The Curse over the Whole Earth

The vision of the flying roll will be all the more striking to us if we notice its careful description. It was a roll of great size. The length of it was twenty cubits (thirty feet), and the width of it ten cubits (fifteen feet). Who has ever seen such a roll? How many curses this roll must have contained. The sins were piled up but also the curses. All God’s commandments lay trodden under foot—both the first and second table of God’s law. What else could it mean but that a dreadful judgment would be revealed from heaven upon the iniquity of men? Besides the large size of the roll, there was something else very remarkable about its dimensions. The dimensions were those of the holy place of the tabernacle which the Lord appointed His dwelling place in Israel. On this holy place the priest approached the Lord daily. There the lamps of the golden candlestick burned; there stood the table with the shewbread; there the golden altar consumed the incense. The people of Israel encamped around the tabernacle. The nation was separated unto the Lord from all the peoples of the earth; they belonged to the tabernacle. God’s dwelling was in their midst; God’s Word was given unto them, the revelation of God in Christ Jesus. However, this made the sin which was committed that much more abominable. It was the sin of God’s church and God’s people. Oh, how great are the transgressions. It is our own fault that the church of God has come into the low condition she presently manifests among us. Once she was at the head, but now she is at the bottom, for she has more and more departed from the Word of the Lord.

Conformity to the world has entered the church and has begun to reign there. The entertainment that the world offers is sought after in our hearts and homes—in food and drink, in clothes and ornaments, and also in the education of the youth. Has not the church of God in which the Lord glorified Himself so abundantly become more and more worldly? Are not the hearts of thousands upon thousands set upon the entertainment of the flesh—and almost always with the lie of the pre-supposed regeneration and of assumed citizenship of heaven in their hands? What impressions do the most serious sermons make? Do they still touch our conscience or have we become accustomed to the admonitions just as the goldsmith’s dog became accustomed to the sparks of the fire? Are we, who with our children still belong to the church, still conscious of the necessity of true conversion? Oh, that Zion might travail and bring forth sons and daughters. The roll which flies through the air full of curses has the dimensions of the holy place of the tabernacle.

Judgment begins at the house of God. Oh, what is still awaiting our church? Russia has provided the world with an example. All those who worship God are exterminated in that land of hellish revolution. The Word of God has been banished from their land, and thousands have been killed in the cruelest manner. Will not revolution soon bring death and destruction also in our nation because the church has forsaken the Lord and stubbornly refuses to bow before Him?

This question also concerns God’s children. The Lord bought them, soul and body, and drew them out of the world by the wonders of His grace, but where is their heavenly walk now? Where are their secret places? Where are the places where they may have secret communion with the Lord? They are the salt of the earth, but if the salt has lost its savor, wherewith shall it be salted? Judgment begins at the house of God. Does God wrong His people when He brings them in many tribulations, showing them His holy displeasure with sin? His love constrains Him to do so. The Lord will never be angry with His people as He is with the wicked. His strokes are strokes of love—paternal chastisements of His own. This awareness caused David to say, “Let us now fall into the hand of the LORD; for His mercies are great: and let me not fall into the hand of man” (2 Samuel 24:14b). Nevertheless, may the Lord cause us to realize that these strokes of love are most distressing for those who fear the Lord. They cause great grief in their soul. When God hides His face, Satan, at times, has great power, and the strokes are heavy. Not only was David “in a great strait,” but Naomi also complained, “Call me not Naomi, call me Mara: for the Almighty hath dealt very bitterly with me. I went out full, and the LORD hath brought me home again empty” (Ruth 1:28b&29a). The flying roll of curses which God brings upon the land also has something to say to God’s dear people. Will hard strikes be necessary to bring you to the right place? Will there be sorrow like your sorrow?

The roll Zechariah saw, flew! The prophet saw the dreadful roll propel itself forward with fearful speed, and just as the roll was flying, so surely God’s judgments and curses come upon the wicked. They were near; they came with speed; they proceeded most rapidly and could not be turned aside. Are the days in which we live not a clear evidence of this? Not long ago we thought we and our riches were secure. And now? In a moment God has turned the prosperity of the world into poverty. 1 Agriculture has languished; industry, commerce, yes, our entire social life has become disorganized. Unspeakable misery has followed, one misery following the other. War threatens. Who can stay God’s hand or say unto Him, “What doest Thou?” The roll flies. What evil will this winter bring? What evil will there be ere this year hastens to its close? Is it not as if we are being told: “An end, the end is come upon the four corners of the land” (Ezekiel 7:2b)? May we be given an escape and a hiding place. “And who shall stand when He appeareth? for He is like a refiner’s fire, and like fullers’ soap…” (Malachi 3:2b).

God’s judgments will spare no flesh. The curse includes utter destruction. All those who continue to tread stubbornly upon God’s laws will be destroyed. That will be the portion of the wicked. “Therefore, pride compasseth them about as a chain; violence covereth them as a garment. Their eyes stand out with fatness: they have more than heart could wish. They are corrupt, and speak wickedly concerning oppression: they speak loftily” (Psalm 73: 6-8). However, God sets them in slippery places. They make themselves fat for the day of slaughter. They will be utterly destroyed. “Thou castedst them down to destruction. How are they brought into desolation, as in a moment! they are utterly consumed with terrors” (Psalm 73:18b&19). Oh, that knowing the terror of the Lord we would be persuaded to faith! Be not envious of the prosperity of the wicked. Do not mingle with their company. Do not go about with vain persons, for you might fall into their snare and their judgment and be destroyed. May we by grace choose the portion of God’s people. They will be saved forever. They will have their soul for a prey. Beloved do not think lightly of the threat of this curse. God Himself will execute judgment. Verse 4, “I will bring it forth, saith the LORD of hosts, and it shall enter into the house the thief, and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by My name: and it shall remain in the midst of the house, and shall consume it with the timber thereof and the stones thereof.”

It is God with whom we shall have to deal. No one will be able to escape Him; He will not relinquish His claims. His justice demands satisfaction. He will requite the provocations of the wicked upon their head. He will enter the houses; the curse will remain in the midst of the house and will not leave until all is consumed.

Should we not fear God? If God would punish the sins of the people, also in our country, can we expect anything but that we be consumed? Surely a severe judgment awaits us, and that judgment proclaims loudly to each one of us to seek a hiding place with the Lord. Everyone by nature is a child of wrath. There is an escape from that wrath only in the blood of Christ. In that blood God’s people by faith may wash their robes and make them white. They come out of the great tribulation. In this life the Lord will protect and keep them. He that keepeth Israel will preserve their going out and their coming in. Oh, that God’s people would enjoy more of that lively hope and expectation, and that their faith might become livelier. Then there would be a song of praise even in the midst of tribulations of the flesh.

Unconverted sinner, you are still a stranger to the privilege of that people. When God’s judgments break forth and the flying roll comes upon the whole land, you will be standing alone. You do not know God. You have no refuge in Christ. Your religion, your confession, your zeal will fall away. Oh, how poor is he who lives as he was born. His riches, his prosperity, and his happiness are only show; in his greatest enjoyment there is the bitter root of sin and of the curse. In all the distresses which are to come, he stands alone.

Already in this life God’s people are blessed indeed even though to the natural eye there is nothing very attractive in the service of God. The Lord is their comfort and strength. He turns the judgments away from His people as He once did from Israel in Egypt, or He gives them grace to bear it. He does not try His people above that which they are able to bear. On the contrary, the Lord Jesus says, “For My yoke is easy, and My burden is light” (Matthew 11:30). I have an old friend who has to endure very many tribulations and much enmity. He has often said to me, “I may bear my cross so cheerfully.” May the Lord grant this also in our days and in the dark future that is coming for His children—to bear our cross, not with murmuring, but with cheerfulness.

May you who are estranged from God be stirred to jealousy and flee to the city of refuge which is opened in the blood of Christ. Oh, my fellow traveler to eternity, flee! Behold, the roll of God’s judgments is approaching with great speed. Escape before it is too late. The Lord still calls to us, “Look unto Me, and be ye saved, all the ends of the earth: for I am God, and there is none else” (Isaiah 45:22).

While He proffers peace and pardon

Let us hear His voice today. p

—Psalter 255:4 p

1 The stock market crash of 1929

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