There are cities and there are cities. Size and status vary enormously, from the 23 people in Hum, Croatia to the 20 million in mega cities. Two cities are contrasted in Scripture, Jerusalem and Babylon: the latter, once the largest city in the world, was the hub of a huge empire; Jerusalem then was small, lacking Babylon’s political and military power. God’s assessment is that one is a holy city, the other the epitome of rebellion against him (Revelation 18:1–3; 21:1,2). Zechariah fires us with glimpses of God’s plan to establish Jerusalem.

Here’s a man with a measuring line (vs 1,2). But there’s no way his line can measure the size of Jerusalem. An angel informs him of his fruitless task (v 3). This city doesn’t need city walls because that restricts numbers. Additionally, why would you need protective walls if God is both in the city and surrounding it with his holy fire (v 5)? This is a place ‘not built by human hands’ (2 Corinthians 5:1). Its ‘architect and builder is God’ (Hebrews 11:10). The heavenly Jerusalem, overflowing with people from every nation (v 11), is where God’s presence radiates warmth and blessing. Some city! It’s the future vision which enlivens and enlightens our lives when present-day incarnations of ‘Babylon’ feel so dominant.

Think of situations in which you have felt vulnerable. What walls did you try to build as protection? Did you seek God’s help and protection? How did God respond?

After two visions making it clear that God knows what is happening in the world, including knowing that the nations that he had used to punish Israel had overstepped the mark¹ and that he will now punish them and restore his people, Zechariah receives another vision. He sees a man being stopped from measuring the boundaries of Jerusalem. Four reasons are given for this: the city will exist without walls; many humans and animals will live in it; God will be a wall of fire around it; God’s glory will dwell in it. This promise of prosperity and security is the basis for a command to all those Judeans still in Babylon and elsewhere to leave Exile and return to Jerusalem. The Hebrew in verse 8a is obscure, but what follows is clear: God cares for his people. They are like the pupil in one’s eye, which one instinctively protects. In language which alludes to the Exodus, God promises to act so that his people will plunder those who enslaved them.²

God’s ‘wall of fire’ (v 5) is a promise of security but not of an easy life. Jesus warned his disciples that they would face the same kind of persecutions that he did.³ However, in our sufferings for Christ we will know the security given by God’s presence with us.⁴

Ezekiel had seen God’s glory leave the Temple and Jerusalem.⁵ God now promises to return and be present with his people (v 10). He also promises that other nations will come to join them in worshipping him. This was foreshadowed in the promise given to Abraham.⁶ It was fulfilled through the death of Jesus on the cross, which enables Gentiles as well as Jews to become heirs of God’s promise to Abraham.⁷

Many Christians today are suffering for their faith. Pray that they will know God’s ‘wall of fire’ around them. Find out about the situation in a country of your choice.

¹ Zech 1:15  ² Exod 12:33–36  ³ John 15:20,21  ⁴ 1 Pet 4:12–14  ⁵ Ezek 10:18,19; 11:22,23  ⁶ Gen 12:1–3  ⁷ Gal 3:26–29