Page:Visions and Prophecies of Zechariah (Baron, David).djvu/160

 be poured) shall be cleansed from all defilement (as signified by the removal of the " filthy garments ") and clothed in " rich apparel," and with the " fair," or " clean," mitre on his head, on which the words Qodesh la- Yehovah " Holy to Jehovah " are graven, shall be fitted to go forth among the nations as the priests of Jehovah and the ministers of our God.

But what about those who persist in their wickedness, and, in spite of the marvellous display of God's grace, " will not learn righteousness," but continue even " in the land of uprightness " (as Immanuel's land shall then be called) " to deal unjustly, and will not behold the majesty of Jehovah"

(Isa. xxxvi. 10)? With them God's method is that of judgment. Sin must be purged away, iniquity must be stamped out in the city of God; and when the sinner is so wedded to his sin that he is no longer separable from it, he becomes the object of God's curse, and must be " cleansed away " from the earth. In short, then, the two visions in chap. v. give us the reverse side of the truth unfolded in the first four chapters.

They show us that if there is grace and forgiveness with God, it is not in order to encourage men to think lightly of sin, but that " He might be feared " (Ps. cxxx. 4). They also take us, so to say, a step backward, and show us that, before the glorious things symbolically set forth in the first five visions will finally be fulfilled, a period of moral dark ness and corruption, and of almost universal apostasy, was yet to intervene.

The Flying Roll

But now for a brief exposition of the sixth vision.

The prophet having for a season been absorbed in meditation on the wonderful things which had been pre sented to him in the last vision, " turns " himself, his attention being very probably called anew by the inter preting angel and, lifting up his eyes, sees a roll twenty cubits in length and ten cubits in breadth flying in the air.