Then I lifted up my eyes again and looked, and behold, there was a flying scroll. And he (the angel) said to me, “What do you see?” And I answered, “I see a flying scroll; its length is twenty cubits and its width ten cubits.” Then he said to me, “This is the curse that is going forth over the face of the whole land; surely everyone who steals will be purged away according to the writing on one side, and everyone who swears will be purged away according to the writing on the other side.” (vv.1-3)
Here God gives Zechariah a vision of “A Flying Scroll.” The scroll speaks of the Word of God and represents the Ten Commandments. The “Curse” of this scroll is that God will judge according to the Law. In our reading, two specific sins are condemned: stealing (a violation of the eighth commandment) and swearing falsely or perjury (a violation of the third commandment). Since the people were no doubt guilty of more than this, these two were probably chosen in that they represent the breaking of; 1) man’s relationship to God — “every one that swears,” and 2) man’s relationship to his fellow man — “for every one that steals.”
As it says in last verse of our text, sin will be purged away. Why? Because sin cannot be tolerated in God’s presence. When He comes to dwell with His people, as He had promised in earlier visions, evil won’t be allowed to remain in the land. Sinners will be banished from His presence--the equivalent of spiritual death. Just as when the scroll entered the sinner’s house and consumed it (v.4), so too is the destiny of the sinner who denies the LORD.
Although we are forgiven through Christ upon confession of sin, and God does separate us from our sin as far as the east is from the west, He will consume the sinner who's heart is unrepentant towards Him.
The Truth: “The Lord keeps all who love Him, but all the wicked He will destroy.” (Psalm 145:20)
