvary's tree;
I love thee for wearing the thorns on thy brow;
if ever I loved thee, my Jesus, 'tis now.
I’ll love Thee in life, I will love Thee in death,
And praise Thee as long as Thou lendest me breath;
And say, when the death-dew lies cold on my brow,
If ever I loved Thee, my Jesus, ‘tis now.
In mansions of glory and endless delight;
I'll ever adore thee in heaven so bright;
I'll sing with the glittering crown on my brow;
if ever I loved thee, my Jesus, 'tis now.
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