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Zechariah, Prophet of God's remembrance, part 8

New Jerusalem’s “wall of fire” (Zechariah 2:5) is linked to God’s statement: “I will be the glory in her midst.” In the divine law, His glory is expressed in terms of the law of equal weights, measures, and capacity (Leviticus 19:36), as if to ask us, “How heavy is God’s glory?” The Hebrew word for glory is kabod, from the root word, kabad, “to be heavy, weighty.”

In 2 Corinthians 4:17 Paul draws a contrast between the weight of present afflictions and the weight of God’s glory that such afflictions produce:

¹⁷ For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all comparison.

A just weight measures the “weight of glory.” Both “weights” are carried by those who are in Christ, each according to his/her capacity. Paul implies that our capacity to carry the weight of God’s glory is linked to the amount (or weight) of affliction that we may suffer.

The laws of capacity (omer, ephah, and homer) measure one’s capacity to hold this weight of glory. As one grows spiritually by experiencing the feast days (Passover, Pentecost, and Tabernacles), one is able to hold more and more of His glory. Hence, when we are told that the angel was sent to measure Jerusalem, we can hardly understand its meaning unless we know the yardstick by which it is to be measured. Likewise, what size basket or basin should be used to measure the capacity of God’s glory? What scale should be used to measure the weight of God’s glory?

The only way to dig deeper into such matters is to learn the biblical laws of weights, measures, and capacity, knowing that “the law is spiritual” (Romans 7:14) and also prophetic.

What is a Reed?

There are three basic units of measure in Scripture: (1) a handbreadth, (2) a cubit, and (3) a reed.

Some years ago, as I was driving through Montana, praying as I went, I suddenly received revelation about reeds. Revelation 11:1 says,

¹ And there was given me a reed like unto a rod; and the angel stood, saying, “Rise, and measure the Temple of God, and the altar, and them that worship therein.”

Verse 2 then speaks of “42 months.” It is no coincidence that a reed is equal to 42 handbreadths (the width of one’s hand). This, I believe, is the key to understanding how biblical measurements of distance are applied to time in prophecy. A handbreadth represents one month (or 30 days) in short-term prophecy and 30 years in long-term prophecy. The 42 months in Revelation 11:2 measures the time allotted to the beast rising from the sea, so it is the wall, or boundary of that phase of tribulation.

Later, in Revelation 21:15 KJV, an angel was given “a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof.” This city is the New Jerusalem, coming down from heaven.

It is clear that this reed is not just a tool to measure linear distance, because in verse 1 it is also used to measure the worshippers themselves. It is not likely that John was to see how tall they were, but rather to see if they had attained “the measure of the stature which belongs to the fullness of Christ” (Ephesians 4:13). These are, after all, the living stones being built into the Temple of God (Ephesians 2:21).

In a personal sense, each believer is a complete temple in his/her own right, but each is also a fractal of a larger temple where the stones fit perfectly with all of the others (1 Peter 2:5). This company of living stones are quarried out of many generations, and so it takes time for this temple to be completed. Only when we reach the fullness of time will the measure of the city, altar, walls, and gates be expressed in terms of a reed.

Only then will the worshippers themselves reach the full maturity of this reed. For this reason, the number 42 itself is the biblical number of arrival.

What is a Cubit?

There are two types of cubit in Scripture. A regular cubit is 6 handbreadths (Hb) long, while a “great cubit” of Ezekiel 41:8 is 7 handbreadths (Hb). The great cubit, used to measure the sanctuary, is specifically defined in Ezekiel 43:13 KJV: “The cubit is a cubit and an hand breadth.” It is a few inches longer than a regular “secular” cubit.

Six great cubits (or 42 Hb) is a reed, where each cubit is 7 Hb in length. So in Ezekiel 40:5 KJV, the rebuilt Temple was measured using the great cubit with “a measuring reed of six cubits long by the cubit and an handbreadth; so he measured the breadth of the building, one reed.” In other words, to measure Ezekiel’s spiritual temple, one must use the great cubit which is 7 Hb.

Six great cubits is the same length as seven regular cubits (6 x 7 = 7 x 6). It was convenient that a reed was the lowest common denominator of these two types of cubit.

To summarize:

Handbreadth = the basic unit of measure, about the width of one's hand.

Great Cubit = 7 Handbreadths per cubit

Reed = 6 Great Cubits, or 42 Handbreadths

Going back to Revelation 11, take note that the unit of measure is the “reed,” which is 42 Handbreadths, and that it correlates with 42 months. This means one linear Handbreadth translates to one month of time.

1 Handbreadth = 1 Month

42 Handbreadths = 42 Months

Zechariah 2, Ezekiel 40-43, and Revelation 11 and 21 must be read together in order to get a proper understanding of the prophetic temple that God is building out of living stones.

A Cubit is Seven Months in Prophecy

If a handbreadth is one month, then a cubit is 7 months of time. It is the amount of time it takes to complete the full set of feast days from Passover to Tabernacles. A regular cubit of 6 Hb encompasses only 6 months and thus does not include the feasts of the seventh month: Trumpets, Atonement, and Tabernacles.

Unbelievers are measured by the secular cubit, and for this reason they cannot keep the feast of Tabernacles. That is why it was important for John to measure the altar and its worshippers using a “great cubit.” It was part of the revelation. To truly worship God, one must not only keep Passover (by faith in the blood of the Lamb) and Pentecost (be filled with the Spirit), but one must also keep the Autumn feasts that describe the second coming of Christ. Only then is our worship complete.

A Prophetic Cubit is 210 Days

If a handbreadth is a 30-day month, then 7 Hb (or 7 months) are a total of 210 days (7 x 30 = 210).

Twelve of these great cubits, when expressed in time, is 2,520 “days” (12 x 210). We find this in the seventh chapter of the book of Numbers as well, when Moses dedicated the altar for the tabernacle, as written in the law. Each prince of the tribe offered one silver dish weighing 130 shekels, one silver bowl weighing 70 shekels, and one golden spoon weighing 10 shekels. See Numbers 7:13, 14.

The total weight that each prince brought was 210 shekels.

Together, the twelve princes of the tribes offered a total weight of 2,520 shekels (12 x 210) at the dedication of the altar in the days of Moses. This spoke prophetically of the meaning of a period of “seven times” (7 x 360 = 2,520 years).

Omers, Ephahs, and Homers

In the laws of measurements, capacity was measured in omers, ephahs, and homers. An omer was 1/10 of an ephah (Exodus 16:36), and an ephah was 1/10 of a homer (Ezekiel 45:11).

These three measurements correlate with the three main feasts: Passover (omer), Pentecost (ephah), and Tabernacles (homer). They prophesy of our capacity to hold the Spirit of God. A Passover believer, one who is justified by faith, has the capacity to hold an omer; a Pentecostal, who hears God voice, has the capacity to hold an ephah; an overcomer can hold a homer of the Spirit.

Hence, when Paul says to “be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18), we should understand that some believers have more capacity to be filled than others.

Counting the Omer

Each day during the seven-week interval between the wave-sheaf offering and Pentecost, the people were to “count the omer.” The Hebrew word for “sheaf” is omer, which is also a measure of capacity equal to a tenth of an ephah (about two liters). It was customary to divide an omer of barley into fifty small piles and count one pile each day until Pentecost.

This reminded them of the sheaf that had been waved on the first day. This was more than just a reminder of a past event. It built an anticipation of Pentecost, which was the prophesied outcome of Christ’s resurrection.

Counting the omer of barley for 7 weeks was meant to teach the people to anticipate the coming of the Holy Spirit. In fact, the Hebrew word omer is a prophetic picture in itself. It is spelled עמר (ayin-mem-resh). The ayin (ע) literally means “eye,” and it signifies seeing or watching for something. The mem (מ) literally means “water,” and the resh (ר) literally means “head.”

Thus, as the people counted the omer, they were really watching for water on the head—that is, they anticipated the outpouring of the Holy Spirit as rain being poured out from on high (Joel 2:28, 29). Unfortunately, not every believer accepts the feast of Pentecost as a requirement to progress in one’s relationship with Christ. Many are satisfied to be justified by faith and are content with just an omer of the Spirit. They cannot contain an ephah of the Spirit.

Others, however, desire an ephah. Pentecost is the way of life for the sons of God, for it is God’s great training ground to hear His voice and to be led by the Spirit. This is how God prepares His sons for the feast of Tabernacles, which is represented by the homer. Those who have a vision of something greater than Pentecost possess a full capacity to contain the Holy Spirit.

These are the overcomers, those who are able to go beyond Pentecost into the feast of the seventh month (Tabernacles). These are the “temples” of God who are measured by the reed and who have the capacity to hold the homer of God’s glory.