Outlines by London Minister Zechariah 5:1-4 Then I turned, and lifted up my eyes, and looked, and behold a flying roll.… I. THE MAN WHO IS MARKED AS A SPECIAL TRANSGRESSOR IS MARKED ALSO FOR SPECIAL JUDGMENT. The curse went "forth over the face of the whole earth," but it was to cut off the thief and the false swearer. In the Hebrew nation there were many sinners, but there, as everywhere else, there were sinners who had not yet filled up the measure of their iniquity, and there were others who had passed all bounds, whose transgressions were so great as to make them marks upon which the lightnings of God's displeasure must fall. II. ESCAPE FROM THE CONSEQUENCES OF UNREPENTED SIN IS IMPOSSIBLE. It is not necessary that the sin should reveal itself in action to ensure the entail of the certain penalty. If it never passes the boundary of the inner man there will be a reaction upon the man's spirit as certainly as night follows day, and more so because, though God has suspended the laws of nature, we have no reason to suppose He has ever interposed to prevent the consequences of sin, unless the sinner has come under the power of another law, — the law of forgiveness by confession and repentance. However hidden the transgression, the curse will find out its most secret hiding place. III. THEFT AND PERJURY INCLUDE ALL OTHER SINS. The son who forges his father's name includes in that one act every other crime that he can commit against him except that of taking his life. He only needs occasion to reveal his readiness for any other act of dishonour toward his parent. The man who deliberately appeals to God to uphold him in his false statements forges the name of the Eternal Himself, and seeks to turn the God of truth into the Father of lies. IV. THE SPECIAL SINS OF SOME BRING SUFFERING UPON MANY. The curse went forth "over the whole earth," or land. It is a truth proclaimed by God and verified by experience, that many may suffer by the sin of the few to whom they are in no way related. See this principle, and its bright reverse, illustrated by St. Paul in Romans 5:18. (Outlines by London Minister.) Parallel Verses KJV: Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a flying roll.WEB: Then again I lifted up my eyes, and saw, and behold, a flying scroll. |
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