The Apple of His Eye Text: Zechariah 2:6-12
Introduction: The Intolerable Comfort of Babylon
There is a perennial danger for the people of God, and it is the danger of getting comfortable in Babylon. When God's people were exiled to Babylon, they were commanded to build houses, plant gardens, and seek the welfare of the city. But they were never to forget that it was Babylon. They were never to mistake the land of their exile for the promised land. Babylon is not just a historical location; it is a spiritual reality. It is the world system, organized in rebellion against God, that offers a kind of bland, soul-numbing comfort in exchange for your covenantal identity.
Babylon is the place where you can have a decent job, a nice house, and a retirement plan, so long as you don't make too much of a fuss about the kingship of Jesus Christ. Babylon is always willing to tolerate your private piety, as long as it remains private. But the moment you declare that Christ's lordship extends to politics, to the arts, to education, and to economics, you will discover very quickly that you are no longer in Jerusalem.
The exiles in Zechariah's day faced this temptation. Many had grown accustomed to life in the pagan empire. Jerusalem was a wreck, the work was hard, and the enemies were many. It was easier to just stay put. And so God sends a thunderous word through his prophet. It is a word of urgent command, divine jealousy, and glorious, global promise. This is not a polite suggestion. It is a fire alarm in the night. It is a call to flee the coming judgment, yes, but more than that, it is a call to run toward the coming glory.
This passage is a potent antidote to all forms of compromised, timid, and domesticated Christianity. It reminds us that our God is not a safe deity to be managed, but a consuming fire. He is jealous for His people, His city, and His glory. And His plans are not small. They are not limited to the salvation of a few scattered souls, but extend to the conquest of all nations and the filling of the earth with His presence.
The Text
"Ho there! Flee from the land of the north," declares Yahweh, "for I have dispersed you as the four winds of the heavens," declares Yahweh.
"Woe, Zion! Escape, you who are living with the daughter of Babylon."
For thus says Yahweh of hosts, "After glory He has sent Me against the nations which have taken you as spoil, for he who touches you, touches the apple of His eye.
For behold, I will wave My hand over them so that they will be spoil for their slaves. Then you will know that Yahweh of hosts has sent Me.
Sing for joy and be glad, O daughter of Zion; for behold, I am coming and I will dwell in your midst," declares Yahweh.
"And many nations will join themselves to Yahweh in that day and will become My people. Then I will dwell in your midst, and you will know that Yahweh of hosts has sent Me to you.
Then Yahweh will inherit Judah as His portion in the holy land and will again choose Jerusalem.
(Zechariah 2:6-12 LSB)
Flee the World System (vv. 6-7)
The prophecy begins with a loud shout, an urgent summons.
"Ho there! Flee from the land of the north," declares Yahweh, "for I have dispersed you as the four winds of the heavens," declares Yahweh. "Woe, Zion! Escape, you who are living with the daughter of Babylon." (Zechariah 2:6-7)
This is a command, not an invitation. The God who scattered His people in judgment is now the God who commands them to gather in grace. The "land of the north" is Babylon, the archetypal city of man, the great beast system. To "flee" is not just a geographical relocation. It is a spiritual and cultural disentanglement. It is a radical break with the assumptions, values, and idolatries of the pagan world order.
The call is to "Zion," the covenant people of God. They are addressed as those "living with the daughter of Babylon." This is a picture of dangerous cohabitation. It is the church shacking up with the world. This is the constant temptation: to enjoy the material benefits of Babylon while trying to maintain a nominal identity as Zion. But God says this arrangement is intolerable. You cannot serve two masters. You cannot have one foot in Jerusalem and the other in Babylon. The command to escape is a command to choose your identity, to declare your allegiance.
For us, Babylon is the secular, humanistic consensus that surrounds us. It is the worldview that says man is the measure of all things, that truth is relative, that sin is a therapeutic problem, and that the state is the savior. To flee this Babylon is to refuse to think its thoughts, to refuse to speak its language, and to refuse to bow to its idols, whether they are made of gold or of political correctness.
The Jealousy of God (vv. 8-9)
Why must they flee? Because God is on the move, and it is a terrible thing to be found on the wrong side when He comes in judgment.
"For thus says Yahweh of hosts, 'After glory He has sent Me against the nations which have taken you as spoil, for he who touches you, touches the apple of His eye. For behold, I will wave My hand over them so that they will be spoil for their slaves. Then you will know that Yahweh of hosts has sent Me.'" (Zechariah 2:8-9)
Notice the Trinitarian structure here. Yahweh of hosts sends a divine figure, referred to as "Me," to act on His behalf. This is the Angel of Yahweh, the pre-incarnate Son of God. The Father sends the Son to vindicate His people and His own glory. The mission is "after glory," meaning for the purpose of demonstrating God's glory.
And here we find one of the most tender and yet terrifying statements in all of Scripture. God's people are the "apple of His eye." This refers to the pupil, the most sensitive and vulnerable part of the eye. It is a visceral metaphor for intimate, covenantal love and fierce protection. To harm God's people is to poke God in the eye. It is an assault on Him directly. This is not sentimentalism. This is a declaration of war. God takes what is done to His church personally.
And the result will be a great reversal. The nations that plundered Judah will themselves be plundered by their former slaves. This is the principle of God's poetic justice. The persecutors of the church will become the spoils of the church. This is the engine of our postmillennial hope. History is not a random series of events; it is the story of God turning the tables on His enemies. The proof that the Son was sent from the Father is the historical vindication and victory of His people. When the church triumphs, the world will know that Jesus is Lord.
The In-Dwelling God (vv. 10-11)
The response to this promise of vindication is not fear, but explosive joy. The reason for this joy is the central promise of the entire Bible.
"Sing for joy and be glad, O daughter of Zion; for behold, I am coming and I will dwell in your midst," declares Yahweh. "And many nations will join themselves to Yahweh in that day and will become My people. Then I will dwell in your midst, and you will know that Yahweh of hosts has sent Me to you." (Zechariah 2:10-11)
The reason for joy is God's presence. "I will dwell in your midst." The Hebrew word for dwell is "shakan," from which we get "Shekinah," the glory-presence of God. This is the promise of the tabernacle and the temple. It is the promise of Immanuel, "God with us." This promise finds its ultimate fulfillment in the incarnation, when "the Word became flesh and dwelt (literally, tabernacled) among us" (John 1:14).
But look at the scope of this promise. It explodes beyond the borders of ethnic Israel. "Many nations will join themselves to Yahweh in that day and will become My people." This is the Great Commission in the Old Testament. This is the promise to Abraham that in him all the families of the earth would be blessed. The gospel is not a tribal religion. It is a world-conquering faith. The plan of God was always to create one new man from every tribe, tongue, and nation.
This is not the destruction of Israel, but the glorious expansion of Israel. The Gentiles are not replacing the Jews; they are being grafted into the one covenant people of God. And when this happens, when the nations stream into the church, it serves as another proof that the Father has sent the Son. The global success of the gospel is the undeniable evidence of Christ's authority.
The Chosen City (v. 12)
Lest we think this global promise becomes an abstract, ethereal reality, the prophet immediately grounds it in a specific, historical place.
"Then Yahweh will inherit Judah as His portion in the holy land and will again choose Jerusalem." (Zechariah 2:12)
God's universal kingdom does not obliterate His particular commitments. He works in and through history, in real time and space. The global church, the New Jerusalem, does not float in the clouds. It is built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, a foundation laid in Judah and Jerusalem. God's inheritance is His people, gathered from all nations, but that inheritance has a history, a root system that goes deep into the soil of the holy land.
This verse reminds us that God's plan is earthy. He is redeeming the whole creation. The New Jerusalem comes down out of heaven to earth. The kingdom of God is a real kingdom that takes up real space and transforms real cultures. God chose Jerusalem once as the center of His earthly operations, and in the work of Christ, He has chosen her again as the mother city of a global Christendom. All the nations who come to Christ become citizens of that heavenly Jerusalem and are called to build outposts of that city wherever God has placed them.
Conclusion: The Apple of Christ's Eye
This entire passage finds its focus and fulfillment in the Lord Jesus Christ. He is the one sent from the Father to reclaim God's glory. He is the one who tabernacled among us, full of grace and truth. It is through His death and resurrection that the nations are brought near and made fellow citizens with the saints.
And the church, His bride, is now the apple of His eye. He guards her, protects her, and is jealous for her. Any nation, any power, any ideology that sets itself against the church of Jesus Christ is picking a fight with God Himself. They are poking the Almighty in the eye, and judgment is not a matter of if, but when.
Therefore, our calling is clear. First, we must flee Babylon. We must disentangle ourselves from the world's way of thinking and living. We must be a distinct and separate people, not in a monastic retreat, but in a joyful, confrontational engagement. Second, we must sing. Our faith is not a grim duty, but a joyful celebration of the presence of our God and the unstoppable advance of His kingdom. We are on the winning side. Let our songs declare it.
And last, we must be about the business of seeing the nations join themselves to Yahweh. We are to disciple the nations, baptizing them and teaching them to obey all that Christ commanded. Because the day is coming when the knowledge of the glory of the Lord, dwelling in the midst of His people, will cover the earth as the waters cover the sea.