Building God's House # 10: Shouts of Grace, Zechariah 4

Intro: I want to start with a few shoutoutstoday- to Tom Baker for filling in last Wednesday & preaching last Sunday, to Scott Lawson teaching last Sunday night, & Kris Smith leading prayer meeting Wednesday. I also want to give a shout-out to my mom who is here visiting & Maggie who brought her, she’s home for Spring Break.

A big shout-out to all of you for not laughing when I used the word “shoutout” in church. I was a teen in the early 90s when shout-outs became a thing, isn’t it funny how made-up words become a part of mainstream popularity?

When I began studying our passage there was a phrase that really caught my attention- “shouts of grace, grace to it” (v. 7). The more I studied it, the more I felt like it was calling me to lead us into “shouts of grace,”giving the LORD a shoutout for who He is and how He has been at work in our church the last year.

Zechariah 4, Now the angel who talked with me came back and wakened me, as a man who is wakened out of his sleep. 2 And he said to me, “What do you see?” So I said, “I am looking, and there is a lampstand of solid gold with a bowl on top of it, and on the stand seven lamps with seven pipes to the seven lamps. 3Two olive trees are by it, one at the right of the bowl and the other at its left.” 4 So I answered and spoke to the angel who talked with me, saying, “What are these, my lord?” 5 Then the angel who talked with me answered and said to me, “Do you not know what these are?” And I said, “No, my lord.” 6 So he answered and said to me: “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ Says the Lordof hosts. 7 ‘Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain! And he shall bring forth the capstone With shouts of “Grace, grace to it!” ’ ” 8 Moreover the word of the Lord came to me, saying: 9“The hands of Zerubbabel Have laid the foundation of this temple; His hands shall also finish it. Then you will know That the Lord of hosts has sent Me to you. 10 For who has despised the day of small things? For these seven rejoice to see The plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel. They are the eyes of the Lord, Which scan to and fro throughout the whole earth.”

11Then I answered and said to him, “What are these two olive trees—at the right of the lampstand and at its left?” 12 And I further answered and said to him, “What are these two olive branches that drip into the receptacles of the two gold pipes from which the golden oil drains?” 13 Then he answered me and said, “Do you not know what these are?” And I said, “No, my lord.” 14 So he said, “These are the two anointed ones, who stand beside the Lord of the whole earth.”

This is now Zechariah’s 5th vision. Being awakened from sleep by his angelic guide, the angel asks Zechariah what he sees. The description of the lampstand sounds very different from that of a regular menorah. The purpose of the menorah in the temple was to give light to the priests who worked there. The light was to never go out, symbolizing God as the eternal light to His people.

Zechariah questions the addition of the olive trees & the angel seems surprised he doesn’t know- after all, he was one of the prophets sent to get this rebuilding underway. The angel answers with a message to Zerubbabel, a clue we will come back to later. From this message there are at least 3 shouts of grace, 3 shoutouts to the Lord for His grace.

1. A Shout Out to the Lord’s ACTIVITY, 6-7

Vss. 6-7,indicates how the newly rebuilt temple is going to be completed- not by might, nor by power, but by God’s Spirit.

Might- power, strength; sense of physical power/strength, can refer to army, troops, the idea that it will not be military might that completes this temple.

Power- strength, ability; sense of being physically or mentally strong; it will not be manpower or willpower that completes the temple. In historical context, this word may also convey the idea that it won’t be political powereither.

Comparison with Ezra 3-6, the temple restoration project was started in Ezra 3, opposition arose, stopped the project, the people were afraid, then complacent, and it lay dormant for 16 years until Haggai & Zechariah came on the scene delivering God’s messages, Zerubbabel & Joshua got up & got to work (Ezra 5:1-2).

When they restarted the work, the local officials got involved again, sending letters to King Darius to try to stop it. A search was made of the king’s records to see if Cyrus really did decree that the Jews could return to Jerusalem & rebuild this temple for God. It was discovered that they were telling the truth so Darius decreed that they should continue building, & even more, he decided to pay for the whole thing, & for those local officials to give them whatever they needed (Ezra 6:8-9).

Here’s the point: it wasn’t military might or political power that would get the temple rebuilt, but the way God was moving in & through people like Haggai, Zechariah, Zerubbabel, Joshua, King Darius, and all the people. I just have a feeling that in the timeline of the temple rebuild, Zechariah received this vision and delivered this message at a time when Zerubbabel needed to hear it. In that time when opposition was once again arising, he is getting this message from God- you see that mountain of opposition, before you it will become a plain.

I don’t know who needs to hear this, God knows I need to hear it, when the Lord sends you to do something, God doesn’t need your strength, but you need His Spirit. He will make all the difference!

Zerubbabel is going to put the capstone (top stone- at the highest position) in place to shouts of grace.When the time comes & that temple project was finished & Zerubbabel lays that final block on top of the temple, everyone is going to recognize this happened by God’s Spirit & Grace. It was the Lord’s Activity that started it, & it is His Assurance that Zerubbabel would complete it.

2. A Shout Out to the Lord’s ASSURANCE, 8-10

A second message was delivered in vss. 8-10. It was Zerubbabel who started this project back in Ezra 3, when the temple foundation was laid. Opposition came up & the project stopped. The people went about their own business, rebuilding their own houses & lives, they forgot all about God’s House (the reason they were returned).

Then Haggai & Zechariah came on the scene, Zerubbabel & Joshua got back to work & the people joined them (even the prophets). Here we have the ASSURANCE from God that Zerubbabel who laid the foundation of the Temple would also finish it (vs. 9). It is completed in Ezra 6.

There is a question (vs. 10)- who has despised the day of small things? The older people who had seen Solomon’s Temple before it was destroyed, when the foundation of this new temple was laid (Ezra 3), they wept because it paled in comparison. It was a small thing to them, but it wasn’t to God.

“These seven rejoice to see” refers back to the stone in Zechariah 3:9,“For behold, the stone That I have laid before Joshua: Upon the stone are seven eyes....” The stone was probably a foundation stone for the temple, engraved with 7 eyes that denotes God’s ability to see and know everything (“they are the eyes of the Lord which scan to & fro throughout the earth”). A “plumb line” is a construction tool, a string with a weight attached to the end, to determine whether a wall is straight (i.e., in plumb). The two images convey the idea that the foundation stone engraved with the eyes of the Lord rejoice to see the construction of the Lord’s House happening under Zerubbabel.

This is a good place to remind that when we use the phrase “God’s House” it is a reference to the individual believer indwelt by the Holy Spirit and collectively the gathered church which is “being built together for a dwelling place of God in the Spirit (Eph 2:22)” When it comes to building God’s people & His churches, it’s no small thing to Him. The Lord commences it, continues it, and He will complete it.

Matthew 16:18, ... I will build My church, and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.

Philippians 1:6, being confident of this very thing, that He who has begun a good work in you will complete it until the day of Jesus Christ;

The work that God is doing in us, and through us, and for us, God assures it and rejoices in it. We can rest assured in the Lord’s activity on behalf of His church because of His anointing that is on His church.

3. A Shout Out to the Lord’s ANOINTING, 11-14

For the 3rd time Zechariah asks- what are these? (vs. 4, 11, 12); Vs. 11, what are these two olive trees, at the right of the lampstand and at its left? Again, the angel seems a little perplexed that Zechariah doesn’t get the picture, these are the two anointed ones, who stand beside the Lord of the whole earth.

Anointed ones-lit. “sons of fresh oil.” Olive oil was used for anointing people for offices, which set them apart for a special purpose. Only 2 types of offices were anointed in the OT- kings and high priests.

Who is the king in this story? It’s Zerubbabel, the governing descendant of David. Who is the high priest in this story? It’s Joshua. These two men were the representatives of the kingly & priestly offices in this renewed community. They were the ones to lead the people into the work God had called them. As the king & priest, they typify the Messiah, i.e., chosen, or anointed one. Jesus is the Prophet, Priest, & King.

Jesus is the one who anoints His church by His grace with His gifts for the offices that will lead His church to grow up into Him. Ephesians 4:7-8, But to each one of us grace was given according to the measure of Christ’s gift. 8 Therefore He says: “When He ascended on high, He led captivity captive, And gave gifts to men.”

Ephesians 4:11-13, And He Himself gave some to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, and some pastors and teachers, 12 for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ, 13 till we all come to the unity of the faith and of the knowledge of the Son of God, to a perfect man, to the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ;

Christ has anointed people in His church to help one another grow up into Him. This is who we’re called to be and what we’re called to do.

Tomorrow will be the one-year anniversary of me becoming pastor at LakeRidge, & I believe the Lord deserves a shout-out for His activity. In this past year (3/24/24-3/16/25), we’ve had 39 additions- 20 who’ve joined by letter, 14 by statement, & 5 by baptism (2 more next week).

The Lord deserves a shout-out for His assurance. We adopted a local church in town to support, & that church came over into the BMA. We started a 2-year countdown to our 50th anniversary which will happen in November 2026. He started this church, and He will continue it.

The Lord deserves a shout-out for His anointing. We’ve made some nice improvements to our building and grounds, with more to come. We look forward with anticipation to restarting a Sunday night Bible institute & to renewing an emphasis on city missions.

The Lord deserves a shout-out for His activity here, the assurance that He will build His church, and the anointing He has put on us by His Son and through His Spirit.