(Zechariah 5:1-11) Then I raised my eyes again and looked, and behold, there was a flying scroll. 2 And he said to me, “What do you see?” And I said, “I see a flying scroll; its length is twenty cubits, and its width ten cubits.” 3 Then he said to me, “This is the curse that is going forth over the face of the entire land; everyone who steals certainly will be purged away according to the writing on one side, and everyone who swears falsely will be purged away according to the writing on the other side. 4 I will make it go forth,” declares the Lord of armies, “and it will enter the house of the thief and the house of the one who swears falsely by My name; and it will spend the night within that house and destroy it with its timber and stones.”
5 Then the angel who had been speaking with me went out and said to me, “Now raise your eyes and see what this is that is going forth.” 6 And I said, “What is it?” Then he said, “This is the ephah going forth.” Again he said, “This is their appearance in all the land. 7 And behold, a lead cover was lifted up.” He continued, “And this is a woman sitting inside the ephah.” 8 Then he said, “This is Wickedness!” And he thrust her into the middle of the ephah and threw the lead weight on its opening. 9 Then I raised my eyes and looked, and there two women were coming out with the wind in their wings; and they had wings like the wings of the stork, and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and the heavens. 10 So I said to the angel who was speaking with me, “Where are they taking the ephah?” 11 Then he said to me, “To build a temple for her in the land of Shinar; and when it is prepared, she will be set there on her own pedestal.”TODAY'S THOUGHTS AND MEDITATION:
Evil begets evil. Because God is love, He has created everyone with a free will. Therefore, He will not force anyone to love Him back. And He will not force anyone to be obedient, not even those who love Him. And what is love without options, or the freedom to act upon one's choices.
God is sovereign, just and fair, therefore He thwarts evil to some extent right now. In the Tribulation, He will remove the One who restrains evil, so evil will increase. But then, at the end of those seven years, He will return and rid the earth of all evil. During His thousand year reign, there will be peace and immediate justice. At the end of the Millennium, all unbelievers will be judged according to their sins. Because they rejected the Lord's salvation and didn't want God in their lives, they will be separated from God and His goodness for eternity.
We can be confident that the sovereign Lord is in control, and oversees everything, giving everyone a fair opportunity to come to Him for forgiveness and salvation. And while the Lord allows certain things to happen, He is able to use tragic events to accomplish His will, and bring about good things. We can see throughout history that when catastrophes happen, many people will see their need for salvation!
As for believers, even though all of our sins have been forgiven and we are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, we will still struggle with our sin nature. And while we cannot lose our salvation, because the Lord loves and cares for us, and has a better way and purpose for our lives, He will allow us to experience consequences when we sin, in order to get our attention and draw us back to Him. The Lord will also allow us to go through tests and trials.so that as we trust and rely on Him, we will see how faithful, good and mighty He is. Going through these challenges helps us grow in our confidence and faith in the Lord.
All of this is - because - God desires that we have a close, personal relationship with Him, where we work together with Him! Even in the things that He asks of us, God doesn't expect us to do these things on our own. In fact, He doesn't want us to do these things on our own, in our own strength, otherwise this is all just an empty religion of do's and don'ts! It all comes back to the main purpose of having and enjoying a relationship with God! And when we get to heaven, because all our sins have been forgiven, we will be judged and rewarded according to the good deeds we have done with right motives, which are deeds done with God, in His love, strength and righteousness, and to His glory!
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