Return from Exile: Zechariah 4-6 (3)

Pray Psalm 52.8, 9.
But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God;
I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever.
I will praise You forever,
Because You have done it;
And in the presence of Your saints
I will wait on Your name, for it is good.

Sing Psalm 52.8, 9.
(Warrington: Give to Our God Immortal Praise)
But as for me may I be seen in God an olive ever green!
Ever in God, most kind and just, shall I with joy and gladness trust!

Thanks evermore to our Savior be raised! His faithfulness be ever praised!
Here with Your people, loving God, I wait upon Your Name, so good!

Read Zechariah 5.1-11; meditate on verses 5-11. 

Preparation
1. What did Zechariah see?

2. Where did the women carry the basket?

Meditation
In the covenant background of Israel, baskets were a focus of both blessing and curse (cf. Deut. 24.5, 17). Baskets were everyday objects. Everybody had plenty of them, and one didn’t have to look very far to encounter one. There is a sense in which the basket in Zechariah’s vision represents just about any of the everyday things and experiences of Hebrew life. But in this vision, they are filled with wickedness, here in the form of a wicked woman (vv. 6-8). The angel uses a lead disc to force wickedness down into the basket before two angelic creatures come to carry it away to a far country, to Shinar, or Babylon, which is where those who are captive to wickedness belong (vv. 9, 10).

But the Lord is showing Zechariah that He will carry away the wickedness of His people, remove it from them and set them free to enjoy their vines and fig trees. This will be the result of the coming of the Branch (vv. 1-4). The point, of course, is that God does not want His people to be captive to sin, not in any way or any aspect of their lives. He will take their sins away, as far as the east is from the west, like the scapegoat which carried Israel’s sins away into the desert (Lev. 16.8-10).

But, again, this was for the future. For now, wickedness lingered throughout the “baskets” of Israel, and they seemed little concerned to be free of its power. Yes, there would be times of celebrating God and listening to His Word. But the day-to-day lives and activities of the people were still captive to the evil and wickedness of unbelief and disobedience.

We who claim to believe that Jesus has borne our sins away into a far country must not continue in sin: “For sin shall not have dominion over you, for you are not under law but under grace” (Rom. 6.14). We cannot glorify God in the “whatever you do” baskets of our lives if we are still captive to sin there (1 Cor. 10.31).

Treasures Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
“This is the way of an adulterous woman:
She eats and wipes her mouth, and says,
‘I have done nothing wrong’” (Prov. 30.20).

As we peer over the edge into the Babylonian basket of today, we can see that is it full of those who have no fear of God (Ps. 36.1; Rom. 3.18), and maintain, with great assurance, that they are guilty of no wrongdoing. But God’s Word is true. It is the same Word that He spoke in the Old Testament and the New. It is constant. It never changes. It is the same yesterday, today, and forever (Heb. 13.8).

Remember the TV show Romper Room, where the hostess looked through her magic mirror and could see all of us watching from home?  “I see Johnny and Tommy and Bonnie and Freda…” 
I picture this basket viewing as Romper Room in the Twilight Zone. A frightening horror show, to say the least. Because what if we hear God say that He sees us in that basket? Or our church? Are we in peril of being carried off by the two stork-winged angels? Is there anything we or our churches are doing that could be perceived, in God’s eyes, as Wickedness (Zech. 5.8)?

Is God first and foremost in my life? (Ex. 20.3; Matt. 22.37-40)
Is anything more important to me than He is? (Ex. 20.4; Rev.1.8)
Do I ever bear the name Christian hypocritically? (Ex. 20.7; Zech. 5.4; Jms. 1.22)
Do I remember to keep the Sabbath day holy? (Ex. 20.8; Mk. 2.27)
Do I, or did I, honor my mother and father? Or others put in authority over me? (Ex. 20.12; Rom. 13.1)
Do I commit murder? Either physically or verbally? (Ex. 20.13; Matt. 5.21, 22)
Do I commit adultery in my body or mind? (Ex. 20.14; Matt. 5.27, 28)
Do I steal from others or from God? (Ex. 20.15; Zech. 5.4; Mal. 3.8-10)
Do I bear false witness against others or God? (Ex. 20.16; Zech. 5.4; Col. 3.9)
Do I perpetually covet what is not mine? (Ex. 20.17; Heb. 13.5)

We have a vision of the basket and its contents.
God has vision and an opinion about the basket and its contents.
When we agree upon our visions of the basket and its contents we will cry out: “God, be merciful to me a sinner!” (Lk. 18.13)

But then we hear Jesus say: “I tell you, this man went down to his house justified…for…he who humbles himself will be exalted” (Lk. 18.14).

“For by grace you have been saved through faith, and that not of yourselves;
it is the gift of God, not of works, lest anyone should boast.
For we are His workmanship created in Christ Jesus for good works,
which God prepared beforehand that we should walk in them” (Eph. 2.8-10).

Out of the basket, into His glorious grace, to get to work pulling others out.

For reflection
1. What do you do to keep from straying into the path of wickedness?

2. How can Christians encourage one another to resist the temptation to turn away from God?

3. How do you expect to know whenever you stray into a wicked way? What should you do then?

We may consider the meaning to be, ― that God would take away iniquity from Judea by cleansing his Church from all defilements, since the Jews could not partake of his blessing except iniquity were driven afar off and banished. John Calvin (1509-1564), Commentary on Zechariah 5.5-11

Pray Psalm 52.1-7.
Give thanks and praise to God that He has delivered you from your sins. Pray for those who are still in their sins, that the Good News of Jesus might reach and save them.

Sing Psalm 52.1-7.
(Warrington: Give to Our God Immortal Praise)
Why do the mighty boast in sin? God’s love endures, it knows no end!
They with their tongues vain boasts repeat, and like a razor, work deceit.

Men more than good in evil delight, and lies prefer to what is right.
They utter words, both harsh and strong, with their devouring, deceitful tongue.

God will forever break them down, uproot, and cast them to the ground!
He from their safety tears them away, no more to know the light of day.

The righteous see and laugh and fear, and say, “Behold, what have we here?
Such are all who at God conspire, and wealth and evil ways desire.”

T. M. and Susie Moore

Two books can help us understand our own captivity and lead us to seek revival and renewal in the Lord. The Church Captive asks us to consider the ways the Church today has become captive to the world. And Revived! can help us find the way to renewal. Learn more and order your free copies by clicking here and here.

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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter (Williston: Waxed Tablet Publications, 2006), available free by clicking here.