Audio Sermons

Building up the Church of Christ:

Search Me O God!

Life B-P Church Worship Service, 24^th March 2024

Text: Zechariah 5:1-11

The Visions of Zechariah (1:7-6:8):

• Zechariah received eight visions in one night on 15 February 519 BC.
• They are full of symbols that are sometimes hard to understand.
• The messages of the first five visions:

1. & 2. God will defeat the gentile kingdoms that oppress His people and hinder the work of building His kingdom.
   3. God will make Jerusalem a great city and protect His people.
   4. God will save His people from their sins through the Messiah.
   5. God’s power will enable His people to rebuild the Temple.

• In the next two visions, God reveals how He deals with all sinners and with all sins.

1. All Sinners Will Be Judged by God’s Holiness (vv.1-4)

• The flying scroll contained the Ten Commandments which reveal how holy God is. (vv.3-4; cf. Exodus 20:7,15; Leviticus 11:45)
• It had the same dimensions as the Holy Place of the Tabernacle, and of the porch of the Temple. (v.2; cf. 1 Kings 6:3)
• Sinners will come under the curse of the Law. (cf. Deuteronomy 28:45, Zechariah 5:3,4; Proverbs 15:3; Numbers 32:23; Joshua 7:1)
• This served as a strong warning to the Jews who were rebuilding the Temple to put away all their sins, and to keep themselves holy.

2. All Sins Will Be Banished from God’s Presence (vv.5-11)

• The ephah is a basket for measuring grain that was sold. Many were using a false ephah for dishonest gain. (v.6; cf. Amos 8:5; Micah 6:10) 

• The woman in the ephah is a personification of idolatry or false worship. (v.7)

• The heavy lid of the ephah symbolises God’s measures to suppress the influence of false worship on His people, including exile. (v.8) 

• Since God’s House was being restored, God alone must be worshipped, and there must be no place for false worship. 

• False worship was banished to the Land of Shinar (Babylon), the place of man’s first concerted rebellion against God. (v.11a; Genesis 11:1-9) 

• While the people in Jerusalem were building God’s house to establish true worship, the people in Babylon would build a house to establish false worship. (v.11b)

Note: Six centuries later, the apostle John saw a vision of:

- The destruction of ‘Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots’ and of false worship (Revelation 17:5,6; 18:21)

- The appearance of the New Jerusalem, where true worship will prevail forever. (Revelation 21:2; 19:8)

God’s Gracious Provision for Sinners 

• By His death on the cross, Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the Law. (vv.3,4; cf. Galatians 3:13)
• By His work of sanctification, Christ will banish every idol from our lives.

Questions for Reflection:

1. How can you apply the Ten Commandments in your life?
2. What dishonest practices at work or business should you avoid?
3. What idols are there in your heart which need to be banished?