23: Minor Prophets – Zechariah 3:1-4:9

[Dunkle] Welcome back! This is Minor Prophets class. Unlike a lot of the class sessions we've had lately, we're not starting a new book, so we're not doing five Ws. We're continuing in the book of Zechariah. We did cover the five Ws for Zechariah last time, and I don't want to rehash that, but we'll remember that Zechariah worked closely with Haggai as a team back in Jerusalem after the exile.

So the 70 years were up, Jews were allowed to go back to Jerusalem and start rebuilding the temple, and of course there were delays and difficulties, so it was stopped and started, stopped, and God sent Zechariah and Haggai partly to say, let's get busy, let's build this, we have to fulfill things. Haggai dwelt mostly on the nuts and bolts, let's get this done. Zechariah, while he was working with him, had a number of what we would call apocalyptic visions—very vivid, a lot of symbolism—and it seems he had as many as eight or nine of them in one night.

So the first half of the book deals with all these visions that he had, and that's part of why we go through this a little more slowly than some of the other books. And we'll try to look at what the symbolism means as best we can, but acknowledge sometimes we just don't know. And I feel in good company—there's times where Zechariah says, "I don't know," and he asks someone to explain to him.

So we went through the first ones in chapters one and two, and we're picking up in chapter three. And chapter three begins what we'd call the fourth vision, and it's focusing on God's spiritual transformation of people, especially with one serving as a symbol. So it says, "Then he showed me Joshua the high priest, standing before the angel of the Lord, and Satan standing at his right hand to oppose him" (Zechariah 3:1).

I'll confess, who the "he" is is not entirely certain—the one who showed this vision. My guess would be the angel who talked with me, or I like to call him the narrator. Because there were some other angels involved in talking to Zechariah in the previous vision, we're not certain and probably don't have to be.

We see Joshua the high priest, and he's the same Joshua—which is sometimes spelled Jeshua—who appears in the book of Haggai. He appears here. He's one of those who went back to reestablish worship of the true God in the temple. So he worked with the governor Zerubbabel, and Jeshua was the high priest. But this is a vision, remember. It's not the actual Jeshua, but there's a scene almost as though he's in court—on trial. He's being accused.

So he's before the angel of the Lord, which we think is almost certainly the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ. Satan is at his right hand—Satan, we would say, the prosecution. He is the accuser, and he's called that. As a matter of fact, I'll quote, "the accuser of our brethren" (Revelation 12:10).

Satan is looking for ways to show what's bad about us to God. One of the ways we know that is from the story of Job. In the first couple chapters of Job, it shows the angels coming before God, Satan among them. God says, well, hey, what do you think of my man Job? He's pretty good. And Satan wants to point out something bad. He's only good because you blessed him, because you protect him. I'm paraphrasing a bit. He's a good man—I'm paraphrasing a bit.

Satan here is ready to accuse Jeshua, the high priest, but he's not going to get very far. In verse 2 it says, "The Lord said to Satan, 'The Lord rebuke you, Satan! The Lord who has chosen Jerusalem rebuke you!'" (Zechariah 3:2).

Where it says "chosen Jerusalem," it's telling us a couple of things. One, of course, God chose Jerusalem. Much of the point in the book of Zechariah is God's comfort for Jerusalem—that He still loves them, He's going to reestablish them. But I want to note, in this context, it seems to remind us that Jeshua, or Joshua, the high priest, might be representing the nation as well as himself. So it's not just that he's on trial. He could be seen as a symbol for all of the Jewish people.

And so he's called—yeah, the latter part of verse 2—it says, after the rebuke, "Is this not a brand plucked from the fire?" (Zechariah 3:2).

You know, we think of a brand—if you've ever seen an old cowboy movie where they heat an iron brand and then they put it on the backside of a cow and it leaves a mark—that derived from what this means. This would mean simply like a stick, a long stick that's in the fire. And it's smoking, perhaps even flame has started. It's a firebrand.

So if you pluck a brand out of the fire, you're saving it from burning. We could say saved at the last minute—maybe even saved a little bit after the last minute. It's in the fire, it's catching fire, I'm going to pull it out, I'm going to blow it out—it's saving something. And in this case, Jeshua the high priest—why is he saved? He's not saved because he isn't guilty. He's not saved because he's particularly good. We're going to see that the righteousness of Jesus Christ will be imputed to him, and so that's how he can be saved.

Hopefully we see some obvious symbolism. That's how we can be saved. That's the only way anybody can be saved. So we see that demonstrated here in the context that the Jewish people had already been condemned for idolatry and Sabbath breaking and drifting away from God. They'd been punished, but what's going on now is God is bringing them back. He's saving them from their sins.

By the way, I wanted to note, "a firebrand plucked from the burning" (Amos 4:11). And you might recall back then I talked about what a brand was and said the same things here. So this being delivered—it's worth noting.

You could see the recent past of the Jewish people and say, yes, they were being freed from Babylonian captivity. They'd been conquered, taken away captive, and after 70 years, they're plucked out of the fire—able to rebuild their nation.

If we want to look to the future, if there's symbolism in this, some scholars have speculated this might represent the descendants of Israel being saved by God from what we call the Great Tribulation—the cataclysm at the end of this age. Let me reference a scripture in Jeremiah. It's fairly brief: "the time of Jacob's trouble... but he shall be saved out of it" (Jeremiah 30:7).

So Jacob—the descendants of Israel—are, to some degree, in some way going to be saved out of this time of Jacob's trouble. So that could be represented as a brand plucked from the fire. I think that's kind of interesting, but I like the personal representation, because I was indicating the only way any of us can be saved from our sins is the same way—having Christ's sacrifice, His blood, cover our sins.

So all of us, each one of us, are a brand plucked from the fire. Every one of us have sinned. We've earned the death penalty. And like Joshua, we can be plucked out and saved.

Now I want to back up, because there's one thing I read over without stopping to point it out. Notice it says at the beginning of verse 2, "The Lord said to Satan, 'The Lord rebuke you'" (Zechariah 3:2). That's capital L-O-R-D—the Eternal One, some say pronounced as Yahweh—said to Satan, "The Lord rebuke you."

That would sound really odd if He was calling Himself in the third person, right? I'm the Eternal One, and I say the Eternal One rebuke you. But it makes perfect sense if this one represents the pre-incarnate Jesus Christ calling on God the Father to rebuke Satan.

And I think that's what it is. So we see one member of the God family calling on the supreme member to rebuke Satan. By the way, it's worth noting this—and if you want to turn there—in the book of Jude. Jude—I hesitate to call it a book because it's just one chapter—but directly before the book of Revelation, we see similar phrasing used, and this time by Michael the archangel rebuking Satan.

So it's in Jude verse 9. Jude verse 9 says, "Yet Michael the archangel, in contending with the devil, when he disputed about the body of Moses..." (Jude 9). Boy, that's a story we'd like to know more about, but we don't.

But he's disputing. It says he dared not bring against him a reviling accusation, but said, "The Lord rebuke you!" (Jude 9). There's a lesson for us in that. Even if Satan is despicable and deserves all the accusations and recriminations there are, it's not our place to level those. It's turning to God—He's the one that can judge and condemn, and we can't.

And of course, it's always wise when you're dealing with someone as powerful and evil as Satan to call on God's power. You don't want to wade into that fight alone. You want to make sure you're with God—and we can do that.

So I wanted to point out that similarity of language that I think is worthwhile.

Okay, so I noted here—I just see it in my notes—something I said: this denial of Satan's accusation is not because Joshua is innocent, just like none of us are. It's not because Joshua can pay the penalty for his own sin. The penalty for sin is death, so staying dead forever would be the only way. It's solely because of Jesus Christ's sacrifice and His grace and mercy.

And then we see the other side. So he's a brand plucked from the fire. Verse 3: "Now Joshua was clothed with filthy garments, and was standing before the Angel" (Zechariah 3:3).

Okay, filthy garments—this is symbolic. I don't think it's just that he was out playing tag football and got his clothes dirty and couldn't change. It represents not dirt but sin. And there's another place the phrase is used somewhat in Isaiah 64 and verse 6. In Isaiah 64:6, it comments that "all our righteousnesses are like filthy rags" (Isaiah 64:6).

So the best we can do doesn't measure up to God's standards. So we're not sure if him being dressed in filthy garments was the best he could do or if he hadn't reached that point yet. Either way, it's going to change.

Let's go on in verse 4. "Then He answered and spoke to those who stood before Him" (Zechariah 3:4). That would evidently be other angels who are in attendance, and He gives an order: "Take away the filthy garments from him" (Zechariah 3:4).

And to him He said, "See, I have removed your iniquity from you" (Zechariah 3:4), which I should have commented—when I said filthy garments represent sin—it's self-evident here. "I have removed your iniquity from you" (Zechariah 3:4). "and I will clothe you with rich robes" (Zechariah 3:4).

And I said, "Let them put a clean turban on his head" (Zechariah 3:5). So they put a clean turban on his head, and they put the clothes on him, and "the Angel of the Lord stood by" (Zechariah 3:5).

A turban was part of the priestly garments. And we see that described in Exodus—what was created for first Aaron and his descendants after him. Proper, clean clothing.

I referenced Isaiah earlier. I'll reference Isaiah 61:10, where it says, "He has clothed me with the garments of salvation" (Isaiah 61:10). I think some translations say a robe of salvation.

I want to turn to a couple scriptures in Revelation, just to drive this point home. I'm starting with Revelation 19 and verse 8.

We see the symbolism—but as I said, I think Zechariah has symbolism. Revelation 19:8, speaking of the wife of the Lamb, which we believe is the Church, says, "To her it was granted to be arrayed in fine linen, clean and bright, for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints" (Revelation 19:8).

So Jeshua gets the filthy rags—the iniquity taken away—and instead is given righteousness. Clothed in righteousness, which I would say is not his own—of course it's Jesus Christ's. If you still have your Bible open to Revelation, flip back a few pages to chapter 7.

Revelation 7 and verse 14. And of course this is addressing a mass of people that are seen. I just want to get to the end. It says, "These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb" (Revelation 7:14).

So basically, people saved by God can wash their robes, symbolically speaking, in Christ's blood. Literally, that doesn't work. If you have a white robe, you don't want blood on it—that doesn't make it clean. But the symbolism is Christ's blood takes away the iniquity that the filthy garments represented.

And I'm making the point that what happens to Joshua here in Zechariah 3 matters to us, because each one of us also wants our iniquity—our filthiness—taken away. We want white robes. We want the righteousness of Jesus Christ. We can't get it on our own, but God offers it as a gift.

Let's go on. I'm back in Zechariah 3 and verse 6. "Then the Angel of the Lord admonished Joshua, saying, 'Thus says the Lord of hosts:" Remember that—Yahweh Sabaoth. "If you will walk in My ways, and if you will keep My command, then you shall also judge My house," We would think "house of God," in this case, is the temple that's being built. "And likewise have charge of My courts; I will give you places to walk among these who stand here'" (Zechariah 3:6–7).

The high priest had to watch that the temple—the courts around it—he was in charge. He had to guard against them being profaned, had to make sure they were directed and used in the right way.

Which brings back a memory to me, because in the time that Jesus Christ came to the temple, He saw the courts being profaned in a way. He saw people selling animals and exchanging money, and He was just so overwhelmed with emotion that He turned over the tables and made a whip and drove out the money changers and the animals, because He said, "Do not make My Father's house a house of merchandise!" (John 2:16).

So He fulfilled something the priest should have been doing. I'd say Joshua is not guilty of allowing that to happen, but it did happen in succeeding generations.

And yeah, at the end of verse 7 it says, "I will give you places to walk among these who stand here" (Zechariah 3:7). We could say free access—this is your place. God is saying you're welcome to be in My presence. That's something we all want and enjoy.

And of course, in Hebrews it says we can come boldly before the throne of grace. Whereas in the old covenant, there was that separation.

I want to note, before we get to the final symbolism, that one of the things I like to point out in the story in Exodus is that Aaron, the very first high priest in Israel, likewise had sin taken away and was allowed to preside over—not yet the temple—but the tabernacle.

You know, Aaron the high priest was there when they helped create the golden calf, led all of Israel in a terrible sin, and yet God forgave him. God not only didn't just kill him outright for his sin—He still made him high priest. That shows us the depth of God's forgiveness and mercy and how thoroughly He puts our sins away.

Because I'm guessing most of us haven't sinned in the way Aaron did. Now, we've probably done some pretty bad things—some of us here or there, or we've thought bad things. If we ever doubt God's forgiveness, I always say, think about Aaron—just like Joshua here. The iniquity is taken away. You're going to have free reign, free access, places to walk in God's court.

Because our destiny is to be kings and priests in the Kingdom of God. So despite our sin, with God's forgiveness, He's going to make us priests like He did Aaron, like He does Joshua here.

So let's go on in verse 8. "Hear, O Joshua" (Zechariah 3:8)—when you hear that, it's a special announcement—"you and your companions who sit before you" (Zechariah 3:8), that seems to be maybe the others in the priestly family, in the Levites. "For they are a wondrous sign" (Zechariah 3:8)—a wondrous sign, or some translations say, men of sign.

The restored priesthood was a symbol—a symbol of what? We see it next: "For behold, I am bringing forth My Servant the Branch" (Zechariah 3:8).

Huh? "Branch" (Zechariah 3:8). We see—well, not throughout Scripture, but several times—the Branch is a reference to the Messiah. So it's pretty clear it means Jesus Christ, descended from David as promised.

As a matter of fact, I've got some scriptures written down that I did not take the time to check ahead of time, but I know I've got—oh yeah—"There shall come forth a Rod from the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots" (Isaiah 11:1), which this prophecy is almost universally acknowledged to be a Messianic prophecy. That was Isaiah 11:1—did I say Hebrews? Isaiah. Back a few pages. And Isaiah 4, verse 2: "In that day the Branch of the Lord shall be beautiful and glorious" (Isaiah 4:2).

The fruit of the earth will be excellent and appealing for those of Israel who've escaped. I won't turn there, but Jeremiah 23:5 is yet one more, and there are others.

So my point here is, okay, this is a prophecy of the Messiah, and Joshua and the men with him are men of sign—they're a symbol of the Messiah to come. I think one way to interpret—not just I think, many people believe—one way to interpret this is God saying the Levitical priesthood, the Aaronic priesthood, would continue then until the prophesied Messiah did come.

So the Messiah had been prophesied for many years. The priesthood had been stopped for 70—now it's being restored—and we could take this to mean, okay, "My Servant the Branch" (Zechariah 3:8) will come, and I've laid it before Joshua—well, actually, I skipped ahead—in verse 9: "Behold, the stone that I have laid before Joshua" (Zechariah 3:9).

There are a number of thoughts about what this stone might mean, and I could give you a list, but the strongest theory is this is yet another reference to the Messiah. So, okay—you guys are established, you're a sign of the Branch, the stone that I lay before you.

Think of "the stone which the builders rejected has become the chief cornerstone" (Psalm 118:22). So that's the stone. Genesis 49:24 calls Him "the shepherd, the stone of Israel" (Genesis 49:24). And of course Jesus Christ was the good shepherd—He described Himself that way in John chapter 10.

So I don't want to really analyze the other possible ways you might interpret "stone," because to me it's very clear it's of the Messiah. So if the priests are a symbol, they're going to stay in place till the Messiah does come.

"Behold, the stone that I have laid before Joshua; upon the stone are seven eyes" (Zechariah 3:9).

Okay—that's... Now, I've seen two ways to interpret this. Most people interpret, okay, this stone has eyes—and that's weird. I thought about drawing it on the board, but I'm not good at drawing, and that would be weird anyways.

Before we go down that avenue, though, let's consider—it could be a matter of the eyes are watching the stone. I don't want to make too strong a case for that, but I think of the song I used to hear when I was down in Texas in grad school about the eyes of Texas are upon you. I don't have the tune right, but, you know, having your eyes on someone means you're watching it—not that the eyes are on it.

But even if the eyes are in the stone, we can say, well, what's that mean? Well, if you look ahead in chapter 4 of Zechariah to verse 10, the last part of the verse says, "They are the eyes of the Lord, which scan to and fro throughout the whole earth" (Zechariah 4:10).

Well, if we're talking about the stone and it having eyes—the eyes of the Lord scan to and fro throughout the earth—yeah, this seems to be saying that God is keeping an eye and watching things.

By the way, if you're—well, I want to make sure I'm looking at the right reference—oh yeah, Zechariah 4:2 talks about, "I am looking, and there is a lampstand of solid gold with a bowl on top of it, and on the stand seven lamps" (Zechariah 4:2). I'm going to talk about that momentarily.

But while we're thinking with lamps and eyes, we see a similar symbolism in the book of Revelation. And that's where I want to say maybe these things are connected. Maybe this is giving us a little further understanding.

If you go to Revelation chapter 1 and verse 12—Revelation 1:12—John is describing this vision that he sees, and he says, "Then I turned to see the voice that spoke with me. And having turned I saw seven golden lampstands" (Revelation 1:12). Now Zechariah will see one stand with seven lamps, but we still see seven lamps.

"And in the midst of the seven lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the feet" (Revelation 1:13).

Okay, so we see seven lampstands. Let's go back—well, actually, before I do that, I should note chapter 1, verse 20. It says, "The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands... the seven lampstands which you saw are the seven churches" (Revelation 1:20).

There's not a guarantee that the symbolism is the same here in Revelation 1 as in Zechariah, but it could be the same. In relating to the seven churches, some would say, well, why seven stands in one place and one in another? And a possible explanation is—well, we were dealing with Israel as a symbol of the Church and it being more unified, and then we're looking at the Church more broadly. Now I'm saying possible—underline possible—and maybe, and don't take it further than that.

But I haven't connected it to the eyes yet.

Let's go to Revelation 5, verse 6 before we finally get back to Zechariah. "And I looked, and behold, in the midst of the throne... stood a Lamb as though it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes" (Revelation 5:6).

Okay, the Lamb which had been slain is Christ. Here He has seven eyes. If the Lamb is the stone—or Christ is the stone—it has seven eyes. Might be the same seven eyes, and here it tells us what they are: "which are the seven Spirits of God sent out into all the earth" (Revelation 5:6).

What I'm getting at is we see this association of lamps with spirits with eyes—and in my mind—boy, this is getting strung out enough I'm losing track—but in each case we see "sent out into all the earth."

This is reminding us of some particular traits about God—which Jesus Christ is God, the Son of God—and God is omniscient. He's all-knowing. It's as though He has eyes all around the earth. He's omnipotent—He has all power—so His Spirit goes to all the earth.

We could think maybe God is, through symbolism, showing Zechariah how much power God has. There's no place to escape it. And that comes down to his basic message: God is having mercy on Judah. God is going to reestablish Jerusalem, and He hasn't missed anything. He has the power to do this. When He's going to forgive, He's going to reestablish—it’s going to happen. It's not going to be overturned.

Let's come back to Zechariah 3, verse 9—hopefully you kept a marker there. "Behold, the stone that I have laid before Joshua; upon the stone are seven eyes" (Zechariah 3:9).

"Behold, I will engrave its inscription," says the Lord of hosts, "and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day" (Zechariah 3:9).

I'm going to remove the iniquity in one day. Now, I'll tell you—the Jews who study only the Old Testament think of the Day of Atonement—the day of paying the price, reconciliation—but we should automatically think of Christ's sacrifice. In one day—at that Passover—He was sacrificed to pay for the sins of all mankind for all time.

And that might relate to—well, I skipped over where it says, "I will engrave its inscription" (Zechariah 3:9).

There's a custom on certain stones to have an inscription, and some people have wondered what that engraving might be. One answer—it could just say, "I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day" (Zechariah 3:9). That would be a pretty powerful inscription.

There are various other interpretations that people have speculated, and one is just that it's not an inscription of particular words, but it's God leaving an imprint, like a signet does on soft wax or clay. That could be, but I prefer to focus on removing the iniquity.

A couple of passages in the book of Hebrews tell us that, and I can read them for you—I’ve got them down here. "We have been sanctified through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all" (Hebrews 10:10). Christ only had to suffer once, not many times. And in Hebrews 10, verse 12—just a couple of verses later—it says, "This Man, after He had offered one sacrifice for sins forever" (Hebrews 10:12). Awesome! How terrific is that?

And we're in the context of—remember—Joshua standing there before the accuser in filthy rags, but he's delivered. The filthy rags are taken away. He's given clean clothes—that might represent the righteousness of the saints. And we could say Joshua could represent the nation, he could represent us. We have the hope of our sins taken away and righteousness imputed to us.

And if we go on to finish the chapter, in verse 10: "In that day... everyone will invite his neighbor under his vine and under his fig tree" (Zechariah 3:10). This gives us a time setting—when this is ultimately fulfilled is when the Kingdom of God is ruling on earth.

So Zechariah might be looking to Christ's sacrifice at His first coming, but the ultimate fulfillment is at His second coming—when Satan is put away, sin is stopped, you know, and every man is under his vine and his fig tree.

We saw that phrase back in the book of Micah, "Everyone shall sit under his vine and under his fig tree" (Micah 4:4), and I commented then—it symbolizes peace and prosperity. Every person having enough, having what they need—not having to work like a dog to get what you need, not having to have others give you charity—God provides for each person. That's what it's going to be like in the Millennium.

We could say that's what God originally intended. It was like that in the Garden of Eden before there was sin. Wow!

That's funny—in some of the minor prophets, I can zip through three or four chapters in a half hour. This one's a bit slower, but I hope we appreciate it. And by the way, I will say, if we really wanted to, we could take twice as much time and parse out even more possible symbolism and more scriptures to tie to—but I'm not sure it's worth taking that kind of time, because we're hitting the high points that I think are the most valid.

But we want to go on into chapter 4, and we believe this is bringing now vision number five—the fifth vision out of, again, some scholars say seven, some say eight, some say nine. So we're getting along there, along the way, and it kind of indicates that Zechariah might have been seeing this in his sleep, or being in the presence of angels was so powerful that he fell asleep.

Because it starts saying, "Now the angel who talked with me came back and wakened me, as a man who is wakened out of his sleep" (Zechariah 4:1). You've all been wakened out of sleep, right? Especially if you're living in a house with other students—sometimes you oversleep. "Matt, Matt, time to go to class." Yeah.

So he wakes up, and then the angel who spoke with me says, "What do you see?" (Zechariah 4:2). Well, "I am looking, and there is a lampstand of solid gold with a bowl on top of it, and on the stand seven lamps with seven pipes to the seven lamps" (Zechariah 4:2).

And there are two olive trees by it—one on the right, one on the left. And by the way, it doesn't tell us what the olive trees are doing, but in verse 12 it mentions they're dripping golden oil into the receptacles. So this is a vision, not reality. Olive trees don't drip oil—you have to let the olives ripen and then press them—but the symbolism is you get oil.

So my poor artistic ability will do this. By the way, it says lampstand—the Hebrew word is menorah. A menorah means a lampstand. So imagine there's a base, and there's a single stand.

And the one we are familiar with, that was made for the tabernacle and later put in the temple, has seven branches—seven stands—and each one is going to have... remember, candles were not invented yet. So they don't have wax candles. They have a little shallow receptacle that will have oil in it and then a wick. Okay, and you light the wick, and that's what gives the light.

So we have—let’s see—we're going to have seven of them total, which in some ways matches the seven lampstands, individual stands, that we saw in Revelation 1. And okay, there's a golden bowl—it seems suspended above—and it's going to have pipes coming to each of the lamps. Now this is just, you know, maybe it looked different than this, but this does seem to be describing what he said.

And then there are these two olive trees, and they're dripping oil into the bowl. There's an ongoing supply. So Zechariah is waking out of sleep—hey, what do you see? I see, you know, a menorah with seven branches, a bowl, and these olive trees that are feeding it.

And I answered and said to the angel who talked with me—in verse 4—"What are these, my lord?" (Zechariah 4:4). And I love the answer. The angel says, "Do you not know?" (Zechariah 4:5).

Don't you know? No. Poor Zechariah—he doesn't know. He sees it—what does it mean? Now the angel is going to give him an answer.

Before we look at what that says, let's think of the symbolism we would have here.

Okay, so we see this. There's some wondering. I mentioned, does this correspond to the seven lampstands that Jesus Christ stands among in Revelation—because that's the seven churches? Well, maybe it does. And we saw there there's associated seven spirits and stars, and we don't see that here, so we don't want to go too far on that.

There are some things we understand. Lamps do what? Lamps provide light. Light is a symbol that means a lot to us.

"Your word is a lamp to my feet and a light to my path" (Psalm 119:105). You know the song, right? Thy word is a lamp unto my feet—glad my voice is almost back—and a light unto my path. "For the commandment is a lamp, and the law a light" (Proverbs 6:23).

Moreover, not just the printed word is light, but when Jesus Christ was in the flesh, He said, "I am the light of the world" (John 8:12). So we're getting light—what does light matter? Jesus Christ was the light of the world (John 8:12; John 9:5). God's word is light.

And there's one more thing we can't fail to take into account—from the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus said, "You are the light of the world" (Matthew 5:14). You—the disciples. And I'd say you in this room—you’re a light in the world.

So don't put the lamp under a basket—you'd need a big basket for something like this. And the way we can be a light is by Jesus Christ's light shining through us, and by the Word of God being how we live.

Okay, Zechariah doesn't literally say all of that, but I think we want to have that in mind.

Okay, to get this light, you need what? You need fuel to burn—so there's oil. And one thing we can say—this vision with olive trees constantly providing oil, this bowl, and the seven lampstands—it’s showing that oil is needed.

Think of the parable—hang on, it's Matthew 25—and I get tongue-tied and I don't say it correctly, so I'm going to turn there and make sure I do say it. There—"ten virgins who took their lamps" (Matthew 25:1). Five were wise, five were foolish. The five foolish didn't have an extra supply of oil.

So we see oil is important. We understand clearly oil represents God's Holy Spirit. That's how we can be the light of the world—with God dwelling in us.

Is this important? I think it's important. And we see the need for a continual supply. I'll note, "He who supplies the Spirit to you" (Galatians 3:5). That was Galatians 3:5. Similarly, Philippians 1:19 talks about "the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ" (Philippians 1:19).

I'm thinking of that because there's attention in this vision to supplying the Spirit. There's the trees—imagine these green blobs as trees—feeding oil into this bowl, which feeds it into each individual lamp. And if we're imagining us providing light, we've got to have a supply of the Spirit.

Here's where there's something I find interesting in the actual Hebrew—which I will not attempt to pronounce. But yeah, I'm looking—in verse 2 near the end—we see "a bowl on top of it, and on the stand seven lamps with seven pipes to the seven lamps" (Zechariah 4:2). When I first read this, I was intrigued because the way the Hebrew is written, it could literally mean seven pipes to each of the seven lamps. So imagine 49 pipes—seven each for each lamp.

Well, that sounds ridiculous. But if we're having a vision, what would that much oil flowing in represent? It could represent a lot of the Holy Spirit. It could represent a very bright flame, a very bright light shining out.

So we might question the symbolism of the seven lamps as the churches, but this symbolism is pretty clear.

And I already read in verses 4 and 5—"What are these, my lord?"... "Do you not know?" (Zechariah 4:4–5). No.

Well, the angel is going to answer in verse 6: "This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: 'Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' says the Lord of hosts" (Zechariah 4:6).

By the way, "might"—the Hebrew word there refers to physical strength, like your own brute force. You know, "I can bench press 300 pounds"—take my word for it, I'm not going to demonstrate. "Power" can mean authority, like governmental power. But it's not either of those. It's not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord.

That's why I'm making a big deal of the supply of the Spirit—maybe an incredibly high supply—really feeding a very bright light, because what gets done isn't by our own strength. It's not by any authority we can call on in this earth. It's by God's Spirit. Only by God's Spirit can we accomplish things.

And there's some indication of what it can accomplish. In verse 7: "Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain!" (Zechariah 4:7).

Now keep in mind, Zerubbabel was the governor over Judah at this time. He was of the royal lineage, but he wasn't king. But God is saying, by My power, I can level mountains in front of the one who's doing My work. I'm going to get it done. Nothing's going to stop this. God's power is what matters.

At the end of verse 7 it says, "He shall bring forth the capstone with shouts of 'Grace, grace to it!'" (Zechariah 4:7). And this capstone probably refers to what would be the final stone to finish a building.

Excuse me—and there was a custom at that time. Many times the top government official in the area would come and help lay a foundation stone. We don't do that much today, but we do do something with government officials when we start a building, right? You've seen these where they go out and do a groundbreaking—often with a ceremonial shovel where they just throw a little dirt. It's the ceremony, but it shows their authority is in this.

So imagine that type of thing, but then also at the end—the workmen parade in and bring the stone, ceremonially hand it to the governor, who then gives it to the workers to put in place. So he oversees the beginning of the building, and he oversees the finish.

And that's what we see in verse 8: "Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 'The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple; his hands shall also finish it'" (Zechariah 4:8–9). "Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent Me to you" (Zechariah 4:9).

Okay, so powerful stuff. This seems to be indicating that Zerubbabel is going to finish the construction of the temple during his term in office. He started it—he's going to see it through to the finish.

I'm pausing here because the historical records are not as complete as we would like, but at least some of them indicate that Zerubbabel wasn't still in office when it was finished. There are historical records that indicate Zerubbabel went back to Babylon, and other officials carried on and did finish the work in his absence.

Well, does that just blow all this away? Well, not necessarily, because Zerubbabel, I think here, is serving as a symbol.

Keep your finger here, but if you turn just a page over to chapter 6 and verse 12, we're going to be reminded of Jesus Christ as the Branch. "Behold, the Man whose name is the Branch! From His place He shall branch out, and He shall build the temple of the Lord" (Zechariah 6:12).

And I would say Zerubbabel serves as a good symbol of the Branch, but it's the Lord Jesus Christ who started the temple. What temple? The spiritual temple—the house of God that we are.

You know, we as living stones—as Peter called each of us. And we're the temple of God because the Spirit of God is in us. And in a sense, the Shekinah glory is in each one of us.

And here's a promise: "He who has begun a good work in you will complete it" (Philippians 1:6). It's good to quote that—but yeah, that's where it's from.

But this is important and powerful for us—to have confidence. Not necessarily confidence in a historical figure that lived centuries ago, but in what Jesus Christ is doing right here and right now with us as tools in His hands.

You know, Jesus began building the spiritual temple.

I will mention Matthew 16:18. We're talking to the disciples—He said, and He said to Peter, you're Petros, and on this Petra—speaking of Himself, the massive rock—I will build My church. Jesus Christ began building His Church. Jesus Christ will finish it.

And oh—it’s 1 Peter 2:5. That’s where it mentions us as living stones. I thought I had it written down here somewhere.

Okay, there’s a couple of things to bring up in this, because in previous years—you know, matter of fact, going back—I still remember hearing this. We saw perhaps Zerubbabel being a type of a modern leader of the Church, Herbert W. Armstrong, who did begin what we call the modern era of the Church. God worked through him, I think, to do a powerful work and raise it up.

Now, Mr. Armstrong always said God built the Church—he didn’t—but Mr. Armstrong was a tool. Some people in the Church would look at this prophecy—"The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of the temple; his hands shall also finish it" (Zechariah 4:9)—and say, well, if Zerubbabel was a type of Mr. Armstrong, guess what that means? Mr. Armstrong is not going to die until Jesus Christ returns.

And I heard that at the time. I said, that sounds right. Many of us believed it. But Mr. Armstrong died—what—30 years ago.

Okay, that was a misunderstanding of prophecy. I don’t think anybody was deliberately leading anyone astray, but we were just plain wrong. That’s where I say, be careful about reading a personal name into Scripture. Zerubbabel wasn’t Mr. Armstrong.

There could be a type, though—if it’s true that Zerubbabel started and then other lesser officials—or other officials—carried on in his name to finish it. Some would say that’s what’s happening in the Church. Mr. Armstrong had a prominent name that really no one has had since then, and then he left the scene and others that are less well known have been carrying on.

And I would say, if there’s a parallel—it’s a big if—but if there is, that could give us comfort. You know, the work will get done. God doesn’t have to have any individual to do it. He’ll carry on, and it’ll get done in His time by the tools—the people—that He uses.

You know, I’m happy if I can be a tool that He’ll use to get some things done, but He doesn’t rely on me. And He didn’t rely on Mr. Armstrong. He used Mr. Armstrong, but He could do it through other people as well.

I’ve got to be careful—I don’t want to denigrate Mr. Armstrong. I honor his memory and his work. But we don’t want to think the work couldn’t continue after he was gone, because the work has continued. The work continued after Zerubbabel was gone.

Before we end the session, I’ll just say—the work cannot continue without Jesus Christ. He’s the Branch who did begin the temple and who will finish it.

So I’d say it is clear Zerubbabel was a symbol of Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ laid the foundation of the spiritual temple, and He’ll finish it.

All right, let’s call this a session. We’ll end that, and we’ll pick up next time and finish chapter 4, and then see if we can move on.