The Power of God’s SpiritZechariah 5:1–6:15

Main Idea: The Spirit’s power works in our lives to accomplish what we never can.

1. The Power of the Spirit to Reveal Sin (5:1-4)
2. The Power of the Spirit to Remove Sin (5:5-11)
3. The Power of the Spirit to Renew Hope (6:1-15)

Preacher and author Steve Brown tells the story of an airline flight he took. During the flight, the plane began to have extraordinary problems. Though he flies often, Steve Brown does not enjoy flying. He was nervous about the flight from the start because, before boarding this particular flight into Pittsburg, he learned that another plane had recently taken the same itinerary and had crashed.

“As we were flying into Pittsburgh,” he said, “that airplane began to experience such turbulence, that it was as though God was just shaking that airplane like a gigantic piggy bank, and just shaking it and shaking it and shaking it.” So Steve Brown was sitting white-knuckled in his seat and scared to death when he noticed the woman seated next to him was not moved or shaken by the turbulence at all. Instead, she was sound asleep! This was irritating to Steve. Even worse, the woman was snoring throughout the whole flight!

When the plane landed, the lady woke up, yawned, and stretched. Steve looked over at her and said, “Lady, you don’t know it, but we almost died up there. And you really don’t want to sleep through your own death. One should be fully awake for that experience.” Exasperated, he continued, “And not only were you sleeping, but you were actually snoring!”

That was when the woman said something that Steve Brown says he’ll never forget. The lady smiled and said, “Mister, I don’t know how to fly this plane.” That’s all she said: “Mister, I don’t know how to fly this plane.” Her words are a wonderful illustration of a spiritual truth.

When it comes to life, none of us really has the ability to “fly the plane” successfully. We sin. We fall short. We miss the best that God has for us. We lack the power and wisdom to navigate through life. The good news is this: Our God is in control. His Spirit’s power works in the lives of believers to accomplish what we never can. Zechariah 5 and 6 record the last visions given to Zechariah. Understood in light of the message of Zechariah 4:6—“Not by strength or by might, but by My Spirit”—these visions expand on the theme of the power of God’s Spirit to work in the lives of His people.

The Power of the Spirit to Reveal Sin (Zechariah 5:1-4)

God’s Spirit has the power to reveal and remove the darkest sin. In chapter 5 of Zechariah we see the sixth and seventh visions that the Lord showed His prophet. These visions go together. Some interpreters see them as one vision because they work together to provide one message. In the sixth vision, recorded in Zechariah 5:1-4, the prophet sees a flying scroll, which represents the power of the Spirit to reveal sin.

Unfurled, this giant scroll looks like a flag flying over the land. The Hebrew text describes the scroll as 20 cubits long and 10 cubits wide. Understanding that a cubit is roughly the distance from an adult’s elbow to the tip of the fingers, typically about 18 inches, the dimensions of the scroll are, as translated in the HCSB, “30 feet long and 15 feet wide.” The enormous scroll is flying over the entire land of Israel. A good way to imagine the flying scroll is to think about an advertising banner that you might see when you are at the beach. An airplane flies by, towing a huge banner behind it advertising something. In much the same way, this scroll is flying over the land, huge and impossible to ignore.

Additionally, words are written all over the scroll declaring the charges of God against His people because of their sin. On one side, the scroll describes their theft, and it promises to remove the thieves from the land. The other side of the scroll lists their acts of deception, and it promises God’s curse for all the people’s lies. Warren Wiersbe addresses the question of why the Lord selected only two of the Ten Commandments in this vision, stealing and swearing falsely: “The third commandment is the central commandment on the first tablet of the Law, and the eighth commandment is the central commandment on the second tablet of the law, so these two commandments represent the whole law” (Be Heroic, 109).

The flying scroll filled with charges and judgments is a reminder that evil offends God. He looks, He knows, He cares, and He judges when God’s people cheat one another or steal or fail to tell the truth. When students who are believers cheat on a test, God knows and cares. When a Christian businessperson takes unfair advantage of a client, God knows and cares. When Christian husbands and wives deceive each other or break the covenant of their marriage, God knows and cares. The large flying scroll in the sixth vision represents God’s knowledge of the people’s guilt and the promise of God’s judgment because of their sin. The Lord promises swift and severe judgment for the sin of the people, banishing thieves from the land and bringing complete destruction to the house of those who swear falsely by His name.

We can thank God, though, that His Spirit does not simply reveal our sin and leave us to deal with the guilt and the consequences. If the Holy Spirit only convicted us of sin, He would leave us miserable all the time. Zechariah’s next vision shows what God’s Spirit does after He reveals our sin.

The Power of the Spirit to Remove Sin (Zechariah 5:5-11)

This seventh vision is filled with strange imagery, though its symbolism is fairly straightforward and simple to understand. The interpreting angel shows Zechariah a basket that represents the iniquity of the people. The container is an ephah, a large barrel or basket that was used for measurement. The measuring basket, a tool for commerce, symbolizes the iniquity of the people in using false measurements. They were cheating one another and being dishonest in business. Prior to the exile, Amos decried the same type of dishonesty:

Hear this, you who trample on the needy and do away with the poor of the land, asking, “When will the New Moon be over so we may sell grain, and the Sabbath, so we may market wheat? We can reduce the measure [literally, ephah] while increasing the price [literally, shekel] and cheat with dishonest scales. We can buy the poor with silver and the needy for a pair of sandals and even sell the chaff!” The Lord has sworn by the Pride of Jacob: I will never forget all their deeds. (Amos 8:4-7)

Now, even after the return from Babylon, dishonest scales and false measurements were still a problem among the Jews.

The capacity of a normalephah used by the Jews was somewhere between 5 and 10 gallons. However, just as the scroll in the previous vision was much larger than a normal scroll, the basket in this vision must have been considerably bigger than an ordinary ephah, as evidenced by what happens next. When the leaden cover of the basket is removed, Zechariah discovers a woman inside the basket. The woman is called “Wickedness.” The woman in the ephah is forced back down into the basket and sealed into the container with the lead weight (v. 8).

Then, something significant happens in verse 9. Two unidentified women with wings like those of a stork pick up the basket containing the woman. Whether these winged women are instruments of evil or of good is debatable. The stork is an unclean animal (Lev 11:19; Deut 14:18). Their actions toward the woman in the ephah could be interpreted as protecting her. Yet, these creatures are doing the work of God in removing wickedness from the land. Two verbal clues indicate the winged women are God’s servants. First, the women are said to have the “wind in their wings.” The idea is that the women were carried by the wind, which helped them in their flight. As noted in our explanation of Zechariah 4:6 in the previous section, the word wind is closely associated with God’s Spirit, using the same Hebrew word. The wind is also used also an instrument in God’s hand. Psalm 104:4 speaks of the Lord “making the winds His messengers.” Further, their wings are said to be “like those of a stork.” The Hebrew word for “stork” sounds similar to another word that can mean “loyalty,” which may suggest loyalty to God on the part of these creatures that remove evil from God’s people (Clark and Hatton, Zechariah, 158).

The winged women carry the woman in the basket through the air to Shinar, that is, Babylon, where the basket is placed on a pedestal in a shrine. The idea is that wickedness, which is so offensive in the promised land, has a home and a place of honor in Babylon. In Scripture Babylon is not just the place of Israel’s exile. It also represents sin, idolatry, rebellion, and wickedness. The Bible mentions Babylon in the Genesis account of the tower of Babel (Gen 11:1-9), when the people of Shinar tried to build a tower to take them all the way up to God. From its earliest appearances in Scripture, Babylon represents a system proudly opposed to God. The book of Revelation contains a prophecy equating Babylon in the last days with a religious and political world system based on rebellion against God (Rev 17–18). So, from the beginning to the end of Bible, Babylon signifies sin.

This vision communicates a clear message from God. He was promising to take the guilt, iniquity, and wickedness of His people and carry it away from His presence in Jerusalem. He was promising, by His own initiative, to remove the people’s sin from His presence and confine it to its natural habitat, Babylon. From a premillennial eschatological perspective, removing wickedness and idolatry from Jerusalem and returning it to Babylon can be seen as part of God’s final judgment on Babylon described in Revelation 17–18. The removal of idolatry prepares Israel for the second coming of Christ, the final conflict between God and all the nations of the earth with Babylon at the center, and Christ’s millennial reign, as portrayed in Revelation 19–20 (Lindsey, “Zechariah,” 1557).

From the perspective of personal application, the sixth and seventh visions of Zechariah are a reminder that God’s Spirit has the power to remove the darkest sin. Putting these visions together creates a picture of the convicting and cleansing work of the Spirit. In the flying scroll we can see how the Holy Spirit reveals the sinfulness of His people. In the woman of wickedness in the basket, flown back to Babylon, we can see how the Holy Spirit removes the sin from God’s presence.

God’s Spirit convicts us of sin, and then He cleanses us from sin. According to Jesus, the Holy Spirit works even in the lives of unbelievers, as the Spirit convicts the world about “sin, righteousness, and judgment” (John 16:8). For Christians, the Holy Spirit not only cleanses and removes sin at the time of salvation (1 Cor 6:11), but He continues to produce the fruit of God’s holiness in our lives (Gal 5:22-23) and transforms us into the image of Jesus (2 Cor 3:18). By the Spirit, believers are able to “put to death the deeds of the body” and live holy lives (Rom 8:13).

A man purchased a white mouse to use as food for his pet snake. He dropped the mouse into the snake’s glass cage. The tiny mouse saw that he had a serious problem on his hands. The snake was sleeping in a bed of sawdust and though the snake was asleep, the mouse knew at any moment the snake could wake up and eat him. So the mouse did the only thing he could think to do: He started covering up the snake with sawdust chips. He dug down and pushed the sawdust chips onto the snake until the snake was completely buried under the sawdust. When he had finished burying the snake, the mouse sat down and rested. He thought the problem was solved.

But the man watching knew the problem was not solved, but only hidden. The solution to the mouse’s problem could not come from the mouse, the solution had to come from the outside. The man took pity on that little mouse and reached in, picked him up, and removed the mouse from the cage.

No matter how hard we may try, we cannot cover our sin or deny our sinful nature. Our own sin will eventually awake from its sleep and shake off its cover, and sin’s consequences will devour us. Were it not for the saving grace of the Master’s hand, sin would eat us alive. But, praise God, His Spirit can convict us of our sin and guilt, and then He can take the guilt and shame of sin away from us! His Spirit can deliver us from the power of sin and temptation. He removes the darkest sin. There’s no sin that Jesus Christ didn’t die for. There’s no sin that His resurrection did not conquer. There’s no sin from which the power of the Holy Spirit cannot deliver us. Sometimes God delivers us from sin instantly: we ask God to deliver us from a particular sin, He takes away the inclination of our heart toward that sin, and we never struggle with that sin again. Sometimes God takes sin away from us that way. But many times, I have found, God takes sin away from us on a day-by-day basis as we walk with Him. He teaches us to trust in the power of His Spirit for daily deliverance from sin’s power in our lives.

The Power of the Spirit to Renew Hope (Zechariah 6:1-15)

Chapter 6 brings us to Zechariah’s eighth vision. The vision indicates that God’s justice was brought to the wicked nations that have oppressed Israel. Following this last vision, God acts to give hope to His people.

At the beginning of Zechariah 6, the prophet sees four chariots coming out from two mountains. The location of these mountains in Judah is uncertain, though some have speculated that the use of the definite article (i.e., the two mountains) points to specific mountains, perhaps Mount Zion and the Mount of Olives. In this case, though, it is hard to understand why the mountains would be described as being made of bronze, since the mountains in Jerusalem are made of limestone. The material of the mountains, however, does seem significant. Bronze is often used in Scripture to depict the sureness and resoluteness of God’s judgment. For instance, the bronze altar in Exodus 27:2 and the bronze snake in Numbers 21:9 both speak of God’s judgment on sin. Likewise, Jesus is described as having feet of bronze in Revelation 1:15 and 2:18 as He stands in judgment over His churches.

Powerful horses draw the chariots that come from between the two bronze mountains. The horses are reminiscent of the ones described in the first vision (Zech 1:8-9), though the colors of the horses are not the same in the two visions. These horses are red, black, white, and dappled (6:2-3). Walter Kaiser notes that the horses bear a strong resemblance to the four horsemen of Revelation 6:1-8 and suggests that the red horse indicates martyrdom, white stands for victory, black stands for famine, and dappled symbolizes death (Micah, 355). When Zechariah asks what the horses and chariots are, the interpreting angel explains that they are “the four spirits of heaven going out.” While the Hebrew word can mean either “spirits” or “wind” as in 5:9, the context seems to indicate these are angelic spirits sent from the Lord to go throughout the earth.

The chariots are going north and south, each direction representing enemies faced by God’s people. The chariots pulled by the black and white horses go to the north, referring to Babylon, while the dappled horses traveled to the south, which represents Egypt (v. 6). Though no specific mention is made of the direction of the red horses, all of the horses and their chariots go out to exert God’s control and sovereignty over the nations. Following these patrols, the Lord Himself speaks in response to the chariots that have gone out to Babylon: “See, those going to the land of the north have pacified My Spirit in the northern land.” The report from Babylon pacifies God’s Spirit and puts His Spirit to rest. Though God had been angry at the oppressive nations (1:15), His work of judgment has been completed and His Spirit is satisfied.

The remainder of Zechariah 6 is a denouement based on the reports from the chariots. Because the Lord’s wrath against the nations was satisfied, in verses 9-11 God instructs Zechariah to crown Joshua the high priest. The crown was of silver and gold, precious metals that were to come from a small delegation of exiles from Babylon, namely Heldai, Tobijah, and Jedaiah. The crown was to be an elaborate one, as indicated by the plural of majesty (HCSB reads “crowns”). Joshua’s coronation united the priesthood with the monarchy. While there was no precedent in Scripture for a priest to be crowned as a king, the message the Lord gave to Joshua in verses 12-15 explains the reason behind this coronation.

In these verses the Lord offers Joshua, Zechariah, and all the people of Judah a renewed hope through His promises. Just as the Lord had promised to use Zerubabbel to rebuild the temple by His Spirit in Zechariah 4, He now specifies how His Spirit will work through Joshua. The oracle given to Joshua contains both promises that are contemporaneous to Zechariah’s time and those that await future fulfillment. While God indeed used Joshua to rebuild the temple in the days of Zechariah, the final realization of these promises from God will come when Jesus Christ establishes the millennial temple described in Ezekiel 40–46. God’s message to Joshua includes several noteworthy and emphatic promises concerning the Messiah, or “the Branch.”

• He will build the temple of the Lord (v. 12).
• He will be clothed with majesty and glory (v. 13).
• He will sit and rule on his throne as a priest (v. 13).
• He will unite the role of priest and king, creating “peaceful counsel between the two of them” (v. 13).

In Zechariah’s day Joshua’s crown would be placed in the completed temple as a remembrance of the men who donated the silver and gold (v. 14). Morever, people from far away—presumably other Jews who were presently in Babylon—would come to complete the construction of the temple as a validation of the Lord’s message to Zechariah (v. 15). God concluded this vision with a warning: “This will happen when you fully obey the Lord your God.” These words, evocative of Deuteronomy 28:1, remind God’s people that the blessings that come from His Spirit and the hope that flows from those blessings are reserved for those who diligently obey Him.

Some time back I was with a group of friends at a retreat near a small lake. On the banks of the lake there was an old sailboat that looked like it had been abandoned and unused for a long time. On the first evening of the retreat I was talking to my friend, Paul.

“What did you do this afternoon?” I asked.

Paul answered, “I took that little sailboat out on the lake.”

“I figured nobody ever took that thing out,” I said. “Did you have any trouble?”

Paul replied, “Oh, no, I had no trouble at all.”

“But the wind was barely blowing,” I said.

Paul smiled and answered, “Stephen, I’ve got some experience with sailboats. And I know how to trim the sails to catch the breeze.” And then he said, “If you know how to catch the wind, there’s almost always enough wind to sail.”

So it is with the power of the Spirit. There is always enough of Him to keep the wind in the sails of our spiritual lives. God wants us to learn how to keep His wind in our sails. The Spirit’s power will work in our lives when we (1) obey the book of the Spirit, the Bible, (2) surrender each day to the filling and control of the Spirit (Eph 5:18), and (3) stay connected to the family of the Spirit, the body of Christ.

Reflect and Discuss

1. Would we be aware of our sins without the work of the Holy Spirit? Why or why not? What verses or passages of Scripture support your answer?
2. What aspects of our fallen nature require that God reveal our individual sins to us?
3. How has God worked in your life to uncover otherwise hidden sin?
4. In Zechariah’s vision, sin was carried away from Jerusalem, where it did not belong, to Babylon, where it was given a place of honor. In what ways is sin honored in our culture today?
5. Is the church accommodating culturally accepted sins or dealing biblically and redemptively with them? How?
6. How does the Holy Spirit work to remove our sin from us and cleanse us?
7. From an eschatological perspective, what is God doing to deal with the cosmic problem of sin?
8. How is God’s Spirit working in time and history to reveal and remove sin and to renew hope?
9. How does the promise of Christ’s return and reign on earth affect our struggle with sin and evil today?
10. What practical steps can followers of Christ take to experience the power and hope of the Holy Spirit in their lives each day?