Then the angel who was talking with me came forward and said, “Look up and see what’s coming.”
“What is it?” I asked.
He replied, “It is a basket for measuring grain, and it’s filled with the sins of everyone throughout the land.”
Then the heavy lead cover was lifted off the basket, and there was a woman sitting inside it. The angel said, “The woman’s name is Wickedness,” and he pushed her back into the basket and closed the heavy lid again.
Then I looked up and saw two women flying toward us, gliding on the wind. They had wings like a stork, and they picked up the basket and flew into the sky.
“Where are they taking the basket?” I asked the angel.
He replied, “To the land of Babylonia, where they will build a temple for the basket. And when the temple is ready, they will set the basket there on its pedestal.”
Zechariah 5:5-11 (NLT)
Another shorter vision for our prophet.
This time he sees Wickedness personified as a woman and carried off to Babylon. The word used in verse 11 is actually Shinar, the same place the Tower of Babel occurred.
Throughout the Bible, Babylon is used to represent a land of idolatry. Idolatry that is not appropriate for God’s people or the place He chose to dwell among them. He is banishing such wickedness as He continues to prepare His people to worship Him again in Temple.
Any time the One Who baptizes with the Holy Spirit and fire burns away dross in our lives, it is a mercy. He is making us more moldable vessels with a purified faith.
I’m grateful our Potter is gentle. And though, as a Silversmith, He must use fire to refine, it is for our good.
But ultimately I’m grateful He chooses to use broken people to display His infinite worth.