Beloved, I am glad to share with you today the above theme from Za 5.1 and following. Indeed, the first vision of this chapter shows us, in the form of this scroll that flies, the Word of God acting to highlight evil. Hb 4:12-13 confirms that this Word is alive, operative, penetrating (here it enters the houses by force; v. 4)… In his light all things are naked and discovered; it discerns even the thoughts and intentions of the heart. We must allow ourselves to be probed by this Word. Here the prophet considers the people recovered from captivity. It is a day of small beginnings, but the Lord does not despise it. At that time, God’s testimony is represented in Jerusalem by Joshua and Zerubbabel. God approves of this testimony, but in the end time it must be reborn in Jerusalem and will be recognized as sufficient, although represented only by two witnesses, in the midst of the nation plunged into unbelief.
At the beginning of the chapter, the prophet sees “a scroll that flies, twenty cubits long, and ten cubits wide.” This scroll, a written book, comes out of the Lord’s house; he flies, and this proves that he is alive; it is moving towards a goal; it has special and very remarkable dimensions: twenty cubits in length and ten cubits in width. For the most holy place of Solomon’s temple had twenty cubits in width, height, and length. In this place where the ark was located, the cherubs, representing the judicial power of God in creation, spread their wings, the wing of one cherub touching that of the other, and their free wings, touching on each side the wall of the sanctuary. Each cherub was ten cubits tall, and their wings were ten cubits. The most sacred place of the temple was therefore characterized by these two numbers 10 and 20. What must be concluded from this is that the scroll, the written word that comes out here from the Lord, is in accordance with the holiness of the place where God dwells among the cherubs and that it bears the mark of it.
Sentences are written on both sides of the scroll: “Here is the curse that comes out on the face of the whole earth; for every thief shall be destroyed, according to what is written on the one hand; and everyone who swears will be destroyed, according to what is written on the other side.” This living and holy book pronounces curses, because, we must not forget, one of the characteristics of god’s word is judgment. If the world does not listen to the calls of grace, contained in the sacred volume, it will have to learn to know the latter under another character, that of the curse.
For the “scroll” is presented to us in the Word in three aspects: First in Ps. 40:7-9 and in Heb. 10:7: “Behold, I come – it is written of me in the scroll of the book-to do, O God, your will.” The main content of the “book,” what is written “in mind,” is Christ’s perfect obedience to fulfill God’s counsel in the work of salvation. It is in a word, the grace that came through Jesus Christ. Then we find in Apo 5, in the right of the One who sits on the throne, a book written, as in Zechariah, “inside and on the reverse” and sealed with seven seals. It is the book of God’s counsel and the ways in which He will carry it out, establishing the reign of His beloved Son. Only Christ can give them a boost by opening the seals of the book. Finally, the “scroll” reveals to us the moral state of man, his responsibility before God, and the judgments that follow it. The scroll also has this character in Jeremiah 36, Ezekiel 2:9-10, and in the passage before us. This vision shows us the curse pronounced by God first on the moral state of the people, then on their religious state.
Thus, the angel shows that whatever evils the Jews had suffered, they stemmed from God’s righteous judgment; and then he adds a consolation–that the Lord would finally relieve or put an end to their evils, when He would have removed their iniquity. There is no doubt that God intended to show Zechariah that the Jews were justly being punished, because the whole country was full of robbery and perjury. Since religion had been despised, as well as fairness and justice, he shows that it was not surprising that a curse prevailed throughout the country, the Jews leaving by their impiety and other sins extremely provoked the wrath of God. Thus, the Prophet’s plan was to humiliate the Jews and encourage them to repent, so that they could recognize that God was justly angry; and then he gives them reasons to nourish hope and to fully expect the end of their evils, for the Lord would remove and transfer their iniquity to Chaldea, that Judea would be pure and free from all wickedness, both theft and acts of injustice, by which it had previously been polluted.
The following verses have been compiled for your edification and grouped together for your better understanding.
The flying roller:
- Prophetic Visions
Esa 21.2 A terrible vision has been revealed to me. The oppressor oppresses, the devastating devastates. -Go up, Elam! Besiege, Media! I stop all the sighs. Ez 11:24 The spirit took me away, and carried me to Chaldea to the captives, in vision by the spirit of God; and the vision I had had disappeared above me. Ez 12:27 Son of man, behold, the house of Israel says: The visions he has are not about to be fulfilled; He prophesies for distant times. Ez 37:2 He passed me to them, all around; and behold, they were very numerous, on the surface of the valley, and they were completely dry. Ez 47:1 He brought me back to the door of the house. And behold, water came out under the threshold of the house, to the east, for the face of the house was to the east; the water went down under the right side of the house, at the south of the altar. Dn 8:1 In the third year of King Beltschatsar’s reign, I, Daniel, had a vision, besides the one I had previously had. Am 1:1 Words of Amos, one of the shepherds of Tekoa, visions he had of Israel, in the time of Ozias, king of Judah, and in the time of Jeroboam, son of Joah, king of Israel, two years before the earthquake. Abd 1 Prophecy of Obadiah. Thus speaks the Lord, the Lord, on Edom: “We have heard news from the Lord, and a messenger has been sent among the nations: Rise, let us march against Edom to wage war against him! – Nah 1.1 Oracle on Nineveh. Book of the prophecy of Nahum, of Elkosch.
- Prophecy Scrolls
Isaiah 8:1 The Lord said to me, Take a great table, and write on it, intelligibly: Let us hasten to plunder, let us rush to the spoils. Jer 36:2 Take a book, and you will write in it all the words I have spoken to you about Israel and Judah, and about all nations, from the day I spoke to you, in the time of Josiah, to this day. Ez 2:9 I looked, and behold, a hand was stretched out towards me, and she was holding a book in scroll. Ez 3:1 He said to me: Son of man, eat what you find, eat this scroll, and go, speak to the house of Israel! Za 5.1 I looked up again and looked, and behold, there was a scroll flying.
- Judgment according to the works
Ps 62:13 To you too, Lord! goodness; For you give back to each according to his works. Jer 17:10 I, the Lord, feel the heart, I probe the kidneys, To give back to each according to his ways, According to the fruit of his works. Mt 16:27 For the Son of man must come in the glory of his Father, with his angels; and then he will give back to each according to his works. 2 Cor 5:10 For we must all appear before the tribunal of Christ, that each one may receive according to the good or evil he has done, being in his body. 1 Pet 1:17 And if you invoke as Father the one who judges according to the work of each one, without accepting persons, conduct yourselves with fear during the time of your pilgrimage, Rev 20:12 And I saw the dead, great and small, who stood before the throne. Books were opened. And another book was opened, the one that is the book of life. And the dead were judged according to their works, according to what was written in these books. Rev 22:12 Behold, I come soon, and my retribution is with me, to give back to each one according to what his work is.
- Destructive sin
Ps 34:22 Misfortune kills the wicked, and the enemies of the righteous are punished. Ps 140:12 Man whose tongue is false does not strengthen himself on earth; And the violent man, misfortune leads him to his loss. Pr 8:36 But he who sins against me harms his soul; Everyone who hates me loves death. Pr 11:3 The integrity of upright men directs them, but the detours of the treacherous cause their ruin. Isa 3:9 The appearance of their faces testifies against them, and, like Sodom, they publish their crime, without concealing. Woe to their souls! For they are preparing for evils. Os 13:9 What causes your ruin, Israel, is that you have been against me, against him who could help you.
- Convicted perjury
Lev 6:3 when he sins in this way and becomes guilty, he will return the thing he has stolen or fraudulently stolen, the thing that had been entrusted to him in deposit, the lost thing he has found, Lev 19:12 You will not swear falsely by my name, for you would desecrate the name of your God. I am the Lord. Za 5:4 I pour it out, says the Lord of hosts, that it may enter the house of the thief and of the one who falsely swears in my name, that it may establish its abode there, and consume it with wood and stones. Ml 3:5 I will approach you for judgment, And I will hasten to testify against enchanters and adulterers, Against those who swear falsely, Against those who withhold the salary of the mercenary, Who oppress the widow and the orphan, Who harm the stranger, and do not fear me, says the Lord of hosts. 1 Tim 1:10 the shameless, the infamous, the thief of men, the liars, the perjurers, and all that is contrary to sound doctrine, –
From all the above, we note that as for his moral state, for which the people are responsible before God, the curse is pronounced on the one hand on the thief, on the other hand on the one who swears falsely by the name of Jehovah. Such a restriction of the grounds for judgment might seem extraordinary at first glance, but, when we think about it, we find, in these two words, the characteristics of man’s sin. A thief is a villain who acts unjustly towards his neighbor; a man who falsely swears makes God a liar by taking him as a witness to affirm the lie. Injustice and contempt for God are the characteristics of this people to whom less than a hundred years later Malachi will repeat the same things (Mal. 3:5). “I bring her out,” said the Lord of hosts, “and she will enter the house of the thief, and the house of him who swears falsely by my name; and she will lodge in the middle of her house and consume it with wood and stones.” Doesn’t this passage recall these words of the Lord: “My house will be called a house of prayer; but you have made of it a cave of thieves” (Matt. 21:13), and again: “Your house is left deserted to you” (Matt. 23:38), and again: “It shall not be left here stone upon stone that is not thrown down”? (Matt. 24:2).
PRAYER OF ACCEPTANCE OF JESUS CHRIST AS LORD AND PERSONAL SAVIOR
I now invite every person who wants to become a new creation by walking in the truth, to pray with me the following prayer:
Lord Jesus, I have long walked in the lusts of the world ignoring your love for humans. I admit to having sinned against you and ask your forgiveness for all my sins, because today I have decided to give you my life by taking you as Lord and personal Savior. I recognize that you died on the cross of Calvary and rose from the dead for me.
I am now saved and born again by the power of the Holy Spirit. Lead me every day to the eternal life that you give to all who obey your Word. Reveal yourself to me and strengthen my heart and faith, so that your light may shine in my life right now.
Thank you, Lord Jesus for accepting me into your divine family, so that I may also contemplate the wonders of your kingdom.
I will now choose a nearby waterpoint to baptize myself by immersion, in the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit.
All adoration, power and glory are yours, now and forever and ever. Amen!
I would be happy to respond to any questions and comments you may have, before sharing with you tomorrow “the vision of women and a grain measure.”
May the Lord Jesus Christ bless you abundantly.
David Feze, Servant of the Almighty God.