Good evening and welcome to our
study of the book of Zechariah. We are looking forward to Looking
at Zechariah chapter 4 tonight. So would you turn with me to
Zechariah chapter 4? In Zechariah, like in so many
Old Testament books, and we also find this in the New Testament,
particularly in the Gospels, but we also find it throughout
the rest of the New Testament, that the Lord speaks to us in
types and shadows and pictures. The Lord himself referred to
himself as being bread. water a door a shepherd a lamb
and many other Types like that and we find the Holy Spirit used
these metaphors these types these pictures in these shadows throughout
all the Old Testament the sacrifices that took place under Moses under
Aaron in the Old Testament the sacrifice of Noah the sacrifice
of Abel the sacrifice of Abraham all of these were pictures of
our Savior, the Lord Jesus, and that redemption could not be
had except by the shed blood of the Lamb of God. To the unbeliever,
these pictures are generally taken literally. As we go through
the Old Testament, in particular, and the prophets, we have much
said about the throne of David. We have much said about the new
temple going to be built. And unbelievers just go after
that and say, look, we're going to have to have a new temple
built over in the Middle East. Look at this. We're going to
look for Jesus to be sitting on a little literal throne of
David. And they can't get past that because the scriptures are
spiritually discerned. And if they don't have the spirit
of God, they're not going to see those rich blessings. The
church Throughout the Old Testament, we're going to see people called
out of bondage called out of darkness to his marvelous light
throughout the Old Testament Any that lived by faith any that
had faith? The just shall live by faith
is what we read any of those the Lord had to work on them
just like he does in this era in this gospel time and that
is the gospel must be preached and and the gospel must be preached
and it must be revealed effectually to those that belong to God and
the covenant of grace. There's no exception to this
word that we find with regard to salvation. So the church has
always been It's part of the covenant of grace. It didn't
start on the day of Pentecost. It didn't start during the Lord's
public ministry, but it started in the covenant of grace and
has been brought out throughout the Old Testament, the assembly
of the saints. Abraham believed God, Moses believed
God, Noah believed God, Abel believed God. These folks all
are part of that great, wonderful group that assemble at the feet
of the Lord Jesus. Now, the Holy Spirit uses these
metaphors and these types and these pictures and these shadows
throughout the Old Testament to reveal unto us the glory of
the Son of God, the Lord Jesus Christ, as being the Savior of
His people. He is the fulfillment of Joshua. He is the second Joshua. He's
the fulfillment of David. He's the second David. He's the
fulfillment of Adam. He's the second Adam. So we look
to Him for the fulfillment of all of these things. They to
the church. We're looking for the blessings
of our Savior in all these Old Testament types shadows picture
similitudes We're looking for the Savior. Where is he pictured
and and what is he pictured in this picture? and it's such rich
blessings to go there and see these things as they're revealed
by the Holy Spirit and also where am I pictured in the Old Testament
as it speaks of believers and My grandmother had several large
boxes, candy boxes, and they're filled with family pictures. And I was most interested in
seeing my grandmother, or my grandfather in those pictures,
or my mother, or my dad, or my uncles. I wanted to see them
in those pictures. The rest of the people, it didn't
mean much. But we're looking for the pictures of Christ, and
there are just so many here in the Old Testament. We're going
to be looking here in Zechariah chapter 4 tonight. And in Zechariah
chapter 4, we have some more beautiful pictures of the great
work of God, the work of the Holy Spirit and redemption, and
we find that all of these things are provided by the Lord. In fact, we read there that this
revelation, this whole revelation here, is brought about so that
it might be shown that it's not by power, it's not by might or
not by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord. This is the way
it is throughout the Scriptures. It's not by our power, it's not
by our intelligence, it's not by our knowledge, but it's by
the power of God. It's my Spirit, saith the Lord.
It's Him that worketh in us to do those things that are pleasing
to God. We don't have the ability on our own. Well, let's back
up here to verse 1 of Zechariah chapter 4. It says, The angel
that talked with me came again and waked me as a man that is
awakened out of his sleep. Now, this angel is translated
in a number of ways. It doesn't always mean an angel
angel, but it means a messenger. Now what God used here, He used
a messenger. He used a messenger of grace. He used a messenger to come to
Zachariah. And it tells us in that passage
of scripture that this angel, this messenger that talked with
me, came again and waked me." Now, we find that this same person
had appeared earlier in Zechariah, the same being, the same messenger
had appeared unto him, and now it's again that it happens, and
it tells us in that verse of Scripture, he waked me as a man
that is awakened out of his sleep. Now, this verse of Scripture
here reminds me The verses scripture found in the back of the book
of Zechariah chapter 1 and verse 1 when we first opened this book
up to our study And I have to admit, this is the first time
I've ever gone through the book of Zechariah. I've read it, but
reading it for just reading it's sake, we miss so much. But here to look at it and see
the Lord Jesus Christ, the true branch, the true lamb, the true
sacrifice, the true hope of Israel, all of these things. We look
there and we see that we're blessed in that. But here in Zechariah
chapter 1 and verse 1 it says in the 8th month in the second
year of Darius came the word of the Lord unto Zechariah the
son of Berchiah the son of Ido the prophet Sain. Now when we
looked at that some time ago we saw here that Zechariah realized
that he is a man. There is nothing absolutely nothing
special about his person except in Christ Jesus. He had never
done anything that would attract God's attention. Many priests
were assigned in the Old Testament, but they never attracted God's
attention as a priest. The true priest They were already
known by God. They were known in the covenant
of grace. A believing priest in the Old Testament was already
known and they were a person found in the the covenant of
grace, they were purposed to be died for on the cross, they
were purposed to be buried with Christ, they were purposed to
be raised with Christ, they are special in that sense. But Zachariah
was nothing special in his flesh. He shares with us, as he writes
this, that I'm just the son of, I'm just the son of, And he could
take and trace his line back to Adam, and he's the son of
Adam. He has nothing in himself. He
is a fallen creature in Adam. He is separated from God in Adam. He is dead in trespasses and
sin in Adam. He has committed enough sin in
his own life to send him to a devil's hell a million times. But we
find that God has worked a work of grace in him, and he's been
called out of darkness to his marvelous light. But he's just
a son. He's just a son of Adam. There
is nothing special. He wasn't born into this priesthood
or born into this position as being a prophet. It didn't accomplish
anything. There were sons of Aaron that
Denied the very grace of God that was being declared in those
sacrifices then they offered strange fire We can accomplish
just as much as God can accomplish and they offered strange fire
and they were consumed by God So it isn't inherited in this
manner. It is by birth so Zachariah is
just a man Zachariah is only a man He is a direct descendant
of Adam, and as such, he would admit if God was his God, it
was only and all by grace, and no human merit was taken into
the consideration by God. Grace alone, grace alone. And
when we go back to the book of Zechariah chapter four, we find
dropping down, and we're getting ahead of ourselves a little bit,
but there in verse seven, we have the last few words of that,
it says, crying, grace, grace unto it. Grace is the means that
God uses in the Old Testament, and that's God's grace. God's
grace, God's unmerited favor, and nothing in Zechariah attracted
God to him. This word that we find in Zechariah
chapter 1 and verse 1, it says, He wakened me. He waked me as
a man that is wakened out of his sleep. Now, this word has
been translated a number of ways in the Old Testament, but two
brought to my attention simply because on Sundays we've been
going through the book of Ezra. So we're going to step back to
the book of Ezra for just a moment. And this word is used twice in
chapter one, very early on. In the book of Ezra, chapter
1, we have these words recorded that Cyrus, this is Cyrus the
king of Persia, and Cyrus is, if we looked at him from a historical
standpoint, he is just a really ornery guy. people died just at his whim. But here in Ezra 1 and verse
1, Now in the first year of Cyrus king of Persia, that the word
of the Lord by the mouth of Jeremiah might be fulfilled, the Lord
stirred up the spirit of Cyrus the king of Persia, And he made
a proclamation throughout all the kingdom and put also in writing,
saying, he's going to let the children of Judah and Benjamin
go back to Jerusalem to fulfill the word of the prophet Jeremiah.
And we find that Cyrus would not have done that except for
God's work in him. It says that he stirred up the
spirit of Cyrus. He moved upon him. He awakened
him in a capacity that he realized it was paramount that these people
go back to Jerusalem. And it wasn't because Cyrus became
religious or Cyrus adopted the religion of the Jews or any of
that stuff. It was simply because God moved
upon him. God told through Moses to Pharaoh,
for this reason did I raise you up that I might show my power
in you. So that for this reason I've
raised you up that I might deliver those here in Babylonian captivity. These 70 years have been spent.
It is time for them to go back to Jerusalem. And that's what
happened. Well, in that same chapter, we find that word that
was used to to wake and wakened over the book of zachariah inverse
five of the same chapter the only reason that the people that
went back went back they had been there in in uh... perfect
you know that they've been servants uh... they didn't have this idea
about going back and yet we find herein zachariah excuse me ezra
chapter one and verse four as rich after one and verse four,
verse five, then rose up the chief of the fathers of Judah
and Benjamin and the priests and the Levites with all whom
whose spirit God had raised to go up to build the house of the
Lord which is in Jerusalem. This same word found here that
was mentioned in Zechariah was to wake or awakened, here it
is, it's translated this way, the Levites went with all them
whose spirit God had raised up. So they left by invitation, God's
invitation. They left because God moved upon
them. They left to go back to Jerusalem
and leave family and all their responsibilities, maybe some
of them own property. I don't know all about that,
but I know this about human beings. If God does not move in us, we
will not do God's bidding. God must do that, and we find
that he often does that even before we're saved. He moves
us to where the gospel is going to come. or he puts us in a position
where someone who knows the gospel is going to come there and present
the gospel, declare the gospel, preach the gospel, and that's
how God saves his people. He brings them to the gospel
or the gospel is brought to them. Well, over here in the book of
Zechariah, going again, in reality, Ezra is like Every
believer, he has been awakened from a sleep, spiritual death,
and it is only the Spirit of God that does this. Well, we
find that same thing with Zachariah. Let's go back to the book of
Zachariah here. And in Zechariah chapter 4, we find here in verse
2, what seest thou? Verse 2, and he said unto me,
the angel, the messenger, what seest thou? And I said, I have
looked, and behold, a candlestick, and all the gold with the bowl
upon the top of it, and 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 upon the left side thereof. So I answered and spake to the
angel that talked with me, saying, What are these, my lord? What are these, my lord? Well,
we find that unless the Lord reveals these things to believers,
to the church, God is not angry when we say, Lord, what does
this mean? What does this passage mean?
What does this chapter mean? What is in this book that glorifies
you and presents you and declares you? What is there? Just as Zachariah
said with this beautiful picture that is brought to him, these
images that are brought to him, this vision that's brought to
him, this dream that is brought to him, however you want to describe
it, is a beautiful, beautiful picture that is brought here,
and yet it is unrealized by Zachariah, the one that saw him. or saw
it. This is unrealized. And we know
from the scriptures, Deuteronomy chapter 29 and verse 4 says,
yet the Lord hath not given you a heart to perceive and eyes
to see and ears to hear. And to this day, that's what
Moses was told to tell the children of Israel. And that's why they
were stiff-necked, and that's why they were hard-hearted, and
that's why they couldn't obey. That's why they were not in tune
with God. That's why they wanted to go
back to Egypt. That's why they loved the leeks and the onions.
That's why they brought out various gods. That's why they cried.
Even they saw the miracles of water from the rock. They saw
the open Red Sea. They saw all of these things.
manna, they saw Quail they saw all of these things take place
and it didn't change a heart and the same is true today People
say if I saw a miracle, I believe no That's not true. We must see
Christ. He must be revealed to us and
only God does that Ezekiel chapter 12 and verse 2 son of man thou
dwellest in the midst of a rebellious house which have eyes to see
and See not and they have ears to hear and hear not for they
are a rebellious house So we by nature fall into that category
We by nature cannot see we by nature cannot hear we by nature
cannot perceive we're like the Old Testament Jews and We're
like many of the New Testament Jews. The Pharisees cannot see
past the end of our nose when it comes to spiritual things.
And all those folks are depending upon their own righteousness
to be pleasing to God, to be presented to God, and that He
would accept it. Well, He is not going to do that. He will not do that. We find over in the book of Luke
would you turn with me to the book of Luke chapter 10 the book
of Luke chapter 10 over the book of Luke chapter 10 verses 23
and 24 Luke chapter 10 verses 23 and 24 and he turned him unto his disciples
and said privately this is the Lord speaking blessed are the
eyes which see the things that you see For I tell you that many
prophets and kings have desired to see those things which ye
see, and have not seen them, and to hear those things which
ye hear, and have not heard them. I'm reminded of the words of
Peter and the response of the Lord, and I just go back here
so often to the book of Matthew there, chapter 16, when the Lord
asked Peter, who do you say that I am? And we say, well, that's
so easy. Thou art the Christ, the Son
of the living God. And oftentimes we stop right
there and we don't go to the next verse and hear the Lord
say, flesh and blood did not reveal the Son to you, but my
Father, which is in heaven. We don't know that in our soul. We don't know that he is the
Son of God. We don't know Christ, the Son
of the living God in the capacity that our soul knows it in regeneration. When it's revealed, when Christ
is revealed to us, We take that as just historical value. People
just say, I know I believe in God. I know I believe in Jesus.
Well, the Lord shared through one of his writers of the New
Testament. The devils know that. That's
no great thing. That's just knowing about the
Lord. That's just knowing about God.
But in regeneration, in the new birth, when God saves us by His
grace, we find that we know Him. not know about him. We know that
the subject is Christ. We know that the importance is
Christ, that he is the true issue of the scriptures. And so it
was a wonderful thing that those disciples were given that information. And even in that, we find for
those days that they spent with the Lord, There was much doubt
in their minds about this, and yet the Lord said they knew all
about it. Well, he's not gonna beat them because they didn't
know it, because it comes by revelation, every step of it.
In the book of Isaiah, it says, look unto me and be ye saved,
all the ends of the earth, for I am God and there is none else.
And we can only see by sight that is given unto us. What a
blessing it was for those Grecians to come to the disciples and
say in John chapter 12 and verse 21, we, sir, we would see Jesus. Now that's a wonderful place
to be. When we come to the Lord, we
would see Jesus. If not, we would see prophecy,
we would see history, we would see nonsense out of the Bible,
numerology. I know there's some importance
about numerology, but that's not the issue. There's some importance
about prophecy, but it's not prophecy that's going to do things
that God is so contrary to, that God is going to establish or
rebuild an animal sacrifice system. That is such a slap in the very
face of God and in Christ for his suffering on the cross. So
we're not going to go there. That's out of the realm. It's
out of our thought. So what seest thou? What Zechariah
saw? What Zechariah said? And there
in chapter, going back to the book of Zechariah, chapter four,
we notice here that what seest thou? Now, Zechariah has already
admitted that he was in a sleep and that the Angel this messenger
came and waked him out of this out of this slumber He wakened
out a man out of sleep as a man He waked me as a man that is
awakened out of his sleep now We just want to go back to that
for just a moment. You know the Lord Jesus in his
spirit today only spends time in certain cemeteries He only
spends time in certain cemeteries. I know that cemetery there at
Gettysburg is important. I went there one time and I was
just overwhelmed by all of those sites, those burial sites, and
been to Normandy and overwhelmed by those. But you know, the ones
that are important to me, not that I belittle that at all,
please don't think that, but the ones that are important to
me is when I go to the home cemetery and see the grave of my grandfather,
or great-grandfather, or great-great-grandmother, or my dad, or my brothers, or
my mother, those. Well, the Lord has cemeteries
that he particularly visits, and those cemeteries are where
his lost sheep are dead in trespasses and sin. They're not just sleeping. They're dead in trespasses and
sin, just like everybody else. But he has purpose to visit these
cemeteries He has purpose to go to where these that are dead
in trespasses and sin, that were purchased because of the covenant
of grace purchased by His shed blood, those who are written
down in the Lamb's book of life, those who are graven upon the
palms of His hand, He has purpose to visit these cemeteries. It's like the woman at the well.
He must needs go to that cemetery. Here is a woman dead in trespasses
and sin that has been written in the Lamb's book of life that
he had purpose to die for before the foundation of the world.
And that's why he went. He went there on purpose to raise
a person out of death to newness of life. And that's where he
went all through his ministry. And that's where the spirit went
through the old Testament. He went to The cemeteries where
the dead in trespasses and sin were buried, but they'd been
marked out before the foundation of the world as those that belonged
to him. He visited there. Now the general
call goes out to the whole world, all the cemeteries. And I'm using
that as a metaphor, aren't I? All the cemeteries, where all
people are in their life, dead in trespasses and sin, the word
goes out. But there's a call that is so
general, and people just don't pay any attention to it. That's
the call that we give. But the call that the Holy Spirit
gives, that is effectual. And that is the call that is
going to raise people out of their grave, just like God raised
That man out of the grave that man that was dead four days That
one he went specifically to that Graveyard to that tomb and so
he does all the time. So zachariah has been wakened
out of What the sleep but when it comes to a person that is
dead and trespasses and sin? we are in a death sleep and nothing
can raise us out of that. We are dead in trespasses and
sin." Well, let's move on here. It tells us here in Zechariah
4, so I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me,
saying, What are these, my lord? What are these? And in verse
six, then he answered and spake unto me, saying, now it's wonderful
that when we go to the word of God and we have a question about
the word of God, that we are given an answer from the word
of God, that we're given a pleasant answer from the word of God.
We're revealed the word of God to us. What a blessing that is
that God would do that. He would bring us to the place
that we would ask the question. What is this or as the Ethiopian
eunuch said What is this about? Is it about this man or some
other man? the question was asked do you
understand and he's how could I Understand except some man
guide me teach me so we can do all the teaching we can do all
the preaching And yet if it isn't pleasing to the Lord, if it was
not meant for that group, there's nobody in that group that belongs
to him, there's not going to be any effectual work. Now we're
going to see from time to time those who the seed falls on stony
ground, and for a season it looks like something has happened,
but when trials come, tests come, they fall away. They just cannot
endure to the end. unless they are the Lord's himself. What seest thou? What Zacharias
saw? Let's look here again. He said
there in verses 2 and 3, he said unto me, What seest thou? And
I said, I looked, and behold a candlestick of gold, and a
bowl upon 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 upon the left side of the bowl. So I answered and
spake unto the angel that talked with me, saying, What are these,
my Lord? Then the angel that talked with
me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my Lord. 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. Now that is going to fill in
much of what we've just seen in that. Everything that happened,
everything that Zacharias saw in that picture, and everything
that's written down about what Zacharias saw in that picture,
there are other types and shadows and pictures that share with
us some of the things about that. And we'll look at that in our
next lesson. But we want to say this about it. nothing that was
going on. There wasn't any oil flowing.
There wasn't any fire. There wasn't any lampstand. There wasn't any olive trees.
There wasn't any pipes. There was nothing there that
was not there because of the grace of God. It was not because
of men. It was not because of men's invention.
We cannot create the fire. We cannot produce the oil. We
cannot produce the trees. We cannot produce the lamps.
We cannot produce the lampstands. We can't do any of that, spiritually
speaking. Now there was a lampstand similar
to this in the tabernacle and later in the temple. That was
made by men, but this lamp is not. This lamp is of God, because
Zechariah is given this information by this one, by this messenger,
by this angel that we find. It is not by might nor by power,
but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. This is of my spirit. This lamp is of the spirit. These
olive trees are of the Spirit. The olive oil, the oil there
is of the Spirit. The fire is of the Spirit. The supply of it is of the Spirit. So let's get this out of our
minds, Zachariah, that any of this is produced by human effort. This is all blessings that are
done by the Spirit. It's not by our preaching, and
it's not by our might, and it's not by our power, and it's not
by our oratory. It's not by because we're so
smart in the scriptures. It's not because we know a lot
of the Word of God I'm ashamed all the time when I read the
writings of old men, old preachers, and the time they spent in the
Word of God, and what they got to see there, and what they wrote
about, and how they declared the glory of God in Christ Jesus. I'm ashamed when I read what
they know, and yet I'm blessed when I read what they wrote But
even to them that knew so much, not a word was by their might
or by their power but by the Spirit of God. So if we have
anything revealed to us, it is because of the Spirit of God
and not because we went to some seminary, or Bible school, or
Sunday school, or we sat under great preaching. Anything that
is revealed to us, we must go back and say it is because the
Spirit of God was pleased to reveal that to us. What do we
read over in the book of Galatians? Turn over there with me for just
a moment as we come to the close of tonight's study. Galatians
chapter one, Galatians chapter one. We read over here in Galatians
1, it tells us as the Apostle Paul
shares a little bit about himself. He says, Galatians 1, verse 11,
but I certify you, brethren, that the gospel which was preached
of me is not after man. These pictures you see, Zachariah,
are not after man. These are of the Spirit. For
I neither received it of man, neither was taught it, but by
the revelation of Jesus Christ, the gospel that The apostle Paul
had was not of men and not of man, but of the Spirit, and it
was a revelation of Jesus Christ. For ye have heard of my conversation
in time past in the Jews' religion, how that beyond measure I persecuted
the church of God and wasted it, and profited in the Jews'
religion. Twice he mentions this, the Jews'
religion. above many my equals, in my own
nation, being more exceedingly zealous of the traditions of
my father. But when it pleased God, who
separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by His grace,
to reveal His Son in me, that I might preach Him among the
heathen, immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood." In
other words, he didn't go to somebody and say, do you think
I'm saved or not? He didn't go to somebody and
say, do you think God's work the work? He conferred not with
flesh and blood. He went to the Spirit. And so,
as we go back to the book of Zechariah in closing, we find
there that all of these pictures, these types, these shadows, these
metaphors, all the things that Zechariah got to see, this messenger
wanted him to know assuredly, and that message is passed on
to us, that anything in this picture is not of might, and
it's not by human power, but it's by my spirit, saith the
Lord. The fire comes from God, the
oil comes from God, the lampstands come from God, the church, all
of these things come from God. The supply comes from God. We
can't produce an ounce of olive oil. We just take what comes
naturally, and we squeeze it out, and we use it. And that's
what we find over here. Well, we thank you for joining
us tonight, and we pray that as we go through the remainder
of this book of Zechariah, it will be a blessing. I know it's
a blessing to me to see these pictures and types and shadows
of my Savior, and I'm thankful for the revelation of Jesus Christ.