Scripture
1Then the angel who had been talking with me returned and woke me, as though I had been asleep. 2“What do you see now?” he asked. I answered, “I see a solid gold lampstand with a bowl of oil on top of it. Around the bowl are seven lamps, each having seven spouts with wicks. 3And I see two olive trees, one on each side of the bowl.” 4Then I asked the angel, “What are these, my lord? What do they mean?” 5“Don’t you know?” the angel asked. “No, my lord,” I replied. 6Then he said to me, “This is what the Lord says to Zerubbabel: It is not by force nor by strength, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of Heaven’s Armies. Zechariah 4:1-6
Observation
Like Zechariah being woken from his sleep I feel like I just woke up to what these verses really mean this morning. “Not by might, not by power, but by My Spirit says the Lord.” I sang this verse, I’ve heard this verse, I’ve prayed this verse, I’ve preached this verse multiple times. For some reason, this is the first time I’ve noticed that this verse is the interpretation of a vision. The prophet Zechariah was still groggy as the angel showed him a prophetic vision even before his first cup of coffee. The work had stalled on the rebuilding of The Temple and Zerubbabel, the civic leader of Jerusalem, had grown tired and discouraged. Seeing a vision of the lamp stands in the temple was expected. Seeing two olive trees providing a constant unending supply of pure oil to keep the lamp stands perpetually shining was enough to shock Zechariah fully awake. He was so surprised that he had no idea what this meant. The angel interpreted that this new temple, this new move of God, would not be done through behavior modification but rather through spiritual transformation. Duzik points out in his commentary on this passage: “One of the more tedious duties of the temple service was the constant care of the lamps on the golden lampstand. They had to be continually refilled with oil, cleaned of soot, and their wicks had to be maintained. In this vision, Zechariah sees “self-filling” lamps, fed directly from two olive trees.” It wasn’t going to happen by the collective might of combined resources. It wasn’t going to happen by the individual strength and personality of a dynamic leader. It was going to happen by the endless fresh supply of The Holy Spirit. The Hebrew word here for Spirit- ruah- is the breath of God. It's the same word used in creation (Gen. 1:2), to open and close the Red Sea for God’s people (Ex. 15:8,10), and to give life to a valley of dry bones and turn them into an army (Ez. 37:1-14). None of that could happen without the fresh, constant outpouring of The Holy Spirit. This new temple couldn't be built in the old way. It was a fresh dependency upon The Holy Spirit that was required. New creation, fresh deliverance, unity and refreshing all flow from the olive trees that keep us shining bright. Jesus said it this way, “I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.” (John 15:5). So, why do we keep trying to walk this Christian Life out without the Holy Spirit?
Application
This morning I woke up with a pep in my step! It's National Coffee Day! I’m a big fan. Not just because I like coffee at all times and in many forms, but because everyone was giving it away for free today. Starbucks, Panera, Barnes & Noble, Dunkin’ Doughnuts, Krispy Kreme (along with a doughnut). I could literally spend the whole day getting hopped up on free brews. While I was drinking my own coffee at home I was telling my family about how they could get a free cup of coffee. I was even supplying reusable cups to do so. I was like a coffeevangelist. In fact, even as I sit here writing this, my mind is also thinking about which place I’m going to next for free coffee. I might have a problem... If I’m this excited about waking up to the endless supply of fresh and free coffee, how much more so should I be excited about the fresh and free endless supply of The Holy Spirit. Like Zechariah, I’m waking up to a religious reality where all of our strategic plans for church growth have been upended by the massive cultural upheaval perpetuated by the pandemic. Like Zerubbabel we are looking at a massive vision that has been stalled and we can’t seem to amass the “might”- combined resources of many or the “power”- individual strength of the leader. Into this landscape of burnt out pastors and worn out saints God brings an olive tree into the church auditorium and says, “Let’s try it my way.” We don’t need killer motivational speeches with re-tweetable catch phrases when we have The Holy Spirit hovering over the "null and void" of the weary souls around us. We don’t need epic smoke, lights, and sound when we can hear the rattling of bones rising up as an army under the power and leadership of The Holy Spirit. We don’t need a dynamic, manicured, good looking, slightly brash and rebellious religious personality when we have the person of The Holy Spirit parting the waters of the impossible challenges His people are facing. Now that’s worth waking up for! What would ministry look like if it wasn’t supplied by adrenaline, strategy and hype but by The Holy Spirit’s help? It might not only be sustainable, but actually enjoyable! Even more enjoyable than free coffee!
Prayer
Spurgeon prayed a dangerous prayer of complete dependency upon The Holy Spirit. I’m going to pray it today and be ready for things to change: “Oh! May God send us poverty; may God send us lack of means, and take away our power of speech if it must be, and help us only to stammer, if we may only thus get the blessing. Oh! I rave to be useful to souls, and all the rest may go where it will.” Forgive me for starting off in The Holy Spirit but trying to perpetuate this by our might and my power. You have an endless supply of everything I need to accomplish the God-sized vision You’ve given me. Why do I keep trying to do the God-sized through Jon-strength? What else do You have to do after You've allowed the shut-down of buildings and church programs to wake us up to the reality of a new way of being The Church? Maybe You’re allowing for the “null and void” season in ministry so You will be invited to speak Your “let there be” into something new! Maybe You’ve allowed us to be between a rock and a hard place with The Red Sea in front of us and Pharaoh’s army behind us so that we would finally call out to You to do what only You can do by Your Spirit. Maybe You’ve allowed a season of dry bones so we could see the result of trying to “rally the troops” with any thing other than a fresh move of The Spirit of God! No matter how hard we try, how loud we preach, how much we post, we can’t bring a dead army back to life! Holy Spirit come! Let us wake up to the reality of our desperate need for You!
Comments