Zechariah 5:1 Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a flying roll.
2 And he said unto me, What seest thou? And I answered, I see a flying roll; the length thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits.
3 Then said he unto me, This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth: for every one that stealeth shall be cut off as on this side according to it; and every one that sweareth shall be cut off as on that side according to it.
4 I will bring it forth, saith the LORD of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by my name: and it shall remain in the midst of his house, and shall consume it with the timber thereof and the stones thereof.
It is important to keep our eyes and ears open to what God is doing right now in the world. A right approach to the Word of God will guide us in our understanding of world events. Nothing happens in a vacuum. God gave us His Word. His Word has been completed for almost 2,000 years now. God is not writing more Bible. He is simply acting on what He has declared in His preserved and inspired Word.
The situation in Iran continues to heat up. Apparently the Iranian regime has murdered several thousand protestors in the past short while. The media has lied to us for over a year about how Israel was slaughtering innocent children in Gaza. That was and is a lie, but the media is still pushing it. However, there is not much reporting on the slaughter of non-Muslims in Nigeria or the slaughter of non-submissive Muslims in Iran. The mainstream media is a propaganda machine for the devil. The goal of the devil from his first mention in Genesis 3 is destruction. By Genesis 6 he had convinced the majority of mankind to live for the flesh. The result was a major judgment from God to slow down his evil plot. God could stop the devil in a moment. He will end his evil actions and will cast him into the lake of fire one day in the future. In the meantime, God has given us His Word so that we can know how to know His blessings in the midst of a sin-cursed world.
Zechariah was one of many Old Testament prophets chosen by God to remind the people of his day of the importance of knowing the true God. God directed him to write down His Words for future generations. We need to pay close attention to what God told Zechariah to write down. It is there for our learning.
Zechariah lived in a time of great uncertainty. Judah was just coming back from seventy years of God-inflicted exile in Babylon. That exile took place in about 587/586 B.C. Israel — the ten northern tribes had been invaded in about 721 B.C. God was bringing the Jews back to the land He promised to Abraham. He would set a different tone in the land that would allow them to go back home and rebuild. As we have noted, this rebuilding would not be without its challenges. God never promised that serving Him would be easy. When we, those who are His children sin, we bring further trouble into our lives. God forgives, but we bring the baggage of the wounds of sin with us. God warns often of the consequences of sin. Even though there is forgiveness, there are also scars left behind. That is why God tells us not to sin in the first place. He provides all that is needed to keep us from sin. Sadly, we do not always avail ourselves of His provision.
In our text, God is continuing to show Zechariah things through visions. This time he saw a flying roll. The angel asked Zechariah what he saw. Zechariah needed to comprehend what was going on. He was not to just shrug it off. God was teaching him many things that would help him to serve the LORD better in his role as a prophet.
Zechariah answered the angel with what he saw. This roll was twenty cubits in length and ten cubits in breadth. We have mentioned before that the standard cubit was 18 inches. Thus this roll was thirty feet long and fifteen feet wide. This is a fairly large roll. God had something important to say by means of this roll.
In verse 3 we are told the meaning of this roll. It held the curse that was going out over the face of the whole earth. We have noted before that God sees all and He knows all that is going on. He does not hide His head in the sand, or encourage corruption such as we have heard of in Minnesota and indeed in Canada. God sees the wickedness and He addresses it in such a way that the guilty people know there is something very wrong.
God pointed out that those who stole were in trouble. In Babylon, the Jews had seen much theft. Dishonesty was a common practice among the lost. Sadly, Israel already learned this sin before they went into exile. That needed to stop. Then there was also the sin of swearing. This was not the cursing that is so common in our world. It was making promises without the ability to keep them. God was teaching the nation of Israel that their word needed to be good. If they were going to make a promise to God or to man, they better be sure they could fulfil it.
In verse 4 God brought this even closer to home. This theft and this false swearing was invoking the name of the LORD. Keep in mind this is the LORD of hosts. This is the LORD Who is over all. You do not promise something in His name and then not keep it. You do not claim to be honest and then cheat your neighbour in business. There needs to be careful forethought and assessment of what you are doing and saying.
God is not dishonest. He promised Abraham a land flowing with milk and honey. He told him his children would spend some four hundred years outside of that land before they would be able to possess it. He was good for His Word. He raised up Moses at just the right time, in the midst of a Pharaoh who hated God. Yet that Moses was instrumental in leading the nation out of exile and into the wilderness, on their way to Canaan. Due to the sin of the people, they spent forty years wandering in that wilderness. Hardheartedness is not good in any person. Pharaoh was hard hearted. However, most of the children of Israel were also hard hearted. They were not willing to submit to God. They refused to see the blessings He was making available to them. God continued to work with them. A generation lost out and never entered the promised land. Only two men from that generation, Joshua and Caleb, were able to actually enter the promised land. Even Moses, the man God appointed as the leader of His people, could not enter that land. His sin kept him from enjoying that promise.
There are consequences to sin. We need to understand that. New Evangelicalism has redefined sin and deceptively stated that there are many grey areas. God is not nearly as holy as some people suggest. Isaiah chapter 6 is not really to be taken literally. I Peter 1:15-16 do not need to be taken literally, etc. That is the lie many have chosen to believe. Yet they want to go to heaven when they die. Salvation is required to go to heaven. No true child of God will ever be completely free from sin in this life. However, no true child of God can live in sin either. God is not a “spoil sport”. He knows what works. He knows what brings true joy and peace. He provides that for all. Those who humbly submit to His will are the ones who are blessed of Him. Let us be careful that we are not shortchanging ourselves by believing one of many lies, rather than trusting in the True God.
The children of Israel were privileged to be able to go back home. God was just as holy when they went back home as He had been when they went into exile. Their exile was not by accident. It was God’s punishment for constant rebellion. Now as they were coming back into Judah, they needed to be reminded that God still required truth from them. He would still punish them if they chose to continue in their sin.
The Temple was an important place for them to be able to go and be reminded of Who God was and how He would bless them. Their obedience to Him was not works salvation. It was the testimony of a redeemed people. The redemption came first and the holy living was the evidence of that redemption.
The same is true today. The New Birth comes first. The holy living is the evidence that the New Birth has taken place. Take God at His Word and enjoy His blessings today and every day.
Pastor Bartel