Dive into the book of Zechariah with us as we unravel the enigmatic visions presented in Chapter 5. Through a compelling narrative of a flying scroll and a basket of wickedness, you’ll gain insights into the prophetic messages of cleansing and the removal of iniquity. Join us for a thoughtful reflection as we connect these ancient visions with modern-day implications for truth and integrity.
Welcome to ADDBIBLE, an audio daily devotion from the Ezra Project. We join Allen J. Huth as he shares Bible passages and comments from over 30 years of his personal Bible reading journals.
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On our journey through the book of Zechariah, today brings us to Chapter 5. We’ll listen to Faith Comes by Hearing’s reading of the 11 verses of Zechariah 5.
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Zechariah 5 Again I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, a flying scroll. And he said to me, What do you see? I answered, I see a flying scroll. Its length is twenty cubits, and its width ten cubits. Then he said to me,
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This is the curse that goes out over the face of the whole land. For everyone who steals shall be cleaned out according to what is on one side, and everyone who swears falsely shall be cleaned out according to what is on the other side. I will send it out, declares the Lord of hosts, and it shall enter the house of the thief, and the house of him who swears falsely by my name, and it shall remain in his house and consume it, both timber and stones. Then the angel who talked with me came forward and said to me, Lift your eyes and see what this is that is going out. And I said, What is it? He said, This is the basket that is going out. And he said, This is their iniquity in all the land.
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And behold, the leaden cover was lifted, and there was a woman sitting in the basket. And he said, This is wickedness. And he thrust her back into the basket and thrust down the leaden weight on its opening. Then I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, two women coming forward. The wind was in their wings. They had wings like the wings of a stork, and they lifted up the basket between earth and heaven. Then I said to the angel who talked with me, Where are they taking the basket?
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He said to me, To the land of Shinar to build a house for it, and when this is prepared, they will set the basket down there on its base.
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In the three journals we’ve been using to get us through the book of Zechariah, my journals of 1991, 2001, and 2011, I have no notes on this chapter in any of those journals. In 2011, because I was reading Revelation at the same time, I just wrote a note. Because I’m reading Revelation at the same time, I wonder if the woman named Wickedness is the great prostitute in Revelation 17. Chapter 5 starts with the vision of a flying scroll. This scroll is a gigantic billboard, 30 feet by 15 feet. It went over the whole earth so everyone could see it. Its message was, For everyone who steals shall be cleaned out according to what is on one side, and everyone who swears falsely shall be cleaned out according to what is on the other side. I have been a Christian since I was 15 years old. The Word of God has had tremendous influence in my life as I started reading the Bible the day I got saved. So as I contemplate this passage, I’m trying to think of times where I have either stolen something or lied. And nothing specific comes to mind. Now that doesn’t mean that I haven’t stole something or lied. I just can’t think of an example. But maybe as I’m thinking about it, you are also thinking about it. And maybe you have come up with an incident in your life where you have either stolen something or you’ve lied about something. Think about it a little bit as I share just the story that does come to mind. And that’s when one of my sons got caught stealing something. I was awakened by one of those phone calls in the middle of the night. The person on the other end identified themselves as a police officer. They said, we have your son and you need to come and get him. Now, I was half asleep, so I’m thinking, you don’t have my son. He’s downstairs in bed. So I asked the officer to hold the line while I went downstairs to check to make sure my son was down in his bedroom. As I was walking it became more clear to me why would he be calling me in the middle of the night if something wasn’t up. So I got to my son’s door and it was locked. I couldn’t even get in. I unlocked the door and he was not there. I went back up the steps and got back on the phone and figured out where they were and Terry and I had to go retrieve our son. When we got there he was handcuffed to a light pole. We got him released and we brought him home. And we found out that him and a bunch of his buddies were off in some supermarket and he had stolen a pack of gum. That incident in the middle of the night was not a pleasant experience for him, for me, or for my wife. The story about this flying scroll reminds us that lying or stealing is not going to be a pleasant experience for us either. The vision closes with this statement, and it shall remain in this house and consume it, both timber and stones. Yes, lying and stealing can consume us. I praise God that God is a God who forgives. The next vision the angel shows Zechariah is a vision of a basket. When the leaden cover was lifted, there was a woman sitting in the basket. My ESV footnote tells me that leaden cover weighed about 75 pounds. So God did not want what was in that basket getting out. But verse 8 tells us what was in the basket. This is wickedness. And he thrust her back into the basket and thrust down the leaden weight on its opening. Next, two other women with wings come and carry the basket away. They took it to the land of Shinar to build a house for it. The land of Shinar is Babylon. So wickedness is being removed from Jerusalem, put in Babylon, so that the people in Jerusalem would not be troubled by wickedness anymore. Wickedness was probably the reason that the building of the walls in the temple had stopped. So God is showing that he’s removing it so they can get back to work. If the two women that removed the basket were angels, my ESV footnote says, This would be the only place in scriptures where angels are portrayed as women rather than as men. Most of the depictions I’ve ever seen in art or in Christmas plays are women angels or girl angels. But as we read scripture, we get a biblical view, not the wimpy little angels we often see portrayed by the world. In fact, most of the time when a man sees an angel in scripture, they fall on their face. So who would have thought we’d be reading and talking a lot about angels in the book of Zechariah? The practical application from chapter 5 is this. Refrain from stealing, refrain from lying, and resist wickedness with all of your heart. If you’re having a problem with any of those things, confess it to the Lord now. Let him put a leaden lid on them so that they will not affect your life anymore. Father, you expect more from Christians. You expect us not to lie, not to steal, not to be involved in wickedness. And I’m thankful, Lord, in the New Testament you say, if we confess our sins, you are faithful and just to forgive our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness. If any of us are having a problem with these things today, may we confess them before you so that you may put a leaden lid on them and remove their effect in our lives. Thank you for the warnings in Zechariah chapter 5. And thank you for giving us a biblical view of your agents, your angels. We ask you to be with us and shine your face upon us. In the name of Jesus, amen. Thanks for listening to ADDBIBLE today. Across our listening audience, more and more of you are supporting ADDBIBLE by visiting our website at EzraProject.net and purchasing resources like Club 365 subscriptions, Bible reading journals, and one or more of our day-by-day through the Bible devotional books. We thank you so much and encourage more of you to do the same. You will find helpful and inspirational tools to enhance your personal time in God’s Word. Today I want to review the three tools we see most listeners getting. First, Club 365. This is a monthly subscription opening our vault of all Add Bible audio recordings and all printed pages of the entire day-by-day through the Bible devotional series. By joining Club 365 for only $7 a month, you have access to both audio and written information on all 66 books of the Bible. Club 365 is a goldmine, and it is completely flexible to your personal Bible reading plan. So if you’re reading Matthew or Isaiah or Psalms or Revelation, you have access to audio or written comments, applications, and prayers on any of them at your fingertips. Get Club 365 at EzraProject.net today, like so many others have. Secondly, another hot seller is are our Bible reading journals. We offer two. One is a chronological Bible reading journal that contains a daily Bible reading plan chronologically. You don’t have to buy a chronological Bible, just get our chronological Bible reading journal. It has over 200 pages so you can journal your way through the entire Bible. This book is our number one bestseller over the last two decades. The other journal is called the Trio Bible Reading Journal because it has three annual Bible reading plans in it, a New Testament schedule, an Old Testament schedule. But if you do them both on the same day, a complete Bible reading plan, you’ll finish the Bible in 365 days. We have a limited supply of the Trio Bible Reading Journal. The cool thing about our journals is they start when you start. Day one of the schedule is the day you start, not January 1. Again, completely flexible to your Bible reading habits. Order your journal for just $9 at EzraProject.net and we ship it free. And the third product people are ordering is one of our day-by-day through the Bible devotional books. There are only 11, but they cover all 66 books of the Bible, filled with comments about passages, applications from the passages, and prayers related to the passages. Listeners are understanding Bible passages in a whole new way, thanks to digging deeper with a day-by-day supplement to their daily devotions. You can find all 11 books on our website at EzraProject.net. They are available in print and digitally. Get one today and start understanding your Bible in a whole new way. So that’s all for today. Join me tomorrow for another chapter of ADDBIBLE. I know you’re going to enjoy it.
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and want to share it with others.
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If you’re worried about the moral decline, let not your heart be troubled. Remember when God unleashed ten plagues on Egypt? None of them affected the Israelites. No flies, no bloody water, no hail, no death angel. Though they lived in Egypt, they lived under God’s protection in Goshen. As you consume the news of our day to day, you may become hopeless. So visit EzraProject.net and read Living in Goshen. It will brighten your countenance and renew your trust in God. Even as plagues rain down all around us, you can live in Goshen and not be affected. Visit EzraProject.net and read Living in Goshen today. I know you’re going to enjoy it and want to share it with others.
