By My Spirit — Part 2

Sermon delivered on January 14th, 2018
Morning Service

By: Pastor Greg Hocson

Scripture Text: Zechariah 4:1-14

 

Zechariah 4:1 And the angel that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep, 2: And said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with 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: 3: And two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof. 4: So I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me, saying, What are these, my lord? 5: Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord. 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. 7: Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it. 8: Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying, 9: 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 hath sent me unto you. 10: For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth. 11: Then answered I, and said unto him, What are these two olive trees upon the right side of the candlestick and upon the left side thereof? 12: And 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? 13: And he answered me and said, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord. 14: Then said he, These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the LORD of the whole earth.

 

Introduction

The people of God have been chastened for their idolatry. When Nebuchadnezzar, King of Babylon besieged Jerusalem, not only did he destroyed the First Temple, he also removed the Jews from the Promised Land and put them into captivity in Babylon which lasted for 70 long years. But God promised them that they will return to their homeland and they did. 

 

And God did it through Cyrus, King of Persia. God stirred his heart to let the Jews return to their homeland. And not only that, King Cyrus even commanded the Jews to rebuild the Temple that King Nebuchadnezzar destroyed years ago. So, they returned to their homeland with great expectation and under the leadership of Zerubbabel, the governor that time, they laid the foundation of the Temple. But then the enemies came and seek to stop and destroy the work. There were obstacles and opposition everywhere and they became discourage and the work stopped. That was 16 years ago. There was nothing for 16 years. O, they still worship every week, they still offered their sacrifices but they did not build the house of God.

 

God is determined to rebuild the Temple for the Temple is the place He chose to reveal Himself and to manifest His presence. This is the place where sin could be temporarily atoned for through the sacrifice of animals foreshadowing the coming perfect sacrifice of Jesus Christ. God will have His Temple rebuild and completed. So He raised up the prophets Zechariah and Haggai to call God's people to resume the work of rebuilding the Temple. 

 

Zechariah just like Ezekiel and Jeremiah was both a prophet and a priest. He came alongside Haggai to deliver messages from the Lord to Zerubbabel and the Jewish remnant recently returned from their seventy years of exile in Babylon. The name Zechariah means Jehovah Remembers. What an appropriate name for this book since this book is about God remembering His people. God has not forgotten, He remembers His people. Through the prophecy in this book you will see God's love and faithfulness to His people. Zechariah's prophecy was so full of encouragement to the struggling Israelites trying to rebuild their temple.

 

This morning consider with three things: the Mission, the Vision and the Interpretation.

 

I — The Mission

Zerubbabel has an enormous mission and responsibility to rebuild the Temple. The task was overwhelming. He faced many problems — the group was small, the people were discouraged, and enemies were coming against the work.

 

If you read Ezra, Nehemiah, Haggai and Zechariah, you are going to see how discouraged they are. As we saw last Sunday, there was great opposition, the people of the land sought to stop them, the politicians were against them. Then there is the indifference of some of God's own people. There was not enough resources and man power. They were so discouraged that they simply stopped building the house of God.

 

This is the similar situation that the Christians of the early church faced. What did the early church have as they seek to build the church? They had no Bibles like we do today. No buildings, no padded pews, no sound systems, no finances, no Bible Colleges. The Roman government were against them, the Jewish religious establishment who rejected Jesus Christ as the Messiah was against them. The disciples who started the work were all unlearned men. After spending 3-1/2 years with Christ, on the day that He was arrested they all fled and the one who ended up to be their leader cursed and denied the Lord three times. 

 

Continuing the work that Christ started is overwhelming and so is the rebuilding of the Temple. It was an enormous responsibility and task and yet it was a task that God told them to do. God Himself had commanded it to be done. The rebuilding of the temple was the testimony to his day that Jehovah is God and that God is to be loved, worshiped, and served. God knows that the task is enormous, that's why He comes through the prophet Zechariah with this message, not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit saith the Lord of hosts. This work cannot be done with human might and human power. It can only be done by divine power, through the Holy Spirit. It could only be accomplished through the Holy Spirit. 

 

II — The Vision

There are eight visions throughout this book but this morning let's look at the vision in this 4th chapter of Zechariah.

 

Zechariah 4:1 And the angel that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep,

Now I hope that's your experience this morning in this meeting! No, I am not talking about physical awakening, though some of you need that this morning, but I am specially talking about a spiritual awakening. If you are asleep you will be awakened out of sleep. I hope and pray as we look at this 5th vision that there will be spiritual awakening that would take place here this morning.

 

Zechariah 4:2 And said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with 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: 3: And two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof. 

 

What did Zechariah see in this vision? In this vision he sees a menorah, a golden candlestick used in the ancient Temple. The menorah is a six-branch, seven-lamp lampstand made of pure gold and used in the portable sanctuary set up by Moses in the wilderness and later in the Temple in Jerusalem. Fresh olive oil of the purest quality was burned daily to light its lamps. 

 

As mentioned at the outset Zechariah was both a prophet and a priest. And being a priest he would be intimately familiar with what he was seeing. He would be familiar how these lamps continually needed to be refilled with oil, they needed to be cleaned of ashes and dust, and the wicks had to be maintained and tended. And these are all done by the priest. Zechariah would know that one of the more laborious or painstaking tasks of Temple service as a priest was to care for the candlesticks. 

 

Here is Zechariah a priest, and he is seeing something that is familiar. He knows what a lampstand is, but although it is familiar there is something very different about what he is seeing. 

Zechariah 4:2 And said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with 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: 3: And two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof. 

He recognizes the candlestick, but he has never seen a candlestick like this before. It is a very special one. The Menorah in this vision is not the regular Menorah. It has a bowl on top of it and from this bowl are seven pipes which are connected to the seven lamps. And then on the left and on the right of this menorah are two olive trees, naturally supplying oil to the bowl which is connected by pipes to the seven lamps.

 

What Zechariah is seeing is a menorah with lamps that are self-filling! They are directly fed by natural source of two olive trees that are pouring in oil to this upper reservoir container, pouring down the pipes and into the stems, and lighting the lamps. So that's how these lamps are fueled.

 

What a menorah! What a candlestick! What an unfamiliar candlestick! So unfamiliar that even the priest Zechariah had to ask the angel ...

Zechariah 4:4 So I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me, saying, What are these, my lord? 5: Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord.

 

III — The Interpretation

What is the significance of this vision? What does this unfamiliar menorah mean? What does the candlestick represent?

 

The best way to find out what this golden candlestick is to compare Scripture with Scripture.

Revelation 1:20 The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in my right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.

 

What is this candlestick? Here in the book of Revelations there are seven golden candlestick represents the seven churches. This is confirmed for us by Jesus Christ in the Sermon on the Mount when He speaks of Christians and what are what Christians supposed to be? 

Matthew 5:14 Ye are the light of the world. A city that is set on an hill cannot be hid. 15: Neither do men light a candle, and put it under a bushel, but on a candlestick; and it giveth light unto all that are in the house. 16: Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

The church of Jesus Christ is the candlestick to hold up the light in the midst of moral darkness. The world is in moral darkness and the Christians are supposed to be light in the world. The Christians are supposed  to be the Gospel light in the world.

 

There's a call comes ringing o'er the restless wave,

"Send the light! Send the light!"

There are souls to rescue, there are souls to save,

Send the light! Send the light!

 

Refrain:

Send the light, the blessed Gospel light;

Let it shine from shore to shore!

Send the light, the blessed Gospel light;

Let it shine forevermore!

 

Let the light shine. No one lights a lamp and puts it under a bushel. You don't light a lamp and hide it. You light a lamp in order to put it in a dark place so that dark place will be illumined.

 

But now we may ask, what is the power of the church? By what is the church empowered by? Please turn back to ...

Zechariah 4:2 And said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with 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: 3: And two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof. 

 

What fuels the lamps on the golden candlestick? The two olive trees which represent Jesus Christ. But then the oil from these trees that gives fuel to the lamp. The oil is the Holy Spirit. The oil is the standard symbol in the Scripture for the Holy Spirit. The symbolism ought to be clear to us, that the Holy Spirit perpetually empowered the church of Jesus Christ.

 

For a church to be true church of Jesus Christ and be a true light in this morally dark world, must have the Holy Spirit. We must have the Holy Spirit if we at Grace & Truth can claim to be the church of Jesus Christ. And if we are going to build the house of Christ we cannot do it with our own might, we cannot do it with our own power. There is only one way and that is by the Spirit of the Lord.

 

This is the meaning and the significance of this vision. This is the answer of the angel to Zechariah's question in verse 4, "What are these, my lord?"

 

Zechariah 4:6 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.

 

The word of God to Zerubbabel"If you are going to build my temple do not rely on your might, do not rely on your power but depend upon my Holy Spirt. So build my house, not with your might, nor with your power but by My Spirit."

 

This is the word of God to the church, this is the word of God to us here at Grace & Truth, "Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts."

 

The responsibility is enormous. The work is overwhelming.  The church must be built. The  Gospel must be proclaimed. The Great Commission must be obeyed.

Matthew 28:19 Go ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost: 20: Teaching them to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you: and, lo, I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. Amen.

 

This must be done. It is overwhelming. It is a daunting task and it must be carried out by the church. Yes, we are small, we have limited resources, we have limited manpower. There will be challenges. There will be opposition. There will even be with God's own people who will be indifferent. But remember the mountains will become plain. But it is not your own power that will remove obstacles.  It will be God's power through His Holy Spirit.

 

But don't forget ...

Matthew 28:18 And Jesus came and spake unto them, saying, All power is given unto me in heaven

 

All power and authority is Mine and I am with you always even unto the end of the world. I will perpetually supply the power you need by supplying you the Holy Spirit to carry out your responsibility and task.

 

Closing Thoughts

As God promised and guaranteed to Zerubbabel and to the Jewish people that the Temple shall be completed, He also promised the New Testament church that He will perfect His work.

Matthew 16:18 And I say also unto thee, That thou art Peter, and upon this rock I will build my church; and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.

 

God will accomplish the work by His Holy Spirit, providing light and finishing the task of the temple. God gives to us the Holy Spirit for power and ability to finish the task of building His temple.

 

That rebuilding of the temple was the testimony to his day that Jehovah is God and that God is to be loved, worshiped, and served.  That calling that was before Zerubbabel in the service of his God was a calling that he could not accomplish in the way of his own might and power but could only accomplish through the Holy Spirit.

 

The building of the church is God's witness in this present age. Come  and be part of that building.

Zechariah 6:12 And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the LORD of hosts, saying, Behold the man whose name is The BRANCH; and he shall grow up out of his place, and he shall build the temple of the LORD: 13: Even he shall build the temple of the LORD; and he shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon his throne; and he shall be a priest upon his throne: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both.

 

AMEN!