A CITY WITHOUT WALLS...God's Word crosses the chasm of 2700 years with a timeless message for 2023. When the prophet Zechariah had a vision of “a man with a measuring line in his hand” headed to measure Jerusalem's walls, God dispatched an angel with this chastising message: "Jerusalem will be a city without walls... And I myself will be a wall of fire around it," declares the Lord, "and I will be its glory within."

The evening of February 14 on our 2023 Gregorian calendar begins the 24th day of God's 11th month, the day Zechariah’s visions began. It is because of His grace that He is allowing us the possibility of learning a lesson through a called and chosen ancient people, raised up by God Himself, who failed miserably to serve Him instead of themselves.

Last week we received wisdom from God through Zechariah’s vision of The Man on The Red Horse, reminding us He is interested in the details of our lives, and is working behind the scenes with a perfect plan for restoring His heavenly and earthly Temple on this earth and in the hearts of His people. https://www.facebook.com/fontanacommunitychurch/posts/pfbid0fz5PGM46z1yXpA915Gm9EznBrmpwp43Q69Y9n1NAVmbYmEYRNrddjk8jKrhaCGGWl

The Lord continues with this message: “Come! Come! Flee from the land of the north, for I have scattered you to the four winds of heaven…”

God had said in Ezekiel 5 that He would judge His people severely. "Because of all your detestable idols, I will do to you what I have never done before and will never do again. Therefore in your midst parents will eat their children, and children will eat their parents."

The Holy City of the Lord fell when the Babylonians encircled it and effectively cut off food supplies for about 18 months. In their weakened and tormented state, their arch enemy broke through their physical walls, burned Jerusalem to the ground, executed their leaders, and exiled the people to the Babylonian lands of the north. Read about it in Jeremiah 52.

Generations passed, and although the people continued to worship the Almighty, the essence of the Babylonian government and mindset became a cancer slowly eating away their very souls, changing even the way they perceived God’s provision. They became convinced they needed Babylonian walls to survive. They even reckoned that they prospered behind them. Without realizing it, they had replaced their eternal identity as the chosen people of God with a national identity of the world.

Indeed, when their descendants were given the choice to reclaim the City of God, Jerusalem, many were unwilling to return. They had become comfortable, but unknowingly, complacent, in their adopted home. Even when God made provision for them and urged them to "Come!", they still balked.

Their lack of trust that God could and would accomplish their deliverance was exemplified in Zechariah's vision of the man running toward Jerusalem with a measuring rod to make sure God 's provision was good enough. “Run, tell that young man, ‘Jerusalem will be a city without walls because of the great number of people and animals in it. And I myself will be a wall of fire around it,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will be its glory within.’” Zechariah 2:4-5.

The truth is, wherever God is, there can be NO measurable walls, because His glory is immeasurable and boundless, and can NEVER be contained!!

Or look at it another way. Without God's presence, there is no TRUE protection, because He identifies HIMSELF as the "wall of fire..."

Hebrews 11:8-16 tells us what God's chosen people should have been doing instead of measuring walls. "By faith Abraham, when called to go to a place he would later receive as his inheritance, obeyed, and went, even though he did not know where he was going. By faith he made his home in the promised land like a stranger in a foreign country; he lived in tents, as did Isaac and Jacob, who were heirs with him of the same promise. For he was looking forward to the city with foundations, whose architect and builder is God..."

“All these people were still living by faith when they died. They did not receive the things promised; they only saw them and welcomed them from a distance, admitting that they were foreigners and strangers on earth. People who say such things show that they are looking for another country. If they had been thinking of the country they had left, they would have had opportunity to return. Instead, they were longing for a better country—a heavenly one. Therefore God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.”

Israel had to learn her kingdom lesson the hard way. The 12 Tribes of Israel had begun as a nation blessed by the Almighty. Beginning as the 12 sons of Jacob, whose name was changed to “Israel” by God Himself, they survived 40 years wandering in the desert, and then were ruled for 350 years by God’s appointed judges. Soon after Israel demanded to be like all the other nations and be ruled by a king, the nation quickly split in two over the election of one of those kings. The kingdom of Israel, with its capital of Samaria, lasted around 200 years, until the Assyrians conquered and scattered the people across the northern isles. The kingdom of Judah ruled from Jerusalem for 350 years before being conquered by Babylon. The Jerusalem Wall itself was attacked 52 times, captured, and recaptured 44 times, besieged 23 times, and destroyed twice. Much of the wall was rebuilt by Muslims who occupied the area for 900 years.

Receive the Lord's perfect plan for the city and kingdom HE will build: "Jerusalem will be a city without walls because of the great number of people and animals in it. And I myself will be a wall of fire around it,’ declares the Lord, ‘and I will be its glory within.’" Zechariah 2:4-5

"I saw the Holy City, the new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride beautifully dressed for her husband." Revelation 21:2

A CITY WITHOUT WALLS...