The Flying Scroll – Zechariah 5

“Getting honest was the beginning of my healing and recovery” – Quote from my friend, Jessica.

Scripture lets us know that it is very important to God that we live honest, fair, and truthful lives with each other, respecting Him and His name in the process.  The prophet Zechariah’s next of ten visions in the night reflected this need for honesty.

¹ Once again I lifted up my eyes and behold, I saw a flying scroll!

² Then the angel asked me, “What do you see?”

I replied, “I see a flying scroll twenty cubits long and ten cubits wide.”

³ He said to me: “This is the curse that goes out over the face of the whole land: everyone who steals will be swept away from here according to it, and everyone who swears will be swept away from here according to it.” ⁴ “I will send it out”—it is a declaration of Adonai-Tzva’ot (“Lord of Hosts” in Hebrew) —“and it will enter into the house of the thief and into the house of the one who swears falsely by My Name and will reside inside his house destroying it, both its wood and its stones.”  Zechariah 5:1-4 (TLV)

A cubit is around a foot and a half in length, or a bit less than half a meter, so the twenty by 10 cubit scroll in Zechariah’s vision was quite large. His ten visions were centered around the concept of God’s coming kingdom, which will replace all human government and the great empires that precede it.  It will will not tolerate theft or corruption, or dishonesty, nor the use of the name of the Lord in vain for blasphemous speech or to swear to untruths. These practices have been rampant throughout much of human history, and are commonly used in interactions, conversations, and business dealings.  God will root out all of these transgressions from His new kingdom, referring to them as a curse that brings rot to a household as well as to the whole land.

The flying scroll in Zechariah’s vision is likely representative of God’s holy law, the Ten Commandments, bringing judgment upon the whole earth.  The flying scroll is open, with one side judging thievery, and the other, lies and blasphemies.

The problem is that scripture tells us in Romans 3 that ALL people have sinned and fall short of the perfection and glory of God.  Most of us, if not all of us, have lied at one time or another, or taken something that belonged to someone else, or even used the Lord’s name in a blasphemous way in a moment of anger.  Some of us have done all of this, some even on a regular basis.

So, what hope do we imperfect people have of spending eternity with a God so far above us in purity and holiness?

Our hope lies totally with Christ.  Through Him, we have been offered the gift of grace and complete forgiveness through His sacrifice on the cross.  The choice is ours whether or not we want to accept and receive His generous offer.

The path before us is well-illustrated in the gospel account of two thieves who were crucified along with, and on either side, of Jesus.  One thief joined with the crowd in mocking Jesus as He hung there, accusing Him of a humiliating “defeat”.  But the other thief was more thoughtful and humble, and was penitent for his own sins.  While recognizing that he deserved his punishment, he defended Jesus as being totally innocent and unfairly suffering a cruel death. Reading from the account given in the gospel of Luke:

³⁹ One of the evildoers hanging there was jeering at Him, saying, “Aren’t You the Messiah? Save Yourself—and us!”

⁴⁰ But the other one, rebuking him, replied, “Don’t you fear God, since you are under the same sentence? ⁴¹ We’re getting what we deserve for our actions, and rightly so—but this One has done nothing wrong.” ⁴² And he said, “Yeshua, (Jesus in Hebrew), remember me when You come into Your kingdom.”

⁴³ Yeshua said to him, “Amen, I tell you, today you shall be with Me in Paradise.” Luke 23:39-43 (TLV)

If we take an honest at ourselves, we can take account of our sins and shortcomings. We become aware of how we have hurt God, hurt others, and hurt ourselves with our selfish words, thoughts, and actions. The good news is that we can humbly bring them before the Lord for His forgiveness.  And like the penitent thief on the cross who came to his senses, in faith asking Jesus for forgiveness, we, too, will be forgiven, and welcomed by Christ into Paradise in His eternal kingdom.  The Lord will never turn away any sinner who humbly and sincerely seeks His grace and mercy, no matter how wayward our lives have been.  As long as we have breath, there is still time for each one of us to approach the cross of Christ, in faith, to seek His gift of eternal life. His offer is plainly stated in the gospel of John.

¹⁶ “For God so loved the world, that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For God did not send his Son into the world to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.  John 3:16-17 (ESV)

There is a benefit to taking a regular inventory of our behavior, both good and bad, and use what we find to bring our failures before the Lord for forgiveness and to see where we need to make amends to others. 

It is easy to fall short at times in our speech or behavior, but the vision of the flying scroll is there to tell us that God expects us to do our best in all these areas.  When we have fallen down, we humbly approach Him for forgiveness, get up, and seek His power to help us be more successful the next time temptation comes.  It is a lifetime process of learning to lean upon Jesus to live a more holy life. Amen, and we all need improvement there.

Reflection

What does the vision of the flying scroll mean to us today?

As my friend Jessica said, an honest self-appraisal is the beginning of our healing and recovery.

When we realize we have we taken something or cheated someone else out of something that really belonged to them, we give it back.

If we find ourselves using foul language to emphasize a point, or tell filthy jokes to fit in with a crowd, we stop doing so.

If we find ourselves lying or “bending the truth” in order to embellish, avoid consequences or responsibility, we come clean.

If we watch things on the television or online that are blasphemous to the Lord and the principles of His kingdom, we seek to put them down.

With God’s help, we can be better today than we were yesterday.

Father God, we thank You so much for Your limitless grace and mercy towards us.  Like the penitent thief on the cross, we come to Christ for complete forgiveness for our sins and shortcomings.  Help us to walk in Your Light of goodness and to be a person who reflects Kingdom principles.  We ask this in Jesus’ name, Amen.

Have a blessed and joyful day in the Lord today.