Today’s passage is Zechariah 5.
The angel shows Z a 30 foot flying scroll that curses thieves on one side and those who swear falsely on the other. It flies into the houses of thieves and false swearers, banishes them and destroys the houses.
Then the angel shows Z a big measuring basket with a woman symbolizing the wickedness of those in Israel inside. Two women with wings like storks fly the basket to Babylon.
Why such a flying scroll? Why the wings of a stork?
In today’s passage, wickedness is measured and then banished by God.
No one would miss a 30 foot flying scroll going into a house.
This shows that God knows who is wicked.
His word will convict them and banish them.
The wickedness of the land fills a measuring basket and then is flown to Babylon, a way of banishing it.
In Wednesday’s sermon, Pastor Kim said that Zechariah was written to encourage those who were rebuilding the church.
Today’s events show God doing what we can’t.
How can I banish thievery and telling lies from my heart and my actions?
How can I put all my wickedness in a basket and have a couple of stork women fly it to the richest and most worldly city, which enslaves my heart, mind and spirit?
I can’t but God can.
That’s why the scroll and basket are like items in a fairy tale.
They are beyond my power and ability.
They belong to the saving, encouraging power of almighty God.
My wife and I are building a small house in Yangpyeong.
It is like a miracle to us.
We don’t even feel like we are building it.
God is doing it, inspiring us with a design and showing us where we have money to pay for it.
The house is not to reward us for anything we did, but to encourage us to keep building the church in our lives, our families, and our workplaces.
God measures us with his word and we see our sins through it and repent.
His forgiveness flies those sins away to the cities I long to live in#8212;NY and London#8212;places that excite me with their overwhelming riches of beauty, energy, and endless creativity.
But always I have to let my desire for those Babylons be put in a basket and flown away.
God’s heaven is where I am bound and as long as I can see the baskets being flown out of my life, I feel happy about the labor of building my church.
Lord, keep me mindful of your word that measures my sin and promises redemption.
