The third vision of Zechariah, that of the measuring line, promises a glorious future for Zion. The promise of that future has not yet been completed, but enough has been fulfilled for us to know that God always keeps His prophetic word.
The vision concerns the glory of Jerusalem. The prophet looks up again and sees a man with a measuring line (v. 1). When asked about it, the man says he is measuring Jerusalem (v. 2). This indicates that he is establishing how large it is going to be. The interpreting angel is told to run to Zechariah in order to tell him the news (v. 3).
Next is a wall of fire, a covenant reminder of the Exodus. The Lord God tells the faithful that He is a wall of fire around them to protect them from their enemies (v. 5). This is important because the newly measured Jerusalem will be a city without walls (v. 4). The Lord will also be a glory within her midst (v. 5). The city will be greatly blessed with multitudes of inhabitants.
In verse 6, a lyric poem begins. Those Jews who still remain at Babylon are told to arise and come back to Jerusalem (v. 6). The Lord spread them abroad, and He will bring them back. The appeal to return has two bases. The first is the judgment coming upon the pagans, and the second is the prosperity coming upon Jerusalem. The Lord treasures Jerusalem as the apple of His eye, and because of this, the Lord comes to vindicate His name. The one who touches the Jews is attacking God. This language is reminiscent of the great comfort in the warning of the Song of Moses. “He found him in a desert land and in the wasteland, a howling wilderness; He encircled him, He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye” (Dt. 32:10). All God has to do to overthrow His enemies is shake His hand (v. 9). Then the word of the Lord will be vindicated.
We then come to language which makes it plain that this promise to Jerusalem is fulfilled in its ultimate sense in the New Jerusalem, the Christian Church — “but the Jerusalem above is free, which is the mother of us all” (Gal. 4:26); “But you have come to Mount Zion and to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels” (Heb. 12:22); “He who overcomes, I will make him a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out no more. And I will write on him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven from My God. And I will write on him My new name” (Rev. 3:12).
Notice how the language of verse 10 is so similar to the Messianic hymn found later. “Rejoice greatly, O daughter of Zion! Shout, O daughter of Jerusalem! Behold, your King is coming to you; He is just and having salvation, lowly and riding on a donkey, a colt, the foal of a donkey” (Zech. 9:9). In those days, the days of the Messiah, many nations will be joined to the people of God (v. 11). This blessing will begin in Jerusalem, which the Lord will again choose (v. 12). The world is to be silent before Him.
This is true measurement. Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb. In John’s vision in Revelation 21, we have clear dependence upon this vision from Zechariah. The New Jerusalem is measured perfectly, which corresponds to the measurelessness of Zechariah’s vision. “And he measured the city with the reed: twelve thousand furlongs. Its length, breadth, and height are equal. Then he measured its wall: one hundred and forty-four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of an angel” (Rev. 21:16-17). And in the fulfillment of Zechariah’s prophecy, the kings of the earth bring their glory into the Church. “And the nations of those who are saved shall walk in its light, and the kings of the earth bring their glory and honor into it” (Rev. 21:24).
The fulfillment of this vision is therefore found in the Christian Church. The city which God is building, the heavenly Jerusalem, has no walls. It has no boundaries, it will grow and expand until it fills the earth (Rom. 4:13). Our only walls are the walls of salvation. “We have a strong city; God will appoint salvation for walls and bulwarks” (Is. 26:1; cf. 60:18). The Lord has been roused to save — and the only appropriate response before the Lord’s intention in saving the nations of this world is the response of silence. The world is commanded to be silent before Him. God has been roused, and He will conquer all before Him.