Then I looked up, and there before me was a man with a measuring line in his hand. I asked, “Where are you going?”
He answered me, “To measure Jerusalem, to find out how wide and how long it is.”
While the angel who was speaking to me was leaving, another angel came to meet him and said to him: “Run, tell that young man, ‘Jerusalem will be a city without walls because of the great number of people and animals in it. And I myself will be a wall of fire around it,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will be its glory within.’
“Come! Come! Flee from the land of the north,” declares the Lord, “for I have scattered you to the four winds of heaven,” declares the Lord.
“Come, Zion! Escape, you who live in Daughter Babylon!” For this is what the Lord Almighty says: “After the Glorious One has sent me against the nations that have plundered you—for whoever touches you touches the apple of his eye—I will surely raise my hand against them so that their slaves will plunder them. Then you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me.
“Shout and be glad, Daughter Zion. For I am coming, and I will live among you,” declares the Lord. “Many nations will be joined with the Lord in that day and will become my people. I will live among you and you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you. The Lord will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land and will again choose Jerusalem. Be still before the Lord, all mankind, because he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.” (Zechariah 2:1-13 NIV)
Have you ever heard how impressive the temple was in Jerusalem? King Solomon spared no expense in building a one-of-a-kind house for the LORD. The inside of the temple was covered with pure gold. 23 tons—46,000 pounds—of pure gold. Shining. Glimmering. Why didn’t we do that on the inside of our new church? That gold alone would cost over a billion dollars today. There were two golden statues of cherubim—angels. Their wings spread thirty feet from one side of the temple to the other. Outside were two massive stone pillars over 50 feet high. Palm trees and pomegranates were carved into the outside stone walls. It would have been amazing to see!
But none of that was the best part. The best part was that God was there. The LORD himself was there. When Solomon’s workers completed the temple, this is what happened: “Then the temple of the LORD was filled with the cloud, … for the glory of the LORD filled the temple of God” (2 Chronicles 5:14). God filled the temple with a cloud of his glory. The people could see it. There was God. What a comfort! No matter where you were in Jerusalem, you could look to the temple and know, “God is with us!” No matter where you lived in Israel, you could look to Jerusalem and know, “God is with us!” Can you understand what that temple meant to God’s people?
So when God let the Babylonians destroy Jerusalem and that temple in 586 B.C., it was so much more than losing a historic site. A few years ago, Notre Dame burned down. Remember that? It was sad. A cultural treasure was lost. But the temple in Jerusalem stood for so much more than that. It was proof of God’s presence among his people. So when the temple was gone, what was the implication? God was gone. Isn’t that a horrible thought? God was gone. Of all that happened to those Israelites, the worst heartache was this: “God is gone.” Can you imagine the deep, dark questions that tormented their souls? “Is God still here? Does God hear us? Does God love us?”
I bet you don’t have to imagine those deep, dark questions. I bet you’ve asked them. I bet you’ve felt them. To doubt God’s love, to doubt God’s presence, is an awful thing. Do you know what I mean? It’s an awful feeling to feel like God is gone. It’s an awful feeling to feel like God doesn’t hear. It’s an awful feeling to feel like you’re all alone. It’s an awful feeling to wonder if God really loves you. We live starved for encouragement. Starved for positive reinforcement. Have you ever been discouraged? Defeated? Alone? Then God has beautiful words for you today.
As Zechariah looked at the ruins of Jerusalem, he saw a vision of a man with a measuring line. You use a measuring line to plan out a new building or a new city. That man was going out to measure how big the new Jerusalem would be. But before he measured, another angel came and said, “You don’t need to measure. Jerusalem will be a city without walls because of the great number of people and animals in it.” That sounds good! “Don’t bother to measure. The city will be so big, no wall will fit around it!” Then God added this, “I myself will be a wall of fire around it, and I will be its glory within.” “You won’t need a wall, because God will be your wall of fire.”
In Zechariah’s day—520 B.C.—there was actually a city that had walls of fire. Do you know which city? Pasargadae. That’s just what you were going to say, isn’t it? King Cyrus, the same king who let the Jews go back to Jerusalem, built himself a new capital city: Pasargadae. But he didn’t build walls around it. Instead, he surrounded the city with altars of fire. The gods were going to be his walls. And the LORD said, “Nice idea. But wrong gods! To my people, I will be a wall of fire. And I’m actually real!” Can you imagine how comforting this would have been? It makes me think of God’s angels today. There is a wall of fire around you wherever you go.
And God followed that up with an invitation: “Come! Come!…Come, Zion! Escape, you who live in Daughter Babylon!” He called out to his people, “Come back. Come home. Wherever you are. Some of you ran away. Some of you were carried away in exile. All of you feel separated from me your God. You can come back. You can come home. I want you here!” Isn’t it beautiful to hear God’s invitation? It was time for God to judge the other nations. So he called to his people: “You need to leave those other countries, because now I’m going to bring judgment on them for what they have done to you.” Why? “Whoever touches you touches the apple of my eye.”
Isn’t it true that sometimes just a few kind words can lift up your soul? A couple weeks ago, I was at home, and my mind was distracted by all sorts of things, and our little Faith looked up at me and said, “I love it when you stay home.” That was just what I needed to hear! God said it like this: “Whoever touches you touches the apple of my eye.” Those are words to lift up your soul. You’re the apple of God’s eye. What does that mean? The Hebrew phrase actually says, “You are the little person of his eye.” If that sounds strange, what do we call the black dot in our eyes? The pupil. What’s a pupil? A little person who goes to school, right? As precious as the center of your eye, which you never let anybody else touch, that’s how precious you are to God.
I think we can say even more. You are the little person of God’s eye. When you are very close to someone, when you look into their eyes, what do you see? A little person. Whom? Yourself. Isn’t that true? If you sit very close to someone and look into their eyes, you see yourself. You are so dear to God, you are so close to God, that when you look into God’s eyes, do you know what you see? You. Why? Because you are the little person in God’s eye! You are not alone. You are not abandoned. You are not forgotten. You are always in God’s eye. That’s the truth!
The promises keep coming. God is so gracious. He wanted to build up his doubting people. “Shout and be glad, Daughter Zion. For I am coming, and I will live among you, declares the LORD….I will live among you and you will know that the LORD Almighty has sent me to you. The LORD will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land and will again choose Jerusalem.” So much good news! Note this: Who does everything? The LORD! “I am coming. I will live. I will live. I will inherit. I will choose.” It’s all God. It’s all God’s grace. The Jews were wondering, “Does God love us?” Yes! You are the apple of his eye. “Is God with us?” Yes! He is coming to live with you. “Are we forgotten?” No! God has chosen you to be his own.
As we’ve studied Zechariah, we’ve gotten used to asking one question: When? When would this happen? When would God enter into the world and dwell among his people? You know the answer. When did God come and live with his people? When Jesus came. What was one of the names given to Jesus? It starts with an I- and ends with -mmanuel. Know what I’m thinking of? Immanuel. Yes! What does that name mean? “God with us.” God didn’t just live with us. He became one of us. He lived for us. He died on the cross for us. He rose from the dead for us. “Shout and be glad. For I am coming, and I will live among you!” He came. Jesus came for us.
And when Jesus was on earth, he called himself an odd name. Jesus said, “Destroy this temple, and I will raise it again in three days” (John 2:19). What was he talking about? Himself. Jesus allowed himself to be nailed to the cross. He died for our sins. But after three days, he rose from the dead. Jesus was talking about himself! And don’t miss what he called himself: “This temple.” If the temple of God is God’s presence with us… If the temple of God is the sign of God’s love for us… Who is the temple of God? Jesus! It’s okay that there’s no temple in Jerusalem anymore. We don’t need that! If you want God and his love with you, what do you need? Jesus.
So how do we get Jesus? This is so important. Jesus doesn’t come to us through a building. He comes to us through the Means of Grace. Do you understand that phrase? The Means of Grace. The Means of Grace are the Gospel in Word and Sacrament. Whenever you hear or read God’s Word, Jesus, who is the Word, encourages your soul. Whenever you take the Lord’s Supper, Jesus, whose body and blood are there for you, strengthens your soul. Those Means of Grace, the Gospel in Word and Sacrament, encourage and strengthen our faith in Jesus our Savior.
So when those questions come into your mind, “Is God here? Does God hear me? Does God love me?” Where can you find comfort? In Jesus. Does God love you? Look at the cross. Jesus died for you. Of course he loves you! Is God with you? Here’s Jesus’ promise: “Surely I am with you always” (Matthew 28:20). Jesus is with you. Are these promises really for you? Take the Lord’s Supper. Believe Jesus’ words: “Given for you for the forgiveness of sins.” Am I special? “Whoever touches you touches the apple of his eye.” Isn’t this what your heart needs?
And it’s only going to get even better. In the book of Revelation, when John got to look into heaven, he said, “I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple” (Revelation 21:22). There’s no temple in heaven. Why? Jesus is there! John wrote, “On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there.” They don’t need to worry about walls and gates in heaven. Why not? Jesus is there. Every disappointment, every doubt is a call to lift our eyes to heaven. One day, there will be no more doubts ever again.
Until that day comes, God says, “Be still before the LORD, all mankind, because he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.” This is a common theme in the Bible: “Be still before the LORD.” Why do we need to hear that so much? Because we’re not still. Especially our insides. The butterflies are fluttering, aren’t they? Anxiety. Worry. Heartache. Guilt. Working and running and fretting… And God says, “Be still before the LORD.” God is on the move. God is working. God is acting. You can count on him. You can trust in him. You can find peace in him.
Even when it feels like you’re all alone. Have you ever heard of Dietrich Bonhoeffer? He was a Lutheran pastor in Germany during World War II. Dietrich Bonhoeffer was arrested by the Nazis and executed in 1945. A few weeks before he was executed, he wrote a poem. He called it, “Who Am I?” His poem started by talking about how all the guards thought he was happy and joyful. Even in prison, he put on a joyful, carefree face. But then his poem described how he really felt inside: Sad. Lost. Lonely. Deserted. So he kept asking himself, “Who am I? The happy face I put on to others? The forlorn soul that sits inside me. Who am I?” I bet you ask that too. Who am I? Here’s how the poem ends: “Who am I? It mocks me, this lonely question of mine. Whoever I am, O God, I am yours.” Listen to that again: “Who am I?… Whoever I am, O God, I am yours.” When those deep, dark questions plague your soul, remember: “I am the apple of God’s eye.”
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