Dr. Jürgen Bühler, ICEJ President

The theme of this year’s Feast of Tabernacles is taken from Zechariah 4:6, which is one of the most prominent prophecies in the Old Testament on what God is planning to accomplish in the End Times. It is rich in symbolism and in parallelism to messages found in the New Testament.

The context of the passage is the return of the Jewish people from exile in Babylon. Among the returnees were Zerubbabel, a descendant of King David and ancestor of Jesus who served as Israel’s political leader; Joshua the High Priest; and the prophets Zechariah and Haggai, who assisted Zerubbabel and Joshua in rebuilding the Temple (Ezra 5:1-2).

The chapter begins with an angel speaking with Zechariah and awakening him as if from sleep. For me, it sounds like God is waking up the Jewish people in these last days from a long period of sleep while scattered among the nations. He is again bringing them back to the Land of Israel to be awakened to His last days’ purpose for them.

The Menorah
It also is worth noting the symbolism depicted in Zechariah 4 of a menorah and two olive trees or branches remains a key symbol for Israel today. Whether at the Knesset, the President’s Residence, the Prime Minister’s Office or other government buildings, the official emblem of the State of Israel is this very same imagery from Zechariah 4.

The central menorah or golden candlestick with seven arms is a familiar piece of the furnishings found in the Tabernacle of Moses and in the Temple in Jerusalem. There is a small difference, however, in that Zechariah saw above the Menorah a bowl filled with golden oil that was constantly supplying the seven branches through seven pipes. In a way, it was an upgraded Menorah for Temple service, made all of gold – reflecting the perfect character of God.

This symbolism of the Menorah is also found in Revelation 1:12, where John turns and sees Jesus standing among seven golden candlesticks, and receives a powerful message from him. In verse 20, we learn that the seven candlesticks John saw are the seven churches. This means that the Church is called as a prophetic light, to shine light in the dark times around it.

The seven churches are to be light givers to the world. In the next chapter, a very successful, growing, dynamic church in Ephesus is commended by God, but He also warns if you do not return to your first love, He is going to come take their candlestick away (Revelation 2:5). Despite all their church programs, they have lost their passion for Christ from earlier days. And though they may still exist as a church, they will lose their core calling and ability to shine prophetic light to the world around them. This is a serious message for each one of us today, and the same calling was placed upon the people of Israel. The most central commandment to Israel, in Deuteronomy 6:4 is: “Hear, O Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is one! You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your strength.” If they diligently follow this command, then Israel also would serve as a light to the nations. What an amazing parallel between Israel and the Church!

The Two Olive Trees
The second great symbolism of Zechariah 4 is the two olive trees, or what he later calls the two olive branches (4:12). In the New Testament, we also see two olives trees in Romans chapter 11 – one is the natural olive tree of Israel, and the other is the wild olive tree of the Gentile Church. This dual symbolism of the two olive trees or branches appears in only a few passages in the Bible.

The first one is found in Nehemiah 8:15, when Nehemiah led the people of Israel in celebrating the Feast of Tabernacles again for the first time in many generations. He instructed them to build succahs, or booths, as they celebrated this great, prophetic Feast. He also commanded them go to the hillsides and bring back branches “of the olive and the wild olive and the myrtle and palm and other leafy trees to make a booth” (Nehemiah 8:15/ESV).

Nehemiah is referring to the commandment of God concerning this festival in Leviticus 23 with a small deviation. He mentions here not only the natural or cultivated olive tree of Leviticus 23, but also a second type of olive branches. One is called zayit in Hebrew, meaning “olive” as it is used today, and the second Hebrew word is etz shemen, or the “tree of oil”. The ESV Bible translates these as the olive and wild olive trees, as do the well-known commentaries of Keil and Delitzsch, experts in Jewish culture.

The same symbolism reappears in Romans 11, where Paul compares the natural or cultivated olive branches representing the Jewish people with the wild olive branches of the Gentile Church. By the grace of God, the wild Gentile branches have been grafted contrary to nature into the cultivated olive tree of believing Israel (Romans 11:24).

Another instance of this parallelism is found in Revelation 11, where John very fittingly sees a vision of the Temple and is directed to “measure” or describe the scene, which he notes includes two prophetic figures: “And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth. These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the God of the earth.” (Revelation 11:3-4)

Here, we have the same symbolism of two olive trees as in Zechariah 4, yet he also sees two lampstands instead of one. I believe these prophecies are connected and they speak of corporate callings in these last days, but also that God will pick out individual servants like the two witnesses of Revelation 11 that have a very unique and specific prophetic calling in these last days. In the days of Zechariah, it was Zerubbabel and Joshua who God used in a specific way, and they were joined by the whole people to rebuild the Temple. It seems that God is going to use these two witnesses in a very similar way in these last days, joined by Israel and the Church, in order to accomplish God’s end-time purposes.

The Oil
The oil that is filling the bowl over the Menorah and then flowing through the seven pipes into the seven branches of the Menorah is without doubt a symbol of the Holy Spirit throughout the Bible. The oil, and the especially the anointing oil in the Temple, represents the empowerment and gifting of God’s people in order to accomplish the call that God has placed upon their lives. And the imagery of the bowl over the Menorah with its pipes indicates that there is an endless availability of the Holy Spirit in these last days to accomplish the purposes of God.

Amazingly, Zechariah 4:12 describes how through the two golden pipes the golden oil empties out into the Menorah. It is interesting to see that in the original Hebrew text, the golden oil referred to here is not actually oil, but just gold itself. As we said earlier, gold represents the character of God. So, it means in this end-time Church and work of God among the people of Israel, the Holy Spirit will bring forth in a powerful manner the character of God out of His people. It will be a great testimony and prophetic light to the nations.

Our Feast theme this year focuses our attention on the powerful way the anointing of the Holy Spirit is the most essential element for every believer in the Church and for the nation of Israel to reach our prophetic destiny. It is not by human accomplishments, nor by human strategies, nor by human wisdom that God is accomplishing His work, but by the power of the Holy Spirit.

This is exactly what Paul wrote to the church in Corinth, where he says that his preaching was not with enticing words or man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and power of God (1 Corinthians 2:4). I believe the vision of Zechariah 4 indicates that this will be a main characteristic of the end-time people of God, a people filled and empowered by the Spirit of God.

Conclusion
There are three main lessons that we can draw from the passage of Zechariah chapter 4:

1) A Holy Church! Without a doubt, God is purifying the true Church in these last days. This is a theme found again and again in the Bible. In Ephesians 5:26, it is not just a call for the end-time Church, but it is a universal call to God’s people throughout the ages. In Leviticus 11:44, God calls upon the people to be holy as He is holy. God expected from the very beginning that His people would reflect His very nature and character. This is the same message which Jesus gave his disciples in the Sermon on the Mount, to be perfect, even as our Father in heaven is perfect (Matthew 5:48). We should strive to become holy and complete like our Father in heaven. This is a call which the end-time Church cannot ignore. And again, it can only be accomplished by the power of the Holy Spirit being poured out in these days more than in any other generation.

2) A Spirit-empowered People! These last days are characterised by many worldly obstacles that are facing the Church, be it the moral decay in Western societies or the outright opposition coming from Marxist regimes around the globe. Here, the Word of God gives us great encouragement:

“Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,” says the Lord of hosts. “Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain! And he shall bring forth the capstone with shouts of ‘Grace, grace to it!’” (Zechariah 4:6-7)

No obstacle in these last days will be too big for the people of God. Every mountain that stands in the way of our accomplishing God’s purposes through the power of the Holy Spirit, through prayer and intercession, will have to become a plain, because the grace of God will guarantee its completion. Therefore, we should always ask the Lord to fill us afresh with the Spirit, as the early Church did, to accomplish the great tasks ahead.

3) The Noble and Wild Olive Branches are Coming Together! One of the main characteristics of the end-time Church is that God is reinserting the natural or cultivated branches back into the olive tree. This move is bringing a major change for the Gentile Church, as foreseen in Romans 11:24. Any horticulturalist will tell you it is against nature to graft a wild olive branch into a cultivated olive tree. Yet God has been doing it for centuries because He desires for all men to be saved. Paul then asks how much more easily then will the natural branches of the Jewish people be grafted back into their own tree of Messianic faith. We must recognise that God is doing something new within the Church, as we rediscover the Hebraic roots of our biblical faith, and recognise the unique calling God placed upon the Jewish people.

There is a final facet to this very powerful passage. In Zechariah 4:9, it says the hands of Zerubbabel laid the foundation of the house of the Lord, and his hands will also finish it. Without question, it was a believing Jewish remnant who laid the foundation of the Church some 2,000 years ago. They laid this foundation by giving us the New Testament, the birth of the Church, and most of all the Jewish Messiah. How church movements have changed over the centuries, forgetting their roots and where they came from. Yet the same hands of the very people who laid the foundation of this Temple will also bring forth the capstone – the finished work! That means in those last days, the Jewish people will play a central role in the completion of the Temple of God – the universal family of the redeemed, the Church.

The times of the Gentiles are ending (Luke 21:24). The fullness of the Gentiles is coming in (Romans 11:25). And God’s purposes for the Gentile nations and the people of Israel is starting to unfold. We must ask God to teach us, to enlighten us on the new things He is doing. This will be a time of great empowerment, where God is going to purify the Church as never before, to be ready for our bridegroom to return, shouting: “Even so, come, Lord Jesus!” (Revelation 22:20)

Main photo: An illustration of the golden oil bowl as described in Zechariah 4. (Adobe Firefly)