We will read the whole chapter.
And the angel that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep.
And he said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have seen, and behold, a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and its seven lamps thereon; there are seven pipes to each of the lamps, which are upon the top thereof;
And two olive-trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof.
And I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me, saying, What are these, my lord?
Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these are? And I said, No, my lord.
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.
Who art thou, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain; and he shall bring forth the headstone with shoutings of Grace, grace, unto it.
Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you.
For who hath despised the day of small things? For these seven shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel; these are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole earth.
Then answered I, and said unto him, What are these two olive-trees upon the right side of the candlestick and upon the left side thereof?
And I answered the second time, and said unto him, What are these two olive-branches, which are beside the two golden spouts, that empty the golden oil out of themselves?
And he answered me and said, Knowest thou not what these are? And I said, No, my lord.
Then said he, These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth.
Sorry.
Heavenly Father, we do praise and thank Thee that we can gather together here in the name of Thy beloved Son, our Lord Jesus. Within Thee, we know that we are in Thy presence, and we do expect Thee, by Thy Holy Spirit, to speak to each one of us through Thy Word.
We pray that Thy Word may be light and spirit. So we just open ourselves to Thee, trusting Thee to give us the spirit of wisdom and revelation unto the full knowledge of God. We give Thee praise and glory, in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
We mentioned yesterday that our burden for this time is on the recovery of things of God and the recovery of God’s house. We know that we are living in the days of recovery. The coming of the Lord is near, and He is doing this recovering work to prepare for His return.
In recovering the house of God, two things are essential. One is the recovery of priesthood, and the other is the recovery of kingship. Because without the recovery of these two things, the recovery of the house of God will not be complete.
Now, yesterday we shared together on this matter of the recovery of priesthood, as shown in the vision in Zechariah 3. Joshua the high priest represents the people.
This afternoon, we would like to come into the recovery of kingship. That is the vision given concerning Zerubbabel. We know that Zerubbabel came from the royal seed of David, so he represents kingship.
In the recovery of kingship, we need to remember, first of all, that we who have been washed by the blood of the Lamb—He who has redeemed us—He has made us kings and priests. In other words, this recovery of priesthood and kingship concerns every one of us.
Our Lord Jesus has not only washed us from our sins, thank God for that. But that is the negative aspect of redemption. There is a positive aspect of redemption: He has made us kings and priests unto God.
He has made us kings and priests. But oftentimes, when we think of being kings, probably our thought will be concerning the future.
Now, in the future, when the kingdom of God shall appear upon this earth, that is the time when we shall be kings and we will reign with Christ together for a thousand years. And maybe our thought will go even further on into eternity. There, in Revelation 21 and 22, we find that we shall all be kings, and there we will reign and rule forever and ever.
So, in other words, when we think of being kings, probably our thought is in the future. But we have to remember that in Revelation 1:5 and Revelation 5:9-10, we are told that He has made us kings. In other words, we are kings today.
Not only tomorrow, not only in the future, but the moment when we are redeemed, when we are saved, He has made us kings. Now, do you know that you are kings? He has made us kings.
Now, unfortunately, most of us do not know that we are kings. We know that we are redeemed by the precious blood. We know our sins are forgiven. But we do not know that He has made us kings unto God.
Probably some people know that He has made us priests. We are priests unto God. But does it ever come to your mind that you are not only priests unto God today? That is to say, today you shall function as priests. You shall serve God. You should bring satisfaction, pleasure, and glory to God. You should bring God’s people to His presence and bring God to His people, functioning as priests today.
But, brothers and sisters, probably very few people know that He has made us kings unto God. In other words, we are to function as kings today unto God.
Now, the reason why we do not understand that He has made us kings today, and also forever, is because of a misconception. You know, our concept of kingship is still that of the world.
In other words, we think of kings as those who rule and reign, kings who sit on the throne and give orders, and kings who sit on the throne and are served by their servants and by their people. Now, this is our concept of being kings.
Of course, we know today that we are not sitting on the throne, and we know that we are not being served. So, for this reason, we do not realize that we are kings.
Tell me, brothers and sisters, this misconception is not just limited to us today. Even when our Lord Jesus was on earth, He had this trouble with His own disciples.
There were the twelve disciples, and they followed the Lord. You know, they often argued and strove among themselves on this matter of who was the greatest. The reason why they argued about these things was because of their concept.
Their concept was that the greatest is the one who is king, who rules and reigns and gives orders, and who is served.
They argued among themselves all the time about this matter: “Who is the greatest? Who is the greatest?”
Even, you remember, when our Lord Jesus was on His way to Jerusalem to be crucified, they were still thinking of this matter. You remember in Matthew 20 how two of the disciples, James and John, had been arguing and striving over this matter, perhaps for as long as they had followed the Lord.
Now they thought that probably this was the time. Our Lord was going to Jerusalem to be crowned King. They should not lose this opportunity. So here you find James and John got hold of their mother. She would talk to our Lord Jesus and say, “Lord, we are going to ask something. Now promise that You will give it.”
You know, the mother of John and James was, according to the flesh, an aunt to our Lord Jesus, and the word of an aunt has some weight, you know. So here you find they got their mother to talk to our Lord Jesus.
I think probably subconsciously they knew something was not quite right, so they did not come out outright. They just said, “Lord, here is a blank check. Sign it, and we will fill it in.” But our Lord never signed a blank check. So He said, “Now, what do you want?”
So the mother said, “Now, in Your kingdom, let my two sons, one sit on Your right hand and one sit on Your left.” They cut it off.
And no wonder the other ten were indignant. Why? They were outmaneuvered. Everybody wanted to sit at the right and the left, because they wanted to be kings, you know—to have authority, to rule, and to have glory.
Our Lord Jesus said, “Are you able to drink the cup that I drink? Are you able to be baptized with the baptism that I am to be baptized with?”
Without really understanding what these were, they blurted out and said, “Yes, yes. As long as You give us the right and the left side, we will do everything. We promise.”
Now the Lord Jesus said, “Well, you have to drink the cup that I am going to drink, all of you. You have to be baptized with the baptism that I am to be baptized with, all of you.” Of course, our Lord was thinking of the cup of Gethsemane and thinking of Calvary’s cross. They did not understand that at the moment, but that was what the Lord was thinking about.
First of all, He said, “To sit on My right and on My left is not Mine to give; it is for My Father.” Then the Lord began to teach them again on the true meaning of kingship.
The Lord said, in the world, the rulers lord it over their people. The great exercise authority over others. But this is not to be with you.
Because with you, if you want to be great, you have to be the servant of all. If you want to be first, you have to be the bondservant of all. Because the Son of Man does not come to be served, but to serve, and to give His life a ransom for many.
Now, brothers and sisters, here our Lord shows us the concept of kingship. In the heavenly world, in the kingdom of God, it is very, very different from the concept of kings in the world. As a matter of fact, it is just the opposite.
The Lord Jesus says that in the world, the rulers and the great sit high up and lord it over people. They exercise authority and give orders. But the Lord says, “No, this is not among you. If you want to be great, you have to be the servant of all.”
Actually, the word servant in the Scripture is not servant in the modern sense. It is slave in the ancient sense. In other words, if you want to be great, you have to be a slave to all.
Now, what is a slave? A slave is one who has no right of his own, one who serves his master.
And the Lord said, “If you want to be great, you have to be a slave to all. If you want to be first, it is even more—you have to be the bondslave.”
A bondslave is one who has willingly given himself to his master to be a bondslave forever. In the Old Testament, you find that a Hebrew slave would work for his master for six years, and in the seventh year he could go out free.
But if that slave loved his master and his family, and he would not go out free, he wanted to be a love-slave forever. So he would be taken to the door and have his ear pierced to the doorpost. With that pierced ear, he became a bondslave—that is, a love-slave forever. He was a slave forever and ever. If he had family, all his family members were bondslaves.
Now, brothers and sisters, here you find our Lord shows true kingship is servanthood.
We never combine these two things together. We think that these two things are poles apart: kings and servants, rulers and slaves. How can you put these things together? They are opposites.
But our Lord Jesus said these things are one. True kingship is true servanthood. He who serves most is the greatest.
Why? Because our Lord Jesus Himself set an example for us. He was born King into this world, and yet He was born in a manger. He was brought up in Nazareth, and He went into the River Jordan to be baptized.
During the three and a half years of His ministry, you find that He diligently served. If you want to see how our Lord Jesus diligently served as the Servant of the Lord, read the Gospel according to Mark. You find the words straightway and immediately everywhere.
In other words, He was so diligent in asserting the Father’s will—how He denied Himself and how He served the Father.
Even to the end, you find that when He had His last supper, the Passover supper, with His own disciples, He got up and washed His disciples’ feet. He said, “I am your Lord; I am your Master. That is true. But I wash your feet. Therefore, love one another.”
There you find He even gave Himself for us. He served us to the extent of giving His own life for us on Calvary’s cross. Brothers and sisters, He said, “I came not to be served, but to serve, and to give My life a ransom for many.”
Now, this is kingship. He is King because He is the One who serves most. His service, His servanthood, qualifies Him and demonstrates that He truly is the King of kings and the Lord of lords.
Here you find our Lord Jesus is teaching us: He has made us kings unto God. We are kings. But how are we to demonstrate that we are kings? How are we to prove that we are kings today?
It is as we are willing to deny ourselves, and as we are willing to bow low even before our brothers and sisters. If we are willing to serve our brothers and sisters, and even to give our lives for our brothers and sisters, you find that we demonstrate that we are truly kings.
This matter of kingship has to be recovered in the church. In the recovering of the house of God, kingship has to be recovered.
In the Old Testament, David and Solomon represent kingship in the Scripture. What did they do? You find that David and Solomon were the ones used by God to build the temple.
And the name of God rested upon that place. In other words, in building the temple, God had His name upon it. The testimony of God was upon that place.
God was called not only the God of heaven, but He was also the God of the earth because He had a testimony in the house of God there in Jerusalem. Now, that was the work of kings.
Again, you find in recovery history, when the children of Israel came back from Babylonian captivity, they were under the leadership of Zerubbabel. What did Zerubbabel do? He came back to rebuild the house of God, to restore the testimony.
During the time of captivity, God was never addressed as the God of the heavens and of the earth. He was addressed as the God of the heavens. God had retreated back to heaven. Why? Because He had no place on earth. He had no people on earth. He had no temple on earth. He had no testimony on earth.
That is the reason why you find He was called the God of the heavens, but not the God of the heavens and of the earth. But here you find Zerubbabel, representing kingship, leading the people back into Jerusalem to rebuild the house of God, that the name of God might be upon the city. The testimony of God was to be reestablished on this earth.
Now, this is the work of kings. So, brothers and sisters, we are all redeemed of the Lord. We have been made kings unto God. Do you know that we have a mission to fulfill?
Do you know that it is the work of being kings unto God to rebuild the house of God? Today, we find the house of God is in ruins. In other words, God’s people are scattered everywhere. When one stone is not upon another stone, that is ruin.
God’s people—these living stones—have to be built up together into a holy habitation for God to dwell in the Spirit. This is the work of kings. The king has authority. The king has power to do this kind of work.
The work of kings is to rebuild the house of God, to bring His people together—not just to gather them together as a pile, but to build them together organically, one to another, related one to another, knit together in love.
At the same time, you find the testimony of Jesus will be in the house of God.
Our Lord Jesus has given His own name to His church:
Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them.
Now, thank God, Christ has given His name. We are named after Him, and we gather together unto His name. That is, we put ourselves under His name. And when we do that, He says, “I am in the midst.” His presence is there.
Now, that is the testimony of the church. Therefore, when you come to 1 Corinthians 14, you find that when the church gathers together and someone comes into their midst, immediately they sense the presence of the Lord. They will fall down and say, “God is among you indeed.”
Now, this is the testimony of Jesus. That is what the house of God is.
In the vision of Ezekiel, you find there will be a city, and the name of the city is Jehovah-shammah—in other words, “The Lord is there.”
The Lord is going to recover His church and His house. When God’s people are built together under His name and His presence is there, this is the testimony of Jesus being recovered.
Now, is it true today? We find that God’s people are everywhere on this earth, but are they really being built up together? There are some people who function as kings to build His people together.
But when God’s people come together and you enter into the meeting, do you see the presence of the Lord there? Is the testimony of Jesus there? These are the works of kings.
So today, brothers and sisters, we have a big work to do. We are not only priests, offering worship to God and bringing people to God, but we are kings. We are to build God’s people together into the house of God, and we are to see to it that the testimony of Jesus will be there.
Now, that is the work.
All right, let us go back to Zechariah 4. You know, the prophet Zechariah, on the twenty-fourth day of the eleventh month in the second year of King Darius, had a memorable night. That night he was given a series of visions.
After he had seen a few visions, the last one, of course, was Zechariah 3 concerning priesthood, he fell asleep again. Probably the vision was so tremendous that he fell asleep. Now, that also happens.
You remember when our Lord Jesus took the three disciples to the Mount of Transfiguration. You would think that would be such an exciting time—how could they go to sleep? But the vision was so great they could not stand anymore, and they all went to sleep.
I think that is natural. You know, our flesh is so weak; we cannot stand it. So Zechariah went to sleep again, and the angel had to come and wake him up and say, “No, there is still more. It is not complete yet. The recovery of priesthood is not complete, but there has to be the recovery of kingship yet. Now, do not forget that.”
So he was awakened out of his sleep, and he was given a vision. It was a vision of a golden candlestick.
Now, Zechariah was a priest. To a priest, he should be familiar with the lampstand. Even though he was a young man, he was born actually in Babylonian captivity. He had never seen the temple. He had never served as a priest in the temple. He probably had never seen the lampstand.
But as a priest, from his childhood, he was taught all the things concerning the temple and its service. So with Zechariah, the golden lampstand was familiar to him. He knew what it was. It was in the holy place. He knew that.
But that lampstand was different from what he had heard. If you read Exodus 25, you find the golden lampstand described. It was a lampstand made of beaten gold, and it had seven branches. It was made with cups like almonds, with knops and flowers. It was very beautiful.
Then on the seven branches there were seven lamps, and, of course, oil was poured into the lamps. The priest was to go in and light the lamps every day, and the light in the holy place could not go out day or night. It had to be there all the time.
That was what you find in Exodus 25. When Solomon built the temple, he followed the same pattern, but he made ten golden lampstands instead of one.
But this golden lampstand was different. Why? Because you find that it was a golden lampstand with seven branches—that was true. And, of course, with cups and knops and flowers—that was true. There were seven lamps there, but he saw something more.
He saw there was a bowl, a big bowl, at the top of the lampstand. There were seven pipes to each lamp. Seven lamps, and then you have a big bowl there, and from that big bowl there were seven pipes to each lamp.
It was to supply the oil—an abundant supply, you can see it. Seven pipes going to each lamp. Then he saw that there were two olive trees standing, one on the right side and one on the left.
So when Zechariah saw this, he wondered what it was because it was different. He knew basically what it was, but still he did not know exactly what it meant. So he asked the question. He asked the angel, “Now, what is it? What does it mean?”
He asked a second time because he was so anxious to know. Then the angel began to explain to him. In other words, the word of God came to him, and the word was:
Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.
Here is a message.
Now, before we go into this message, I think we have to know a little bit that the golden lampstand in the temple is the instrument of light. Because although the lampstand has the lamp and the light there, the lampstand is not the light.
The lampstand is the light-holder. It holds up the light. If you light a lamp and put it in a very low place, it only shines around a small area. So you have to lift up the light in order to shine over the whole house.
Now, that is the work of the lampstand. A lampstand in the Scripture signifies the church. In Revelation 1, you find John saw the seven golden lampstands, and each lampstand represents a local assembly: the church in Ephesus, the church in Smyrna, the church in Pergamum, the church in Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea.
So here you find the lampstand in the Scripture stands for the church. Now, what is the church, the people of God? The church, the people of God, is a lampstand. It is a light-holder. It is not the light.
In other words, the church is not the end; it is a means to an end. The end is the light. We know that Christ is the light, because in Revelation 21 and 22, you find that in the holy city there is no sun nor moon, because there is no need of moonlight or sunlight.
Why? Because the city is filled with the glory of God, and the Lamb is the lamp. So we know that the lamp is our Lord Jesus. He is the light.
In Him was life; and the life was the light of men.
He said, “I am the light of the world.” Our Lord Jesus is the light. He is the lamp.
Now, the church is a lampstand. The church is to lift up Christ, lift Him higher, so that His light may shine over the whole earth. Now, that is the function of the church.
The church never preaches itself. The church preaches Jesus Christ and Him crucified. The church never draws people to itself. The church points people to Christ. So you find that is the lampstand. The church is a lampstand.
Now, this lampstand is made of pure gold. It is very interesting, brothers and sisters. If you read the Old Testament, sometimes, you know, as a young person, when you start to read the Old Testament, like Exodus, the first part is very exciting. But when you come to the part of the tabernacle, you skip over it.
I remember before I was saved, I went to a conference because I wanted to be saved. But unfortunately, there was one session where a man spoke on the tabernacle. He was from North China, and I could not really understand him very well. Especially when he talked about the tabernacle—I knew nothing about the tabernacle. I had no interest in it.
But, brothers and sisters, after all these years, the more I read about the tabernacle, the more I am thrilled.
Here you find in the holy place there are three things. There are three things: a golden lampstand on one side, a golden table of showbread on the other side, and a golden altar of incense in front of the veil that separates the holy place from the holy of holies.
Now, it is interesting, because you find that the golden altar of incense is made of wood overlaid with gold. The golden table of showbread is also made of wood and overlaid with gold. But this golden lampstand is all gold.
That is interesting, because wood represents human nature. We are like a tree. You know, a tree in the Scripture always represents human nature. Acacia wood represents incorruptible human nature, human life.
But there you find in the lampstand there is no wood—only gold. Gold represents the nature, the life, of God.
Now, brothers and sisters, what is the church? We often think the church is made up of men and women who are saved. But no. The church is made up only of gold, no other thing.
How can it be? The church is the assembly of God’s people. How can it be that it is all gold and gold alone?
It shows that the work of the cross has to work very deeply in our lives. When we come together as the church of God, everything that is of us has to be eliminated by the cross—whether it is good self or bad self.
It has to be eliminated. There is no human opinion. There is no man’s idea. There is no human cleverness. Everything that is of the world has to be cut off. Only what is of God and of His life remains to be built as the church.
Now remember this, because this is a very, very important principle.
Strangely, here you find the gold—not just gold nuggets here and there. It is one talent of gold beaten into the form of a lampstand. Now, think of that. A piece of gold formed into a beautiful lampstand—how much beating that gold has to suffer.
The beating is not on the wood. The beating is on the gold. Now, we think that our flesh, our natural life, needs to be beaten off. Just like in Proverbs, you know, you have to use a rod on the child to beat out the foolishness in the heart of the child.
We would think that, so far as our flesh is concerned, that needs to be beaten, yes—beaten black and blue. It needs to be treated very practically.
Now, the life of Christ in us—the gold is the life of Christ in us. Does the life of Christ in us need to be beaten?
Now, this is not a way to take away impurities. Beating has a positive aspect: to form, to build, to fashion into what God desires. So even though we all have the life of Christ in us, do not think that because it is the life of Christ, therefore it is bound to be right.
When we are together, even the life of Christ in us has to be beaten in order that we may be shaped.
Oftentimes, we say, “Well, it is the life of Christ in me, so it must be right. Now, I have to stand with it.” And every brother and sister says that, and we fight against each other.
The cross even has to work on the life of Christ in us, because we may be beaten into shape properly. Now, that is beautiful. When God’s people, even with the life of Christ in each one of us, are willing to yield to one another, willing to esteem one another as higher than ourselves, and willing to accept the working of the cross into our very lives—even the life that we know is of Christ—why? Because God is going to shape us.
The lampstand had seven branches. Seven in the Scripture speaks of completeness. This is a perfect testimony.
You find that every branch has cups, knops, and flowers. The cup is in the shape of almonds. Almonds in the Scripture represent resurrection, because the almond is the first tree that bears fruit in the winter. So this is resurrection.
And the cup speaks of portion. In other words, the resurrection life of Christ is our portion. Then the flowers speak of consummation. In other words, they speak of abundant life—not only life, but abundant life.
The character of Christ is being formed, and that is the beauty of Christ. The beauty and virtues of Christ are all being manifested.
Now, brothers and sisters, this is what the church is to be. When the light begins to shine in the seven lamps, the light reflects on the branches and magnifies the glory. It is a beautiful, beautiful thing.
That is what the church is to be: the testimony of Jesus, that Christ’s beauty, His character, and His resurrection life may be manifested to all. That is the golden lampstand.
So here you find the difference. This is the basic meaning of the lampstand. But to Zechariah, you find that he is given to understand another aspect concerning the lampstand.
It is not so much the basic structure of the lampstand. Actually, the emphasis is on the supply of the lampstand. The emphasis there is on the supply.
For the lampstand to give light, you need plenty of oil. You may have everything, but if there is no oil, then there is no light. So you find that the whole vision is concerning the supply.
How can you make the lampstand fulfill its function as the light-holder, that Christ may be exalted? That is the reason why you find he saw a big bowl and seven pipes to each lamp—plenty of supply, not just one pipe to each lamp.
Sometimes we think that it means one pipe to each lamp, but no, in the original, it is seven pipes to each. In order to have all this supply, you have two olive trees standing there, supplying the oil to the bowl so that there will be plenty of supply for the testimony of Jesus to shine.
So here you find the message. The message is:
Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.
Brothers and sisters, you know, in this world, when you want to build something, when you want to accomplish something, it depends on your might—that is, your influence. How much influence do you have?
If you want to accomplish anything, it depends on your power. How much power do you have? If you have a lot of influence and if you have great power, you can build up a kingdom for yourself. That is the way to succeed in this world.
But you find the building of the house of God and the upholding of the testimony of Jesus is not by might nor by power. On the contrary, you find that might and power can be an obstacle.
Might and power can be obstacles to the building of the house of God and to the maintenance of the testimony of Jesus. How often we find that when brothers and sisters come together and we try to exert our natural influence, or we try to use our natural energy and power, when we are doing this, we break up God’s testimony. We destroy the house of God.
So here you find the lesson that the Spirit of God wants to teach Zerubbabel. Now, you are rebuilding the house of God. That is the work of kings. You are to maintain the testimony of God. That is your work.
But remember: not by might nor by power. Do not think that because you are a seed of David, therefore you have the influence, therefore you have the power to do that. No. Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is the only One who is able to build the house of God. The Holy Spirit is the only One who can maintain the testimony of Jesus. You have to deny your own power and your own might and rely upon the Holy Spirit completely.
Now, if you do, then you will be able to function as kings in the sight of God.
Of course, when Zerubbabel led the people of Israel back to Jerusalem to rebuild the house of God, he met with difficulties. There was a mountain there. The mountain before Zerubbabel at that time was the Samaritans.
You know, they were their neighbors. The Samaritans were mixed-race. In other words, they were partly Jewish and partly Gentile. That was the problem, because they would bring what was of the world into the building of the house of God.
When they were not allowed to do it, they gave all kinds of means to stop the work. You find that in the building of the house of God there was a mountain.
But, brothers and sisters, here you find the Lord in the vision speaks to Zerubbabel and says:
Who art thou, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain.
You know, the mountain here is personified. We know that behind every mountain there is a person: Satan. He is the mountain-raiser. He is the one who raises a mountain after mountain in order to block the way of the building of God’s house and the bringing forth of the testimony of Jesus.
Brothers and sisters, this is not only true in the time of Zerubbabel; it is true in every age. Whenever God’s people begin to function as kings unto God, to bring in His kingdom, to build the house of God, and to maintain the testimony of Jesus, you will find Satan will raise mountain after mountain before you to block your way.
And a mountain is a mountain, not just a hill. I remember when I was in Switzerland. When I saw a mountain, I said, “Well, there is a mountain.” They said, “This is a hill.” But to us, it looks like a mountain—huge, impossible. You cannot get through.
But, brothers and sisters, the power of the Holy Spirit can reduce the mountains into a plain. That is the reason why: not by might, not by power.
Now, who can remove a mountain? We cannot do that.
You know, in Chinese legends, there was a man called Yu Gong, the Foolish Old Man. When he opened the window, he saw a mountain there blocking his view. So he decided that he would remove the mountain. He started to pick at the mountain and cut away the stones. He had such determination.
He said, “If I cannot remove it, I can only remove a little bit. My son will do that. If my son cannot do that, my grandson will do that. Generation after generation will do that until that mountain is moved.”
So finally, according to the legend, God was so afraid that Yu Gong would succeed that He moved the mountain. Now, that was a legend, not real.
But I just want to illustrate to show you: who can remove a mountain? Nobody can do that. But thank God, we have One who is able to move the mountain and cast it into the sea. Here we have faith in God.
In other words, it is God who does it. It is the power of the Holy Spirit. There is no power greater than the power of the Holy Spirit.
As servants of God, as bondservants of God, as love-slaves of God, we are doing His bidding. We are doing His work. We are building His house. We are maintaining His testimony.
Brothers and sisters, when we are doing that, there will be all kinds of problems, all kinds of difficulties, mountains after mountains. But we need not be fearful, because if we depend upon the Spirit of God, these mountains will become a plain.
He who laid the foundation will finish it. Now, of course, we know our Lord Jesus. He is not only the foundation of the house of God; He is also the topstone of the house of God.
Here in Zechariah 4, He is the headstone, the cornerstone. You know, the cornerstone is the stone that joins the house. According to Ephesians 2, He is the cornerstone that joins the Jews and the Gentiles.
We are far apart, but He is the cornerstone that joins us. He is not only our foundation stone; He is also the cornerstone. He is not only the cornerstone; He is the capstone, like the top of the pyramid.
In other words, He is all. That is quite true. The church is the body of Christ, the fullness of Him who is all and in all.
“Grace, grace.” Not only does grace come out of our Lord Jesus—the Word became flesh and tabernacled among men, full of grace and truth, and from His fullness we receive grace upon grace—but also, “Grace unto it.”
You know, the word grace in the Scripture, I believe, means thanksgiving. We may offer up our thanksgiving to Him because it is all of His goodness. It is not ours.
The stone with seven eyes—the seven are the eyes of the Lord. They shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel.
Now, you know, when you build a house, you need a plummet. The plummet is to make the building straight so that it will not lean. Of course, we know that in the building of the house, everything has to be according to Christ.
We have to build everything according to Him. Brothers and sisters, do we have the plummet in our hands? Are we using the plummet when we are building, or do we just come and, according to our preferences, build according to what we think should be done?
No, we have to have the plummet in hand. If we do, then our work will be straight.
But still, it was not all explained. So Zechariah said, “Well, very good, but what about these two olive trees? Why is it that there are two olive trees standing there?”
Again he said, “How about these two olive branches?” Strangely, he saw in the vision that the olive branches poured out gold into the bowl—not oil, gold.
No wonder he could not understand it. So the angel explained to him and said that the two olive trees are the two sons of oil that stand before the Lord of the whole earth.
Historically speaking, these two trees represent Joshua and Zerubbabel, because the remnant returned under the leadership of Zerubbabel, representing royalty, and Joshua, representing the priesthood. Now, that is history.
But spiritually speaking, throughout the age, in the building of the house of God and the recovery of God’s testimony, you find that these two olive trees represent the overcomers of the church.
Why is it oil? Because it is the tree that produces oil. In other words, according to New Testament terms, it means that these are people who are full of the Holy Spirit.
You know, there is a difference between being filled with the Holy Spirit and being full of the Holy Spirit. To be filled with the Holy Spirit is an experience. To be full of the Holy Spirit is a state.
We must not only be filled with the Holy Spirit, constantly filled with the Holy Spirit, but we need to be in the state of always being full.
You know, in the early church, you find this was the situation. Our Lord Jesus was full of the Holy Spirit. You remember, after He returned from temptation, He was full of the Holy Spirit, and in that state He began to minister.
Then you find in the book of Acts that even the seven who were chosen to serve tables were people full of the Holy Spirit. Now, you would think to serve tables, you do not need to be filled with the Holy Spirit; you only need to be full of the Holy Spirit.
If you want to serve tables in the house of God, you need to be full of the Spirit. Again, you find in Acts 11 that Barnabas was a good man, full of the Holy Spirit.
So here you find that in the recovery of the house of God and of the testimony of Jesus, you need people who not only have the experience of being filled with the Holy Spirit, but who should be constantly filled—in other words, full of the Holy Spirit.
Like the olive trees, sons of oil, they are characterized by oil—that is, by the Holy Spirit. Like the five wise virgins, they not only have oil in the lamps, but they have oil in the vessels. This is being full of the Holy Spirit.
In other words, they are under the constant rule of the Spirit. They live under the rule of the Holy Spirit.
This kind of people is able to supply oil to the lampstand. Strangely, you find that what they pour out into the bowl is gold, not oil. Why?
Because when a person is full of the Holy Spirit, what comes out of him is Christ. The Holy Spirit never speaks of Himself. The work of the Holy Spirit is to glorify Christ.
The work of the Holy Spirit is to build Christ in us, to produce Christ’s character in us. That is the reason why a person who is full of the Holy Spirit pours out Christ. He supplies Christ to the church.
In turn, when that gold gets through the pipes to the lamps, it becomes oil and supplies light to the house of God.
So, brothers and sisters, the message to us for the rebuilding of God’s house and the recovery of the testimony of Jesus is this: we need people who are able to function as real kings unto God.
Not in the sense of striving in the church to be the greatest, not in the sense of trying to get to a position where you can give orders, but rather in the sense that you are able to humble yourself and to serve as a slave.
Now, we need such people. You cannot be such a person unless you are full of the Holy Spirit. No one can do that naturally. Brothers and sisters, naturally we are proud. Naturally, we always like the high position. Who wants to be low? Nobody wants to.
It is only the Holy Spirit. When we are filled with the Holy Spirit, the Holy Spirit will put the character of Christ within us. That is the time we are able to supply Christ to our brothers and sisters, to the church, that the church may be able to maintain the testimony of Jesus.
So may the Lord have mercy upon us, that we will not just be there waiting to be served, but let it come to our hearts that He has made us kings, and the king is to serve.
We are to serve the purpose of God, to build God’s house. Let this come in for us, and let us be before the Lord and say, “Lord, I cannot do it—not by my might nor by my power. You will have to fill me with Thy Holy Spirit, that by Thy Holy Spirit I will be able to contribute Christ to the church.”
May the Lord touch us and enable us to be those olive trees who stand before the Lord of the whole earth. We need to understand that people who stand before the Lord, then and only then, will truly function.
Brothers and sisters, if we serve as kings today, when the Lord shall return and when He shall reign, that is the life that qualifies us to rule and reign with Him.
Heavenly Father, O our Father, what grace Thou hast given to us. What redemption Thou hast accomplished in Thy beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
O, we thank Thee that Thou hast not only washed us from our sins, but Thou hast made us kings and priests. Who are we, Lord, that we are kings unto God, that we may serve God’s purpose, that we may do His bidding, that we may build His house, that we may maintain His testimony?
Lord, it is too much for us, but we do thank Thee that this is what Thou hast called us to. We do ask Thee, Lord, to fill us with oil, that we may be able to function today as kings unto God.
Amen. We want to see Thy kingdom come. We want to see the King return. Amen.