ZECHARIAH 3 AND 4 (NOTES OF A READING)
ZECHARIAH 3 AND 4 (NOTES OF A READING)
Zechariah 3: 8 - 10; Zechariah 4: 1 - 14
CAC There is full recovery of priestly condition in chapter 3: 4, 5, so that in faithfulness there is liberty to judge God’s house and keep His courts. Saints here are in responsibility, and the restoration of the priesthood is a very important feature at the present moment, the holy service of priesthood having been for a long time practically lost. Joshua, always regarded as a representative man in this book, is now clothed in festival-robes and is seen having fellows that sit before him.
Ques Are those that sit before him the same as those “that stand by” in verse 7?
CAC I think those “that stand by” are the same as those in verse 4 “that stood before him”. There were those who were near to God and had His mind. He (Joshua) would move in the circle of those near to God and in the intelligence of His mind, and who could act for Him.
The “fellows” in verse 8 are those who in measure had gone through the same exercises as Joshua and so could [p. 495] recognise that the priesthood had been restored. Well, there are those here like it today.
Ques Why are they sitting?
CAC It signifies that they have definitely and permanently occupied this place. Defilement has been removed and what is suitable to God has been brought in.
Rem God has thus material on which He can work out His thoughts, so He immediately brings in Christ.
CAC Yes. We need to see that God has recently been dealing with the priesthood. Those who sit down and contemplate this are men who are marked off.
Ques. Why is that?
CAC It is to stimulate our desire to be one of them. Why should we not be a witness? There is such corruption and departure of the priesthood today, that is in what pretends to the priesthood — false thoughts as to empty ceremony or a class of priests. We should be concerned for true priesthood to be restored. There should be a model of what true priesthood is before God. If a few walk in the light of this, it is a witness to all Christians.
Ques What does the priesthood mean?
CAC It is the ability to serve God according to His pleasure, so that there is intelligent worship. It must be in spirit and truth. The turban on Joshua’s head signifies liberty and intelligence in worship. So we have to be careful that when we come together to worship we are in priestly condition and intelligence.
Rem If not we do not get the benefit of the introduction of Christ.
CAC That is so.
Rem In Hebrews we are first to “consider the Apostle and High Priest of our confession”; is that like this?
CAC Yes.
Rem In chapter 6: 12 you get, “Behold a man whose name is the Branch; and he shall grow up from his own place, and he shall build the temple of Jehovah”.
CAC If you are building you must consider Christ. He is the Builder of God’s house; you must consider Him. So all in the house now depends upon a proper consideration of Christ.
Rem “Christ, as Son over his house”. It is a question of people with intelligence.
CAC When He comes, everything is to be for God’s pleasure in the house and in the kingdom. The remnant anticipate this, they are to build in the light of all Christ would do in a coming day.
Rem So that the service of God goes on now.
CAC Yes, all should be according to Christ. Its value is measured by that. The Lord’s supper is to bring Christ in prominence before the saints. If we are going to worship God, we must bring in Christ, and the Supper compels us. It is an essential thing to bring in Christ. He is “A Branch of righteousness” in Jeremiah 33: 15, and everything He brings in is just right. By and by this will be done publicly, but among the saints He is doing it spiritually now.
Rem “In one day” iniquity will be removed.
CAC Very beautiful — iniquity gone and brotherly love established (verse 10). It should be so now among the brethren.
Ques Does it involve the place Christ was coming into as Man?
CAC Yes. It speaks of a Man in chapter 6: 12. Branch means “young shoot” — everything springing up afresh for God.
Ques In Isaiah 53: 2, “He shall grow up before him as a tender sapling”. Is the thought embodied in that?
CAC Yes, it is a beautiful description. It is a great turning-point in a soul when it thinks of Christ in relation to God. First we thought of Him in relation to ourselves, but now it is a priestly view of Christ. God is presenting Christ to the priesthood, we know Him in relation to God. It is something to covet to see Him in relation to God. It is a revolution in a soul when that comes to pass. “Glory to God in the highest” is what He is to God.
[p. 497] The stone is another view of Christ. The Spirit seems in this book to delight in bringing in a multitude of thoughts of Christ. The stone would bring in the thought of building. There is One who is qualified to establish everything for the pleasure of God in the most perfect way — the seven eyes give the thought. It is how we know we regard Christ in a priestly way. No doubt the seven eyes are in Isaiah 11: 1, 2; “There shall come forth a shoot out of the stock of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots shall be fruitful; and the spirit of Jehovah shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Jehovah”.
These are perfect qualifications to bring in the pleasure of God. He has a sevenfold qualification.
Rem The Lamb has seven eyes in Revelation.
CAC It is wonderful ability to take account of everything in relation to God. These eyes running to and fro take account of all that is displeasing to God, and also of all that is pleasing to Him. It is not future. It is going on at the present time. So these seven eyes rejoice when there is anything done for the pleasure of God — one stone placed on another, or a man with the plumb-line measuring according to God.
We get the Spirit in a sevenfold aspect in Isaiah 11. We could not say the anointing is not shared by the saints, though humbled as we think of ourselves. It is God’s mind for the saints. It is competence to govern. How could the saints rule in the world to come unless they are competent to govern? I sometimes ask people how many cities they feel competent to rule over.
Rem “Who hath despised the day of small things?”
CAC This book was largely written to show the remnant that they are not in a day of small things. Outwardly it is small, but what are they going on with? They are going on with the greatest things in the universe of God — far greater than anything in the grandest cathedral. Zechariah 4 is one of the most important chapters for remnant times. We do well to ponder it.
Rem It is “every man his neighbour” (chapter 3: 10).
CAC Well, you would like to share your vine and fig tree, would you not? You would not like to have anything you could not share.
Ques Would there not be discernment? John says, “Ye have the unction from the holy one and ye know all things”
(1 John 2: 20).
CAC Yes. The other side is light. There is a system of spiritual light, so we need to pray over this chapter (4). There will be such for Israel in a coming day, but it exists today in a much greater form than it will in Israel. To understand it we have to look at the saints according to the working of God. We see it in Christ.
Ques Where do we see it in Christ?
CAC We see it whenever we look at Him. We see He is the transfer of all that is in the mind of God. It is all engraved upon Christ.
The lamp-stand is all of gold, nothing of the flesh or infirmity is brought into it — that is all shed. For us it is a real difficulty because we see the flesh coming out in saints, also human infirmity that is trying. Now we have to get rid of any thought of both if we are to consider the system of light. We want to see saints as new creation, as born of God as John does, and we get some idea of the golden lamp-stand.
Rem It says in verse 1, “As a man that is wakened out of his sleep”.
CAC Most Christians are fast asleep as to this, numbers have never seen it.
Rem “Wake up, thou that sleepest, and arise up from among the dead, and the Christ shall shine upon thee” (Ephesians 5: 14).
CAC We are entitled to view the saints as new creation. 2 Corinthians 5: 17 is put in contrast with knowing people after the flesh. How do we know the saints? We are not with God, but at a distance, if we only know them after the flesh.
Ques Why does Zechariah ask this [p. 499] question?
CAC Young men are always full of questions if they are healthy. That is why they are helpful in the readings. Do we want to know these things, are they interesting to us?
Ques Is the candlestick in the tabernacle Christ?
CAC The candlestick in the tabernacle is Christ; all the figures in connection with it would suggest it being Christ. Here it is the saints — the vessel of light. What they are after the flesh — that is all passing, it is only for five minutes!
Rem Balaam’s prophecy would come in here.
CAC We must first view ourselves in this light. Can I really shed off in my mind all my flesh and my human infirmity? If I cannot I am in a poor way.
You learn it first in yourself and then clothe the saints with it (that is how God views them). The apprehension of it gives us power to walk in the Spirit. Then we would seek to bring the saints into the light of it. It is not what is abstract here, but what is responsibility. The golden bowl suggests being filled with the Spirit, it is a containing vessel. We ought to think a good deal about that. If I thought of myself as part of it, it would have a very sanctifying effect upon me.
In the Old Testament the Spirit comes upon a man and so today may result in a marvellous preaching, but here it is a containing vessel. It is given to us, that we might enter into this, as though God says, ‘I want you to be near to Me in the thoughts of yourself and of your brethren’. It is not doing wonderful things, it is a containing vessel. It is not something once a year, but continual.