SONS OF OIL
A.C.Craig
Zechariah 4: 1-3, 11-14; 2 Kings 4: 1 -7; Leviticus 24: 1; Matthew 25: 6-9
These scriptures, as you would have noticed, refer to oil. I want to make a few suggestions about how to become sons of oil. It is a wonderful commodity, something vital for the filling out of Christianity; you could not do without it sons of oil. It is a description by the Spirit of these two olive trees. They are olive trees, but the comment of the Spirit is that they are sons of oil. It is as if they have qualified for and are entitled to that designation. There is nothing more desirable for all of us, especially maybe for the younger people. Zechariah is a young man and he is very interested, as you would find out in these chapters. It is a great matter to have some potential, and to be resourceful, for that is necessary too.
In the Scriptures you get sons of the kingdom too; a son of the kingdom is over against the pretension and the lawlessness that obtains all around in the world and in Christendom too. It is a great feature to be a son of the kingdom - that is Matthew. Then too a son of peace - these are wonderful things - sons of peace; and then too sons of light, Luke and John, ye are sons of light. Paul too refers to the saints as being sons of light and sons of the day. But 'sons of oil' is very appealing, that you are there and you have a supply for the light. It is a very interesting subject.
As I read from Leviticus, Moses was commanded that pure beaten olive oil should be brought for the light, to light the lamp continually. There has to be no cessation of the light, so there is an obligation upon us to have oil. It is a very vital matter, and I want to show how it is obtained and how we can trust it and so value it. I would encourage every one of us to aim at something like this and to qualify for the degree, so to speak, qualify for the designation. If you have not the oil you cannot claim to be sons of oil. It is very necessary to have it in view of having part vitally in the testimony and service of God.
So Zechariah is a young man, young men and young women are of great interest to heaven - to the world too, Oh, yes, young people are of great interest to the world, but then God would enlist your interest, and these meetings are for that purpose. God has great things in His mind. In chapter 2 the angel says to another angel, Run, speak to this young man and tell him what God was going to do with Jerusalem. You think of the interest of heaven in the young people that they might know things, that they might know God's mind and have desires to fit into God's system. So this man Zechariah is a young man; there is an older prophet Haggai but Zechariah was young. In this chapter he has been asleep but he is wakened as a man that is wakened out of his sleep. God can do that. God can wake us up; He uses many things to waken us up. The disciples fell asleep on the mount; the greatest things were taking place on the mount of transfiguration and the disciples fell asleep. And there are great things taking place, dear young people, the greatest things are taking place and we want to be wakened up. It says, "having fully awoke up they saw his glory, and the two men who stood with him", Luke 9: 32. I think for us it implies that the Spirit has been communicated. That is the idea, being fully awoke up they saw His glory. Once the Spirit has been communicated there is no excuse for being asleep. Now what do you think about these things? What do you think about the Spirit here as the great supply that you might have oil? It is a tradable commodity, it can be used; it is not like water in that sense, it is oil and it is of value. Men know that; this country knows that, our country knows that oil is of tradable value, and so in Christianity. I tell you, dear brethren, that in Christendom the greatest slight is on the Spirit. For two thousand years He has been slighted; He is still here and He is still here with His supply. He is ready to meet any desire and to meet any emergency, the blessed Spirit is here to do that.
You remember the parable of the steward who was accused by his master of wasting his goods (see Luke 16). He was called into the office and his master said to him, I hear your books are not square; give an account of your stewardship. So the steward saw that he was in a great difficulty. He says, I cannot dig and I am ashamed to beg. Dear young people, if you are not prepared for these two things you will not make much progress; you have to be ready to dig, ready to delve into the Scriptures. He said, I cannot dig. Fancy a man saying he cannot dig! Did you ever dig into the Scriptures, dig into the ministry? If you want to become a son of oil you have to get busy, you cannot lose any time; you have to dig. You might leave primary and go to high school, you might go to the university; these things do not help you one bit to become a son of oil. You have to learn to read and write, granted, but in connection with the son of oil it is a question of your relation to God and your relation to the Spirit. You are linked with the Spirit as I hope to show. So this man could not dig and he could not beg. If you cannot beg you will be in poverty. You have to beg, beg the Father, pray to the Father, pray to the Lord, these are the means to get oil. But this man saw he was in difficulty so he calls in the first debtor of his master and said, How much do you owe? Oh, he said; I owe a hundred baths of oil. And he said, Take your writing and sit down quickly, take your cheque book and write fifty. Do it quickly, he said. Then he called in the next man, How much do you owe? He said, A hundred cors of wheat, and he said, You write eighty. Notice that the greatest discount was on the oil; the greatest slight is on the Spirit. They go along with the truth of Jesus so far but when they come to the Spirit the biggest discount is on that, the greatest slight is on the Spirit. We all can come into the gain of the presence of the Spirit; the way to it, dear young people, is to dig and to beg. Do not be ashamed to dig, do not be ashamed to beg. You do not need to be ashamed, the whole thing is available for you; whatsoever you ask you will receive. I only mention that to show how the Spirit is slighted and all the time He is available that there might be a supply with us, the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ - that is it really. The epistle to the Philippians gives you the great idea of oil, not so much water but more the oil that is available in view of the testimony coming out here like Christ.
So this young man Zechariah is very, very interested. There is a lot in the chapter but he is very interested in these two olive trees. He is asked what he sees and he said, "I see, and behold, a lamp-stand all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and its seven lamps thereon seven lamps and seven pipes to the lamps". He saw all that. And he says, "and two olivetrees beside it, one on the right of the bowl, and the other on the left of it". Now, after being told certain things about the headstone being put in its place and the hands of Zerubbabel finishing the house, he comes back to this matter where I read in verse 11, and asks the question again, "What are these two olive-trees on the right of the lamp-stand and on its left? " He is very interested in that, he is not going to give up. "And I answered the second time and said unto him, What are the two olive-branches which are beside the two golden tubes ... ?" He is very interested in these two olive-trees. What are you interested in? Come now, let us be honest with one another and ourselves. Be honest with yourself, be honest with your own history, be honest with your present state, what are you interested in? Here is a young man interested in these two olive-trees and they are standing beside the lamp-stand, they are standing beside the golden tubes. Where do you stand? How do you stand? This is a very wonderful sight; I do not mean to go into it, but there are seven lamps and seven pipes to each lamp, that is forty-nine - that is a local meeting. There is a place for you in the local meeting, a place to function. If you are a son of oil you can be a supplier of the oil for the light. There are seven lamps and seven pipes to each. Now this is very important and I am sure you can see that Zechariah, a young man, would be ready to fill out his part in this matter of being a son of oil.
Now as I said, it is not only a great privilege but there is obligation that the oil has to be brought: "Command ... that they bring ... pure beaten olive oil for the light". You have come into blessing, you have come into salvation, you have blessing on the basis of the death of Jesus; there is a certain obligation, having received the Spirit, that we bring the oil for the light, pure beaten olive oil. I will speak about that, the kind of oil it is, but the obligation is on us that that might be brought. And you can be sure that Zechariah would not be slow in bringing forward his supply, and we all can contribute to that. What a privilege! What a favour to have our part in God's system of things where the testimony is being maintained, life is being maintained. We should be concerned that the light may not go out. And he said, "knowest thou not what these are? And I said, No, my lord. And he said, These are the two sons of oil, that stand before the Lord of the whole earth". Think of that, think of heaven regarding you and me as being sons of oil! It is not only belonging to the sons but it belongs to the sisters as well, we all can be sons of oil, with some supply that we have gained through our contacts with the Spirit and making way for the Spirit - that is the idea. I would commend this to us that the opportunity is upon us and it is ours that we might be ready with our supply, with potential substance, spiritual substance that can be contributed in view of something in the way of the light shining.
Now I read in Kings about these two young men. The sons of this widow become sons of oil and I want to add something as to how it comes about. The creditor is putting in his claim, and I suppose in a way that would be a righteous claim. The woman did not dispute the claim of the creditor, the difficulty was how to meet it. So she comes to the prophet and he says, What have you in the house? Well, she says, only a pot of oil. She says first of all, "Thy servant my husband is dead, and thou knowest that thy servant feared Jehovah". Notice that, she referred to the death of her husband. Then she says she has only a pot of oil in the house; that is all she had. This pot of oil obviously has come down from her husband; he has died but the pot of oil is there. How did the pot of oil become available through the death of her husband? It is through the death of Christ. I appeal to you young people, through the death of Christ the oil has become available. She did not value it but she will. "My husband is dead": I bring this forward as an appeal to our affection that it is through the death of Christ the oil has come down to us, but she does not value it. That is a challenge to every one of us as to how much valuation I have for the One who is here so concerned about the maintenance of the light, the maintenance of the testimony. You can be sure it will be maintained in spite of you or me. He is faithful enough but it is through the death of Christ. I would urge this upon us. Although He may be slighted He is not here lightly, He is here concerned that the light might be maintained. "Thy handmaid has not anything at all in the house but a pot of oil. And he said Go borrow for thyself vessels abroad from all thy neighbours, empty vessels; let it not be few; and go in, and shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons, and pour out into all those vessels, and set aside what is full". Now visualise this sight; here she is with this pot of oil, at one time not very valuable in her sight, her very language was defeatist - 'not anything at all in the house but a pot of oil'. She did not have a real valuation of it. I think we need to be wakened up, beloved brethren, as I said about the young man, he was wakened as a man out of his sleep. The woman is wakened out of her sleep, out of her indifference and defeatist attitude, so to speak. That is a snare upon us. You accept things as they are. We should not do that, we should not accept things as they are, we should aim at being vital and having a supply, not to be defeatists but wakened up to what is really available or what is valuable, what is of tradable value - that is the idea. It is worth something. It says, "shut the door upon thee and upon thy sons": that is another important thing, you know what it is to go in behind the shut door. Do not forget to go in behind the shut door and have an experience. Now notice that what is at stake here is these two sons, not the widow; it is their lives, the careers of these sons, that are at stake. The creditor has certain claims and these would be righteous in a way, but what is at stake is the sons. Dear brethren, we want to keep that in mind, that what is at stake is the young people and we want them to be sons of oil, not just ordinary, not just average. I have said before that we should not accept the average, we should be more than average; sons of oil means that you are vital and that you have some spiritual supply. Now spiritual supply is obtained by industry, you get it by digging, by begging. Do not be afraid of these things, do not be afraid to work and have something in the way of a spiritual supply. There they are behind the shut door. You can imagine it, visualise the scene of the mother, and she is pouring out the oil into vessel after vessel. What are they learning? She is learning of course the value of what the pot of oil is, but they are learning too. They would be amazed, vessel after vessel; no matter how many there were there was plenty of oil. After they were all filled the oil stayed. The Spirit is here, He is staying, He is not going, we will all go together and He will go too. But for the moment He is staying, He is available. What wealth is available! Now in this process you can understand what these two sons would be learning behind the shut door. I ask the young people: How much time do you spend behind the shut door? That is what you are told to do in Matthew, to go into your closet and shut the door (see chap 6: 6). How much time do you give to that? You will learn behind the shut door; in company with divine Persons you will learn the true value of things, you will get the priorities right and you will see that something is needed for the maintenance of the light and you gain something, you acquire substance. I commend this to us all. I have to admit my lack in this, but still I am obliged to say a word to you about it. We want to get in behind the shut door. I think four times in this chapter you have the shut door referred to; that enforces the thing upon us. The woman with the son dead went in and shut the door. We need this secret history. We used to hear a lot about the need for it when I was young. It is vital. If I am to have oil at all, and if I contribute my part to the light, it is vital that I have oil and I learn the value of it behind the shut door; in secret with God, in secret with the Lord, in secret with the Spirit you learn what you have. She has this now and she goes to the prophet and tells him the outcome of the experience, and he says, "Go, sell the oil, and pay thy debt, and live thou and thy sons on the rest". What a portion! - able to meet every obligation, that is paying your debt, here for the will of God, here for His pleasure. You can do that for yourself, for your own peace; but then too, living on the rest: that is eternal life and sonship. Meeting your obligations on the one hand but then living on the rest you enjoy eternal life and sonship.
The next woman in this chapter is offered to be spoken of to the king or to the captain of the host. He said we will promote you in this world. She says, You cannot promote me, I dwell among my own people; she is in the good of eternal life. She said, You could not add to my satisfaction, you could not add to my pleasure, I dwell among my own people. Oh, what a portion it is to be amongst the brethren! All this is necessary in view of the maintenance of the light.
Now another thing I want to bring up is what we get in Matthew 25 where there are these five wise and five foolish virgins, and the crisis comes when the foolish have no oil in their vessels and they speak to the prudent. They have great advice to give. I think if you are behind the shut door, and you learn something as to the value of the Spirit, you can give counsel, you can give good advice. So when the foolish ask for oil they say, "Give us of your oil, for our torches are going out. But the prudent answered saying, We cannot": now notice that that is a very important matter - "we cannot". It is not transmissible in that sense; I cannot give it to you or you to me. Notice: "Go rather to those that sell and buy for yourselves". Now there are those that are selling the oil, they are not giving it away they are selling it. "Go rather to those that sell"; there are those who are selling it. Now this is very interesting. I cannot communicate to you or you to me as I said, but there are those who sell. Dear brethren, the Father and the Son are those who sell and unless we have to do with Them, those that sell, the Father and the Son, we will not have it. What transactions are there between us and this wonderful economy of ours where the oil is available on this basis of having a transaction with those that sell? How touching - those that sell. You have to part with something, you have to surrender something; your money, your time, whatever it might be, you have to give something in exchange for the oil. It is not given away. That is true also in Revelation chapter 3 where the Lord is selling things, He is not giving them away. They are to be obtained on this principle. I commend this to us, that the Father and the Son are concerned that you and I might be vitally in the testimony and contributing to the light that is to be maintained right down to the end; continually, it says, that there might be no lessening of it, and I can have part in that. Oh, I wish I could raise your interest in this matter as to what is here in the way of the testimony of our Lord and I can have my part in that and its maintenance in the light of it, but it is only by way of being sons of oil.
What are these two sons of oil in the prison in Acts 16? Pure beaten olive oil; Paul said "Having beaten us publicly" (v 37). They were beaten yet what light shone out in that prison in the middle of the night. The light is to be maintained continually, it never went out. Look at these two sons of oil there, how wonderful! And the prisoners listened to them. There was an earthquake, they were wakened up, everybody was wakened up. I think we need waking up as to the urgency of the moment. There might have been an excuse for Paul and Silas to let the light not shine, but it shone in all its brilliance, pure beaten olive· oil. How wonderful! So no matter what the circumstances might be we can have our part in this wonderful privilege, but responsibility too is upon us to bring pure beaten olive oil.
May we therefore be encouraged as well as feeling our obligation to our committal to things and our determination to have it in view of the light shining. Would you not want to have a part in this dark day when there is so much departure and so much unfaithfulness to the Lord that His testimony might be maintained? Surely we should find it in our hearts, dear brethren, in affection for Christ, to make way for the Spirit and have something in the way of spiritual supply for the maintenance of the testimony. It is a wonderful privilege and it will not always be accorded us, but it is accorded us now in difficult conditions and heartlessness for Christ, that there may be that with us in determination to bring this oil for the light. May we all be encouraged therefore and helped forward in this matter and find not only that we are having our part in it but to the satisfaction of our own souls we enjoy eternal life and enjoy sonship too. May He bless the word.
NEW YORK
16 April 1988