Zechariah 4:1-14
The vision is that of a candlestick all of gold and with seven lamps. Two olive trees stood by it, which emptied their golden oil presumably into the bowl at the top, which ran through seven pipes to feed the seven lamps.
There is a distinct order in the third, fourth, and fifth visions. The third gives us the promise of restoration to Israel; the fourth the means by which God in righteous grace will bring it to pass; the fifth the power by which Israel's testimony will be maintained in the Millennium, even that of the Holy Spirit.
The candlestick ever stands as a symbol of testimony; “all of gold” showing that it is a divine Person who shall render the testimony, even the Holy Ghost.
The seven branches speak of divine perfection, omniscience, fullness of testimony. Again and again the Old Testament, prophesying of the future glory of Israel, testifies how the testimony will be maintained, “I will put My Spirit within you” (Ezek. 36:27). Passage after passage could be adduced on this point.
Then Zerubbabel, the rebuilder of the temple, is addressed. Just as Joshua was typical of the nation, so Zerubbabel is typical of Christ. He was indeed His ancestor according to the flesh (Matt. 1:12), whilst his work in rebuilding the temple is typical of what Christ shall do in a future day.
The great mountain before Zerubbabel sets forth all the difficulties that lay before him in his work, as it symbolizes all the terrible opposition of the Jew to Christ, which would if possible have frustrated the will of God.
How touching are the Lord's words in Matthew 21:17-22 as explaining this. He hungered. There were no figs on the barren fig tree, no response from Israel for the heart of Christ. He hungered. His hunger shall be satisfied, and if the actual fig tree cursed by the Lord should bear no fruit forever, yet the fig tree of Israel shall bear fruit, even if God has to prune it for two thousand years.
When the disciples marveled that the Lord should cause the fig tree to wither away so soon, He tells them that if they had faith, and were without doubt, they should say to this mountain, “Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea,” (Matt. 21:21) and it should be done.
The great mountain at that time was the implacable unbelief of the Jews. That mountain has been removed, and cast into the sea; that is to say, the Jews have been dispersed among the nations, and will continue to be so till God's plans of blessing in this dispensation are worked out. Then He will bless in relation to the Jew again, leading up to the point of blessing them in their own land, and through them the nations of the earth.
In Zerubbabel's day the mountain should become a plain, and the Headstone placed with joy, that is the completion of the work, and the shouts heard, “Grace, grace unto it.”
So the greater than Zerubbabel, at once the Builder and Headstone, the Completion, as He is the Foundation Stone, of Israel's blessing, shall yet turn the great mountain of Israel's unbelief into the plain of her change of heart and mind, when the spirit of grace and supplication shall be poured forth upon the nation.
It was indeed a day of small things in Zerubbabel's day. Spite of weakness and depression, he would not only lay the foundation of the house, but finish it, just as Christ laid the moral foundation of it in His death, and shall finish it in the day of His power.
The plummet shall be in Zerubbabel's hand “with those seven,” that is, in future fulfillment Christ shall build according to His perfection and glory. These eyes are running to and fro through the whole earth; that is, God is using every providential happening in His omniscience to work out the end He has in view. Surely the Great War is a wonderful example of this, as we see how it is leading up to the return of the Jews to Palestine.
Finally the prophet asks the meaning of the two olive branches that empty the golden oil out of themselves through the golden branches. He is told that they are “the two anointed ones [sons of oil], that stand by the Lord of the whole earth” (vs. 14).
Surely the twofold testimony of Israel in the future day will be seen in and through her King, her Messiah, our Lord Jesus Christ, as (1) Priest and (2) King. As Priest He will, in the power of God's Spirit, represent and maintain the people before God; as King He will represent God and maintain His character in rule over His people. He will fulfill the type of Melchisedec, who was a priest and a king, for Christ is made a priest forever after the order of Melchisedec. “He shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon His throne [the king character]; and He shall be a priest upon His throne [the priest character]” (Zech. 6:13).
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