ALTHO God's people were beset by enemies, altho might and power had been used against them to compel cessation from their labor on the walls and the temple, they were not to assert their own physical might against the might of their enemies, and thus enter into contention with them to the loss of spiritual calm and strength of soul. Their present difficulties were to cultivate faith in God; they were to rely upon the overruling providence of God.
Jacob of old, when confronted with the wiles of his father-in-law, met him with conduct of the same kind, trick for trick, might for might. But at the brook of Jabbok, with his lamed strength, he had learned the lesson that human wrestling accomplishes nothing and the contestant is forever weakened by the effort. The only means of true success is to cling and plead with the Mighty One of God.
The Meaning of the Symbols
So now to God's people is shown in the vision of the candlestick the real might of Israel. The oil is the Holy Spirit; and ministered by the anointed ones that stand in God's presence, it bears its light-giving, light-sustaining power into the life of the servant of the Lord. As the consecrated ones receive this oil, it causes the Word in them to be a light and an influence in the earth.
According to Revelation, the two olive-trees are the two witnesses that have power to judge the enemies of truth. They are the two prophets, and are manifestly the two portions of the Word of God, the Old and the New Testament. The seven candlesticks are the seven churches.
Leading to each lamp there is a separate pipe carrying the oil directly to that lamp, showing the connection of each individual or church to the Word of God by the Spirit of God. And the churches made up of their consecrated members receiving the oil from the Word, shine as lights in the earth. Matt. 5:14. They thus hold forth the Word as a light.
"That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; holding forth the word of life." Phil. 2:15, 16.
Now note minutely the vision with a view especially to its explanation by the angel.
"And the angel that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep, 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: and two olive-trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof. So I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me, saying, What are these, my lord? Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord." Zech. 4:1-5.
What then is the answer returned to this query? What is the answer to the question, "Knowest thou not what these be?" The prophet confesses his ignorance, and then the angel explains. He does not minutely explain what each instrument in the vision signifies, but he gives him the lesson of the whole. This vision of the candlestick teaches reliance upon God's Spirit as a power, yes, as a world-power, if you please, rather than upon the arm of civil or human power.
The Only Source of Power
"Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord. 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. 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." Verses 5-7.
Here is no turning to law, or civil enactments, or state, or earthly power, not the power of army or navy; all physical power is interdicted. Reliance upon God's Spirit is to be the secret of success, the assurance that the temple will be built, the means by which, indeed, it is to be accomplished. Thus the mountain of opposition is to become a plain before the prince of God's people. He, standing before God as the nation, is to bring forth the headstones by God's grace. It is not to be by his works, lest he boast. But he is to ascribe all that is done, to the ministration of God's Spirit; he is to shout the victory and achieve success by the one method of grace, grace, the grace of God.
And lest there might be some who would say that the work, being God's, would be done sometime, but years from their time, God gives a definite statement. The temple is to be completed in their generation.
"Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, 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." Verses 8, 9.
The Antitype
Just as in the days of the second coming out of Babylon — the present exodus from spiritual Babylon — there is a definite generation by whom the work is to be completed, so was it then. The preaching of the Flood by Noah and his associates took place in the one generation; the promulgation of the Gospel of a crucified and risen Saviour went to all the world in one generation; and the Gospel of the second advent of Christ is to be preached in all the world as a witness in one generation. So in those days God defined the time in which His work of grace was to be completed. The temple was finished in B.C. 515, less than twenty years after the prophecy. It was thus dedicated within the lifetime of Zerubbabel, just as God promised and prophesied. Ezra 6:14, 15.
By the aid of the plummet of Christ, who is the Word, and who is the guarantee of the Spirit, and the One whom the Spirit brings, that work was trued and built and finished. And in the same way all God's spiritual building in every age is to be done.
"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." Verse 10.
All the work of Zerubbabel was to be merely an instrumentality of God. He was to hold the plummet of God to all the work. He was entrusted to act as the Lord's servant to see that all was built according to the plan. And in that plummet are the omniscient eyes of God. He sees all, He knows all. How precious the privilege of laboring with One who knows all the meaning of what we do, who seeing the end from the beginning, directs all to such a purpose that nothing fails, each act bears its part, and more comes out of our labor than we saw or ever dreamed.
The Vision of the Flying Roll
The flying roll which Zechariah saw is the sacred roll of God's Word. As we have seen in previous studies, it flies swiftly enough even to overtake the transgressor. God already had asked, "My words and My statutes, . . . did they not overtake your fathers?"
"Then I turned, and lifted up mine eyes, and looked, and behold a flying roll. And he said unto me, What seest thou? And I answered, I see a flying roll; the length thereof is twenty cubits, and the breadth thereof ten cubits. Then said he unto me, This is the curse that goeth forth over the face of the whole earth: for every one that stealeth shall be cut off as on this side according to it; and every one that sweareth shall be cut off as on that side according to it." Zech. 5:1-3.
Well may we quote from another writer: "Against every evil-doer God's law utters condemnation. He may disregard that voice, he may seek to drown its warning, but in vain. It follows him. It makes itself heard. It destroys his peace. If unheeded it pursues him to the grave. It bears witness against him at the judgment. A quenchless fire, it consumes at last soul and body."—"Education," pages 144, 145.
"I will bring it forth, saith the Lord of Hosts, and it shall enter into the house of the thief, and into the house of him that sweareth falsely by My name, and it shall remain in the midst of his house, and shall consume it with the timber thereof and the stones thereof." Verse 4.
The Word disobeyed will destroy not only the transgressor, but it will also destroy his evil work; all his house, and even the material of his house, shall perish.
