Longing For The Power Of God

Zechariah 4:2 NKJV

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.

Zechariah 4:10 NKJV

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.”

How Jesus Fulfills Vision

God of the small things

To some of the Jews, the project was but a “small thing” (Zech. 4:10) in comparison to Solomon’s grand temple, but we must look at God’s work through His eyes and not the eyes of the people of the world.

Great oaks grow out of small acorns and great harvests from small seeds. When Messiah came to earth, He was but “a shoot … from the stump of Jesse” (Isa. 11:1, niv) and was “despised and rejected of men” (Isa. 53:3).

The church began with 120 people and today ministers around the world.1

1 Warren W. Wiersbe, Be Heroic, “Be” Commentary Series (Colorado Springs, CO: ChariotVictor Pub., 1997), 106.

Isn’t that the way God often works? When Elijah found himself so discouraged he wanted God to take his life, God brought him out of the cave at Mount Carmel and had him stand on the mount before the Lord (1 Kings 19:9–12).

The wind shattered the rock into pieces, but the Lord was not in the wind. And after the wind an earthquake, but God was not in the earthquake. And after the earthquake a fire, but God was not in the fire.

Then, after the fire came the sound of a gentle whisper. “The abrupt refusal of Yahweh to appear as in the traditional theophany at Sinai marked the beginning of a new era in his mode of self-disclosure.”

From then on, God would especially be seen “in the still small voice.”

Bible history is the record of God using small things. When God wanted to set the plan of salvation in motion, He started with a little baby named Isaac (Gen. 21).

When He wanted to overthrow Egypt and set His people free, He used a baby’s tears (Ex. 2:1–10).

He used a shepherd boy and a sling to defeat a giant (1 Sam. 17) and a little lad’s lunch to feed a multitude (John 6).

He delivered the Apostle Paul from death by using a basket and a rope (Acts 9:23–25).

Never despise the day of small things, for God is glorified in small things and uses them to accomplish great things.

Not only was that true in Elijah’s day and Zechariah’s day, but it was true in Jesus’ day as well.

In a world of imperial power, where Caesar sat on the throne in Rome controlling the affairs of the world, what could be more insignificant than a baby being born fourteen hundred miles away, off in a corner of the empire?

What could be smaller than a crying infant in swaddling clothes, tucked away in a dirty, smelly manger?

What could be more unimpressive than an unknown teenage girl giving birth in a stable because there was no room at the inn? If there has ever been a day of small things, this was the day.

As the Gospels recount the public ministry of Jesus, it is clear that the disciples and Pharisees alike expected a Messiah who would do big things—a political revolutionary, a circus-show miracle worker, or a Maccabean-style warlord.

The disciples believed Jesus was that Messiah and thus seemed to expect him to lead a revolution against Rome, complete with “might” and “strength” (Matt. 16:21–23; Acts 1:6).

The Pharisees did not believe Jesus was that Messiah and thus challenged him to prove himself with one flashy miracle after another (Matt. 12:38; Mark 8:11–12; cf. John 2:18).

The Jewish crowds did the same (John 2:18; 6:25–40). They all expected a Messiah who would make a big splash.

And because of that, many of them missed the “day of small things” in a wandering itinerant prophet from Nazareth.

They didn’t hear the still small voice of the vagabond rabbi because they thought that when God came among them it would surely be with great apocalyptic upheaval.

Jesus offered hints of this in his teaching, most notably the parable of the mustard seed: “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field.

It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches” (Matt. 13:31–32 esv).

No one would have been surprised that Jesus compared the kingdom of God to a tree large enough for birds to roost in it; that had already been done by the prophets (e.g., Ezek. 17:22–24; Dan. 4:12).

But to compare the kingdom of God to something as small and insignificant as a mustard seed was utterly shocking. (See Luke 16:10; Matthew 25:21)

No one could have imagined that God’s great kingdom work would begin that way, that the “kingdom of God is at work not with heavenly armies, but with earthly disciples—not in the victory over the Romans, but in hidden exorcisms and healings.”

The apostle Peter certainly didn’t seem to imagine it.

Even hours before Jesus’ crucifixion, when the mob sent from the chief priests and the elders arrives to arrest Jesus in the garden of Gethsemane, Peter draws the sword.

But Jesus rebukes him sharply saying, “Put your sword back in its place … for all who draw the sword will die by the sword.

Do you think I cannot call on my Father and He will at once put at my disposal more than twelve legions of angels?

But how then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that say it must happen this way?” (Matt. 26:52–54 niv). The way was not through martial force but through the smallness and weakness of the cross.

It is common to think of the crucifixion of Jesus as a major world event, but for people at the time it was just another failed prophet being executed in some far-flung corner of the empire.

Its mention by only a handful of ancient historians is minimal at best (and even then largely derogatory).

But the resurrection reveals that this small and horrible event was actually the hinge of history.

While the world failed to notice, God was changing the course of history. And that is precisely how God works.

God changed the world through the “smallness” of the incarnation, an itinerant prophet, and a bloody death on the outskirts of Jerusalem.

How does this apply to me

Today God continues to work in the same way. It is easy to think that the best way to change the world is to elect a certain person president, overturn Roe v. Wade, or launch some other political or social cause.

Certainly those efforts are worthwhile, but the simple fact is that the empire—Roman or otherwise—has never been spiritually transformed, turned upside down and inside out, simply through the rise of a Constantine or the coronation of a Charlemagne.

The world was changed when a bunch of radical followers of Jesus did the “small things,” like taking care of the poor around them, taking in an orphan, or feeding the hungry.

By themselves these actions were not dramatic and often seemed to have few results, but that was how the Roman Empire was turned upside down—through the small things that believers did in radical obedience to Jesus and the gospel.

In the third century, a devastating and widespread plague erupted within the Roman Empire. Dionysius, the bishop of Alexandria, wrote,

“Most of our brother Christians showed unbounded love and loyalty, never sparing themselves and thinking only of one another.

Heedless of danger, they took charge of the sick, attending to their every need and ministering to them in Christ.… Many, in nursing and curing others, transferred their death to themselves and died in their stead.…

The heathen behaved in the very opposite way. At the first onset of the disease, they pushed the sufferers away and fled even from their dearest, throwing them into the roads before they were dead and treated unburied corpses as dirt, hoping thereby to avert the spread and contagion of the fatal disease; but do what they might, they found it difficult to escape.”

In the scope of the whole world, putting oneself at risk to care for the contagiously sick may seem like a small thing—even a foolish thing—but it is that kind of small thing that God uses to transform empires and change the course of civilization.

Like those in Zechariah’s day, we are also tempted to dismiss the small things, to presume that God only works through the big and the flashy, the important and the impressive, or the noticeable and the noteworthy.

We are just as likely to overlook what at first glance seems insignificant, assuming that it cannot make much of a difference in the world.

As a result, we too need to listen to the word of the Lord through the prophet Zechariah, “Who is he who despises the day of small things? Not by might, nor by strength, but by my Spirit.”

For instance, we should not despise the prayer closet. Prayer may seem like a small thing, hardly something that could change the world, but the vision of the lampstand and the two olive trees reminds us that we have a God who works through the small things.

Likewise, we should not despise the thankless work of volunteering at a soup kitchen or an COVID clinic.

Perhaps those things seem like drops in the bucket in light of how great the problems of hunger and disease are in the world. But we must remember that we have a God who works through the small things.

Our lives are full of opportunities to follow Jesus in the “small” ways:

keeping the nursery at church, taking flowers to a shut-in, writing a note to someone who is depressed, bringing a meal to someone who is sick, inviting a college student to share a holiday in our home, visiting the hospitalized, serving at a crisis pregnancy center, caring for our families in what can feel like monotonous daily tasks, or having a simple conversation about God with a friend or coworker.

All those may seem small, unless we remember that we have a God who works not by might nor by strength but through the power of his Spirit.

We have a God of lampstands and olive trees; we have a God of mangers and crosses; we have a God of the small things.

THE VISION OF THE GOLDEN LAMPSTAND AND THE TWO OLIVE TREES (4:1–6A, 10B–14)

  In verses 1–2, the angel comes to Zechariah and asks him, “What do you see?” Zechariah says, “I see, and behold, a lampstand all of gold, with a bowl on top of it, and seven lamps on it, with seven lips on each of the lamps that are on top of it.”

The structural configuration of the lampstand is not entirely clear. The Hebrew term for “lampstand” (menorah) calls to mind a seven-armed lampstand with a single lamp at the end of each arm.

The bowl situated on the lampstand functioned as an oil reservoir, which fed a continuous supply of oil to the wicks of the lamps.

In verse 3, Zechariah sees two olive trees, one on each side of the lampstand. These two olive trees functioned to supply oil to the reservoir bowl and keep it from running dry, thus ensuring that the lamps burned continuously.

The lampstand being made of gold associates it with the furniture of the tabernacle and temple. Within the symbolic world of the tabernacle, the tree-shaped lampstand was a reminder of the Tree of Life in the garden of Eden (Ex. 25:31–39).

The tabernacle as a whole with all its furniture was “a renewed version of the garden of Eden,” the place where God would be present among his people.

The burning of the lamps would presumably represent the Lord’s presence among his people (cf. 2 Sam. 22:29; Rev. 21:23; 22:5).

The lampstand represents the elect people of God—first Israel and then later the church—as many references throughout the Old and New Testaments make clear. Isaiah wrote of Israel,

“Arise, shine, for your light has come, and the glory of the Lord rises upon you. See, darkness covers the earth and thick darkness is over the peoples, but the Lord rises upon you and his glory appears over you. Nations will come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your dawn” (Isa. 60:1–3).

Again, “For Zion’s sake I will not keep silent, for Jerusalem’s sake I will not remain quiet, till her righteousness shines out like the dawn, her salvation like a blazing torch” (Isa. 62:1).

In the New Testament Jesus called his disciples “the light of the world” (Matt. 5:14). He told them to “let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven” (Matt. 5:16).

He said, “Keep your lamps burning” (Luke 12:35). In Revelation 1 we have the New Testament equivalent of Zechariah’s vision: Jesus standing among seven golden lampstands.

On this occasion Jesus explains, “The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches” (Rev. 1:20).

Just as those lamps continued to burn night and day (Lev. 24:1–4), so in the same way the Lord by his Spirit would be among his people continually.

Holy Spirit and “oil”

In his valuable commentary on Zechariah, Charles L. Feinberg makes a major point of this, showing why oil is such a good symbol for the Spirit of God or the Spirit’s work.

“First, oil lubricates, thus abolishing friction and promoting smoothness. The Holy Spirit it is who gives smoothness and abolishes wear in every service for God.

Second, oil heals. In biblical times wine and oil were applied to wounds (cf. Luke 10:34). No one but the Spirit of God can heal the heart wounded by life’s cares, sorrows, or unpleasantness.…

Third, oil lights. It is the Holy Spirit who illuminates the sacred page and the pathway of the believer.…

Fourth, oil warms. Whether it be the sad plight of the lost soul, or the need of a fellow-member in the Body of Christ, or the truth of God, our cold hearts are unresponsive and impregnable except the warming, glowing, pulsating power of the Spirit of God penetrates and diffuses genial and welcome warmth.

The life lived under the control of the Spirit of God is radiant with the joy of the Lord and fragrant with the perfume of the presence of the Lord. Fifth, oil polishes. The Spirit takes the rough edges from the character of the believer.”

THE HISTORICAL APPLICATION (4:6B–10A)

Despite God’s clear validation of rebuilding, these early stages of temple reconstruction were the object of derision by some, who were calling it a “small thing.”

Accompanying the vision therefore is the oracular pronouncement in verses 6b–10a. Zerubbabel receives the word of the Lord: “Not by might, nor by strength, but by my Spirit.”

One of the best-known verses from the book of Zechariah, this declaration sums up the heart of the vision’s message. Might and strength should be taken as a hendiadys, together referring to the use of martial force.

The point is that God’s restoration program will not be advanced through political or military struggles against Persia, but through the small but God-ordained efforts in rebuilding the temple.

These efforts may be scorned as lacking “might” and “strength” in the world of Persian controlled Yehud. They may appear weak and impotent to many.

But the Lord says emphatically that even though the temple restoration project may be “small,” it will nevertheless accomplish his purposes through the power of his Spirit.

The oracle continues with a description of exactly how this will take place, beginning with the leveling of a “great mountain.” (vs. 7)

This is where the vision encourages us. Zerubbabel was a man beset by many problems in his attempts to carry God’s work forward.

He was fighting lethargy, smallness of vision, and lack of faith within Israel. Without, he was fighting the determined opposition and evil cunning of God’s enemies.

These forces undoubtedly did seem like a “mighty mountain” before him. They were an obstacle human power could not remove.

But God urged him to be strong in completing his task, knowing that the Lord himself would reduce the mountain to level ground. The victory would be won by God’s Spirit, not by human power.

Within the cultural world of the ancient Near East, the first task in building a new temple was to clear a level piece of land that would be suitable for the foundation of the building.

This was often done on a mountain or an artificially constructed plot of elevated land in order to depict the typological relationship between the earthly temple and the heavenly temple on God’s cosmic mountain.

Following the preparation of the platform, according to the oracle, the top stone would be brought forward. Again, the ancient Near Eastern background is illuminating.

In rebuilding a temple, continuity was one of the highest values. Great effort was taken to build the new temple in precisely the same spot as the old temple.

This geographical continuity was matched with a desire for material continuity as well, enacted by the bringing forth of the top stone. (v. 7) The presentation of the top stone was a ceremonial act in which a stone from the former temple became the first laid stone of the new temple.

The purpose was to symbolize the continuity between the old temple and the new one; just as the deity dwelled among the people in the former temple, so also would he dwell among them in the new temple.

In response to the presentation of the top stone, the people will let out great shouts of “Grace! Grace!”

They will recognize that what is happening is really due to the work of God among them. The repetition of “Grace!” underscores the intensity of the people’s joy over what the Lord is doing.

While the first part of the oracle addressed Zerubbabel, the second part addresses Zechariah himself.

The word of the Lord now comes to him, assuring him that the project will indeed see completion at the hands of Zerubbabel. (V. 9)

In light of that fact, the question rings out: “Who is he who despises the day of small things?” No one should dismiss these small beginnings as inconsequential or unimportant.

Bound up within these early stages of temple reconstruction are the purposes of God for his people and derivatively for the whole world. Hidden inside the apparent weakness of this “small thing” is the power of God’s Spirit.

Through the lens of faith, what once appeared weak is now shown to be strong. What once appeared to be impotent is now shown to be the instrument of the Spirit’s power.

What once appeared to be merely a “small thing” is now shown to hold within it the purposes of God for Israel and the world.

Longing For The Power Of God

Zechariah 4:1-14

So far we’ve talked about longing for God’s peace, justice, presence, and righteousness in the first 4 visions. Tonight we look at longing for God’s power.

In the fragile postexilic years in which Zechariah ministered, many were nostalgically remembering Judah’s former glory.

With the awe-inspiring palace for the king and the utterly magnificent temple structure that towered toward the sky in the heart of Jerusalem, the people had lived under the Davidic dynasty for more than four hundred years.

But then, in 587 or 586 b.c., the nation was conquered by the mighty and powerful Babylonian army. They destroyed the temple, carted off the wealth stored there, and dragged scores of Judeans into exile.

Many others scattered across the Jordan or down to Egypt or into Syro-Phoenicia. When the dust settled after the siege was over, the holy city lay in utter ruins.

Those left behind, now impoverished and homeless, tried to piece their lives back together. Naturally, Israel’s future looked bleak, if not entirely hopeless.1

1 Bryan R. Gregory, Longing for God in an Age of Discouragement: The Gospel according to Zechariah, ed. Tremper Longman III, The Gospel according to the Old Testament (Phillipsburg, NJ: P&R Publishing, 2010), 84–85.

Yet during those exilic years, the people began thinking about why this tragedy had happened. What was God doing in all of it?

Prophets like Ezekiel began to help people make sense of the catastrophe by offering new words of hope about what God would do in the future.

Even in exile there were stirrings of a work of God that would begin undoing the awful suffering and calamity of the Babylonian exile.

It would be like a new exodus when people would march back from their captivity and enter into the Promised Land once again.

Once there, they would rebuild a new temple from the ashes. So the people began praying, singing, and reading their sacred texts together.

Hope began to break through the bitter soil and flower into renewed expectations—expectations that God would do something beyond their wildest dreams.

He would not just put Israel back on the map, but would use her to heal the brokenness of the whole world.

The Persian ruler Cyrus issued an edict in 538 b.c., allowing those in exile to return to their land and begin reconstruction on their temple.

Shortly thereafter, work began on the foundations in 537 b.c. Among the people, expectations soared. Optimism raged. Excitement was palpable. It looked as if the renewal might actually have begun.

But the work quickly stalled and over the next seventeen years little happened, due to a number of reasons. Disillusionment and cynicism set in among the people.

Under the leadership of the prophets Haggai and Zechariah, the high priest Joshua, and the governor Zerubbabel, things finally got moving in 520 b.c., though on a much smaller scale than some had hoped.

Some looked back and wept at how the new temple fell far short when compared with the original (Ezra 3:12–13; Hag. 2:3).

Others looked forward and scoffed at the rebuilding efforts as pathetic when compared to the worldwide vision of restoration that had been birthed during the exilic years (Zech. 4:10).

On December 18, 520 b.c., when the refoundation ceremony for the new temple was held, many ridiculed it. They derided the efforts, contemptuously calling it the “day of small things.”

Quite possibly, this was a play on words. The prophets were fond of heralding the “Day of the Lord” when God would return and set things right again.

Perhaps the scoffers were alluding to this “Day of the Lord” when they mocked what was happening with derision as the “day of small things.”

To them it looked pitiful and meager with little potential to accomplish the purposes of God within the world.