In the book of Zechariah, the eponymous prophet has a vision of God explaining to him that He will be coming down from heaven and living among the people of Jerusalem. This is immediately after Zechariah encounters a young man who is on his way to measure the city with a measuring line. We must remember that this is in the Old Testament, and Zechariah most likely lived 500 years before Christ. As Christians, we understand quite clearly that God is prefiguring the coming of Jesus Christ to Zechariah. But what about this seemingly insignificant detail of the young man planning to measure the city? 

In the book of Revelation, written 600 years after the time of Zechariah, John of Patmos has a vision of heaven, which is described by him as a heavenly city, a new Jerusalem. There is an angel that takes a golden measuring rod and measures the city. Zechariah may not have known it, but he was prefiguring the coming of God’s kingdom and the institution of our share in the Heavenly city, which is affirmed in Revelation. The measuring aspect is important - by seeking out the dimensions of the space of Jerusalem in Zechariah or the Heavenly city in Revelation, we can infer two things: first, this is a real place in whose measured limits souls actually reside. Second, souls can either be within those limits or outside of those limits, which is clearly stated in the text from Zechariah. We must understand that heaven is real. It is not symbolic, nor is it something esoteric. It is the true residing place of God and we are called to occupy that same space.

Christ constantly invites us to participate in this real celebration of Heaven with him, but the obstacle to people during his time and even people in our day is that we are blinded by the burden of the natural world. Things that are miraculous or metaphysical are difficult to understand or grasp, which leads to doubt and eventually rejection. The same can be said of Jesus’ teachings. When is he being hyperbolic? When is he being literal? Fortunately, the Scriptures always indicate to us clarity in moments of confusion. Either through hindsight, explanations from Christ, or explanations from the Gospel writers, we can start to trust in the true words of Christ, and in his true teachings. But we must not get wrapped up by things being probable or improbable based on the limits of our understanding. Sometimes, childlike confidence in the words of Christ allows us to break away from the chains of doubt that bind us.