1992 issue 4 - sermons on zechariah: the flying scroll - counsel of chalcedon

8/12/2019 1992 Issue 4 - Sermons on Zechariah: The Flying Scroll - Counsel of Chalcedon

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the curse that

is goirig

forth over the face

of the whole

land."

Wemustalways

becarefultointetpret

words and phrases in tenns of

their

m-

mediate setting. We

should

bearin

mind

that

the Bible isnot amachine

that

can

be

approachedmechaoically. Amechanical

approach

to

Scripture

is

an erroneous

methodOlogy

spread by

dispensational

theology that confuses many evangelical

Christians today. There is no iron-dad

formula

to interpreting the

Bible, even

though

there

are

intetpretive

principles

that are

helpful.

lntetpreting the Bible is

not

merely ascience, itis

an an.

The

Bible

is

a living,

vibrant word that must

be

interpretedaccordjngtoitscantext.

Words

Zechariah5:i-4;

e I d c l 2 : 9 ' 3 : 7

atuiany

1.lnrolled, for he can

derermine

canhaveavarietyofmeaniogsandusages;

As we

move into chapter 5 ofZecha- its size, Zechariah 5:2. •What is

the

just

as

we today'empl<iy the same words

na

h

,

we

·

detect

a shatp

change

of

tone significance ofthisscroU?

Whyisit

fiying

withdifferent meaniogs

. .

from what

w

had

previously

e x p ¢ ~ over t;pe

earth? Why is its size men

-

But the tenn in question

can be

trans

enced. Heretofore,Zechariah'smessage tion.ed?

These

are questions

that

are latedeither"theearth" or"theland," so

we

had been one of

great

consolation.

essential to grapple with if

we

are to needmoreevidencetojustifyourconchi

Though cast often n

mysterious

visione understand and apply the meaniog of sion that itmeans "the land o f ~ e l ) .

ary

form, the

revelation

through

Zecha_

the

vision itself.

Second,

the

idea

of the

specific land

riah has been deddedly one of camfon . 1. The Objects of the Scroll of

lsrael

is suggested because a specific

The

Jews were

reminded

that by

God's Perhaps one of the first concerns that . land is

mentioned

n the second pan of

grace, they

had been

delivered

from cap

.

·

demands

our

attention

is: To whom does the

vision,

Zechariah 5:

11.

There we see

tivity

back

to the

Promised land. Th,ey

the scroll

relate? In

the

King James a transfer of privilege to

Shinar, which

were being

encouraged

by

God's affir Version

it

would

seem

that the

scroll

has

seems

to counterbalance the

face

of

the

mation of

the

promise

Of

the

rebuilding

refereilceto th.e

entire world, Zechariah

. and

n

the

present

verse.

1£

a

blessing

pfthe TempleandtherestoringofJerusa-

5:3. Asa matter of fact, the same phrase-

.

is to come upon

a

Specific

place,

Shinar,

lem,despitetheoppositionofthepagan.

'

ojogy

_

the

whole

earth

or

all

the

it

would seem

hat

the curse

oUght to

world (Zech. 1 2 ) ; In addition, they

eanh"

is found in

settings that

clearly relate to 'a specific place, lsrael.

learned of

God

's

promised restoration

of .

do

speak of "the

whole earth"

in e c h a ~ Third, there is a similarity with

the prtesthood and government C

Zech.

3-4).

riah 4:

10,14

,

and

6:5. But despite

the

Ezekiel's earlier scroll

prophecy

in Eze-

Nevertheless, the

inesSage

.God words

being the

same,

the

conclusion kiel2 and.'3.

There

a setoll of

curse

is

granted Zechariah

did,

not

eT;ld

with . thattl).eypointtOthesameobjeC\propably , clearly d i r e c t e d g ~ t Israel,

Ezekiel

Zechariah 4 ln Chapt :f 5 d

e a 1 s

i s n q t t h e ~ i n Z e c h a r i a h lsaythis

2;10-3

:

1.

I n l i g h t o f ~ c h a r i a h

s h i s t o r i c a 1

something

of

judgment

and woe

· But for

severa).

reasons:

contt;Xt

in

whiCh

Judah·

was

guilty

of

upon

whom? ArtcHor what

reason? .

First, the

word

for "eanh" here is footdraggingin

rebuilding the temple, t

The two

visions recorded

in

chapter

often usedspecific3Ily

obhe

hind."

1Qat

wQuldseem

thathisvision

wouldparallel

5

really compose one

complex

vision

.

is,

the

Promised

Land,

the

land

of

Israel. in

sense to

Ezekiel's

earlier rebuke

of

We

will

COnsider

each

aspect in

separate

In

fact

,thisisavety

familiarte)TIl used

for )5rael for corrupting

the

worship of God;

messages. The

first aspect of

the

twin "the

land,"

when

lSrae 's

land is

spoken

So we

conclude

that Israel is the o b j e c ~

visionthatZechariahseesisofanumolled of h e t ~ u s e d t h e n d o e s n t d e n i a n d of the scroll, whatever that scroll might

scroll

caught up by

the wind

and

Hying

thatweun

dersr.andtheWholeglolJeto be specifically indicate

.

Of course, as we

through the sky, Zechariah 5:1,2a.

AI-

in

view:

The New American

Standard

tinue through the passage we will see the

though it is

called

a "roll,"

which indi- Bible adopts tPe translation

I

amsuggest

-

evidence more fully

.

And from the evidence

cates

rolled up

scroll,

we

learn that t

s . ng,

when t ~ ~ t e s

:he

"ThiS15 we will draw some lessons

for

us

today.

20 THE COUNSEL

of

Chalctdon April, 1992



2. The Significance of the Scroll

n the Gospel accounts of the last

Supper ChIist

picks

up

the

bread and

says,

This is

my body. He picks

up

the

wine cup and says, This is

my

blood.

Obviously

the

bread and wine

are

not

literally

Christ's body and blood (as the

Roman Catholic Church

says); they

are

symbolicaJlyrepresentativeofthern. This

same son of symbolic analogy is em

ployed here in

Zechartah's

vision,

when

we read the angelic explication of the

scroll, Zechartah 5 2-3a. Oearlythescroll

representsacurse--theangelsaysso.

But

what curse? And why?

The scroll

presented

here

seems

to

represent the curses contained in God's

law.

Notice

that ithas wrtting on

it;

it is

not an empty

scroll. Psalm

40:7speaks

of the

Mosaic

law, which prophesied

Christ's

coming, as

being

it

roll of a

wrttten

scroll,

just as here.

So

it would

not be unprecedented

to

speak of the

law as a

roll,

as in a scroll.

But

funher,

since the

curse is threat

ened upon Judah

(for

reasons we

will

investigate in a moment:), it would be

mostapproptiate tocaJlJudahtotheterms

of

the

law of

God.

n

faCl,

a

distinctive

andsignificantelementofGod'slawwas

not

only

the promise of

blessing

for

obedience

but threatening of mrse for

disobedience.

Judgment warnings are

found prominently

in

the law in

Deuteronomy

11; 27; 28; 29; 30;

and

Leviticus26.

Forinstanoe,

Deuteronomy

11:26,29 and 30:1,19

are expressive

of

God's warning of curseupon Israel.

later, in the

last

book of the Old

Testament,

we have

a warning of a

threatenedcurseupenJudahifsherejects

the witness of John the

Baptist (sym

bolicallyrepresentedby

Elijah)

toChtist,

Malachi

4:5-6.

The curse of God's law

hovers

over

the entire region ofjudah,

ready to

fall

upentheJews,Zechatiah5:3. Israelisto

bewarned. NeitherIsraelnorwe canlean

back on the promises of

God

in such a

way as

to assume God must bless us no

matter what. God is a holy

God

who

cannot

overlook

iniquity. God

was

re

mindingJudah tbat

the

same judgment

thatwas poured outupentbembefore in

the Babylonian

exile

couldcome again, if

theycontinued

in sin. He was

reminding

them of

the

conditional nature of His

covenant, which

was

conditioned

on

the

obedience of

the

people

to

God's

holy

law. Contrary to modem

dispensa

tional

theology, God's

covenants

are

not

unconditional,

because

God is a

holy

God.

This

vision

and its counterpan in

the latter penion of

the

chapter

are

sol

emn reminders ofthis

significant

truth.

Neither Judah nor

we

can suppose

thatwemay

sin

that

gracemay

abound.

Histotical hope

is

not dependent upon

chance, but upon

God. The claims

of

God upon His people

are

holy

claims

,

demanding holiness of conduct

How

tertible is it that

so

many

who profess

to

know Chlist

live

in total neglect of His

law and tighteousness. This son of

theological

thinking is not

only

errone

ous,

but

dangerous. As

Anhur

W. Pink

once

wrote,

A

promise misapplied

will

be a seal upen the grave, making

them

sure in

the

grave of sin, wherein

they lay

dead and

rotting.

Now back to

the

vision: Notice

the

feature of the measurement of the scroll,

Zechariah 5:2.

This is not

some

little

detail added

to make

a more attractive

picture. Itisnotaparable,butavision. It

speaks of

more thanmerelya largescroll

-even

though it is unusually large (fifteen

feet by thiny

feet).

The size

is specific;

it

has some

significance. But how?

In

the immediately preceding vision

(Zech.

4) we saw the seven branched

candlestick, which was ortginally housed

in the tabernacle. It wouldseem that this

measurement of the scroll is

also

related

tothetabernacle. Acarefulanalysis ofthe

measurements in Exodus 26 shows that

these measurements are taken from the

holy place of the tabernacle, which was

ten cubits bytwenty cubits. The holy

place was where God appeared in the

tabernacle.

The idea

seems to be

this: The

curse

will be detennined by the measure ofthe

holy place, where the presence of God

resided.

Which being interpreted

means,

it

is

aholycurse

based on God'

slighteous

ness.

God

measures outa holy judgment.

The

curse is threatened to

act

so

as to

cut

the

wicked

ofJudah

off from

the congre

gation of

the Lord, Zechariah 5:3.

In addition, it is imponant

to

note

that the

scroll

is unfurled,

as

is obviousin

that it is measurable. It is also

ftying

across

the Land. This ponrays the scroll

of God's Law-curse

as

open and

visible

for all

in

the

land

to

see.

The

beauty of Israel's God,

the beauty

of our God,

is

that

He

binds Himself

to

His people with an objective, clear,open,

April,

992

THE COUNSEL ofChaIcedon ;. 2



knowable standard of ighteousness. It

is

characteristic ofpagans that they "grope

in

darkness" (Eph. 4). Pagan

philoso

phersandrulers are the"blind leaclingthe

blind." This is the whole

predicament

of

relativisIIlinAmertcanculturetoday:

there

is no known truth;

tty

what you like.

But

it is the delight of

God's

people

that we know in whom we haVe be

lieved."

We'knowwhat God expects of

us."These things bave been written that

you might know." Chtistianity, like Old

TeStament

Judaism, is nota tiJ.Ystety

religion;itisagraciouslyrevealedreligion.

Theocroll ca lsJudah to the

well-known

terms of the covenant God calls us

today, as well.

This

is why we bave the

Bible,

"so that the.

man

of o d ~ i g h t

petfecdyfumlshedforeverygoodwork."

Now the particulars of

the

Ct1rse

are

.

sunllnarizedintwosins,Zechariah5:3-4.

The phrases "according to it" refer to the

scrQll containing the Law's

Ct1rse.

Un

doubtedly more sins

<lte in view,

but

these

tv TO 1\te

representative.

Herewe need again to

reJnemb.er the

historichlcontextof Zechariah:

Tb.e

people bad b1; ilt their own houses and

had neglected the buUding of the Lord's

house,Haggai 1;4; Inlightofthe fact that

the curse is toward Judah and in light of

her historical neglect of rebuilding the

place

of God's worship,

we

probably '

should understand the

sins

summariZed .

as related to the situation.

The stealing

reflects

their refusal to

pay their tithes, so that the temple might

be.rebuilt. MaIacl1ibad

to

rebukeJud1J,h

sotnewhatIaterfotjustsuchasin,

Malac:hi

3:8-10. The iandbelongsto God. The

tithe

was

God's "rent"

o

the Land, as it

were.

By

withholding

the

tithe

and not

rebuilding the temple, Judah was ''rob

bing God," she waS stealing that which

was God's.

Nehemiah even points

to

such robbety in the days of Zechariah,

Nehemiah 13:10-13.

The swearing mentioned is the tak

ing of oaths in God's

Name. Israel as

a

nation was bound by an oath

to

God to

follow

His

Law,

Deuteronomy 29:12. tion.

1he

writer

of

Proverbs waras

that

Yet they were negligent of the

Worship

"the curse of the Lord

is

in the house of

that

was

detnanded in thatoath.

the wicked';

(Prov. 3:33). ]pdah Was

Among theJews oaths were comtnon acting

as

thewickedandwas

in

danger of

fonns of bonds and pledges in daily

life

judgIp.ent

once

again. God Was threat

The Jews were maintaining the words of ening, Zechariah

5:4a.

theirreligionbyc;al.J.ingupontheLordand n 1 KingS

18

the mighty pOWer of

makingoathsinHis

Name,

Zecharlah5:4.

Godover

BaalisiUustrated.

Afterbuilding

Butthesewereemptygestnres,fortbeydid an altar of stone and wood,

the

Baal

notcareenoughforHimandHiswotship prophets attempted

to getBaa1

tQ bring

to rebuild His house of worship.

They

down fire upon the

sacrifioe.

·But Baal.

werebreachingthe

ThirdConmiantimeht,

failed.

Then

whenElijahprayed, weread

Exodus

20:7. Such Was grievous

"false

of

the

Lord's

consuming

judgment, 1

swearing." Eventuallyunder

Nehemiah's Kings

18:38. Notioethe total destruction

ministty

the

Jews

woulddetiJ.oll5trate re- ofthe wood and stones in 1

Kings.

So

pentancefor this breach of covenant and shall God's judgment. fall upon Judah's

bath, Ne )etniah

10:29. houses, though

they

be made of the

How milch this is like the modem finest timber and stone.

American

situation

How many people

The Law .of

God

given

atSinai was

take

asolemn oath

to

God

Oil

the

Bible

in

given

in

the context

of earthquake,

fire,

coun

i t e

their not even

believing

in smoke,

and

ligh :ening fl1 sb. His L1\w

God

In the 1800s in

America

coun spoke of the utter demand for righe

testimony

couldonlybe

offered

by

those

teousness among His

people.

And it

whobelieved nGod, for only they

could

threatened

destruction

for rebellion. This.

roake legititnate,pinding oaths . Even

vety

destruction

is

here threatened upon

governors were sworn into office

with

Judah. isasure,

consuming fire,

bringing

silcred

oaths,

which demanded they

af-

God's curse upon sinners· In Judah,

finn abeliefin

the

God of

Scripture.

Itis Zechariah witnesses God's threat ofme

now

.even illegal

to reverently mention other destruction and deportation for

God's

Namein ourschools, although the JUclah

forcontinued

sinfuloess..Godffid

Declaration

of Independence and the ' not needJudah;]lldah

needed

Him

COll5titUtion both make devout refer- \Vhatisthe$ituation withAmerica, I

ence

to

the

Lord, and

the

Pledge of love America. I would not want

to

live

Allegianceclaimsour being''underGod,'' anywhere else. But ourbelovednation is

and our cOins profess "In God

we

trust" refusing

to

acknowledge the Lord God,

The existence of God gives meaning

to

despite her glorious heritage.

We mll5t

our secular culture. ButJudah

was

and prayforournation. Wemustjointogether

AmeriCais

remiss

regarding this

glorious

in worship and

call

down God's graoe

truth of the importance of truthful upon us. Else our homis will be con

bath-taking. What can issue

forth from

sumed __ timber, stone,and all.

such

a

situation?

May

God

be pleased to give us all,a

, 3. The Consequence of the Scroll spiritofrepentanceforourownsinsand

This vision waras that God's curses· a desire to tell others of Christ and His

may come quickly upon

the

peopk, righteousness,for our God is a consum"

henoetheflyingscroll. AndGod'scurses ingfire.

have historica1

sigoificance, not just po-

God doe s not nee

etic

reeling,

Zechariah 5:4.

Howapropos

IOuda )

neglected

the mericCL

emust turn

building ofGod's house

(Hag. 1:4),

God

would remove her houses in destruc- to Him

22

~ T H

COUNSEL of Chalcedon April, 1992

1992 issue 4 - sermons on zechariah: the flying scroll - counsel of chalcedon

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