Today we are going to look at the Old Testament book of Zechariah. Bible Scholar George L. Robinson has called the book of Zechariah, “the most messianic, the most truly
apocalyptic and eschatological of all of the writings of the Old Testament.” This book has been quoted or alluded to some 41 times by New Testament writers.
This book is messianic or Christological, meaning that it is a book about Christ. Jesus can be found throughout this book. In fact, when you find the statement, “The angel of the LORD” in this book, it is Jesus talking or being spoken to.
Furthermore, throughout the Old Testament, you will find that the angel of the Lord speaks as God, identifies Himself with God, and exercises the responsibilities of God (Genesis 16:7-13; 21:17-18; 22:11-18; Exodus 3:2; Judges 2:1-4; 5:23; 6:11-24; 13:3-22; 2 Samuel 24:16; Zechariah 1:12; 3:1; 12:8).
This book is all about Jesus but, it is also all about the future of Israel.
The prophet Zechariah has eight visions…all in one night! The visions are apocalyptic. In other words, they resemble the visions in the books of Daniel, Ezekiel and Revelation.
Zechariah’s visions begin with a restoration of the people, a rebuilding of the temple, a rebuilding of the city, the salvation of the nations and then the witnessing ministry of the people of the nation of Israel. At the time of these prophecies Israel’s light has been extinguished because of their sin of rejecting the Messiah but one day their lampstand will be relit and they will shine for the Lord.
This historical background of the book of Zechariah is as follows. Jerusalem continued to sin against God and He allowed them to fall to their enemies, namely the Assyrians and the Babylonians. The armies of Nebuchadnezzar came in and deported the inhabitants of Jerusalem to Babylon for a period of 70 years as prophesied by the Prophet Jeremiah (Jer. 25:11; 29:10).
When the Babylonian Empire fell to the Persian Empire (539 BC), Cyrus the Great decreed that the Jews could return to Jerusalem to rebuild their temple (Ezra 1:2-4). But only a few of the 50,000 Jews returned. These included Haggai and Zechariah (whose calls to the ministry were only two months apart). It also included the High Priest Joshua and Zerubbabel, who was the governor (Ezra 2).
One of the first things they did upon returning to Jerusalem was to rebuild the altar and reinstitute the burnt offering sacrifice (Ezra 3:1-6). In the second year of their return they laid the foundation of the temple (Ezra 3:8-13; 5:16).
Nehemiah was living at this time and he received from the king assistance to rebuild the walls of Jerusalem that were burned down but there was external persecution, internal hopelessness and spiritual indifference that halted the rebuilding of the temple for about 16 years.
The Bible Study Commentary says that “In the second year of Darius (520 B.C), God raised up Haggai the prophet to encourage the Jews in rebuilding. Haggai preached four sermons in four months and then disappeared from the scene. Two months after Haggai delivered his first sermon, Zechariah began his prophetic ministry, encouraging the people to spiritual renewal and motivating them to rebuild the Temple by revealing to them God's plans for Israel's future. With this prophetic encouragement the people completed the Temple reconstruction in 515 B.C.”
We find eight visions in the first six chapters of Zechariah.
An Interpretation of Zechariah's Eight Night Visions in chapters 1-6:
Vision - The Red-horse Rider with Red, Brown and White Horses among the Myrtles
Reference - 1:7-17
Meaning - God sent these sentries which reported that there was peace (perhaps an enforced peace under strong Persian rule from 538 B.C. until 334 B.C. when Alexander the Great retaliated). The time was ready for the Jews to return.
Vision - The Four Horns and the Four Craftsmen
Reference - 1:18-21
Meaning - Judgment against the four powers (horns) who scattered Israel (perhaps meaning Assyria, Egypt, Babylon, and Tyre, (Ezekiel 26-28)); Also a vision of four craftsmen: possibly four kings of Medo-Persia who destroyed the four horns and allowed Israel to return and rebuild (Cyrus, Darius I, Artaxerxes and one unnamed (Ezra 6:14)
Vision - The Surveyor with a Measuring Line
Reference - Chapter 2
Meaning - God's future blessings on a restored Israel (if you are measuring you are planning and giving hope)
Vision - The Cleansing and Crowning of Joshua the High Priest
Reference - Chapter 3; 6:11-13
Meaning - Joshua symbolizes the returnees who were cleansed and then restored. In the future Joshua symbolizes the priest/ king function of Jesus Christ, the Branch. The stone with seven eyes may indicate God's presence with them.
Vision - The Golden Lampstand and the Two Olive Trees
Reference - Chapter 4
Meaning - Israel will be a light to the nations fueled by the Holy Spirit; The identity of the Two Olive Trees pouring into the lampstand could be two are identified as two anointed ones, probably meaning Zerubbabel and Joshua.
Vision - The Flying Scroll
Reference - 5:1-4
Meaning - Severe divine judgment for the deliberate sins of individual Israelites in the land
Vision - The Woman in the Measuring Basket
Reference - 5:5-11
Meaning - Corporate judgment on the Israelites in the land for commercial greed and idolatry (Ezra 9-10; Nehemiah 5, 13)
Vision - The Four Chariots
Reference - 6:1-8
Meaning - Possible symbolism for divine judgment on all the nations of the earth before the millennial reign of Christ (Revelation 19:11-21)
By the time we get to our text in chapter four, the prophet Zechariah has already seen four visions and the one he was about to see would be his fifth.
Zec 4:1 And the angel who talked with me came again and woke me, like a man who is awakened out of his sleep.
Zechariah has already seen four visions, most of which are very intense. After the fourth vision he is exhausted and falls asleep and then is awakened by Jesus, the Angel of Jehovah.
Zec 4:2 And he said to me, "What do you see?" I said, "I see, and behold, a lampstand all of gold, with a bowl on the top of it, and seven lamps on it, with seven lips on each of the lamps that are on the top of it.
Zec 4:3 And there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left."
Zec 4:4 And I said to the angel who talked with me, "What are these, my lord?"
Zec 4:5 Then the angel who talked with me answered and said to me, "Do you not know what these are?" I said, "No, my lord."
Zec 4:6 Then 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 of hosts.”
This verse is quoted a lot by preachers, teachers and song-writers and many of them do not even know what is going on here. How many of us have quoted this verse and didn’t know the context from which it was taken?
It sounds good. It sounds like truth. But it’s connected to the vision of the lampstand and the olive trees and in order to understand what verse six means, we need to understand what’s going on in this chapter.
Verse six is a word from the LORD to Zerubbabel, the governor of Judah. Zerubbabel had something to do; he had a task to complete and that was the rebuilding of the temple.
There were obvious obstacles in his path. There were people who opposed this great work. There was a need for materials and workers and other resources.
Perhaps there is something in your life right now…a task that God has called you to…
* You are faced with doing some ministry and the work seems to be overwhelming…
* Your job is working you like a horse and you can’t find the time for anything else…
* When managing your home, you are always running out of money before the month…
* Perhaps you are in a marriage that seems to be on its way to crashing and burning but you know that “God hates divorce.”
* Maybe you want to get married but there are things getting in the way of that…mainly you can’t find the God’s person or the God’s person can’t find you!
Zerubbabel had challenges and difficulties when attempting to rebuild the temple:
Ezr 4:1 When the enemies of Judah and Benjamin heard that the people who returned from exile were building a temple for the LORD God of Israel,
Ezr 4:2 they approached Zerubbabel and the heads of the families. They told them, "We want to help you build because we worship the same God you worship. We have been sacrificing to him since the time of King Esarhaddon of Assyria, who brought us here."
Ezr 4:3 But Zerubbabel, Jeshua, and the rest of the heads of Israel's families told them, "It isn't right for your people and our people to build a temple for our God together. We must build it alone for the LORD God of Israel, as King Cyrus of Persia ordered us to do."
Ezr 4:4 Then the people of that region discouraged the people of Judah and made them afraid to continue building.
Ezr 4:5 They bribed officials to keep the people of Judah from carrying out their plans throughout the reign of King Cyrus of Persia until the reign of King Darius of Persia.
Ezr 4:6 When Xerxes began to rule, the enemies of Judah and Jerusalem wrote a letter in which they made an accusation against the inhabitants of Judah and Jerusalem.
Listen to what the LORD says to Governor Zerubbabel:
Zec 4:7 Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain. And he shall bring forward the top stone amid shouts of 'Grace, grace to it!'"
The mountain God mentioned in verse seven was any and every obstacle that could ever get in the way of Zerubbabel rebuilding the temple. Perhaps this is what Jesus may have been thinking about in Mark 11:22-23 when He said, “Have faith in God. Truly, I say to you, whoever says to this mountain, 'Be taken up and thrown into the sea,' and does not doubt in his heart, but believes that what he says will come to pass, it will be done for him.”
But in Zechariah 4:7 it is God who speaks to Zerubbabel’s mountain saying, “Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain…”
Zec 4:8 Then the word of the LORD came to me (Zechariah), saying,
Zec 4:9 "The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also complete it. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you.
This is the word of the LORD that came to Zechariah about what Zerubbabel was going to do. The word was that Zerubbabel laid the foundation of the temple and Zerubbabel’s going to finish the temple so that all can applaud Governor Zerubbabel! NO!!! So that the governor would know that the LORD of Hosts was behind it all and that He might get the glory.
I like this because it reminds me of when we first purchased our church property. We didn’t have much of anything. We only had a few people who had little to no money; we had church in a store front. Their pastor was a nobody (and still is a nobody). But we were able by the Lord’s grace to purchase this property and hold on to it for 16 years now and to do ministry where people have been taught and challenged with the Word of God and people have been saved. The glory doesn’t go to Chuck Brooks or to GraceWay Church, the glory goes to the Lord!
Maybe I’m just preaching this message for me because sometimes your pastor looks too much at what the members are doing or not doing. Sometimes I look too much at the offering totals and the outstanding bills. Sometimes I look too much at what the county says we can’t do or what our neighbors don’t want to take place on this property.
But God tells Zechariah to tell Zerubbabel, “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also complete it. Then you will know that the LORD of hosts has sent me to you.”
Zechariah 4:7 tells us that when Zerubbabel finishes the temple and sets the capstone, there would be cheers and rejoicing, “It’s beautiful, beautiful!...God bless it!!”
Verse 10 says, “For whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice, and shall see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel. "These seven are the eyes of the LORD, which range through the whole earth.”
There were those during that time, “who despised the days of small things”. In other words, they didn’t think it could happen. They were walking by sight and not by faith. They were looking at the accounting ledger and the income and expense sheets. They were discouraged and afraid to be a part of the rebuilding project because of the “negativity” that they were hearing from the enemies of Judah and Benjamin (Ezra 4:1).
Judah’s enemies were writing letters saying that if the walls were rebuilt and if the temple was rebuilt that “such and such” was going to happen. When we bought our property, there were people in our church at that time who were spewing out the same kind of negativity.
The enemies of Judah were successful in slowing down the progress of the work. Ezra 4:24 says that the work on God’s temple was stopped until King Darius’ second year. In other words, the work was stalled for two years.
Someone said that “Negativity is the enemy of creativity”.
Pastor Arian Rogers has said, “The two sides of Satan's sword are doubt and discouragement… Doubt is to my spirit what pain is to my body.”
One Bible commentator suggests that those despising the days of small things were the older Jews who thought that Zerubbabel’s temple was smaller and didn’t compare with the temples of days gone by (like Solomon’s temple). They were the people who were comparing what God was going to accomplish through Zerubbabel with what other people had done. They had their eyes on other “temples” and not on the expansion project.
Zec 4:11 Then I said to him, "What are these two olive trees on the right and the left of the lampstand?"
Zec 4:12 And a second time I answered and said to him, "What are these two branches of the olive trees, which are beside the two golden pipes from which the golden oil is poured out?"
Zec 4:13 He said to me, "Do you not know what these are?" I said, "No, my lord."
Zec 4:14 Then he said, "These are the two anointed ones who stand by the Lord of the whole earth."
This takes us back to the beginning of the chapter where the Angel of the LORD first shows Zechariah the vision of the lampstand and the two olive trees. Here in verse 11-14, the prophet Zechariah is still wondering what’s going on with the lampstand and the olive trees and the golden pipes connecting the lampstand to the olive trees.
Zechariah and the people of Judah were very familiar with lampstands and how they worked. They were also familiar with the kind of lampstands that were employed in Israel’s tabernacle and the ten lampstands that were in place in Solomon’s temple (1 Kings 7:49).
The lampstands that were used in the tabernacle and the temple had to be filled with oil by the priests and done so in such a way that the light did not go out. But the lampstand in Zechariah’s vision was automatically filled with an endless supply of oil without the help of man.
In this vision the Angel describes a bowl for storing oil that was suspended over the lampstand (Zech. 4:2). Oil was transported by gravity from the bowl through seven channels or conduits to each of the seven lights of the lampstand, apparently 49 conduits in all (v. 2); and (c) the lampstand was flanked by two olive trees which were tapped by “two gold pipes” through which “golden oil” flowed constantly into the bowl (vv. 3, 11-12).
What is God saying to Zerubbabel? He is saying that the temple would be finished by the abundant supply of the Spirit of God!
We know this because the Bible uses a number of symbols to describe the person and work of the Holy Spirit. These symbols show the nature, character and work of the Holy Spirit. They include water, wind or breath, fire, wine, a dove and oil (Acts 10:38; Hebrews 1:9; 1 John 2:20).
In Zechariah 4:12 we find a reference to “golden oil”. Gold is symbolic of deity and oil, the Holy Spirit, showing us that this is referring to God, the Holy Spirit.
So the Spirit of God will abundantly supply Zerubbabel with everything that he needs in order to rebuild the temple. Isn’t that true for Christians today?
Didn’t Jesus say to His disciples before He left them to go back to the Father that He would be sending His Spirit, who would be with them and would be in them and empower them? (John 14:13-20; Acts 1:8). Does not the Holy Spirit fill the believer and produce within him the fruit of the Spirit (Gal 5).
So the unending oil is symbolic of the Holy Spirit who supplies Zerubbabel with everything he needs for the rebuilding of the temple.
But why a lampstand? What do lampstands do best? They give off light! So this vision is ultimately one that depicts the one who is truly the light of the world. Who is that? The Messiah, Jesus Christ.
In Isaiah 49:5-6, it says, “And now the LORD says, he who formed me from the womb to be his servant, to bring Jacob back to him; and that Israel might be gathered to him— for I am honored in the eyes of the LORD, and my God has become my strength—he says: "It is too light a thing that you should be my servant to raise up the tribes of Jacob and to bring back the preserved of Israel; I will make you as a light for the nations, that my salvation may reach to the end of the earth."
And there it's referring to the Messiah. So basically this light is none other than Jesus Christ.
In Luke 1:78-79 is says, “because of the tender mercy of our God, whereby the sunrise shall visit us from on high to give light to those who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace." And there again the light refers to the Messiah.
In Luke 2:32, it says of the Messiah, "He is a light to lighten the Gentiles and the glory of thy people Israel."
In John 8:12, Jesus says, "I am the light of the world." John 8:12 takes us back to the temple; not Zerubbabel’s temple but Herod’s temple.
Before I talk about what was going on when Jesus proclaimed Himself to be the “Light of the World”, let’s get a brief history of the Jewish Temple.
In the Old Testament Moses gets instruction from God on how to build the tabernacle (Exodus 25), which was a portable tent where God would meet with His people. Moses built everything according to the pattern God revealed to him on Mt. Sinai, Hebrews 8:5.]
After the conquest of Canaan, the tabernacle and its contents remained at Shiloh throughout the time of Judges. After Shiloh was destroyed (about 1050 BC), the Ark traveled through various Philistine cities and finally was brought to David's palace south of the Temple Mount in Jerusalem, and then into the holy of holies of the First Temple that was built and dedicated by Solomon about 952 BC (1 Kings 8:22-61).
In 1 Chronicles 28 King David receives instructions from God on how to build the temple but wasn’t allowed to do so because he was a man of bloodshed. David’s son was to build the temple. This was the first temple and was shaped like the tabernacle geometrically, but it was twice as large and built of immense quantities of stone, cedar wood and lined with gold. [See Exodus 25-31; 35-40, Numbers 3:25)
After the first temple was completed (I Kings 5-8), the Tabernacle was dismantled.
Nebuchadnezzar destroyed Jerusalem and the first temple in 586 BC; the Jews were then taken captive to Babylon and the city had no center of worship until Zerubbabel and the returning exiles (re)built the smaller, second temple, completing it in 516 BC.
I Kings 6, I Chronicles 22, Ezra, Nehemiah and Haggai all describe the rebuilding of the temple after the Babylonian captivity.
Fast forward to 20 BC where the second temple was rebuilt and enlarged by Herod the Great beginning. Jesus was dedicated in this temple; He cast out money changers there on two occasions, and He did a lot of His teaching in the temple courts.
This second temple was destroyed by the Romans in AD 70 and since that time the temple sacrifices, offerings, instruction, and worship have ceased in accordance with an Old Testament prophecy of Hosea (about 746 BC).
According to Matthew 24, a third temple will be built and the priesthood will resume; so will the sacrifices. The AntiChrist will desecrate it as he stands in the holy of holies and tries to get people to worship him as God.
So when Jesus, in John 8:12 Jesus says, “I am the light of the world” He is standing in the second temple, rebuilt by King Herod, the temple where He kicks out the moneychangers.
It is the Feast of the Tabernacles, a week-long feast in September or early October. This feast was given in thanksgiving for God's gracious provision for Israel, both in the past and in the present.
On the last day and greatest day of the feast Jesus goes up to the temple and makes His startling claim to offer living water (John 7:37-39) and to be the light of the world (8:12).
On each day of the feast there was a procession of priests to the pool of Siloam to draw water. The priests returned to the temple with the water. They walk once around the altar with the choir chanting Psalms 113-118, and then the water is poured out as an offering at the morning sacrifice.
The Jews would stay up all night celebrating as a lead in to this event. This joy was associated with Isaiah 12:3, "With joy you will draw water from the wells of salvation."
On the seventh day of the festival the priests processed around the altar with the water not once but seven times.
At this high point of the festival Jesus dramatically cries out loudly, “If anyone is thirsty, let him come to me and drink . Whoever believes in me, as the Scripture has said, 'Out of his heart will flow rivers of living water.'"” (v. 37-38).
After this, people in the temple began to argue as to whether or not He was the Messiah, the prophet, or just a man from Galilee. But Jesus didn’t stop there.
The next day Jesus is at the temple teaching and He is broadsided by the religious leaders of the Jews who were dragging along with them a woman they had caught in the very act of adultery. He bends down, writes something on the ground and then stands up and says to the woman’s accusers, “Let him who is without sin among you be the first to throw a stone at her.” Jesus stoops again and writes some more and then for some reason they all walk away.
Jesus stands and says to the woman, "Woman, where are they? Has no one condemned you?" She said, "No one, Lord." And Jesus said, "Neither do I condemn you; go, and from now on sin no more."
Now, notice, Jesus is still at the temple, it is the day after the biggest day of the Feast of Tabernacles. The festivities are over. By the way, during the week of festivities there would be a lamp-lighting ceremony that took place in the temple every evening of the feast, during which large lamps were set up.
The lamps' light, it was said, filled every courtyard in the city. In the light of these lamps there was great singing and dancing all evening in celebration of God's salvation, especially His deliverance at the Exodus as He led His people with His presence in a pillar of fire by night.
In the sight of these great lamps which were now extinguished, Jesus proclaims Himself to be the light of the world!
So the lampstand, with the never-ending golden oil, back in Zechariah chapter four is a picture of the Holy Spirit working to meet the needs of Zerubbabel as he rebuilt the temple so that Jerusalem will continue to be a light for the nations.
Verse six says, “This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel saying, not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit saith the Lord of hosts.”
“Not by might” - refers to the strength of many (Judah, the people, the government?).
“Not by power” - refers to the strength of one great person (Zerubbabel?).
This is saying that the light to the nations was supposed to be God’s people as they were empowered by the Spirit of God.
God is saying that the accomplishing of His plans and purposes will not be due to a bunch of strong men working together, nor will it be due to the efforts of one great and strong man…it will only be due to the effort of the Holy Spirit.
There's no human agency at all. The strength of man…his physical, mental, moral strength…combined or individually…will never bring about the salvation of the nation Israel, nor will it bring about light needed for the salvation of the nations.
When it's done, no one will be able to take the credit for it. This was the work of God.
Israel was supposed to be the light that the nations of the world would come to know God. But they messed up. They sinned. In fact, they sinned the biggest sin by rejecting the Messiah Jesus. “He came unto His own but His own did not receive Him” (John 1:11)
But this didn’t take God by surprise because Romans chapter eleven tells us that their fall resulted in the Gospel going to the Gentiles and then the salvation of the Gentiles would one day provoke the Jews to jealousy so that some of them might be saved.
Right now, we are living in the “Times of the Gentiles”. Israel has been temporarily put on the back burner as it were. They had their chance to be “the light for the nations”. Now, the rejected Messiah, the Light of the World, is shining His light through His body, the church, who Jesus calls in Matthew 5:14, “the light of the world”. This is why we are called in 1 Thessalonians 5:5, “children of light”. This is why Jesus commands us to “let our light so shine so that men might see our good works and glorify the Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).
Zechariah 4:6 says, “not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit saith the Lord of hosts.” He’s the might, He’s the power, He’s the Light and so He gets the glory!
That’s the way we want it anyway; we want God to get the glory. God doesn’t share His glory with anyone. The Apostle says it this way in 1 Corinthians 1: "Whoever brags or boasts must brag and boast about what the Lord has done." (vs. 31)
Paul also says in this same chapter, “But God chose what the world considers nonsense to put wise people to shame. God chose what the world considers weak to put what is strong to shame. God chose what the world considers ordinary and what it despises-what it considers to be nothing-in order to destroy what it considers to be something. As a result, no one can brag in God's presence.” (vs. 27-29)
This is how God wants to use you. It’s not your brains; it’s not your brawn; it’s not your bankroll; it’s not even your behavior, it’s by His Spirit.
This is how God wants to use us as a light to our community and beyond. Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit saith the Lord.
