Zechariah 5:5 Then the angel that talked with me went forth, and said unto me, Lift up now thine eyes, and see what is this that goeth forth.
6 And I said, What is it? And he said, This is an ephah that goeth forth. He said moreover, This is their resemblance through all the earth.
7 And, behold, there was lifted up a talent of lead: and this is a woman that sitteth in the midst of the ephah.
8 And he said, This is wickedness. And he cast it into the midst of the ephah; and he cast the weight of lead upon the mouth thereof.
9 Then lifted I up mine eyes, and looked, and, behold, there came out two women, and the wind was in their wings; for they had wings like the wings of a stork: and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heaven.
10 Then said I to the angel that talked with me, Whither do these bear the ephah?
11 And he said unto me, To build it an house in the land of Shinar: and it shall be established, and set there upon her own base.
This is now the ninth vision that God gave to Zechariah. God again directed His angel to speak with Zechariah. Zechariah needed to look beyond him and see what was there.
Zechariah saw it but he did not know what he was seeing. The angel told him it was an ephah. An ephah was a measure of volume and it could also refer to the container itself. It was equivalent to 6.462 gallons. The word translated as “resemblance” means “eye” or “showing mental qualities”.
We have already seen that God is observing all that goes on in all the earth. Here Zechariah is given another example of that fact. God was assessing the actions of the people of all the earth.
We know that at the great white throne judgment, the spiritually dead will be there and the books will be opened and the dead will be judged by their works. Every thief, murderer, scammer, etc. will be exposed in true colour. None will find any escape. Jesus will pronounce their judgment and they will be cast into the lake of fire. There are many people who take their secrets to the grave with them. They may keep things from people, but they are not keeping anything from God.
In verse 7 Zechariah saw a talent of lead lifted up. That was a representation of a woman sitting in the midst of the ephah.
Verse 8 tells us that she represented wickedness. Since the fall of man, wickedness has been the dominant characterization of humanity. Genesis 6 tells us the wickedness was great upon the earth. Here we see that this wickedness represented by the lead and the woman was cast into the midst of the ephah. The lead was cast as a weight upon the mouth of the ephah.
In verse 9 Zechariah saw two women and the wind was in their wings. Notice it does not say these were angels. It clearly says they were women. They had wings like the wings of a stork and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and heaven.
In verse 10 Zechariah wanted to know where these two women were going to take the ephah. In verse 11 the answer was given. Shinar was in Babylon. It seems that the contents of this ephah which was wickedness, was being sent to build a house in the land of Shinar. Thus we know that this was not to build anything good. It was something that was bad. This house would be established and would be set upon its own base.
It seems the LORD is warning the Jews, through Zechariah, of continuing to deal with wickedness and collaborating with Babylon to advance their wickedness.
The point is that those who are supposed to be godly people do not partner with the ungodly. II Corinthians 6 warns of this. God’s people do not join in unequal yoking. It can never work.
This is why a true church cannot be a part of the ecumenical crowd. This is also another major problem with New Evangelicalism. It is such a mixture of beliefs and they are not blessed of God. As we have said before, New Evangelicalism is a poison that has infested most religious groups today. Light and darkness cannot co-exist. They are both in the world, but they have nothing in common with each other.
God showed us what happened when Solomon, one the wisest men that ever lived, decided to marry many strange women. Marrying one strange woman is too much. Seven hundred of them is an impossibility to fight off. Solomon chose them plus three hundred concubines and they turned his heart away from the Lord. He chose them. He could not blame them. He disobeyed God and he suffered the consequences of a very foolish choice.
In our text, Zechariah was addressing those who were coming back from Babylonian exile. Only a few of those who were taken captive chose to keep themselves pure. We read of four such men in the book of Daniel. The book of Ezekiel mentioned one. Most of those who went into captivity wanted to assimilate with the culture. They were content to be like the Babylonians. Now that they came back, God was warning them of the danger of keeping their allegiance to the pagans. God cannot bless that.
That will continue to be a problem for mankind on this earth. Those who enter heaven, will be completely broken of any such alliance. Only those who are truly saved will enter heaven. However, even those who are truly saved, can still corrupt themselves in ways. God will chasten those who are truly His and indulging in the flesh. Many think they are saved, but they prove they are not because they are not being chastened.
God is holy and Heaven is holy. Those who are saved have been given the power to be called the sons of God. Those who are saved have the power to say no to sin and yes to God. We can grow in the grace and knowledge of the Lord Jesus Christ. God, the Holy Spirit indwells every true child of God and He enables the saved to glorify God in this present world. Be sure you are one of them.
Pastor Bartel