Zechariah 5:5-11 - Homilies By W. Forsyth

Worldliness in the Church.

I. SADLY PREVALENT . "This is their eye"—what they mind and what they lust after. There is a climax. First two classes of sinners are figured, next one great indistinguishable mass. Then "wickedness" is personified, as one woman. This teaches how worldliness is:

1 . Common.

2 . Absorbing.

3 . Debasing—corrupting all that is beautiful and fair.

II. SPECIALLY OFFENSIVE . Bad in the world; infinitely worse in the Church.

1 . Opposed to the Spirit of Christ.

2 . Incompatible with the service of God.

3 . Obstructive to the progress of the gospel.

III. RIGHTEOUSLY DOOMED . Even now restrained. Limited as to place and power. But the end cometh. The judgment set forth implies:

1 . Disinheritment. They defrauded others, and will themselves be impoverished. Like Satan, cast out. Like Esau, lose their birthright.

2 . Banishment. Judgment based on sympathies. What is right in law is true to feeling. Society cleansed. The bad go with the bad. Ungodliness is driven to the land of ungodliness. Captivity leads to captivity. Judas went "to his own place."

3 . Abandonment. Judgment swift, thorough, irresistible. There is a terrible retention of character. "The wicked are driven away in their wickedness: but the righteous hath hope in his death."—F.