Will you please turn to the book of Zechariah? Zechariah, Chapter 4. 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 see, 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 beside 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 top stone 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 sons of oil, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth.
Our time together in these few mornings will be on this matter of the golden lampstand. As we mentioned yesterday morning, the golden lampstand is a type of the church.
You will find that it is placed in the holy place. That is to say, it is in the world, but separated from the world. It is made of pure gold—nothing but gold. And gold represents the nature of God.
It is of beautiful shape because this is the original design of God for His church. And it is a beaten work. It is not a molded work, a mass production, but it is an individual, personal work of God’s hand upon each one of us and also upon us together as a whole: a beaten work.
And it is not for ornament. Though it is beautiful, it is for a functional purpose. A lampstand exists only for one reason: to uphold the light. So, brothers and sisters, we know this is the original design and purpose of God concerning His church.
In the design of God, the church is a beautiful work. It is all of God and none of men. And it is to uphold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, that the world may come and bow and worship God. Now, that is what we shared together yesterday morning.
Now, this morning, we would like to continue on with the story of the lampstand. We know that after Moses was commanded to build the tabernacle and the lampstand, the children of Israel traveled in the wilderness.
After about forty years, they finally arrived in the promised land. And not only were they in the promised land, but under David and Solomon, we find that a temple was built. Of course, in a sense, in typology, it speaks of the millennium.
But unfortunately, we find the children of Israel were not faithful to God. God was always faithful to them. God always kept His promise, but the children of Israel were not faithful. They drifted away from God. They committed abomination in the sight of God. They worshiped idols.
Even though God sent His prophets to them and warned them again and again, finally the children of Israel, because of their sin, were taken into Babylonian captivity. Jerusalem was destroyed. The temple was destroyed. Of course, everything in the temple was destroyed. The children of Israel were in the land of captivity. It seemed as if everything came to a tragic end.
But God is a faithful God. You will find that in God’s mercy—not because the children of Israel had changed, but because God is merciful—He changes not. He remembered His promise to Abraham.
So, in God’s mercy, God opened the door for the children of Israel to return to Jerusalem to rebuild the house of God. I believe, brothers and sisters, you know the story: when the decree of Cyrus was given, anyone who desired to return to Jerusalem to build the house of God might return.
But again we find, unfortunately, only a remnant returned. Most of those were contented and satisfied to live in the land of captivity. Why? Because during those seventy years, they were given quite some freedom. Even though they were not completely free, yet they were given a great degree of freedom.
They were able to build up their businesses. They were able to buy lands and build their houses. More than that, they were even allowed to worship God. Not having the temple anymore, they invented that most ingenious religious invention, and that is the synagogue. So they worshiped God in the synagogues all over the land of captivity.
They were so satisfied with their lives. They had everything they desired. So only a remnant was willing to be uprooted and to return to Jerusalem, a city of ruin, and there to rebuild the temple of God.
In other words, this remnant did not live for themselves. They lived for the glory of God. They lived for the name of God, for the interest of God. So they returned to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple.
It was during this period that we find this prophecy of Zechariah. It is about a thousand years after the tabernacle was built. Here you find a little remnant. They came back in weakness. They tried to rebuild the house of God, to restore the name of God and the testimony of God in the world.
During that period, of course, they were discouraged because they were surrounded by enemies and threatened by enemies. The work ceased for a number of years. Then God raised up two prophets: Haggai, an old man, and Zechariah, a young man. Through their prophesying, the children of Israel’s hands were strengthened, and they began to rebuild and finish the temple. Now, that is the background.
One night, God gave Zechariah a series of visions. It was a very busy night. You will find that God revealed His mind concerning His people to this young man, this prophet Zechariah. After he received a number of visions, he fell asleep.
Now, you know, it is very strange, because we would think that he would be so excited he could not go to sleep anymore. But on the contrary, after he had seen a series of visions, he went to sleep. Why? Because human capacity is always limited.
You know, this happened not only with Zechariah, but it happened with Peter, John, and James. The Lord took them to the Mount of Transfiguration. My, what a vision that must be! Surely their eyes would be wide open, and yet you find they fell asleep.
Again, you find the Lord took them into the Garden of Gethsemane. It was a very tremendous time, and yet they could not watch for a moment. They fell asleep again. Human capacity is so limited. How we need to ask the Lord to increase our capacity for Him.
But anyway, you find that even though the prophet was limited, God is unlimited, and God had not finished yet with His revelation. So He woke the prophet up. The angel said, “Now, what do you see now?” And Zechariah said, “I see, and behold, a lampstand all of gold.”
Now, brothers and sisters, we know that Zechariah came from a priestly family. As one who was born and reared in a priestly family, of course, he was taught and instructed in the things of the temple and in the services of the temple.
Even though he was not able to serve in the temple because the temple was destroyed, he was in the land of captivity and came back trying to rebuild the temple. Yet you find that he was familiar with everything that was in the temple. So when he saw a lampstand all of gold, without doubt, immediately he recalled that it was a piece of furniture in the temple. It had something to do with the recovery of God’s house and the recovery of the testimony of God. This was clear to him.
This lampstand of all gold was not described. We find some additions there, but so far as the lampstand itself was concerned, it was not described. Why? Because there was no need to describe it again. Zechariah knew in his heart what that lampstand should be.
It was a lampstand all of gold. It was of beautiful shape. It had seven branches, cups, knops, and flowers, and there were seven lamps on the top of it. He knew all about it. So there was no need for the angel to describe to Zechariah that golden lampstand.
Brothers and sisters, I do believe there is something very important here. Even though a thousand years had passed, yet so far as God’s purpose is concerned, God had not changed anything. His original design of the lampstand remained intact.
It does not change because of the change of time. It does not change because of the change of the condition of God’s people. God does not lower His standard and try to meet men on their ground, or try to change the very structure and beauty of that lampstand. No.
What God has determined the church to be, that is what it must be, and that is what it will always be. God never lowers it in any way. So you find that the original design is still there.
I believe this is very important. Why? Because just like Zechariah, in his time they came back to Jerusalem, and it was ruined. They tried to rebuild the temple, and they were attacked by the enemies. They resumed the work of building the temple, but they were in such weakness.
When they were working on the temple, they were really discouraged in their hearts because they felt that it could never be the same. They felt that it would never regain that glory. They wondered whether it was worthwhile even to rebuild that house.
Yet here you find God revealed to Zechariah that no matter what happened, no matter the appearance, the surroundings, the environment, or how people felt about it, so far as God is concerned, His original design remained the same. This is the vision that was given to Zechariah. What an encouragement it must have been!
Dear brothers and sisters, as we look at the church today, I wonder whether we feel there is any hope. The more you are familiar with the church, the more you are familiar with the situations, I think the less faith you have that it will ever become what God wants it to be.
We need a vision. We need a vision of God’s original design. If we see God’s original design and know that God is a God who remains the same, and what He has designed is what He will have, how He will encourage us! That will give us strength. That will give us faith to pursue and to continue on.
May I put it this way? So far as God is concerned, when He designs it, He has it. He does not need to wait thousands of years before He has it, because with God there is no time factor involved.
Once He designs it, then He has it. In other words, He already has that beautiful thing. He already has the glorious church. It is already there with Him. But so far as we are concerned, it is not there, and our hope is that gradually it will be there.
We are working toward it; God is always working out of it. He works out of it, and we work toward it. How we need to see that vision—the vision of God’s original design, that golden lampstand, the same as God first designed it.
But we find that in this vision of the lampstand all of gold, there are some additions. There is a big bowl on the top of the lampstand, and there are two olive trees—one standing on the right and the other on the left. There are two tubes connecting to that bowl.
Out of that bowl there are seven pipes to the seven lamps. Now, in the original, it is not one pipe to one lamp. It is actually seven pipes to each of the seven lamps—forty-nine pipes. So you find that all these pipes come out from the bowl and go into the lamps. These are the additions.
Of course, Zechariah immediately noticed them. So he began to ask a question. He asked the angel, “What are these, my lord?” He knew the lampstand of gold, but he did not understand about the bowl, the pipes, the tubes, and the trees.
The angel said, “Do you not understand?” In other words, he should understand. He was dull of understanding. Now, brothers and sisters, this is what we are.
When our Lord Jesus was on earth, this so often happened with His own disciples. The Lord would say something, maybe a parable, and the disciples would come and say, “Lord, what do You mean by this parable?” The Lord would say, “Do you still not understand it?”
Even today we are like this. We are also dull in our understanding. We ought to understand. We ought to know the mind of Christ, and yet we are dull. So here the angel said, “All right, I will explain to you.”
But before he explained the bowl and the two olive trees, he gave Zechariah an overall message. This whole vision of the lampstand all of gold, with its bowl, tubes, pipes, and trees, has a message. There is a comprehensive, overall message.
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.
In the first vision of the golden lampstand in the tabernacle, God reveals to us His original design and also its function. A lampstand is to uphold light. Its function is to spread the light.
But here, in this vision of the lampstand all of gold, you find the emphasis has shifted—or, may I say, has increased. The emphasis is on the supply: the supply.
You may have the lampstand. Everything may be built in order according to the pattern on the mount. You may even set the lampstand in the holy place. But if there is no oil, if there is no supply, what is the use of that lampstand? It does not serve its purpose.
So here you find it is important that not only the lampstand should be built according to the pattern, but even after everything is built according to the pattern, you still have to have supply. You have to have the oil in order that it may fulfill the purpose for which God created it.
Dear brothers and sisters, it is very important that the church must be built according to the pattern. Some people say, “Well, where is the pattern?” You say, “The pattern is found in the New Testament. Read the Book of Acts and the epistles, get the pattern, take the pattern, reproduce it, and that is the church.”
Now, we have already mentioned that you cannot do that. Even if you are able to build the church according to the pattern, it still does not work if you do not have the supply of the oil there. So this matter of supply is very, very essential.
Here you find the principle of spiritual supply, or the spiritual principle of supply. Where does the supply come from?
Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord.
Our brother last night already mentioned this. I just want to re-emphasize it, that is all. You would think that in the building of the house, in the recovery of the testimony, surely you need might and power. Without might and power, how are you going to accomplish such a tremendous work?
Even if you are doing a little work, you need some might and some power, not to say that you are to recover the house of God and to recover the testimony of God upon this earth. Tremendous power and tremendous might would seem to be needed.
When Solomon built the temple, there was might and there was power. Solomon was king. He had great influence, not only over the whole nation, but over other nations. He could call for help even from other nations to cut the trees and to cut the stones. He had influence. He had might.
Of course, he also had power—not only manpower, but financial power as well. So with Solomon, you find great power and great might. No wonder he built such a tremendous, gorgeous, wonderful, majestic temple.
But here you find this remnant, a few people. They had no influence. They had no power. Their ability was so limited. Their resources were so limited.
As they were engaged in this kind of work, probably it went through their minds, “Oh, if we could find some might, if we could find some power, if we could find some help somewhere, that would enable us to finish our job.”
The message of the Lord to them is, “Not by might, nor by power.” As a matter of fact, as our brother mentioned last night, in the work of God, in anything spiritual, in anything that is of eternal value, human power and man’s might would only interfere with, corrupt, and destroy the work of God rather than build God’s work.
It is important to recognize this. Unfortunately, we are so deceived by our pride. We think that we have the might. We think that we have the power. We want to use our human ingenuity, our cleverness, our personality—our dynamic personality.
We try to use our experience, worldly experience, our knowledge, our skill, our influence, and our relationships. We try to use all these things to build the house of God and to recover His testimony.
The result is what we have today. This is what we see in Christianity today. We are helping God with might and power, and we destroy what God desires to have.
It is a blessing if we discover that we have no might and we have no power when we come to the things of God. Even if we do have some might and some power in the human area, dear brothers and sisters, it has to go to death.
Unless we are going to let go of these things and not rely upon them or trust in them, unless we are willing to let the cross cut them off and become extremely, completely helpless and hopeless people before God, unless we come to a point where we are just nothing and nobody, with nothing we can do—dear brothers and sisters, our end is God’s beginning.
So here you find the Lord says, “Not by might, nor by power.” How is it to be built? How is this to be recovered? By My Spirit. The Holy Spirit of God is the might and the power for rebuilding God’s house and for the recovery of the testimony of Jesus.
We find that in Genesis 1, in the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. The earth became void, empty, ruined, covered with water, and in darkness. Then the Scripture says that the Spirit of God brooded over the face of the deep. Out of the working of the Spirit of God, the earth was recovered.
The Spirit of God is the might and power of God.
Isaiah 11:2:
And the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon Him,
the Spirit of wisdom and understanding,
the Spirit of counsel and might,
the Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.
Here you find the sevenfold fullness of the Spirit. The Spirit is the might and the power of God. It is by the Spirit of God that everything of God is being done.
Think of our Lord Jesus. Even while He was on earth, you find that He was born of the Spirit. The Holy Spirit overshadowed the womb of a virgin, and the holy thing was born.
He was not only born of the Spirit, but when He was baptized at thirty years of age, the Holy Spirit came from heaven like a dove—not only coming upon Him, but taking up His abode in Him. In other words, the Holy Spirit dwelt in our Lord.
He was tempted, and when He came back in victory, the Scripture says He was full of the power of the Holy Spirit. When He began to preach, He turned to Isaiah and said, “The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me.” This is fulfilled today.
Throughout the life of our Lord Jesus, it was by the power of the Holy Spirit that He lived and worked. When He offered Himself to God as the offering, it was by the eternal Spirit. Everything with our Lord Jesus was by the Spirit.
It was by the Spirit that He did the will of God. It was by the Spirit that He accomplished the work of redemption. He was raised from the dead by the Spirit of holiness. So, brothers and sisters, in the life and work of our Lord Jesus, it was all by the might and power of God in the Person of the Holy Spirit.
Look at the apostles: the same thing. The power from above, the Holy Spirit, came upon them, and they were filled with the Holy Spirit. It was by the Spirit, under the direction and control of the Holy Spirit, that they performed the work Christ had commanded them to do.
Throughout the centuries, you find the same thing, and even today. So, brothers and sisters, here you find: not by might, not by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord. This is the message of that vision.
The spiritual supply for the recovery of the church and its testimony is the Holy Spirit. He is the might and He is the power. It is much better if we step aside, that He may be able to perform the work He has been sent to do.
What a comfort this must have been to Zechariah! Probably Zechariah, being a young man, looked around and found, “Well, where is the might? Where is the power? How are You going to finish the job?”
And here the Lord said, “No, do not look for might or power. My Spirit is there. Because My Spirit is working, the temple will be rebuilt, and the top stone will be put on it. They will shout, ‘Grace, grace, unto it.’”
In other words, it is all grace. When the Spirit is working, it is grace. It is not your work. Our work is the work of the flesh. But when the Spirit works, it is grace. It is given freely, bountifully, universally to us.
The seven eyes upon the stone—you know the stone, of course, is Christ. The eyes are the sevenfold Spirit. Here you find He is running to and fro through the whole earth, to see that it is finished.
Dear brothers and sisters, not only do we see that original design of God there, which He will never change, but we also see that God has provided the power and the might to fulfill that desire.
If it is by our might and power, there is a great possibility—and I think not only a possibility, but almost a certainty—that we will fail. But if it is the Holy Spirit, do you think He will fail?
Do you think the church will not be built as a glorious church, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing? Do you think that the church will never be holy and without blemish, that it can be a complete complement to Christ our Lord?
It is more than a possibility; it is certainty. Certainly, because it does not depend upon you and me. It depends on the Holy Spirit, and the Holy Spirit has been sent to this earth to do this job. Certainly, He will not fail. He will complete it.
Oh, brothers and sisters, how it gives us assurance! This is the assurance of our faith and of our confession.
After the angel gave this message to Zechariah, he had not yet explained what Zechariah had asked. Zechariah was curious about the two olive trees. So after the angel had given the message, Zechariah said, “Well, how about those two olive trees? You have not explained them yet.”
He was so anxious to know that he asked the second time, “How about these two olive branches with the tubes that go into that gold? How about that?”
I think young people are more curious, and Zechariah, being a young man, was very curious. It is good. I hope we do not lose that sense of curiosity, because when you lose the sense of curiosity, you are finished. You will not grow anymore.
So here you find Zechariah asking, “What about those two olive trees?” The angel said, “Do you not know that these two olive trees are the two sons of oil that stand before the Lord?”
Trees in Scripture are always connected with man. In the Garden of Eden, there was the tree of life, and there was also the tree of the knowledge of good and evil.
You know, in Judges 9, there is a beautiful parable about the trees. Gideon, that great deliverer whom God raised up to deliver the children of Israel, was dead. Abimelech, a son born by his concubine, conspired with the city of Shechem. They killed all the sons of Gideon, seventy of them, and he claimed himself to be king.
But the youngest son escaped. When they went to Shechem to anoint Abimelech to be king, Jotham heard about it. So he went to Mount Gerizim, and there he spoke a parable. I love that parable because it is a beautiful parable.
Judges 9:8:
The trees went forth on a time to anoint a king over them;
and they said unto the olive-tree, Reign thou over us.
But the olive-tree said unto them, Should I leave my fatness,
wherewith by me they honor God and man,
and go to wave to and fro over the trees?
And the trees said to the fig-tree, Come thou, and reign over us.
But the fig-tree said unto them, Should I leave my sweetness, and my good fruit,
and go to wave to and fro over the trees?
Then said the trees unto the vine, Come thou, and reign over us.
And the vine said unto them, Should I leave my new wine,
which cheereth God and man,
and go to wave to and fro over the trees?
Then said all the trees unto the bramble, Come thou, and reign over us.
And the bramble said unto the trees, If in truth ye anoint me king over you,
then come and put your trust in my shadow;
and if not, let fire come out of the bramble,
and devour the cedars of Lebanon.
So here again you find that trees are types of men. Tree imagery is always connected with man. Here you find these two trees, olive trees, are the two sons of oil. They are two men—sons of oil.
Of course, in the immediate application, these two trees represent Zerubbabel and Joshua. In the more remote application, they represent, in Revelation 11, the two men whom God sends to the children of Israel in the time of Jacob’s trouble. Some say they are Moses and Elijah. These are the two sons of oil, the two olive trees that stand before the Lord.
Spiritually, these two trees represent, throughout the ages, those who supply oil to the church. They are called sons of oil.
When you use the word “sons” or “daughters,” you know it points to grown-up sons and daughters. When we believe in the Lord Jesus, we are babes in Christ. We have the new life in us, but we are babes. As babes, we need to be supplied instead of being suppliers.
But when we grow up, as we grow up into manhood and womanhood, as we grow up into maturity, into sons and daughters, brothers and sisters, you find that we are able to take responsibility. We are able to share responsibility, and we are able to be suppliers instead of being supplied.
So here you find these two olive trees. They are trees, grown-up trees, and olive trees. When olives are produced, they are pressed in the olive press. Out of the crushing of these olives flows out oil, and this oil is used in the temple to light the lamps on the golden lampstand.
You know, dear brothers and sisters, in the old creation God worked by His Spirit alone. God received no help from man because man was not there yet.
But strangely, in the new creation, God set down a rule for Himself. In a sense, God binds Himself. He determines that in the new creation He will not work alone, even though He has all the power to do the work. Even though the Holy Spirit is the same Spirit of power and might, God has determined that He will not do it alone. He wants to do it with us and through us.
Why He decides to do that, we do not know. But we are thankful for that. We are grateful for that. This is love.
He can well supply the oil directly, because the oil is the Holy Spirit. Yet you find that He does not supply the Holy Spirit directly to the lampstand, to the lamps. He supplies the oil through the two olive trees.
Dear brothers and sisters, how is the church supplied with the Holy Spirit in order to fulfill its function of revealing and showing forth to the world the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ? You find God does it through the olive trees.
Two is a number of witness and testimony. It is the minimum plurality. It is not by one man. No, it is by two. “Where two or three are gathered together unto My name, there am I in the midst of them.”
So two is a number of testimony. It can be more than two, but it is just paradigmatic. Through some who have grown up in Christ, who are filled with the Holy Spirit—not only filled with the Holy Spirit, but as if they produce the oil.
Now, brothers and sisters, actually they do not produce it, but in a way they do. Here is something I want you to correct me on if I am wrong. As I meditate upon this, somehow I feel there is a difference between being filled with the Spirit and being full of the Holy Spirit.
Being filled with the Holy Spirit is a condition or an experience. Being full of the Spirit is a state; it is a status.
You remember in Matthew 25, the five wise virgins not only had oil in their lamps to keep them burning, but they had oil in extra vessels. They had vessels with them, and the vessel was for the purpose of storing oil. So when the oil went out, they could add oil to the lamp.
The foolish virgins had lamps with oil in them, and they were burning, but they had vessels too. Somehow they were too clever—worldly clever. Instead of putting oil in them, probably they put something else in them. They thought that something else was more important. But time would tell.
Here you find a picture. We as believers not only have the Holy Spirit; every believer has the Holy Spirit in him or in her. When you believe in the Lord Jesus, you are not only born of the Spirit, but the Holy Spirit comes and dwells in your new spirit.
Therefore, the Holy Spirit bears witness with our spirit, crying, “Abba, Father.” Every believer has the Holy Spirit in him or her, but not every believer is filled with the Holy Spirit.
Some believers are filled with the Holy Spirit. Their vessel is filled with the Spirit. Others have their vessel filled with something else. We must empty ourselves in order to be filled with the Spirit.
In Ephesians, it says, “Be filled with the Holy Spirit.” What it really means is, “Be constantly filled with the Holy Spirit.” Or, to put it another way, be always under the control and rule of the Holy Spirit. That is what is meant by being filled with the Holy Spirit.
Not just once in a few years are you filled with the Holy Spirit. We often hear people say, “He is a Spirit-filled person.” Why? Because five years ago he had an experience. But we do not know what his present condition is.
We need to be constantly filled with the Holy Spirit. We need to live always under the rule of the Holy Spirit. That is to be filled with the Holy Spirit.
But here you find a vessel that contains the oil. In Zechariah, however, you find that it is a tree. What is the difference between a tree and a vessel? A vessel is, I do not like to use the word, dead. But a tree is a living thing. A tree is a living thing.
As that tree grows, it produces olives. As the olives are crushed, they produce oil. I wonder if there is a difference here.
To be filled with the Holy Spirit, constantly under the control of the Holy Spirit, is important. But if you are constantly filled with the Holy Spirit, it will result in something deeper.
In other words, you find the Holy Spirit, who is in control of you, will so work in your life and transform you from glory to glory that the Holy Spirit and your spirit are joined into one spirit.
You know, when you read 1 Corinthians 7, as our brother Watchman Nee used to tell us, that is the height of Paul’s spiritual experience.
Why? Because as he was talking about the matter of marriage, of virgins, of remarriage, and things like that, you find sometimes he said, “This is what the Lord said,” according to the Lord. At other times he said, “It is I who say it, not the Lord. This is what I think.”
But being one who had received grace from God all these years, he said, “This is my judgment, but I believe it is of God.” In other words, you find here a man who lived so close to God, who was under such control of the Holy Spirit, and who yielded himself so completely that his spirit and the Holy Spirit seemed to be joined into one spirit.
He said, “I say it, but I believe it is the Lord.”
Now, these are trees—olive trees. Even theologians agree that when you read Romans 8, they find it very difficult to distinguish the Holy Spirit from the human spirit.
In Romans 8, spirit is all over the chapter. But in the original, “spirit” is not marked either with a capital letter or a small letter. It is the translators trying to see where to put the capital letter S to refer to the Holy Spirit and where to leave it a small s to refer to the human spirit.
But you find controversy over the whole matter because they find it difficult—so difficult—to distinguish where the Holy Spirit begins and where the human spirit begins, or where one ends. It seems as if they run together.
Brothers and sisters, to me, I feel this is the olive tree. You grow so much in the Lord that the Spirit of God is in such control, and your spirit is in such union, harmony, and yieldedness, that it seems as if out of your belly flow rivers of living water.
That is what the Lord said in John 7. He said, “He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.” He referred this to the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit had not yet come; He had not yet been glorified.
Dear brothers and sisters, this is what the church needs today. We need brothers and sisters who stand before the Lord, who live before the Lord, and who wait upon the Lord.
We need those who stand on the ground of bondslaves, waiting for the will of God and waiting to do His will; those who are fully grown and full of the Holy Spirit. These men and women supply oil to the lamp. How we need these people!
When the early church chose seven to serve tables, we may think serving tables is something that everybody can do. But no. To serve tables is a ministry to the church. These people had to be full of the Holy Spirit.
Stephen was full of the Holy Spirit. Philip was full of the Holy Spirit. It was not just that they experienced the Holy Spirit; they were full of the Holy Spirit. Because of this, you find that they were able to serve tables.
You would think that if they were full of the Holy Spirit, certainly they should minister the word. But no, you need to be full of the Holy Spirit to serve tables.
Another thing: notice that these two olive trees supply the bowl. What surprised Zechariah was that from these two olive trees, gold was poured through the tubes into the bowl—not oil, but gold.
When the pipes take it out of the bowl to the lamps, it becomes oil again. Do you know why? Because the Holy Spirit in us is to glorify Christ.
The Holy Spirit in us is to transform us according to His image. The Holy Spirit is to create within us the character of Christ. So when it comes out of us, it is gold. It is the life, the divine life, the divine character of Christ.
Brothers and sisters, that is what the Holy Spirit is doing in each one of us. He is forming Christ in us. So what is poured forth, what you supply, is Christ. It is not the Holy Spirit, as it were; it is Christ.
But as you supply Christ to the church, what the church receives is the Holy Spirit, because the Holy Spirit within us is working in us, that Christ may also be formed in others.
Furthermore, you find that these two olive trees pour what is within them into a common bowl. It is not that every lamp has a small bowl under it. You find one common bowl, and they all pour into that bowl.
Not that one olive tree supplies one bowl to one lamp and another olive tree supplies another bowl to another lamp. No, you find that they all pour into the common bowl.
In other words, whatever is produced by the Holy Spirit in us—Christ—is to be supplied to the whole church. It is the inheritance of the whole church.
It is not that Peter supplies what God has given to him and establishes a Peter church. Or Paul uses what God has supplied to him and establishes a Pauline church. Or Apollos establishes an Apollonian church. No, you find that they all pour into the common bowl.
Then out of that bowl it goes into the seven lamps. You find seven pipes to each lamp. In other words, there is abundant supply. It is a continuous, abundant supply.
You see, it is not like in the tabernacle, where the priests came in the night and, from night to morning, supplied the oil and looked after the lamps. Here you find it is a continuous supply—continuous supply.
Oh, brothers and sisters, we thank God for all those olive trees throughout the centuries. We receive from them all the gold that they have poured into the church. Through the Holy Spirit, we experience Christ, and we are able to be lighted, that the testimony of Jesus may be revealed.
So this is the vision that Zechariah saw in that night. May the Lord show us this vision.
Shall we pray?
Dear heavenly Father, how we do thank Thee that Thy original design never changes. Thy purpose never changes. Thou hast prepared that unfailing supply of the Holy Spirit, who will never fail.
Our prayer this morning is: raise up sons of oil, like what Thou hast done throughout the centuries, even in our time. Raise up sons of oil, that Thy church may receive the supply and Thy testimony may go forth to the praise of Thy glory.
In the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.