Chapter 48—“Not by Might, nor by Power”
Immediately after Zechariah’s vision of Joshua and the Angel, the
prophet received a message regarding the work of Zerubbabel. “The
Angel that talked with me,” Zechariah declares, “came again, and
waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep, and said unto me,
What seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold a candlestick
all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon,
and seven pipes to the seven 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.
“So I answered and spake to the Angel that talked with me, saying,
What are these, 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.”
“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
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thereof? And I answered again, and said unto Him, What be these
two olive branches which through the two golden pipes empty the
golden oil out of themselves? ... Then said He, These are the two
anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth.”
Zechariah
4:1-6, 11-14
.
In this vision the two olive trees which stand before God are repre-
sented as emptying the golden oil out of themselves through golden
tubes into the bowl of the candlestick. From this the lamps of the
sanctuary are fed, that they may give a bright, continuous light. So
from the anointed ones that stand in God’s presence the fullness of
divine light and love and power is imparted to His people, that they
may impart to others light and joy and refreshing. Those who are thus
enriched are to enrich others with the treasure of God’s love.
In rebuilding the house of the Lord, Zerubbabel had labored in
the face of manifold difficulties. From the beginning, adversaries had
“weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and troubled them in
building,” “and made them to cease by force and power.”
Ezra 4:4,
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