Zechariah Sermon Series: Sermon 12
10-27-2024 – Pastor Martin Saine
Chapter 5
Part 1
10-27-24
Summation Chapters 1-4
Chapter 1 opens with a Call to Repentance,
Then in the vision of the rider in the Myrtle trees we see Jesus ready, willing, and able to execute judgment on the enemies of His people. He is shown as anxiously waiting while seated on His war horse. In this vision He will not only avenge them at the designated time, but is eagerly awaiting the day He will return to Jerusalem and promises He will enlarge them and comfort them.
In the vision of the Horns we see God using four world empires to scatter Judah, Israel, and Jerusalem. Simultaneously He also uses four Craftsmen to terrorize and subdue the horns who oppressed and scattered His people, with Jesus Himself being the Ultimate Craftsman who subdues and ends ALL oppression of His people in due time.
Next Zechariah is shown the measuring line with the promise that Jerusalem will be enlarged in blessing and will be inhabited as towns without walls because of the multitudes of people and livestock (reminds us of Eze 38 “un-walled villages”). In this vision the Lord calls upon the four winds of the heavens to bring His people into His land and rejoice because the Lord has again chosen Jerusalem and has judged the nations around them in His fury.
After this we are shown the vision of the High Priest, disgusting, dirty, unclean, and unworthy! Accused by Satan (Satanized, if you will) and without excuse, God’s rebuttal is “And the Lord said to Satan; The Lord rebuke you, Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you! Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?”
Then Joshua was cleaned up and dressed in the righteousness of the Lord while the Angel of the Lord stood by. The rest of this vision testifies that Jesus will walk in the ways of the Lord, obey the commandments of the Lord, and will be given charge over all the house and courts of the Lord. He is introduced here as The BRANCH that will grow up in righteousness to judge the world.
Next we are shown the vision of the Lampstand and Olive Trees in Chapter 4. This is a picture of Jesus as the Anointed One, standing in the midst of His house, perfectly fulfilling the role of High Priest in fullness of the Spirit without limitation, with complete knowledge, and with all power. This chapter also gives a temporal relevance to the hands of Zerubabbel completing the temple with his hands in order to authenticate the prophecy.
All of this speaks of repentance, restoration, rebuilding, blessing, expanding, and the conquest of their enemies. These are all hopeful testimonies that the Lord will again choose and bless them, so don’t give up!
Now in Chapter 5, things take a dark turn. This chapter speaks of judgment, which must take place before the ultimate fulfillment of the blessings that are promised the nation.
Zec 5:1 Then I turned and raised my eyes, and saw there a flying scroll. Notice there is no break between the vision of Chapter 4 and the vision of Chapter 5. I would surmise that it is one continuous vision….
Scroll, not “codex”
Why is it flying?
Hebrews 4:12-13 For the word of God is living and powerful, and sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even to the division of soul and spirit, and of joints and marrow, and is a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart.
And there is no creature hidden from His sight, but all things are naked and open to the eyes of Him to whom we must give account.
The Word is active! It is dynamic, and nobody can hide from it!
This scroll is also written on both sides, which is unusual for a scroll, but not unusual for a legal document, contract or title.
See: Eze 2:1-10 and Rev 5:1
Zec 5:2 And he said to me, “What do you see?” So I answered, “I see a flying scroll. Its length is twenty cubits and its width ten cubits.” This would be familiar to Zechariah because these are the Temple dimensions of the Holy Place as well as Solomon’s Porch. This would be fresh on the peoples mind since they were in the process of rebuilding the temple.
The Holy Place:
The tabernacle was separated into 3 areas, the Outer Court, the Holy Place, and the Most Holy Place (or Holy of Holies). Priests and Levites ministered in the Outer Court where they offered sacrifices for sin and guilt as well as the other sacrifices. In the center of the Outer Court was a place that only the priests could enter. This place was set apart—it was holy.
The tabernacle had only one entrance. Upon entering, a priest would be in the Holy Place, where there were three articles of furniture. One was the golden lampstand, which was to be kept burning continually, giving light to the Holy Place. The second article of furniture in the Holy Place was the table for the bread of presence (or the table of showbread). This bread was baked fresh every week, and only the priests were allowed to eat of it as it was holy as well.
Jesus claimed to be the fulfillment of both of these symbols as the Light of the World (John 8:12) and the Bread of Life (John 6:35). The final article in the Holy Place was the altar of incense. Special incense was to be burned each morning and evening as an offering to the Lord. The Holy Place was set apart (holy) because it was a special representation and reminder of the presence of God.
At the back of the Holy Place was a smaller chamber called the Holy of Holies or Most Holy Place. In this smaller room was the ark of the covenant. On top of the ark was a special area called the mercy seat. This was seen as the throne of God. While God is omnipresent, this location was seen as a special place for God to dwell in the middle of His people. This second chamber could only be entered by the high priest on one day of the year, the Day of Atonement, and only with a blood sacrifice. The high priest would enter the Most Holy Place with smoke (from the altar of incense) to help shield his view and sprinkle blood on the ark of the covenant to atone for the sins of the people. Anyone who entered this chamber when he was not supposed to would be killed.
The tabernacle and the temple emphasized the presence of God in the midst of His people. God was always there and accessible. At the same time, the Holy Place and Most Holy Place emphasized God’s holiness and His inaccessibility due to the sins of the people.
When Jesus died on the cross, three Gospels report that the curtain of the temple, that barrier between the Holy Place and Most Holy Place, was supernaturally torn in two from top to bottom(see Matthew 27:51; Mark 15:38; and Luke 23:45).
The torn curtain symbolized that access to God was now open to all through the death of Christ. The blood of an animal was no longer needed.
Hebrews 10:19–22 says:
Heb 10:19 Therefore, brethren, having boldness to enter the Holiest by the blood of Jesus,
Heb 10:20 by a new and living way which He consecrated for us, through the veil, that is, His flesh,
Heb 10:21 and having a High Priest over the house of God,
Heb 10:22 let us draw near with a true heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled from an evil conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
Solomon’s Porch:
John 10:22 Now it was the Feast of Dedication in Jerusalem, and it was winter.
John 10:23 And Jesus walked in the temple, in Solomon’s porch.
John 10:24 Then the Jews surrounded Him and said to Him, “How long do You keep us in doubt? If You are the Christ, tell us plainly.”
John 10:25 Jesus answered them, “I told you, and you do not believe. The works that I do in My Father’s name, they bear witness of Me.
John 10:26 But you do not believe, because you are not of My sheep, as I said to you.
John 10:27 My sheep hear My voice, and I know them, and they follow Me.
John 10:28 And I give them eternal life, and they shall never perish; neither shall anyone snatch them out of My hand.
John 10:29 My Father, who has given them to Me, is greater than all; and no one is able to snatch them out of My Father’s hand.
John 10:30 I and My Father are one.”
John 10:31 Then the Jews took up stones again to stone Him.
John 10:32 Jesus answered them, “Many good works I have shown you from My Father. For which of those works do you stone Me?”
John 10:33 The Jews answered Him, saying, “For a good work we do not stone You, but for blasphemy, and because You, being a Man, make Yourself God.”
John 10:34 Jesus answered them, “Is it not written in your law, ‘I SAID, “YOU ARE GODS” ‘?
John 10:35 If He called them gods, to whom the word of God came (and the Scripture cannot be broken),
John 10:36 do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?
John 10:37 If I do not do the works of My Father, do not believe Me;
John 10:38 but if I do, though you do not believe Me, believe the works, that you may know and believe that the Father is in Me, and I in Him.”
John 10:39 Therefore they sought again to seize Him, but He escaped out of their hand.
Act 3:1 Now Peter and John went up together to the temple at the hour of prayer, the ninth hour.
Act 3:2 And a certain man lame from his mother’s womb was carried, whom they laid daily at the gate of the temple which is called Beautiful, to ask alms from those who entered the temple;
Act 3:3 who, seeing Peter and John about to go into the temple, asked for alms.
Act 3:4 And fixing his eyes on him, with John, Peter said, “Look at us.”
Act 3:5 So he gave them his attention, expecting to receive something from them.
Act 3:6 Then Peter said, “Silver and gold I do not have, but what I do have I give you: In the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk.”
Act 3:7 And he took him by the right hand and lifted him up, and immediately his feet and ankle bones received strength.
Act 3:8 So he, leaping up, stood and walked and entered the temple with them—walking, leaping, and praising God.
Act 3:9 And all the people saw him walking and praising God.
Act 3:10 Then they knew that it was he who sat begging alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him.
Act 3:11 Now as the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the porch which is called Solomon’s, greatly amazed.
Act 3:12 So when Peter saw it, he responded to the people: “Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?
Act 3:13 The God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the God of our fathers, glorified His Servant Jesus, whom you delivered up and denied in the presence of Pilate, when he was determined to let Him go.
Act 3:14 But you denied the Holy One and the Just, and asked for a murderer to be granted to you,
Act 3:15 and killed the Prince of life, whom God raised from the dead, of which we are witnesses.
Act 3:16 And His name, through faith in His name, has made this man strong, whom you see and know. Yes, the faith which comes through Him has given him this perfect soundness in the presence of you all.
Act 3:17 “Yet now, brethren, I know that you did it in ignorance, as did also your rulers.
Act 3:18 But those things which God foretold by the mouth of all His prophets, that the Christ would suffer, He has thus fulfilled.
Act 3:19 Repent therefore and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out, so that times of refreshing may come from the presence of the Lord,
Act 3:20 and that He may send Jesus Christ, who was preached to you before,
Act 3:21 whom heaven must receive until the times of restoration of all things, which God has spoken by the mouth of all His holy prophets since the world began.
Act 3:22 For Moses truly said to the fathers, ‘THE LORD YOUR GOD WILL RAISE UP FOR YOU A PROPHET LIKE ME FROM YOUR BRETHREN. HIM YOU SHALL HEAR IN ALL THINGS, WHATEVER HE SAYS TO YOU.
Act 3:23 AND IT SHALL BE THAT EVERY SOUL WHO WILL NOT HEAR THAT PROPHET SHALL BE UTTERLY DESTROYED FROM AMONG THE PEOPLE.’
Act 3:24 Yes, and all the prophets, from Samuel and those who follow, as many as have spoken, have also foretold these days.
Act 3:25 You are sons of the prophets, and of the covenant which God made with our fathers, saying to Abraham, ‘AND IN YOUR SEED ALL THE FAMILIES OF THE EARTH SHALL BE BLESSED.’
Act 3:26 To you first, God, having raised up His Servant Jesus, sent Him to bless you, in turning away every one of you from your iniquities.”
Act 5:12 And through the hands of the apostles many signs and wonders were done among the people. And they were all with one accord in Solomon’s Porch.
The Flying Scroll is a picture of the Law (the Curse) going forth over all the earth FROM ITS PLACE!
Where is it?
1Pe 4:16 Yet if anyone suffers as a Christian, let him not be ashamed, but let him glorify God in this matter.
1Pe 4:17 For the time has come for judgment to begin at the house of God; and if it begins with us first, what will be the end of those who do not obey the gospel of God?
1Pe 4:18 Now “IF THE RIGHTEOUS ONE IS SCARCELY SAVED, WHERE WILL THE UNGODLY AND THE SINNER APPEAR?”
1Pe 4:19 Therefore let those who suffer according to the will of God commit their souls to Him in doing good, as to a faithful Creator.
Zec 5:3 Then he said to me, “This is the curse that goes out over the face of the whole earth: ‘Every thief shall be expelled,’ according to this side of the scroll; and, ‘Every perjurer shall be expelled,’ according to that side of it.”
Curse in Hebrew is “Alah”, punishment, retribution, curse of the oath. See Duet 30:1-20
This side…That side…
Ten Commandments were written on two stone tablets, written on both sides
Exo 32:15 And Moses turned and went down from the mountain, and the two tablets of the Testimony were in his hand. The tablets were written on both sides; on the one side and on the other they were written.
Exo 32:16 Now the tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God engraved on the tablets.
They are typically divided into Interactions with God, and Interactions with man both categories being sin… which results in a curse on those who disobey.
Gal 3:13 Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, “CURSED IS EVERYONE WHO HANGS ON A TREE”),
Gal 3:14 that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.
All who reject Christ, be they Jew or Gentile, ARE STILL UNDER THE CURSE!!!
Zec 5:4 “I will send out the curse,” says the LORD of hosts; “It shall enter the house of the thief And the house of the one who swears falsely by My name. It shall remain in the midst of his house And consume it, with its timber and stones.”
This is much like the process for cleansing/destruction of a lepers house. See Leviticus 14:45, Amos Chapters 3 & 4.
Luke 17:17-19
Luk 17:11 Now it happened as He went to Jerusalem that He passed through the midst of Samaria and Galilee.
Luk 17:12 Then as He entered a certain village, there met Him ten men who were lepers, who stood afar off.
Luk 17:13 And they lifted up their voices and said, “Jesus, Master, have mercy on us!”
Luk 17:14 So when He saw them, He said to them, “Go, show yourselves to the priests.” And so it was that as they went, they were cleansed.
Luk 17:15 And one of them, when he saw that he was healed, returned, and with a loud voice glorified God,
Luk 17:16 and fell down on his face at His feet, giving Him thanks. And he was a Samaritan.
Luk 17:17 So Jesus answered and said, “Were there not ten cleansed? But where are the nine?
Luk 17:18 Were there not any found who returned to give glory to God except this foreigner?”
Luk 17:19 And He said to him, “Arise, go your way. Your faith has made you well.”
The vision of the flying scroll in Zech 5, 1-4, “written within and on the back side” is a picture of the Law, (the curse), including the Terms for Redemption with the required seals, flying over the whole earth because all are under the curse.
We also discussed how the dimensions of the flying scroll mimic the dimensions of the Holy Place, and how this all symbolizes the Law, the Curse, and the Redemption all centralizing around one place, The Holy of Holies where God resided. Only the High Priest (after his own sacrifices and purifications) went into this place one day per year, (Yom Kippur – The Day of Atonement) to sprinkle the blood of the lamb for one more year of Grace and covering of sin.
If you would allow for a brief Martinism, I would say that the Holy of Holies in the Temple located on the Temple Mount in the land of Israel and the city of Jerusalem is “The Place of the Scroll.”
The curse, the terms for redemption, the qualifications of the redeemer, the remission of sin, and the Judgment Seat/Mercy Seat all reside(d) in a place WHERE MAN COULD NOT GO!
UNTIL WHEN???
Until the veil was torn! To the believer the tearing of the veil between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies symbolized the removal of the separation between Man and God by and through Jesus Christ, allowing us to “press into” the Holy of Holies because through salvation by faith in Jesus we have been given the power to be called the sons of God and enter His presence. The believer could have physically gone into the Holy of Holies after the veil tore without fear of being struck dead!
To the unbelieving religious rulers (the Nation), this was a horrible, tragic affair that required a quick installation of a spare curtain! Despite the darkness covering the land, a great earthquake shaking the place with graves bursting open and the dead coming out to walk around and proclaim Jesus as Lord, and the tearing of the veil from top to bottom, the unbelieving “suppressed the truth in unrighteousness” and sought a quick return to business as usual with a new curtain and the same old rituals.
The Scroll will go forth from its’ place (The Temple), sent by it’s Author (The Light of the World), because the Nation must be confronted with the curtain again and see the torn curtain for what it was, and accept the the One who sacrificed for all (The Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world) so that the veil that separates man from God might be torn away!
The torn veil still cries out for recognition and God will not let it go……
Judgment BEGINS at the House of God, and will go forth to judge the WHOLE EARTH.
Only then will the Millennial Blessings come to pass for the Nation of Israel.
