Chapter 4
A fifth vision: of a golden lampstand. Now the angel who originally talked with Zechariah "wakes" him. I don't think this angel is Jesus. So Zechariah says he does not understand the vision of the lampstand, the lamps, and the olive trees - two olive trees, not just one - though he sees it clearly. The angel explains. I do not understand the explanation. The explanation is an instruction to Zerubbabel. I believe from other reading that this lampstand, with a bowl on top, and seven lamps each having seven lips, is the Holy Spirit. It represents the third person of the Trinity. I think.
2026 - This continues to give me problems. The lamp and all that is the spirit. Are the two olive trees "might and power"? In the background? I think, I am almost certain, the Two Witnesses of Revelation are the two olive trees described here. They are right there with the light of the Spirit falling on them. The Two Witnesses are indeed given great power. They breath fire. But ultimately they are killed...they are not the means of victory...but the Spirit is.
vs 8 says Zerubbabel laid the foundation of the temple, and he will complete the rebuilding. In his time. This is near only.
10b seems to jump back to the vision. The seven are the eyes of the Lord in all the earth. Is the Holy Spirit elsewhere referred to as "the eyes of the Lord"? TCR doesn't pick up on it if so.
2023 - The seven eyes are the seven spirits of God. I don't see these being a different seven. We see in Rev that the Lamb has seven eyes, and seven angels are in the heavenly temple in the presence of God, and we know they go out when he sends them because one was sent to see Daniel.
Seems Zechariah asks twice what the olive trees are. Twice because they are men with "two lives". Men who lived, and were taken up? Perhaps they are Elijah and Moses? They were here once before, and they will come again. So ask twice about them to get an answer? The olive trees are beside two golden pipes from where the golden oil comes out. Here is the answer:
14 Then he said, "These are the two anointed ones who stand by the Lord of the whole earth." [Zec 4:14 ESV]
First time I read this, I thought of the two witnesses. Also, the two at the Mount of Transfiguration. Moses and Elijah. ESV says "anointed ones". TCR notes says literal Hebrew is "two sons of new oil". MSB says they represent the priestly and kingly offices through which the coming blessings will flow. So...new covenant, Jesus, who is both our King and our High priest? Wow! MSB agrees with that part about Jesus combining the two. However, this would mean it has nothing to do with the two witnesses in Revelation. Nor is it about Moses and Elijah.
2026 - The Temple was rebuilt despite great opposition in Zechariah's time. That is the immediate fulfilment that endorsed him as a true prophet in his own time. It says that right in vs 9, marking that the purpose of the immediate fulfilment is to endorse Zechariah as a true prophet speaking God's own words. This also gives credibility to looking at prophecy this way. So what is the future fulfilment?
The seven? The Seven Spirits of God, over the 7 Spiritual dominions, holding back the forces of Satan. In Zechariah's day they kept the demons back while the Temple was restored. Perhaps that battle will again rage in the future as the Temple is rebuilt during the 70th. I think the Temple will be rebuilt before the AoD is set up. I think the Two Witnesses will be active beginning in the first half and ending sometime after the 5th Trumpet. If this is right, and they cross the mid-70th boundary, then through their power, they may be protecting the rebuilding of the Temple. Perhaps the MoL decides not to let it be completed, but these two ensure that it is? While they are the visible force that keeps it going, the seven are also quite active at that time holding back the dark spiritual forces trying also to prevent its rebuilding? This kind of works...and kind of doesn't.
So far in 2020, I am thinking Zechariah is far more in depth and complex than I though even as recently as last year. I don't think I have ever seen a book about Zechariah. There are 8 chapters left. Will they all be so complicated? I have to think that the explanation for the whole Abraham's seed/Nation of Israel covenants will be found in this book, if I can just pull it out. As noted before, the state of Israel from this time of returning until 70 AD is very sad. These promises of prosperity have never really come to pass. Certainly they didn't before 70 AD, and the Bible skips all this in between we are having now. So what exactly is it that they are to hope for? The Branch. Not power, not a return to prosperity, not Solomon's time, but for the Messiah. That is the sole hope of the Jews who return here from Babylon. They will prove once again that they cannot maintain the demands of the Mosaic covenant, prove again that they should be dispersed - wiped out really - as a nation. And it should be - it seems to me - the Abrahamic covenant that is continued in Trib/Great Trib and the Millennial.
2026 - At the Mount of Transfiguration, two men stood beside the Lord of the whole earth. Only two. I don't think I will wonder about the Two Witnesses anymore. They are Moses and Elijah. Moses parted the sea, Elijah called down fire from heaven on Mt. Carmel. If those are not power and might I don't know what is!