Slices
Prepare
What’s needed for you to fulfil God’s calling on your life today? More education, greater gifts, financial clout, impressive skills? What are you tempted to desire more of in your life?
Bible passage
The gold lampstand and the two olive trees
4 Then the angel who talked with me returned and woke me up, like someone awakened from sleep. 2 He asked me, ‘What do you see?’
I answered, ‘I see a solid gold lampstand with a bowl at the top and seven lamps on it, with seven channels to the lamps. 3 Also there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.’
4 I asked the angel who talked with me, ‘What are these, my lord?’
5 He answered, ‘Do you not know what these are?’
‘No, my lord,’ I replied.
6 So he said to me, ‘This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: “Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit,” says the Lord Almighty.
7 ‘What are you, mighty mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become level ground. Then he will bring out the capstone to shouts of “God bless it! God bless it!”’
8 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 9 ‘The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple; his hands will also complete it. Then you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you.
10 ‘Who dares despise the day of small things, since the seven eyes of the Lord that range throughout the earth will rejoice when they see the chosen capstone in the hand of Zerubbabel?’
11 Then I asked the angel, ‘What are these two olive trees on the right and the left of the lampstand?’
12 Again I asked him, ‘What are these two olive branches beside the two gold pipes that pour out golden oil?’
13 He replied, ‘Do you not know what these are?’
‘No, my lord,’ I said.
14 So he said, ‘These are the two who are anointed to serve the Lord of all the earth.’
Explore
Zechariah is next given a vision of a golden lampstand between two olive trees (vs 2,3). There is a bowl of oil constantly supplying the lamps, with the two olive trees intimately connected to the lampstand. By the end of the chapter, Zechariah is told that the trees are two anointed people through whom God works – perhaps the offices of king and priest (or Zerubbabel and the high priest, Joshua). But the main focus of the passage is the oil supplying the lampstand.
In the Old Testament, the lampstand typically pictures Israel, and God wants to make a key point to Zechariah. How will the Temple be built? How will every obstacle be removed? How will Israel bring light to the world? It is ‘not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit’ (see v 6).
So today, we will do what God has called us to, not because of our own strength, or any ability we can acquire, but because his Spirit is at work in us and through us.
Respond
The response of the observer of God’s work is to give God the credit for it (see v 9). Let’s be sure that we are the first to give God the glory for his work through us today.
Deeper Bible study
‘Give me oil in my lamp, keep me burning!’1
In Zechariah’s fifth vision, the lampstand’s seven lamps are lit with oil coming from two olive trees on either side. That oil symbolises God’s Spirit and represents his power enabling Zerubbabel, Judah’s governor and a prince in David’s line, to complete the Temple. Zerubbabel is shown that the work can only be done with the help of God’s Spirit, but God chooses to work through human agents like him. Therefore he will succeed, though opposition and mockery stand in his way.
Christians have found great comfort in these verses. Critics pour contempt on us for what they call our narrow-minded beliefs based on a flawed, antiquated book. They view the church as a collapsing house of cards, undermined by reason and logic. Moral scandals involving church leaders add fuel to the fire they have lit beneath our foundations, claiming that Christianity is hypocritical, insignificant, intolerant – people are leaving the church in droves!
True, in Western lands, most churches face the challenge of empty chairs. This is not so in other places – praise God – but in countries where faith flourishes many believers face open persecution. Wherever we live, Christians are marginalised and derided. This chapter encourages us to keep our eyes raised heavenward as we carry on regardless, working for God. The ‘two who are anointed to serve the Lord of all the earth’ (v 14) have been identified variously with governor Zerubbabel and high priest Joshua, or the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, or Moses and Elijah etc. ‘Anointed’ here is literally ‘sons of oil’. We might not be of the same ilk as those great servants of God, but in our faithful service to God we too can be ‘sons (and daughters!) of oil!’
AW Tozer famously stated that if the Holy Spirit withdrew from today’s church, 95 per cent of our work would continue without us knowing the difference! Pray for fresh anointing!
1 Traditional
Bible in a year
Read the Bible in a year: Judges 15,16; Mark 5
Pray for Scripture Union
Give thanks to God for inspiring SU to develop the suite of mental health resources even before the pandemic began. Pray that many Christians working in schools will use them to support the well-being of students. (This week's prayers relate to Taking God’s love back into schools.)
