Zechariah's Vision: God's Plan to Remove Sin

Zechariah’s seventh vision comes after the flying scroll, and it keeps pressing the same holy reality: the Lord is going to clean house. Zechariah sees something going out, and the angel identifies it as a basket, an ephah, a measuring container tied to grain, trade, and material wealth. The basket is small, but it represents “their iniquity in all the land,” the craving eye of a people still carrying Babylon in their hearts even after Babylonian exile had ended.

The ephah points to greed, false dealing, and materialism. Amos had already called out the people who made “the ephah small and the shekel great,” trampling the poor while pretending to keep religious days. Haggai had rebuked returned exiles for living in paneled houses while the Lord’s house lay in ruins. Nehemiah and Malachi later confronted the same heart problem in overcharging, enslaving the poor, and robbing God. Babylon could be taken out of the exile, but the materialistic influence of Babylon could still remain in the exile.

The woman in the basket is named “Wickedness.” The leaden cover shows that God restrains evil. Wickedness is real, active, and ugly, but it is not sovereign. The Lord opens the lid for Zechariah to see, then thrusts wickedness back down and shuts the heavy weight over it. Evil operates in the world, but only under the limits God allows.

The two winged women lift the basket between earth and heaven, a phrase tied elsewhere to divine judgment. Their stork-like wings, an unclean bird under the law, and their work of building a house for wickedness point toward unclean spiritual powers. The basket is carried to Shinar, the land of Babel and Babylon, where a house, even a temple-like place, is prepared for it. Wickedness goes back to its source, and Babylon becomes the final pedestal of world religion, greed, idolatry, immorality, and blasphemy.

Revelation 17 and 18 show the end of that line: Babylon the great, the woman drunk with the blood of the saints, enriched by kings and merchants, seducing the nations. God will judge that whole system before Christ establishes his righteous reign. Until then, greed and materialism remain sins to put to death, because the love of money pierces souls and pulls them from the faith.

Christ is the good news beneath the warning. Zechariah sees iniquity removed, and Jesus removes guilt for all who believe. The unrighteous do not inherit the kingdom of God, but such were some who were washed, sanctified, and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of God.

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Key Takeaways

• 1. Greed is another form of idolatry The basket is not just about money, but about worship. Materialism takes the place of God when the heart starts trusting what wealth can provide, protect, or promise. Babylon’s influence can remain inside a person long after the outward captivity is over, which makes greed especially deceptive among religious people. [36:32]
• 2. God keeps wickedness under constraint The woman called Wickedness is real, but she is shut under a heavy leaden cover. Evil is active in the world, yet it is never free from the rule of God. That restraint should produce sobriety rather than panic, because the Lord is not reacting to wickedness as if it surprised him. [39:19]
• 3. Babylon receives its own wickedness The basket is carried back to Shinar, the old ground of Babel and Babylon. Sin does not finally build a kingdom of life, but a house for judgment. What the world enthrones as progress, pleasure, and power will eventually be set on its own pedestal so God can expose it and crush it completely. [49:05]
• 4. Christ removes iniquity through faith Zechariah’s vision shows iniquity being taken away, and the gospel reveals how God does that without denying his holiness. Jesus dies the death sin deserves and rises as the proof that wrath is satisfied for those who believe. Salvation is not self-repair, but being washed, sanctified, and justified in Christ’s name by the Spirit of God.
  
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Youtube Chapters

• [00:00] - Welcome
• [25:02] - Context for Zechariah’s Visions
• [28:37] - God’s Plan to Remove Sin
• [29:21] - Reading Zechariah 5:5-11
• [31:04] - The Seventh Vision Explained
• [33:00] - The Basket and Their Iniquity
• [35:02] - Greed, False Measures, and Idolatry
• [39:19] - Wickedness Under the Leaden Cover
• [44:49] - The Winged Women and Judgment
• [49:05] - Shinar, Babylon, and the Final System
• [54:11] - Greed and Materialism Today
• [57:33] - God Restrains Evil
• [60:34] - The Man of Lawlessness
• [64:43] - Christ Takes Away Iniquity
• [67:37] - Prayer and Hope in Christ

Bible Reading

Zechariah 5:5-11
Then the angel who talked with me came forward and said to me, “Lift your eyes and see what this is that is going out.” And I said, “What is it?” He said, “This is the basket that is going out.” And he said, “This is their iniquity in all the land.” And behold, the leaden cover was lifted, and there was a woman sitting in the basket! And he said, “This is Wickedness.” And he thrust her back into the basket, and thrust down the leaden weight on its opening. Then I lifted my eyes and saw, and behold, two women coming forward! The wind was in their wings. They had wings like the wings of a stork, and they lifted up the basket between earth and heaven. Then I said to the angel who talked with me, “Where are they taking the basket?” He said to me, “To the land of Shinar, to build a house for it. And when this is prepared, they will set the basket down there on its base.” [29:21]

Revelation 17:1-6
Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the judgment of the great prostitute who is seated on many waters, with whom the kings of the earth have committed sexual immorality, and with the wine of whose sexual immorality the dwellers on earth have become drunk.” And he carried me away in the Spirit into a wilderness, and I saw a woman sitting on a scarlet beast that was full of blasphemous names, and it had seven heads and ten horns. The woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet, and adorned with gold and jewels and pearls, holding in her hand a golden cup full of abominations and the impurities of her sexual immorality. And on her forehead was written a name of mystery: “Babylon the great, mother of prostitutes and of earth's abominations.” And I saw the woman, drunk with the blood of the saints, the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. When I saw her, I marveled greatly. [40:48]

Amos 8:4-6
Hear this, you who trample on the needy and bring the poor of the land to an end, saying, “When will the new moon be over, that we may sell grain? And the Sabbath, that we may offer wheat for sale, that we may make the ephah small and the shekel great and deal deceitfully with false balances, that we may buy the poor for silver and the needy for a pair of sandals and sell the chaff of the wheat?” [35:06]

1 Timothy 6:6-10
But godliness with contentment is great gain, for we brought nothing into the world, and we cannot take anything out of the world. But if we have food and clothing, with these we will be content. But those who desire to be rich fall into temptation, into a snare, into many senseless and harmful desires that plunge people into ruin and destruction. For the love of money is a root of all kinds of evils. It is through this craving that some have wandered away from the faith and pierced themselves with many pangs. [55:09]

Observation questions

1. In Zechariah 5:5-11, what details are given about the basket, the woman inside it, the lead cover, and where the basket is taken? [31:04]
2. In Amos 8:4-6, what were the people doing with the ephah, the shekel, and their business dealings, and who was being harmed by it? [35:06]
3. What repeated connection is made between the ephah and material wealth, trade, or greed in these passages? [33:00]
4. In 1 Timothy 6:6-10, what results come from desiring to be rich, and how is that different from godliness with contentment?

Interpretation questions

1. If the ephah was a measuring basket used in trade, why would it be a fitting picture of iniquity in the land? What does that suggest about how greed can become a spiritual problem and not just a money problem? [36:32]
2. The woman in the basket is called “Wickedness,” but she is forced back down and sealed under a heavy cover. What does that show about the power of evil, and what does it show about the Lord’s rule over evil? [39:19]
3. The basket is taken to Shinar, the old land of Babel and Babylon. Why does wickedness being sent there matter? What does that reveal about where this whole system is heading? [49:05]
4. Revelation 17 presents Babylon as wealthy, seductive, and hostile to the saints. How does that help explain why greed, false religion, and rebellion against God so often travel together? [50:34]

Application questions

1. Babylon’s influence can stay in a person even after outward captivity is over. Where does that show up most easily in life right now: spending, anxiety about money, envy, constant comparison, or something else? [36:40]
2. Greed is not only about having a lot, but about trusting what money can provide, protect, or promise. What tends to make the heart feel safest or most important besides the Lord? [54:24]
3. Godliness with contentment is great gain. In this season, what would contentment actually look like in a practical way with work, possessions, lifestyle, or future plans? [55:09]
4. The love of money can lead to lying, cheating, neglecting responsibilities, and disregard for the poor. Which of those dangers seems most common in the surrounding culture, and which one feels closest to home personally? [55:54]
5. God restrains evil, so believers do not have to live in panic. How could that truth help with fear, discouragement, or anger when wickedness seems to be growing in the world? [57:33]
6. Wickedness will not be enthroned forever; God will expose it and judge it. How might that truth shape the way believers respond when corruption seems successful for a time? [51:13]
7. Jesus removes iniquity through faith, not self-repair. When guilt rises up, is there a tendency to hide, to fix everything personally, or to come back to Christ and his finished work? What would it look like to rest more honestly in being washed, sanctified, and justified in him? [01:04:43]