We will please turn to Zechariah chapter 4.
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
lampstand all of gold, with a bowl upon
the top of it, and its seven lamps
thereof.
Seven lamps and seven pipes to the lamp,
which are upon the top thereof, and two
olive trees beside it, one on the right
of the bowl, and the other on the
left of it.
And I answered and spoke to the angel
that talked with me, saying, What are these,
my Lord?
And the angel that talked with me answered
and said unto me, Knowest thou not what
these are?
And I said, No, my Lord.
And he answered and spoke unto me, saying,
This is the word of Jehovah unto Zerubbabel,
saying, Not by might, nor by power, but
by my spirit, said Jehovah of hosts.
Who art thou, O great mountain?
Before Zerubbabel thou dost become a plain, and
he shall bring forth a headstone with shouting,
Grace, grace, unto it.
And the word of Jehovah came unto me,
saying, The head of Zerubbabel hath laid the
foundation of this house, and his hand shall
finish it, and thou shalt know that Jehovah
of hosts hath sent me unto you.
For who has despised the day of small
things?
Yea, they shall rejoice, even those seven, and
shall see the planet in the hand of
Zerubbabel.
These are the eyes of Jehovah which run
to and fro in the old earth.
And I answered and said unto him, What
are these two olive trees on the right
of the lampstand, and on its left?
And I answered the second time, and said
unto him, What are the two olive branches
that are beside the two golden tubes, that
empty the gold out of themselves?
And he spoke to me, saying, Knowest thou
not what these are?
And I said, No, my Lord.
And he said, These are the two sons
of oil, that stand before the Lord of
the whole earth.
Shall we pray?
Dear Heavenly Father, we do praise and thank
thee that we can gather together here in
the name of thy beloved Son, our Lord
Jesus Christ.
We thank 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 words are life and
spirit to us, so we just open ourselves
to thee, and trust thee to give us
the spirit of wisdom and revelation to the
full knowledge of God, and to the praise
of thy glory.
We ask in the name of our Lord.
We mentioned yesterday that our burden for this
time is on the recovery of priesthood and
the recovery of kingship.
We know that we are living in the
days of recovery.
The coming of the Lord is imminent, and
he is doing this recovery 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.
Yesterday we shared together on this matter of
the recovery of priesthood, as shown in the
vision in Zechariah 3.
Because Joshua, the high priest, represents the priesthood.
Now this afternoon we would like to come
into the recovery of kingship.
And that is the vision given concerning Zerubbabel.
And we know that Zerubbabel came from the
royal seat of David.
So he represents, now 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.
So in other words, this recovery of priesthood
and kingship concern every one of us.
Because 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 the positive aspect of redemption, which
is, he has made us, 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.
And there you will find in Revelation chapter
21, chapter 22, that we shall all be
kings.
And there we will reign and rule forever
and forever.
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
chapter 1, verse 5, and Revelation chapter 5,
verses 9 and 10, we are told that
he has made us kings and priests unto
God.
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 shall bring satisfaction, pleasure, glory to God.
You shall bring God's people to his presence,
and bring God to his people.
So, functioning as priests today, for brothers and
sisters, probably very few people know that he
has made us kings today.
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, it is because of a misconception.
You know, our concept of kings is still
being that of the world.
In other words, we think of kings.
Kings that rule and reign.
Kings that sit on the throne and give
orders.
And kings, they sit on the throne and
be served by their servants, by their people.
Now this is our concept of being kings.
And of course we know today, we are
not sitting on the throne yet.
And we know that we are not being
served yet.
So for this reason, we do not realize
that we are kings.
Now brothers and sisters, this misconception is not
just limited to us today.
You know, 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.
And you know, they often argued, strived among
themselves on this matter of who is the
greatest.
Now the reason why they argue about these
things is because of their concept.
Yet their concept is, now to be the
greatest is the one who is king, and
who rules and reigns and gives orders, and
be served.
They argued among themselves all the time about
this matter.
Who is the greatest?
And 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 chapter 20, how two
of the disciples, John and James, you know
they have been arguing, they have been striving
over this matter, maybe for as long as
they followed the Lord.
And now they thought that probably this was
the time our Lord was going to Jerusalem
to be crowned king.
Now you shouldn't lose this opportunity.
So here you find James and John, they
got hold of their mother, to talk to
our Lord Jesus and say, now 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, 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.
And I think probably subconsciously they knew something
was not quite right.
So they did not come out alright.
They just said Lord, here is a blank
check, sign it and we will fill it
in.
You know, 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 got it all.
And no wonder the other ten, they were
indignant, why they were outmaneuvered.
Everybody want to sit at the right and
the left because they want to be kings,
you know, to have authority, to rule, to
have glory.
And 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?
And without really understanding what these are, they
blurted out and said, yes, oh 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.
And of course, our Lord was thinking of
the garden of Gethsemane and thinking of Calvary's
cross.
Now they didn't understand at that moment, but
that was what the Lord was thinking about.
But the Lord said, to sit on my
right and left is monopoly to give.
It is for my father to give.
And the Lord began to teach them again
on the true meaning of kingship.
The Lord said, in the world, the ruler,
they overlord, they lord 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
the great, you have to be the servant
of all.
If you want to be the 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.
Now, brothers and sisters, here our Lord Jesus
shows us the concept of kingship in the
heavenly realm, in the kingdom of God, 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 said, now in the world,
the ruler, the great, they sit high up
and they lord over people.
They exercise authority, give orders.
But the Lord said, no, this is not
among you.
If you want to be the great, you
have to be the servant of all.
And 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.
A slave is one that 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 the first, it
is even worse.
You have to be the bond slave.
Bond slave is one who has willingly, voluntarily
given himself to his master, to be a
bond slave forever.
Now, in the Old Testament, you find that
a slave, 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 door
post.
And with that single pierced ear, he became
a bond slave, that is, a love slave
forever.
He is a slave forever and ever.
And if he has family, all his family
members are slaves.
Bond slaves.
Now, brothers and sisters, here you find, our
Lord Jesus showed us, true kingship is servitude.
Now, we never combine these two things together.
We think that these two things are poles
apart.
Kings and servants.
Rulers and slaves.
Now, how can you put these things together?
They are the opposites.
But our Lord Jesus said, these things are
one.
True kingship is true servitude.
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 you find that 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.
Now, if you want to see how our
Lord Jesus was diligently served as the servant
of the Lord, read the Gospel according to
Mark.
You find that word straight away.
Immediately.
Everywhere.
In other words, he was so diligent in
serving the Father's will.
How he denied himself.
And how he served the Father.
And even to the end, you find that
when he had his last supper, the Passover
supper, with his own disciples.
How he got up and washed his disciples'
feet.
He said, I'm your Lord, I'm your Master.
That's true.
But I wash your feet.
Therefore, love you one another.
And there you find that he even gave
himself for us.
He served us to the extent of giving
his own life to us on Calvary's cross.
Now, brothers and sisters, he said, I come
not to be served, but to serve.
And to give my life a ransom for
all.
Now, this is, he is king because he
is the one who serves most.
His service, his servanthood qualifies him, demonstrates that
he truly is the King of Kings and
the Lord of Lords.
So, brothers and sisters, here you find our
Lord Jesus is teaching us.
He has made us kings.
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 in this area of servanthood.
If we are willing to deny ourselves, if
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 life for our brothers and
sisters, you find that we demonstrate that we
are truly kings unto God.
So, you find this matter of kingship has
to be recovered in the church.
In the recovering of the house of God,
kingship has to be recovered.
You know, in the Old Testament, David, Solomon,
they represent kingship in the scripture.
And what did they do?
You find that David and Solomon, they 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 a name upon this earth.
The testimony of God was upon this earth.
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 kingship.
Now, again you find in the recovery history,
when the children of Israel came back from
Babylonian captivity, they were under the leadership of
Zerubbabel.
And what did Zerubbabel do?
He came back to rebuild the house, to
restore the testimony of God.
You know, 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.
And did God have retreated back to heaven?
Why he was?
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.
And that's the reason why you'll find he
was called the God of the heavens, but
not God of the heavens and of the
earth.
But here you'll find Zerubbabel, representing kingship, leading
the people back into Jerusalem, to rebuild the
house of God, that the name of God
might be upon this earth.
The testimony of God was to be re
-established on this earth.
Now, this is the work of kingship.
So brothers and sisters, we are 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 ruin.
In other words, you'll find God's people are
scattered everywhere.
You know when one stone is not upon
another stone, that is ruin.
And God's people had to be built, these
living stones had to be built up together
into a holy habitation for God to dwell
in the spirit.
And this is the work of kings.
The kings has authority.
The kings has power to do this kind
of work.
The work of the kings is to rebuild
the house of God.
Bring his people together.
And not just throw them together as a
pile, but to build them together.
Organically build one to another.
Related one to another.
Build together in love.
And at the same time you'll find the
testimony of Jesus will be in the house.
Our Lord Jesus has given his own name
to this church.
Where two or three are gathered together unto
my name, there am I in the midst
of them.
Now thank God Christ has given his name
to us.
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 said, I
am in the midst of them.
His presence is there.
Now that is the testimony of the church.
Therefore when you come to 1 Corinthians chapter
14, you'll find when the church gathered together
and someone came into their midst, immediately they
sensed the presence of the Lord.
And they will fall down and say, the
Lord is in your midst.
Now this is the testimony of Jesus.
That is what the house of God is.
And you know in the vision of Ezekiel,
you'll find there will be a city.
And the name of the city is Jehovah
Shammah.
In other words, the Lord is there.
Now brothers and sisters, the Lord is going
to recover his church and the house of
God.
And 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 living everywhere
on this earth.
But are they really being built up together?
Are there some people who function as kings
to build his people together?
When God's people are together and you enter
into the midst of them, do you sense
the presence of the Lord there?
Is the testimony of Jesus being there?
Now these are the works of Jesus.
So today, brothers and sisters, we have a
big work to do.
We are not only priests offering worship to
God, bringing people to God, but we are
kings.
And 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.
Alright, let's go back to Zechariah chapter 4.
You know, the prophet Zechariah, on the twentieth
day of the eleventh month of the second
year of King Darius, that night was a
memorable night because that night he was given
a series of visions.
Now after he had seen a few visions,
the last one of course was Zechariah chapter
3 concerning priesthood.
He fell asleep again.
Now probably the vision was so tremendous, you
know, he fell asleep.
Now that often happens.
You remember when our Lord Jesus put the
three disciples to the mount of heaven for
a good figuration?
You will think that that was such an
exciting time.
Now how could you go to sleep?
But the vision was so great, they couldn't
stand anymore and they all went to sleep.
And I think that that's natural.
You know, our flesh is so weak, we
couldn't stand it.
So Zechariah went to sleep again.
And the angel had to come and wake
him up and say, no, there are still
more to follow.
It is not complete yet.
The recovery of priesthood is not complete.
There has to be the recovery of kingship
yet.
Now don't forget that.
So he was wakened out of his sleep
and he was given another vision.
It was a vision of a golden lampstand.
Now Zechariah was a priest.
You know, to a priest, he should be
familiar with lampstand.
Now 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 priest in the
temple.
He probably had never seen the lampstand.
But as a priest, from his childhood, he
was taught of all the things concerning the
temple and the temple service.
So with Zechariah, lampstand, golden lampstand was familiar
to him.
He knew what it was.
It was a lampstand in the holy place.
He knew that.
But that lampstand was different from what he
had heard.
You know, if you read Exodus, chapter 25,
you find the golden lampstand is being described
there.
It was a lampstand made of gold, of
beaten gold.
And it has seven branches.
And it was made of cup, like almond,
and then knob, and flower.
You know, it was very beautiful.
And then on the seven branches, there were
seven lamps.
You know, and of course, oil was poured
on the lamp, and the priest was to
go in and light the lamp every evening.
And the light in the holy place cannot
go out day and night.
It has to be there forever.
Now that was what you find in Exodus,
chapter 25.
And when Solomon built a 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 a cup, and knob,
and the flowers, that was true.
And there was the seven lampstands, but he
saw something more.
He saw there was a bowl, a big
bowl at the top of the lampstand.
And there was seven types to each lamp.
You know, seven lamps, and then you have
a big bowl there, and from that big
bowl, there were seven pipes to each lamp,
to supply the oil.
Abundant supply, you can see it.
You know, seven pipes going to each lamp.
And then he saw 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.
Not the same.
He knew basically what it was, but still,
he didn't know exactly what it meant.
So he asked a question.
He asked the angel, now what is it?
What does it mean?
And he asked a second time, because he
was so anxious to know.
And then the angel began to explain to
him.
In other words, the word of God came
to him.
And the word is, this is the word
of the Lord.
Not by might, nor by power, but by
my Spirit, saying.
There is a message there.
Now before we go into this message, I
think we have to know a little bit
better.
The golden lampstand in the temple, is the
instrument of light.
Because on the lampstand you have the lamp,
and the light there.
In other words, the lampstand is not the
light.
The lampstand is the light holder.
It holds up the light.
You know, if you put a light, if
you light a light, say a candle, and
put it in a very low place, you
know, 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.
And a lampstand in the scripture, signifies the
church.
Because in Revelation chapter one, you find John
saw the vision of seven lampstands, and each
lampstand represents a local assembly.
The church in Ephesus, the church in Smyrna,
the church in Pergamus, the church in Pythagoras,
Sardis, Philadelphia, and Lodicea.
So here you will find lampstand in the
scripture stands for the church.
Now what is the church before God?
The church before 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 the means to an end.
The end is the light.
And we know that Christ is the lamp.
Because in Revelation chapter 21 and 22, you
will 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 was filled with the glory
of God, and the lamp is the lamp
thereof.
So we know that the lamp is our
Lord Jesus.
He is the light.
In Him was light, and the light was
the light of man.
He said, I am the light of the
world.
Our Lord Jesus is the light.
He is the lamp.
Now the church is the 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.
So you find that is the lampstand.
The church is the 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 Christian, when
you start to read the Old Testament by
Exodus, the first part was very exciting.
But when you come to the part of
the tabernacle, you skip over.
You know, I remember before I was saved,
I went to a conference in order to
get saved.
I wanted to be saved.
And I went to the conference to be
saved.
But unfortunately, there was one session, a man
spoke on the tabernacle.
And he was from North China.
And I couldn't really understand him very well.
And especially, 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 the tabernacle, the more
I am...
And here you find in the holy place.
In the holy place, there are three things.
I gave you a lesson on the tabernacle.
There are three things.
You find a golden lampstand on one side,
a golden table of shoe bread on the
other side, and a golden oak of incense
at the front of the veil that separates
the holy place from the holy support.
Now it is interesting, because you find that
the golden altar of incense is made of
wood, overlaid with gold.
And you find a golden table of shoe
bread is also made of wood and overlaid
with gold.
But this golden lampstand is all gold.
No wood there.
Now that is interesting.
Because wood represents human beings.
Man.
We all like a tree.
You know, tree in the scripture always represents
man.
Human nature.
Cedar wood, hard wood, represents incorruptible wood.
Human nature.
Good human nature.
Human life.
But there you find in the lampstand there
is no wood.
Only gold.
And gold represents the nature, the life of
God.
So brothers and sisters, what is the church?
We often think the church is made up
of men.
And you quantify it, made up of men
and women who are saved.
But no.
The church is made up only of gold.
No wood there.
Now how can it be?
The church is the assembling of God's people.
Now how can it be that it is
all gold and no wood?
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 working in 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 wood has to
be cut off.
Only what is left of God and of
His life remain to be built as the
church.
Now remember this because this is a very,
very important point.
Now strangely, here you find the gold.
But not just gold nuggets here and there.
It is one talent of God bleeding into
the form of a lampstand.
Now think of that.
A piece of gold to form into a
beautiful lampstand.
How much beating that gold has to suffer.
And you know 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.
To be beaten off.
Just like in the world in progress, you
know, you have to use the rod on
the child to beat off the foolishness in
the body of that child.
Now we will think that well, so far
as our flesh is concerned, that needs to
be beaten.
Yes.
Beat it.
Blue and white.
And you need to be beaten.
That's true.
Now the life of Christ in us.
The gold is the life of Christ in
each of us.
Now the life of Christ in each of
us, does it need to be beaten?
Now beaten is not only to beat off
the impurities.
Beaten has a positive aspect.
To build.
To fall into what God desires.
So you know, even 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 saved.
Now often times we say well, this is
of the life of Christ in me.
So it is bound to be right.
Now I have to stand firm on it.
And every brother and sister says that.
And we fight against it.
To cross even to work on the life
of Christ in us.
That we may be beaten into shape.
For the Lord.
Now that is beautiful.
When God's people, even with the life of
Christ in each one of us, we are
willing to yield to one another.
We are willing to esteem one another as
higher than we are.
And we are willing to accept the wording
of the cross into our very life.
Even the life that we know it is
of Christ.
Why?
Of freedom.
And seven branches, seven in the scripture speaks
of perfection.
This is perfect.
And you find that every branch has cut,
knot and flower.
And the cut is in the shape of
almond.
Now almond in the scripture represents resurrection.
Because almond is the first tree that bears
fruit at the winter.
So it speaks of resurrection.
And cut speaks of portion.
In other words, the resurrection life of Christ
is cut.
And then knob.
Knob is concentration.
In other words, it speaks of abundant life.
Not only life, but abundantly.
You know, character.
A character of Christ being formed in us.
And then flower.
That's the beauty of Christ.
The beauty, the virtues of Christ are all
being manifested.
Now brothers and sisters, this is what the
church is to be formed.
So when the light began to shine in
the seven lamps, you know the light reflect
on the branches and magnify the glory of
the Lord.
You know, it's a beautiful, beautiful thing.
And that is what the church is to
be.
To be the testimony of Jesus.
That Christ, his beauty, his character, his resurrection
life may be manifested.
That is the golden lamp stand.
So here you'll find the
difference.
This is the basic meaning of the lamp
stand.
But to Zachariah, you'll find that he is
given to understand another aspect concerning the lamp
stand.
It is not so much of the basic
structure of the lamp stand.
Actually, the emphasis is on the supply of
the lamp stand.
So the emphasis there is on the supply.
Now, for the lamp stand to give light,
you need plenty of oil.
You may have the lamp stand, but if
there is no oil, then there is no
light.
So you'll find that the whole vision is
concerning, the emphasis is concerning the supply.
How to make that lamp stand fulfill its
function as the light holder?
That Christ may be exalted.
So that's the reason why you'll find he
saw a big bowl.
And you'll find the seven pipes to each
lamp.
Plenty of supply.
You know, not just one pipe to each
lamp.
You know, sometimes we think that it means
that each one pipe to each lamp.
But no, in the original, it's seven pipes
to each lamp.
And in order to have all these supply,
you have two olive trees standing there, supplying
the oil.
So that there will be plenty of supply.
That the testimony of Jesus may shine.
So here you'll find.
The message is, not by might, nor by
power, but by my Spirit said the Lord.
Now brothers and sisters, you know in this
world, when you want to build something, when
you want to accomplish something, it depends on
your mind.
That is your force, your influence.
How much influence do you have?
Now if you want to accomplish anything, it
depends on your power.
How much power do you have?
Now if you have lots of influence, and
if you have great power, you can build
up a kingdom for yourself.
That's the way to succeed in this world.
But you'll find in the building of the
house, in the restoring of the testimony of
Jesus, it is not by might, nor by
power.
On the contrary, you'll find that might or
power can be an obstacle.
Might and power are problems to the building
of the house of God.
To the maintenance of the testimony of Jesus.
How often we find when brothers and sisters
come together, and we try to exert our
natural influence, or we try to use our
natural energy, our power.
When we are doing that, we break up
God's testimony.
We destroy the house of God.
So here you'll find the lesson that the
Spirit of God wants to teach Zerubbabel is,
now you are building 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 nothing 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
myself.
The Holy Spirit is the only one who
is able to build.
The Holy Spirit is the only one who
can maintain the testimony.
You have to deny your own power and
your own might, and rely upon the Holy
Spirit.
Now if you do, then you will be
able to function as true kings.
Now of course, when Zerubbabel led the people
of Israel back to Jerusalem to rebuild the
house of God, he was met with difficulties.
There was mountain there.
And the mountain to Zerubbabel at that time
was the Samaritans.
You know, they are their neighbors.
The Samaritans were mixed race.
In other words, they were partly Jewish and
partly Gentile.
And that was the problem.
Because they would bring what is of the
world into the building of the house of
God.
And when they were not allowed to do
it, they used all kinds of means to
stop their work.
Mountain.
You find that in the building of the
house of God there was mountain there.
But brothers and sisters, here you find the
Lord in the vision towards Zerubbabel.
Say, O mountain, before Zerubbabel you shall become.
You know, mountain here is personified.
We know that behind every mountain there is
Satan.
No, he is the mountain actually.
He is the one who raise a mountain
after mountain in order to block the way
of the building of God's house.
To bring in the testimony of Jesus.
Now, brothers and sisters, this is not only
true in the time of Zerubbabel, it is
true at every age.
Whenever God's people there were beginning to function
as kings unto God, to bring His kingdom,
to build the house of God, to maintain
the testimony of Jesus, you will find Satan
will raise a mountain after mountain before you
to block your way.
And in human eyes there are mountains, not
just hills.
You know, I remember when I was in
Switzerland, you know, and when I saw a
mountain, I said, well, that's a mountain, there
can be no mountain down there, you know.
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 that mountain into a
mountain.
That's the reason why not by might nor
by power.
Now, who can remove a mountain?
We cannot do that.
You know, in Chinese legend, there was a
man called Yu Gong, the fool.
And when he opened the window, he saw
a mountain there, blocking his view.
So he decided that he will remove that
mountain.
So he started to dig that mountain, you
know, and cut away the stone.
And he had such a determination, now that's
Chinese legend.
And he had such a 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,
and generation after generation.
So finally, the mountain, God was so afraid,
and he removed it.
Now that was a legend, not real.
But I just want to illustrate it to
show you that who can remove a mountain?
Nobody can do that.
But thank God, we have one who is
able to remove the mountain and pass it
into the sea.
If we have.
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 bond servants 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 afraid.
Because if we depend upon the Spirit of
God, these mountains will become plain.
And we who lay the foundation will finish.
Now of course we know our Lord Jesus.
He is not only the foundation of the
house of God, He is also the top.
Now here in Zechariah 4, He is the
head of the corner.
You know, the cornerstone is the stone that
joins the house together.
And according to Ephesians chapter 2, He is
the cornerstone that joins the Jews.
You know, we are far apart.
But He is the cornerstone.
Join us together.
He is not only our foundation stone, He
is also the cornerstone.
He is not only the cornerstone, He is
the topstone.
Like the top of the pyramid.
He can do it all.
In other words, that is what the church
is.
The church is the body of Christ.
The fullness of Him who is all grace,
grace unto Him.
Not only grace comes out of our Lord
Jesus.
The Word became flesh.
Tapernacle of a man.
Full of grace and truth.
And from His grace we receive grace.
But also grace be unto Him.
You know, the word grace.
You know, that we may offer up our
thanksgiving to Him.
Because it is all of His doing.
The stone with seven eyes.
That is the eyes of the Lord.
When the eyes saw the plummet in the
hand of Zerubbabel.
Now look, plummet.
You know, when you build a house you
need a plummet.
Now the plummet is to make the building
straight.
So that it will not deviate.
You know, and of course we know that
in the building of the house everything has
to be according.
We have to build everything according to Christ.
And brothers and sisters, do we have the
plummet in our hand?
Are we using the plummet when we are
building?
Or do we just come and according to
our fancy we will build according to what
we think should be done?
No.
We have to have the plummet in our
hand.
And if we do, then our Lord will
be joyful.
But still we haven't explained it.
So, Zechariah said, well, very good, but what
about these two trees?
Why is it that there are two olive
trees standing there?
And he asked again, he said, how about
these two olive branches?
And strangely he saw in the vision that
the olive branches poured out gold into the
wood.
Not oil, gold into the wood.
Now no wonder he couldn't understand.
So the angel explained to him and said,
now the two olive trees are the two
sons of, who stand before the Lord of
the whole world.
Historically speaking, these two trees represent Joshua because
the remnant, they return under the dual leadership
of Zerubbabel representing royalty and Joshua representing.
Now, that's history.
But spiritually speaking, throughout the ages, in the
building of the house of God, recovery of
God's testimony, you find that these two olive
trees represent the overcomers of the church.
Why is it it is olive tree?
Because it is tree that produces.
In other words, according to the New Testament
term, it means that these are people who
are full of the Holy Spirit.
You know, there is a difference between filled
with the Holy Spirit and full of the
Holy Spirit.
To be filled with the Holy Spirit is
an experience.
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 of the Holy Spirit.
You know, in the early church, you find
this is the situation.
You know, our Lord Jesus, He was full
of the Holy Spirit.
You remember when He returned from temptation, He
was full of the Holy Spirit.
And in that state, He began to minister.
And then you find in the book of
Acts, even the seven that were chosen to
serve the table, they were people full of
the Holy Spirit.
Now, you were to serve the table, you
don't need to be filled with the Holy
Spirit.
You don't need to be full of the
Holy Spirit.
No, if you want to serve the table
in the house of God, you need to
be full of the Holy Spirit.
And then again you find in chapter 11,
the bottom verse.
A good man, full of the Holy Spirit.
So here you find that in the recovery
of the house of God, of the testimony
of Jesus, you need people who not only
have experience of being filled with the Holy
Spirit, but should be constantly filled, in other
words, full of the Holy Spirit.
Like the olive tree.
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 lamp,
but they have oil in the vessels.
You know, this is full of the Holy
Spirit.
In other words, they are under the constant
rule of the Holy Spirit.
They live under the rule of the Holy
Spirit.
And this kind of people, they are able
to supply oil.
And strangely you find that what they poured
out into the bowl was 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.
Build Christ's character in us.
And that is the reason why.
A person that is full of the Holy
Spirit, what pours out is Christ.
He supplies Christ to the church.
And in turn, when that gold gets through
the pipe to the lamp, it becomes oil.
You know?
And it supplies life.
So brothers and sisters, the
message for the rebuilding of God's house, and
the recovery of the testimony of Jesus, we
need people who are able to function as
real kings.
Not in the sense of striving in the
church who is the greatest.
Not in the sense of trying to get
to a position that you can give orders.
But rather in the sense that you are
able to humble yourself to serve as a
servant, bond slave unto God.
Now we need such people.
And you cannot be such people unless you
are.
No one can do that.
Brothers and sisters, naturally we are proud.
Naturally we always ride like the high position.
Who wants to be the doorman?
Nobody wants to be the doorman.
It is only the Holy Spirit.
When we are filled with the Holy Spirit,
and the Holy Spirit will put the character
of Christ in us, that is the time
we are able to supply Christ to the
church.
That the church may be able to maintain
the testimony of Jesus in you.
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 kings is to serve.
Serve the purpose of God.
Serve God's house.
Build God's house.
And let this come into our hearts.
And let us be before the Lord and
say Lord I cannot do it.
Not by might nor by power.
You have to fill me with Thy Holy
Spirit.
That by Thy Holy Spirit I will be
able to do it.
Now, if the Lord will touch our hearts
and enable us to be those olive trees
who stand before the Lord of the whole
world.
We do not stand before them.
We stand before the Lord of the whole
world.
Then you will find we will surely be
kings.
Brothers and sisters, if we serve as kings
today, when the Lord shall return, when He
shall rule over this whole world, that is
the time that you are qualified.
Dear Heavenly Father, O our hearts do bow
low before Thee.
What grace Thou hast given to us.
What redemption Thou hast accomplished in Thy beloved
Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
O we do thank Thee that Thou hast
not only washed us from our sins, but
Thou hast made us kings.
Who are we Lord?
That we are kings, that we may serve
God's purpose.
We may do His bidding.
That we may build His house.
That we may maintain His testimony.
Lord this is too much for us.
But we do thank Thee that this is
what Thou hast called us to be.
And we do ask Thee Lord to fill
us with Thy Spirit.
That we may be able to function today
as kings unto God.
We want to see Thy Kingdom come.
We want to see Thy Kingdom return.