Jerusalem Measured

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 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 unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her. Ho, ho, come forth, and flee from the land of the north, saith the Lord: for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heaven, saith the Lord. Deliver thyself, O Zion, that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon.—Zechariah 2:1–7

His saints delight to search and trace
His mighty works and wondrous ways;
Majestic glory, boundless grace,
And righteousness His work displays.¹

So it is also for the prophet!

It is still the night of the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month in the second year of the reign of Darius.

The Lord already had shown to Zechariah many of God’s mighty works and wondrous ways for the confirmation and establishment of his covenant, for the protection of Zion in the midst of this hostile world, and for the fulfillment of all his glorious promises to Zion. Zechariah had seen God’s cavalry and had heard of God’s wrath against the enemies of his people and of his mercy toward Jerusalem. The Lord had shown the prophet the blacksmiths who had broken the horns of the ungodly world powers.

Now the prophet lifts up his eyes again…

The revelations of God concerning the future of Zion keep the prophet wide awake, move him to think and to meditate deeply, and inspire a longing to see more of God’s mighty works and wondrous ways. Standing at the very heart of the prophet’s thoughts and reflections is always Jerusalem—beloved Jerusalem that has all his heart’s affection, that he never can forget, that is the object of the eternal mercy of God and the bearer of all the rich promises of the Lord, but that always finds herself in a most miserable condition. Jerusalem’s walls lie in ruins; her gates are not repaired; her temple is not rebuilt; and her enemies are full of anger and are attempting to hinder Jerusalem’s restoration.

What then will become of Jerusalem?

When the Lord will have fulfilled his promise, what will Jerusalem be like?

And the prophet looks, and behold a man…

Immediately the prophet’s attention is drawn to the measuring line in the man’s hand. Zechariah’s curiosity is aroused, and he asks the man, who is clearly rushing somewhere, “Whither goest thou?”

And the man answers, “To measure Jerusalem, to see what is the breadth thereof, and what is the length thereof.” Then the man moves into the distance and disappears from the vision. The Jerusalem that he will measure is not the city that the prophet knows so well but as she is according to God’s good pleasure, the city as she will be when God will have fulfilled all his promises to Zion…

The angel who has been talking with the prophet and explaining the visions to him follows the man with the measuring line.

But another angel, clearly the angel of the Lord, goes out to meet the first angel and sends him back to the young man—that is, the prophet—to bring him a report about the outcome of the measuring of Jerusalem.

Jerusalem will be very great with a multitude of men and beasts in the midst of the city.

The city of God will rejoice in complete safety because God himself will be a wall of fire round about her.

The city will radiate a glory that never was known before.

The glory of the Lord!

Jerusalem full of joy!

Jerusalem’s greatness!

Who is there among Zion’s children whose heart does not throb with joy as he sees Jerusalem so enlarged?

Who is there among Zion’s children who would not follow that man with the measuring line as he goes out and would not thrill to see how great the city of the great King will be in her length and breadth?

Jerusalem!

No, not the city of Zechariah’s time! That city still lay in partial ruins. The man does not go out to measure that city, but he will measure the real Jerusalem—Jerusalem according to her essence, Jerusalem of the future that in the prophetic vision already stands and is measurable.

In the end Jerusalem of old was only a city as other cities. Yes, Jerusalem was a beautiful city! “Beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole earth, is mount Zion, on the sides of the north, the city of the great King” (Ps. 48:2). Confidently one might call out to her citizens, “Walk about Zion, and go round about her: tell the towers thereof. Mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces; that you may tell it to the generation following” (vv. 12–13).

But that Jerusalem was a mere city, an earthly city made with hands and no different in that way than Babylon. And during the prophet’s time, there was no reason to boast of Jerusalem’s greatness and beauty, for Babylon far exceeded Jerusalem in power and glory.

That Jerusalem would never be great.

She had been destroyed just as Babylon was destroyed and just as Sodom and Gomorrah had been destroyed.

Yet Jerusalem is still beautiful!

Jerusalem never shall be destroyed!

Jerusalem shall be enlarged and be the joy of the whole earth!

But then you must behold the city as she is the city of the great King, as she really is with God in her palaces, great and greatly to be praised, and in whom the citizens boast: “This God is our God for ever and ever: he will be our guide even unto death!” (Ps. 48:14). That is Jerusalem in her essence, the city built by God himself, indwelt by God, ruled by God, blessed by God, and glorified by God. There on Mount Zion is God’s throne, his eternal and divine rule; there is the Lord’s Anointed, his most excellent Friend-Servant, revealing God and glorifying him alone. To God both the Anointed himself and all things are wholly consecrated; in God’s name he rules over all the works of his hands. There is God’s house, his covenant of eternal and heavenly friendship and most intimate fellowship because Jerusalem’s God is the friend of her citizens. He rules over them, but in boundless grace; he commands them, though in eternal love; he is highly exalted on his throne, yet to live with them and to walk with them, to take them as his sons and daughters, and to cause them to taste the blessedness of his friendship. And there dwell his people, knowing him as they are known, seeing him face to face, having peace in righteousness, eternal peace, serving him in love, and finding their reward in doing his commandments through Jesus Christ, their Lord.²

That is Jerusalem!

And that Jerusalem shall be great!

On account of the multitude of men and beasts, Jerusalem will be inhabited as a town without walls! In place of the fortress once surrounded by walls, Jerusalem will be expanded and spread out over the whole land. It will be a place where there is room for men to have not only their houses but also many cattle.

And perhaps you think of this future expansion and greatness of Jerusalem in terms of the land of Canaan, but this would be too narrow and restrictive. Jerusalem will spread out as the four winds of heaven! Four is the number of the earth in her expansive breadth. If the city of God is expanded as the four winds of heaven, then this can mean nothing else than that she will take up the whole earth.

Jerusalem shall fill the earth!

Overwhelming vision!

In the beginning Jerusalem is manifested as a single, limited, earthly city. Jerusalem in that earthly form is destroyed; yet in order that in the cross, resurrection, and glorification of the Anointed of the Lord, she is realized in her essence. Then in principle Jerusalem is in heaven where Christ has entered into the most holy place and sits at the right hand of God. Through Jerusalem’s children on the earth in the church from every tribe, tongue, and nation, she is inhabited as a town without walls.

At last, she will descend out of the new heavens to the new earth.

Then she will fill the whole earth.

Then in the whole earth, there will be no room for Babylon.

Then also the creation itself will be freed from the bondage of corruption, in order to share in the glorious liberty of Jerusalem’s citizens.

A multitude of men and of beasts!

The metropolis of the new creation!

Jerusalem’s safety!

The prophetic vision lays emphasis on this.

Although the city of God will be inhabited as a town without walls, nevertheless, she will be secure, perfectly secure.

This security also had to be shown to the prophet, for an inhabited and unwalled Jerusalem could be in danger.

The old Jerusalem was a fortress with strong walls, heavy gates, and mighty bulwarks. That had to be because Jerusalem was an earthly city that could be attacked and threatened with extinction by earthly powers and earthly means. Men could shoot their bows and arrows against the city of God. With their steel swords they could fight against her, destroy her, pull her temple to ruins, and kill her citizens or carry them as captives to Babylon. That was not only possible but also was a reality because Babylon always hated and harassed Jerusalem. Therefore, Jerusalem of old took the form of a strong fortress with huge walls, bulwarks, towers, and massive gates that could be shut tight against the enemy.

And now the prophet hears that Jerusalem shall be inhabited as a town without walls!

Certainly this means not only that the city of God will be expanded on all sides to make way for the multitude of men and beasts but also that she will no longer be a strong fortress. She will be open on all sides to the enemy, without walls and bulwarks, and without an army and earthly means of defense.

But then will Jerusalem be safe?

Will not the enemy infiltrate her and with either stroke or blow overwhelm and overthrow her, so that Jerusalem’s name is blotted out of the earth?

God forbid!

Jerusalem will be completely secure, even as she will be inhabited as a town without walls in the midst of a hostile world!

Round about the city of the great King, the Lord will be a wall of fire!

The Lord! Jehovah! Israel’s God! The eternal one, who from the beginning has known all his works and who does all things after the counsel of his own will! He has purposed to clothe Jerusalem with eternal glory! He is the unchanging and faithful one who never forsakes the works of his hands! He has taken Jerusalem into his eternal covenant; he is the almighty one, whose is all the power in heaven, in earth, and in hell…

He will be a flaming wall round about the city!

Why then does Jerusalem need a wall of stone?

The stone wall around the old Jerusalem can be pulled to ruins and destroyed, but this wall stands fast forever. The enemy could still infiltrate the stone wall of the old Jerusalem, but this fiery wall consumes the might of the wicked world. No enemy can ever overtake Jerusalem.

The city of God is perfectly secure!

That is the way the city is essentially in the new dispensation.

So far as Jerusalem is now above, no enemy can launch an attack on the city of God. And so far as her citizens dwell on the earth in a town without walls, no wicked power can overwhelm them.

It is true that according to the flesh men can persecute Jerusalem’s citizens, speak all manner of evil against them falsely, make them suffer, and put them to death. But men cannot touch them as citizens of Jerusalem, for nothing can separate them from the love of God in Christ Jesus. The Lord is to them a fiery wall…

They are preserved by the power of God through faith…

And soon the gates of the city will not be closed by day.

For there will be no more night!

Perfectly secure!

Zion, the joy of the whole earth!

Because Jerusalem shall be unspeakably glorious!

I will be the glory in the midst of her!

Oh, yes! The Lord speaks here! And he does not say that he will make her glorious. He does not say that he will pour out his glory upon her. But he says that he himself will be her glory in the midst of her.

The glory of God is the glory of Jerusalem!

God is the glorious one! Because he is excellence itself. He is all virtue! The eternal good! Infinite perfection! He is light, and in him is no darkness at all. The living God! Therefore, he alone is glorious! His is the glory eternally!

And in Christ, God has revealed all his glory because in Christ dwells all the fulness of the Godhead bodily. The glory of Christ is the glory of God. And out of Christ this glory radiates in the church, which is his body, in which he dwells and to whom he imparts his own life. The glory of the church is the glory of Christ is the glory of God!

“I in them, and thou in me, that they may be made perfect in one” (John 17:23).

I will be the glory in the midst of her!

Eternally and forever!

Oh, look!

Are there still citizens of Jerusalem in Babylon?

So it was at the time of the prophet: Not all had returned out of Babylon. So it is also in the new day: Some never are called out of Babylon; others are lost in Babylon.

But if Jerusalem will be the joy of the whole earth, then there is no other place for Babylon than in outer darkness!

Get out of her! Escape! 

Hurry!