Grace, Grace to It!
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An expository study
with some comments on Revelation 11:1-15
Zechariah
4:7-14
The great mountain of
opposition is always there to hinder the work of God (v.7). In this case of the
reconstruction of the temple, we see it clearly in Ezra 4. But in chapter 5, in
obedience to the Word of God, the work is begun anew and, in chapter 6, Darius
made an edict, in which he prohibited any interference in this work, but God’s
people know that it was only in compliance with the Word of God (6:14). The
word was detained for a while, but had to be completed, because what is of God
is never left half done.
Faith (Mt.17:20; 21:21)
removes the mountains of opposition (2 Co.10:5; 2 Th.2:4). So that the work of
the temple can begin and the first stones of the foundation be laid, the
mountain must be made a plain. If the plan of God is followed, He removes the
obstacles. Who are you, oh great mountain? It may be great, but soon and
easily, it will fall and there will remain no evidence in its place. And how
will it be done? Well, as Zerubbabel and Joshua moved forward (by faith – Ezra
5:2), the obstacles were removed before them. They began to work before the
edict of the emperor arrived with permission to proceed.
In our days, we are witnessing
the final installment of this prophecy, as the nations oppose Israel and
especially its temple (Be sure that you are on Israel’s side, or you will be
resisting the fulfillment of a prophecy that is well over 2,000-years-old!). The opposition will be dissolved, when the
Messiah returns the second time. All Israel will be saved (Jer.51:25; Dn.2:34,
45; Ro.ll:26). The word of the prophet is essential here, because by human
power there are no guarantees, and at times, no possibilities, but the Word of
God assures that it will be finished. Christ, the living Stone, comes again to
take His place.
As the last stone is laid
upon the temple, all will recognize with joy that it was obviously a work of
God… His grace from start to finish… “grace upon grace” (Jn.1:16). If it had
not been for an opposition, which was impossible to overcome, something far
above what man could do, God does not receive the glory. Stories of revivals
relate that, before they began, there were often powerful and palpable
manifestations of demons. The people of God, with these manifestations taking
place before their eyes, went to prayer, because it became real and clear that
humanly speaking, there was no way to combat them. Then, as a work of grace,
God moved supernaturally and no man could take credit, because all were
convinced that they were experiencing something beyond human strength or
ability. What should make us shout with joy is to know that God is present and
that we are involved with something, which is surely from Him.
It may be that the people
lose heart and courage, because of the ferociousness of the enemy’s opposition,
and those two elements cause a slowdown in the work, but since it is something
that God initiated, according to His purposes, it will surely be completed.
Christ is the beginning and the end. “Without Me,” He said, “you can do
nothing.” The work was finished in the sixth year of the reign of Darius.
Until the word of God comes,
a prophet does not speak, but thank God, He continues to speak (v.8)! We ought
to be thankful, specifically, for this word that lies before us. Keil: “This
word of the Lord is not addressed through ‘the interpreting angel,’ but direct
from the Lord, and that through the ‘Angel of the Lord’ (who is the Son of
God). For though in the first instance
the words, “the hands of Zerubbabel etc.,” relate to the building of the
material temple, and announce its completion through Zerubbabel yet the inference,
“and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you,” shows that
the meaning is not exhausted thereby, but that here too this building is
mentioned only as a type of the building of the spiritual temple ; and the
completion of the typical temple is but a pledge of the completion of the true
temple. For not through the completion of the material temple, but only through
the building of the kingdom of God, shadowed forth by it, can Judah know, that
the Angel of the Lord was sent to him.” Concerning the reality of the
eternal will of God that this temple only typifies, many times more will it be
recognized that the Word of God Himself was sent to do the work. The same one,
who speaks here in verse 9, is He that speaks in 2:9.
“The day of small things”
(v.10) characterizes the things of God… it can as well be proclaimed the day of
God. We need to learn to appreciate these days. They mark the way of the cross,
where the hand of God is strong in weakness. We see a small stream of water
flowing under the threshold of the door of the temple that converted into a
river and later into rivers (Ez.47). The Lord put His hand in the hand of
Zerubbabel, as he put His hand in that of David with his small sling; the same
happened when the small fish and bread passed through His hands into the hands
of His disciples. They lifted Joseph from his prison, David from his sheepfold,
and Daniel from slavery. He converted the world through the hands of fishermen
and of one, who made tents. His hands were the hands of a carpenter. Now the
small plumb line of Zerubbabel is used to build a small temple.
The same eyes of 3:9 and 2 Chronicles 16:9 see
and discern perfectly. We have seen that Satan, as well as angels, patrol the
earth; and now we see the eyes of the Lord range through all the earth “to give
strong support to those whose heart is blameless toward him”. That heart is the
heart prepared by God to carry out His purposes. The Lord gives him support.
The seven eyes are involved in the work.
Zechariah has asked
concerning this whole scene in this chapter and he received its message. Now he
wants to know specifically about the olive trees, but he doesn’t receive an
answer (v.11). He insists (v.12), teaching us an important lesson: He cannot be
indifferent, passive and conformed… We must insist in prayer. Ask and you will receive.
More specifically still, he asks about the lower branches of the trees, from
which the oil flows. They are vitally connected to the trees, as the branches
to the vine (John 15). We must learn this picture, along with the account of
the Apostle John in Revelations and we will speak later about that. The oil is
golden and proceeds from heavenly trees, signifying that the oil is of the
highest quality… that which only comes from God. The pipes take it to the receptacle
above the lamps.
As in verse five, the
question is turned back to Zechariah and anew he confesses his ignorance
(v.13). He must humble himself before he can receive divine knowledge. “If
anyone among you thinks that he is wise in this age, let him become a fool that
he may become wise” (1 Co.3:18). He is a disciple, a student, and only those
receive from the Lord. They are the only ones, who have something to share with
others and we had better listen to those who have heard and learned from the
Lord.
We must look at these
anointed ones, along with those who appear in the last days; because only that
way can we see the entire fulfillment of this vision. However these two are
priest and king, who are before God and before the people (v.14). Doesn’t it seem
that this scene describes a work of the trinity, as Christ describes it, in
which the Spirit proceeds from the Father, sent by the Son?
So, along with this chapter,
we want to study Revelation, chapter 11, which is the final fulfillment of what
we are studying in Zechariah. In this chapter four, we are seeing a prophecy
for Zerubbabel, which has to do with rebuilding the temple. Zerubbabel is a
king without a throne and without an army, and Joshua is the high priest without
a temple. These are the two witnesses in their day, the branches connected to
the two olive trees.
A last-day revelation
Revelation 11 begins with a
measuring rod for measuring a temple. In Zechariah 1:16, God promises that a
measuring line will be stretched over Jerusalem and in chapter two again a
measuring line appears. It signifies that Jerusalem will be measured and
established again. Chapter three speaks of the purification of Joshua and four
tells us of Zerubbabel and his part in rebuilding the temple. So it shows the
Lord’s care for Jerusalem and especially for the temple in Jerusalem.
God’s vision extends across
the ages and John sees it in a more perfect form, occurring in the first half
of the seven last years described in Daniel 9:27. I give a brief resume of
Daniel’s extremely important prophecy, when he is informed by the angel,
Gabriel, of a 490-year period that has to do exclusively with his people,
Israel, and its fulfillment begins in the time of Zechariah. That is how these
two portions, one in the Old Testament, the other in the New, are joined.
Zechariah’s vision occurs as the commencement of a work that relates to the
time of John, when a perfect fulfillment takes place.
The Persian emperor gave the
order to rebuild Jerusalem and it was completed 49 years later. Then, a time
period of 434 years went by that ended with the violent death of the Messiah… a
total now of 483 years. Then the “clock” that was marking those 490 years, the
times of the Jews, stopped, and the times of the Gentiles began. During this
time, which now has lasted more than 1,900 years, the gospel is preached in the
entire world and the Jews have had no temple. The Jewish “clock” will begin to
run once more and terminate the last seven years that have not yet occurred,
when the antichrist offers a seven-year pact or treaty that will include the
building of a third temple, precisely in the place where the first and second
were destroyed.
In Revelation 11:1-2, this
temple is now in place and John has orders to measure it, leaving out the
temple courtyard, which is given over to the Gentiles and they will trample the
city of Jerusalem for 42 months, or 3 ½ years. At the same time, the ministry
of two witnesses begins, who, for many reasons, seem to be Elijah and Moses,
returned to the world (v.3). In John’s revelation, these are the two olive
trees, which also appeared in Zechariah’s vision, but here instead of one seven-fold
candlestick, there are two (v.4). We established clearly that the candlestick
that Zechariah saw represented Israel, and my six or seven commentators are in
agreement over that issue.
The question now is what or
who is the second candlestick? The Bible is its own interpreter and it will
have to answer that question for us. The only other candlestick that I can see
in the entire Bible, besides the one that represented Israel, is represented by
the seven lamps in the first three chapters of Revelation. These lamps
symbolized seven churches. They are not joined by a central lamp stand, but are
churches in cities that, more or less, form a crude circle in Asia Minor. They
are united into a spiritual union by Someone who stands in the middle of the
lamps, who is the Lord Jesus Christ. They are better united in the Spirit than
the candlestick, whose lamps are physically united.
Now, I cannot give you a
dogmatic truth about this matter, beyond any doubt, so I will simply say that
the best explanation, as far as I am concerned, is not the one that the
majority, who study eschatology (the study of end times), will give you. However,
there are some who think that the second candlestick of 11:4 is the Gentile Church.
I think that this is something important enough, so that it should not be
easily discarded, but kept in mind and considered, now that these days are
approaching. These people think that the seven churches in the time of the Apostle
John represented far more than just seven historic churches in Asia Minor.
The problem is that this
theory assumes that the Church is still in the world during the first 3 ½ years,
to which we have already referred. As
Israel was led by Joshua and Zerubbabel in the time of Zechariah, so in the end
times Elijah and Moses (probably) will be in front of two tremendous companies
of people for these 1,260 days, ministering with the same power that stood
behind Elijah and Moses historically.
A revival will result that
neither Israel nor the Church have ever seen before, during the darkest and
most deceitful time in the world… and also the most dangerous (Greek: extremely fierce in Matthew 8:28 and times
of difficulty in 2 Ti.3:1), for all the reasons that Paul gives in 2
Timothy 3:1-5. The witnesses stand before the Lord and will be supernaturally
protected during those days, because God is fulfilling His will through them
(v.5). From the time of Daniel and Zechariah, He declared and had His purpose
written.
As Elijah did in his day,
these witnesses will have the authority to shut the heavens so that it does not
rain and, as Moses, they will have the power to convert water into blood and
loose plagues upon the earth (v.6). They will also see the results of the
ministry of Elijah and Moses… repentance and the liberation of God’s people.
They will have the authority to do this because they stand before the Lord and
are in harmony with heaven. When these two finish their ministry, the great
deceiver, the man of iniquity, the son of perdition (2 Th.2:3-12) will be
revealed (2 Th.2:8)… the antichrist. He will kill these two (v.7), because they
have finished their ministry and once the plan of God has been completed in
anyone’s life, why should he live any longer on earth?
They are killed in Jerusalem
(Jerusalem - Sodom and Egypt symbolically - one city in this revelation), where
their Lord was killed (v.8), and all the world will gaze at their corpses for 3
½ days (easily understood in our day, due to satellite TV). The earth’s
population will celebrate, because they were tormented by these two (v.9-10).
Imagine a drought, as in the days of Elijah, and a plague, like those of Egypt,
all occurring at the same time over the earth. The people will not be able to
endure such torment and also take into consideration that God’s witnesses are
spoiling the utopia of the antichrist. It will be the most outstanding,
powerful and clean ministry, during the most perverse time that has ever been
witnessed in the earth’s history.
Only here, in the middle of
Revelation, several things take place. In verse 11 there is a resurrection. There is a great voice from heaven and a rapture; the witnesses went up in a cloud (v.12)… and the seventh or final
trumpet sounds (v.15)! Does that sound to you like something that the
Apostle Paul wrote about? “”For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with
a cry of command, with the voice of an archangel, and with the
sound of the trumpet of God. And the
dead in Christ will rise first. Then
we who are alive, who are left, will be
caught up together with them in the clouds
to meet the Lord in the air …” (1 Th.4:16-17). “Behold!
I tell you a mystery. We shall not all sleep, but we shall
all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For
the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised imperishable, and we shall
be changed” (1 Co.15:52).
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