The man with the measuring line intended to measure Jerusalem so that Jehovah might repossess it after the seventy years of Israel’s captivity (Zech. 2:2, 4b).
In the first six chapters of Zechariah we see eight mysterious revelations of Christ, beginning with Christ as a Man riding on a red horse among the myrtle trees. Throughout the book of Zechariah we see many aspects of Christ and many prophecies concerning His life and work.
When God’s people see Christ in all He is to them and they take Christ as everything, they are strengthened within to rise up and build the house of God, His temple. He is the Man sent by God to measure us and see where we are, and He shepherds us to bring us into a condition where we can rebuild God’s house.
In Zech. 2:1-13 we see a particular utterance unveiling a very mysterious matter: Jehovah of hosts sent Jehovah of hosts to take care of Israel. This means that the Father sent the Son and came with the Son to take care of God’s people, the pupil of His eyes (Zech. 2:8-9).
The Father, the Son, and the Spirit work together in oneness and one accord in and among God’s people to take care of them, strengthen them, protect them, bring them back to God’s house, and supply them with everything they need to rebuild God’s temple for God’s glory to be manifested among His people. Hallelujah for our wonderful Triune God!
“He has sent Me” = “The Father has sent Me”
In Zech. 2:8 we see that after the glory (after the return of God’s people to the promised land to rebuild the temple), “He has sent Me” – Jehovah of hosts has sent Jehovah of hosts against the nations who plunder God’s people.
Some would ask, Why does the Bible say these things, why can’t God just do it Himself – why does He have to send Himself to do something? Though it is a mystery, this is a very meaningful thing in the universe.
The Bible reveals that our God is a Triune God, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit. We do NOT have three Gods, but ONE God who has the aspect of three. The Sending One is the Father and the Sent One is the Son (see John 3:16, God loved the world and He sent His beloved Son).
Also, in John 5:36, 6:57, and 8:16 we clearly see that time and time again the Lord Jesus kept saying, The Father sent Me / I am one with the Father / I do the works of the Father who is with Me. The Son (Jesus Christ) was not alone on earth – He came from with the Father (para, in Greek).
He came in the name of the Father and He was one with the Father. Everything that the Lord did was so that the world may believe that the Father has sent Him.
Also, we His believers need to be brought into the enlarged oneness of the Triune God, that we may be one even as He is one, so that the world may believe that God the Father has sent God the Son (see John 17:21).
Union, Mingling, and Incorporation
There still is the question: why does the Lord want the world to know that the Father has sent Him and He is one with the Father?
He spent extensive time to speak in John concerning the fact that when He came, He came with the Father, His works are the Father’s works, His words are the words He hears from the Father, and He is one with the Father.
When people saw Jesus Christ, they saw God the Father, because the Sender is one with the Sent One. They are ONE, yet they are distinctly two. What a testimony!
This points out to this matter of union, mingling, and incorporation, which is the central point of the divine economy and the focus of God’s building. In John 17:18 the Lord sends us His disciples in the same way He was sent by the Father: we go from and with the Lord, one with Him, doing His works, speaking His words, and expressing Him to others.
We are one with the Lord (one in life, one in our organic UNION with Him, 1 Cor. 6:17), we are MINGLED with the Lord (the divine nature is being mingled with our human nature), and we are being incorporated with God (He dwells in us and we dwell in Him to the point that there’s no way to be separated).
The central point of the divine economy and the focus of God’s building is that the Triune God wants to be united, mingled, and incorporated with man to the uttermost, so that He may have a corporate expression on earth in and through man.
It is in this way that God will repossess Jerusalem – by the Father and the Son being one. It is in this way that God builds up the Body of Christ – by being one with man, by mingling Himself with man, and by incorporating man into God.
More Aspects of the Wonderful Christ in Zechariah
In Zechariah Christ is revealed as the stone with seven eyes (3:9), the topstone (4:7), and the Shoot that will build the temple of Jehovah (6:12-13).
In Zechariah we see Christ in many wonderful aspects. He is revealed as the stone with seven eyes (Zech. 3:9), the topstone (4:7), and the Shoot that will build the temple of Jehovah (6:12-13).
Christ is God’s Servant, He is a man, and He is called the Shoot – He will build the temple of God, and He will sit on the throne and rule to be a Priest. In Zech. 9-11 Christ is revealed in a very intimate way.
Christ was sent to Israel in a lowly form (9:9-10) and this One came as the Shepherd to lovingly visit His people in His incarnation (see Zech. 10 and the 4 Gospels). Christ came to shepherd the people of Israel, lovingly visiting them and ministering the word of God to them and feeding them (Zech. 11:7).
But this One was detested (11:8), He was sold (11:12-13), He was attacked (13:7) and pierced (12:10). He accomplished an all-inclusive redemption for His people (Zech. 13:1; 1:8; 3:9). All these happened in His first coming, and they were prophesied by Zechariah.
In His second coming, Christ will fight for the people of Israel to deliver them out of the hand of Antichrist for their household salvation (12:1-14:7, 12-15), and in the restoration Christ will be King over all the earth (14:8-11, 16-21). What a wonderful Christ He is in all His aspects prophesied of in Zechariah!
Lord Jesus, thank You for coming from and with the Father to bring God into man and bring man into God. Thank You for including us in Your enlarged oneness, the oneness of the Triune God. Thank You for making us one with You in spirit. Thank You for continually mingling Yourself with us every day. Thank You for bringing us into the mysterious divine-human incorporation of the Triune God with the tripartite man. Lord, do it in us. Work Yourself into us, make us one with You, mingle Yourself with us, and bring us further in the divine-human incorporation so that the world may know that the Father has sent the Son! May the world know and see that the Father sent the Son and we also are being sent by God, one with God! So that they may believe! Hallelujah!
References and Further Reading
- Sharing inspired from brother James Lee’s speaking in this message and portions in, Life-study of Zechariah (msg. 3), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on Crystallization-Study of Daniel and Zechariah, week 7 (entitled, Christ as Everything for the Building of the Temple of God).
- Further reading: Concerning the Person of Christ (by Witness Lee, page. 23-24); Truth Lessons – Level One (vol. 2, lesson 13).
- Hymns on this topic:
# We’re Thy total reproduction, / Thy dear Body and Thy Bride, / Thine expression and Thy fulness, / For Thee ever to abide. / We are Thy continuation, / Thy life-increase and Thy spread, / Thy full growth and Thy rich surplus, / One with Thee, our glorious Head.
# Though they dispersed, Christ was with Israel, / Measured Jerus’lem to gain her in full; / As Shoot of David, God’s temple He’ll build, / He’ll be a Priest and o’er all nations rule.
# Your name’s so dear and sweet, / Calling makes one satisfied, / Now You are mine and I am Thine, Lord; / Joined and mingled with You, / God-man incorporation, / Foretaste of the New Jerusalem. - Pictures credit: both via, Inspiration Unlimited Facebook page, HWMR Daniel and Zechariah Quotes album.
The book of Zechariah does not stress Christ’s being or His working. Rather, it reveals Christ as the One who was sent to Israel as their King in a lowly form but was detested, sold, attacked, and pierced, and thereby accomplished redemption for them. Christ as the Angel of Jehovah was with them in their captivity. Eventually, Christ will fight for Israel and will be King over all the earth. (Life-study of Zechariah, pp. 64, 5)
Hallelujah for the union, mingling and incorporation of the Triune God with use, the tripartite man to be the temple/building of God. On the one hand, we are the temple of God (1 Cor 3:16). On the other hand, the Lord God Almight is the temple. So who is the temple? How is this possible? Union, mingling & incorporation to be His testimony on earth that the world may know that the Father has sent the Son.
Sorry it should be incorporation of the Triune God with us (not with "use")
It is in this way that God builts up the Body of Christ by being one with man.