The Promise of Purging | Zechariah 5:1-4

Scripture

• Zechariah 5:1–4

About this sermon

Introduction: We come to the 6th vision given to the prophet Zechariah — each one underscoring the initial message given to the prophet in the opening chapter. We said that these visions are intended to encourage the people of Zechariah’s time with the knowledge that God will be with them in the present on the condition of their repentance, and that He is not finished with them in the future. What seems to them to be something small is, in fact, something very significant. It indicates that God has not forgotten His promises, nor has their unfaithfulness nullified God’s determination to accomplish what He promised He would — on an unconditional basis — that would put His glory on display. What God has decreed He will do — He will finish. THE FINAL THREE VISIONS ARE DIFFERENT. This particular vision, at first glance, is different for a few reasons. For one, it is very brief and contains very little explanation regarding the connection between what Zechariah was seeing, and the message being conveyed by what he sees. HOW DOES WHAT HE SEES COMMUNICATE THE MESSAGE GIVEN TO HIM? For another, it doesn’t seem to fit with the theme being established. The previous visions ENCOURAGED. This vision THREATENS. But I will argue that while the warnings of this vision are indeed threatening, they are encouraging FOR THE RIGHT PEOPLE. In addition, what God promises He will do in JUDGMENT is necessary to complete the promises of what He will do in SALVATION. I. WHAT THE PROPHET SAW (vs.1-2) He sees a flying scroll. And, as we will hear in just a moment, IT IS AN OPEN SCROLL. It isn’t rolled up; it is unfolded like a billboard. And it is a VERY LARGE scroll. A cubit was about 18 inches. So, we can say that this scroll was 30 feet long and 15 feet wide. That is what the prophet saw. II. WHAT THE ANGEL SAID (vs.3) What was he to make of what he saw? What is the message being conveyed by this FLYING scroll? A. THE SCROLL SPEAKS OF GOD’S CURSE The scroll represents the OATH OF GOD. It represents (as we will see more clearly in a moment), what God has promised to the one who disregards His law. The curse that comes because of COVENANT UNFAITHFULNESS. God promised blessings to His people as they were faithful to Him. God promised curses to His covenant people if they proved unfaithful to Him. The CURSE is the devastation, the loss, the ruin, the punishment, the judgment, the consuming destruction, that belongs to the life that disregards God and His law. It is true that no one has kept the law without sin except Christ. It is true, as a result of man’s sin, that if we were all examined based upon our faithfulness to God’s law, we would all be under the curse of it, because all have violated it. ESV Galatians 3:10 For all who rely on works of the law are under a curse; for it is written, "Cursed be everyone who does not abide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them." But it is not sinfulness versus sinlessness that is in view here. What is in view here is the difference between believers who love the law of God, and approach that law on the basis of faith in God’s provision for sin, versus the LOST man or woman who has no regard for the law of God and therefore demonstrates his unregenerate nature by brazenly violating the law. IT IS THE JOY OF EVERY BELIEVER TO KNOW THAT HE OR SHE IS NO LONGER UNDER A CURSE, BECAUSE CHRIST BORE THAT PENALTY FOR US. ESV Galatians 3:11 Now it is evident that no one is justified before God by the law, for "The righteous shall live by faith." 12 But the law is not of faith, rather "The one who does them shall live by them." 13 Christ redeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for us-- for it is written, "Cursed is everyone who is hanged on a tree"-- 14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might come to the Gentiles, so that we might receive the promised Spirit through faith.

Topics

• God's Promises