Spirit of the Lord,
Thank you that you measure out the places for your people to be - in your presence and your blessing. You promise to be a wall of fire around us and that your glory will be found within us. Thank you that you want to live within and among us and that we can know Jesus who came to be with us. Thank you for replacing our sinful garments with new ones. Open our eyes to see the angelic activity around us and to move as your Spirit calls us to. We pray that this nation would replace sinfulness with righteousness; we would depart from evil, do good, seek peace, and pursue it. Thank you that you can remove the sin of this land - that mountains of evil can be turned into righteous level ground - in a single day, resulting in neighbors sharing peace, prosperity, and security. Confirm in us that every mountain can move, if we are given a new measure of your Spirit. We know that is not by might or by power but by the Spirit of the Lord Almighty that these things will happen. Extend a new measuring line over our lives so new joy can be released. We will not despise things that seem like small things, but look forward to the day when our King-Priest Jesus returns for his children. In the powerful name of Christ we pray, Amen!
Depart from evil, and do good;
seek peace, and pursue it. (Psalm 34:14 NRSV)
Third Vision: The Man with a Measuring Line
2 [a] I looked up and saw a man with a measuring line in his hand. 2 Then I asked, “Where are you going?” He answered me, “To measure Jerusalem, to see what is its width and what is its length.” 3 Then the angel who talked with me came forward, and another angel came forward to meet him, 4 and said to him, “Run, say to that young man: Jerusalem shall be inhabited like villages without walls, because of the multitude of people and animals in it. 5 For I will be a wall of fire all around it, says the Lord, and I will be the glory within it.”
Interlude: An Appeal to the Exiles
6 Up, up! Flee from the land of the north, says the Lord; for I have spread you abroad like the four winds of heaven, says the Lord. 7 Up! Escape to Zion, you that live with daughter Babylon. 8 For thus said the Lord of hosts (after his glory[b] sent me) regarding the nations that plundered you: Truly, one who touches you touches the apple of my eye.[c] 9 See now, I am going to raise[d] my hand against them, and they shall become plunder for their own slaves. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me. 10 Sing and rejoice, O daughter Zion! For lo, I will come and dwell in your midst, says the Lord. 11 Many nations shall join themselves to the Lord on that day, and shall be my people; and I will dwell in your midst. And you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. 12 The Lord will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem.
13 Be silent, all people, before the Lord; for he has roused himself from his holy dwelling.
Fourth Vision: Joshua and Satan
3 Then he showed me the high priest Joshua standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan[e] standing at his right hand to accuse him. 2 And the Lord said to Satan,[f] “The Lord rebuke you, O Satan![g] The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is not this man a brand plucked from the fire?” 3 Now Joshua was dressed with filthy clothes as he stood before the angel. 4 The angel said to those who were standing before him, “Take off his filthy clothes.” And to him he said, “See, I have taken your guilt away from you, and I will clothe you with festal apparel.” 5 And I said, “Let them put a clean turban on his head.” So they put a clean turban on his head and clothed him with the apparel; and the angel of the Lord was standing by.
6 Then the angel of the Lord assured Joshua, saying 7 “Thus says the Lord of hosts: If you will walk in my ways and keep my requirements, then you shall rule my house and have charge of my courts, and I will give you the right of access among those who are standing here. 8 Now listen, Joshua, high priest, you and your colleagues who sit before you! For they are an omen of things to come: I am going to bring my servant the Branch. 9 For on the stone that I have set before Joshua, on a single stone with seven facets, I will engrave its inscription, says the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the guilt of this land in a single day. 10 On that day, says the Lord of hosts, you shall invite each other to come under your vine and fig tree.”
Fifth Vision: The Lampstand and Olive Trees
4 The angel who talked with me came again, and wakened me, as one is wakened from sleep. 2 He said to me, “What do you see?” And I said, “I see a lampstand all of gold, with a bowl on the top of it; there are seven lamps on it, with seven lips on each of the lamps that are on the top of it. 3 And by it there are two olive trees, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.” 4 I said to the angel who talked with me, “What are these, my lord?” 5 Then the angel who talked with me answered me, “Do you not know what these are?” I said, “No, my lord.” 6 He said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts. 7 What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain; and he shall bring out the top stone amid shouts of ‘Grace, grace to it!’”
8 Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying, 9 “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also complete it. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. 10 For whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel.
“These seven are the eyes of the Lord, which range through the whole earth.” 11 Then I said to him, “What are these two olive trees on the right and the left of the lampstand?” 12 And a second time I said to him, “What are these two branches of the olive trees, which pour out the oil[h] through the two golden pipes?” 13 He said to me, “Do you not know what these are?” I said, “No, my lord.” 14 Then he said, “These are the two anointed ones who stand by the Lord of the whole earth.” (Zechariah 2-4 NRSV)
Idea from: https://www.elijahlist.com/words/display_word_pf.html?ID=25704
Some notes from: NIV Study Bible (c) Zondervan, 2011
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