Twenty-Fifth Meeting
(February 23, 1964 A.M.)
Read:
Zechariah 4
That
whole chapter centers in one verse, and that is verse
six. "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.'" I shall not
take time this morning to remind you of the history in
which this chapter is set. All I want to do is to mark
the spiritual condition that is found here, because here
is a spiritual situation which has often occurred in the
history of God's people. The historic situation may only
have occurred once in the history of Israel, but the
spiritual situation has been repeated many times in the
history of the Church. The spiritual features of this
story are just these: Everything of the Lord had suffered
a great setback. The house of the Lord, the place of the
Lord had received many heavy blows and much damage.
Because of that experience, many of the Lord's people had
turned away. They had decided not to go on with this work
of the Lord. They had given up faith and hope. The
majority had said, 'It's all too difficult,' and they had
decided that it was easier just to stay in the world.
A small
number, however, had said this situation is not what the
Lord intended. They said, 'This situation is all wrong,
it is dishonoring to the Lord's Name, and something must
be done about it.' This small minority were the Lord's
instrument in recovering what was to the glory of God.
There were some leaders among them who encouraged them in
that. There were those who saw what ought to be. They saw
what the Lord wanted to have, and they inspired these few
people to get to work to have that which the Lord wanted.
That is the spiritual interpretation of this chapter. And
I am quite sure you will agree that this situation has
occurred more than once. Now, because the things of the
Lord have received much damage, and much dishonor has
been brought to His Name, a lot of His people have just
given up the fight. And like Peter after the Cross, they
have said, "I go fishing. I am going back to my old
life and my old work. This way of following the Lord is
all too difficult." So this large company decided to
go back to the business of this life in the world. That,
of course, was the big number of Israelites which decided
to remain in Babylon.
But here
were these few, who did not feel like that. They had a
great concern for the honor of the Lord's Name, and they
said something must be done about this; we must do
something to recover the honor of the Name of the Lord.
And there were these leaders who knew what ought to be
done, and who encouraged them to do it. You can read the
whole story in the light of what I have just said. But
there were some very great difficulties.
First of
all, they were just a small number of people
comparatively. That is indicated by verse ten. The Lord
said, "Who hath despised the day of small
things?" This was a comparatively small company. And
the people were implying: 'Well, we are so small, we are
so few, and this work is so great, we are not strong
enough to do this.' When they looked at themselves, they
felt completely discouraged. They did not say what we
have just been singing. They did not say, 'I dare not be
defeated.' They just said, 'Well, we are so small, what
can we do?' The Lord said, "Do not despise the day
of small things," because it has so often been that
the Lord has used small things to do big things.
Now that
opens the door to a very big consideration. I will give
you one illustration. In Bethlehem one night, there was a
stable and a manger, and in that manger lay a little new
born baby. The great representative of the Roman Empire
was wanting to destroy that little baby. And later on,
the whole Roman Empire tried to destroy everything that
belonged to that little baby. Herod was a very powerful
ruler. The Roman Empire was a very powerful empire. And
they were set against that little baby. Well, you know
the rest of the story. You know what happened to Herod.
He had a bad end. And you know what happened to the Roman
Empire. You know that it is no longer in existence. But
what about that little baby? God very often uses very
little things to destroy very big things. So the Lord
said to these discouraged people, "Do not despise
the day of small things." The Apostle Paul said,
"God has chosen the weak things and the foolish
things." Well, the first big difficulty was their
own smallness. And the Lord said, 'That is not really a
difficulty with Me.'
Then the
next difficulty was that there was a great opposition
from outside. If you read the other books connected with
this special movement, the Books of Ezra, and Nehemiah,
you will see how much opposition there was to these
people and to this work. That is what verse seven here
refers to, "Who art thou, O great mountain?"
There was a great mountain of opposition to what these
people were desiring to do, and as they looked at that
great mountain of opposition, they said, "It is all
so impossible." But the Lord said, 'Who art thou, O
great mountain? What are you after all? Before Zerubbabel
you shall become a plain, and people will look for the
mountain, and they will find it is not there.' But to
them at that time, it was a great mountain; it was
another difficulty.
Then
there was still a further difficulty. These people said,
"We have no outward support. We have not got any
soldiers to fight for us. There is no army to defend us.
We are just a helpless, defenseless people." What
did the Lord say to that? He just said this, "Not by
might, nor by power" and perhaps in the margin of
your Bible you will see a correction. Because, what the
Lord actually said was this, "Not by an army, nor by
power." You don't need an army; you don't need the
great world power, because you have got more than all
that. So the Lord said, over against these difficulties,
"Not by an army, not by worldly power, but by My
Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." Now we have got
two things in that. The all sufficient factor is the Holy
Spirit. The Holy Spirit is greater than all weakness, all
mighty mountains, and all lack of outward support. If we
have the Holy Spirit, we have all that we need.
You see, the Lord said, "Not all that
which you think is necessary, not all that which the
world thinks is necessary, not any of that at all."
He put over all that: "NOT." And then He put on
the other side: "BUT by My Spirit." And that is
more than all the other.
And, then, do you note the Name by which
He calls Himself. "BY MY SPIRIT, SAITH THE LORD OF
HOSTS." Whenever there is a big, big piece of work
to be done, that is the Name by which the Lord comes in.
You go back to the Book of Joshua. The Lord had brought
His people, Israel, out of Egypt; He had brought them
through forty years of the wilderness, and now they were
to go in and possess the land. But the land was full of
mighty nations, you know that there were ten nations in
that land, and they were very strong. You have only got
to look at the first city, Jericho, to see how strong
they were. And Jericho stood right at the entrance of the
land. And all these other people were strong in the land.
When the spies were sent into the land, they came back
and they said, "We were like grasshoppers in their
eyes. We were poor little creatures of the earth in
comparison with them." But "Joshua lifted up
his eyes and he saw a Man standing with His sword
drawn." And not knowing Who He was, "Joshua
went up to Him, and he said, 'Are You for us, or are You
for our enemies?'" And this One answered, "Nay,
but as Captain of the host of the Lord am I come."
Joshua bowed himself to the earth. In effect, Joshua
said, 'It is all right. This thing is not left to me. The
conquering and occupation of this land is not my
business. The Lord of hosts has taken on this business.'
"As Captain of the host of the Lord am I come."
I wonder who that was. Might it have been the Lord Jesus
before His incarnation? Because He is the Captain of the
host of the Lord. One of His New Testament titles is
Captain. He is called: "The Captain of our
salvation" (Heb. 2:10b).
So the Lord gave the answer to all their
problems by just saying, "Whatever you may lack
naturally, I am going to make up spiritually. You may be
a small people. There may be a great mountain of
opposition. You may feel that you have no army to support
you, but I, the Lord of hosts, I am with you, and I am
with you by My Spirit." Well then, if we have the
Holy Spirit and the Lord of hosts, anything can be done.
Did you notice a rather strange verse in this chapter? It
spoke about the seven eyes of the Lord. And it said that
the seven eyes of the Lord would rejoice. When they saw
the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel, they would
rejoice. Of course, that is only symbolism. Seven is
always the number of spiritual perfection. So this just
simply means, the perfect spiritual vision of the Lord.
The Lord sees everything perfectly. There is nothing
wrong with the eyes of the Lord. He takes in the whole
situation. He knows all about it.
Now it says, when the Lord sees the
plummet in the hands of Zerubbabel, His eyes will
rejoice. Well, what does that mean? The Lord is very glad
and happy when He sees a people who are set upon His
honor. And there is nothing more inspiring than to know
that the Lord is quite pleased. You know, dear friends,
that if you have any sense that the Lord is pleased, how
full of joy you are! What a strength it is to us to know
that the Lord is pleased with this! We can do anything if
only we know the Lord is in this. In that other book to
which I have referred, the Book of Nehemiah, you will
remember that Nehemiah was rebuilding the wall of
Jerusalem, and there were all these enemies opposing the
work, and Nehemiah said to the people, "The joy of
the Lord is your strength" (Neh. 8:10). The thing
that will give you strength is to know that this is
something the Lord wants done and something that will
please Him. I repeat, it is always a great strength to
know that the Lord is on your side. As the Lord looks out
upon everything, as the Lord takes in the whole
situation, there is joy coming into His eyes. There is
joy on His face. He says, "This is the thing that I
want." There is nothing that takes the strength away
from us more than knowing that the Lord is not in it.
When the Lord sees what He wants, that means strength for
us.
Now we come to the inclusive message of
this chapter. In the light of all that we have just said,
if this thing is going to be done at all, it is to be
something that only the Lord can do and will do.
Supposing these people had been a vast multitude, it had
been a day of big things so far as numbers were
concerned, supposing they had a great army to support
them, and then they had turned to do this work, what
would have happened? They would have simply said,
"Well, you see we were so many, and we had such
strong support. That is why we were able to do it. So, we
did it, it was ourselves that did this." The Lord
will not have anything like that. The Lord wants that
which will bring all the glory to Himself. So, here we
have a testimony to that which is wholly of the Lord, and
not of man. Do remember, dear friends, that that is an
abiding truth for ever. There is not one thing, not one
thing in relation to the Lord that you and I can do by
ourselves. There is not one thing that a great multitude
of people can do by themselves. If it is something that
relates to the glory of the Lord, nobody but the Lord can
do it. Did you ever try to save yourself? Did you ever
try to work your own salvation? Well, you know how
impossible that is. It had to be the Lord or it would not
be anybody at all. Have you tried in your own strength to
stand up against the difficulties and oppositions of the
Christian life? You have learned that you cannot do it.
If the Lord does not put the strength into you, then you
will break down. And it is true also in the work of the
Lord. The Lord's work can never be done by natural
strength. The Lord is going to have all the glory, or He
is not going to have anything. And that is what this
chapter tells us. It is not this and that and something
else, but it is My Spirit, saith the Lord. This thing is
going to be of Me, or it is not going to be at all. That
which brings most glory to the Lord is that which can
only be attributed to Him.
But note this next thing. If it is going
to be like that, if the Lord is going to do it, if the
Lord is going to have all the glory, if it is
going to be something that no one but the Lord can do, it
must be in a vessel of pure gold. That is why the
lampstand or candlestick comes into our chapter. The
prophet saw a candlestick of pure gold. That is a symbol
of the vessel of the Lord's testimony. The light which
that candlestick will give, is the testimony of
the Lord; and the testimony of the Lord has got to be in
a vessel of pure gold. We are not talking about material
things now. We are talking about the symbolism here. What
is this pure gold? It is a vessel that has no mixture in
it! It is not something of the Lord and something of man.
It is not some of the Lord and some of the world. It is
not some of the Lord's will and some of my will. No, it
is only the Lord, with no mixture whatever - a
candlestick of pure gold.
How did this candlestick come into being?
If you follow the instructions to make the candlestick
for the tabernacle, the Lord said two things about it.
One, it must be of one piece, and it must be of beaten
work. Now here we have two principles of that which
serves the Lord, that which will really bring glory to
the Lord, that which will make the Lord pleased. The
vessel must be of one piece. That simply meant that you
are not to bring a lot of pieces and try to join them
together from the outside. You are not, by your hands, to
take hold of people and say, 'Now, you come and join us.'
You are bringing all the pieces from the outside and
joining them together. That is what they do in factories.
The Lord does not work on that principle. Now, take very
careful notice of what I am saying. I am giving you the
fundamental principles of anything that is really of God.
And God says this about the vessel of His testimony. It
must not be so many unrelated pieces just brought
together. There must be a basic fundamental oneness about
this. Man must not just join others to this. The oneness
must be the result of something that God has done in all.
All concerned, must have one vision. All must see just
that one thing that God wants. What the Apostle Paul
called, "The eternal purpose of God." It is
essential that all who are going to serve the Lord in
this way, must have one vision. If two brothers, only two
brothers, who hold responsibility, are not one in vision,
it may divide the whole work. This oneness must relate
first of all to those in responsibility. They are seeing
the one thing. They have one mind and one spirit. And
that must apply also to all those who are concerned with
the Lord's testimony. It is absolutely essential that we
all see the same thing. We all have the same vision. And
we all have the same spirit, that we are one piece, not
just so many pieces joined together, but one piece.
Now you notice the second thing that the
Lord says. This candlestick must be of beaten work. Here
is a large piece of gold. It has got to be formed into a
candlestick of testimony. How are you going to do it?
There are two instruments or tools that are going to be
used. One is a chisel to cut, and the other is a hammer
to hit hard. It is going to be of beaten work. That
means, it is going to be formed out of discipline, and
suffering. This vessel of testimony will be the result of
a good deal of hammering, that is, of suffering. That is
what the Apostle Paul meant when he said, "That I
may know Him, and the fellowship of His sufferings" (Philippians
3:10). Now Paul was a great vessel of testimony, but see
how the chisel and the hammer were put to work on that
man. It seems that he was knocked all over the place. He
was picked up and knocked down again. A great deal of
hammer work was done on him. Now these few people in this
chapter were people who had gone through sufferings. They
had had many hammer blows in their lives. But the Lord
was going to make them into a vessel of living testimony.
That may explain a lot to us. You understand what the
Lord is doing with us? What He is doing with you and with
me? We have had many hammer blows. Sometimes we thought
we were going to be knocked to pieces. But really, the
Lord has only knocked us together. Instead of breaking us
up, He has made us one. That is the effect of suffering
and discipline. It must be a vessel of pure gold, and it
must be a testimony that has been brought out of
adversity.
Now I will just close with this. Do you
remember in the chapter, the two olive trees? I think
that is a very beautiful picture, a very helpful one. On
either side of the candlestick was an olive tree, and
these two olive trees were pouring their oil into the
candlestick. This was not just some reservoir of oil, not
just some container that held just so much oil, these
were living trees, and they had an unending supply of
oil. And that is what the Lord meant when He said,
"By My Spirit." 'For a vessel that has gone
through suffering, for a vessel that has been hammered
out, for a vessel that has been made pure in the fires of
adversity, for a vessel for My glory only, I have an
inexhaustible supply. My resources will never come to an
end.'
The living olive trees will go on pouring
their oil out for all times. I am quite sure you believe,
that you agree that this is a very beautiful picture in
this chapter, and how true it is to spiritual experience.
The way which the Lord is working to get what He wants,
and the inexhaustible resources of His grace, THAT IS FOR
US, dear friends. So here we have represented a testimony
of the greatness of the power and the grace of God. That
is what the Lord wants with us. That is what the Lord
wants with His people that He should have a candlestick
of pure gold, one that has been formed for His use
through sufferings, one that has come to know the great
resources of His power and of His grace for what He
wants. "Not by might, not by an army, nor by
power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts."