A man with a measuring line in his hand
The man with a measure
The prophet asks where the man is going, and the answer given is--“to measure”; and then he shows what would be the measure of Jerusalem, that it would hereafter extend beyond the walls, as that compass would not contain the vast number of the people.
“God will extend,” he says, “far and wide the holy city; it will no longer be confined as before to its own walls, but will be inhabited through all its villages.” There is then no doubt but that God intended here to bear witness respecting the propagation of His Church, which was to follow a long time afterwards, even after the coming of Christ. For though Jerusalem became wealthy and also large in its compass, and, as it is well known, a triple city, and heathen writers say that it was among the first of the cities of the East when Babylon was still existing, yet this prophecy was not verified in the state of Jerusalem, for it was not inhabited without its walls, nor did it spread through the whole of Judaea. We hence conclude that the spiritual Jerusalem is here described which differs from all earthly cities. Here is described the heavenly Jerusalem, which is surrounded by no walls, but is open to the whole world, and which depends not on its own strength, but dwells safely though exposed on all sides to enemies; for the prophet says, not without reason, “through the villages shall Jerusalem be inhabited”; that is, it shall everywhere be inhabited, so that it will have no need of defence to restrain or hinder enemies to come near; for a safe rest shall be given to it, when every one shall quietly occupy his own place. Though few returned from exile, God was yet able to increase the Church, and to make it a vast multitude, and this was certain and decreed, for it was shown by the vision that however unequal they were to their enemies, God was still sufficiently strong and powerful to defend them; and that however destitute they were of all blessings, God was still rich enough to enrich them, provided they relied on the blessing which He had promised. (John Calvin.)
The optimism of faith
Zechariah was the most uniformly hopeful of all the prophets. He was a young man. His little book is the work of a youthful imaginative mind, richly endowed with poetic gifts, as well as steeped in the diviner fount of inspiration. He saw all things bathed in the glory of the morning. The time in which he wrote was near the end of the Babylonian captivity. The prophet draws one picture after another of the glorious things which were nigh. Here the prophet sees a young man going with a measuring line in his hand, and asks “Whither? To measure Jerusalem,” is the answer, and straightway he marches on. Then the angels appear, and one says to the other, “Go after that young man, and tell him that his measuring line is too short. Jerusalem will expand beyond all boundaries and all measurements, because of the number of people in it. Tell him that he is going to measure the immeasurable.” This allegory contains these two Gospel truths.
1. Faith realises that which does not exist.
2. These Divine things which faith realises are so great that even faith cannot measure them.
I. Faith realises that which is to be. This young man was going to do an apparent absurdity. He was going to measure a city which had not yet been built. All the practical, materialistic, matter-of-fact people of the world would call that the very climax of folly. The Gospel of common sense says, Let us have no illusions. Give us facts, for anything which is not built upon facts is foolishness. Our religion indulges throughout in this foolishness, if foolishness it may be called. Faith realises the city that is not yet built., grasps coming events as though they were already present. All the best and greatest men and women that have ever been upon this earth have lived and moved and had their being in what was called a world of dreams, a world, that is, of fair, sweet hopes, of treasures and of glories that had not yet been created. Illustrated by Abraham, David, etc. It is the source and secret of all our strength and confidence, that where other eyes see only imperfections, we see a city of God which He will most assuredly build.
II. These Divine things which faith realises before they come into existence are so great that even faith cannot measure them. The angel speaks to the young man, to rebuke him for the presumption of thinking that he can measure the city--it is immeasurable. We cannot measure anything that God builds. You cannot gauge moral influences or tabulate spiritual forces. There is no plummet that can sound the depths of love Divine. You could have measured Giant Goliath, but you could not have measured the faith and the courage of the young man who came up to meet him in the name of the Lord. Illustrated from the company carried by the Mayflower; or by comparing the French Revolution with the beginning of missionary enterprise. You cannot measure the Church, the Church of Christ. It is infinitely broader, larger, stronger, than the most flattering statistics show. (J. G. Greenhough, M. A.)
The man with the measuring line
It was natural enough. We dream of what occupies our waking thoughts; and probably Jerusalem was full of surveyors, engaged in mapping out the new streets and walls.
1. The pessimist comes with his measuring line, and draws the plan of the city within the narrowest possible boundaries. He justifies his forecast by quoting such a text as “Fear not, little flock”; or “Strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it.” Sometimes he fears that he will not enter, at other times he doubts all others but himself.
2. The bigot comes with his measuring line and insists that the city walls must coincide with his shibboleth, and follow the tracings of his creed.
3. The experimentalist is apt to refuse to consider as Christians those who have not experienced exactly the same doubts, fears, ecstasies, deliverances, and cleansings which he himself has felt.
4. The universalist goes to the other extreme, and practically builds his walls around the entire race of man, including within their circumference every member of the human family. It is not for us to fix the boundaries, or insist on our conceptions. These are secret things which belong to the Lord our God. So shall it be with the saved. We have no right to include in their ranks any who know not God, and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus, who have loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. But apart from these, there will be a multitude which no man can number, out of every nation and of all tribes, and peoples, and tongues; as stars in the midnight sky, or the sand grains on the seashore. (P. B. Meyer, B. A.)
An interesting future of the world
I. The future increase of good men on the earth. Two remarks are suggested concerning the extent of genuine religion. It is--
1. Measurable only by the Divine. Who had the “measuring line”? Not a mere man, not any created intelligence, but the God-man, the Messiah. Men cannot measure the growth of piety in the world. They attempt it, but make fearful mistakes. They deal in statistics, they count the number of churches in the world and the number of professed worshippers. But piety cannot be measured in this way. Have you scales by which to weigh genuine love? Any numbers by which to count holy thoughts, aspirations, and volitions? Any rules by which to gauge spiritual intelligence? Have you any plummet by which to fathom even the depths of a mother’s affections? No one but God can weigh and measure the holy experiences of holy souls.
II. The future security of good men on the earth. Who shall penetrate a massive wall of fire? But that wall is God Himself, omnipotent in strength. Omnipotence is the Guardian of the good.
III. The future glory of the good men on the earth. Good men are the recipients and the reflectors of the Divine glory. They are the temples for the Holy Ghost to dwell in, and they reveal more of Him than the whole material universe. Holiest souls are His highest manifestations. (Homilist.)
The true glory of the Church
1. Although Zion has not yet lengthened her cords and widened her stakes to her appointed limits, yet the measuring line has gone forth that gives her bounds to be the habitable earth. Hence, if this future extension was a motive to the Jew, in his work of rearing the temple of wood and stone, much more is it to us in our work of erecting the great spiritual temple on the foundation, Jesus Christ (Zechariah 2:1-4).
2. We learn here the true glory of the Church. It is not in any external pomp or power, of any kind; not in frowning battlements, either of temporal or spiritual pretensions; not in rites and ceremonies, however moss grown and venerable; not in splendid cathedrals and gorgeous vestments, and the swell of music, and the glitter of eloquence, but in the indwelling glory of the invisible God. Her outward rites and ceremonies, therefore, should only be like what the earth’s atmosphere is to the rays of the sun, a pure, transparent medium of transmission (Zechariah 2:5).
3. The punishment of the wicked as truly declares the glory of God as the salvation of the righteous (Zechariah 2:8).
4. The wicked shall ultimately be the slaves of their own lusts; those appetites and passions which were designed to be merely their obedient servants, shall become their tormenting and inexorable tyrants (Zechariah 2:9).
5. The incarnation of Christ and His indwelling in the Church are grounds of the highest joy (Zechariah 2:10).
6. Christ is a Divine Saviour. In Zechariah 2:10-11, we have one Jehovah sending another, and the Jehovah sent is identified with the angel of the covenant, who was to come and dwell in the Church, whom we know to be Christ. Hence, unless there are two distinct Jehovahs, one Divine and the other not, Christ, the Jehovah, angel of this passage, is Divine.
7. The Church of God shall cover the earth, and become in fact, what it is in right, the mightiest agency in human history. Though now feeble and despised, she shall one day include many nations, and every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord, to the glory of God the Father (Zechariah 2:11).
8. Delay of punishment is no proof of impunity. God often seems to be asleep, but He is only awaiting the appointed time; in the end, when all seems as it was from the foundation of the world, the herald cry shall go forth, Be silent, O earth, for Jehovah is aroused to His terrible work, and the day of His wrath is come. Let men kiss the Son whilst He is yet in the way, before His anger is kindled but a little, and they perish before Him like stubble before the whirlwind of flames. (T. V. Moore, D. D.)
The man with the measuring line
In this vision God presented to the prophet, and through him to the nation at large, the prospect and the assurance of the restoration of Jerusalem, and the reestablishment of the Jewish state as it had been before the captivity. The city should not only be rebuilt, but greatly extended: the temple should be restored, and the worship of Jehovah resumed; His presence should be with His people, and they should enjoy His protection; and whilst they were thus blessed, judgment should come upon those nations that had oppressed them, and they should have supremacy over those by whom they had been enslaved. All this was literally fulfilled. But even in these promises there seems to be a reference to things of still higher import, and of spiritual significancy Who can such a speaker be but that Being who in the fulness of time appeared in our world, uniting in His one person the human and the Divine natures? May we not say, then, that there is here a promise of blessing to the Church through the advent of the Redeemer? Then certainly was glory brought to the temple of the Lord. The Church of God, under the latter dispensation, may take to herself as her own the comfort and encouragement which those promises, given to the Church in the old times, were intended to convey. Security, protection, glory, grace, blessing, extension, and final triumph are all assured to her by the promise of Him whose word cannot fail. (W. L. Alexander, D. D.)