And the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these are? And I said, No, my lord.
Zechariah sees a golden lampstand fed by two olive trees. He asks what it means, the angel answers with a question, and the answer that follows is not the one he asked for.
The lampstand in front of Zechariah was not new. It was the seven-branched lampstand of the tabernacle, and it had always carried one meaning.
The lampstand is the well-known seven-branched lampstand of the tabernacle (Exodus 25:31-40). It always was the symbol of the light of God in the perfection of testimony. This is testimony in the power of the Holy Spirit on the earth — first in Israel, and then in the Church.
The gold points past the furniture to a Person.
The lampstand speaks of Christ in whom all the golden glory of God is displayed. It is He who is the Sustainer of all true testimony for God, of which the light speaks. In the tabernacle the lamps were to be lit so "that they give light in front of it" (the lampstand). The light was not simply to light up the room. It was there to display the lampstand itself. In the same way, the light of God is focused on the Lord Jesus, the Sustainer of God's testimony.
Zechariah could describe every detail of the vision and still not know what it meant. He says so plainly, and that admission is where understanding starts.
The prophet could not understand anything without the Angel explaining it to him. This kept him humble when he had to admit: "No, my lord" in answer to the "Do you not know…?" of his companion. We, too, need to feel ourselves ignorant before God if we want to understand the truths contained in God's Word. The Scriptures give many obvious details, and even unbelievers can understand them. But the deeper sense will always escape the natural man. To grasp the hidden meaning we need the Spirit of God, but even more, we must know Christ, who Himself is the key to the Word.
Read the next verse and something odd stands out. The prophet asked about lamps, pipes and trees. The angel replied by speaking about the Spirit.
Surely the angel in these words is not answering the prophet's question directly. He had asked what this lampstand with its seven branches means. He had asked about the bowl of oil above it, and the pipes carrying the oil into the branches. He had asked about the two olive trees, one on the right hand and one on the left hand. The prophet wanted to know exactly what it all meant; and the answer of the angel was, "Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, says the Lord."
The angel's reply reached the worry underneath the question, not its wording.
The prophet must have known that the reply pointed somehow to the restoration of the testimony of God through Israel to all the world. But what else was in the mind of Zechariah? His difficulty was how this great work was going to get done. How was the temple to be built? How was ruined Jerusalem to be restored, and the site cleared for rebuilding the temple? How could the feeble little company of Jews do it?
The angel's explanation came as a message for one man.
The explanation of the angel takes the form of a message to Zerubbabel — to Zerubbabel who, as governor of Judah, together with Joshua the high priest, led the people in the work of building the temple. So Zerubbabel was taught that the time had not yet arrived for the Lord to display His might or power on behalf of His people. It was indeed a time of feebleness. Yet God's Spirit was working to secure all that His name and interests required, both in the hearts of the people and in their service. So the moment called for dependence on God, and confidence in Him. This was a needed lesson for Zerubbabel in his hard position — a position made harder by his own fears. It is easy enough, even for the natural man, to take part in the outward service of God when He steps in with power to sustain His servants and secure the result. But only the man of faith can keep working in the middle of discouragements of every kind. He trusts a power he cannot see to hold him up and prosper him, and he is sure that the Spirit, invisible in His working to the natural eye, is mightier than power on display.
- Admit — Zechariah can describe the vision and still not know what it means. His "No, my lord" is what keeps him teachable.
- Ask — the deeper sense of Scripture escapes the natural man. Understanding needs the Spirit of God, and above all Christ, who is the key to the Word.
- Receive — the answer is not a diagram of lamps and trees but a promise: not by might, nor by power, but by God's Spirit.
- Apply — the message goes to Zerubbabel in a time of feebleness. It teaches him to depend on a power he cannot see.
- Shine — the golden lampstand stands for the light of God's testimony in the power of His Spirit, and that light falls on Christ Himself.
And he answered and spoke unto me, saying, This is the word of Jehovah unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith Jehovah of hosts.
A feeble group of Jews had come back from exile in Babylon to rebuild the temple. Their governor, Zerubbabel, faced obstacles far bigger than his strength. Here an angel explains a vision of a golden lampstand fed with oil. He names the one power that will finish the house.
The message goes to one named man with a job to do. Zerubbabel led the building work with Joshua the high priest, and he was afraid.
So Zerubbabel was taught that the time had not yet come for Jehovah to display His might or power for His people. It was a time of feebleness instead. But God's Spirit was working to secure all that His name and interests required, both in the hearts of the people and in their service. So the moment called for dependence upon God and confidence in Him. Zerubbabel needed this lesson in his trying position — a position made harder by his own fears. It is easy enough, even for the natural man, to take up the outward service of God when He steps in with power to sustain His servants and secure the result. But only the man of faith can labour on in the face of every kind of discouragement.
The prophet had seen a gold lampstand with seven lamps, fed through pipes from two olive trees beside it. The verse explains that picture.
The meaning of the vision pointed to the Holy Spirit as the only power for witness and work for God. A feeble remnant had returned from captivity in Babylon to build the temple. They cared about the worship of Jehovah, so the first thing they did was set the altar on its bases (Ezra 3:3). They put first things first.
The verse rules out might and power. So how does God work instead?
God is now working in the church by His Spirit. The Spirit of God works in a way that men cannot understand. That is to say, the Spirit of God works secretly, quietly, without noise.
The next verses show the building finished. The shout at the end is not "power" but "grace."
More than this: "He shall bring forth the capstone, with shouts of Grace, grace, to it." The capstone, or topstone, of the building (the temple) means it is finished. Just as Christ is the foundation of the building, so also is He the full completion of it. Grace will also stand out, in contrast to "might" and "power." Grace will draw forth shouts of rejoicing on the part of the people.
A work carried by the Spirit will often look unimpressive. That appearance is a test of the worker, not a verdict on the work.
It was only a day of small things now. But the man who despised it would not be in agreement with Jehovah of hosts when the fulfilment came… The day when God is morally testing souls is always a day of small things. It is open to the scorn of the man whose heart is not content to serve God. Those whose delight is in God's will and work in the day of small things are in communion with Himself.
This lesson takes a long time to learn.
It takes us a long time to learn that there is no power except in the Lord. In the Lord's work, human energy, will, or perseverance not only count for nothing — they are real barriers in the way of divine strength… So when we are weak we are strong. In the sense of our complete weakness we come to depend on the Lord, and He can then display His own power in and through us without hindrance.
The verse does not forbid activity. It fixes what must come first.
If faith goes first, then energy that comes from faith can follow after. God is in the scene, and resurrection from the dead is recognised as a principle. But if energy gets ahead of faith, it is drawn from within us, and it brings with it nature and the world and the flesh. Flesh cannot rebuke and put down flesh, as some think; and if it is tried, flesh is drawn out against flesh. Better to have hard cases in God's hand than easy ones in our own.
- Oil. The lampstand burns only because oil keeps flowing in. The Spirit is the one power for witness and work for God.
- Quiet. God works in the church by His Spirit — secretly, quietly, without noise.
- Weakness. Our own energy and perseverance do not just fall short — they block divine strength. Felt weakness turns us to depend on the Lord.
- Small. A work carried by the Spirit looks small. Those who despise it are out of step with Jehovah of hosts; those who delight in it are in communion with Him.
- Grace. The top stone goes up to shouts of "Grace, grace" — the finished building answers might and power with grace.
Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel [thou dost become] a plain; and he shall bring forth the head-stone with shoutings Grace, grace unto it!
The mountain is not a real hill. It stands for everything blocking the builders, and God's question to it carries a note of defiance.
The mountain, we understand, stands for all the obstacles that lay in the way of finishing the work. It is a figure that gathers up the whole of the difficulties, as well as the opposition they met, which the book of Ezra describes in detail. But all of these are nothing to God, whatever the enemies do and however strong or influential they are. They are just as nothing to the man of faith who rests only on the power of the Spirit and walks in the path of God's will. So the question is put in triumph, even in defiance: "Who are you, O great mountain?"
Commentators differ on what the mountain stands for. Some read it as the empires that held Israel down. Others read it as Israel's own unbelief.
The question, "Who are you, O great mountain?" (v. 7), draws our attention to the Gentile powers, beginning with Babylon, that have been so great an obstacle to Israel's blessing. But before Zerubbabel, this mountain would become a plain — no obstacle at all.
The mountain gives way in front of a man who works in God's strength. Jesus later spoke in the same way about faith.
Surely, the Lord Jesus was pointing to this verse when He said to His disciples, "If you have faith like a grain of mustard seed, you will say to this mountain, 'Move from here to there,' and it will move" (Matt. 17:20). … In the days we live in, the weakest faith makes every obstacle that Satan and the world put in our path disappear.
The stone brought out here is the last one, not the first. It is the piece that says the work is done.
"And he shall bring forward the top stone amid shouts of 'Grace, grace to it!'" (v. 7). In the previous chapter Christ was the cornerstone of the foundation. Here He appears as the top, the keystone of the entire building. God had engraved seven eyes on the cornerstone; on the top stone one reads only one word: Grace! … All future blessings will depend on this grace of God displayed in the person of the King. When He came into this world, grace appeared in His person… But His people did not receive Him and the world rejected Him. Then He finished the work of grace on the cross.
Other writers reach the same identification by tracing the phrase into the New Testament, where the rejected stone ends up on top.
As a symbol, the headstone, equally with the foundation-stone, points to Christ. This will be seen from the words, "The stone that the builders rejected has become the cornerstone." (Psalm 118:22.) And it is possible that the passage in Ephesians may connect itself with this: "Christ Jesus Himself being the cornerstone" (Eph. 2:20), teaching that He is both the foundation and the crown, the beginning and the end, of the house of God.
The shout comes at the end, when people see what the finished building has become.
The foundation was already laid. If they only trusted God and went on with the work, the top stone would go up, and everyone would cry, Grace, grace to it — that is, they would exclaim what a fair and beautiful building it had become.
The doubled word also settles the question of credit. Grace, not might or power, gets the applause.
Grace, too, will stand out most, in contrast to "might" and "power." Grace will draw shouts of rejoicing from the people. This will be true above all in the day of Israel's restoration, but today believers have the privilege of knowing the reality of the grace of God in advance.
Another house is going up now, out of unlikely material, and it waits for the same shout.
In the very world where men crucified His Beloved and cried out, "Away with Him," a dwelling place is being formed from such material as that! These are men who recognise their lost condition and accept the infinite grace and love of God. Out of this quarry of nature come the great and costly stones dug for this temple of God. So, without great show, without the sound of a hammer (1 Kings 6:7), this eternal dwelling place of God is growing, until "he shall bring forward the top stone amid shouts of 'Grace, grace to it!'"
- Mountain — one image holds every obstacle and every opponent. God challenges it with a question that expects no answer.
- Plain — the obstacle drops flat in front of a man who leans on God. Jesus told His disciples that even the smallest faith moves mountains.
- Headstone — the last stone, set when the work is done. Commentators read it as Christ, both the foundation and the top of God's building.
- Grace — the cry over the finished work admires its beauty and hands the credit to God, not to might or power.
- Now — believers know that same grace in advance, and they are the stones of a house still rising toward that shout.