Zechariah

by David Smith, Ayr, U.K. | Category: What Seest Thou? | Jun 1983

A remnant had returned from Babylon to rebuild the house of God in Jerusalem, but after some conflict with their adversaries the work had ceased. The urgency to recommence was lost sight of until God raised up Haggai and Zechariah, prophets to instruct and encourage the people to start again, and so fulfil the prime purpose of their return (Ezra 5:1, 2). It was then, as it is now, God's intention that His house should be built by men, according to a divine pattern (Haggai 1:8; 1 Cor. 3:9-17). To help forward this work is a blessed privilege.

In God's disclosures to Zechariah, there are visions and parables, some of which are hard of interpretation but profound in spiritual meaning. There is a foreshadowing of events that are yet future, in particular involving the people of Israel and the advent and acknowledgement of their Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ. On one occasion Zechariah was wakened by an angel who said to him "What seest thou?" And he said, "I have seen, and behold, a lampstand all of gold, with its bowl upon the top of it, and its seven lamps thereon ... and two olive trees by it" (Zech. 4:2,3).

While the prophet was unable to interpret the meaning of the vision, it was not difficult to recognize the "lampstand all of gold," although there was an alteration in design. For six hundred years a similar lampstand had been an important piece of furniture in God's dwelling place. It was made of one piece of pure gold, speaking, we suggest, of the divine character of our Lord Jesus Christ, who was one with the Father, "being the effulgence of His glory, and the very image of His substance" (Heb. 1:3).

The functioning of the lampstand depended on the children of Israel bringing "pure olive oil beaten for the light, to cause a lamp to burn continually (Lev. 24:2). When the sun set over the desert horizon and the day gave place to darkness, inside the tabernacle the lamps burned before the Lord with the oil which the Israelites had brought. It lit up the table of showbread which presented to the Lord the twelve tribes in the twelve loaves of bread. Without the beaten oil darkness would have prevailed. Blessed ministry indeed to supply the fuel for the light in God's house. Well did the Psalmist say, "As for me, I am like a green olive tree in the house of God;" only an olive tree growing quietly in the background, but vital to the service of God's house. What more noble work can one ever aspire to than to bring the oil for the light of divine testimony? When the Holy Spirit is allowed to operate in the lives of the saints then are the beauties of Christ manifest and every gift ministered in the grace of God; beaten oil indeed of a very high value!

The lampstand was not exclusively an Old Testament vessel, but appeared significantly in the vision of the apostle John on the isle of Patmos. He saw seven golden lampstands, each representing a church of God then extant in Asia (Rev. 1:10-20). The New Testament teaches us that every believer who has come to Christ is lightened by the "light of life" (John 8:12) and is sealed by the Holy Spirit. They are "light of the world," not to be hid under a bushel but to be put "on the stand" (Matt. 5:15,16). It is sad that many dear believers disregard the will of the Lord that they should be placed on a lampstand, that is, in a church of God according to the pattern of Scripture, and so joined with others to burn brightly for the truth of God in a world of increasing darkness.

What seest thou? Fellow-believer, do you see a lampstand as a church of God today, fed with pure olive oil produced from within, not by craft or ability, "not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit?" As we allow the Holy Spirit to operate in our hearts and to form in us the likeness of Christ, so shall we be to His praise and glory and so shall the light of divine testimony burn radiantly.

David Smith, Ayr, U.K. | Jun 1983
What Seest Thou?