Main Idea: God will remove wickedness from amongst His people.
A Look at the Text:
Zechariah’s night visions continue with two visions that are close in meaning.
First, he saw a massive flying scroll, unrolled, that detailed judgment and curses upon the land (Zech. 5:1-3). Specifically, it targeted those who would steal or swear falsely in God’s name. The scroll would fly out, enter their homes, and tear them down (Zech. 5:4).
Then Zechariah had a second, accompanying vision of a basket.
The basket contained the people’s iniquity and held captive a woman who represented wickedness underneath a lead lid (Zech. 5:5-8). At that moment, Zechariah saw two winged women fly away with the basket, taking it to the land of Babylon where a house would be prepared for it (Zech. 5:9-11).
Together, these visions represented God’s purifying of His people.[1]
Bringing it Home:
In Zechariah 3, the prophet’s vision of the high priest’s cleansing revealed the source of true righteousness. In Zechariah 5, the prophet’s visions of the flying scroll and basket reveal that true righteousness will ultimately not be in status only but to some degree in actuality.
In the New Testament, we see a similar pattern in many of the apostle Paul’s letters. The letters begin by clarifying the basis of salvation as God’s grace. We are saved by grace alone. They clarify that our security doesn’t depend upon our good works or personal righteousness. We are secure because of Christ, His finished work and perfect righteousness.
Yet, that does not mean that God suddenly no longer cares how His people ought to live.
For the latter portion of those letters will then reveal what Christian living is supposed to look like. This is simply the natural response in a life that has been invaded by God’s grace. Many have described this process of Christian growth as “Becoming what you already are.”
In Christ we are declared righteous in God’s sight. We are set apart as holy as His chosen possession. Yet that isn’t the end of the story, for God will then work in our lives to transform us, making us more like His Son.
We won’t just be declared righteous but will grow, albeit imperfectly, to become more righteous. For He works in us both the desire and the power to do what pleases Him (Phil. 2:13). God’s grace is not an invitation to lawlessness but rather to personal transformation wrought by His Spirit.
Now, as before, God still desires for His people to be a holy, distinctive people, as He Himself is holy (1 Pet. 1:14-15; 2:9). We don’t earn this standing. It is graced to us. Yet, at the same time, that grace will be at work within us to shape us as well.
Challenge:
Does grace make me lazy or spur me on towards obedience?
[1] E. Ray Clendenen, “The Minor Prophets,” in Holman Concise Bible Commentary, ed. David S. Dockery (Nashville, TN: Broadman & Holman Publishers, 1998), 385.