[0:00] Good evening.
[0:28] Good evening. Good evening.
[0:58] Good evening. Good evening. Good evening. Good evening. Good evening. Good evening.
[1:10] Good evening. Good evening. Good evening. Good evening. Good evening. Good evening.
[1:22] Good evening. Good evening. Good evening. Good evening. Good evening. Good evening.
[1:34] Good evening. Good evening. Good evening. Good evening. Good evening. Good evening.
[1:46] Good evening. Good evening. Good evening. Good evening. Good evening. Good evening.
[1:58] Good evening. Good evening. Good evening. Good evening. Good evening.
[2:08] Good evening. Good evening. Good evening. Good evening. Good evening. Good evening.
[2:20] Good evening. Good evening. Good evening. Good evening.
[2:32] Mary Sh abordthese Thank you.
[3:32] Thank you.
[4:02] Thank you.
[4:32] Thank you.
[5:02] Thank you.
[5:32] Thank you.
[6:02] Thank you.
[6:32] Thank you.
[7:02] Thank you.
[7:32] Thank you.
[8:02] Thank you.
[8:32] Thank you.
[9:02] Thank you.
[9:32] Thank you.
[10:02] Thank you.
[10:32] Thank you.
[11:02] Thank you.
[11:32] Thank you.
[12:02] Thank you.
[12:32] Thank you.
[13:02] Thank you.
[13:32] Thank you.
[14:02] Thank you.
[14:32] Thank you.
[15:02] Thank you.
[15:32] Thank you.
[16:02] Thank you.
[16:32] Thank you.
[17:02] Thank you.
[17:32] Thank you.
[18:02] Thank you.
[18:32] Thank you.
[19:32] truth make us more like Jesus and make us more receptive to your call to your voice to the work of the Holy Spirit in us may we not be those who grieve the Holy Spirit by our rebellion by our neglect but may we know more and more of the work of the Spirit within us that we may keep in step with the Spirit and that we may show the fruits of the Spirit so that people see something of Christ even in us so we thank you Lord for your word we thank you for this time that we have together we thank you for Zechariah and the visions that you gave him and we pray for the help of the Holy
[20:49] Spirit that we may be able to understand what you are saying to us through this and that we may see Jesus again Lord we pray for the churches who are around us in this place and in the nation and across all nations we thank you that Jesus promised he would build this church and we thank you that Jesus is building his church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it and we ask Lord for your blessing upon all who meet as we do so at this time so hear our prayers take away our sin and we ask all these things in Jesus name amen if you could open your Bibles please now at Zechariah the second chapter of Zechariah which is the third vision that the Lord gives Zechariah in that night and this is a vision that focuses on a on a particular man the heading that's in the NIV I don't know if there's headings in some of the other Bibles that you're you're looking at it gives the description here a man with a man with a a man with a measuring line so that's the focus of this vision we we see a man with a measuring line and I want to deal with this vision briefly under three headings we'll think about the identity of this man we'll think secondly about the mission that this man that Zechariah sees has come to do and finally we'll think about the call that comes through this man to God's people then and to us also as God's people today and perhaps some who are not God's people but whom God is calling to know him and to trust him so first of all we have the the identity the identity of this man in the vision we've all been in a situation uh where we've perhaps been walking along the street and storing away uh and uh we've been looking down as we've wandered around and then we've looked up we've made eye contact with a person uh who's just ahead of us um and it's someone that we recognize but we're not just quite sure who they are where did we see them was it a wedding was it a funeral was it you know in the co-op was it where we don't know we're not sure of the identity of this person we've all been in that situation and here we find Zechariah and Zechariah looked up and there before me he says was a man with a measuring line in his hand so the first sensible question for us as we come to this vision it is it's who is the man who is this man with the with the measuring line and if you want to read the commentators and look at the scholars there's there's some debate over who the man uh might be some say this is perhaps an unnamed man who's in Zechariah's dream and we don't really need to know the identity of the man others argue that it could possibly be an angel who is in the in the appearance of a man but sometimes i think the the answer to these questions like who is this man what's his identity is it's the most obvious answer and i think the man here in this vision is the god man the pre-incarnate jesus now why do i say that because well i say that because i think we've already been given uh some clues some guidance in the previous chapter if you glance back to Zechariah chapter one and at verse 16
[24:49] in the the previous vision uh the man among the myrtle trees uh it says in verse 16 therefore this is what the lord says the lord says i will return to jerusalem with mercy and there my house will be rebuilt and the measuring line will be stretched over jerusalem declares the lord almighty so the lord almighty in this first vision uh is saying i'm going to return to jerusalem and not to to show judgment but to to show mercy and not to do destruction but to to stretch out the measuring line declares the lord and i think there's enough there uh for us to be encouraged to think that that the the man with the measuring line who said he was coming and now who seems to be seen on the horizon here is the lord himself there was an old elder in um torridan whom i uh had with me for years in uh previous ministry john maxwell was his name talked about him before and uh he used to say to me used to say to me uh always be looking for jesus on every page of the bible whether you're in revelation whether you're in mark's gospel whether you're in uh malachi or zechariah or genesis or the psalms he says always be looking for jesus he's he's on every page of the bible so be looking for him and zechariah is a book where i think we see jesus more clearly than we do in almost any other book in the in the old testament apart from perhaps isaiah and here the man that zechariah sees the man with the measuring line i think is is jesus the pre-incarnate jesus and perhaps a practical thing for us just as we think about our own spiritual experience and vision is if we want to have a vision of christ we need to be looking up i'm not talking about a physical vision of christ but if we want to to see jesus to hear his voice to see something of christ even in the world around us the creative majesty of the world if we want to have that sense of the presence of christ with us day by day then we have to be looking up zechariah says then i looked up and he saw the man we're in a world that that causes us constantly to be to be looking down to be looking around but rarely to be looking up we're told aren't we to set our minds on on things above that's a discipline so i think as zechariah looks up the man he sees is is jesus and if you're not persuaded by me which i wouldn't blame you for then listen to matthew henry you'll listen to matthew henry won't you matthew henry says the son of david even the man christ jesus whom the prophet sees with a measuring line in his hand is the master builder of his church so matthew henry thinks that the identity of this man is the pre-incarnate christ
[28:50] the master builder of his church and that takes us on to the second point the identity of the man with the measuring line the second thing it is the mission of the man with the measuring line and put simply the mission of the man of with the measuring line in his hand is a mission to rebuild if you take a look at the back of the church you might have noticed last week and the week before if you have a look at the back of the church behind where the church is and the chips are you'll see there's lines that have been drawn there's spraying of the ground that's been done now what does that indicate when we see lines drawn and we see things marked out well it indicates that work is going to be carried out soon and I hope work will be carried out soon some tarrying work that we've been asking for for a while but we know that when we see lines marked out when we when we see a man coming into a site and he has a high-vis jacket on and a hard hat and he's got the the tools with him and he's he's taking measurement we know that there's the prospect of building work to commence soon and that's the picture here in modern language in the second vision
[30:15] God's city remember we said this last week Jerusalem and God's temple the place where his people came in to worship they were in ruins and God's people their heads were down that's what it says in Zechariah 1.21 there's a there's a mood of defeat there's a discouragement there's a cloud that's over over God's people at this point in time but wait says Zechariah God is showing me a man with a measuring light I looked up and there before me was a a man with a with a measuring light that's what he sees on this vision that's what he sees on the screen but then it goes from almost like looking at a screen to an interactive experience experience maybe Alistair do you play video games Alistair you've got a playstation yeah you do and on the playstation you know these games that the the young ones and some of the older ones play as well
[31:26] I've seen Kyle over there they go on these playstations and they've got the controllers back in my day it was just a controller and you'd be on the screen and you could sort of connect with the screen these days in the games they play they've got the controllers yes but they've got headsets put on the headsets they've got microphones across the front and then they've got these big huge goggles and they go over the head and it's it's like they've gone from a screen to being into this whole virtual reality no point in asking them about anything when that's the case they're in a different world they're part of the fabric of this this game they're speaking to the characters within it and that's in a sense what Zechariah is doing here he's been looking at a screen he's been seeing a vision but now he's like he steps into the vision I asked says Zechariah and he's asking here the man with the measuring line where are you going and he answered me to measure
[32:33] Jerusalem to find out how how wide and how long it is now you don't do that as I said without having plans you don't go to take measurements and measure out the dimensions if there isn't plans if there isn't plans to restore what's currently in ruins if there's not plans to rebuild what's broken down and that's what the Lord was returning to do in Zechariah 1 16 in the first vision this is what the Lord promises he will do he will come he will have the measuring line and now in Zechariah 2 in the third vision that's what Zechariah is seeing happening he's seeing a vision a step on from the first promise he's seeing a vision of the Lord returning with the measuring line to rebuild what was broken and when you step back from this for a moment if you've still got
[33:36] John Maxwell's words in your mind that was Jesus' mission Jesus' mission was not a mission to come into this world to write off what had become twisted and broken through the fall he didn't come on a mission to condemn and to demolish but he came on a mission to save and to restore the souls of his wayward sheep he came on a mission to rebuild his broken people John 3 17 for God did not send his son into the world to condemn the world but to save the world through him and Zechariah I think is seeing that in symbolic imagery here verse 3 then the angel who was speaking to me says
[34:40] Zechariah then the angel who was speaking to me left and another angel came to meet him and said to him run and I want to just hit pause there for a second the angel that Zechariah is seeing and he's in conversation with he has good news he has good news for Zechariah and he has good news for all God's people he has good news about what the Lord was coming to do and the angel here is told don't delay don't dilly dally don't procrastinate over this good news that you've been given but run with it we have good news if we're Christians we have good news good news about what the Lord not only promised to come to do but did come to do and has completed we have good news about the life and the death and the resurrection of Christ we have the gospel and our calling is to run into all the world with it not to delay not to procrastinate not to be distracted but to run with this we'll hit play again and continue here that was just a kind of side thing then the angel who was speaking to me left and another angel came to meet him and said run tell that young man
[36:25] Jerusalem will be a city without walls because of the great number of men and livestock in it and I myself will be a wall of fire around it declares the Lord and I will be its glory within a few things here first thing to know actually is it's just the youth of Zechariah now we think of Zechariah and I think if I'd asked you three or four weeks ago before we ever looked at Zechariah do you have a picture of him in your mind I think most of us would probably say well he's a man with a long grey beard and you know he's old Zechariah that's what would be in our mind likely but Zechariah the commentators think was a fairly young man and that seems to fit with the verses here run says the angel tell that young man to bring the good news and for the young people who are here tonight some only six and seven and eight and ten and twelve and teenagers we can never be too young for God to speak to us we can never be too young to be part of God's plan can never be too young or too old or too middle aged to be of use to
[37:58] God but this vision that Zechariah is given Jerusalem will be a city without walls because of the great number of men and livestock in it what a prospect for Zechariah as he's standing in the middle of this mess all this rubble all this depressing scene that's around him and then God says there's going to be a city Jerusalem will be a city that is so vast the plans that God starts to lay out before Zechariah the plans that he has for his people a city so great verse 4 that the walls couldn't close it in and you get a sense of the vastness of this city that God is speaking of but then as they heard that they would have been a bit worried because a city without walls is exposed it's open to attack but then the
[39:08] Lord says you don't need to worry about that because the one who's guarding this city will be me the Lord is the one who's guarding verse 5 its borders like a wall of fire and this is a city that the Lord himself says he will fill with his glory verse 5 that's the picture that Zechariah is given now what's this a picture of it's actually not a picture of a city this is not a picture of the literal city of Jerusalem this is not a picture that Zechariah has been given of the literal temple building this is a picture of the church of Christ that we are part of today Bentley one of the commentators says the city of
[40:08] Jerusalem is a picture of the people of God the church with the Lord dwelling in their midst Zechariah we are part of the vision that Zechariah was given on that night this is a picture this is a vision that is coming true more and more and more as the years go on the church of Christ is vast we might feel like it's shrinking here but across the world the church of Christ is vast vast in 2015 the statistics said that there's estimated to be 2.3 billion Christians in the world it's vast there's members of the church of
[41:12] Christ across the whole world almost every nation not quite every nation but almost every nation we can go to places on the other end of the earth Romania India we had the man from America with us last week who's of African descent he's a brother in Christ the church of Christ is vast it's spread out over the whole world it's numerous and in spite of so much persecution and so many attempts to destroy the church she's still standing and still growing how can that be well the reason it can be is because Jesus is the one who protects her he is the wall of fire around his church it's his glory that causes his church to stand remember what he said to
[42:15] Peter Matthew 16 18 I will build my church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it so today we are seeing Zechariah's vision coming more and more and more true the perfect fulfillment of this vision is heaven the new Jerusalem which is why we read from Revelation 21 but until then until that day Jesus is continuing to build his church so let's be encouraged by this vision that Zechariah saw previewed and this vision that we are seeing progressing the identity of the man with the measuring line pre-incarnate Christ the mission of the man with the measuring line was to rebuild what was broken down to restore the people who were wandering and the call finally well it's a call from the
[43:25] Lord it's a call from the one who said he would build his church and it's a call to come to come to him to inhabit to be part of that church Matthew Henry says in the church of God there is room for other multitudes more than man can number none shall be refused to trust in Christ and he never shuts out from heaven one true member of the church on earth God will be a wall of fire around them which can neither be broken through or undermined nor can it be assailed without danger to those who attack and the message that's coming through here is for us to come Jesus said I'm building my church and as he tells us of our sin and as we hear the call of
[44:27] Christ he's calling us to come and to be part of that church verse six 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 remember what we said already so many were still living in Babylon that place that was so characteristic of this world and all that was against God so many were still living in the world so many were still choosing to remain in sin rather than repent not realizing the danger that they were in and God says to them through Nehemiah come come come O Zion verse 7 escape you who live in the daughter of Babylon it's the call of the gospel it's the call to turn away to escape from the sin that is killing us the call of the gospel is a call to turn away from the world and all that is so opposed to God and to turn in faith to the
[45:41] God who made us and who loves us and who wants us to be in relationship with them that was the call that was coming through Zechariah that was the call that was coming through all the Old Testament prophets that's the call that came through John the Baptist when he stepped in to precede Jesus it was a call to flee from the wrath that was to come it was a call to escape that's the call that came from Jesus repent turn away from sin turn in faith to me come to me says Jesus all who are weary and burdened and I will give you rest that's the call and it's an urgent call it's the tone of this and it comes to us tonight so tonight if you're if you're here and you're you're far away from God and you've never trusted him you've never actually turned away from your sin you've never turned in faith to Christ then the call through
[46:56] Zechariah is to come urgently escape come and tonight if you're sitting in these chairs as you perhaps so often have and sat in pews before if you've sat in churches here there and everywhere but you've never come to Christ to actually be part of his church then he says come or tonight if you have wondered and you've been wandering of late and you're in Babylon back in the world as so many of God's people were at this point in time understand this first of all God hasn't written you off he sees you and he calls you as he called his people of old to come to return to him and those who were fearful of the implications of this call those who needed reassurance they get it in verses 8 and 9 as the
[48:18] Lord says come to me return to me I have no time to go into and those whose heads were still down they were still discouraged the Lord gives them encouragement as he reminds them of his promises in verses 10 to 13 he gives them reasons to shout and be glad as he says come so the call from the man with the measuring line is a call to come to him but to finish what's the message for those who had already come to God what's the message for those who had already left Babylon and who were now in Jerusalem what's the message for those who were part of the church of Christ those who were trusting God those who were obeying him as Zechariah had those who were back on the building site what's the message that God is speaking to them what's the message of encouragement it's a message to encourage seeing
[49:39] Angy Glenn at the back here they hate me pointing at him but he will and many of us will remember when we were knee deep in rubble in this very building here I can still picture it so clearly huge massive lumps of stone and mess and everything was in ruins and walls were broken down and floors were dug up and some days you wandered in here and we thought will we ever get through this the task just seemed so huge but then when you you go right the plans and you looked at how beautiful it was planned to look the plans spurred you on and the vision that Zechariah has been given the plans of God that Zechariah has been allowed to see in the midst of all the rubble and mess that he was living were intended to spur
[50:50] God's people on to the work that he was calling them to do so tonight for us for those who are Christians as we see in 2019 the growing church of Christ universal as we see the glory of the Savior Jesus who was promised to come and who did come as we see the sufficiency of the work that he came to do and has now completed should we not be encouraged should we not be spurred on so that we do not give up and get lazy and put our tools down but rather we give it all in worship of and in work for
[51:52] Jesus Christ we are saved by grace we are saved through what Christ has done it's the gift of God we receive it by faith but we are saved in order to worship God and we are saved in order to work for his glory so as we said last week for heads are down let us lift up our heads and worship Christ and as we go out from here into another week that the Lord has allowed us to see the beginning of let us be spurred on to lift up the gospel tools and work we'll pray our heavenly father we thank you for this vision that was given to
[53:06] Zechariah we thank you for the fact that it speaks into our experience today we thank you for the promises that we see fulfilled already in Christ and his growing church and we thank you for the promises that have been given which have not yet been fully realised but we know that in your time will be enable us in these days between the coming of Christ to do the work of salvation and the returning of Christ to take his church his bride to be with him eternally enable us we pray to trust Jesus to worship Jesus and each day that we are given to work with all our hearts for the glory of Jesus and we pray this in Jesus name Amen