Nepaug Bible Church - http://www.nepaugchurch.org - Pastor's Evening Sermon Notes - http://www.nepaugchurch.org/ev/ev20090517.htm

THRU THE BIBLE EXPOSITION
Zechariah: Paving The Path Toward A Blessed Future
Part II: Encouraging God's People About The Coming Messianic Kingdom, Zechariah 1:5-6:15
F. God's Edifying Warning About Materialism In His People
(Zechariah 5:1-4, 5-11)
  1. Introduction
    1. The economy in this recession occupies a great amount of the world's attention, for the nations view money as the key to their future welfare, and Matthew 6:24 with 31-32 explains this why they seek it!
    2. When God directs His people to be holy like He is (1 Peter 1:16), this call includes holiness in relation to money, and God's lesson on the subject is explained in visions six and seven of Zechariah's night visions:
  2. God's Edifying Warning About Materialism In His People, Zechariah 5:1-4, 5-11.
    1. After giving His people five comforting visions, the theme changed to one of warning in the related sixth and seventh visions of Zechariah's eight night visions, cf. Merrill F. Unger, Zechariah , 1974, p. 83, 91.
    2. This theme shift reflects the fact that before God can bless His people, especially regarding the installation of the Messianic Kingdom, He must overcome their sin, particularly as it relates to the abuse of money and the material goods that it can buy, a fact visions six and seven explain (as follows):
      1. Zechariah's sixth night vision addresses the need for God's people to purge materialism out of their personal lives both in Zechariah's era and before the installation of the Kingdom, Zechariah 5:1-4:
        1. The sixth night vision presents Zechariah seeing a flying scroll that is open, its length being twenty cubits and its width ten cubits, Zech. 5:1-2. The scroll as suspended in air suggests it contains God's supernatural power as His Word (Ibid., p. 84, cf. Hebrews 4:12), and its dimensions that match the dimensions of the tabernacle (Exodus 26:15-25) in this context implies it typifies God's curse based on the Mosaic Covenant that must be meted out before the arrival of His Kingdom, Ibid., p. 85.
        2. Two of the Ten Commandments are written, one on the first side, and the other on the second side, representing all of God's Laws, and these two commands in particular focus on Israel's materialism in the sins of stealing and swearing falsely for personal material gain, Zech. 5:3 NIV; Ibid., p. 86!
        3. God promised to bring His Word, the flying scroll, into the house of the thief and of him who swore falsely in order to judge them and destroy their materialistic homes, Zech. 5:4. Personal materialism was a prevalent vice in Israel then as seen in the writings of Haggai 1:2-6 and Nehemiah 13:15-22.
      2. Zechariah's seventh night vision addresses the need for God to purge materialism out of the nations in the form of Babylon the Great as personal materialism will spread to infect the world, Zech. 5:6-11:
        1. The returned exiles had contracted a heavy dose of materialism from the very materialistic Babylon where they had been exiled, Ibid., p. 91. Thus, Zechariah's seventh vision addresses God's final judgment of such Babylonian materialism that will involve the world's nations in the end time, Ibid.
        2. Accordingly, God revealed an ephah container used in marketing grain that had as a cover a talent of lead used in balancing weights for making commercial transactions, Zech. 5:5-7a; Ibid., p. 94-95.
        3. Under the talent in the ephah was a woman contentedly sitting, typifying the false world religion that will immerse itself in world materialism in the end time, Zechariah 5:7b; Ibid., p. 95-96.
        4. However, when God judges "Babylon the Great" (Revelation 17-18), He will force it to stay in the commercial realm it chose though it tries to escape it, a fact seen in the woman's being forced to stay in the ephah under the talent as God's angel shoves the talent down over the woman to entrap her, Zech. 5:8. Two unclean storks symbolizing demons take the ephah with the woman in it back to Babylon, symbolizing the purging of the world from false religious entities and materialism initiated in Babylon in the day God destroys vile "Babylon the Great," Zech. 5:10-11; Ibid., p. 96-99.
Lesson: Materialism is an evil God wants purged from His people in their personal lives, for this sin is so infectious and eventually so cruelly destructive, it will one day form the huge, vicious, apostate world religion that God will destroy in the coming Great Tribulation Period before the Messianic Kingdom!

Application: In view of the awful nature and eventual effects of this sin, may we NOT SERVE material goods or the money it buys, but SERVE GOD and look to HIM as our SOLE Source of LIVELIHOOD.