Zechariah 2:1-4 I lifted up my eyes again, and looked, and behold a man with a measuring line in his hand.… It was natural enough. We dream of what occupies our waking thoughts; and probably Jerusalem was full of surveyors, engaged in mapping out the new streets and walls. 1. The pessimist comes with his measuring line, and draws the plan of the city within the narrowest possible boundaries. He justifies his forecast by quoting such a text as "Fear not, little flock"; or "Strait is the gate and narrow is the way that leadeth unto life, and few there be that find it." Sometimes he fears that he will not enter, at other times he doubts all others but himself. 2. The bigot comes with his measuring line and insists that the city walls must coincide with his shibboleth, and follow the tracings of his creed. 3. The experimentalist is apt to refuse to consider as Christians those who have not experienced exactly the same doubts, fears, ecstasies, deliverances, and cleansings which he himself has felt. 4. The universalist goes to the other extreme, and practically builds his walls around the entire race of man, including within their circumference every member of the human family. It is not for us to fix the boundaries, or insist on our conceptions. These are secret things which belong to the Lord our God. So shall it be with the saved. We have no right to include in their ranks any who know not God, and obey not the Gospel of our Lord Jesus, who have loved darkness rather than light, because their deeds were evil. But apart from these, there will be a multitude which no man can number, out of every nation and of all tribes, and peoples, and tongues; as stars in the midnight sky, or the sand grains on the seashore. (P. B. Meyer, B. A.) Parallel Verses KJV: I lifted up mine eyes again, and looked, and behold a man with a measuring line in his hand.WEB: I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold, a man with a measuring line in his hand. |
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