Click here for the Zechariah 4:1-7 PODCAST
1 Then the angel who talked with me returned and woke me up, like someone awakened from sleep. 2 He asked me, “What do you see?” I answered, “I see a solid gold lampstand with a bowl at the top and seven lamps on it, with seven channels to the lamps. 3 Also there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.” 4 I asked the angel who talked with me, “What are these, my lord?” 5 He answered, “Do you not know what these are?” “No, my lord,” I replied. 6 So he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty. 7 “What are you, mighty mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become level ground. Then he will bring out the capstone to shouts of ‘God bless it! God bless it!’” ~ Zechariah 4:1-7
Today, we come to Zechariah 4, and God delivers a fifth prophecy to Zechariah which reiterates: in the future, Israel will be reinstated as God’s witnessing nation.
As you already know, the book of Zechariah is framed up by visions. Throughout this book, Zechariah was awake when God revealed them to him. But, in this chapter, Zechariah has fallen asleep. That's the difference between dreams and visions. A dream is when you see them while you're sleeping. A vision is you see these pictures but you're awake. Now, it could be that this is in a night, and so he hasn't gotten much sleep and he was struggling. It is as if, he saw it and he nodded off and he woke up again, out of his sleep.
In v.1-3 of today's text we read, "1 Then the angel who talked with me returned and woke me up, like someone awakened from sleep. 2 He asked me, “What do you see?” I answered, “I see a solid gold lampstand with a bowl at the top and seven lamps on it, with seven channels to the lamps. 3 Also there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.'"
Zechariah sees the olive trees producing the olive oil for the menorah, the lampstand. The oil is being piped up into these receptacles, these bowls, and then the spouts that go into the pipes that feed each of the lamps individually. And there was a constant supply of oil without the help of any man. The oil flowed to each of the seven lamps on the one big lampstand from seven pipes coming from a big bowl of oil. And the bowl of oil is getting its oil from the two olive trees. This vision is of an automatic lamp.
Now, in the temple of the tabernacle, the oil had to be supplied by the priests. So, it was not automatic, but this is an automatic lamp. In the holy place, the priest had to go in and trim the lamp all the time in order to keep the oil in there.
God was revealing a message to Zechariah which was God was going to keep this temple rebuilding program going. In fact, the nation of Israel will perpetuate on through the centuries until the Millennium. This is a vision revealing the perpetual state of Israel as God's witness to mankind.
In v.4-6 of today's text we read, "4 I asked the angel who talked with me, “What are these, my lord?” 5 He answered, “Do you not know what these are?” “No, my lord,” I replied. 6 So he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty."
Ultimately, in the lampstand we see a symbol of the one who is truly the light of the world. It is none other than the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. In Isaiah 49:5-6 we read, "5 And now the Lord says, he who formed me in the womb to be his servant to bring Jacob back to him and gather Israel to himself for I am honored in the eyes of the Lord and my God has been my strength—6 he says: “It is too small a thing for you to be my servant to restore the tribes of Jacob and bring back those of Israel I have kept. I will also make you a light for the Gentiles, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth."
God will restore Israel back into the promised land, and He, the Messiah will bring His salvation to all peoples of the earth. In the Millennium, Israel will be the primary bearers of the Gospel message to all of mankind. And, the ultimate light is none other than the Lord Jesus Christ.
In Luke 2:32 we read, "a light for revelation to the Gentiles, and the glory of your people Israel." This verse is written of the Lord Jesus when He was a baby. And, in John 8:12, the Lord Jesus said, "I am the light of the world." When He said those words He was standing right in front of the massive menorah that was there in the Temple in Jerusalem. All along, the lampstand spoke of the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. In addition, the lampstand pictures Israel in full fellowship with the Messiah. Israel will be restored to the place of usefulness, and they will be God's testimony to the world.
Once again, in v.6 of today's text we read, "So he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says the Lord Almighty."
This prophecy will not be the result of human strength. It will not come to pass by man's ingenuity or force. God says that it will only happen by His Spirit. God wanted Zerubbabel, a contemporary of Zechariah, to understand that without human strength, God is going to preserve Israel. Oil, a symbol of the Holy Spirit in the Bible is used in this passage. And the work of God can never be accomplished in the energy of the man. His work is and will always be the product of the power of the Holy Spirit.
Rather than thinking, I've got an idea and I hope God blesses it, and I'm going to go out and push this idea through. We do well to watch what God is doing in this world and to get on board with Him. We do well to follow the leading of the Holy Spirit. In this way our ministry will be organic.
In v.7 of today's text we read, "What are you, mighty mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become level ground. Then he will bring out the capstone to shouts of ‘God bless it! God bless it!"
When we place the Lord Jesus in the middle of the ministry equation, we will see a mountain formed out of a molehill. From this conviction, there will always be an unlimited supply of power from the Holy Spirit. And, His purposes will not only be realized in us, they will be realized through us. This is what the Lord Jesus meant when He talked about eternal life.
