The Bible: Impressive but Ominous

Zechariah 5:1-3 KJV

Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a flying roll.

And he said unto me, What seest thou? And I answered, I see a flying roll; the length thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits.

Then said he unto me, This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth: for every one that stealeth shall be cut off as on this side according to it; and every one that sweareth shall be cut off as on that side according to it.

This flying roll is impressive for two reasons:

Its size

It is an unusually large roll.

Its flying

Books don't fly.

• They are carried from place to place
• They are copied and spread in that manner
• They are read and their message is delivered through the audible word

but they don't fly.

These two impressive features immediately give way to the ominous burden they bring. This book is not a message of good news.

It is difficult for a student of the Bible to see this roll as anything but the Bible.

• It is large in that it is not one book but a library of sixty-six books
• It has flown around the globe reaching people it would have at one time been impossible to believe
• No other document has been printed so widely and taken to so many parts of the world

 The message of the Bible is one of good news. There is a way to have

• Fellowship with God
• Sins forgiven and
• Live forever

But it also carries a terrible warning. Judgment is coming. Such judgment as the world has never seen. The ominous mood comes in the last days when it becomes so obvious that the majority of people will choose not to accept the good news and will indeed face the judgment.

Zechariah's attention is placed upon the roll and I am convinced it’s where we need to get people again. People need to be brought back to the book of God. We need to get their attention back to what God said. It is there we find

• Forgiveness
• Freedom and
• Hope of the future