Ok, so today I am reading through the book of Zechariah and come across a passage where a man (Angel? Metaphor? Symbol?) attempts to measure Jerusalem, to see the breadth and length… this seems to be literal until an angel goes out to meet him and says that Jerusalem will be a city inhabited without walls, or I believe it is saying that Jerusalem will not be a geographical location, but rather a chosen people scattered across the earth. But then there seems to be a calling out… out of Babylon(world? Church?)…
While reading this passage I recalled Revelations 21, where Jerusalem, the Holy City, is showed to John as “the bride.� This angel then begins to measure the city and the text gives actual measurements (this seems to be more literal, despite that I understand that revelations is a book of symbols)… even still, it seems as this time (whether the measurements are literal or symbolic) the city is able to be measured… or in other words, the city now has walls (limits? completion?)
Now here is two portions of scripture that present the city of Jerusalem, in the first instance the city is “immeasurable� but the second occurrence, specific measurements are given (something has occurred to cause this change) is this the end of the this current age?
Here are the texts I am referring to:
Zechariah 1:16-2:7
Therefore thus saith the LORD; I am returned to Jerusalem with mercies: my house shall be built in it, saith the LORD of hosts, and a line shall be stretched forth upon Jerusalem. Cry yet, saying, Thus saith the LORD of hosts; My cities through prosperity shall yet be spread abroad; and the LORD shall yet comfort Zion, and shall yet choose Jerusalem. Then lifted I up mine eyes, and saw, and behold four horns. And I said unto the angel that talked with me, What be these? And he answered me, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem. And the LORD shewed me four carpenters. Then said I, What come these to do? And he spake, saying, These are the horns which have scattered Judah, so that no man did lift up his head: but these are come to fray them, to cast out the horns of the Gentiles, which lifted up their horn over the land of Judah to scatter it.
I lifted up mine eyes again, and looked, and behold a man with a measuring line in his hand. Then said I, Whither goest thou? And he said unto me, To measure Jerusalem, to see what is the breadth thereof, and what is the length thereof. And, behold, the angel that 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 as towns without walls for the multitude of men and cattle therein: For I, saith the LORD, will be unto her a wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the midst of her. Ho, ho, come forth, and flee from the land of the north, saith the LORD: for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heaven, saith the LORD.
Deliver thyself, O Zion, that dwellest with the daughter of Babylon.
Revelation 21:1-3, 9-10,
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea. And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,
And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof. And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal. And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel.
Any thoughts?