ZECHARIAH 4
The fact that Zechariah is waked at the beginning of this chapter “as a man that is wakened out of his sleep” suggests that what is set forth in this chapter is particularly intended to be understood in a time of awakening. The subject of the chapter is “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, which are upon the top thereof; and two olive trees beside it, one on the right of the bowl, and the other on the left of it”, verses 2 and 3. The angel explains these figures to Zechariah by saying, “This is the word of Jehovah unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith Jehovah of hosts”, verse 8. God calls our attention to a wonderful vessel of light, and gives us to understand that it sets forth symbolically a system of things which is suitable to be pervaded by the activity of His Spirit. This striking symbol presents to us the character of the vessel by which, and in which, He would act. It is important for us to consider this carefully.
This prophecy was given to encourage those who were building the house of God in a remnant time and in outward weakness. It thus applies specially to our own time. God would say to us, If you want to be builders of My house, you must have this vision before you. He would have us to awake out of sleep to see this vessel of light as a great spiritual reality. There was no such vessel of divine light actually in existence when Zechariah saw this vision. It was something to be apprehended as in the mind of God, which conveyed to Zerubbabel that He had before Him the thought of a vessel of light which should be pervaded by the power of His Spirit. There will be such a vessel in a future day in connection with Israel, but God would have us to see that at the present time His thought is that the assembly should come into evidence as having the features set forth symbolically in Zechariah 4, and He is working to that end.
If we think of the assembly as “a lamp-stand all of gold” we are looking at it according to what it is as the product of the work of God. For example, Paul speaks of believers as “they that are according to Spirit”, and he says that they “mind the things of the Spirit”, Romans 8: 5. It is not only that they have the Spirit, but they are “according to Spirit”; that is the character of the vessel. Again, Paul said, “So if any one be in [p. 100] Christ, there is a new creation; the old things have passed away; behold all things have become new: and all things are of the God who has reconciled us to himself by Jesus Christ”, 2 Corinthians 5: 17, 18. John speaks of the saints as born of God. As we think of them thus we do not think of the flesh, or of the human imperfection, but of persons begotten of God, and having a nature directly derived from Him. John says to those to whom he was writing, “Ye are of God, children, and have overcome them (the antichrists), because greater is he that is in you than he that is in the world”, 1 John 4: 4. As we think of the saints as begotten of God, and having the Spirit, we think of them as “all of gold”. This is what they really are; neither flesh nor human infirmity can set this aside, though both are present with us as things to be judged, which we require divine grace to overcome.
There is much said of the Spirit in John’s gospel, both as given to the individual believer and as given to the saints viewed collectively, but in no case is it suggested that there is any obstructing or incongruous element in the vessel. It is very much on the line of the “lamp-stand all of gold”. We can contemplate this now as set forth in Scripture, but it is set forth there that we may be exercised to have the spiritual reality of it. Perhaps no statements in Scripture are more attractive than what is said of the Spirit in John’s gospel, but they are also very challenging, and tend to maintain continual exercise that we may be in the gain of them.
What we see here, in symbol, is very different from the seven golden lamp-stands of Revelation 1. They are the assemblies as responsible light-bearers, but most of them are seen as failing in their responsibility. The secret of their defection lay in departing from what is set forth in Zechariah 4. Nothing has place in the “lamp-stand all of gold” but what is divinely wrought; the power of everything connected with it is the Holy Spirit. How soon was this departed from, and what was of man, and of the flesh, took its place! But the recovery of the truth in these last days is to bring the remnant, that is, in principle, all true saints, back to the recognition that flesh profits nothing, and that only what God has wrought has true value, and that the only power to maintain divine light is the Spirit of God. The flow of the Spirit is the great matter for us all to be concerned about. The “pipes” and “tubes” in the Scripture before us clearly intimate the thought of a flow. There is no suggestion of a periodical replenishment as in the case of the candlestick in the tabernacle.
[p. 101] The olive-trees, the bowl, and the pipes combine to suggest a continuous flow of the Spirit. They speak of conditions by which a continuous flow is maintained. What is put before us here is not the setting up of things as at Pentecost, but a vessel marked by the continuing activity of the Holy Spirit. And this, as it may be known in a day of recovery; John’s gospel has this particularly in view.
The “bowl upon the top of it” gives, too, the idea of a containing vessel. When it is said, “Be filled with the Spirit” (Ephesians 5:18), it implies that the saints of the assembly are a containing vessel for the Spirit. It is a wondrous thought. The prudent virgins of Matthew 25 took oil in their vessels with their torches. It is not enough that there shall be some action of the Spirit at certain times for particular service, but the saints are to be permanently a containing vessel for the Spirit. The Lord said of the Spirit, “He abides with you, and shall be in you” (John 14: 17), and we read of God’s Spirit dwelling in the saints. God would have each saint to say, I am part of that golden bowl!
Then there are “seven lamps thereon, seven lamps, and seven pipes to the lamps, which are upon the top thereof”. The lamps, though part of the whole system, and deriving from it, are that part which directly sheds forth the light. The actual shedding forth of spiritual light, in view of the service of the house of God, is through certain divinely furnished vessels. The fact that there are seven lamps speaks of the spiritual completeness of the light-giving system, and this is emphasised by the fact that, as the margin suggests, there are seven pipes to each lamp. There is a certain shining of divine light in every “manifestation of the Spirit”, and, if nothing of flesh came in, the shining of spiritual light through various vessels would blend in a completeness which would be manifestly of God. The gifts of the Spirit in the body, and the gifts set by God in the assembly, and the gifts of the ascended Christ, would all necessarily blend for the diffusion of spiritual light. The disorder which has come in by human infirmity, and by the setting aside of divine order, has thrown things into confusion so that the perfection of the divine system is lost sight of. But the vision of Zechariah 4 is intended to call our attention to things as they are in the mind of God, so that we may return to spiritual thoughts. God provides in His system for the diffusion of spiritual light in a complete way. He shows us in this striking symbol that the lamps are dependent on the flow of oil through the pipes, and the pipes are fed from the bowl,
[p. 102] and the bowl is fed from the two olive-trees. The whole system works together as the oil circulates through it, and the light is seen to be dependent upon the continuous flow of the oil. So if spiritual conditions are departed from, the operation of the whole system is interfered with, as it has been even from the days of the apostles.
We see at the beginning that there was a company prepared by the personal service of Christ to be the vessel of the Spirit. The saints acquired features under the influence of Christ, as being with Him in the days of His flesh, and in the forty days during which He was with them as risen, which made them suitable for the reception of the Spirit. The work of God was very distinct in them, so that they not only received the Spirit, but they were marked by spirituality, and hence there was no obstruction to the spiritual flow, and the light was undimmed. But very soon, as we may learn from the Acts and the Epistles, there was departure from spirituality and the spiritual flow was impeded and the light waned. Now God is working to bring about a return to spiritual conditions — in a word, to spirituality. It is not enough that we should recognise that the Spirit is here — that this is the Spirit’s day — but we should be greatly concerned to be spiritual. It is only in spiritual persons that there can be the flow of what is spiritual, and without this the assembly cannot be in any real way the vessel of spiritual light. The Spirit Himself acts in the assembly, but in a general way the service there is through spiritual persons; of course, in the power of the Spirit. So that a return to spirituality is essential if the assembly is really to come into evidence as having the features of the symbol before us in Zechariah 4.
I think we may see what answers to this vessel of light in the assembly in Philadelphia, which is evidently the product of divine revival in the closing days of the assembly period. The fact that the Lord had to say, “thou hast a little power”, shows that He does not contemplate great things outwardly, but it shows that the power that was there was such as He could recognise; that is, it was spiritual and not natural or fleshly power. Keeping His word and not denying His name, and keeping the word of His patience, bring out in a very full way the character of the vessel. In such a vessel there would be nothing to hinder the spiritual flow, or to dim the light. It clearly contemplates a restoration of spirituality in an assembly setting at the end of the assembly period. Philadelphia is marked by watchful care of the [p. 103] word of Christ; they hold in assembly affection what comes out in John’s gospel. Then there is no denial of His name, which covers all that rightly represents Him here. His name is to be borne in testimony here; it is what James calls “the excellent name which has been called upon you”. A Philadelphian overcomer is consistent with that name, is a true confessor of it; he will not suffer himself to be identified with anything that denies it. And keeping the word of His patience means that we do not want any place in the world until He gets His place. These are the true features of the assembly as the vessel of light.
There was a time when it needed to be much stressed that the Spirit of God is here, a divine Person, dwelling in the saints, for this was very feebly apprehended generally. But now that this truth is fairly widely accepted, it becomes necessary to lay stress on the character of the vessel in which spiritual activities can be known. Apart from spirituality in the vessel, there will be no flow of oil to maintain spiritual light. Spiritual manifestations in the assembly depend on the presence there of spiritual men. It has often been noticed that in 1 Corinthians 14, where the subject of spiritual manifestations is dwelt upon at some length, the Spirit is not mentioned. Service in the assembly is not exactly the action of the Spirit but the intelligent service of spiritual men. Ministry is the exercise of gifts conferred by the Spirit, and to be profitable it must be in the power of the Spirit, but the character and measure of the vessel has much to do with it. If the vessel is marked by spirituality, the ministry will be spiritual; divine things will be put together in a spiritual way, and the saints, as taught of God, will discern that it is so, and will profit by it.
What the Spirit says to the assemblies (Revelation 2 and 3) is a more general thought; it covers the whole trend of what the Spirit may be calling attention to at any particular time. If I am spiritual I shall discern what the Spirit is saying to the assemblies. He said much about justification by faith in Luther’s time, but of late He has been speaking about Christ as Head, and about the assembly as the anointed vessel for divine service. No spiritual man would care to be out of the line of what the Spirit is saying to the assemblies today. Any who minister would desire that what they say might harmonise with what the Spirit is saying.
As spirituality is maintained there is a suitable vessel for the maintenance of divine light here. The character of the vessel is what is prominent in Zechariah 4, and the “seven pipes to each lamp” (see margin) suggest very plainly that the gifts, or members of the body that are used publicly for the shedding forth of light, are dependent on the channels of supply which form part of the vessel of light. We are not all “lamps” as in this symbol, but we can all be “pipes” through which a spiritual flow is maintained for the furnishing of light. The sisters may have a great place in thus contributing; indeed, if there is no spiritual flow in the sisters the brothers will get on very badly in their more public service.
As Zerubbabel gets the encouragement of this wonderful symbol, difficulties give way before him; the mountain becomes a plain (verse 7), and he is assured of ability to finish that of which he had laid the foundation. “He shall bring forth the headstone with shoutings: Grace, grace unto it!” This implies that the building is brought to completion in that Christ gets His place as the Headstone. When He gets His place, and is saluted as Head, the saints are brought to conscious identification with Him before God. They are complete, or filled full, in Him; nothing is wanting. Zerubbabel had laid the foundation of the house, and his hands should finish it. The divine thought in this connection is that if we have begun to build we are encouraged to proceed to the completion of what we have begun. I believe that God would have us to reach His complete thought every time when we come together to eat the Lord’s supper. If Christ gets His place with us as Head, things are, in principle, brought to completion. If the service of praise is according to His place with the Father and with God, and how He praises, there is nothing more to be added.
Those who despise “the day of small things” show that they have never seen things as Zechariah saw them. They have no idea of the greatness of what is before the mind of God, and which He would bring before the minds of His people in a remnant time. Indeed, it is clear that they do not see things as the “eyes of Jehovah” see them. For we read, “Yea, they shall rejoice, even those seven, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel these are the eyes of Jehovah, which run to and fro in the whole earth”, verse 10. “The eyes of Jehovah” rejoice when they see the plummet in the hand of any builder today. Such a one has the thought of building according to the truth, of having things to correspond with the divine mind. We should bring everything to the test of the plummet. This will lead to the rejection of much that is commendable, and even imposing in [p. 105] the eyes of men, but there will be something which will cause the eyes of Jehovah to rejoice.
It was very comely that Zechariah, as a young man, should ask questions about what he saw. He is a model in this for all young brothers. Our readings would be much more interesting and helpful if exercised young brothers were more free to ask questions. Zechariah was particularly concerned about the two olive trees which he had seen; he asked twice about them. He seemed to realise what a vital part they played in relation to the symbolical vessel of light. The two witnesses of Revelation 11 are expressly said to be “the two olive-trees and the two lamps which stand before the Lord of the earth”. They are viewed there as in the place of public testimony, so that we read of “two lamps”. But they are seen in Zechariah 4 as furnishing what would maintain spiritual light in the temple. They are called “sons of oil”, and the oil which they yield is called “gold” in verse 12. This figure suggests that, by the grace of the Lord, there may be found conditions among His people which may become sources of spiritual supply. If this figure applied in any way to Zerubbabel and Joshua, as it probably did, it would refer to royal and priestly features, which, as excluding what is of the flesh and bringing in what is of God, become sources of spiritual supply. It is remarkable how all the figures connected with this vessel of light seem to be intended to emphasise spiritual conditions. While the underlying thought is that power is by God’s Spirit, what is made prominent is that spiritual conditions are present which are in every way favourable to the free flow of what is of God. This is particularly needful for consideration for us today.