ZECHARIAH 5
This chapter stands in very marked contrast with the previous one. In chapter 4 we see a vessel of light, which in a symbolical way answers perfectly to the mind of God. But chapter 5 is descriptive of the actual state of things which had come about in Israel, and which called for divine judgment, and what we see set forth here in a figurative way has also come to pass in the Christian profession. Zechariah sees a flying roll, and he is told, “This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole land: for every one that stealeth shall be cut off according to it [p. 106] on this side; and every one that sweareth shall be cut off according to it on that side”, verse 3.
There is an immense amount of dishonesty in the Christian profession; people appropriate to themselves what they have no right to whatever. Indeed, every bit of Christian profession that is not the product of the work of God may be regarded as stolen goods; it is the natural man appropriating what belongs only to the household of faith. Joshua in chapter 3 is an example of one who had things in a righteous way. His condition was fully exposed, and it was met in a divine way, so that he was righteously entitled to stand in the presence of God as perfectly suitable to be there. He was made to know that he was a brand plucked out of the fire, but his iniquity was caused to pass from him, and he was clothed with festival-robes. Iniquity could not pass from any one apart from the death of Christ, and the cleansing of His blood, and no-one could be clothed with festival-robes except as having Christ as His righteousness. It is all of pure mercy, and a gift of infinite grace, and the one who gets it is simply a repentant sinner with no title to anything in himself. He has no need to steal, for all that he needs is freely given, according to the riches of God’s grace. But for this to be known in truth there must be a personal dealing of God with the soul, so that one is genuinely convicted of sin, and brought to know the value of Christ and of the redemption which is in Him. Any Christian profession which does not rest on this ground can only be regarded as stealing what does not belong to it, and it will result in condemnation.
The Lord said, “Every plant which my heavenly Father has not planted shall be rooted up”, Matthew 15: 13. “Many shall say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied through thy name, and through thy name cast out demons, and through thy name done many works of power, and then will I avow unto them, I never knew you. Depart from me, workers of lawlessness”, Matthew 7: 22, 23. Such persons had stolen the Lord’s name, and had used it in a wonderful way without having any right to it. There were certain Jewish exorcists at Ephesus who took in hand to call upon those who had wicked spirits, the name of the Lord Jesus, but on their lips it was a stolen name; they had no right to it. So it is with all profession that has not its roots in a true work of God in the soul.
Swearing falsely by Jehovah’s name means that something wrong is accredited by linking that name with it. Jehovah will [p. 107] not hold him guiltless that does so; see Exodus 20: 7 and margin. The Lord’s name has been connected with many things in Christendom that He hates, and this will surely bring down His judgment. If we name the name of the Lord we must withdraw from iniquity, that is, from things which are not right in His sight.
In verses 5 - 11 Zechariah sees another vision, and this time it is an ephah into the midst of which a woman is cast who is named “Wickedness”. This answers to what is called in the New Testament “the mystery of lawlessness”, which had begun to work in the apostles’ days (2 Thessalonians 2: 7), and which will continue to work until it issues in complete apostasy. We gather from the woman being seen as sitting in the ephah, and shut up in it by the weight of lead, that God is pleased at the present time to put certain restrictions upon what is lawless. It is a great comfort to the people of God that it is so. However free men may appear to be to do evil, there is a definite measure beyond which they cannot go. The mystery of lawlessness is there, as it were, alongside the golden lamps of chapter 4. The elements of apostasy are present, and God would have them to be discerned by His people, but He would have them to know that those elements are under restriction. The presence of the assembly on earth as the vessel of the Spirit is a restriction upon lawlessness. The more the features of the vessel of light come into evidence the greater the check upon what is evil. The development of spirituality in the saints is extremely important from this point of view.
God has His own way and time to deal with lawlessness in judgment. He will not deal with it publicly until it is fully matured, and this will not be until the present restrictions are removed. The scripture before us tells us that the ephah would have a house in the land of Shinar, and be established there. It will ultimately be found in full development, and then God will judge it. “Wickedness” is not seen here as destroyed or consumed; it is seen as limited, but reserved to be dealt with when its character comes out fully. Paul instructed the young believers at Thessalonica in these things, so that it is a matter which we all need to understand.
The mystery of lawlessness is the working of Satan which will culminate in the revelation of the man of sin. This is set forth in the woman in the ephah. She represents the working of lawless will, and particularly as acting in the sphere where there has been light from God. If we do not judge this principle of lawlessness it will work in us against what is of God, and the features of the [p. 108] vessel of light will not appear in us. But the working of God in His saints is all on the line of bringing them out here as the “lamp-stand all of gold”, that there may be a vessel marked by spirituality, in which everything contributes to the shining of divine light.