(4)
Scripture Reading: Zech. 4
In this message we will consider the vision of consolation and promise in chapter four of Zechariah.
The priesthood and the kingship are the two offices in God's administration among His people. These two offices always go together as a pair and are never separated. The priesthood may be compared to the legislative branch of the government, and the kingship, to the executive branch. In God's administration legislative matters are decided by God Himself through the Urim and the Thummim worn by the high priest. The decisions made known through the priesthood are then executed, carried out, by the kingship.
In the church life today, we need both the priesthood and the kingship. Through the exercise of the priesthood, we are brought into God's presence. Through the exercise of the kingship by the older, experienced ones, the church is saved from anarchy and preserved in a good order. For the church life, we as God's people with His administration must have both the priesthood and the kingship.
One function of the priesthood is to teach us how to worship God and how to have the proper remembrance of the Lord at the Lord's table. We should not worship God or remember the Lord according to our natural concept. In John 4:24 the Lord Jesus says, "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truthfulness." This chapter also shows us that the worship God desires is that we drink of Him as the living water. The more we take God as our living water, the more we worship Him. We drink of God not by exercising our mind but by exercising our spirit. Regarding the remembrance of the Lord at the Lord's table, we also need the instruction of the priesthood. It is crucial for us to realize that the way to remember the Lord is not to exercise our mind to recall everything He did in His incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection; the way to remember Him is to enjoy Him by eating and drinking of Him. As we partake of the bread and of the cup, we remember Him and worship Him.
The visions in Zechariah 3 and 4 are concerned respectively with the priesthood and the kingship. The previous vision in chapter three concerning Joshua is to strengthen Joshua the high priest in the priesthood. To strengthen Joshua is to strengthen the priesthood and establish it. The vision of the golden lampstand and the two olive trees in chapter four is to strengthen Zerubbabel the governor of Judah in the kingship. Zerubbabel was not a king but a governor in the position of a king. Although Zerubbabel was not actually a king, he was nevertheless a descendant, a shoot, of the royal family of David. In chapter three Joshua was measured, and as a result of that measuring, he was strengthened and established through the cleansing. In chapter four Zerubbabel is measured so that through it he may be strengthened and established. The strengthening of Joshua in the priesthood and of Zerubbabel in the kingship are both for the rebuilding of the temple.
The priesthood of Joshua signifies the priesthood of the nation of Israel for the nations for God. The lampstand of gold signifies the shining testimony of the nation of Israel toward the nations for God. God had chosen Israel to be a nation of priests (Exo. 19:6). God's intention was to use the nation of Israel as a priesthood to bring the nations to God that they might enter into God's presence to be enlightened, exposed, dealt with, and transfused by God with the divine riches. In addition, the priests were to teach the nations how to worship God and serve God. In order for the priests to do this, they would have to be familiar with God's law and His regulations. In addition to being a nation of priests, Israel was also to be a testimony standing for God. Therefore, in chapter three we have the priesthood, and in chapter four, the lampstand.
The angel who spoke with Zechariah roused him and said to him, "What do you see? And I said, I see, and behold, there is a lampstand all of gold with its bowl on top of it and its seven lamps upon it, with seven pipes for each of the lamps on top of it" (Zech. 4:2). The lampstand here signifies the embodiment of the Triune God.
The substance of the lampstand is gold, signifying the Father as its source and nature.
The form of the lampstand being a lampstand signifies the Son as the embodiment.
The expression of the lampstand is the seven lamps, signifying the Spirit as the sevenfold intensified expression.
The supply of the lampstand is the seven pipes for each of the lamps, signifying the sevenfold intensified Spirit of God as its bountiful supply (Phil. 1:19b).
First, Christ is the lampstand as the testimony of God (Exo. 25:31-39). Second, the nation of Israel is the lampstand as the testimony of God. Third, the local churches are the lampstands as the testimony of Christ (Rev. 1:12, 20b).
Zechariah 4:3 says, "There are two olive trees beside it, one to the right of the bowl and one to the left." These two olive trees signify Joshua the high priest and Zerubbabel the governor at the time, who were the two sons of oil, filled with the Spirit of Jehovah for the rebuilding of God's temple (vv. 3-6, 12-14). The two sons of oil are also the two witnesses in the last three and a half years of the present age, who will be witnesses of God in the great tribulation for the strengthening of God's peoples — the Israelites and the believers in Christ (Rev. 11:3-12; 12:17). These two witnesses are Moses and Elijah. Moses, representing the law, and Elijah, representing the prophets, both testify for God. The expression "the law and the prophets" (Luke 16:16) refers to the Old Testament. The law is centered in Moses, and the prophets are centered in Elijah. These two, Moses and Elijah, will support and supply the persecuted Israelites and the believers during the great tribulation.
The nation of Israel is the lampstand, signifying God's testimony. God's testimony needs the shining. For this shining there must be the burning, and in order for there to be the burning, there must be the supply of olive oil. In order to have the olive oil, there must be some olive trees. The two olive trees on the two sides of the lampstand are the two sons of oil, Joshua and Zerubbabel.
In Zechariah 4:11 the prophet says to the angel, "What are these two olive trees on the right of the lampstand and on its left?" In verse 12 Zechariah goes on to ask, "What are the two olive branches that are by the side of the two golden spouts, which empty the gold from themselves?" In verse 11 there are two trees, and in verse 12, two branches. The two branches are part of the two trees. When the bowl of the lampstand is void of oil, the two trees will supply oil by flowing it out through the branches and into the two spouts. The oil will then flow from the spouts into the bowl, and from the bowl into the lampstand.
The relative pronoun which in verse 12 refers not to the spouts but to the branches. These branches "empty the gold from themselves." To empty the gold is to cause the gold to flow out. The word gold here refers to the oil. The oil and the gold are one. The oil denotes the Spirit, and the Spirit is God. Furthermore, in typology gold signifies God. The gold that fills the bowl is the Spirit; the Spirit is God; and God is typified by gold. As we apply this matter to our experience today, we see that the Spirit who flows out of us is God, and God is gold. Thus, when we minister Christ to others, supplying them with oil, we are actually supplying them with God. God is flowing out from us into them. We all should be olive trees emptying God from ourselves into others. In this way oil will be provided to the needy by those who are olive trees out of which God is flowing.
Let us consider further why the two trees are called two branches. In Zechariah 3 and 4 the same person, Zerubbabel, is signified by a shoot (3:8), a tree (4:3, 11), and a branch (v. 12). This indicates that Zerubbabel himself is not the source. If he were a tree complete in himself, he would be the source. However, he is a tree which is actually a branch of another tree, and that tree is the source. Moreover, Zerubbabel is also a shoot from the other tree. That tree is Christ. Christ is the unique olive tree, and both Zerubbabel and we ourselves are branches, offshoots, of Christ. To branch out is to be an offshoot. Although Christ is the unique olive tree, out from Him many shoots have issued forth. The issuing forth of these shoots is Christ's branching out. These branches, or shoots, are now the many olive trees on earth today. Are you not such an olive tree? As bona fide Christians, we are olive trees. Strictly speaking, we are olive trees not in the sense of being separate trees but in the sense of being branches of Christ, the unique olive tree. As branches we need to supply others with oil, that is, with the Spirit, that they may be enlivened. Praise the Lord that in Christ we are olive trees supplying others with the sevenfold Spirit!
"The angel who spoke with me answered and said to me, Do you not know what these are? And I said, No, sir. And he answered and spoke to me, saying, This is the word of Jehovah to Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says Jehovah of hosts. Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain, and he will bring forth the topstone with shouts of Grace, grace to it....The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house, and his hands will finish it" (vv. 5-7, 9a). Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah, who laid the foundation of the rebuilding of the temple, will bring forth the topstone, indicating that he will finish the rebuilding of God's temple by the Spirit of Jehovah, not by might nor by power. The prophet Zechariah spoke this word to Zerubbabel in order to support, encourage, strengthen, and establish the hand of Zerubbabel that he might continue the building of the temple unto its consummation.
Whereas chapter three refers to Christ's death for redemption, chapter four speaks of the Spirit for the carrying out of God's economy. According to the New Testament, Christ's death for our redemption is followed by the Spirit. Today we should not only minister Christ to others but also supply them with the Spirit. The Christ we minister is the One who was crucified, who was raised from among the dead, and who in resurrection has become the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). As we speak to others concerning Christ, we should supply them with the Spirit.
The topstone with shouts of "Grace, grace to it!" signifies Christ, who is the grace as the stone, upon which are the seven eyes of Jehovah, the sevenfold intensified Spirit of God for the completion of the rebuilding of God's temple (3:9; 4:7-10; Rev. 5:6). To bring forth the topstone is to complete the building. This topstone is a type of Christ. For God's building Christ is a stone in three aspects. Christ is the foundation stone to uphold God's building (Isa. 28:16; 1 Cor. 3:11), the cornerstone to join together the Gentile and Jewish members of His Body (Eph. 2:20; 1 Pet. 2:6), and the topstone to consummate everything of God's building.
The shouts of "Grace, grace to it!" indicate that the topstone itself is grace. The topstone is grace from God to us, and this grace is Christ. "The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us..full of grace and reality" (John 1:14). This reveals that in His incarnation Christ brought God to us first as grace and then as reality. Grace is God in the Son as our enjoyment; reality is God realized by us in the Son. When God is enjoyed by us, we have grace. When God is realized by us, we have reality. Both grace and reality are Christ. The topstone is therefore the Christ who is the grace from God to us to be the covering of God's building.
Zechariah 4:10 says, "Who has despised the day of small things? For they rejoice when they see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel, these seven; they are the eyes of Jehovah running to and fro on the whole earth." "These seven," which are the "eyes of Jehovah," are the seven eyes upon the stone in 3:9. Revelation 5:6 speaks of a Lamb with "seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God." The seven eyes of the stone are the seven eyes of Jehovah and also the seven eyes of the Lamb, Christ. It is crucial for us to realize that the stone, Jehovah, and the Lamb are one. Christ the Lamb is the stone, and He is also Jehovah. Thus the seven eyes of the stone and the seven eyes of Jehovah are the seven eyes of Christ. According to Revelation 5:6, these seven eyes are the seven Spirits, that is, the sevenfold intensified Spirit. The seven Spirits are the seven eyes of Christ. This means that the Holy Spirit is the eyes of Christ. This indicates that Christ and the Holy Spirit, although distinct, are not separate. Just as our eyes are essentially one with our body, so the Holy Spirit is essentially one with Christ.
Christ is the stone engraved by God the Father (Zech. 3:9). The engraved One is Christ, and the engraving One is the Father. Although the Father and the Son are distinct, they are essentially one in the accomplishment of eternal redemption. As the result of this redemption, we may now enjoy Christ as the Spirit, even as the sevenfold intensified Spirit. According to Paul's word in 2 Corinthians 13:14, we have the love of God the Father as the source, the grace of Christ as the course, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit as the transmission for our enjoyment. From all this we see that redemption has been accomplished by the Son, and now the Spirit is supplied to us for God's building. By the Spirit the building of the church will be consummated.
