"Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a flying roll. And He said unto me, What seest thou? And I answered, I see a flying roll; the length thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits. Then said He unto me, This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth: for every one that stealeth shall be cut off as on this side according to it; and every one that sweareth shall be cut off as on that side according to it. I will bring it forth, saith the Lord of hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by my name: and it shall remain in the midst of his house, and shall consume it with the timber thereof and the stones thereof." - Zechariah 5:1-4
What do we know about this roll just by looking at this passage on a surface level? We know that this roll is longer than it is wide and that it flies. We know that this roll is a curse for thieves and liars which means that it has a specific destination or target. Finally, we know that this roll will completely destroy buildings.
A casual glance will make this prophecy appear to be a long piece of paper that blows up people and buildings.
The Hebrew word for roll is "megillah" and looks like this:
This roll, according to Zechariah, is 30 ft long and 10 ft wide. A 30 ft tall piece of paper seems a bit weird, doesn't it? But what does the megillah resemble when it is closed?
In Zechariah's prophecy the megillah that he saw could fly, was 33 ft tall, had a specific destination, and completely destroyed the people and buildings that it struck.
Missiles come in many forms and can be launched from the air, sea, or land. They can target specifically and create the same destruction that is listed in Zechariah's prophecy. Remember from the Introduction that these prophets lived well over 2,000 years ago. Zechariah would not be familiar with the term "missile".
Only within the past few decades could we truly see that God was not talking about a flying Bible or piece of paper. He was showing Zechariah missiles.