Read Zechariah 5

The Scroll

This is a curse which God says he is sending out to those who are thieves and to those who swear falsely by his name. God says that the scroll will enter their home and destroy it. Two questions come immediately to my mind: why a flying scroll, and, why those who thieve and those who swear falsely?

The word of God was written on scrolls. A scroll would be an image that Zechariah would be familiar with. He would have seen a scroll and immediately seen it as the Word of God. Scrolls were not the old fashioned form of a book. Zechariah would not have been used to settling in for the evening with a good novel written on a scroll. The written word was rare and used for scholarly purposes and the Word of God. So this is clearly Gods word, or judgement.

This is primarily a message of encouragement. Zechariah is being assured that the temple will be finished. But there is a familiar sounding message here to for us post New Testament Christians.

It’s not human power or ingenuity that will get the job done, just a willingness for those things to be used by God; to allow His spirit to do His thing. It is always worth remembering our place when we have great plans. Our plans and skills are necessary but our willingness to let God work through them is the key.

Our Quest for Knowledge

What really leaped out for me in this passage is Zechariah�s persistent quest for knowledge. When the angel shows a vision Zechariah is not content with just seeing it but he seeks understanding of it too. When question by the angel in a very assuming way he wants to make sure that he has the understanding correct. It gets to the point in verse eleven that Zechariah becomes impatient and asks again for an answer. His persistence pays off and he gets the answers he desires.

Zechariah is not told to go away. He is not told that some things are not for his understanding. He didn’t get the information first time but his persistence did pay off. As any parent will know, God is clearly setting a precedent here. Zachariah is now very aware that if he keeps asking God will give him the answers he seeks.

God does not want us to be ignorant. We are designed to find things out. We are designed to learn. This is evident all around us. Science is the quest for knowledge and far from being at odds with Christianity we need to remember that God invented it. He put within us the desire to learn. He designed us that way and who better to give the answers we seek that the author Himself.

So, do you have a question? Do you not understand what God is doing or where He is taking you? Have you asked Him?

So we pick Zechariah up in the middle of a marathon vision session, chapter 3 contains one of the central visions of the 8 because it talks about Joshua, the high priest who would have been one of the leaders of the time along with the civil leader (governor) talked about in chapter 4.

He saw the high priest standing before the angel of the Lord and Satan. Now Joshua was standing there in filthy clothes which was a pretty big deal, not because he looked grim or stank but because as laid out in Ex28 there where certain clothes that had to be worn. These would signify purity which was needed when standing before a Holy God. The filthy clothes in this instance represent uncleanness, and as Joshua represented the people they were unclean too. The accusations from Satan then are true, Joshua is unclean but the cool thing is the response from God.

ââ?¬Å?Take off his filthy clothesââ?¬Â

ââ?¬Å?See I have taken away your sin, and I will put rich garments on youââ?¬Â

Pretty exciting stuff, especially to the Old Testament guys.

Because he has been cleansed he is now able to be in Gods presence, the angel of the Lord then goes on to tell Joshua to walk in the ways of the Lord, to please him. The vision finishes with a final message, a stone with an inscription on it

ââ?¬Å?I will remove the sin of the Land in a single dayââ?¬Â

This is mind blowing stuff, at the time of the visions all sins required a sacrifice to be paid. Suggesting that all the sin of the land could we wiped out in a day would of be hard to comprehend.

Not sure that I�m right in thinking that this is one of many visions referring to Jesus but the vision is defiantly talking about a messianic figure. I think it�s so exciting to read how God intended Jesus to be the solution.

The thing I love about this chapter is the picture of the high priest standing there in filthy rags, the high priest who should be the holiest of his people, filthy. He�s entering God�s presence and being accused, really he should be struck down. To be honest I often feel pretty filthy, like I should be struck down and yet God puts rich garments on me. Because of Jesus God sees me as holy and pure, cleansed and able to enter into his presence. A God that loves me and wants a relationship with me.

God�s grace is amazing, it makes me want to strive to walk in is ways.