Thru the Bible

Steve: This is Steve, welcoming you aboard the Bible bus as our teacher, Dr. J. Vernon McGee, tells us about the flying objects that the prophet Zechariah saw in his bizarre but meaningful visions from the Lord. It's a great study.

So go ahead and find your seat on the Bible bus, and while you do, let's hear from a few folks who travel with us every day. First, we got a note. This is from a listener who joins us in Spanish.

Guest (Female): I love the program and the understandable way of explaining the word of God. It touches my heart and makes me reflect and learn how to please him with my life. It allows me to know his heart, which is what I long for the most in my life. God bless you greatly for bringing the word of God to us.

Steve: Well, that's great, isn't it? I sure hope that we all long to know his heart. Now, here's a voicemail. This is from Bill. Let's listen.

Guest (Male): My name is Bill, and I'm from Cincinnati, Ohio. And I just want to let you know that I've been on the Bible bus for 30-plus years, and I've been greatly blessed by the lessons of Dr. J. And I know Steve and Greg always encourage us to share our story, so I figure I better do that.

But Dr. J, he's just so sincere in his word, the way he teaches, and how he takes the whole word of God, making sure that we understand everything that God is trying to teach us. And I'm greatly blessed by that. I pay a small bus fare on this, and it's been greatly rewarded.

As Dr. J would always finish his message, he said, "May God richly bless you." And that prayer has definitely been answered in my life. So, I just want to say thank you. You know, we talk about 20-fold or 50-fold or 100-fold as far as bringing people to Christ, but I've been blessed 100-fold through this ministry. I do consider it my greatest investment.

So, I thank you and I ask you to, may God richly bless your ministry continually.

Steve: Well, thanks for your support, Bill. You know, I too have seen the fruit that comes from giving and volunteering with this ministry. May God continue to bless you as you help share his word with the world.

Our last note, well, this is from a listener in our Punjabi language in India.

Guest (Female): I am 50 years old and serve as a pastor. There are 30 people attending our worship services. I've always had a deep desire to truly understand the word of God, but I lacked a structured, in-depth approach. That began to change when I started watching the Sachi Bani program on TV.

Steve: That's Thru the Bible, by the way, in the Punjabi language. Let me continue with the letter.

Guest (Female): It not only quenched my spiritual hunger and thirst, but also helped me grow in my understanding in a meaningful way. Now, I grasp the scriptures more clearly. I take notes and share what I've learned with my congregation, so they too can be blessed by the insights. I thank God for this wonderful program and the spiritual guidance it provides.

Steve: I love that. How about you? Are you sharing God's word with the people around you? What's he teaching you as we travel through his word together? Well, be sure to tell us your story. You can drop us a note in our app, email Biblebus@ttb.org, or write to Box 7100, Pasadena, California, 91109.

In Canada, you can write your letter to Box 25325, London, Ontario, N6C 6B1. Or like Bill, just leave us a voicemail. That's easy. You can call 1-800-65 Bible anytime, and we love hearing your stories and testimonies in your own voice. Let's pray.

Heavenly Father, thank you for your word and the way that you reveal your truth through it. May your spirit teach us the wonderful things of Jesus, and then help us to see him clearly in every book. It's in his precious name we pray. Amen.

Let's open our Bibles to Zechariah chapter 5 as we make our way through the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.

Dr. J. Vernon McGee: Now, friends, we are coming to the second vision that's here in the fifth chapter, and actually it's the ninth vision. We're getting down to the end of these visions, and as I said last time, that one of the flying scroll in the first part of the fifth chapter.

And this one, the woman in the ephah, they are two of the most highly symbolic visions that we have of all of the ten. And they are very meaningful. Actually, both of them make a right about face almost, at least a 90-degree turn. And instead now of the fact that it's a word of comfort, it's now a word of judgment. And we saw that last time in the flying scroll.

Now, suppose that I told you today that last night a missile from outer space landed in my backyard. And two little men in green got out and talked with me. Would you believe it? Well, if you won't, then I won't tell it to you then. There are intelligent people today as well as other kind who actually believe in flying saucers. Some even testify they've seen them, even they've seen the little people inside.

Now, the Navy, I understand, has carried on a serious investigation over the years. And there are two groups that say, "I believe sincerely and vociferously that there are the flying saucers." And others doubt and deny it equally vociferously.

Tell the truth, I had an invitation many years ago when I was pastor down in downtown Los Angeles to go out to Apple Valley to a large rock that is out in that desert area, to a landing field where the missiles came in. That is, that's what they told me. And that they would give me a ride in one of the flying saucers.

And I didn't go out there. Two reasons: the first reason, I wasn't quite sure that there were flying saucers out there. I'm very much of a skeptic. And the other thing is that I was afraid that if I did go out there, they'd put me in one of them and take me off and not bring me back, and I wouldn't give me a round-trip ticket. So, I didn't go out there.

But I voiced on several occasions my skepticism and my cynicism about the whole business. And so, these that believed in it, certainly thought that they were landing and taken off out there around that big rock beyond Apple Valley. I've been by that big rock since then. And I don't know why, but I always pick up speed going by there.

Now, Zechariah didn't believe in flying saucers either. But he saw two of them in a vision. He saw two flying saucers, missiles from outer space. As I said at the beginning, Zechariah is one of the apocalypses of the Bible, and it's actually more ethereal, seraphic, and spiritual, and highly symbolic. In other words, it's out of this world.

Now, we need to avoid fanaticism on one hand and materialism on the other. Now, in that vision we had last time, it was of a flying scroll. The size of it was 20 by 10 cubits. And on it were written the two tables of the law, on one side, man's relationship to man, on the other side, man's relationship to God.

Now, we called attention to the fact that it speaks of judgment that in the nation Israel at that time, God was going to ferret out those that were disobedient, those who would not return to him, and he would judge them. But he would choose the nation. That would be true of the future, that there's coming a day that when God establishes his kingdom here upon the earth, he intends to ferret out, not only among his own people, but among the Gentiles that are left on the earth after the church is removed, and after all the removal of the church, is a separation of the true church from the false church. The true church, of course, will be taken out, and those that are not really Christians, but are church members, will be left here upon the earth.

Actually, this is a picture of judgment, and it has a message for us today that he intends to do the same thing in the church, so that this has a threefold meaning. Now, the thing that is interesting here, I called attention to the fact that this scroll was 20 by 10. And I do not know whether any of you noticed it last time that it was the same size as the holy place. Also of the porch of Solomon in the temple. And that's in First Kings, the sixth chapter, verse three.

Now, that was the basis, you see, where the priests could come and worship by the law. But they could never go inside the veil unless the blood was put in there, and only the high priest went in as a representative. But in that place they stood on redeemed ground, having been redeemed by the blood.

Now, you and I today stand on redeemed ground. We haven't been redeemed by silver and gold, or any precious thing, any precious jewel, but by the precious blood of Christ. In other words, you and I are not standing on a flying carpet. You and I do not rest on a missile from heaven. We have been delivered from the penalty and power of sin, as Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son be lifted up that whosoever believeth in him might not perish, but have everlasting life.

Now, we're still at the launching pad, and get ready for this one. And we're going to see now something else. And we're going to see actually the first astronaut, as we come to verse five. Believe it or not, we're going to see a woman that's in one of these capsules. It's called an ephah, that's a bushel basket.

Now, will you look at this? Verse 5 of chapter 5. Then the angel who talked with me went forth and said unto me, "Lift up now thine eyes and see what is this that goeth forth." And again, I must call attention to it. He's got his eyes wide open looking at this. This is no dream, but his eyes are open. He sees this. And I said, "What is it?" And he said, "This is an ephah that goeth forth."

Now, an ephah is a measurement a little larger than a bushel. And he said, "Moreover, this is their resemblance through all the earth." And behold there was lifted up a talent of lead. And this is a woman that sitteth in the midst of the ephah. Now here the first astronaut was a woman. I wasn't very kind to women's lib last time, and I'm not going to be today, but here is a good point. The first astronaut was a woman that sitteth in the midst of the ephah. And he said, "This is wickedness." Or this is the wicked one.

And he cast it into the midst of the ephah, and he cast the weight of lead upon the mouth of it. Then lifted I up mine eyes and looked, and behold there came out two women. And the wind was in their wings, for they had wings like the wings of a stork, and they lifted up the ephah between the earth and heaven. Here you've got two flying nuns, more than just one.

You've got here they are taking up this ephah with a woman in it. Then said I to the angel who talked with me, "Where do these bear the ephah?" And he said unto me, "To build for it an house in the land of Shinar. And it shall be established, and set there upon its own base."

Now, this is the vision that is before us, and we want to look at it for just a few moments. Now that ephah, a bushel basket, is a space capsule. It's made of lead, a most unlikely metal for flying, but it withstands friction. You put babbitt in a box, I know when I was a boy, I used to watch my dad put lead babbitt in a box that the main shaft would run on, and all you had to do is just keep that oil so the friction would not burn it out. And so, this would be good for travel if you got enough power to move it.

Now, there's a woman in this space capsule, and she is, as we've said, the first astronaut. Now, again, let's look at it. He says here, "Then the angel who talked with me went forth and said unto me, 'Lift up now thine eyes, see what this that is set before you.'" Well, and I said, "What is it?" After all, this is the first one Zechariah had ever seen, and he didn't know what it was. I'm sure many of you can remember the great thrill you had when you heard about John Glenn making a trip in space, and he didn't go very far, didn't go around the earth even. But it put man in space. Well, here is a woman in space.

And it says, "This is an ephah that goeth forth." He said, "Moreover, this is their resemblance through all the earth." And behold there was lifted up a talent of lead. And this is a woman that sitteth in the midst of the ephah. Now, let's stop there for just a moment, because this is a very important thing to see.

Actually, what you have here is the continuation of judgment upon the sin and iniquity of these people. The sin and iniquity is going to be removed from the land when the millennium begins. And it looks forward to that. And it looks forward to the judgment of Babylon, because this vision needs to be put with the 18th chapter of Revelation, where you see the judgment of Babylon, which actually is commercial Babylon. And you have the judgment of religious Babylon in chapter 17.

Now, what you have here is that which he's judging, which is this matter of covetousness. Thou shalt not covet. And the love of money, commercialism, the greed that is connected with it. For to begin with, the bushel basket, the ephah, represents business. It represents commercialism, buying and selling. And that lead weight there that's emphasized, that lead weight actually is made for the weighing of produce. And it is to be used in just that way.

Now you will find out that one of the great sins of these people when they returned from Babylon was just simply that. They had an insatiable love for money, a love for things. And Nehemiah had to correct that. You remember that they were loaning to their brother. They were loaning to him at a high rate of interest, usury. And it was a sin, and they'd been forbidden to do that according to the Mosaic law. And believe me, Nehemiah made them straight that thing out.

Now when we come to Malachi, the last book of the Old Testament, that is a picture of life in that day after the temple was built, the last book of the Old Testament, and he asked the question, "Will a man rob God?" And believe me, God answered it for them. He says, "Yet you have robbed me." And God says that they were guilty of that. He says, "You have robbed me, even this whole nation has robbed me."

Now, that is the thing that this man sees here, is that fact that this insatiable love of money, of trying to get rich, and trying to get rich just to accumulate money, and you're willing to hurt your brother in order to accumulate it. For that's what they were doing in Nehemiah's day.

God says, "I intend to remove that from the land. And I'm going to take it right back where you got it, which was down in the land of Babylon." I'd like for you to see something here for just a moment. The children of Israel were a pastoral and an agricultural people. And most of the Mosaic law has to do with that type of a situation. It has to do with the land, with the vineyards, with the grain, with all that sort of thing.

And when these people were in the land, they were a pastoral people, agricultural people. And they are that largely over there today. They have certainly gone back to the land. Anytime they return to that land, they go back to the land, really. When they're out of that land, they do something else. You'll never find a Jewish farmer, at least I've never heard of one. They just don't get in that business when they're out of that land, but when they return they do.

Now down in Babylon, they had learned commercialism, and they learned it from the Gentiles. And they had an insatiable love for riches, love for material things because they learned that down in Babylon. The Babylonians, the Gentiles, had that sort of thing.

Now, this is a picture of judgment of that type of thing, that God intends to take this commercialism back down yonder to the land of Babylon. And when you go to the 18th chapter of the book of Revelation, you find that God is going to judge commercial Babylon at the setting up of his kingdom. He's going to get rid of that type of thing. And as you go through the word of God, you'll find it's rather a revolutionary book. That may be another reason why some people don't like it.

Now it's interesting, they say that John Calvin got capitalism out of the Bible. And I think he did. But I want to say this, you can get more on the side of the poor people than you can on the side of the rich. Have you ever noticed again and again, and I've called attention to it, when we were back in the Epistle of James, I call your attention where he said, "Come now, you rich, weep and howl, your miseries that are coming upon you. Your riches have rotted, your garments are moth-eaten, your gold and silver have rusted. Just to gather money for the sake of gathering."

And then he says, "Behold the wages of the laborers who mowed your fields, which you kept back by fraud, cry out." I tell you, I wonder if God might not have a word to say to some of these great corporations today, or in the great labor unions also. I'm not sure but what God has a word, and God intends to judge that sort of thing. That sort of thing's not going into the kingdom of God here upon this earth.

And if there ever was a book that's revolutionary, it's this book here, the word of God. It's too hot for a lot of folk to handle today. Now, there are a great many people say, "I'm amazed that you get by with what you say on the radio." Well, I'm amazed too. But I'm only telling you what the word of God says here. Here is a vision that reveals that God intends to take that thing, and those two women with stork wings. Well, the stork in scripture is not a picture of an angel. It's a dirty bird. It's an unclean bird. And the fact that the woman is there is another thing. Now, here's where I get in trouble.

But anytime that you see a woman out of place in scripture, there's always an evil connotation. Take the woman that has taken leaven and putting it in the flour. That was wrong. That leaven is evil, it speaks of evil. That's the principle all the way through the word of God. Leaven of evil. And we find that when a woman is out of place. You know the most lovely position of a woman,