Would you join me tonight in
the fourth chapter of the book of Zechariah? Zechariah chapter
4 and I'd like to read this entire chapter. It's 14 verses long
and it shares a scene that Zechariah is permitted to see as the Lord
gives him the ability. He is awakened out of It seems
like sleep. That's what he says about it.
As we read in verse 1 of Zechariah chapter 4, and the angel that
talked with me came again. Now if we go earlier in this
book, chapters 1, 2, and 3, we find that there was a messenger
of God that had come to Zechariah, and he came with a message of
the Lord. And here we have that again.
This is a messenger. Often times we find angels are
The same word is translated messenger throughout the scriptures. So
there was this angel, this messenger came and waked me as a man that
is wakened out of his sleep and said unto me, what seest thou? Now when we first started this
chapter it was amazing to me that Zachariah was made mention
of here by this messenger that you have sight and that real
sight, spiritual sight is only given to us in the revelation
of Jesus Christ. Peter said, Thou art the Christ,
the Son of the living God. And Jesus responded and said
about that statement, flesh and blood did not reveal this unto
you, but my Father, which is in heaven. So that knowledge
about the Lord Jesus Christ, a heartfelt knowledge about the
Lord Jesus Christ, not just words. But a heartfelt knowledge, a
faith, and complete trust in the Lord for all our salvation
comes as a result of revelation. That's mentioned about the Apostle
Paul there in the book of Galatians, when it pleased God to reveal
his son in me. So here we have, what seest thou? You're going to be able to see
something. Now sometimes in the scriptures we're allowed to read
the words, And we're able to see, as the Holy Spirit revealed
it to us, the great blessings of the gospel, the great blessings
of God, the great blessings of Christ, the great blessings given
to the church. And here we have sort of a vision. Here we have sort of a dream,
some vision, some pictures, some types in the shadows that are
given to Zachariah. And let's read about them right
now. What seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and
behold, a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl above the top
of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven
lamps, which are upon the top thereof, and two olive trees
by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other to
the left side thereof. So I answered and spake to the
angel that talked with me, saying, What are these, my Lord? Now,
we've mentioned a couple of times in the past when we went through
the first chapter, and then as we come to this fourth chapter,
that the Lord is pleased for us to come with such questions
as this. He's not offended in any way
when we ask or we mention, Lord, I don't understand what I'm seeing.
And sometimes he reveals it to us and sometimes he just leaves
it alone. And we pray that eventually we'll
be able to see that. And that's the way with the scriptures.
But I'll say this right here, no believer will ever say that
they don't believe what the Bible has to say. But we as believers
often say, I don't understand what it says. I don't understand
it. But never will we say, I don't believe that. I don't believe
that chapter. I don't believe that verse. That
puts us in a very terrible state of an unbeliever. And an unbeliever,
with the word of God, doesn't have much good or positive to
look forward to. Now, believers, Christ Jesus
will always be believers. He makes us that. He makes us
to be believers in Christ Jesus, and he always gives us that relationship. Even though we rise and fall,
his love for us does not rise or fall. His love is not dependent
upon how we love him. We can only love him as because
he first loved us. And so it rises and fall on our
side, but it's a steady 100% eternal love from the point of
view of the Lord Jesus Christ. His disciples, they went against
him, spoke against him, left him, and yet his love for them
never abated. He was so gracious to them when
he met them after the resurrection. All right, here it says, then
the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, knowest
thou not what these be? just as honest as he can, he
said, and I said, no, my Lord. Now he does recognize that the
one that is speaking to him is of higher understanding, higher
wisdom than he is. This word Lord is not capital
L-O-R-D, but this one, this messenger has some information, has some
knowledge, has some wisdom that Zachariah doesn't have, and he
recognizes the fact that whatever he has, has been given to him
by the Lord. And so, I respect that. Whatever
the Lord has given to him, no, my Lord, I don't understand.
You're the sovereign. You have this ability over me. Now, it
goes on to say in verse 6, now this is really a key to this
chapter, it's found in verse 6. Then he answered and spake
unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel.
Now, I've read the name Zerubbabel a number of times, but I had
to go look at some other scripture and found out he's the governor
of this area around Jerusalem. He's been appointed governor.
And he's in charge. So this message is going, now
Zerubbabel is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ. He's a picture
of Christ as the ruler. He's the governor. And the Lord
is the governor over all. He governs in heaven. He governs
in the earth. He governs under the earth. He
governs all that's in the sea. He governs over all things. There's
nothing that he doesn't have the governance over. He is the
absolute governor of all things. Now, Zerubbabel was governor
of this place and he had been given, because of that, been
given a great deal of respect. We're even called on as human
beings, those that God has put over us, to give respect for
them. They are appointed by the Lord.
Not by might. He says Zerubbabel, saying, not
by might nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of
hosts. Now, we've noticed here this name of the Lord, Lord of
hosts, is mentioned some 51 times here in the book of Zechariah.
And it means the absolute monarch, the governor, the one that rules
over all things. There are some similarities between
Zerubbabel being governor and the Lord of hosts being governor
over all. He rules in the armies of heaven among the inhabitants
of the earth, and none can stay his hand or say, what are you
doing? Now we may say that about our
dog catcher or our officials, our elected officials. We may
say that about our higher officials, but nobody can say it and move
Almighty God from the position that he has. They cannot dictate
to God. He is the one that orders all
things and is sure about it. Now, who art thou, O great mountain? 7 before Zerubbabel thou shalt
become a plane and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with
shoutings crying grace Grace unto it. I like that we may not
know everything that this is about but there's gonna be grace
here and grace only proceeds from God Grace is given to us
for by grace. Are you saved and you know what
for by grace you live and And by grace you endure. That's what
we find the Apostle Paul pled three times concerning a circumstance
in his life. He asked the Lord three times
to deal with this and the response the Lord gave to him is recorded
and it says, my grace is sufficient for thee. Okay. So it's grace, my unmerited
favor. The love I have for you, the
favor I have for you is sufficient, even in this. He never left Paul. He never left him at any time.
He was always with him. This is one of his children.
This is one of his sheep, and he is the shepherd over all the
sheep, so he never left him. But Paul had something that he
asked the Lord to remove from him, and the Lord was pleased
to leave it as it was. Why? It was purposed for that
way. All right, going just a little
further here. Verse 8, moreover, the word of the Lord came to
me, saying, The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this
house. His hand shall also finish it, and thou shalt know that
the Lord of hosts has sent me unto you. Now it was Zerubbabel
that was instrumental in having this temple built. They're brought
back out of Babylonian captivity. The temple is in disarray. The
stones are taken apart, everything, and under Zerubbabel, they're
brought back together. And then we have here, the second
Zerubbabel is gonna finish the house. The Lord Jesus Christ
is the true builder of the church. Upon this rock, I'll build my
church and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.
So Zerubbabel, the true Zerubbabel, the Lord Jesus Christ is in charge
of that. And he's been adding to the church. from the very beginning, daily,
such as should be saved. That's what he brings out in
the book of Acts. He added to the church daily, such as should
be saved. Now it goes on to tell us here,
for who hath despised the days of small things? For they shall
rejoice and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel With
these seven, they are the eyes of the Lord which run to and
fro through the whole earth. A lot of symbolism, pictures
here. We find this mentioned in the
very ministry of the Lord Jesus Christ. When he called himself
a shepherd, when he called himself a door, when he called himself
water, when he called himself All sorts of pictures, types,
and shadows. And he said, this is a representation
of me. I do what this represents. And
so it is here. We're going to see many things
about the Lord in this chapter. Then answered I and said unto
him, what are these two olive trees upon the right side of
the candlestick and upon the left thereof? And he answered
again and said unto him, what be these two olive branches?
that through the golden pipes emptied the golden oil out of
themselves. And he answered me and said,
knowest thou not what these be? And I said, no, my lord. Then
said he, these are the two anointed ones that stand by the Lord of
the whole earth. And we're not going to get to
all of that. But let's just for a moment look
at a seven-bowled candlestick. We're introduced to this over
in the tabernacle. Over there it was built out of
solid gold, a talent of solid gold. Would you turn with me
over to the book of Exodus chapter 25? Exodus chapter 25 we're going
to be looking at this candlestick in particular tonight and in
the book of exodus there are a number of verses that we want
to look at that have great representation great picture value about the
Lord Jesus Christ and His seven bold candlestick it's mentioned
over in the book of revelation John saw him standing with a
candlestick well here in the book of exodus chapter 25 beginning
with verse 31 Exodus chapter 25 and verse 31. There's a number of verses in
the book of Exodus that share with us information about this
candlestick. And Zechariah was permitted to
see a seven-bolt candlestick. Now it's different here in the
book of Zechariah than it is over in the book of Exodus. And
the number one difference is, in the book of Exodus, people
had to put the oil in it. And in the book of Zechariah,
these olive trees put the oil in it. No one is interfering. No one is participating in that.
It really shares with us all of the activities of God. He
is the first cause of all things. He doesn't leave it up to someone
else to do. He doesn't leave redemption up
to someone else. He doesn't leave leading his
children up to someone else. He may have under shepherds,
but he's the shepherd. He may have pastors, but he's
the pastor. He may have shepherds, but he's
the chief shepherd. He's the good shepherd. He's
the shepherd of his flock. So he has priority, preeminence. over all things and all of these
things are falling out because of the goodness of God towards
the church and the redemption of his people. God will be praised
in it. Well over here in the book of
Exodus chapter 25 beginning with verse 31 we have these words
as they're going to build, they're going to build a tabernacle and
the tabernacle had a certain furniture in it and one of the
pieces of furniture was this particular candle stand. Now it's interesting to find
out that there are no dimensions in the Bible about this candle
stand. We don't know how high it was. We don't know how far
it was. I believe it was probably proportional. Here in the book
of Exodus chapter 25 verse 31 it says, and thou shalt
make a candlestick of pure gold. of beaten work. Shall the candlestick
be made? Now, we know a little bit about
gold. It's only about $18 an ounce
right now. It is a precious metal. It is
beautiful. It represents the glory of God. But we find that this candlestick
is not going to be a candlestick without being beaten. and we
follow our Savior, He's not going to be the Savior without being
struck by the justice of God on the cross. He poured out righteous
punishment upon His Son on the cross when He paid for our sin. His shaft and His branches, His
bolts and His knobs and His flowers shall be the same. Now, I was
reading about this and some of the words that are used here,
people try to interpret in different ways. The words don't mean that
at all. We're just going to leave it
like it sits. The six branches shall come out
of the sides of it. Three branches of the candle
stick out of one side. Three branches of the candle
stick out the other side. Three bowls made like into almonds
with a knop and a flower in each branch. And three bowls made
like almonds in the other branch with a knop and flower so that
the six branches that come out of the candle stick And in the
candlestick shall be four bowls made like unto the almonds, with
their knops and their flowers. And there shall be a knop under
two branches of the same, and a knop under the two branches
of the same, and a knop under the two branches of the same,
according to the six branches that proceed out of the candlestick.
And their knops and their branches shall be the same. All it shall
be beaten work of pure gold, and thou shalt make the seven
lamps thereof. three on one side, three on the
other side, one in the middle, and it appears to be proportional,
but no dimensions are given. Thou shall make seven lamps,
and shall light the lamps thereof, that they may give light over
against it. And the tongs thereof, and the
snuff dishes thereof, shall be pure gold. Of a talent of pure
gold shall he make it, and with all these vessels, and look thou
that thou make them their pattern which I showed thee in the mount."
Now this is so important that this is just not some man's idea. I couldn't build this from these
instructions. Now I might build a Three and
one in the middle, three on this side. But I couldn't build it
like this is because these instructions were given by God to Moses in
the mount. And they represent something
far greater than the gold that's here or the work that this man
did. They represent the glory of God. They represent pure, true light. Now, when we get to Zachariah,
Zachariah didn't build this. It's already built. Zachariah
doesn't have to do as the priest in the Old Testament did and
put oil in it every day, morning and evening. The Zechariah, in
the book of Zechariah, that candlestick is supplied by oil on its own
and nobody is intervening there. Over here in the Old Testament,
in the book of Exodus, as we look at the pictures and the
types and shadows of the Lord Jesus Christ, we're going to
come to the conclusion that they are not enough. for redemption. They're not enough to picture
the light of the glory of God. There isn't enough here. Men's
work had to be involved in that. Even though, turn, if you would,
to chapter 37, verse 17. Chapter 17, verse 17 of chapter
37. We're going to have a man over
here, ordained of God, and Bezalel, in chapter 37, Look at verse
1 through 5 for just a moment, and then we'll jump ahead. Chapter
37, verses 1 through 5, and Bezaal, made of the ark, two cubits and
a half. The length of it, and a cubit
and a half, this is who's talking, right here, or is talking about
is in verse 1. Now, in verse, let's go to verse
17 now. Verse 17. And it says here, and
he made a candlestick of pure gold. He made a candlestick of
pure gold. And beaten work made he the candlestick. His shaft and his branch, his
bolts, his knobs, and his flowers were of the same, six branches. This man was given the skill. He's in charge of building all
of the furniture for the tabernacle. He is in charge of building the
mercy seat. He's in charge of building the
table of showbread. He's in charge of building this
candlestick. He has been given great wisdom
by God because Moses said, this is what I saw in the mount. Here's
the pattern. You build it. And he was given
the ability of building it after God's master plan. No one else
had that ability. We really see a picture here
of our Savior, the Lord Jesus, again. He has the ability of
doing what no one else could. This man builds this candlestick. He builds it according to the
pattern shown him in the mount. And if you'll turn with me to
the book of Exodus chapter 39, verse 37. Exodus chapter 39. Verse 37, it says, the pure candlestick
with the lamps thereof, even with the lamp to be set in order,
and all the vessels thereof, and the oil for the light, the
golden altar, and so forth, anointing oil. Now, this oil was made from
beaten olives. Olive oil? It was to be as pure
as possible. It was not to be mixed with anything.
And it was to show in this demonstration, in this picture, the oil of,
as represented by the Holy Spirit. He is truly the light of the
church. He's the light that comes out. But over and over and over,
every day, the priest had to go in and pour oil in these cups
because there was no pipes to them. There was no branches of
oil supply to them. It's just sharing with us, you're
not going to get saved under the law. It has too much humanity
in it. It has too much works in it.
There's nothing here that is going to be of any value. wonderful
pictures, types and shadows, all the light, the beaten work,
the gold, the man that was given the skill to do this, how beautiful
it was, all of these things. But let's look at what the New
Testament has to say about this. In the book of Hebrews chapter
9, this is brought up. In Hebrews chapter 9, this is
brought up. As the author of the book of
Hebrews is led by the Holy Spirit, same Holy Spirit that led Moses
to write those books. Holy men of God spake as they
were moved by the Holy Spirit. This book of Hebrews written
in the same manner, holy man. We can say it probably was the
Apostle Paul, but the Apostle Paul would say the words came
from God. I was used with pen in hand. And even at that, we
find there was one or two books that Paul spoke the words that
he was given by the Holy Spirit and someone else wrote them down.
That doesn't matter. They came from God. They were
God's words given to us. Well, the book of Hebrews here
in chapter nine, verse one, Hebrews chapter nine and verse one. keeping
in mind what was going on over there. We just flew by the building
of that candlestick and the man that was used to build it and
what it was used for was light there in the holy place. There
was the altar of incense, table of showbread, and this candlestick
in there for light. Now there was no candlestick
in the Holy of Holies. The only light that was in there
was the Shekinah glory of God. It was, I just visioned it in
my mind, it was breathtaking light when they went in there
to offer once a year that offering of blood, the day of atonement.
But out here in the holy place, there was this bread, which symbolizes
that he's the bread of life. And when we went through there,
we found out that those loaves of bread were about this big
around. He's not pinchy with his bread. He's not slighting
his people by feeding them. Those were big loaves of bread
and there were 10 loaves on that table of showbread. And then
there's the altar of incense. And that incense is a representation
of the prayer of the saints. We read that in the book of Revelation.
Sweet smelling odor, God's people praying. Smells good to God. Well, Hebrews chapter nine. It tells us here in verse one,
then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine
service and a worldly sanctuary. They pictured divine things,
but it was a worldly piece of furniture. Mean it was made of
this world. Table of showbread, even the
bread on it. They were nothing more than worldly. It spoke of spiritual things,
but it was just wood, gold, flour, oil, all that stuff. For there was a tabernacle made,
the first, wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the showbread,
which is called the sanctuary, And after the second veil, the
tabernacle, which is called the holiest of all, which had the
golden censer, the Ark of the Covenant, overlaid round about
with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna and Aaron's
rod that budded, and the tables of the Covenant." Those things
were inside of that Ark of the Covenant, underneath. Now, people
say, well, that's wonderful. Those were really wonderful things.
Every one of those things represented rebellion. Everything. The rebellion of God's people.
Why did God have to make a second writing on stone? Rebellion. Look at those people down there.
Why the almonds? Aaron's rod that budded, because
there was rebellion. Somebody says, you just take
too much authority on yourself, and we want the same. He showed
him who he had chosen, and the manna, they complained about
not having leeks and onions and the watermelons and stuff down
in Egypt, and so he gave a manna. Every bit of it represent, where
is our rebellion put? Where is the believer's rebellion
put? Under the blood. under the blood of Christ. That's
where it's put. He could have just left it out
there and let it shout at us, but it's put under the blood,
taken care of. Well, let's go on here. Which
was the golden censer, the Ark of the Covenant, overlaid round
about with gold, wherein was the golden pot that had manna,
Aaron's rod that budded, and the tables of the covenant, And
over it, the cherubims of glory overshadowing the mercy seat,
of which we cannot now speak particularly. Now, when these
things were thus ordained, the priest went always in the first
tabernacle, accomplishing the service of God. But into the
second went the high priest alone, once every year, not without
blood, but which he offered for himself and for the heirs of
the people. The Holy Ghost thus signifying
that the way into the holiest of all was not yet made manifest
while as the first tabernacle was yet standing. We got a problem. There is no redemption in this.
There's no redemption in this altar. There's no hope in this
candlestick. There is no hope in these coverings. There's no hope in every picture
type and shadow that was given to us as the tabernacle was built.
And even though it was by a very wise man who built it according
to the form or the pattern shown him in the mount, they still
could not make anybody holy. In fact, the very sacrifices
that were offered there, we find that the Lord shares with us,
not by the blood of bulls and goats, they cannot take away
sin. So these sacrifices in this whole building was of an earthly
tabernacle built out of earthly things. Well, thank God he doesn't
leave us there. Verse 9, which was a figure for
the time then present. So as we look at this golden
of the candlestick there in verse 2, as we look at that, it's a
figure for the time then present. What's that word figure? It's
a picture. Now, people who really knew Christ, and there were people
in the Old Testament that knew Christ, just the Messiah, just
like people today know Christ the Messiah, the Anointed One. They called Him Messiah, Anointed
One, we call Him Christ. It's the same person. the son
of God, the promised one, the one who would take care of the
problem that was created in the Garden of Eden by Adam and Eve.
But be thankful that God was not caught short with that. It didn't surprise him. To some
people, it's almost as if God was surprised by what went on
there. There could be no surprise because he already had a lamb
supplied. And this lamb was much greater than any lamb that was
going to be offered on an altar, whether it was by Abel, Noah,
Abraham, or under the Levitical priesthood. This lamb is the
son of God. This lamb's blood would be efficacious. This lamb's blood would put away
sin by the sacrifice of himself forever. All sin of all his people
would be put away forever. Well, it goes on to tell us here
that in verse nine, which was a figure for the time then present,
in which were both offered both gifts and sacrifices that could
not make him that did the service perfect as pertaining to the
conscience. Didn't even help the priest. Didn't help the supplier of the
animal. It didn't help Beelzeal. He was a wonderful man, no doubt,
skilled, wise, able to take what Abraham, now up on the mount
I saw this, and he explained, okay, I see that, and built it.
But he realized that his hope was not in his works of even
building this. Because look at the next verse.
Which stood only in meats and drinks and diverse washings and
carnal ordinances. Can you imagine? That's why people
have just worshiped the law and yet the writer here says it was
carnal ordinances. Carnal ordinances. There's no
efficaciousness here. There's no hope in this. And
the people that were really saved in the Old Testament were not
trusting the keeping of the law. They were trusting the one who
would keep the law of the Lord. Impose on them until the time
of reformation. but Christ, being calm and high
priest of good things to come, by a greater and more perfect
tabernacle, not made with hands, that is to say, not of this building,
neither by the blood of goats and calves, but by his own blood,
he entered in once into the holy place having obtained eternal
redemption for us. Now what's that say about that
candlestick? It's a beautiful picture. You know what would
happen if it was found today? There would be people by the
thousands. God was great when he destroyed
it. God was great when He destroyed
the mercy seat, those cherubims over it, had it carried off,
taken away. It had been turned into an idol.
But our object of worship is not after carnal ordinance of
this world, but our object of worship is the Son of God. But Christ being come, a high
priest, Good things to come by a greater and more perfect Tabernacle
not made with hands that is to say not of this building now
In just the short time that we have would you return with me
back to the book of Zechariah? That is why we have here in verse
4 Zechariah chapter 4 and verse 4 turn there with me Zechariah
4 verse 4 He said, what are these, my Lord? And the angel, then the angel
that talked with me answered and said unto me, knowest thou
not what these be? And he said, no, my Lord. Then
he answered and spake unto him, saying, this is the word of the
Lord unto Zerubbabel, saying, It's not by physical work to
build a candlestick that's going to make the difference. It's
not by the pounding of olives and getting the oil that's going
to make the difference. It's not by all of these things
that you read about concerning the Old Testament tabernacle
and even now the temple. When they rebuilt this temple,
there were things missing from it that were in the original
temple. There was no longer a mercy seat. There's no longer a candlestick. There's no longer several things
that had been in that original one. Why? Well, Zerubbabel is
sharing with us as a type of Christ that our true candlestick,
is built by God and all the work and supply of all the oil comes
from God and it's not ours. What's he going to say there?
Not by might. It's not by an army. It's not
by might. It's not by power. nor by power,
but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." That's where you're
going to get your light. That's the light that makes a
difference, is the light that God gives us in Christ Jesus. And when he gives us Christ Jesus
the Lord, we have the Holy Spirit. It is the Holy Spirit that ushers
to us the new birth. And as a result of that, He gives
us belief, and repentance, and faith, and all of the gifts of
the Holy Spirit. This is what He gives to us in
the new birth. When I was thinking about this,
it reminded me that bowl on the top where all of that oil was
coming out of, and that oil comes from these two trees. And we'll
look at that next time. But it reminded me of a cream
separator, dropping that oil down through pipes down to each
one of these seven bowls. The oil is squeezed out of the
trees by the power of God, put into this storage bowl, because
we never run out of oil. It's not. I know I was reading
a commentary and said, we do something bad and our oil drops
down. Are you kidding me? Nobody would
make it if that's true. We don't lose the Holy Spirit. He doesn't remove himself from
us. He doesn't take himself from us. He brings himself closer
to us. We're drawn to the Lord in those
instances. If we're not, we're probably
not of his, at least at that moment. So we have this two trees,
oil, olive trees, oil going into this bowl, these pipes run down,
and the fire never goes out. They don't need a priest going
in daily and pouring oil into these. That's all taken care
of. In the Old Testament, there in the tabernacle, and later
in the temple, they had to do that. They had some type of rag
or something in there that was a wick, and they lit it, and
it sucked the oil out of those cups, and the oil was burnt up,
and they had to put more oil in it, and they had to trim.
They had special tools to trim those wicks off, and they had
to be gold, and they caught the ashes that were clipped off,
and all of that was done by the priest. Certain priests had certain
things to do, and they had to do that. Well, those who truly
know Christ didn't have that happen every day. It was an activity
God performed in time for eternity. He is our righteousness, sanctification,
redemption, and wisdom. And when He saves us, He gives
us all of that. Now, we may not realize it all
at the time. We'll never run out of it. But he gave us all
of it. So we're going to stop there
for tonight and we'll pick this back up because I want to spend
a little bit of time on these trees and the rest about this
candlestick and how Zerubbabel had a picture here. He's a wonderful
picture of the governor, the true governor, the Lord Jesus
Christ. Let's go to the Lord in prayer.