You Will Succeed, Not By Might Or Your Strength But By The Spirit Of God

Greetings to you all greatly beloved of God and welcome to another episode of our study of the Scriptures. We bless the name of the Lord God for His many blessings over us. Praise be to God!

In our today’s episode 625, we shall be examining the book of Zechariah Chapter 4 titled:

You Will Succeed, Not By Might Or Your Strength But By The Spirit Of God.

We stopped at chapter 3 in our previous post, and today, we will be examining chapter 4 which talks about the vision of a golden lamp stand flanked on both sides by two olive trees. Remember, the people of Judah had already been repatriated back to Jerusalem and they had started rebuilding the temple. So, God needed to use some figurative words relating to the articles in the temple to convey His Words to the people through the prophet.

It’s amazing to see the lampstand flanked on both sides by two olive trees through which the oil that kept the lamps burning was produced.

This pure and precious oil supplied fuel to the lampstand through seven pipes. In essence, the lampstand had seven heads with fire burning consistently on them and you will remember that according to the custom of the temple workers in those days, following the law of Moses, these lamps must be consistently maintained to ensure the oil does not run out in order to keep the fire burning.

No wonder, in Samuel 3:3, when Eli was already growing old and losing his grip on God’s duties, Samuel was quickly called into the prophetic office, and you will remember the statement made in the Bible that time: “…God’s lamp had not yet gone out…”

This is one of the reasons the priests and Levites were saddled with the responsibility of taking care of the temple and its articles such as the lampstand, ensuring oil keeps flowing and supplying energy to the flame.

However, in Zechariah’s vision, it was a unique one as he did not see any Levite or priest filling the lamps with oil. Rather, he saw a spiritually automated self-filling lamps through the two olive trees. We will throw more light into that shortly under the interpretation of the vision.

The Meaning of The Vision

Prophet Zechariah was curious and wanted to know the meaning of the vision. So, he asked for an answer according verses 4-5.

Please, note that it is not wrong to ask God questions when you are faced with a situation that requires explanation. Simply ask God for clarifications in prayers and He will provide you with accurate answers through His Word.

Reading through verse 10b, we will see the answers that prophet Zechariah got.

The angel told him the seven lamps are the eyes of the Lord, which see all over the earth. In other words, there is nothing hidden before the Lord.

Then in verse 14, he got the interpretations for the two olive trees. The angels says “…these are the two men, whom God has chosen and anointed to serve Him – the God of the whole earth…”

Who were there two people?

They were no other persons than Zerubbabel and Joshua the high priest. We have examined Joshua’s case in chapter 3 where he was purified and adorned the robe of righteousness and satan could no longer accuse him as planned. And then chapter 4 is for Zerubbabel.

Who was Zerubbabel?

Zerubbabel was their political leader in Jerusalem handling municipal responsibilities who knew he needed to finish the work but then he was already overwhelmed with the enormous tasks involved, coupled with the various oppositions they faced from detractors. We have read all these in the books of Ezra and Nehemiah and also attested to by prophet Haggai.

So, Zerubbabel needed some encouragement and energy to continue.

Then God, who sees into the affairs of men and knows about what everyone is passing through decided to step into the equation.

That’s why God told Zechariah to tell Zerubbabel that it’s not by power or by might but by the Spirit of the Lord. Both Joshua and Zerubbabel require extraordinary power from God to accomplish that which God had entrusted into their hands.

Hence the reason Zechariah did not see anyone supplying oil to the lampstand. The lampstand got its supply directly from the olive trees.

Both Joshua and Zerubbabel got their supply for greater works from the Spirit of God directly.

 God wants His supply and our reliance on the Holy Spirit to be continual.

Because the Spirit of God was involved in their affairs, that’s why Prophet Zechariah could boldly say: “what art thou o ye mountain before Zerubbabel, thou shalt become a plain…”

The building project was so massive that Zechariah had to likened it to a great mountain which would be made plain and truly, it indeed became a plain.

To be continued…stay tuned and stay blessed.

Let’s pray:

For those reading this and you have been wondering how you are going to survive this period of pandemic, I decree the Lord God through His Holy Spirit will supply your needs just as the olive trees in the vision continually supplied oil to the lamps on the lampstand, in Jesus name.

Every good thing that your hand had started, you will surely finish it through the power of the Holy Spirit at work in you, in Jesus name.

Bible Readings For Today: Revelation Chapters 21&22 with Isaiah 66

I call you blessed now and always.

Tuesday December 29, 2020 (DDMI)