Shabbat Shalom. I would like you to turn in your Bibles to the fourth chapter of the prophet Zechariah. And let me read the whole chapter today, the 14th verses of this chapter. And we are in vision number five, that God had given Zechariah in relationship to the dealing of God with Israel as a nation, both at the time that Zechariah received the prophecy, as well as leading him to a future day when he is going to restore Israel, when the Messiah will come, Yeshua, at his second coming. So let's read those verses. And I begin with verse one. And the angel of the Lord talked with me, came again and waked me as a man that is awakened out of his sleep, and said unto me, What seest thou?

And I said, I have looked, and behold, a lamp stand, all of gold, with a bow 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 the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my Lord. Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord to Zerubavel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord.

Who art thou, O great mountain, before Zerubavel? Thou shalt become a plain, and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof, with shouting, crying, Grace, grace unto it. Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, The hands of Zerubavel had laid the foundation of this house. His hands shall also finish it, and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you. For who hath despised the day of small things? For they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubavel with those seven. They are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro throughout the whole earth.

Then answered I, and said unto him, What are these two olive trees, upon the right side of their lampstand, and upon the left side 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? And he answered me, and said, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my Lord. Then said he, These are the two anointed ones that stand by the Lord of the whole earth. That's the end of the fourth chapter of the prophet Zechariah. The more I'm opening the scripture to prepare myself for the messages concerning the prophecies that God had given the Hebrew prophets, The more I found delight in the study of these passages, because it gives us a beautiful illustration, beautiful promises that God had made for Israel, our nation, but also for you and I as believers who are part of the body of Messiah.

Beautiful illustration that teach us many spiritual lessons that are gold mine if we will just take it in and allow the spirit of God to appropriate the word of God to our own souls. In these chapters, from chapter 1 to chapter 6 of the prophet Zechariah, he receives eight visions that teaches him a lesson concerning God's dealing with Israel. Vision after vision, Zechariah receives, and he gives this to us in those first six chapters of his ministry, of his prophecy. Now, all these eight visions he received in one day, these, as I mentioned before, are not dreams. These are literal visions that the Lord, that God had revealed to Zechariah, and he teaches lessons of God's grace and God's love to Israel.

The love of God towards the people of Israel is being seen here, and you and I as believers in Yeshua can embrace it and apply this also for our own lives. Well, if you remember, in our study, and I always have to make a little reference to that, we talked about those visions that came one by one. In the first chapter, we have the vision of the horsemen among the myrtle trees. We saw that horsemen riding on that red horse. Then, in chapter 1, we talked about the second vision of the four horns and the four craftsmen. Then, we saw how God is going to restore Israel in a future day through the Messiah, who is the one who is going to restore the nation.

Then, we also, vision number 3, chapter 2, is the vision of the man with a measuring line. In our previous ministry meeting, we talked about the third chapter of Zechariah, the cleansing of Yehoshua, the high priest of Israel, and how God have washed and cleansed him and gave him a clean garment, made him suitable to minister among the nation of Israel. Today, in this fifth vision, we have another man by the name of Zerub Havel mentioned. The prophet received a vision from the Lord concerning the ministry of Zerub Havel. He was not a high priest, he was the governor of Judah. And he was one of those individuals who returned to Jerusalem with the early Jewish remnant.

When Cyrus announced and proclaimed the possibility to go back to the land, Zerub Havel was one of the leaders of Israel. He was the civil leader of Israel. He was the governor of Judah. He came back leading the Jewish people to the promised land. And he was the one that was called to rebuild the Beit HaMikdash, the temple in the city of Yerushalayim. Well, in this fifth vision, there is a great lesson that the Lord is teaching Zerub Havel through the prophet Zechariah. Just to remind you, Zerub Havel came, they began to build a house in about 535-36 BC. We read it in the earlier chapter of the book of Ezra.

And as they were working, laying the foundation of the temple in Jerusalem, then the enemies, the Samaritans, the Shomronim, began to oppose this Jewish remnant in building the temple. And they opposed it to such an extent that the Jewish people stopped to build the temple. 15 years passed by from 536 BC to now about 520 BC. And the temple was not finished. Only the foundation were laid. The people were discouraged and they didn't continue to build the temple. And now, Zerub Havel, who was the leader, needed an encouragement from the Lord. You know, those of us who are in ministry know very well what it means when spiritual leaders in the body of Messiah labor and labor seeking to build the body of Messiah.

But because of discouragement from without, from within, they stop to build. It's so discouraged. I've heard not too long ago from a brother who is a pastor of 1500 people in a local church. He says, "Brother Gideon, do you know how many spiritual leaders are so discouraged?" And they give up on the ministry because of what's happening and the opposition that they receive from without, but also from within. Here, Zerub Havel needed an encouragement from Jehovah, from the Lord, to build the house of God, the temple, in the city of Jerusalem, in the midst of opposition and discouragement among the people of God. So what we have here in this chapter is a vision of the lampstand and the two olive trees, which teaches Zerub Havel an important lesson.

First, in the first three verses of this fourth chapter, Zechariah sees a vision. It says in verse 1, "The angel that talked with me came again and he waked me as a man that is waken out of his sleep." Apparently, it's not a dream because Zechariah needs to be awakened. In other words, Zechariah probably saw vision 1, 2, 3, 4, and he was probably so overwhelmed and tired that he fell asleep. So what's happened? The angel waking him up to show him an additional vision in order that he will use this vision for the encouragement of Zerub Havel and the Jewish remnant. That person who is the angel, notice again, if we will go back to the earlier chapter, we understand that he is Malach Adonai, Malach Yehovah, the angel of Jehovah.

It is the pre-incarnate Messiah who revealed to Zechariah things concerning God's dealing with the people of Israel. So he said unto him in verse 2, "What do you see, Zechariah?" The very fact that it says, "What do you see?" It is a vision that was presented before him. And what does he see? Behold, a lampstand, all of gold, Zahav in Hebrew, pure gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps. It has the center shaft that had three branches to each side, making together seven lamps. In Hebrew, we call it Menorah. And then he says in verse 3, "And two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof." Now, just to imagine, and it will be tremendous to actually present a picture, a film before us so we can see it clearly.

You see a single Menorah, which has seven lamps. Above the lampstand, he sees a bowl. In Hebrew, we call it gula. It's really a basin. Right above the Menorah, he sees a basin, a round pot, a round bowl. And then he sees seven pipes going from the bowl into each of those lamps that belong to this Menorah. It is easier if you know the Hebrew, because here it sounds like there's only seven pipes coming out of the bowl. Each pipe goes to one of those lamps. But actually, in Hebrew, it says, "Shiv'ah, Veshiv'ah." It means there are seven pipes going into each one of these lamps.

In other words, there are 49 pipes coming out of this bowl, flowing into the seven lamps of the single Menorah. Interesting vision. Menorah, which have seven lamps. Above it, there is a bowl. And from the bowl, there are going seven pipes to every one of these single lamps coming all the way down. And then it says in verse 3, "And there are two olive trees by it, one upon the right hand of the bowl and the other one upon the left of the bowl." In other words, if you will see the picture totally, there are two olive trees, which are the two sides of the bowl. The bowl received oil from the olive tree.

The bowl is filled with oil. And then this basin shooting to every one of these lamps seven pipes of oil. I want you to notice the number seven that is mentioned more than once here in this chapter. We know from the scripture that the number seven speaks of fullness. We learn here from this lesson that there is a fullness of resources of the oil of God to keep the Menorah afresh, a light lit. You know that the Menorah, first time that it had been presented to our nation, Israel, is what we read earlier in Exodus chapter 25. It was the man by the name of Betzalel and Aholi Av, two men who were the Harashim.

They were servants of God. They were working with stone, steel, wood, and they were the one who built the first Menorah for the Tabernacle on the way to the Promised Land. Exodus chapter 25 and verses 31 to 40. The lamp stand, the Menorah, is a representation of the Lord Jesus, the Messiah, and as well linked with the nation of Israel. The center shaft is a representation of the one who is the center, the Messiah himself. And the three branches on each side represent those who are linked with him, namely the people of Israel. This beautiful illustration of the Menorah. Later on, King Shlomo, HaMelech Shlomo, he himself, before he built, not the Tabernacle, but the temple itself, in 1st King chapter 7, he himself built Menorah, similar to that.

In fact, there were 10 of them that are found in 1st King chapter 7, verses 48 to 50. You can read it in your time. And again, it is symbolically speaks of the nation of Israel. If you will go today to Israel, you will see two emblems that our nation Israel have. The one emblem is the civil emblem is the Magen David, the star of David. The Zionists who came to rebuild the nation, they came in the earlier 40s and even earlier to get the establishment of the nation of Israel. This is the civil emblem of the nation of Israel. But really, you might say the religious emblem of our nation Israel.

You will look, the Menorah symbolically speaks of the nation of Israel. If you will check around and you will see the emblem of the nation of Israel, you will notice that there is a Menorah. And the two sides of the Menorah, there are two olive branches. And below it, it says Yisrael. This is the symbol of the nation of Israel. Not only civil, but also you might say religious. It is the biblical symbol of the nation of Israel linked together with the Messiah Yeshua. The number 7 here is very interesting because the number 7 speaks about the full number, the fullness of God. And if you remember, we just read today in Isaiah chapter 11 that the fullness of the Spirit of God, the sevenfold Spirit of God, resided on the promised Messiah of Israel.

Isaiah chapter 11 from verse 5. And I am reading these verses. It says: And the Spirit of the Lord rested upon him. This is one. The Spirit of wisdom. This is two. And understanding. This is three. And of counsel. This is four. And of might. This is five. And of knowledge. This is six. And of the fear of the Lord. This is seven. The sevenfold Spirit of God rested upon the promised Messiah of Israel. So here is Zechariah, 520 BC. Need to minister to this Jewish remnant to return from Babel after 70 years of dispersion. He needed encouragement to give to the nation. So the pre-incarnate Messiah, the angel of the Lord, revealed to him in a vision.

And he shows to him those four things. Number one, he sees the menorah. Number two, he sees the bowl. Number three, he sees the pipes. And number four, he sees the two olive tree. So this is the vision itself. And you know, in scripture, the oil that come out of the olive tree is always a representation of the Ruach HaKodesh, of the Holy Spirit of God. Every time in the scripture, when we read concerning oil, oil always is connected with the anointing of the Spirit of God. The priest, the prophet, the king was anointed with oil. Even the name Mashiach, Messiah, come from the Hebrew word, the anointed one.

He was anointed by the Holy Spirit of God. So can you imagine what a vision? You have already seen four visions. Now he sees that vision of the lampstand and the two olive trees, and he began to be puzzled. And that's why in the next verses four and five, we find out that Zechariah now asked for the meaning of the vision. He knew the meaning of the menorah itself, but he wanted to know what is the connection with the menorah, then the bowl, then the pipes coming down, and then the two olive trees. What is the total meaning of that vision? So it says in verse four, I answered and I speak unto the angel that talked with me.

And I said, "What are these, my Lord?" Then the angel that talked with me answered and he said unto me, "Knowest thou not what these be?" And I said, "No." Now apparently, he, Zechariah, did not understand the totality of the vision. And he was honest enough to say to this angel, "I don't understand. I need you to help me to understand what God had revealed to me in this vision." And this is beautiful to see how God is speaking through the vision to the servant of the Lord that he will minister to the people of Israel in a time of discouragement. When they were down, they stopped to build the temple of the Lord.

So here you notice now in the next verses, the angel gives a word to Zechariah for Zerubabel and the nation of Israel. Two messages he's giving him right here. First of all, in verse six and seven, the angel gives a word from the Lord for the person by the name of Zerubabel. Notice it says, listen to this. Then he, the angel, answered and spake unto me and he said, "This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubabel, saying not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit sayest the Lord. Who art thou, O great mountain, before Zerubabel? Thou shalt become as a plain, and he shall bring forth the headstone, and then thereof with shouting, crying, grace, grace unto it." And that is the first message that Zechariah received to give to Zerubabel.

Now turn with me to Ezra, chapter two. We find the name of Zerubabel first mentioned. By the way, his name, Zerubabel, comes from the Hebrew word Lizroah, to sow. And you know the word Babel means in Babylon. In other words, he was a man that was sown in Babel. And so he was a man that was born in Babel, and God had sown the nation there in Babel, and he intended to bring them back to the promised land. So you notice it says in verse one: "Now these are the children of the province that went up out of captivity, of those which had been carried away, whom Nebuchadnezzar, the king of Babel, had carried away unto Babylon, and came again unto Jerusalem, and Judah, every one unto his own city." And the two men that I mention here, Zerubabel was the civil leader of Israel.

He was the governor of Judah, according to Haggai chapter one and verse one. And the second man is Joshua, who is the spiritual leader of Israel. Two men that were leading our nation Israel. We already talked about Joshua or Yeshua in the third chapter, how God had cleansed Joshua and gave him clean garments so he can serve the nation of Israel. But now he's going to show him certain things about Zerubabel. Now again, Ezra chapter three, listen to this verse one: "And when the seventh month was come, and the children of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered themselves together as one men to Jerusalem.

Then stood up Yeshua, the son of Yotzadak, and his brethren the priests. And they built the altar of God of Israel to offer burnt offering thereon. As it is written in the law of Moses, the man of God. And they set up the altar upon his basis. For fear was upon them because of the people of those countries. And they offered burnt offering thereof unto the Lord. Even burnt offering morning and evening. Can you imagine? Here Zerubabel began to build the altar there when they came. And they began to offer sacrifices because everything began in a relationship with God with the offering of the sacrifice.

The lambs and the rams all were an offering. Sacrifices and blood was shed because on the basis of the bloodshed they can have a relationship with the Lord. Now go down in Ezra chapter 3 to verse 8. "Now in the second year of their coming unto the house of God in Jerusalem, in the second month began Zerubabel, the son of Shaltiel, and Joshua, the son of Yotzadak, and the remnant of the brethren, the priests, and the Levites, and all that came out of captivity unto Jerusalem, and appointed the Levites from 20 years old and upward to set forward the work of the house of God." So here is this Zerubabel set forward to begin to build the house of God.

We find his name mentioned now more than once here in these chapters in the book of Ezra. As a leader, he was ready to build the house of God. He set up an example. He was the one that is giving an example to the nation of Israel. But something has happened, beloved brothers and sisters. You will notice that it says in verse 10 of Ezra chapter 3, "When the builders laid the foundation of the temple of the Lord, they set the priests in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites, the sons of Asaph, with cymbals, to praise the Lord after the ordinance of David the king of Israel.

And they sang together by the course in praising and giving thanks unto the Lord, because he is good and his mercy endures forever towards Israel. And all the people shouted with great shout when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the house of God was laid." Now, you can just imagine. Here is the leaders, Rubevel, and the nation. They began to build. There was a foundation already. The building began to be laid, and they soon is going to rise up, and the temple will be built. They were singing. They were praising God. They were shouting for the goodness of the Lord, as it says here in verse 11, "For his mercy endures forever." They realized the mercy of God towards them.

And they were singing and praising the God of our fathers, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. And you know what happened at that time, brothers and sisters, as they were building the temple? The young men were joyful. But the older men, who saw the previous house that Solomon had built, they began to cry. It says here, notice this verse 12 and 13, "But many of the priests and the Levites and the chief fathers, who were ancient men that had seen the first house, when the foundation of this house was laid before their eyes, they wept with a loud voice. And many shouted aloud for joy, so that the people could not discern the noise of the shout of joy from the noise of weeping, the weeping of the people.

For the people shouted with loud shout, and there was noise heard from afar off." So in other words, you can just imagine, Zerub Havel leading the Jewish remnant of Israel to build the house, they laid the foundation. The older people, who are older than 70 years, they may have been 85 or so, because they now returned, they were young men when they were carried to Babylon, now they came back to Jerusalem, and they look at this house that they are beginning to build, and they remember the temple that Shlomo had built years before, and they began to weep, because it looked very fragile, very small, seemed to be insignificant.

So they were weeping, they were crying when they looked back in their memory, and they remember this huge, tremendous Beit HaMikdash that King Solomon had built. But the younger one, who were born in Babel, they saw this foundation, they began to shout for joy, and to sing, and to praise God, because as far as they were concerned, for them that was the only temple, they don't remember the one that was built in the past, because they never knew that temple. But as they were building and singing, the opposition began. And you know what happened? It's always like that in the work of the Lord. When God's people began to do the work of God, the enemy comes and began to destroy the work of the Lord, to discourage the people of God, and began to stop them from building and doing something for the Lord in this world that God had expected Israel to do.

And so, notice we find the opposition began. Ezra 4:1 Now when the adversaries of Judah and Benjamin heard that the children of the captivity built the temple unto the Lord God of Israel, they came to Zerubbabel, and they began to try to twist him. He said, "Let us build with you." And Joshua and Zerubbabel said to them, "No, you have nothing to do with us, to build the house of God, but we ourselves," "Together we'll build unto the Lord the God of Israel." You know what Satan does? He works in two ways. In one way he works by tricking. He's called in 2 Corinthians chapter 11 as an angel of light.

He brings into the people of God things that are not from God at all. And if this doesn't work, he began to act as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour. So what we find out, that they began to ask them to work with them, and they said, "No, you are not part of our nation. You are not part of the people of Israel. You cannot build with us the house of the God of Israel." When they were not allowed to build the house, they began to weaken the strength of the Jewish remnant and to stop them to build the house. It says in verse 4, "Then the people of the land weakened the hands of the people of Judah, and they troubled them in building, and they hired counselors against them to frustrate their purpose." Well, if it doesn't work to behave like an angel of light, I will behave like a roaring lion.

If it doesn't work to trick God's people in coming in and claiming that I'm going to help them along, and ultimately to lead them astray, if it doesn't work that way, I will try to work the other way. And you know, beloved brothers and sisters, if you read the text in chapter 4 of Ezra, verse 24, "Then ceased the work of the house of God, which is at Jerusalem. So it ceased unto the second year of the reign of the Reis, the king of Persia." That's what happened. And the discouragement came. The opposition was against these Jewish people by their enemies really, the Samaritans, the Shomronim, and they stopped to build the house of the Lord.

And I want to make an application for us, because it is very important. All those things were written for us as believers, according to 1 Corinthians chapter 10. What is the application? You and I, as part of the body of Messiah, are left here in order to use our gifts, our time, our energy, to build for the Lord Jesus the Messiah. He is not here, He is in heaven. He left the believers here on earth to serve Him and to minister to the people of God, to share the Gospel, to tell others about the love of God, that they will turn their hearts to Him, and they will be gloriously saved, they will have forgiveness of sins, then to encourage believers to build them up.

But the enemy always wants to hurt the work of the Lord. He does that in many ways. There are persecutions that have happened to Jewish people and to non-Jewish believers who are being persecuted by the enemies, who are seeking to destroy them. They don't give them the liberty to read the Scriptures. Years ago, in the former Soviet Union, Christians could not read their Bibles in secret. They were underground, reading the Word of God. In China, in the past, even today, there are certain believers, they cannot read the Scriptures. They cannot pray. Believers in Yeshua the Messiah, persecuted by their enemies because they don't want them to believe that Yeshua is the Messiah.

Many have lost their lives for the name of Yeshua the Messiah. In fact, look at the history of the early Jewish believers even. Look at the Apostle Paul end up to be in the dungeon. And look at James, what happened to James. And you read it in the text of the Bible. Because of their faith in Yeshua the Messiah, they lost their lives. Well here, those believers of this age, before the Messiah came, they were building the house. They were building the house. But the enemy came to seek to stop them from building the house of the Lord. So they may have been very, very discouraged.

So everyone build their own houses, carry on with their own life. And then the word of the Lord came to Zechariah and he's showing him this great vision of the menorah, the bowl, the pipes, and the two olive trees. And he's teaching him a very, very important lesson. So the angel of the Lord gives Zechariah those two words. The first one he's saying to him in verse 6, Then he answered and he spake unto me and he said, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubabel. And he said, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit saith the Lord of hosts. Lo b'chail, velo bekorach, ki beruchi amar Adonai tsevaot.

The Lord said, Zerubabel, If you are going to build the house of the Lord, and if you are going to do anything for me, you cannot do it by human power. The only way to build the house of the Lord, Zerubabel, it's going to be done by the power of the Spirit. Now you know that is a great verse to teach us a spiritual lesson. If we are ever going to do some building in the body of Messiah, do you think God needs your flesh or my flesh to use in building the house of God? The flesh the Bible said profit is nothing. All ego and pride and self-will will never please God.

In fact, when we are doing anything in the service of the Lord, in the energy of the flesh, the old nature, the sin nature, it will never be pleasing to the Lord. In fact, God does not want it whatsoever. He cannot use the old nature, the flesh. Everything in ministry, and Zerubabel needed to learn it in connection with the past remnant of Israel, 520 BC. If you are going to build my house, Zerubabel, you are going to have to trust me and allow the Holy Spirit of God to use you in the ministry among the Jewish remnant at that time. In other words, God does not want the human nature, the old sin nature, in the power of the flesh to do the ministry of the work of the Lord.

You remember what Jesus himself the Messiah said to the early disciples. He said to them in Acts chapter 1 in verse 8, And ye shall receive power after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you. And ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea and in Samaria and unto the uttermost parts of the earth. He said to these early brethren, even before the church was born, there were Israelis, Hebrews, Jewish people who wanted the restoration of Israel, but now he was going to send them to become apostles, to build the church, the ecclesia, the assembly. And he's saying to them, you know, you are going to receive power.

What is this power? It is the person of the Holy Spirit of God. And he is going to use you to be witnesses to the whole world, beginning in Jerusalem, then in Yehuda, then in Samaria, and then ultimately to the uttermost part of this earth. And those early believers in the power of the Holy Spirit of God preached the message of the gospel to the world around. And you and I have benefited from the ministry of those servants who ministered the word of God in the power of the Holy Spirit of God. And I can tell you of many other verses. You remember the Apostle Paul in 2 Corinthians chapter 12, who wanted that the thorn in his flesh will be totally removed from him.

And Yeshua the Messiah told him, no, Paul. He says, my grace is sufficient for you. He says, you don't need to trust your flesh. You don't need to trust your energy. It is the Spirit of God that will enable you to minister the word of God and to serve God's people. It was Paul who said in Philippians chapter 4, I can do all things through the Messiah who is strengthening me. It is only through Yeshua the Messiah, in the power of the Spirit of God, that we can do things in the ministry of the things of the Lord. So, Zerub Havel needed this encouragement. So, it must have been so encouraging to Zerub Havel where he said to him, Lo B'chail, not by my.

Lo B'koach, not by power, but by my Spirit. Amar Adonai Tzevaot, saith the Lord of Hodes. And so, we need to learn from this lesson that we cannot trust ourselves when it comes to the service of the Lord. You know, sometimes we get very much discouraged. One said, When I think about the many years of the ministry that the Lord has used me. And there are so many little things that it seems to come out of all the years of labor. And God had to teach a lesson that you cannot trust yourself. It is my service, my ministry. All what you are is but a channel to bring forth the word of the Lord and to trust that He will work in the life of people.

You know, most of us, most of our families do not believe that Yeshua is the Messiah. Now, we ask why. Are we better than them? No. Are we greater than them? No. Why do I believe that Yeshua is the Messiah? And my father, my mother, my brother, my sister, my family do not believe that Yeshua is the Messiah. Why is it? What holds them from becoming believers in Yeshua? Well, the answer is very simple. It is a divine work in the soul. When God takes His word and appropriate to the heart of a person. Convicting him and saying, Listen, I am a sinner. I need forgiveness of sins.

I am going to end up to be eternally separated from God. I need forgiveness. Who can do it? Not the rabbis. Not the priests. Not the imams. Nobody can forgive my sins. Only God. But how can He do so? He does so on the basis of the finished work of the Messiah. Who loved me. He is saying this John 3:16. For God so loved the world that He gave His only begotten Son, the Mashiach, that whosoever believeth on Him shall not perish, but have everlasting life. Zerubavel, don't trust yourself. You are going to build the house of God in Yerushalayim. But it is not by might.

It is not by power. But it is by the power of the Spirit of God, saith the Lord. Jehovah had said it. And so He says in verse 7 now, He is assuring Zerubavel of victory. And He said to him, Who art thou, O great mountain, before Zerubavel? Thou shalt become a plain. In Hebrew it's Mishor. Plain. Empty. Down. Bring forth the headstone thereof, with shouting, crying, chen, chen, grace, grace, even unto it. And so the Lord is really speaking. He said, Who is this mountain? You know, when you see the great mountain. The mountain is, symbolically speaks of king or kingdom. And there were the king who were opposing the Jewish people from building this temple in Jerusalem.

But mountain also speaks of trials and problems. There are mountains of challenges that Zerubavel faced. There are mountains of discouragement that Zerubavel had faced. And so the Lord is telling him, you know, this great mountain is nothing before Zerubavel if the Spirit of God leads him. It will become like a plain. In other words, the Lord said, I will open the door for Zerubavel. I will remove this mountain. In fact, I will crush it. And I will cause it to become plain. I will cause it to become Mishor. This Har Gadol is going to become Mishor. This great mountain is going to become a plain.

And you are going to finish the work for me, Zerubavel. It says in verse 7b, he shall bring forth the headstone. The headstone in Hebrew is called Even HaRosh or HaEven HaRoshah. That means the head, the capstone. You know, when you begin to build, you first of all put the cornerstone. Then at the end, you put the capstone, the Rosh, the head, the last stone. So the whole building is finally completed. So what he's saying to Zerubavel, that Zerubavel will bring the final stone, the headstone. And he will do it with shouting, crying, grace, grace unto it. The Hebrew word for grace is chen or chesed in this context is the word is chen.

It will be the grace of God that will enable him to continue on in spite of all the mountains of trouble and opposition to finish the temple. Again, New Testament application. It was Paul who said in 2 Timothy chapter 2 and verse 1. Thou therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in the Messiah Yeshua. In other words, Timothy, get more grace. We need grace in order to continue on. Not only the grace of God that saves us, but the grace of God that keeps us and strengthen us to continue on in serving the Lord. And Zerubavel will receive the grace, the chen of God to enable him to put on the capstone and to finish the work.

And you know, in a symbolic way here, what we have, Yeshua the Messiah was that one stone that we talked about him in chapter 3 and verse 9. "Behold the stone that I have laid before Joshua. Upon one stone shall be seven eyes. Behold, I will engrave the engraving thereof, says the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day." This is the cornerstone. But here we're talking about the headstone. And the stone in the Bible is often one of the messianic titles of the Messiah. In fact, what we really have here, a message to Zerubavel through Zechariah for the Jewish people, for the nation of Israel.

One day the capstone will come, who is really the cornerstone, the immediate stone. He will come with grace and will bring to fruition the promises that God have for Zerubavel and the nation of Israel. So the first message to Zerubavel was that he does not need to trust himself. That he needs to trust the Spirit of God to accomplish the work of God. But look at the second message found in verses 8, 9, and 10 to Zechariah for Zerubavel. And he says in verse 8, "Moreover, the word of the Lord came unto me, saying..." Here again, you notice, he's still in the same, seeing that vision concerning that lampstand with the pipes and the olive trees.

And he's saying to Zerubavel in verses 9 and 10, "Zerubavel, you started to build the house? You're going to finish to build the house." Look at this, verse 9, "The hand of Zerubavel have laid the foundation of this house?" "His hand shall also finish it, and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts has sent me unto you." Well, you, Zechariah, tell to Zerubavel, encourage him, give him a word of encouragement. Zerubavel, don't be discouraged. Don't trust yourself, but trust the Spirit of God's ministry through you. But I can assure you, he's saying to Zerubavel, "You have laid the foundation, you will also finish it." We read in Ezra, chapter 3, verses 8 to 13, where the foundations were laid.

Then we read in chapter 4 of Ezra, where the work has stopped for a while. And then in Ezra, chapter 6, verses 1 to 3, 11 to 18, the building of the house of the temple was completed. It was Zerubavel who laid the foundation, it was Zerubavel who would complete the work of the Lord. That must have been such an encouragement to Zerubavel in a time of need. Then he's telling him something that he needed to hear, and I think you and I need to hear that in verse 10. He says that, "For who has despised the day of small things?" In Hebrew it says, "Mi baz le-yom k'tanot." You know that we live today in the days of small things.

We sometimes don't realize, but God is dealing with us individually, and he finds pleasure if there's any small things done for him. We don't need necessarily to say, "Wow, I gotta go to a church meeting where there are thousands of people there." Well, how many people were around Yeshua when he was the Son of God here on earth? Do you know there were only 12 individuals that were with him in the upper room in Pesach, when he anticipated his death on the cross, on the tree. And even one of them had sold him. He sold him for 30 pieces of silver. How many had followed him? This is the Messiah of Israel, the Son of God.

He healed the brokenhearted. He gave sight to the blind. The lame could walk. The hungry were fed. The dead were raised. And how many had around him? He had only 12 people in the upper room. And you know, you and I might look at this and we begin to despise that. I'm amazed sometimes when I watch on the television, and I see the hundreds and thousands of people who are going to see a rock band, a rock band playing. And they're all shouting and they're raising their voice and they're singing for the rock and roll. For the musician. Or some superstar who comes and is a great actor.

Or some beautiful girl who is appearing in singing or whatever it is. And thousands are just following that. And everybody raised their hands and they're singing and they're praising that person. And you come to a church meeting and you find 15, 20, 30 people. And we said to ourselves, you know, we need to build a great building with big stained glass windows and so on. And you know, Zechariah had to teach Zerubabel and he teaches us. Don't you ever dare to despise a day of small things. Thank God for every believer in the world today that is humbly before the Lord. Jesus opened his or her Bible and sit with two or three and simply occupied with the love of God through Yeshua the Messiah.

Yeshua said in Matthew 18, 20. For where two or three are gathered together unto my name. There am I in the midst of them. He didn't say 20, 30. He didn't say 200, 300 or 2,000, 3,000. For where two or three are gathered together unto my name. He promised to be in the midst of them. Don't despise the day of small things. Use those days of small things to be an encouragement to the hearts of those few individuals. And build them up and be thankful for these days. Even when there are much discouragement. Don't despise them. Because many big things started from small things. There are many missionaries and servants of the Lord who have gone alone to many, many areas.

And the Lord used them to lead here and there individuals. And through them others came to know the Messiah. We should never ever despise a day of small things. That's what he is really saying to Zechariah. We need to be always thankful for even the little things. And I want us to appreciate the Lord giving us blessing in our midst. To be under the sound of the word. For Bible classes. For the ministry of the word. We should make an effort to be a blessing to each other. And to enjoy the small things. Yes. That the Lord had given to us. That the Lord had given to us.

And use the gift to serve others. And to grow the ministry of the Lord in his power and his ability. Then you notice now. In verse 10b. He is now encouraging the people of Israel. You notice he is changing from he. Zerubabel. To the word they. For they shall rejoice. And shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubabel. With those seven. Even are the eyes of the Lord. Which run to and fro throughout the whole earth. And you know that word here. They speaks about the Jewish remnant. That were with Zerubabel. He said they shall rejoice. Why? Because they are going to see the plummet.

The Hebrew. Heha even habdil. It's a stone. That at the end of a string. That when you leave the stone down. And it doesn't move. It's level. What we would call it in English. In Hebrew we call it. Peles. It's really straight. They are going to see Zerubabel holding. This stone on a string. And they will see that he will be the one. Who will ultimately finish the work. That the Lord have called him to do. And now you notice at the end of verse 10. It says. In the hand of Zerubabel. With those seven. What are those seven? They are the eyes of the Lord.

Which run to and fro. Throughout the whole earth. Now again. You notice the number seven. And if you remember. We already read this. In chapter three. In verse nine. Where it says. For behold. The stone. That I have laid. Before Joshua. Upon one stone. Shall be. Seven eyes. Behold. I will engrave. The engraving. Thereof. Sayeth the Lord of hosts. Now that seven eyes. The number seven. Speaks of completeness. Is the all. Seen. Eye. Of God. Who sees everything. That is going on. Nothing is hidden. From the eyes. Of the Lord. He sees everything. He sees the opposition. He sees those who fall. And he sees those who are against.

He sees the mountain. Of the trouble. The trouble. That is before Zubavell. He is going to straighten up. And he is going to. Make it flat. So Zubavell. Will be able to finish. The work of the Lord. God sees everything. And you know. That tells us. A lot. Because he sees us. He sees in our life. How do we conduct ourselves. He knows our shortcoming. He knows. That which we do the right thing. He knows our sins. He knows our fail. He knows everything about us. And he knows. The sevenfold eyes of the Lord. They run to and fro. In Hebrew. They go all over.

And he sees. Everything that is going on. Here. In this world. It is amazing. How important it is. And he encourages Zubavell. To continue to build. Because God's eyes. Can see all things. That are going on. In this world. In Revelation chapter 5. In verses 5 and 6. Speaking concerning. Our Lord. Yeshua the Messiah. It says. And one of the elders. Sayeth unto me. He says. Whip not. Behold the lion. Of the tribe of Judah. The root of David. He prevailed. To open the book. And to lose the seven seals. Thereof. And I beheld. And law. In the midst. Of the throne. And of the four beasts. And in the midst.

Of the elders. Stood a lamb. As it had been slain. Having seven horns. And seven eyes. The horns speak of strength. The eyes. Speaks of all seen. Seven horns. And seven eyes. Which are the seven. Spirit of God. Sent forth. Into all the earth. God. He's all powerful. And God. Is all seen. He sees. He sees. What's going on. And he's able. To help. Zerub Havel. To finish. The ministry. That he had given him. To do. Now. Brothers and sisters. Here's the conclusion. Verses eleven. To fourteen. Is really. The Lord's. Explain. To Zechariah. What is the meaning. Of the. Olive trees. And the lamp. Stand.

He's giving him. A summary. Explanation. About. This. Is very. Careful. In reading. Of the scripture. Is very. Important. To really. Understand. The words. That is given. To us here. In verse eleven. Zechariah. Asked the angel. A question. Then answered I. And I said unto him. What are these. Two. Olive trees. Upon the right. Side. Of the candle. Of the lamp stand. And upon the left. Side. The roof. So Zechariah. Wanted to know. On the right side. Of the ball. The other one. Is on the left side. Of the ball. The ball. Is in the middle. The lamp stand. Is below. Forty nine. Pipes. Seven to each.

Lamp. Bringing oil. The olive tree. Provide the oil. Pouring it. Into the ball. The ball. Is filled. Pouring it. Into these. Lamps. There is a full. Ministry. Of the spirit. Of God. For every. One. Of the lamp. That are. Part. Of the menorah. So. He continued. In verse 12. And Zechariah asked. Again. But now. He asked. Not so much. About the trees. I want you to notice there. Now. He asked. About. The branches. That are coming. Out of the trees. That's why. I want you to distinguish. From verse 11. And verse 12. So. Look what he said. In verse 12. And I answered. And I said. Unto him. Again.

He said to him. What are these. Two. Olive. Branches. Notice that. In verse 11. He says. What are these. Two. Olive. Branches. Which. Through. The two. Golden. Pipes. Empty. The golden. Oil. Out of. Themselves.

verse 11 is olive trees in verse 12 is olive branches the word in hebrew branches is shevalet or shivley hazatim the branches that are coming out of the totality of the tree and so they ask what are these two olive branches now which through the two golden pipes empty the golden oil out of themselves into that bowl so in verse 13 and 14 the angel give him an answer and the answer is simply this and he answered and he said unto me no is thou not what these be and i said no my lord and then he said these are the two anointed ones in other words in hebrew the two sons of oil the

two anointed one that stand by the lord of the whole earth zechariah now receive an understanding concerning the complete picture it's not only that there are two olive trees but now there are two olive branches who are coming out of the trees and because the trees are the one who are the source of the oil the branches filling up the bowl the bowl filling up the oil in the menorah and that's how the menorah can give light the two branches there are two anointed ones and what does that mean in the context of these chapters three and chapter four there were two men that were raised by god to minister among the people of israel

at the time of their return from bavell the two men chapter three yoshua chapter four zubavell they were anointed once they were once called for ministry and they are merely branches that are coming out of the tree and their responsibility is to lead israel and minister to the jewish people in chapter three joshua was cleansed if you remember in chapter four zubavell was encouraged to continue to serve the people of israel so there is a great lesson that we learn here beloved brothers and sisters there is also an application for the future in the context in which we find ourselves now in zechariah chapter four the two branches are the two servants of god two

men you might call it in hebrew two sons of oil they receive from the spirit of god power and ability to minister among the jewish people in their time but there is also a prophetic ministry concerning the future of israel that i want to touch in revelation chapter 11 and you'll see how revelation and zechariah this is the messages from the lord that are linked with each other there is a connection between what god had given john in the book of the revelation and what god had given zechariah in his prophecy revelation chapter 11 in verse 1 we are in the middle of the tribulation period the church the church the ecclesia is no longer

here the agreement with the antichrist already began and israel have already made an agreement with the counterfeit messiah satan will be cast down chapter 12 into the earth in the middle of the tribulation and here we find out that yeshua give a revelation to yohanan concerning what's going to happen during the tribulation period look what it says and it was given unto me read verse 1 like unto a rod and the angel stood and he said rise measure the temple of god now we are going to talk about the temple be rebuilt in the future now not 520 bc anymore we are talking about the tribulation period itself and the altar and them that worship

therein but the court which is without the temple leave out and measure it not for it is given unto the gentiles and the holy city shall they tread under foot forty and two months in other words what the lord is saying that the gentiles will tread the temple for 42 months this is three and a half years in the second half of the tribulation so now verse 3 and i will give power unto my two witnesses and they shall prophesy for how long for a thousand two hundred and three score days one thousand two hundred and sixty days which is three and a half years those two witnesses of revelation chapter 11 are hebrew jewish

israeli men that god will raise in the the beginning of the tribulation to use them to minister and to prophesy among the nations of the world and verse 4 he gives us the connection with zechariah chapter 4 these are the two olive trees and the two lamps stand standing before god the god of all the earth and if any man will hurt them fire proceeded out of their mouth and devour their enemies and if any man will hurt them he must in this manner be killed these have power listen to what power god will give to those two witnesses these have power to shut heaven that it rain not in those days of their prophecy

that's why some people believe that one of those witnesses will be elihu because if you remember it was elijah who have gone to heaven without to die and he was the one that prayed if you remember and heaven was shut then he prayed again and the rain came down i differ on this but that's why some suggest and then we continue and they have power over waters to turn them into blood that's why some believe that maybe the second witness may be moses because it was moses who turned the water into blood if you remember when israel were in the land of mitzray the land of egypt it was moses who was sent to egypt

in order to tell pharaoh let my people go and he said if you will not let your people go god told him you stretch your hand and the water will turn into blood to turn them into blood and to smite the earth with all plagues as often as they will and that's why some believe it may be elijah and moses i personally simply believe that god will raise two men doing the tribulation to use them as a servants among his people israel and the nations of the world but i just wanted to see beloved you have to read the whole 11th chapter of the book of the revelation but you will notice that the similarity

between zecharia 4 and revelation chapter 11 in zecharia chapter 4 he concluded this vision by saying to him these are the two anointed one that stand by the lord of the whole earth revelation 11 verse 4 these are the two olive trees and the two lamps then standing before the god of all the earth what is the lesson in conclusion is simply this in zecharia's time 520 bc those two anointed one simply speaks about the two servants yeshua who were ministering to god's people doing their time prophetically he takes us to the future and he's speaking about the time when israel is going to anticipate restoration it will be the tribulation sarat yaakov that will

drive israel to recognize that yeshua is the messiah they're going to look upon him whom they have pierced zechariah chapter 12 verse 10 and they will mourn for him as one mourners for his only son they will recognize that he was the messiah but that will only happen at the end of the seven year tribulation and those two witnesses of the tribulation period will be the same type of a channel the day by the power of the spirit of god will be used to minister to the nation of israel and to be vessels to lead them to the knowledge of our lord yeshua the messiah in the coming days so beloved brothers in conclusion two

trees olive tree two branches out of these two branches there are pipes that coming down into the bowl and the bowl is filled with oil then there are seven pipes going to every lamp of the menorah 49 pipes ministering to the menorah to give light to the world around what it tells us that the full number seven the full power of the spirit of god is the only way in which israel will be in the future restored and in which we can do the ministry the service of the lord the source is the holy spirit of god the channels are the branches that are coming out of the source out of the tree to be

able to receive oil and to give oil in order that the lamp stand will give its light israel is called to be the light of the nations of the world you and i as believers in the church age are called to be a light to the people around us it is only in the power of the spirit of god that we are able to shine for the lord jesus the messiah and to give a testimony to his name and zubavell needed this encouragement in the midst of much discourage may the lord encourage you and i today that we will be shining for the lord yeshua and be a testimony in this needful world