Zechariah 1:2 (part 2)

So we're going to move on in this first vision and read at verse 13. This is where the Lord answered the angel that talked with me. So the angel of the Lord, Son of God, the rider of the red horse, he has asked a question on behalf of the nation.

God has returned an answer to the interpreting angel who's helping Zachariah. And the Lord answered the angel that talked with me with good words and comfortable words. So the angel that communed with me said unto me, cry thou.

So here's something that you've got to do, Zachariah. Cry thou, saying, thus saith the Lord of hosts, I am jealous for Jerusalem and for Zion with a great jealousy. And I am very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease.

For I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward the affliction. The idea is this. God said, I have the right and I do use the right to use Gentile powers as the agent of my judgment on my people.

So in judging Judah, I have used a Gentile power, Babylon, to come in and destroy Jerusalem, take my people into captivity. But Babylon added to what I intended. Babylon heaped upon you more suffering, more shame than I had intended.

And for that reason, I'm going to judge them, says God. Have you ever wondered? I did as a younger believer. I would read the scriptures and see how that God used a nation to come and judge his people.

And then when that had been done, he said to that nation, because you've touched my people, I'm going to judge you. I just think, oh, that's a bit rough. Until I realized that this was behind it.

That if they had allowed themselves just to be the divine agent, that would have been good. But when God removes a restraint from these people who naturally hate his people, they'll go over the top. They'll go over the score.

And for compounding the suffering of God's people and going beyond what God intended them to do for that, God judges them. So there's our expression. Verse 15, I'm very sore displeased with the heathen that are at ease, for I was but a little displeased, and they helped forward.

They added to the affliction. Therefore, thus saith the Lord, I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies. My house shall be built in it, saith the Lord of hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem.

So a promise about the temple, a promise about the city. Cry yet, here's something more, Zachariah. Cry yet, saying, thus saith the Lord of hosts, my cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad, and the Lord shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem.

What beautiful promises. Verses 13 through 18 for our discussion, please. 14, I should say.

14 through 18. We have an example of that in the little book of Obadiah. Judgment against Edom.

Edom was the same. Edom was the same. And what they did was they compounded the judgment against Jacob in the day of their destruction, in the day of their calamity, and so on.

And so God would judge Edom in return. We'd see that through history too, wouldn't we? I mean, Nazi Germany, where is it today? But Habakkuk understands a nation far worse than us is going to come and destroy us. How can that be? But that was God's purpose.

You're thinking of the Assyrian coming down on Israel in Habakkuk. He says they're far worse than we are. Yeah, they are.

Yeah, indeed. And yet a divine agent. This is a question for you.

You said going above and beyond what God anticipated, was there any prophecy about the temple being destroyed when God speaks of judgment coming? Is that why that is? He is now speaking, this house will be rebuilt. What was it foretold that? So we knew they would be removed from the land because of their idolatry, right? But did they go above and beyond when they destroyed the temple? Is that? Well, I think, I mean, as maybe a small example of them going above and beyond, remember when they took Zedekiah, the last of the kings there, and they took Zedekiah, the exile from Jerusalem into Babylon was in three stages. Zedekiah was part of that third stage.

They took him down into Babylon. They slew his sons in front of his eyes, and then they blinded him. So the last thing Zedekiah ever saw was the death of his sons.

That's going over and above in brutality and callousness, anything that God ever intended. For his people to be taken into captivity, yes, but for the brutality and everything that was involved, that's what God was going to punish them for. I think that would be an example like, yeah.

Brother Phil, do you, I know that you said that the return of the Lord was not predicated or conditioned based on the condition of their return, but do you see at the end there in chapter one of verse six there, and they returned and said, like as the Lord of hosts thought to do unto us according to our ways and according to our doings, so have he dealt with us in a positive light. So they're responding. And it is in relation to that also, Paris together now in verse 16, therefore thus saith the Lord, I am returned and I will return.

I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies. My house shall be built. So there was a positive response from them.

That's very nice. Yeah. So, yeah.

In other words, when God speaks, he means it, he means it. And, um, so as we said, the God turning back to them was not a conditional business. It's just a matter of the timing.

They were impatient to see God at work. And a message that's coming through this first vision is the time isn't yet funny enough. That's what they were saying to Haggai.

The time is not yet that we should build the house of the Lord, but this is a different thing. Uh, now the Zacharias being shown there's a divine order about all this and God will move at his pace for his own reasons to fulfill his purpose. And the very fact that the nations are still at ease and are not being shaken by the God of judgment is an indication that the time has not yet come either for Jerusalem to be restored, but it will be restored.

Jerusalem will be restored. The temple will be rebuilt. You've got my word for it, saith the Lord.

So, so verse 16, they're anticipating, uh, Jerusalem being shown mercy. My house shall be built in it, saith the Lord of hosts and the line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem. Is that introducing to us vision number three, the man with the measuring line? Absolutely.

I think that, um, what we're going to find shortly, God willing, is that the rest of chapter one, which we're going to read soon is the second vision. And that's how God is going to deal with the nations. And those who have oppressed his people.

And the third vision in chapter two, the surveyor with the measuring line is how the restoration of Jerusalem and the temple is going to take place. So the, the, it is a succession of visions. We've got this very important first vision.

Now the people wondering, is God still on our side? Has God forgotten us? No, God remembers. And, uh, everything's known to him. Everything's under divine control.

God has said, this is the time for me to turn again. Now to you. Yes, you have been the subject of my displeasure, but I'm going to return to you.

Now I want you to return to me. I want you to cast your whole lot in with me. What I'm going to do, I'm going to do, but I want you to know the blessing of doing it with me.

So you turn back to me. I am going to turn back to you and two things need to be addressed. How and when it's going to do God going to deal with the persecuting nations and how, and when is he going to fulfill his promise about Jerusalem and the temple being restored second and third visions respectively.

Uh, go ahead. No, go ahead. Good.

At this point, perhaps you could help us brother Phil. I don't know whether you'd agree that as we read these visions and there's prophecies. And for example, I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies.

My house shall be built in it. The I am written could also be, I shall return. So that there is a double sense.

And whenever we study prophecy, there is perhaps a prophetic methodology is the right word, but there's a prophetic method by which we often would say that there is an a nearer immediate fulfillment of it. So as far as the days of Zerubbabel were concerned, the Lord did come and there was in that sense, the rebuild of the temple, but there was also an eschatological sense of the future that this will be fulfilled in the kingdom and the house will be built. And in that sense, we'll, we'll see in a while, as you see in chapter two, the Lord will be a wall of fire and that will ultimately be fulfilled in the actual literal presence of the Lord in the midst of them.

Very, very helpful. And verse 17 bears out what you're saying, brother Gideon. So, um, this is something Zacharias got to cry to the people.

Thus saith the Lord of hosts, my cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad. The Lord shall yet come for Zion and shall yet choose Jerusalem. Why the two names? Because Zion is almost always associated with the millennial state of the nation and of Jerusalem.

Um, some 48, the city of the great King Zion, beautiful for And so, uh, the further, the, uh, the father view, the eschatological view, uh, eschatological view that our brothers refer to the prophetic view looking still forward is, is the future. It's the millennial, uh, glory of the temple city, which is Zion. The difference being specifically, I think that where Jerusalem is referred to shall yet choose Jerusalem.

Jerusalem was the city of God, the city of David, but it was the city of God. It was the, it was intended to be, uh, the, if you like, almost the administrative center of the earth in the city was a temple, but in Zion, the city is a temple and the temple is a city. And the one who rules there must be both a King and a priest, and that's Christ.

So Zion always seems to have in view the millennial glory and Christ ruling, but we've got both in verse 17 to reinforce our comment that I shall yet comfort Zion and shall yet choose Jerusalem. The thing is, how, how is God going to do all that? It's all very well having a promise, even a promise from God, but how much more comforting to have some idea about how God intends to do all this. And that's where we're going to move now, unless there's further comment to be made, we're going to move to the second vision.

Very briefly, of course, brother. Yes. So what was happening, what God was doing amongst this people in Zachariah's day, um, was a little miniature, if I could put it that way, uh, of what God will do in the millennium, right? Ultimately it will be fulfilled and carried through to its fulfillment, but then it works the other way too, because Zachariah will give clear prophecies of the future, particularly toward the end of the book and the second coming of Christ.

And that is to have an impact upon them now in a very practical and moral way. And so the lesson for us then is this, that God has a program. He has a purpose that he's working towards, but that should have an impact upon our lives now because how we live now will have a direct bearing upon our role in that coming kingdom.

We have a part in that kingdom and our lives right now will influence what our role will be in that coming kingdom. Yes. And as Peter says, we should be looking for an abundant entrance in line with that.

Yes. I'm just looking here. Um, you needn't turn to it, but Psalm 48, uh, great is the Lord greatly to be praised in the city of our God, in the mountain of his holiness, beautiful for situation.

The joy of the whole earth is Mount Zion. Where was Zachariah when God was promising that he would Zion. He was in the ravine.

He was in that dark, deep Valley amongst the myrtles. There's a man on a red horse and it's the rider of the red horse is accompanying angels. And in that vision, Zachariah is living it.

He's, he's interacting with the players there. And in that dark, deep secret place, the idea of enemies all around, and he gets a promise of the glory of Zion, the highest Mount that there will be. What a lovely, comforting vision this was.

So we come to the house. Yes, sir. You had a question in the background.

Oh, do we, I beg your pardon. My dear brother, please go ahead. Um, so my question is in verse 15, when God says he was a little displeased by the nation help forward.

And so my question is, does this means that the nation acted beyond God's intention or were they still fully carrying out his word? First 15. First 15. Yes.

So the, if I understand your question rightly, brother, God intended the Babylonians. In fact, he raised up the empire to do that. He raised up Nebuchadnezzar to do that.

He raised them up to be the means, the agent of his judgment upon Judah, but the Babylonians went further than God intended in the extent of their damage, their cruelty, the robbing of the temple and all that kind of stuff. Uh, so God is in that sense, justifying himself in taking action against them. If, if they, if all they had done was under his sovereign will, like Cyrus who gave the order for the temple to be rebuilt, I wouldn't say he was robotic, but he was, he was acting under divine sovereign control.

If Babylon and the other nations had done just the same thing, there would have been no judgment upon them particularly, but it's because they went over the top and they allowed their displays, their own displeasure, the hatred of the people of God to show that God would judge them. Does that answer your question, brother? Have I got the right point? I see you nodding even if the mic hasn't worked there, but I hope that has. Okay.

Thank you. Right. Let's just, um, move on then because the time is, and, uh, we come to the second vision quite short, then lifted.

I up mine eyes. Uh, this is quite a common expression through these visions. It's as though, uh, having had, cause Zachariah doesn't know he's going to get eight of them and he's seen this one.

And so he's, you know, presumably, wow. And, uh, then he lifted up his eyes and saw and behold four horns. And I said unto the angel that talked with me, what be these? And he answered me, these are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel and Jerusalem.

And the Lord showed me four carpenters. Most commentators would suggest Smith as opposed to just a wood, not just, but not a carpenter in the sense of a woodworker alone, a craftsman, maybe an artisan. The Lord showed me four carpenters or, uh, four workmen.

And then said I, what come these to do? And he spake saying, these are the horns which have scattered Judah so that no man did lift up his head, but these are come to fray them to cast out the horns of the Gentiles, which lifted up their horn over the land of Judah to scatter it. Okay. You're going to get your lunch in half an hour, God willing.

So now's the time to take a deep breath, get a bit of oxygen in and we'll sort out the carpenters and the horns because they're the same. Notice that we've got in verse 19 horns, symbols of power, symbols of strength, a beast pushing with its horns. We've got four horns and they're identified as the agents that scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem.

So evidently the horns are nations or empires. These are the ones who've been responsible for bringing Israel and Judah to the state that they're in. Okay.

Then we're introduced to these four carpenters or four craftsmen. And I said, what come these to do? And the answer was, these are the horns which have scattered Judah. So the carpenters are the horns.

And I know what you're thinking. My head's hurting. But, but in one sense, the answer is quite simple.

We identify them as nations. The horns are nations. The carpenters are nations.

So now what God is saying is this, or rather the vision to Zachariah is this. These are the horns, verse 21. These are the horns which have scattered Judah so that no man did lift up his head.

We're coming back to the point that our young brother helpfully raised and the point that we've made that these powers didn't just do what God wanted them to do. They, they humiliated God's people. They treated them exceedingly badly.

And they, they treated them in such a way that no man did lift up his head. It's a, it's a picture of thorough abject misery. And God had not intended that.

So what's the outworking of it? Well, these craftsmen are come to fray. It can be translated, terrify or bring retribution to. These are come to bring retribution to them to cast out the horns of the Gentiles, which lifted up their horn over the land of Judah to scatter it.

Now, follow me with this, if you would, please. Four horns that scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem. The four are these, Babylon.

Now some would disagree slightly with the four, and they might want Assyria to be the first one because they were responsible for scattering the nation of Israel. But if we took them to be Babylon, the principles are saying, if we took them to be Babylon and Persia and Greece and Rome, there are your four horns because today Israel's without a King. Although politically, they've got a national identity in the sense that they've got the state of Israel.

Uh, the time for the regathering of Israel is not yet. They're still scattered. So if we take it, it's Babylon and Persia and Greece under Alexander the Great and Rome.

They're the four horns. How did the Babylonian empire come to an end? It was defeated by the Persian empire. So the Persian empire, which is the second horn, is the first craftsman.

God uses Persia as his craftsman to overthrow Babylon. Persia is the second horn. How did they come to their end? God raised up Greece, the Grecian empire.

And so the Grecian empire, though it's the third horn, is the second of the craftsmen. Can you see how the succeeding empires are overturning? They're fraying the previous one. So the first empire, Babylon, overthrown by Persia, overthrown by Greece, overthrown by Rome.

So Persia, the second horn, the first craftsman. Greece, the third horn, the second craftsman. Rome, the fourth horn, the third craftsman.

How is that empire going to be overthrown? There's a fourth craftsman, a carpenter, the carpenter of Nazareth. And he's the one who will defeat Rome in its revived state and will bring in his universal rule. What a beautiful picture out of four horns and four craftsmen.

We'll leave it there for the comment of the other brethren. So would you be happy, Brother Phil, this is Daniel 2? Daniel 2 and the image, yes. The image and the fourth carpenter would be the stone cutter without hands? Correct.

And could I just suggest, as you said, some would suggest that the first horn is Assyria because Israel is mentioned. But if we see the fourth metal and the fourth horn in relation to the last days, then it's Israel in view, not just Judah. And therefore it is the fourth carpenter that will come and destroy the fourth horn or the fourth metal that has control or influence over Israel.

So you might have Judah, Babylon, and Judah, Persia, and Judah, Greece, but the last one would be Israel as a whole, and therefore Israel is in view here. Yes, that's right. Because although politically, and if you like, historically, when the northern kingdom of Israel, remember how after the reign of Solomon, the kingdom was divided and the northern kingdom under Jeroboam, succession of totally wicked kings, idolatrous, and they were scattered by the Assyrians.

Judah, the southern kingdom, now stands for Israel. Politically, if you like, there's still Judah, but they now stand for the nation, Israel. So I think just as we've got Zion and Jerusalem, it's actually the same place, but slightly different aspect.

So we've got Israel and Judah and Jerusalem again. So how did all this damage be done? How did God allow it all to be done? Is God now reacting to the power play of all these different empires? And Zechariah says, no, all these great empires were raised up of God and he raised up Babylon to do its work. And when it had done its work, he raised up the Persian empire as a craftsman to fray that one.

And then when Persia has done its work in its largely peaceful rule, then he'll allow the Grecian empire to arise and they will be the second craftsman that will put aside that previous power and so on. But the great point is, and we mustn't miss it, the fourth one. And so the fourth craftsman, the fourth carpenter, I think we're in agreement, I hope we are, is none other than the person of the Lord Jesus himself, who ultimately is destined for the throne of universal dominion.

Very good. So just to reference back to the first vision, there was an implied, at least, problem in the first vision. What was that? It was the walls of the ravine.

Seemingly insurmountable Gentile walls and Israel in the bottom. But here's how those insurmountable walls would be brought down, pictured now in these horns and the carpenters. Any comments? Yes.

I think further evidence that the horns and the carpenters are the same is simply the fact that the beginning of verse 21, he asked when it comes to the horns, who are these? But the beginning of verse 21, he says, what have these come to do? So he's not asking who they are. He already knows who they are. But now he's just simply asking, what are they here to do? Okay.

Yeah. All right. Now, you're probably unaware of it, but I do look around.

I've got the best division in the world, but I do look around and you can normally tell if a company is just utterly zoned out. Thankfully, at the moment, I don't see that. Maybe just very good at hiding it.

But I hope these explanations we're giving is beginning to peel back some of the mystery and seemingly unfathomable symbology that is here. You've had the first vision explained to some depth and the same with the second one. And we must move on now just to read into chapter two, because once again, Zachariah lifts up his eyes.

I lifted up mine eyes again and looked and behold a man with a measuring line in his hand, a surveyor. And you will note that in verse 16 of the chapter one in that first vision, uh, the Lord of hosts, it says at the end of the verse and a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem. So the second vision has answered how the Gentile powers will be dealt with that are at rest at the moment.

And now the third vision is going to amplify this idea of a line being stretched forth upon Jerusalem. I lifted up mine eyes again and looked and behold a man with a measuring line in his hand. Then said I with a go, is that he said unto me to measure Jerusalem to see what is the breadth of, and what is the length of, 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, Zachariah, speak to him saying, Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls for the multitude of men and cattle therein.

For I say the Lord will be unto her a wall of fire roundabout and will be the glory in the midst of her. Oh, Oh, 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, escape, O Zion that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon. For thus saith the Lord of hosts, after the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you. For he that toucheth you, toucheth the apple of his eye.

For behold, I will shake mine hand upon them and they shall be a spoil to their servants and ye shall know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me. Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion. For lo, I come and I will dwell in the midst of thee, saith the Lord.

And many nations shall be joined to the Lord in that day and shall be my people. And I will dwell in the midst of thee and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto thee. And the Lord shall inherit Judah his portion in the holy land and shall choose Jerusalem again.

Be silent, O all flesh, before the Lord, for he is raised up out of his holy habitation. Again, we trust the Lord will bless the reading of his word. So, for the remainder of our time, we're looking into chapter two.

And the fact that the Lord is going forth now, it is the man with a measuring line in his hand, I would certainly take it from what follows, is again the angel of the Lord. It is the Lord himself taking control of things, and he's going out with this measuring line. Now, why does he need a measuring line? Well, I live in an old house.

It's a Victorian house, about 140 years old. So, we're never short of things to do. And whenever there's a job to be done, out comes the tape measure.

How are we going to do it? What do we need? So, it's to do with the inception of the project, isn't it? The measuring line. The promise has been made, I will restore Jerusalem. I will glorify Zion.

So, now he's going out. And you say, well, why does he need a measuring line? Just so that Zechariah and the people can see that everything is done orderly. Everything's done in perfect order.

And he's going out. He's the planning surveyor. He's going out to measure where the limits of the city itself will be, where the outlying villages and towns that feed into it and are dependent upon it, the conurbations around it.

He's going to go out and he's going to measure it all around. Why is he doing it? Because no man at the moment could possibly do it. Ask any of these exiles, this temple that you've been delayed in building and that you're going to build, what will be the final extent? What will be the final glory of the whole thing? And their greatest estimation wouldn't come anywhere near it.

This particularly has got in view millennial glory. We must understand that. It's got in view, particularly millennial glory, what it will be ultimately in the future.

So, as the interpreting angel goes forth, another angel comes to give him a message to bring to the people, and it's an urgent one. Run, speak to this young man, saying Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls. In other words, there'll be lovely peaceful conditions and there'll be prosperous conditions.

And so the call comes in verse six, come forth, come forth from the land of the north. Now, Babylon actually lies to the east of Jerusalem, but the way down into the nation is from the north. And so, notice that God's people at this moment told to escape.

They've been scattered. Verse seven, you're dwelling with the daughter of Babylon. But in verse 10, sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion.

That's who you are. Deliver thyself, O Zion, that dwelled with the daughter of Babylon. You've never failed to be my people, even though I have said, lo, am I? And that is, I've given you over to your own desires.

I've always loved you, says God, and I will always love you, and you will always be my people, and I will fulfill my promises. So, the rest of it, well, maybe we should just comment quickly on verse eight and then leave it for my brethren to make comment as well. Thus saith the Lord of hosts, a strange expression this, but after the glory hath he sent me unto the nations which spoiled you.

And there's a lot of debate amongst men whose scholarship vastly exceeds what I have, for I have none. But after the glory hath he sent me, the me I would suggest should have a capital M in our thoughts. It's the Lord who is, it's the angel of the Lord who is speaking, and the thought of after the glory is with a view to it, in pursuance of it, as part of the whole plan of divine glory being on ultimate display, as part of all of that hath he sent me.

To help you? No. After the glory, with a view to glory, he hath sent me unto the nations which spoiled you. And so the Father sent the Son to be the Savior of the world.

Isn't it wonderful how that though Israel is the chosen people of God, God also has a desire for the well-being of the Gentile. And we must remember in Old Testament days that the idea of the Gentile coming to blessing through the Jew was not a strange concept. Pictured in Joseph, for example, Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a well, whose branches spring over the wall.

And when Israel was in the ascendancy, Gentiles were blessed through them. And this is why Paul is so specific when he's speaking, certainly in say Ephesians chapter 3, that when it comes to the church age, we haven't come into blessing through the Jew. We and they have come into blessing on exactly the same ground.

No difference there. If there's any distinction at all, I suppose, Paul brings out to the Romans, it's through the stumbling of Israel that we have been given the opportunity to come into divine grace. But we owe nothing to the Jew for our blessings today.

But it's lovely to see in verse 8 that God has a plan to bless the Gentile, even though those that touch you are touching the apple of his eye. The apple of the eye. It's really the pupil.

That's a Latin word, if you didn't know, pupil. It's the thought that, it's the little man. So that the pupil of your eye reflects somebody just very, very small.

So my pupil looking at Brother William would just see a little vision of him like that, you see. The pupil, the small man. So, but very tender, very delicate.

Poke someone in the eye and you've hurt them a lot. And so the word comes, whoever touches my people, God says, it's like poking me in the tenderest part of my eye. Don't do it.

Don't do it because I will respond. Okay. We must use the rest of the time, which according to my little clock here is now 11 minutes before lunch and we must leave room to give God thanks in prayer as well.

So we've got about nine or 10 minutes just to discuss these things in chapter two, please, brethren. So Brother Phil, were you saying that I was tender and delicate? If you wish, brother. Yes.

Yes. Of course you are my dear brother. So we see, we see here the surveyor going out, doing a preliminary assessment, if you will, or laying out the site of Jerusalem with precision, with accuracy, according to plan.

Yeah. Could we see the finished project? Would you say when you come to Ezekiel 48, there you have a description of Jerusalem in the millennial setting and precise measurements are given. Absolutely.

Yeah, I think so. And I think it's the fact that he's going out now with what we'd call the tape measure. He's going out with the surveying line.

Certainly in my own home country, there's this constant bewailing by the public of the fact that the government promises long and delivers short, you know, and yes, there'll be more houses when, well, we don't, you know, and yes, there will be more of this. And yes, there will be more of that. Zachariah is being given a promise to relay to the people, I'm going to restore Jerusalem.

And look, the work has started. The work has started. The survey has already come out.

So, so don't think this is just some vague promise that can be swept off course. I've said, I'm going to rebuild Jerusalem. And here's the man moving out with the surveying line.

The work has already begun. I was wondering whether Phil, these are difficult chapters, or at least this chapter is difficult for me personally. But that's a party to disagreeing with me.

No, not really. I'm not going to be dogmatic, but I'm just wondering, the measuring of the line. And the answer coming back is Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls.

Yes. Whether this man that is going out to measure is measuring the line for the wall. And in that sense, the exiles that have returned and they're seeing the temple rebuilt, very soon will come a time, Nehemiah.

And they'll be thinking about the wall, because without the wall, there is no protection. There is no nation. Here is a double sense of what this is about.

Number one, yes, there will be a wall. But here is the assurance going to them of something that is even further. Though there will be a physical wall soon, but there will come a time when Jehovah and his glory will be a wall, and he will be in the midst of them.

So I'm just wondering whether it's the wall specifically that is in view in the measurement. Not dogmatic, but... No, I know, dear brother Gedini, you're helping us forward nicely. So we've got this near and further view again, haven't we? That although it wasn't going to be for a while that a wall would be built, they're rebuilding the temple.

It won't be until Nehemiah comes that the wall will be built. That's the near view of the whole thing. We know that Zion, prophetically, if we go back to Psalm 48, the closing verses of Psalm 48, say, go about her walls, tell her towers.

So clearly it's going to be walled, but is it going to be a stone wall or is it going to be a wall of fire? And I think the latter. So Jerusalem will always have that protection, but they'll not be now looking at stones, which are so easily cast down and dislodged. But the wall in the further view, the future view, the eschatological view, when Zion, beautiful for situation, is established in the millennial reign of Christ, there will be a protective wall of fire roundabout.

And the one who is the wall of fire roundabout will also be at the center of it as well. Would that make sense? That would make sense. And just another additional note that it says, and will be the glory in the midst of her.

The first three visions have to do with the Lord returning to Jerusalem, whether it's the nearer or the future. It's the Lord returning to Jerusalem and the glory of the Lord will be in the midst of her. Chapter three and four, the next two visions, as we're considering well, is the answer to the question, how can that be? How can it be possible? Seeing the defilement, seeing the weakness, how can that be? And the answer is in the next two chapters.

When you get to the end of Zechariah, when the whole thing is laid out, the answer is all given. So when you come to the closing in chapter 14, it's not only just going to be the glory of the Lord pervading, the presence of the Lord will also mean at the end holiness pervading throughout. So that's the development of the whole thing.

So chapter three and four, the removal of iniquity and all that will eventually result in chapter 14. We're just jumping the gun. So at this point is the glory, but very soon we will see that even the holiness of the Lord will prevail throughout the whole.

Very good. Yeah. And that ties in again with brother William took us to the closing chapters of Ezekiel's prophecy and 40 to 48, you know, you've got, you think, well, goodness me, what's all this about, but it's all about the precision.

And again, we were speaking last night, weren't we? The God who knows the end from the beginning, may we say reverently, but for effect, God, isn't making this up as he goes along. It's already sorted. And the man with the surveying line has already gone out.

And no matter what goes on in the Middle East today, tomorrow, or any other time, God will restore Jerusalem. And there will be Zion beautiful for situation established. Those are the physical conditions.

Our brother later today, God willing, as he takes us into the next chapter in the next vision, we'll be thinking more about now the spiritual requirements for those things to come about as well. So we've, we've learned in the first vision that God is aware totally of all that's going on. The people are discouraged, despondent.

They think that on account of all the failure of their fathers and everything, God has finished with them. And they're in this deep, deep valley experience. Now they're given assurance.

The Lord is with you. And he knows, and he's patrolling the earth and everything's under control. Now, two things, in the first vision, two things Zacharias to take away.

Number one, God will deal with the enemies of his people. Number two, he will restore Jerusalem. The second vision tells us how he deals with the nations.

The third vision, which we briefly touched on now, tells us not how, but that he will restore Jerusalem and Zion. A little self-defense. If you think I haven't allowed enough time for us to properly explore chapter two, really the content of chapter two is going to be one of the main points expanded further and further in the later chapters of Zacharias, particularly tonight's reading and tomorrow's as well, or whatever the other third and the fourth ones.

So that's why we haven't dwelt too much upon that, but rather spent more time on the first and the second. So as we close, I want to thank my dear brethren very, very much for the help and gracious way in which they have contributed. And just to repeat the fact that beside the question box, then I'm very, very willing, especially younger believers, don't feel at all abashed just to come and say, look brother, actually, I didn't understand what you said about so-and-so.

We're here to help. This is a wonderful opportunity for you. And whether it's to myself, to any of the other brethren who can help you, please feel free to approach us and to get things cleared up.

So many thanks indeed for all the help given in this first reading. We had the luxury of a little extra time and we look forward now to lunch and to the later reading under the leadership of our brother Gideon.