Evening Sermon - 4th October 2026 - A Tale of Two Cities: Babylon and Zion in Zechariah

Now we'll turn in our Bibles if we could to Zechariah chapter two.

Zechariah chapter two, as you know we're looking at Zechariah at the present time and we're going to take time to read the whole chapter.

Longing for God in the Age of Discouragement is the title that we've given this particular series and we come to message seven this evening.

But Zechariah chapter two, And I lifted my eyes and saw and behold a man with a measuring line in his hand.

Then I said, Where are you going?

And he said to me, To measure Jerusalem to see what is its width and what is its length.

And behold the angel who talked with me came forward and another angel came forward to meet him and said to him, Run, say to that young man, Jerusalem shall be inhabited as villages without walls because of the multitude of the people and livestock in it.

And I will be to her a wall of fire all around, declares the Lord, and I will be the glory in her midst.

Up, up, flee from the land of the north, declares the Lord.

For I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heavens, declares the Lord.

Up, escape to Zion, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon.

For thus said the Lord of hosts, after His glory sent me to the nations who plundered you.

For who?

For he who touches you touches the apple of his eye.

Behold, I will shake my hand over them and they shall become plunder for those who serve them.

Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me.

Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for behold, I come and I will dwell in your midst, declares the Lord.

And many nations shall join themselves to the Lord in 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.

And the Lord will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land and will again choose Jerusalem.

Be silent all flesh before the Lord for He has roused Himself from His holy dwelling.

Now one of the great literary works in the history of the church is Augustine's book City of God.

And in it Augustine describes the world and its history according to two great cities, the city of man and the city of God.

And he wrote these words he said, Two societies have issued from two kinds of loves.

Worldly society has floored from a selfish love which dared to despise even God, whereas the communion of the saints is rooted in the love of God even to contempt of self.

The one lifts up its head in its own boasting, the other says to God, You are my glory, you lift up my head.

And though human societies of course differ in language, culture and custom, Augustine observed that Scripture ultimately recognizes only two.

He says one city is that of men who live according to the flesh and the other is of men who live according to the spirit.

And Augustine's analysis of course is thoroughly biblical.

The Bible presents two cities or two kingdoms and they're locked in conflict, one destined for condemnation and eternal destruction, the other for glory and eternal life.

And this is the background for Zechariah's visionary message here as it speaks of Babylon and speaks of Jerusalem.

And the prophet writes there, Up up, flee from the land of the North, declares the Lord.

Up, escape the Zion, you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon.

And these two cities Jerusalem and Babylon of course symbolize the spiritual realm of which Augustine was speaking about.

One stands for the city of God's favor, the other stands for the city of God's wrath.

And throughout Scripture Jerusalem represents the city of God and Babylon represents the city of the world.

And the book of Revelation most notably uses Babylon as a symbol for the sinful world order opposed to God and of course destroyed by heaven the final judgment.

That's all set out for us in Revelation chapters fourteen, fifteen, sixteen, seventeen and eighteen.

So the title of my sermon this evening is borrowed from Charles Dickens classic novel, A Tale of Two Cities and we're going to look at three things as we look at this tale of two cities and its relevance for us in the twenty first century.

Number one, we're gonna think about judgment on the city of man.

And then secondly, we're gonna think about salvation for the city of God.

And then thirdly, we're gonna think about commands to the people of God.

And there's a little outline on your hem sheet if you want to follow along there.

So first of all, let's think about judgment on the city of man.

Judgment on the city of man.

God's vision to Zechariah continues with a command for God's people to flee from the land of the North.

That is from the region of Babylon where they were living.

If you remember God had exiled the Israelites there as punishment for sin, but now He planned to restore them back in their home.

And therefore the people should leave, God says, the comfort that they have achieved in Babylon to embrace the challenges of rebuilding God's setting.

And in Zechariah chapter two verses six through nine, it tells us why.

A great coming judgment upon Babylon and the nations is going to occur.

There are two great cities, the city of God and the city of man.

And the city of man will be judged and destroyed.

That's Babylon and God's message therefore cries out there in verses six and seven which we read together, up up, flee from the land of the North declares the Lord for I have spread you abroad as the four winds of the heavens declares the Lord up escape to Zion you who dwell with the daughter of Babylon.

And the opening words in Hebrew when we think of those words up up are, hi or hey, catch yourself on, try to catch some sort of attention in the message interrogative exclamations.

And it gains attention and is followed by a command to flee from the lands of the North where God had earlier sent his people.

And God is about to judge Babylon by striking it and the people must leave before the judgment falls.

And note, there are two grounds for this judgment.

First of all, God will judge Babylon in order to gain glory for Himself.

And then secondly, He will judge Babylon because God will act to vindicate and defend His own people.

And let's look at these grounds for judgment upon Babylon because of relevance for us today.

And the first reason for judgment on the city of man is for the sake of God's glory.

And God is going to judge Babylon first for the sake of His own glory.

And that idea set out for us there in verse eight of Zechariah chapter two For thus says the LORD of hosts, after His glory sent me to the nations who plundered you.

Now what does that mean?

What are we really being told here?

Well a correct interpretation of these words hinges on the word after there.

For thus says the Lord of hosts after and it should be rendered in pursuit of and the verse is best rendered in pursuit of glory He has sent me against the nations.

This idea is consistent with the teaching of Scripture elsewhere that God strikes His enemies in pursuit of for the sake of His own glory and God's judgment on Pharaoh of course is a classic example.

While afflicting Egypt with terrible plagues God says in Exodus chapter 19 in verse six For this purpose I have raised you up to show you my power so that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth.

Exodus 19 · chapter mention

And the same explanation is given by the angel in this particular vision in verse nine Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me.

So God earlier glorified His power in the overthrow of mighty Egypt and He glories in His holiness Himself and in this just judgment of Babylon and the other nations who plundered the Jews.

God is going to come and He's going to judge them for His own glory to remind them that He is God, that He is holy, that He is in charge.

They might be the great empires of the day but it's God who raises up the empires and it's God who takes them down.

But the second reason for judgment on the city of man is for the sake of God's people.

It's for the sake of God's people.

God loves His people and God's angel would visit the Babylonians with wrath because we're told in verse eight there of chapter two, He who touches you, that's mine people, touches the apple of his, that's God's eye.

And we remember that God had sent the Jews into captivity in Babylon and elsewhere and He allowed the destruction of Jerusalem at Nebuchadnezzar's hands as a judgment for their sins.

And yet that doesn't mean that He would tolerate those who brutalized Jerusalem and its citizens, far from it.

Instead God Himself will seek vengeance for all the vindictive harm done to His people.

Judgment is often presented in Scripture as a reversal of the fortunes of the wicked.

And that's exactly how we see it here.

The charge against Babylon and the nations is that they had plundered.

And judging them therefore God says in verse nine, Behold, I will shake my hand over them and they will become plunder for those who serve them.

And this is the kind of judgment that we read about in the book of Revelation when God's final judgment comes upon the wicked of the earth.

There the angels praise him for his justice for they have shed the blood of the saints and prophets and you have given them blood to drink.

Is that what they deserve?

That's what we're being told in Revelation 16.

And God's judgment in Zachariah's day meant a great reversal of fortune on those who harmed his people and it will mean to see him at the return of the Lord Jesus Christ.

And it's wonderful to read that God himself will vindicate his people, will vindicate his church even more wonderfully as the fact that he refers to us this evening as the apple of his eye.

And the Israelites had been placed in exile because of their sin.

They had been cast out of God's holy city and spread among the nations.

And yet all the while God remembered them.

He cherished them.

He kept His eye upon them and all that time they remained the apple of His eye.

And you know that phrase appears elsewhere in the Old Testament always as an expression of course of God's tender and fervent affection for His covenant people.

We're told the Lord's portion is the people, His people, Jacob, His allotted heritage and Moses comes and he says he encircled him, he cared for him and he kept him as the apple of his eye.

And what a statement of God's faithful grace that even in exile for sin Israel remained that to him.

The apple of his eye and God allowed the nations to place their hands on his beloved people and yet all the while he readied himself for the day of vengeance and deliverance.

And the angel explains why in Zechariah here to Zechariah in verse eight, For whoever touches you touches the apple of my eye.

And look at this tender love and faithfulness here of the Lord towards His often unworthy people Israel and seeing it a picture of His unchanging love and faithfulness towards you and me.

At times we let the Lord down.

At times the church isn't what the church should be.

But yet the Lord still looks upon us as the apple of His eye.

If you've learned to take refuge under the shadow of His wings and if Christ is truly your Savior and you're in that covenant relationship with Him, then hear this very clearly tonight.

You are loved by God with the very same love with which He loves His only begotten Son.

You are as dear to Him and indispensable to Him as the most precious member of your body is to you.

So take this image and apply it to yourself right now and make your prayer perhaps the prayer that David prayed in Psalm 17 and verse eight, Keep me as the apple of your eye, hide me under the shadow of your wings.

How will judgment of the wicked happen?

Well, the angel explains, behold, I will shake my hand over them.

That's what we're told in verse nine.

And the manner in which the judgment comes will prove it to be the Lord's work.

And the angel of the Lord will not need to struggle, he will not need to labor, he will not need to fight against his enemy in any way.

A simple wave of the hand is enough.

He merely indicates by gesture what he wills and it's done.

And that's the measure of His powerfulness and as a result those who once stood as victors are turned into plunder for the very people they have oppressed and just as they had done to Israel so it's going to come to them.

And when the status of entire nations can be reversed with such effortless power, that is true glory.

And we've got to keep that in mind.

We are the apple of His eye.

The church will go through tribulation.

The church will go through difficulties, will experience that at an individual level.

But yet the wonderful thing is we have got a God who is all powerful.

A God who is able to change things.

A God who does it with the least amount of effort.

Why?

Because He is almighty, He is glorious.

Judgment on the city of man and we know that judgment is coming.

Might we dwell in the fact that we are the apple of His eye in the light of that coming judgment.

But then secondly let's think about the salvation for the city of God, salvation for the city of God and we have been considering the character and the fate of two different cities one of which is set apart for judgment.

And the vision then turns to Jerusalem because the book of Zechariah focuses much on the city of Jerusalem and tells us of a great salvation for the city of God.

And there are three things that we see here when we think about the salvation of the city of God.

The first thing that we see here is blessing.

The downcast Jerusalem of Zachariah's time will shout and rejoice over their spiritual blessings and the most important of which is the renewed presence of the Lord in their midst.

And this is the angel's exhortation to the people in the light of God's coming.

Sing and rejoice O daughter of Zion for behold I come, I will dwell in your midst, declares the Lord.

That's what we're told in verse 10 of Zechariah chapter two.

And always the chief and greatest blessing is not the gift of God, but the greatest blessing is God Himself.

To revive, to move in our hearts and you know God's promised return was surely intended to revive efforts to rebuild the temple which would again represent God in the midst of His people.

And yet the scope of blessing would reach far beyond the people of Israel because we're told there the angel continues in verse 11, And many nations shall join themselves to the Lord in that day and shall be my people.

And here we see the prophetic vision racing forward beyond the horizon of Zacharias time to that day when the city without walls would expand outward into the earth as the nations are drawn by the gospel of God to His salvation.

And then verse 12 wonderfully adds these words, The Lord will inherit Judah as the portion in the Holy Land and will again choose Jerusalem.

This is when God will reap what He looked for all along in His dealings with the Jews.

Was always His intention to receive as His own portion, not just one tribe, not just the Jews but out of every tribe and tongue and nation.

Involuntary submission coming to his throne.

And the angel said in verse 11, Many nations shall join themselves to the Lord in that day and shall be my people.

And this is when God's portion will be realized.

This is when Jerusalem will become all she was originally intended to be.

The home of believers from all nations, all those washed and made clean in the blood of the lamb and beloved of God.

When we think of Jerusalem we think of the church.

When we think of Zion we think of the church.

And because of this gathering of the nations the angels will sing of this forever in heaven giving glory to God for you alone verse four of Revelation 15 says, for you alone are holy, all nations will come to worship you.

And you know the Lord receives the first fruits of this even now as Christian churches draw people from tribes and tongues and nations to worship him.

Paul said that Jesus has torn down the divisions of the world by the cross that He might create in Himself one new man.

Ephesians two fifteen and how it glorifies God today when men and women with little else in common can join as one people in the church to worship and serve through Jesus Christ.

We see here the wonder of blessing.

But secondly, we see here Christ.

And you know it's impossible to continue studying these verses and to take seriously the specific statements they contain without pointing out that the very center of this vision is the Lord Jesus Christ.

As we follow the flow of the second chapter of Zechariah, it seems evident that the speaker of these oracles is the angel of the Lord that we met in the first vision in chapter one verse 11.

Chapter two opens with a vision of a man, as you know with a measuring line.

The interpreter angel is summoned by another angel and told to intervene.

The other angel who begins speaking is surely the angel of the Lord who earlier appeared as a rider on a red horse and the chief of the hosts of heaven.

And he begins to speak in verse four of Zechariah chapter two and it makes the most sense to understand that he's still speaking in these verses which run to the end of the chapter.

And after all, whom else would God send to wreak His vengeance and other than the commander of the Lord of hosts, Jesus Christ Himself.

And in our first study, and this first vision that we looked at, we noted that the angel of the Lord is the pre incarnate Christ, the second person of the Godhead before He took on human flesh and was given the name of Jesus.

And these verses in chapter two support this interpretation in a most compelling way.

Notice for instance the way the activity and speech of the angel and that of the Lord become essentially one in this particular vision.

I will shake my hand over them says the angel and they shall become plunder for those who serve them and then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me.

The identification of the angel of the Lord becomes even stronger when speaking of the return of the Lord to his people in verses ten and eleven.

Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for behold I come and I will dwell in your midst declares the Lord.

I will dwell in your midst and you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you.

And here the one who will come to dwell amidst the people is the Lord, yet he is also the one whom the Lord of hosts has sent.

And the same situation pertains to the ingathering of the nations in verse 11, and many nations shall join themselves to the Lord in that day and shall be my people.

The speaker is the one who is sent by the Lord of hosts, that is the angel of the Lord who speaks to Zachariah, speaks in Zachariah's vision.

And the people who are joined to the Lord will be His people.

And here we have an example of how the Old Testament is reckoning out and setting before us the great doctrine of the Trinity.

We have two participants who are both referred to and exercise the rights of Lord, one who sends and one who has sent.

And this strongly argues the identity of the angel, a pre incarnate Jesus Christ.

The data of this passage virtually demands two figures capable of the name Lord of hosts.

And according to the New Testament, Jesus Christ is the only one who is sent by the Father and is also God Himself.

We've been learning about that.

He is Jehovah Jesus Christ the Lord.

So we see here in this passage very very clearly when we think of the City of God.

We see blessing in the City of God.

We see blessing in the Church and above all else we see the Head of the Church Jesus Christ in all His glory.

The one who has been told to come and the one who is doing the work of the Father.

And then thirdly we see redemption.

And this vision previews the redemption programme Christ would accomplish on his father's behalf.

He says there in verse 10, I come and I will dwell in your midst.

And this is precisely of course what happened in the incarnation of Jesus Christ.

The word became flesh and Jesus tells us and dwelt among us.

And it was the same angelic legion we saw mounted in Zechariah chapter one as surely the same legion who broke into the skies that night in Bethlehem to the shepherds to proclaim the birth of the Lord Jesus Christ.

It was in the birth of the Christ child an event more splendid by far than the building of the temple that God came to dwell among His people.

And the promise of Zechariah two eleven is also fulfilled in the coming of Christ.

It's the fruit of His work that many nations shall join themselves to the Lord in that day and shall be my people.

And indeed it's only in Christ and His church that any semblance can be given to the fulfillment of this particular promise.

This hasn't got anything to do with a Jewish nation or the reestablishing of Jerusalem or the rebuilding of a temple someday where the sacrifices are going to be enacted again.

It was at Pentecost after Christ's death and resurrection that the nations spoke as one through the Holy Spirit's ministry.

It was through the Apostles missionary journeys that the Gentiles were made heirs of the promise and members of God's saving covenant.

And it's still going on today as we work in the church.

Many nations are joined with the Lord to become Christ's people.

The angel continued with the promise that God would be made known through His salvation.

Verse 11, I will dwell in your midst and you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you.

And that's what Christ's saving work does even as He said in John chapter five and verse 36, For the works that the Father has given me to accomplish, the very works that I am doing bear witness about me and the Father has sent me.

And the vision culminates with the idea of nations joining the Lord and becoming His own people.

The Lord will inherit Judah we're told as His portion in The Holy Land and will choose Jerusalem.

We're told that in verse 12.

And the reader of the New Testament can hardly help but think as well of the vision of the Christian church as portrayed in the book of Hebrews.

Hebrews chapter 12 verses 22 through 24, You have come to Mount Zion in the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to the innumerable angels in festal gathering, and to the assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of the righteous made perfect, and to Jesus the mediator of the new covenant.

Hebrews 12:22–24

If Zechariah marveled at the vision presented by this divine angel Savior, how much more must we marvel to see its more wonderful fulfillment in the coming of the one called Emmanuel, God with us, even Jesus Christ.

We see redemption here.

We're seeing prophetically worked out the movements of the church in history.

So judgment on the city of man, salvation of course for the city of God and thirdly and finally commands to the people of God.

Commands to the people of God.

The magnitude of these promises we've just been considering must have been staggering to Zachariah's mind as he stood there in the midst of the ruins of the Temple Of Jerusalem.

The point of this oracle however was not merely inspirational but it was motivational and we missed the point if we don't consider three great imperatives, three great commands that we see here.

Three great commands for the prophet's generation and three great commands for our generation.

And the first commandment is this, Flee from the wrath to come.

Flee from the wrath to come.

Flee from the city of man.

That's the first command.

We've already read it.

Up up, flee from the land of the North, declares the Lord.

Up, escape to Zion, you who dwell with the daughter of Zion or the daughter of Babylon.

And the people of God must flee the worldly city Babylon since they cannot dwell there without risking participation in its judgment.

John Bunyan's Pilgrim's Progress I suppose is a classic story that maybe tells what's really happening here.

Christian, if you remember, has been reading his Bible and there he learned of a great judgment come upon the city of destruction where he lived.

And he was searching for a way of escape when he encountered a man named Evangelist.

And hearing of Christian's fear of judgment, Evangelist inquired as to why he had not departed.

If this is your condition says evangelist, why are you still standing here?

And Christian replied because I don't know where to go.

And the evangelist gave him a scripture verse Matthew three:seven, Flee from the wrath to come.

An evangelist showed Christian the way to the celestial city, the city of safety and salvation and Christian began running and his wife and children cried for him to return.

So he put his fingers in his ears and he began to cry life, life, eternal life.

And you know, we too must flee the city of man, the city of destruction.

We must reject its standards.

We must repudiate its ways, embracing those of the city of God to which we are fleeing for salvation.

Martin Lloyd Jones explains, he says it should not be our ambition to be as much like everybody else as we can, though we happen to be Christian, but rather our ambition should be to be like Christ.

The more like Him the better.

The more like Him we become.

The more we shall be unlike everybody who is not a Christian.

We must flee from the city of man.

We must flee from the wrath to come.

And then the second command is sing and rejoice.

Sing and rejoice.

This is a more positive command and it's addressed to those already in the city of God.

Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion.

It was for the sake of the second command that the great promises and blessings were given.

And surely they were great enough to inspire such rejoicing.

God's people, the recipients of so great salvation are to be characterised by correspondingly great joy before the world.

And you know, one of the world's chief lies is that if we flee from sin, you will lose out on your happiness.

But fleeing the pleasures sin not make you unhappy.

Quite the opposite because life in God's city is more pleasant than all the carnal joys that we leave behind.

Believers have the joy of knowing the true and the living God.

Ours is the joy of what?

Ours is the joy of redemption, the awareness that we're cherished with love that is stronger than death.

Ours is the joy of being used by God for things that really matter and endure forever.

And of course that's the joy that the prophet Zephaniah used in his great work where he speaks about sing aloud, O daughter of Zion, shout O daughter of Israel on that day it shall be said in Jerusalem, Fear not O Zion, let your hands grow mighty in the Lord.

The Lord your God is in your midst, a mighty one who will save.

And we will face troubles but there is no problem for which Jesus Christ is not the answer.

And we will endure trials but Jesus Christ is the balm for our wounds.

We will know tears but Christ is the Savior who dries our eyes and answers death with the promise of what?

Life.

Therefore the Apostle Paul could write from his prison cell, Rejoice in the Lord always.

Again I say rejoice.

Flee from the wrath to come and then sing and rejoice.

And then the third command is be silent before the Lord.

Be silent before the Lord.

And this chapter of Visions concludes with one last command and it's addressed to the entire creation.

And if you were to read the word in Hebrew, literally that word silent means hush.

This presents something of a contrast for verse 10 tells us to shout out in joy, grieving the Lord with the sound of triumph.

Yes, but ours is not the boisterous, raucous happiness of the world, rather ours is that joy that's compatible with quiet and a gentle spirit with reverence and worship before the holy throne of God.

Be silent all flesh before the Lord.

And that's what we're told and the angel commands, For He has roused Himself from His holy dwelling.

Surely this speaks to the character of true worship.

The Lord is the focus of what we are doing and we are attentive to Him.

And we're still before the Lord because His activity is what matters and not ours.

His Word is what we need to hear and understand, not ours.

His presence calms our fears and stills the torrents of our souls as no human therapy could ever do.

Be silent before the Lord says the angel just as Jesus spoke to the waves tossing the boat in the midst of the sea and he said 'peace be still!' So a tale of two cities.

Zacharias generation like ours was required to choose between two cities, two loves and for them it must be Babylon or Jerusalem, it couldn't be both And this is a choice we also must make.

Flee from the wrath to come.

That's what the vision tells us.

And let's flee to the city of God.

Let's flee to rejoicing in the Lord.

Let's flee to Him alone who can meet our need.

And there in the temple that was not built by hands but by the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ, let's be still before the Lord worshipping him in quietness and gladness and peace.

Through Jesus Christ God has roused himself from his holy dwelling to live among us and make us his people forever.

We're pilgrims passing through.

We have to redeem the time because the days are evil, and we should be continually fleeing to the city of God.

The city of God ultimately the church, but even beyond that there, Jesus Christ himself.

Amen.