Welcome back to our series on Zechariah, Prophet to the Returned Exiles. So far, we’ve studied the first two visions that Zechariah experienced: The man on a horse among the myrtle trees and the vision of the four horns and four carpenters. And now we’re going to study the vision of the man with the measuring line. This vision is all about “good and comfortable” words for Jerusalem. The Lord announces that He will be to Jerusalem a wall of fire around her, and not only that, but His glory will be in the midst. Let’s start the study. 

Zechariah’s Third Vision: Man With the Measuring Line

First in a Two-Part Series
by Karen Thompson

Zec. 2:1 I lifted up mine eyes again, and looked, and behold a man with a measuring line in his hand. 2 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. 3 And, behold, the angel that talked with me went forth, and another angel went out to meet him, 4 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: 5 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.

The vision of the man with the measuring line is a prophetic word that projects forward a couple millennia into the future when the events of Revelation will have come to pass. In this vision, Zechariah saw “a man” who was holding a measuring line. Zechariah asked him where he was going and the man with the measuring line told him, “To measure Jerusalem’s width and length.” This is a reference to Zechariah 1:16 when the Lord said “a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem.” Some say this “man” with the measuring line is the same Man that was riding the red horse among the myrtle trees in chapter one, identifying Him as the pre-incarnate Christ—the second person in the Trinity. This isn’t the only time Zechariah referred to the pre-incarnate Christ as the “man.” In chapter six, Zechariah again calls Him the “Man”: “Behold the Man, whose name is the Branch….” 

Then the interpreting angel who was at Zechariah’s side went forth toward the man with the measuring line, supposedly to talk with him about what he was doing. When the interpreting angel went forth, another angel “went out” to talk with the interpreting angel. From this phrasing, it can be assumed that just as the interpreting angel went forth from Zechariah’s side, so too this angel must have gone forth from the side of the Man with the measuring line.

The angel that “went out” said to the interpreting angel to give Zechariah a message from the Lord saying, “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.” It’s interesting that the first thing the angel said to Zechariah’s interpreting angel was “Run!” Run and tell Zechariah this message! Telling him to run to the young man (who is Zechariah) and give him the news denotes a tone of excitement due to the news being very good.

The first part of the good news the angel had for Zechariah was that Jerusalem would one day be a town that didn’t have any walls around it: “Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls for the multitude of men and cattle therein” (v.4).  Anyone living in that time period would have been amazed upon hearing Jerusalem would be a city without walls, because every ancient city had a very high wall built around the entire length and width of it. The bigger and higher and thicker the wall, the more protection it provided for the city. These walls were a city’s first defense against enemy invasions. Without these massive walls, a city was a sitting duck. So when the angel told Zechariah that Jerusalem would one day exist without these protective walls, it had to have been startling.

Also part of the good news was that Jerusalem would grow and expand so much that its size would extend past where the walls were presently. That is a sign of prosperity and increase. Notice it says there would be an increase of cattle and men: “Jerusalem shall be inhabited as towns without walls for the multitude of men and cattle therein.” The fact that there will be an abundance of cattle indicates that this prophecy is referring to the earthly Jerusalem, not a heavenly Jerusalem.

Verse five tells us the reason the city not having any walls is a good thing: “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.” God Himself will be “unto her a wall of fire round about.” There will be no need for a natural, manmade wall around Jerusalem. God is saying He will be Jerusalem’s protection. His glory and power will surround and envelop Jerusalem, because He will, once again, be dwelling with His people in their midst. The presence of God returning to Jerusalem is significant, because if you recall, the presence of God had long ago left the temple after Babylon’s invasion of Jerusalem. The prophet Ezekiel said he himself saw the glory cloud leave the temple.

In the sixth year of their captivity in Babylon, the prophet Ezekiel said he was visited by an angel, and this angel took him to Jerusalem in the spirit realm. The angel gave Ezekiel what I call a “tour of abominations” in Jerusalem. The angel showed him various groups of Jewish people worshiping false gods in Jerusalem. In chapter eight, Ezekiel wrote about the tour of abominations, and the first thing the angel showed Ezekiel is what he called “the image of jealousy” which was an idol of a false god actually placed in the inner court of the temple! It was called the image of jealousy because it provoked God to jealousy. Remember, God says about Himself that He is a jealous God, and He is unwilling to share His people with other gods. A condition of their covenant with Him is that they worship no other god besides Him. In fact, it’s the very first of the Ten Commandments (Exo. 20:3). When Ezekiel was shown the image of jealousy in the inner court, the Lord said to the prophet, “Son of man, seest thou what they do? even the great abominations that the house of Israel committeth here, that I should go far off from my sanctuary?” (Eze. 8:6). The Lord is saying He is being driven from His own sanctuary because of the abominations committed by His covenant people.

When the tour of abominations came to an end, Ezekiel said he witnessed the presence and glory of God leave the temple. After it left the temple, it moved to the east gate of the city. The glory cloud hovered over the east gate for a while, a behavior that seemed to express reluctance in leaving. Then the glory cloud left the east gate and moved to the Mount of Olives; from there, the cloud ascended out of sight (Eze. 10). The presence and glory of God will not return to Jerusalem until His covenant people are purged of their rebellion and sin, and that won’t happen until after the events of Revelation take place. So when Zechariah prophesied that the Lord “will be the glory in the midst of her,” we know he is prophesying way into the distant future.

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