The End of Sinners and Sin
Zechariah 5:1-11
As we come to the fifth chapter tonight of this great prophetic book we could entitle the fifth chapter “The Ultimate End of Sinners and Sin”.
That’s hard for us to imagine isn’t it? We’ve never known an existence without sin. We have no point of reference on what that’s like. And even our longing for justice to come and God to set things right is oftentimes tainted by our own twisted, selfish desires to see our enemies and offenders dealt with.
But ultimately the promise of God is that there will come an end to sinners and sin.
You say, "When is this going to be?" It's going to be in the time of the kingdom. God is going to begin to judge when Jesus comes to set up His kingdom. And the Bible says in Matthew 24:25, the first thing He does when He returns to earth is judge the nations. And then as the kingdom of a thousand years begins He will rule with what, a rod of iron and He will judge instantly sin. And at the end of that thousand-year period there will be what the Bible calls the great white throne judgment, the end of all judgment on sin, so that you have at the beginning of the kingdom, during the kingdom and the end of the kingdom great information about judgment.
And from now until that time men are going to get worse and worse and worse. In II Timothy 3:13, it says, "And evil men shall grow worse and worse."
And in II Thessalonians Chapter 2, it says, "That the mystery of iniquity which already works will continue to work and to grow until Christ comes and it will grow under the anti-Christ, under the son of perdition, says Paul in II Thessalonians. Apostasy will flourish. And so from our time until Jesus comes evil is going to get worse and worse and there will be an apostasy, there will be a falling away, there will be a falling away of Israel, the Old Testament indicates. There will be a falling away of the church and we're already seeing it aren't we?
Apostasy is a key word to define the church today, the apostate church. And it will all reach a terrible, terrible climax during the period of the tribulation when all hell breaks loose, and sin like no one every dreamed possible will occur. Why? because in Revelation 9, for one thing, the Bible says that God unlocks the pit and lets every bound demon that is bound there temporarily, out of the pit and they run over the earth and they bring men against God in a terrible final display of sin.
And so you hate to say it, but before it gets better it's going to get worse. And He will begin to judge and then Jesus will come and He will begin to judge and He will judge all through the kingdom and He will judge at the end.
Now this is the subject of Zechariah Chapter 5. Let's look at it.
At this point we’ve seen five or the eight visions Zechariah is given. And Remember, these visions were to comfort Israel. That’s what we’ve seen in the first five.
God is aware of their situation, and is at work to set things right. He comes in power to defeat Israel’s enemies; He is there with them; they will reestablish the temple and worship, and the city will be filled, and all of it will be done by the power of God.
And the natural question that would be asked at this point by any godly Jew would be this: God, it's very wonderful to hear about all this comfort, very wonderful to hear about what You're going to do in rebuilding and restoring the city and the temple and bringing the Messiah and all of these wonderful things, they're so great to hear, and making Your people the witness people and saving them and cleansing them.
It's all great, but God what about the sinners and what about the ungodly? What happens to them? What is going to be their part in the kingdom? What is going to be their part in the great day of the restoration? And primarily they are referring to Jews and their thinking would be there are many Jews who are outwardly Hebrew but inwardly they're not Jews. There are many sinners that have prospered in their sin and they've caused suffering for the nation and that was true.
So what about them? And the answer comes in Chapter 5. And the answer is: God will deal with them in His own time.
Now remember the message of the first five visions has been of comfort. Historically and prophetically it's been of comfort.
Historically the comfort came in the knowledge that they would rebuild their temple in Zerubbabel's time and rebuild their wall and they'd have a sense of security again and they'd begin to worship God.
And do you know that from the time that they rebuilt their temple, after the captivity, they have never been idolatrous since? The Babylonian purged Israel of idolatry. They've never been any false Gods' tolerated there. Oh they may worship money and things like that, but none of the gods of the nations.
And so there was a sense of restoration to worship, and the prophecy historically said they would be safe from their enemies. But there was much more to the prophecy than the historical and that was the prophetic one.
And Zechariah was really looking way beyond Zerubbabel and way beyond Zechariah and way beyond Nehemiah, and way beyond Haggai, and he was saying, "Someday there will be a glorious new city built with unlimited boundaries. And no walls, and a glorious temple, and there will be an internal cleansing of the nation, as they are brought into salvation, and we saw that in Chapter 3 as Joshua, the high priest, symbolizes the people and he is cleansed. And they will be restored, as we saw last time, to their original call to be God's witnesses to the world.
And then in Chapter 5 God says but before that can all happen, God has to deal with sin. God has to deal with righteousness against sinners, and that's what this vision of Chapter 5 is talking about. And in fact there are two visions, and the two visions have three parts.
And what it's saying is that God will judge sinners..
Now before we get into this vision, let me point out something I’ve noticed: As we move through these visions, there seems to be less and less interpretation provided. In the earlier ones, Zechariah is asking “What does this mean?” or being asked if he understood, but as we move along there is not so much of that. Apparently, he’s “getting it”; he’s seeing the bigger picture and building off the earlier foundation he is able to understand the later ones.
And the reason I say that is because I want you to understand that we are interpreting them as we go built upon what we've already known because there isn't much interpretation given.
Now let's look at three features in this chapter:
1. God's Judgment on the Sinner
Here we see God move against sinners as He purges the earth for the setting up of the kingdom. It is the darkness before the kingdom dawn.
verses 1-4
Now let me show you what this is saying. There are three elements here on God's judgment on the sinner.
The key is verse 3
Now, this is a curse that goes over the whole world. It is an act of divine judgment on the sinner.
It results, in the end of verse 4, in consuming his house, the timber and the stones, total devastation, total destruction of the sinner. That's the message of this vision.
Now there are three things that I want you to see, three elements:
Let's look at the criterion for judgment, verse 1.
What is a flying scroll? Well you know what a scroll is. Two sticks and on those two sticks is wound a long piece of papyrus or hide. And you begin at one point and you just roll. And, of course, in Hebrew you go backwards so you're rolling backwards and as you roll you read.
Now this must have been a large scroll. Its length was 20 cubits, its breath was 10 cubits, so that is 30 feet by 15 feet. That's a big piece of whatever. There is an Egyptian papyrus that was found that was 133 feet long and 17 inches wide. And incidentally, have you ever heard of the Egyptian book of the dead? That's on a scroll 123 feet by 19 inches, all one solid sheet of papyrus in those cases.
Now here is this huge 30 by 15 sheet of writing on both sides actually, and notice it's unwound. How do I know that? Well that's the only way you would know it was 30 by 15, and it's flying, it's in motion, it's a wide-unrolled scroll flying through the air.
Now I want to tell you something interesting. It is exactly the size 30 by 15; it is exactly the size of the Holy Place in the tabernacle. You remember that the Holy Place in the tabernacle was 30 by 15 and the Holy of Holies was 15 by 15 by 15.
So this is exactly the size of the Holy Place, and I would suggest to you that is not coincidence. If you see something that is exactly the size of the Holy Place, that means that God has made that thing to conform to divine dimensions. That means that the scroll is a divine standard.
Now remember, we are talking about God’s criteria for judgment against the sinner. So here we are being told that the criterion for God's judgment will be the divine standards. Do you see the point? God made that scroll to conform to the Holy Place in the tabernacle in the temple because that was the form of divine measurement, and the flying scroll is simply the curse that is based on God's divine measures.
That's the criterion for judgment.
This is a symbol of the word of God, and it is the word of God that is alive and powerful and sharper than any two-edged sword that pierces and divides asunder. It is the word of God that is the criterion.
Now let me tell you another thing interesting. In verse 3 he says, "This is the curse that goes forth over the face of the earth," and it says, "On this side and on that side." You see that in verse 3? This side and that side.
You want to hear something interesting? That is exactly the same phrase that is used to speak of the Mosaic Law when it was given on tables of stone, on this side and on that side.
Look at Exodus 32:15
Again, this scroll is aligned with a divine standard; it is like the temple and the tabernacle Holy Place.
It is like the Mosaic Law. And what it is saying is that it is a divine standard by which God is going to judge. God sets the criterion for judging sin.
In Romans 2:1, Paul says, "Therefore you are inexcusable, O man, whoever you are who judge, for in whatever you judge another you condemn yourself; for you who judge practice the same things.”
Now listen to verse 2: "But we know that the judgment of God is according to truth against those who practice such things.”
What does that mean? God judges, not on the basis of works, but on the basis of truth. And what is truth?
Jesus said, "Thy word is truth," John 17:17.
Judgment will be on the basis of the word of God. So the criterion for God's judgment on the sinner is God's word.
One day everyone will stand before God, and if they have violated His word and rejected the only sacrifice for sin, Jesus Christ, they will be judged guilty.
That’s the criterion by which sinners will be judged. Then notice
The Completeness of Their Judgment.
verse 3
Look at how encompassing is this prophecy: face of the whole earth, and in particular, two commands are mentioned: stealing and swearing falsely.
Why these two? Well remember, the law had two sides. God wrote His law on one side of this table of stone and on the flip side He wrote the rest of it. There were five laws on one side and five laws on the other side. On the front side the command about stealing is the third command. That makes it the middle of the five.
On the other side, swearing falsely is the third of the five, the middle of that five. And by referring to the middle one on both sides of God's law, He is encompassing the whole law. Half of the commandments define a man's sin against God and the second half a man's sin against his brother.
And so we find that by taking one command from each side of the Mosaic Law, the middle command, He is representing the whole Law and He is simply saying that if a man defiles God's law on one side or God's law on another side, he'll be cut off.
Now who would fall into that condemnation? Would you? I would. Did you ever lie? I did. Did you ever covet? I did, do. So you see we all fall into that.
But you see some of us have been saved by God's grace through the shed blood of Jesus Christ because we received Him by faith and His blood is applied to our sin and we're no longer condemned. And if a person doesn't have the salvation of Jesus Christ, he must stand condemned by those acts of violating God's law. And it says he will be expelled; cut off.
What does that mean?" It means to be wiped out. It is used in Isaiah 3:26 of a city that was totally destroyed. He will be destroyed. Notice the totality and the completeness of judgment. The criterion is the word of God, the completeness means everyone who sins will be totally wiped out of any possible blessing.
And thirdly, the certainty of judgment.
Verse 4
In case you doubt that, God says, "I the Lord of hosts will see to it.”
And you know when that judgment begins to break out, Revelation Chapter 6 says, "The people cry for the rocks and the mountains to fall on them to hide them from the face of the one who comes."
It's a terrible judgment. It is certain. It shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him who swears falsely by My name, and it will remain in the midst of his house and consume it with its timber and its stones. Complete and certain judgment!
In our present day there is grace as God waits and suffers long with the sins of men while the gospel is preached and God is silent to the blasphemes and the crimes of sinners.
But in the millennial dawn, in the day when Jesus comes, the unrelenting curse of God will ferret out every sinner in the world and destroy him before the kingdom and when sinners are born in that kingdom and they sin against God the rod will drop on them and consume, it says in verse 4, or exterminate. Thorough judgment! Listen, any chastening that happens to overtake a sinner in this life is only a token of the terrible things that yet are to come.
No wonder Jude 14 says, "And Enoch also, the seventh from Adam, prophesied of these things: behold the lord comes with ten thousand of His saints to execute judgment upon all and to convict all that are ungodly among them of all their ungodly deeds, which they have ungodly committed, and of all their hard speeches, which ungodly sinners have spoken against Him."
So the first vision deals with the judgment of God on the sinner himself.
The second vision verse 5, deals with
2. God's Judgment on Sin
Not the sinner so much, as sin, although the sinner is inextricably connected. This again is clearly millennial in its ultimate interpretation. It has a present condition in Zechariah's time. The Jews had recently returned from Babylon. Outwardly they had put away pagan idolatry. They really had. It never rose again, but inwardly in their hearts they had become materialistic.
They had hung around Babylon just long enough to get sucked into materialism. The foreign commercial emporium of Babylon had granted to them a kind of new greed that they never knew before. The spirit of self-centered materialism that had been so foreign to Israel, when they were shepherd people, had overtaken them since the spell of Babylon had been cast on them.
And Nehemiah Chapter 5 is a chapter written to rebuke the spirit of selfish materialism in the post-Babylonian captivity Israelites. And Malachi 3:8-9, does the same thing saying that they have robbed God in their greed. And incidentally it is the greed and the commerce and the economics of materialism that formulate the final world empire of Babylon, isn't it, Revelation 18.
Let's look at verse 5.
What is an ephah?" An ephah was the largest measure for measuring grain. It would be like a barrel today. An ephah equals 1.05 bushels, 8 gallons, or 38.86 quarts. It's like a big barrel, and it was what was used to measure grain, to carry flour or to carry barley.
So what he sees is an ephah filled up and it represents is the iniquity of Israel is full. Israel's sins are heaped up. The largest possible measure in the Jewish society was an ephah, and he is saying, "You're not sinning by the quart any more, you're sinning by the ephah, fully heaped up." And this basically was the sin of materialism and this is exactly what it will be in the end time. God will look down at the society of mankind just before Jesus comes and He will see nothing but materialism all over the globe.
Religion will be dead because the church will be gone and all that will be left will be a worldwide economic materialistic society. And when God sees materialism piled high, when God sees the idea of the fatness of sin heaped up like grain in a big barrel then He's going to act.
verse 7
God keeps the lid on evil, none gets out, because when God comes to wipe out sin He's going to do a job on it and there isn't going to be one grain outside.
Now this is a tremendous prophecy. The idea of the ephah and the grain being symbolic of wickedness carries the thought, as I mentioned earlier, that it is an economic wickedness, that it is a economic trafficking like grains in a basket where the commodity of exchange. And so what the prophet is saying is in the future the final form of wickedness, which God will slam the lid on and judge will be an economic materialistic wickedness that is literally heaped up and through all the earth, it says in verse 6, a world-wide system of materialism.
Now I'll tell you something people, we're fast moving toward that, aren't we?
Turn with me for a moment to Revelation 18, and I want you to see what the system looks like in the eyes of John the apostle, the same system that Zechariah sees in the vision.
In fact, how interesting that it is called Babylon, here.
Revelation 18:1-2
The final form of the world's system of economics and materialism is called Babylon.
It was the Babylon of the time of Zechariah that was so materialistic, and it was the Babylon at the time of the tower of Babel that spawned the whole thing to begin with. And God has always identified that same anti-God materialistic idolatrous self-worship as Babylon. It's always been called that.
And now we see this system in Revelation 18, Jesus is coming and the system is about to be smashed.
Verse 3 defines the system.
In other words the whole world has gotten in on the orgy with this system. And here is a picture of the economics of the last times.
verse 7-19
So Zechariah sees the same thing. He sees a basket and that speaks of materialism and trade and commerce. And it is heaped with grain that symbolizes sin, and God slams the lid on the basket and not one thing escapes and God comes in sweeping judgment.
Now what about the woman in the basket? Well, there's always one confusing thing in every one of these things. This is a woman that sits in the midst of the ephah and he said, "'this is wickedness and he threw that in with the rest of it. It's simply this: the grain in the barrel symbolizes the system, the economy, the materialism, the woman symbolizes the evil of it.
Think about it: the church is called the bride of Christ. In the Old Testament, Israel is commiting adultery on God.
So a woman, Old Testament and New, is a reference to God’s people. Therefore, Satan’s substitute religion is spoken of as a woman as well.
Whenever there is a false church she is a prostitute and religious prostitution is pictured as a woman. We see that in the 17th chapter of Revelation or the false religious system is called Babylon, the mother of harlots. And so she is wickedness. She is a symbol of sin, and so we see that the whole system, the whole Ecclesiastical Babylon, the whole economic Babylon, the whole false church, the whole false materialistic economy is going to be thrown in the same basket. God's lid is going to be slammed on the top and God is going to move out in judgment.
And so God will deal in judgment on the sinner and God will deal in judgment on sin and He'll heap the whole thing in one basket and when God takes care of sin, folks, it'll be taken care of.
And by the end of the millennial kingdom, God will have finally and completely dealt with sin and we’ll enter the new heaven and the new earth and there will never be any more sin at all. It'll all be in the basket and the basket will get God's destruction. Won't that be a wonderful world? No sin. And what's most amazing about it is you and I will be allowed to be there because we’ll be purified and you and I won't contaminate it.
We see God's judgment on sin and sinners and lastly we see
3. God’s Judgment on the System
verses 9-11
Shinar is another name for Babylon. And Zechariah way back there saw that the final form, the end of the world, would be Babylon, set up all over again; exactly what Revelation 17 and 18 says. And so here is the system.
Now these two women can fly fast; the wind is in their wings. They have wings like a stork. Who are these two women? Are they good angels or bad angels?"
Well number one, good angels are never seen as women, and as we’ve already seen, women are often symbols of religious evil.
So my own conviction is that they are demons and I say that because for one thing they are associated with the other woman in the basket who is wickedness, and for another they are protective of that basket., They set it up on its base and that seems to imply they are responsible for organizing the Babylonian system.
Also, according to Leviticus 11 and Deuteronomy 14, storks are unclean birds, and I don't think God would use an unclean bird to symbolize a holy angel, and I think another reason is in the final end of everything evil spirits will set up the final kingdom of evil. So I think you've got a couple of demons. They grab the basket and they fly off to ancient Babylon.
And there we see evil coming full circle. Where did worldwide evil begin? Babylon! Where's it going to end? Babylon! Some people think the literal city of Babylon will be rebuilt. Maybe. I don't know.
I think the point here is not so much that a literal city will be rebuilt as there will be a restructure of a worldwide anti-God Babylon mentality with a false religious materialistic self-centered kind of mentality.
A God-defying Babylon will be rebuilt again. And it will be judged. It shall be established and set on its base, but God is going to come in judgment. His curse that is mentioned in the vision before is going to sweep over that system as well, and we'll find more about that as we get into Chapter 6.
Listen, God is going to judge sin as a totality and wipe it out. God is going to judge sinners as individuals and wipe them out. And God is going to judge the evil sin system of the world in its final great form during the tribulation and wipe it out, and then He's going to rule with a rod of iron.
When is all this going to happen?
When Jesus comes.
When is Jesus coming? I don’t know. God knows
What are we to do? Be ready and watching.
