A Wall Of Fire (Zechariah 2:5)

 


Friday, October 11, 2024


Psalms 95; 96

Zechariah 1:18-2:13

Philemon 1-14


A Wall Of Fire (Zechariah 2:5)


At the risk of jumping ahead in the historical narrative, we’ve got to touch on the fact that at some point soon we will be considering the fact that the people will be rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem. Yes, for now, we are with Haggai and Zechariah, who just want to see the temple over and done with. There has been enough prevarication already; get the worship back on track, then we can worry about everything else.


But this point of history is dripping with spiritual messaging. We are in the second-last book of the Old Testament, almost at the budding point before everything is fulfilled in the gospel of the Lord Jesus. And so while these returned exiles are being roused to finish the temple, they will then have to rebuild the walls, and then those will both come crashing down again in the future. But we will then finally understand this has all been a shadow of the true reality of the Messiah who we know and worship as the Christ.


We have a sword in one hand and a trowel in the other, and our Lord is commanding us to put our efforts into the task of the kingdom of heaven on earth. The walls we are working on are not physical walls. We are not working on something so flimsy as a rabbit-proof fence. As Zechariah has seen and so we have heard, the walls of the kingdom are the fiery walls of the Lord himself. There are so many people coming into this kingdom that there are no walls big enough to contain them all.


And what do these walls protect? They protect nothing less than the glory of the Lord. God is glorified in the kingdom of his saints – of people like you and me, nothing more than mere creatures of the dust. Yet his love for us is so very great that he is glorified in us.


Peer beyond the veil of mere materialism. Jesus has told us that the kingdom of God is here. The great city of the glory of God is already here, and somehow not quite yet complete. There are mighty walls of protection – the walls of God’s holiness and power. And the city itself is notable for nothing less than God’s jealous love for us, his people, the apple of his eye. How, then, are we to act as citizens of this new city? How do we retreat behind the protection of God’s holiness? How do we rejoice in God’s glory as residents of this city? There are too many people to count, and many animals besides – where are they? Can we see them around us in our own lives?


Lord of glory, teach me to look to you for protection, and to perceive your glory in your people in my life.

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