Seeking for the help of the Lord,
I direct your prayer for attention to Zechariah. Zechariah chapter
4 and reading from our text, verse 6. Then he answered and spake unto
me, saying, 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." Zechariah chapter 4 and verse 6. The prophecy of Zechariah is
full of pointers, to the coming Messiah. In chapter three, we have mention
of the branch. We have the same also in chapter
six, the Lord Jesus Christ, the branch. We have the coming of
our Lord riding into Jerusalem in Zechariah 9 verse 9, on an
ass's colt fulfilled by our Lord coming and riding as was foretold. Then we have the 30 pieces of
silver that was paid to Judas to betray our Lord. How they were cast in the temple,
how they brought were used to buy the potter's field. Then we have in chapter 12 the
piercing of the Lord. They shall look upon him whom
they have pierced. There's much in this prophecy
that's pointing to our Lord. Zerubbabel is a type of our Lord
Jesus Christ. used to build the second temple
and raised up as not only prophet but king as well. Prophet, priest and king was
our Lord. We find Zechariah a prophet,
we find Joshua the high priest, and we have Zerubbabel set forth
here that shall lie the hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation
of this house his hands shall also finish it and thou shalt
know that the Lord of hosts has sent me unto you. When the Jews came back from
captivity in Babylon the temple started in 536 BC, but it no
sooner started than there was opposition and it ceased for
some 16 years, starting again 520 BC, four years later. then it was finished and completed. And the Lord used the prophets,
Agai Zachariah, to encourage and to strengthen the people
in building. But we would look past the temple
itself in a literal way, and we will see what is set forth
especially in relation to the candlesticks that are set forth
here. Word of our text after the vision
of the candlestick is shown and the angel that talked with Zachariah
answered, said unto me, knowest thou not what these be? And I
said, no, my lord. Now our text is the answer to
what these things be. And whatever we may understand
by the candlesticks and what is set forth there, one thing
is clear in the words of our text. that this vision is the
word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel. And it says this, not by might
nor by power, but by my spirit saith the Lord of hosts. And it is speaking that this
shall be what removes the mountains, the obstacles, and that shall
cause the building to be completed, the temple completed, and the
headstone brought forth with shoutings, crying grace, grace
unto it. We read the portion in Revelation
chapter 1. because here we have as well
the vision of the seven golden candlesticks. There we have a
very clear interpretation that those candlesticks which thou
sawest are the seven churches. Those that were in the churches
were the angels or the pastors of the churches to which these
letters in Revelation 2 and 3 are sent to. But our Lord Jesus Christ is
set forth as being in the midst of these candlesticks, and to
Him shall the gathering of the people be. He is in the midst
of His Church. And He, as Zerubbabel is a type,
He shall build the Church of God. He shall be the foundation
itself. He shall lay the foundation,
and he shall bring forth the topstone. He which hath begun
a good work in you shall perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ. And it is the church, it is the
Lord Jesus Christ that is the author and finisher of faith. It is that saves the first and
the last. But we have this vision. Of course,
in the temple, in the tabernacle first, and then later on in Solomon's
temple, we have the picture of the candlestick. One candlestick
with seven branches, with a bowl on the top of it, and that bowl,
the oil is poured into that by the high priest and the oil then
flows down those pipes and it flows to each of those lamps. We have a picture there is the
Church of God not having seven separate supplies but having
one supply that supplies each of those churches and those churches
show forth the light. of the Lord here below. We are
to be soul and light. We are to show forth the praises
of him who hath called us out of darkness and into his marvellous
light. So we have this picture of the
Church of God being supplied in the vision of this candlestick
and what is very remarkable within. Instead of it being a candlestick
that is supplied morning and night and dealt with by a priest
and relies on man to supply it, it has a provision direct from
the olive trees. a provision that really is signified
as being a constant, continual supply. So the picture was a
candlestick all of gold and that is what again is so remarkable
here. All that is spoken of here is
precious. The candlestick is gold, the
lamps are gold, the pipes are gold, All of it, all of it is
precious. The church of God, because it
is Christ's church, because it is a redeemed church, because
it is his bride, because he has suffered and bled to redeem it,
it is precious. We don't feel that ourselves,
we feel our sinnership. We feel what we are by nature.
But in the Song of Solomon, we have the Church of God saying,
I am black, but comely. And it is the Lord Jesus Christ
that makes his people what they are. Precious in heaven. But we have the picture then
of the candlestick. I know there's been many many
differing interpretations of what the trees are, what those
two anointed ones that stand by the Lord of the whole earth,
those trees are set forth as that. But I would suggest that
it follows in this line because the Church of God is provided
through none other than the two Anointed Ones, the Word of God,
the Lord Jesus Christ, the Eternal Word, and the Spirit, the Spirit
of God. When our Lord ascended up into
heaven, He said, Lo, I am with you always, even unto the end
of the world. His bodily presence is in heaven,
but He is with us by His Spirit and by His grace. When he sent
forth his servants, through which the blessing should flow to the
Church of God, they were to preach the Word. But they weren't to
preach until they were endued with power from on high, and
the promised Holy Spirit was given at Pentecost. And then
they were able to go forth, and then the Word was blessed, and
there was added unto the Church, daily as such as there should
be saved. 3,000 at a time, 5,000 at a time,
the blessing that attended when the Spirit applied the Word and
blessed the Word. And it ever will be that the
provision of the Church of God is through the Word of God and
through the Spirit of God. And so we have the picture, the
two that stand beside the Father, the Eternal God, the Son, and
the Holy Spirit. And what are the branches then? The branches that come down to
the Church of God, that provide for the Church of God. And again,
there are two different ways that it is manifest or shown. in the Old Testament and new. From our Lord Jesus Christ, the
Son of God. The Old Testament is full of
Christ, but he is hidden in times and in shadows. But nevertheless,
the Lord Jesus Christ revealed gives that life-giving oil that
precious oil to the Church of God in the Old Testament Scriptures. Then we have in the New Testament
the Lord Jesus Christ revealed. Truly He is Christ in all the
Scriptures, flowing from Him which was and is and shall be
the eternal Son of God. of those two anointed ones. The Holy Spirit again, though
given so clearly at Pentecost, which is now open to all believers
and in such a profuse way to be shown forth through Jew and
Gentiles, we have in the Old Testament, unlimited through
the prophets, And it is clear in Hebrews that where God spoke
in time past in those various ways through the prophets hath
in these last days spoken unto us by his dear Son. So we have this way that the
church is provided. These two branches that differ
in the Old Testament and New, but coming from these two trees. But then we read that they go
through pipes, and they are golden pipes. In verse 12, we have,
I answered again and said unto him, what be these two olive
branches? Which through the two golden
pipes empty the golden oil. out of themselves. What are the
pipes that convey this precious oil from the Son of God? Well, the beautiful pipe from
our Lord Jesus Christ is the Word of God, the written and
incarnate Word. They are One and the same. In beginning was the Word, and
the Word was with God, and the Word was God. The eternal Word of God. Then we have the Holy Spirit. The Old Testament again, it was
through the pipes of the prophets, that was how. the Holy Spirit,
the inspired Word of God, was given. But now, in the New Testament
times, it is through the ministry, the Holy Spirit-given ministry,
tarry at Jerusalem until ye be endued with power from on high. And so the church has this supply,
a continuous supply, a direct supply from God himself. Remember this, we read this prophecy,
that all thy children shall be taught of the Lord. Grace shall
be the peace of thy children. They shall not teach every man
his neighbor, saying, know the Lord. They shall all know me
from the least unto the greatest. So we have the Church of God,
gold precious, and the golden oil precious. We would always
remember that the Word and the Spirit must be mixed together. What a blessed provision the
Church of God has. Our text then says, this is the
word of the Lord unto Sarababal, not by might nor by power, but
by my spirit, saith the Lord. The spirit of the Lord shall
bring it about. The word in a direct way to those
building the wall to Zerubbabel was that it wouldn't be, though
they would labour and though they would work, yet it wasn't
through their might or their power, but it would be done because
of the Spirit of the Lord. We are taught to look above means. We know we need the means, but
to look above that, Except the Lord build the house, they labour
in vain that building. The disciples, they were to go
forth, they were to preach, they were to labour. Paul says, I
laboured more abundantly than them all, but then he says, yet
not I, but the grace of God that was with me. If we just look
at man, if we just look at the church, if we just look at the
ministers, the angels of the churches, how soon we can be
discouraged. But when we look above, and we
look at the provision, and we look that it is out of reach
of man, and when we look at these beautiful times, and here, this
temple was built, they did bring the top stone. Our Lord Jesus
Christ did walk in this temple, but the Lord said, destroy this
temple and I will raise it up again in three days. But he spoke of the temple of
his own body. But we have Here a picture, not
just of our Lord, but of the Church of God that is so bound
up with the Lord Jesus Christ. And here we have a work that
proceeded in spite of the mountains. Who art thou in verse seven,
O great mountain? If oars are rubbable, thou shalt
become a plain. and he shall bring forth a headstone
thereof with shoutings crying grace, grace unto him. In a day when there is many discouragements,
many mountains, many hindrances, when it seems the church is almost
to be extinguished, when from many pulpits there is not the
truth that is set forth, when we remember the prophecy that
in the last days there shall be a famine, not of bread and
of water, but of hearing the words of the Lord. But when we
look at the provision that God has given for his church, that
that will not run out. It is an exhaustless supply,
and it is a supply that is not touched by man's hand, not oil
taken from the tree and refined and done things with, but it
comes straight, straight from those two anointed ones, pure,
perfect, not touched by man. How often we're reminded of that.
When they built the altars in the Old Testament specifically
directed, thou shalt not make the altar of hewn stone. It was not to be touched by man. It was to be God's work. It was
to be pure. And so we have this vision and
its interpretation and as I'd suggest to you from the scriptures,
is a right one of the provision for the Church of God. Well,
I want to look with the Lord's help just briefly. Firstly, the
work being done by Sir Abba Bull. This was building, building the
temple. but looking at Cerevable as a
type of our Lord, building the church. But secondly, what shall
not be the cause of its success? Our text says, not by might,
nor by power. And then thirdly, what shall
be the cause? The topstone be brought forth
at last, But by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. But firstly,
the work that is being done. Dear friends, that work is being
done in building the Church of God today. These last days from
Christ unto the end, and it struck me as we read the reading here
in Zechariah, we look forward to Christ's first coming. In
the Revelation, there's a looking forward to his second coming,
a referring to his first coming. And the Church of God in these
Gospel days, it looks forward to the Lord coming again. Are we doing that? Are we looking
for his coming? At the end of the Revelation,
we read this, and the bride say, come, even so come, Lord Jesus. When the church of God, the bride
of Christ, has the Spirit of God with them, then it has one
desire, that the Lord would come. When we are in a lifeless, hard,
cold, worldly stain, and not in the Spirit, remember John
was told that he was in the Spirit on the Lord's day. But when we
are not in the Spirit, then how little desire we have after Christ. When we are, the Apostle Paul,
he says, absent from the body, present with the Lord, I am in
a strait betwixt whether to remain or to depart and to be with Christ,
which is far better. The Church of God, when it's
healthy, it longs after Christ, it looks for Christ, desires
after Him. How would we measure the state
and condition of our soul by that measure? How much are we
on a stretch for Christ? How much are we longing after
Him, desiring Him? Our Lord spoke of the church
as being a vine and of being, receiving, again it's a similar
illustration, the sap from the root, provision straight from
the Lord Jesus Christ. I am the vine, ye are the branches. The vine branch cannot bear fruit
of itself except it abide in the vine. Neither can ye bring
forth fruit except ye abide in me. And that provision is straight
from the Lord Jesus Christ in that parable and that illustration
is instead of from the The olive tree, it's coming up from the
root, it's coming from Christ. But the provision is the same. From me is thy fruit found. Our fruitfulness will only be
as our union with Christ and being with Him. The danger of
the Church today is it becomes separated from Christ, more and
more like the world. less and less conformed to Christ's
suffering image, more and more admired with the things of this
world, less and less like their suffering Lord Jesus Christ. The Lord says in John 17, I have
given them thy word and the world hath hated them. Where we live
closely to the word of God, We can be sure the world will hate
us, but here we have an assurance that there is a work being done,
and it is being done by a heavenly Zerubbabel. He is building the
Church of God, one stone upon another. It is being raised up. It is being done and formed here
below. Everyone in that innumerable
multitude in heaven once were here below. Once was a sinner
born in sin-shapen iniquity. Then the Lord began a work of
grace in their hearts. Then he plucked them as brands
from the burning. Then he passed by them and bid
them live. Then he quickened them into life.
He gathered them together from the east, from the west, from
the north, and from the south. They are brought together as
one church and one people, by one spirit, by one work, by the
work of God. He shall build the church of
God, the gates of hell shall not prevail against it. May we remember, the church is
Christ's church. He has purchased it, it is his
bride. And in days when we may look
upon it and it is despised by the world, it is ridiculed, we
feel how low we are, we feel how small we are, how scattered
we are, how sometimes disjointed we are. And yet abortion like this, we look
above it all. Remember, those that were building
this time, they remembered what the former temple was like. When they saw the foundation,
they mourned, they grieved, because it was nothing like the original.
We are warned that we are not to ask why these days, not like
former days. Sometimes we have a very limited
view on that. Maybe yes, certainly we I can
think back to the days of Gadsby and Kershaw and Warburton, when
Warburton had a thousand in his congregation and 300 church members. And this land knew many, many
churches that were filled and yet now we're in a time where
those churches hardly are filled and many of them are being closed
one after another. But a church is not bricks and
mortar. Church is souls, it is people,
it is sinners, those that are quickened and made alive. And
though we grieve, we mourn the great declension in our day and
in our land, a land nominally or supposed should have been
Protestant and yet casting the word of God behind our backs
walking contrary to it. But the Lord still has his church
in every nation and kindred and tongue. And I would that this
morning we might be renewed into a high view of the church of
God, the preciousness of it through the gold in this vision, and
be encouraged that the provision for it is still the same. And
it shall be there until the last soul is redeemed, born again,
and then the Lord will come. And there will be those on this
earth that are the Lord's dear people when he comes a second
time. And when they see the signs of
it, they are to look up, for their redemption draweth nigh.
And when he comes, he shall come with all his saints, and the
dead in Christ shall rise first, and we which are alive and remain
shall be caught up with him in the air. So shall we be forever
with the Lord. In the epistles, the Word of
God appoints us to be ever expecting, looking, waiting for his coming,
certain of it, and certain that there shall not be one redeemed
soul left behind. It shall be a complete building,
a perfect work, because it is Christ's work. He shall not leave
any behind. And there's a reminder here in
verse seven. Who art thou, O great mountain? And you might look at your life,
we might look at ours and the Church of God here, and we see
great mountains, great obstacles, great hindrances, but what a
word, before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain. No obstacle,
however great, shall stop the ring forth of that headstone. So may we be reminded in this
first point of the work that is being done by a heavenly rubber
ball by the Lord Jesus Christ. Certainly done. No uncertainty
about it. It will be accomplished. It will
be finished. But secondly, What shall not
be the cause of its success? What shall not be? It's told
us in our text, not by might, nor by power. Now of course this
doesn't mean the power of the spirit because Paul, when he
writes to the Thessalonians, he said that they received the
word in demonstration of the spirit and of power. The spirit
is the power of God. But what is set forth here is
not by an army, not by might of numbers, or by the deeds of
men, not by physical strength, You know, when they came to take
our Lord in the Garden of Gethsemane, and Peter took out his sword,
put up, says our Lord, thy sword into its sheath, the cup that
my father hath given me to drink, shall I not drink it? And he
says this, thinkest thou? that I could not presently pray
my Father and He should give me twelve legion of angels, seventy-two
thousand angels. But how then should the Scripture
be fulfilled? We live in a day when we read
of demonstrations and rising up and men trying to turn about
the decisions of government by power or violence or demonstrations. But the Lord says, no, not an
army, not by might, not by power. It won't be by these means. Yes,
the Lord uses his servants, he uses means, but he uses It means
that the Apostle Paul speaks of as very mean, despised. We are not to look to the strength
of man and to the power of man. We think of the times in history,
the Great Reformation, the characters of that Reformation, God raised
them up, they are greatly used. But man on his own will never
ever bring about a reformation, bring about a change spiritually,
will never ever build the Church of God. It is the Lord's sovereign
prerogative to raise up men, to raise up rulers as he did. And in these times, the scriptures But in all that he does, they
are his servants. Even Nebuchadnezzar was spoken
of as God's servant. Have you ever noticed in the
Word of God, not only does it tell us how things shall be done,
it also tells us how things shall not be done. Not only does it
tell us what is effectual, It tells us what is not effectual
and shall not bring forth the result that we want or would
look for, not by might nor by power. When we see the church
weakened, when we see to have no strength or might, When we
feel that personally in our own soul, when we feel it is like
Jehoshaphat, when he had the adversaries coming against him,
and he says, we have no might against this company. Neither
know we what to do, but our eyes are upon thee. God says it's not by might or
by power. and how Jehoshaphat proved that. You've been looking and expecting
from some power, from man, from might, from some strength of
your own hand, your own mind, dealing with the corruptions
of your own heart, your own sins, trying to manage your own affairs,
Trying to build a church with a deacon or an elder or minister? Trying to do it in your own strength? Looking to your own efforts?
No, not by might nor by power in that way. So then let us look at what it
is by in the third place. What shall be the cause? The
top stone be brought forth and noticed It doesn't just say,
well, the cause of just another stone or two be brought, but
no, the work be completed. The work be completed. You know,
each one of us in a local church, we only see part of it. We don't
see what is going on in other nations, in other localities,
even in this land. And dear Elijah, He thought that
he was the only one left that had not bowed the knee to Baal.
But God says there are 7,000. That was just in Judah. And Elijah didn't know how many
there may be in England alone, let alone other nations. What shall be the cause, then,
of the topstone to be brought forth at last? But by my Spirit,
saith the Lord of hosts. The Spirit of God. The Spirit of God. That Spirit
that joins with the bride and says, Come, Lord Jesus. That
Spirit that brought John to be in the Spirit on the Lord's day. That spirit that God puts in
his dear people, imparts to them. His dear disciples at one time,
when the Lord was coming into Jerusalem and they wouldn't receive
him, they said, shall we command fire to come down from heaven,
consume them as Elijah did? You know not what spirit ye are
of. Come unto me, all ye that labour
and are heavy laden. What does he say? Learn of me,
for I am meek and lowly in heart, and ye shall find rest unto your
souls. Ye shall know my spirit, drink
into my Be blessed with the Holy Spirit, but be blessed with that
Spirit in your own soul. The Apostle Paul, when he writes
to the Romans, he speaks of those that are without condemnation
and how are they characterised. He says, the law of the spirit
of life In Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of
sin and death. He says that the righteousness
of the law might be fulfilled in us who walk not after the
flesh but after the spirit, to be kindly minded is death, to
be spiritually minded is life and peace. The great secret of
the Church of God is that God gives to his dear people another
spirit, his spirit. The things of God are spiritually
desert, the natural man knows them not. And we may speak to
many and we see the hardness, the deadness, we know what it
was with ourselves. Man dead in trespasses and sins
needs to be quickened and made alive by the Spirit of God and
live. And the Church of God is a living
church. He passes by each member of it
and bids it live. And He is the supply of the life
of every one of His children. Those that He quickens, He feeds,
He nourishes, He strengthens, He keeps them. not by might nor by power, but
by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. Are we desirous of the life of
God in our soul? May we see the Lord would grant
us his Spirit. Do we need his reviving hand? May we look to that same Spirit Do we have a concern for our
loved ones, our friends, those around us? May it be that our
eye is upon the Holy Spirit of God and the Spirit to perform
and accomplish that which nothing else will do, but by my Spirit. How often we look to a wrong
source And then if the blessing is given, we put the crown on
the wrong head. When God would get himself glory,
he takes Gideon's army and he reduces it to 300 men. And then he defeats the Midianites
with that army. And when he would build his church,
then he works by his spirit, the still small voice the working
in the hearts of his people, a seed that is sown, a quickening
into life, a fanning it into flame. But by my spirit saith
the Lord of hosts, well may our eyes be in the right place, be
encouraged in discouraging days, see the greater view, the view
of the church completed at last, and why it will be completed,
but may our desire be owed to be numbered amongst them, part
of that Church, blessed with the union with it now and with
it above. May that be our blessed portion,
that we are part of that Spirit's work and of the building of our
Lord, placed in that Building of God, the true redeemed Church
of God, that one day shall be perfect altogether in heaven
with her Lord. May the Lord add his blessing.
Amen.