In this episode, hear testimonies from believers across the globe whose lives have been transformed through biblical teachings. As we delve into the ten visions of Zechariah, explore the vivid imagery of the measuring line and its implications for both ancient and modern times. This comprehensive study will leave you with a renewed understanding of God’s steadfast relationship with Israel and His ultimate plan for humanity.
The foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faithful.
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Compared to New York, Paris, or Rome, Jerusalem hardly qualifies as one of the world’s most popular cities. But our teacher, Dr. J. Vernon McGee, tells us that in the future, Jerusalem will be the center of the earth. Welcome to Through the Bible. I’m your host, Steve Schwartz, welcoming you aboard the Bible bus for another intriguing study in the Old Testament book of Zechariah. Now, in our last introduction, we heard Dr. McGee say that there will be no peace on earth until the kingdom is established here. Let’s listen as he continues.
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Jeremiah had something to say about this time of peace and the false peace that is offered to mankind. In the sixth chapter of Jeremiah, verse 14, he says, “…they have healed also the hurt of the daughter of my people slightly, saying, Peace, peace, when there is no peace.” And you look at Israel back in the land today, and everybody’s talking peace. But there’s no peace there because they are working from the wrong side, the wrong end. It’s the human heart that needs to be dealt with. It’s very easy to beat your swords into plowshares my friend, but as long as the human heart is as it is today, you better start beating plowshares into swords because there’s war in the heart of man, and there’s no peace there, and there’s no one actually to enforce it today. What a joke the United Nations has become. It’s not a peacekeeping organization at all. It is more warlike than probably any other place. Now you’ll also notice that all of the minor prophets had something to say about the kingdom in which peace would reign on the earth. Just take a look as we go down through the minor prophets, and you’ll notice that each one of them had something to say about this kingdom that was coming here upon the earth. Moses had something to say about it. Hosea mentioned that kingdom. and the fact that this peace would extend even to the animal world. For in Hosea 2.18 he says, And in that day will I make a covenant for them with the beasts of the field, with the fowls of the heaven, with the creeping things of the ground. And I’ll break the bow and the sword and the battle out of the earth, and will make them to lie down safely. And I think that most of us know that time has not yet come Nahum, even in that remarkable little prophecy in chapter 1, verse 15, he says, “…behold upon the mountains the feet of him that bringeth good tidings, that publisheth peace.” That is the thing that this poor world longs for. I suppose more than anything else is to have and to know something about that peace, the peace that passeth all understanding. In the second chapter of Haggai, The prophet that we have just been looking at in the second chapter, verse 9, he says, “…the glory of this latter house shall be greater than the former, saith the Lord of hosts. And in this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of hosts.” And do you know where that place is? It’s right over there in the Near East where all the fighting has been going on. And today it is really a hodgepodge. No man can bring peace there, it looks like. But it’s going to come when someone is able to do it, and that someone is the Lord Jesus. They knew nothing about peace then. We know nothing about it today. We’re not any closer to it. Now we have in Zechariah, he says in the 9th chapter, verse 10, “…and I will cut off the chariots from Ephraim, and the horse from Jerusalem, and the battle bow shall be cut off, and he shall speak peace unto the heathen.” and his dominion shall be from sea even to sea, and from the river even to the ends of the earth. As for thee also, by the blood of thy covenant I have sent forth thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water. Only Jesus can bring peace.
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You know, Dr. McGee’s right. Everyone talks about peace, especially in the Middle East, but no man or country can bring it about. As Dr. McGee said, it’s a matter of dealing with the heart. And that’s what I love about the World Prayer Team. We travel the world in prayer, asking God to work in people’s hearts. Like this listener, a father in India whose entire family now hops aboard the Bible bus in their language of Tolu, he writes, Studying the Bible in a simple and organized way has really helped me and my family. Before this, we were only following religious customs without truly knowing God. Well, since we started learning with you, we have grown in faith, holiness, and hope. We now find strength and comfort in God’s Word every day. Glory be to God.” And then here’s another story. This is from a fellow listener in Angola. I am a minister with no biblical training. I used to have a lot of difficulty teaching my congregation. Never sure if what I was saying would be helpful or accurate. But one day I heard your program and from that day on I haven’t stopped listening. Now I’m able to teach the whole word of God with confidence. My church is growing in the word because of your trustworthy classes. Praise be to God for all he is doing, even though I have no formal education. Well, that’s certainly worth repeating. Praise God for what he is doing through his word. Well, if you’d like to join me and thousands of others in thanking God for testimonies like these and asking him to multiply his work in hearts around the world, why don’t you sign up for our world prayer team from our app or at ttb.org forward slash pray or call us 1-800-65-BIBLE is the number. Let’s pray together. Heavenly Father, thank you for the power of your word and how you use it to guide and to teach and strengthen those who seek you. As we open your word, Lord, open our hearts and our minds to teach us and correct us and encourage us and help us to walk in obedience and faith. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. Now here’s our study of Zechariah chapter 2 on Through the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.
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Now we are coming today to the second chapter of Zechariah, and we have already seen the ten visions that are given. And of course, most expositors say eight visions, but we made a division in the first chapter between the four horns and the four skilled workmen. Our carpenters, as our translation has it, Some call it artisans. They consider that one vision. I consider it two visions, and for that reason why we call it ten visions. But already we’ve discovered that Zacharias, making something very clear, And I would like to state that at the beginning of this broadcast today so that in this second chapter you will see that it’s given great prominence there. In fact, it will be given great prominence in each one of these visions. And that is this, that God is not through with the nation Israel. That’s one thing. And the second thing is that this cult today that tries to make Great Britain and the United States the ten lost tribes is just simply out because these prophecies make it clear that when God talks about Israel, He’s talking about Israel And he’s talking about people that are going to be in that land with Jerusalem, their capital, and Great Britain will have nothing in the world to do with it. To my judgment, it’s been a sort of a salve to heal the hurt of a great many British folk and Americans today who are very proud of our ancestry, that we have a background that goes into the British Isles, and many of us do. But my friend, let’s face up to it. Great Britain has become a third-rate nation, and we are at the top right now, or maybe we’re not at the top. I don’t know. It looks very doubtful whether we are or not, and certainly we seem to be on the skids today going down. And so these prophecies sort of heal the hurt of all of this and helps our pride to believe that we might be the chosen people. Well, my friends, the only way God chooses people today is in Christ. And that doesn’t make any difference who you are, what your color is, what your station in life. Race has nothing in the world to do with it. The important thing is that you and I are chosen in Christ and accepted in the beloved. And unless we’re in Christ, it wouldn’t make any difference what nation we belong to, even the nation of Israel right now. That would not be helpful at all. But this does look down to the future, when they are going to accept their Messiah. And it will be in that land, if you please. And Jerusalem means Jerusalem, and Israel means Israel. You can see again why I have put such a great emphasis on studying all of the Bible. You see, it’s very easy to pull out a few little prophecies and twist the names that are given there and the meaning of them and come up with most any kind of interpretation. I’m of the opinion that you might be able to come up with the idea that it would be the Eskimos of Alaska if you twisted it around. But you can’t take all the Bible and come up with anything other than God is not through with Israel, and Israel is the people that are anxious to go to that land. And one of the reasons that I know I’m not An Israelite by birth is, I have no desire to go to the land of Israel. That is to live. What is the old cliche today? A nice place to visit. but not a good place to live. That’s my viewpoint of that land, and I have no ties that draw me to it whatsoever. I’m looking for a city whose builder and maker is God. It’s coming down from God out of heaven. That’s our hope today. But these people have an earthly hope. Now, we saw last time that these four horns, and I’ll say this again rather briefly, the four horns represent four nations. Now, I also recognize that there are those today that feel like the four horns could be something else. I believe they are the four Gentile world powers of Babylon, Media, Persia, Greece, and Rome, because these four great world empires that Daniel mentioned, all of them have dealt very severely with the nation Israel. In fact, they are the ones that have scattered them. But God judged each one in time, and at the time of the four horns, there appeared these artisans, these carpenters, these skilled workmen. And again, may I say that they represent the fact that when one of these nations scattered Israel, Babylon came and destroyed Jerusalem, took them into captivity. Well, what happened? There came along media Persian as the artisan or skilled workman and destroyed the Babylonian empire. And the media Persian came to the front. But after that, here comes another carpenter along, and that’s Greece. Greece is actually represented in the book of Daniel by a horn. So the four horns and the four carpenters are not identical, but there is this similarity. Three of them are the same. But when you get to Rome, who destroyed Rome? Rome just fell apart. There’s coming an Antichrist who will put it back together and will become a world dictator. But who’s going to put him down? Well, the Lord Jesus is coming, and he’s the last of the carpenters here. I think that’s interesting. When he was here the first time, he did have that title, didn’t he? The Carpenter of Nazareth. And so he’s coming someday again as a carpenter to put down this world dictator and establish his kingdom here upon this earth. And that kingdom will have as its center Jerusalem. And he will reign there. That is something that we need to keep before us. It has been put like this. Then let the world forbear their rage. The church renounce her fear. Israel must live through every age. and be the Almighty’s care. God will see to that. And He’s not only going to be faithful to them, He’s going to be faithful to the church also. And if you could persuade me that He’s going to be unfaithful to the nation Israel, then I do not know what basis I could rest on Him being faithful to the church today. But He is faithful and will be faithful. Now, there are those that think this could be that which is mentioned in Ezekiel, the 14th chapter, verse 21. And I want to read that. “‘For thus saith the Lord God, how much more when I send my four severe judgments upon Jerusalem, the sword, and famine, and the evil beast, and pestilence, to cut off from it man and beast?’ And then there are those that compare it, and I do, the four horsemen of the apocalypse of Revelation that are going to ride in the last days. And they’re going to ride through that land also as well as through the world, of course. Now that brings us to chapter 2, and this is the vision of the man with the measuring line. And let me read verse 1 of chapter 2, and this is the fourth vision. He says, I lifted up mine eyes again and looked. Now, I call your attention to this, he’s not asleep. He sees this with his physical eyes, so he couldn’t be asleep. I lifted up mine eyes again and looked, and behold a man with a measuring line in his hand. Now, I want us to note what this really means. And I want to turn to other references we have of the measuring line. Over in Jeremiah, the 31st chapter, verses 38 and 39, I’d like to read those. He says, “…behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that the city shall be built to the Lord from the tower of Hananiel unto the gate of the corner, and the measuring line shall yet go forth over against it upon the hill Gerib, and shall compass about to Goath.” In other words, when you find God using a measuring line It just simply means that he’s getting ready to move again in behalf of that which he’s measuring. Here it’s the temple and Jerusalem. And we had Haggai with the temple. God was moving again. This man carried a measuring stick around with him, a yardstick. Now we have in the vision that he saw, here was this man, and I think that’s very impressive to note that it’s the man with the measuring line. Now I want to turn over to Ezekiel, another reference in the 40th chapter of Ezekiel, beginning with verse 2. I read, “…in the visions of God brought he me into the land of Israel, and set me upon a very high mountain.” by which was as the frame of a city on the south. And he brought me thither, and behold, there was a man whose appearance was like the appearance of brass, with a line of flax in his hand, and a measuring reed. And he stood in the gate. And the man said unto me, Son of man, behold, with thine eyes, and hear with thine ears, and set thine heart upon all that I shall show thee, for to the intent that I might show them unto thee art thou brought hither. Declare all that thou seest to the house of Israel.” Now, that then is the vision. I’m not going to read any more, but if we did, we’d say it’s a vision of the building of the Millennial Temple in Jerusalem. You see, God uses this. And then there’s something else to keep in mind here. The appearance of this man reveals that he is the angel of the Lord. He is the pre-incarnate Christ. And he’s revealed to us here in Zechariah as the man. And that is important for us to note, and we will note it later on. Now, one further reference relative to this measuring line. Over in Revelation, the 11th chapter, verses 1 and 2, I’m reading now. And there was given me a reed like unto a rod. And the angel stood, saying, Rise, and measure the temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein. But the court which is without the temple leave out, and measure it not. For it’s given unto the Gentiles, and the holy city shall they tread underfoot forty and two months.” Now, we won’t go into detail there other than to say that here is, again, the measuring of the temple, the millennial temple that is to be built, so that what we have before us, and it’s becoming quite obvious when we move into chapter 2 here and see this vision that you have in prophecy, given the rebuilding of the temple and the city in Zechariah’s day, that is, the remnant is to return. But that does not in any way conclude the prophecy. Just as you have in Haggai, looking down to the very end times, and that is true of all the other prophets, they see the rebuilding of Jerusalem and that land during the millennium is to be restored and the desert will blossom as the rose. And there’s a whole lot of desert over there to blossom, my friend. And then the city of Jerusalem is to be rebuilt. And I think that when it’s rebuilt and the Lord moves in there, that I’m going to like it. I don’t like it today, but I think we’ll all like it then. We’re not going to live there. The new Jerusalem is where the church will be. Now, will you notice that he is describing in this chapter that we’re entering, as he has before, not only the local fulfillment, but down through the ages, the fulfillment that will take place at the time of the millennium, because Jerusalem is to be inhabited and and it will become the center of the earth. God makes it very clear that the Lord is going to do this. He’s already said back in chapter 1, verse 17, “…my cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad, and the Lord will yet have mercy upon Zion, and will yet choose Jerusalem.” And so we’re looking down now to the future, to that which is down there in the future, so that everything that they’re doing now locally and in the immediate future has eternal significance. and that they are to understand God is not through with them at all. And this man with the measuring line here is none other than the angel of the Lord. It’s none other than the Lord Jesus Christ. Behold a man whose name is the Branch. As Zechariah will say later on, well, that branch is the branch of David, the sprout that’s coming from Jesse. That is the picture that’s given to us here. Now, let me read verse 2. Then said I, where goest thou? In other words, Zechariah was interested, where in the world are you going with the measuring line? Then said I, Where goest thou? And he said unto me, To measure Jerusalem, to see what is the breadth of it, and what is the length. Now, I think all of this has great significance. He’s saying here that the city is to be expanded, and it’s to grow, and it certainly did in that day, and it certainly is today. It spilled over the walls long ago. and on every hill around there they’re building today. But don’t misunderstand me. I don’t think that’s the fulfillment of this prophecy. This is looking down to that which is yet future. Those people could still be driven out of that land and scattered again, and that would not disturb God’s Word one bit, or the fact that He eventually and finally will bring them back to that land, for that is exactly what He intends to do. Now we have here in verse 3, “…and, behold, the angel who talked with me went forth, and another angel went out to meet him, and said unto him, Run, speak to this young man, saying, Jerusalem shall be inhabited like towns without walls, for the multitude of men and cattle in it.” And, of course, the walls of Jerusalem today are just around, actually, this small Arab city, the old city. And most of the city is outside of the walls, as I’ve said, scattered on all the hills. And that will be true in that day. But it won’t be needful to have walls because, number one, with modern warfare, they wouldn’t afford any kind of protection at all. And number two, they will be dwelling in peace in that day. And that means that the Prince of Peace will be reigning in Jerusalem. him. Now he says in verse 5, For I, saith the Lord, will be unto it a wall of fire round about, and I will be the glory in the midst of it. Now that certainly is not true today. It’s American plains and American help. That’s been the protection to that land. But God says he’ll be a wall of fire around them in the future. What does that mean? That means God will protect them. And my friend, when God protects them, that’s going to be miraculous. Now he goes on in verse 6 and he says, “‘Ho, ho!’ And here’s a couple of ho-hos, and it’s not Santa Claus either. “‘Ho, ho!’ And it’s a call to listen. This is important. “‘Come forth and flee from the land of the north,’ said the Lord, “‘for I’ve spread you abroad as the four winds of the heavens,’ saith the Lord.” God had scattered them everywhere. Now he says, speaking locally, They’re in Babylon. Now, Babylon is to the southeast. How can that be the north? Well, when you come into Israel from Babylon in that day, you had to go up on what’s known as the Fertile Crescent. And then you would come down from the north. So actually, he’s saying for them to come into the land from the north. And be sure and take the Green Crescent route, by the way. and that they are to come into the land in that day. But again, he’s looking to that worldwide return when God brings them back to the land. Well, we’ll have to leave off there, and we’ll pick up there next time. And until then, may God richly bless you, my beloved.
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If you want to spend a little more time studying God’s Word on your own, why don’t you check out the resources available at ttv.org or call us at 1-800-65-BIBLE if we can help you find something specific. And to get the most out of our time together, well, you need to sign up to receive our monthly newsletter. And I say that because each issue has got some more great teaching from Dr. McGee as well as quick and helpful synopses of what we’re studying and then practical tips and questions to help you apply what you’re learning and updates from around the world and so much more. You can download your free copy at ttb.org or call 1-800-65-BIBLE to receive them automatically each month by mail or email. Again, that’s 1-800-65-BIBLE or ttb.org. I’m Steve Schwartz. So grateful for your company. Together, as we go through the Bible.
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All to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain. He washed it white as snow.
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