Zechariah 2:1-13--A Vision of a Man with a Measuring Line

Zechariah 2
English Standard Version

A Vision of a Man with a Measuring Line
2  And I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand! 2 Then I said, “Where are you going?” And he said to me, “To measure Jerusalem, to see what is its width and what is its length.” 3 And behold, the angel who talked with me came forward, and another angel came forward to meet him 4 and said to him, “Run, say to that young man, ‘Jerusalem shall be inhabited as villages without walls, because of the multitude of people and livestock in it. 5 And I will be to her a wall of fire all around, declares the LORD, and I will be the glory in her midst.’”

6 Up! Up! Flee from the land of the north, declares the LORD. For I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heavens, declares the LORD. 7 Up! Escape to Zion, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon. 8 For thus said the LORD of hosts, after his glory sent me to the nations who plundered you, for he who touches you touches the apple of his eye: 9 “Behold, I will shake my hand over them, and they shall become plunder for those who served them. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent me. 10 Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for behold, I come and I will dwell in your midst, declares the LORD. 11 And many nations shall join themselves to the LORD in that day, and shall be my people. And I will dwell in your midst, and you shall know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you. 12 And the LORD will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem.”

13 Be silent, all flesh, before the LORD, for he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.

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Zechariah sees a vision of a man going to measure the length and width of Jerusalem which would stay pretty static if you had a city with walls around it, because the walls not only kept invaders out, but kept the city from expanding beyond the walls that marked its limits.  The LORD told the man to run quickly if he was going to try to take measurements because soon the city would grow as if it had no walls to constrain it.  There would be so many people and cattle that would live there that they would just keep expanding and the LORD promised to defend them where the walls would not.

The LORD calls for all His people to return from the lands they have been dispersed into.  They are to escape back to Zion (the mountain fortress that is Jerusalem).  They are to leave their places of captivity in Assyria and Babylon.  The LORD will cause those who plundered His people to be plundered by them.

The LORD promises to once again dwell in their midst.  No longer would they be the only nation to be part of the LORD's people, but the LORD would cause many entire nations to turn to Him and be His people as well, and a remnant from every nation.  The LORD will have Judah (not just Jerusalem) as His portion in the Holy Land and He will again choose Jerusalem to be His City and the Place which bears His name and where He would dwell among His people.

This is definitely fulfilled in the return from Exile and Israel's restoration, but it has an even greater fulfillment in the end times when the LORD will call His people to return to Jerusalem and the Holy Land from all four corners of the earth, and He will return there and literally live among them and rule over them as He sits on the throne of David, and there will be many God-fearing Gentiles alive at this point who will bless the Jewish people.  Eventually, the LORD will dwell with all His people in the New Jerusalem (we see John tries to measure that in the book of Revelation and it's fair to say that it's massive).  The place the LORD is preparing for His people is roughly the size of the entire plot of land promised to Abraham (the entire Middle East from the Nile River at the west 0to the Euphrates River to the west and from the Red Sea to the south  to Damascus to the north).  We look forward to the "near" and "far" fulfillments of this prophecy that are yet to come as we look back to see how the LORD has already fulfilled this prophecy and we know He will do it again.