Tuesday, 3 September 2024

Zachariah 5:5-11– Being God’s holy people

Zachariah's seventh vision in the second half of chapter 5 concerns the removal of sins from Israel. God promises to eliminate the consequences, commission, and transgressors of sins from Israel.

In these eleven verses, there are five symbols:

  1. The ephah which is a large basket representing the people’s collective sins and iniquities.
  2. The woman who personifies wickedness. This is to show the influence of corruption within the community.
  3. The lead cover that seals the woman in the ephah. This speaks of the suppression of wickedness.
  4. The two women with wings are a striking representation of God’s agents, executing His judgment by removing wickedness from the land of Shinar.
  5. The land of Shinar. This was the place where the Tower of Babel was once built. This points to Babylon, the place associated with rebellion against God. The fact that the ephah is taken to Shinar implies that wickedness is being removed from God’s people and sent to a place where it belongs, away from them.

The vision is a depiction of a process of purification, where sin and wickedness are meticulously separated from the people of God and placed in a distant, isolated place. This separation signifies God’s judgment on wickedness, ensuring it is no longer a part of His community.

God wants a holy people. He does everything to remove sins and restore holiness and righteousness among us.  It behooves us, therefore, to collaborate with God so that we can truly be a purified people fit to be instruments of glory. 

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