Zechariah 2

“‘Daughter Zion, shout for joy and be glad for I am coming to dwell among you’ – the Lord’s declaration. ‘Many nations will join themselves to the Lord on that day and become My people. I will dwell among you, and you will know that the Lord of Hosts has sent Me to you. The Lord will take possession of Judah as His portion in the Holy Land, and He will once again choose Jerusalem. Let all the people be silent before the Lord, for He is coming from His holy dwelling.’” Zechariah 2:10-13 (HCSB)

Today’s chapter contains only one vision – a man with a measuring line in his hand. Upon seeing him, Zechariah asks where he is going. The man replies, “To measure Jerusalem, to see what is its width and length.” At this, the interpreting angel left the prophet’s side and met another angel coming toward him. The latter cried, “Run, speak to this young man, saying Jerusalem will be inhabited as towns without walls for the multitude of men and cattle inside her; for I, says the Lord, will be unto her a wall of fire around her, and will be the glory in the midst of her.”

Important to note is that the Mormons foolishly believe the young man with the measuring line to be Joseph Smith (the false prophet) and the angel to be Moroni, who is fabled to have revealed to him the golden plates of the Book of Mormon. I point this out simply to illustrate that people fall into such cults primarily because they are Biblically illiterate. Even the most casual reading of today’s chapter would make clear that it has no reference to a “Zion” in America but is ultimately connected to what has gone before and follows after, as to Jerusalem and the land of Israel.

Now, onward to today’s passage. Many theologians believe the angel that the “interpreting angel” left Zechariah to speak with was the Angel of the Lord, a specific title for pre-advent Messiah (Jesus). That is Jesus, in the glory He had with the Father before he came to earth as a baby. (Micah 5:2) The reason for this belief is the language the Angel used: “Many nations will join themselves to the Lord on that day and become My people. I will dwell among you, and you will know that the Lord of Hosts has sent Me to you”. The idea that Gentiles would be accepted by the Lord as His people is not a New Testament invention. God’s redemption of Gentiles is firmly rooted in the Prophets. Notice the similarities in today’s passage with Isaiah’s and Jesus’s words.

“‘And the foreigners who join themselves to the Lord minister to Him, love the name of Yahweh and become His servants, all who keep the Sabbath without desecrating it and who hold firmly to My covenant— I will bring them to My holy mountain and let them rejoice in My house of prayer. Their burnt offerings and sacrifices will be acceptable on My altar, for My house will be called a house of prayer for all nations.’ This is the declaration of the Lord God, who gathers the dispersed of Israel: ‘I will gather to them still others besides those already gathered.” Isaiah 56:6-8 (HCSB)

“Then He went into the temple and began to drive out those who bought and sold in it, saying to them, ‘It is written, “My house is a house of prayer,” but you have made it a den of thieves.’” Luke 19:45-46 (NKJV)