Be My Spirit - Zechariah 4

1:30If you notice this summer, we've kind of been doing every month a highlighted book in the Resource Center. That this month, or at least this week, we did the Weersby books. I don't know if you remember last week we did the Weersby books as our highlighted book. They all got taken in like one day. So we switched to a new one. It's another workbook that's really good. Paul Washer's Knowing God. He steps through the attributes of God and lists out really helpful scripture references. And it's wonderful. It's in the resource center. This one is different. This one is looking at church history. And this is our giveaway tonight. So I've got five up here. But if you take one, you're giving your word that you are going to do it to the best of your ability soon. Okay? It's not too big. But it's just got some reading in church history, and then it'll have you look up a couple verses, have you respond, things like that. So at the end, if you want to commit to doing one of these little workbooks, there's five up here, and you can come grab one. But in Zechariah 4, just by way of review, remember the people had been taken into exile, but then in 538 BC, God worked to use the king of Persia to send the people back to the land. And if you remember, in that initial declaration, what King Cyrus says is that he's sending them back so that they can go build the house of the Lord. And you remember that they did come back. We studied this. And Ezra. Maybe you don't remember. Nicole tells me I've been saying that too many times.

3:07Just assuming everybody remembers everything. But I remember that when we studied Ezra. Yeah. Sorry, excuse me. That at the beginning of Ezra, they do come back and they do start building the temple. They build an altar. They even perform sacrifices on it. They lay the foundation. And then they stop for about 15 years. And nothing is done to the temple. People go build their houses. People take care of their plantations if they're growing food for the rest of Israel or their flocks. They need to take care of their livelihood. But if you remember, if you remember, the prophets have come to come give them a kick in the seat of the pants, to get building on the temple again. It's been 15 years. All that's there is a foundation and the altar. And so the two prophets that come are Haggai and Zechariah. And Haggai is very short. We covered it in a couple of weeks. And he is saying, you have built your own houses. Now it's time to return and build the temple of the Lord. Zechariah is coming at the same time, and he's going to be having these night visions that we've been studying. He'll have more stuff later. But this year is 520.

4:30And apparently, God decided in this year, 520 BC, so this is about 18 years after they returned, that he wants to send message after message after message. So, you remember the whole book of Haggai was a series of messages, but all of them were in the same year. They're all within like six months. And Zechariah's initial messages are also within that six months. So, he's already had one message that he delivered, and now he's having these night visions that's coming all in one night near the end of the year. Okay? We are on the fifth night vision. Most of the night visions so far have been about the fact that God has still chosen Jerusalem among the nations. You remember in the first one, they've got the patrols that are going out over all the earth, keeping watch over the earth, showing that the Lord is all-powerful and all-knowing and is paying attention through even his angels to take care of the earth. But he goes on to say in the first and second night visions that Jerusalem is still the apple of his eye. His people are still his people. He has still chosen them. And so, as they look around and they see, you know, wow, that is a measly temple. All it is is a foundation and an altar. Maybe they're discouraged. Maybe they feel like God has moved on from them or something like that. These night visions are saying, no, you can complete this temple. God is still, you are still his chosen people. He still has favor on you.

6:00The most recent night vision that we looked at was in Zechariah 3, and that was the one we had the most trouble with so far. If you remember, he talks about the priest, Joshua, and his clothes. And he kind of reinstates Joshua or Jeshua, who's the high priest at this time. So maybe it's been 15 years, and this hasn't been going on, and so maybe Joshua thinks he needs to step down, or he's an unqualified high priest, or something like that. Well, God, in a dramatic way, you remember in the visions, I can't stop saying it. In the visions, the angel of the Lord puts these new priestly garments on him. And at the end of that, they receive a special sign about this branch, the Messiah, who's coming. And they seem to add to this Messiah some priestly duties, which, of course, we recognize in Christ. When the Messiah came, now he is our high priest. And we talked about that. So, if you remember, the two leaders at this time are the governor and the high priest. That's who's in charge. We often think in the Old Testament of the prophet, the priest, and the king. Right now, the prophets are speaking, but the two people that are having the authorities are the governor, Zerubbabel, and the priest, Joshua. Well, in Zechariah 3, God addresses the priests. Priest, saying, you're still the high priest. I've clothed you with good garments. Yes, you have sinned, but you're still the high priest. And now in Zechariah 4, he's going to be addressing the governor. Yes, you have failed to build this temple for the past 15 years, but you're still the governor, and you're still my chosen signet ring. If you remember, we talked about that in Haggai. And I still have special plans for you, Zerebbabel, a descendant of David. So pray with me as we begin, and we'll study Zechariah chapter 4.

8:06Father, we thank you for another time to study your word. It's a treat every time. We're so grateful that you communicated to mankind and that we have that communication and we can go back and study it. And you didn't communicate in a way that is impossible for us to understand, but you're teaching us clear things even today through your word. As we understand the history involved, as we understand the context, we can come to your word and learn about you and grow. And so, Father, I pray that you'd help us do that tonight. In Jesus' name, amen.

8:46Zechariah 4, verse 1. By the way, one of the tricky things in Zechariah 3 was that the angel that had become our friend, really, as we're going through this, the angel who talked with me is how Zechariah keeps describing him. He's not helping in Zechariah 3. We don't know why. Maybe he left and now he's back. But in Zechariah 4, he is going to help us, and Zechariah is going to ask him for help, and he's going to give help. So Zechariah 4, verse 1. And the angel who talked with me came again and woke me, like a man who is awakened out of his sleep.

9:24And he said to me, What do you see? I said, I see and behold a lampstand of all gold. You've got to start using your imagination, okay? A lampstand of all gold with a bowl on the top of it and seven lamps on it, with seven lips on each of the lamps that are on top of it. And there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl, and one and the other is on its left. Okay, so that's the picture. The angel comes again. Maybe there's a pause between the night visions or something, but the angel has to come and get Zechariah's attention again, and it's like he's woken from sleep or something and able to talk again to this angel.

10:11Matt, I need you to do me a big favor because I forgot something. In Thomas's office on his bookshelves, there's a little clay lamp. It looks like a little teapot. Because I want to show you guys. I meant to bring it for show and tell. Don't break it. It's not mine. It's Thomas's. If we break it, nobody says anything. Okay. All right, so verse two. Okay, what do you see? I said, I see and behold a lampstand of all gold. Okay, so a lampstand, you have this little lamp that Matt's going to bring in for us, but you don't just want to set it on the table. Maybe it's going to catch things on fire or it's not going to be high enough to light up the room. And so you'd have a lamp stand. And so it'd be this stand with several different candlesticks coming off of it and a flat surface on each one. So you can place these little lamps on top. Okay, this one has seven. So you can picture what that looks like, kind of like a menorah, which doesn't have seven. I think it has eight. But this one has seven. So he sees this one with seven. Yes, perfect. Thank you.

11:22It's already cracked. Uh-oh. Sure. Okay, so this is a lamp. So you'd have the lampstand with the seven little flat surfaces so that you can set these little lamps on it. I don't know if you can see it, but it's got a hole in the top. You pour the oil in there. And then this is just like a wick on a candle. So one end, or in an old oil lamp, a kerosene lamp or something. So you stick the wick inside, and it's soaking up the oil that you've poured inside, probably olive oil. And then you light this end on fire, and the oil is feeding it. Okay, so this is the lamp. This is the lip or something, whatever you want to call it, to spout. In our text, it's called a lip. So this cand this lampstand would have seven of these, seven lamps on it. There's a bowl on the top of it. We don't know what that would have been, but it's the bowl that seems to be providing the oil that's flowing into these lamps that keeps them burning. Seven lamps on it with seven lips on each of the lamps that are on top of it. Now, some people translate that, and maybe your translation has something different, that there are seven pipes running to each of them. So, like, the bowl is full of oil, and there's these pipes that are running down, and for some reason, there's seven pipes running into each one, or something like that. I think it's this thing. And so, I think instead of one, this lamp has one lip. I think that each of the lamps, as they're sitting there, they have seven with seven wicks going around it. So, maybe it's a little bigger than this one, or something like that. But you can kind of picture it, right? So, if we had lit all of those on fire, this would look like seven different lights. And so, you'd have seven lights seven different times. 49 lights. You guys with me? Okay. So, that's what he sees. He says there are two olive trees by it, which makes sense, right? Because if the The oil is olive oil, then you'd associate olive trees with it, one on the right of the bowl, and the other is on the left. Okay, so verse 4, he's going to ask for help.

13:41And I said to the angel who talked with me, What are these, my Lord? Then the angel who talked with me answered and said to me, Do you not know what these are? I said, No, my Lord. So he asks, and clearly he knows what a lampstand is. He knows what olive trees are if he lives in Israel. And so he's not asking, you know, what is that? He's probably asking, what does this signify, or why am I seeing this? If that makes sense. So this angel has come, he's woken Zechariah out of, or he's woken Zechariah kind of like when a man is awakened out of sleep. And God has sent him this vision. And the angel says, okay, now what do you see? And he describes this vision with the lampstand. He asks the angel, what are these? And the angel says, don't you know? And he says, no. Verse 6, he doesn't really answer Zechariah's question. If you can follow along, it seems like he gives this word of the Lord that is meant to accompany this vision.

14:51So he sees, and then Zechariah says, What is this? And he says, Don't you know? And then he gives a message, presumably from God. Like, that's why he had to travel back and wake him up that accompanies this vision. Verse 6, then he said to me, This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel, not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts. Have you guys heard that before? It's kind of a famous verse. Not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts. Now, in our context that we know, what do you think he's talking about?

15:42Any guesses? Yeah, I think so. I think that's a safe assumption, and it'll become clearer soon, because that is what he's going to talk about. But he's saying, not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts. And so maybe just presuming a little bit, trying to imagine and see what's going on here, maybe Zerubbabel is thinking, I really want to build this temple, but there's all these peoples in the land that are still antagonistic to us and probably stronger than us. I need an army. I need might, and I need power to protect. I need a lot of people to be building this. And God is just reassuring him: look, it's not going to be by those worldly things. It's going to be by my spirit that this is going to be. Accomplished by not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts. Verse 7: Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel, you shall become a plain. And he shall bring forward the top stone amid shouts of grace, grace to it. Or you might have, God bless it, God bless it, or something. These victory shouts of the Lord has helped us, the Lord has blessed us, as he brings the top stone, which in our context we would understand to be the temple. Okay, so he's saying, I am going to help you, Zerubbabel, so that you can finish this temple. And of course, we read in Ezra that they do finish the temple shortly after this. The prophets spur the people into action, and maybe that's how the spirit's working: is that the people become bold again enough to build the temple.

17:28But they do get back to it, and after 15 years of stopping, they get back to it and finish it shortly thereafter. And under the hand of Zerubbabel, he shall bring forward the top stone amid shouts of grace to it. Okay, so any questions so far? Yes, Pearl. Yes. He is talking. About the governor. Zerubbabel is the governor. Zechariah is the prophet. So you have the angel interacting with Zechariah, but then accompanying this vision, the angel delivers a word of the Lord to Zerubbabel about not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord of hosts. Does that clear everything up? Yeah, James? I think maybe I was thinking about this, the what are these, my Lord? I have a question about someone brought you a gift, maybe you knew what that gift was. Let's say a tray of cookies is random. You had no idea it's coming to you. They handed you a tray of cookies. You're like, what is this? You know that's a tray of cookies, but your implication behind that is what is this for or why you know.

18:53I don't know if that's all. It's a good thought. Maybe you're crazy, but it's a good thought. I've said that before. But yeah, I think we use language like that too. You know, what does this mean? We will say, what is this? And we mean, why are you doing this? Why am I seeing this? What are you doing? I think we use that language a lot. That's right. Any other questions or thoughts? Okay. To come back to a lesson on that in a little bit, but for now, let's keep going. There seems to be this interruption.

19:38Verses 8 and 9 in the beginning of verse 10, they don't quite seem to flow. And I'm going to give you the reason why I think that's the case. You can feel free to disagree with me, but this part's a little tricky, so see if you can follow along. He's just given this word to Zerubbabel that accompanies the vision. And Zechariah is trying to get details about it. He'll come back to that, talking to the angel at the end of verse 10. But there seems to be this extra interruption, starting in verse 8. Then the word of the Lord came to me, saying, The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house. His hands also shall complete it. His hands shall also complete it. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. For whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice and shall see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel. Okay, I'm going to read that again. I know half of you zoned out, but this time I want you to really pay attention and see if you can figure out what's going on in these verses. Verse 8. Then the word of the Lord came to me saying, The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house. We already talked about that. His hands shall. Shall also complete it. Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you.

21:06For whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice, and shall see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel. So maybe when you read that, the first thing you think is God is giving a promise, just like he just did in verse 7, saying that Zerubbabel laid the foundation of this house in that early, you know, 20 years ago almost, and now he's saying he's going to finish it. It's going to come soon. This temple is going to be finished soon. That has a lot of support because you're looking at verse 7, and that's what he just said: that Zerubbabel is going to raise the top stone, and people are going to be shouting, and it's going to be a time of rejoicing.

21:52When we keep going, though, we run to a couple of issues. Look at the end of verse 9. First, he says, Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. Okay, why does he say that? The people who would take it that it just means that current temple right then, they would say that must be the angel saying, See, I'm from God. And I'm telling you, Zerubbabel is going to finish this, and when he finishes it, you're going to know I'm from God. Okay, that's one option. Or maybe the majority option is people think it's Zechariah that he is inserting this parenthetical statement.

22:31You remember, you don't, maybe you don't remember. Chapter 2. Flip back to chapter 2. Okay. Verse 11. He's talking about the future. Actually, look back at verse 10. Sing and rejoice, O daughter of Zion, for behold, I come, and I will dwell in your midst, declares the Lord, and many nations shall join themselves to the Lord in that day and shall be my people. So these are whole countries that are coming and joining themselves to God's country. And I will dwell in your midst, and you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. So you remember when we studied that, we talked about how there's a seamless transition there between he's saying, I will come and dwell with you, and then you'll know that the Lord has sent me. That's the Lord talking. The Lord is saying, I will come and dwell with you, and the Lord has sent me. We looked at how that seems to be the Messiah, the Lord sent by the Lord, right? That he is coming to dwell with you. And that phrase is the exact same. You shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. That's what he says in our chapter, chapter 4, verse 9. And then, if you look over at chapter 6, which is still the night vision, and I think that we would be expected to bring all these elements. In the same context, because this is all one night that these are coming. Verse 15, chapter 6, 15. And those who are far off shall come and help to build the temple of the Lord, and you shall know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. And this shall come to pass if you will diligently obey the voice of the Lord your God.

24:24So he's talking about, again, this special future person who's going to come. And he's saying, in that day, the nations are going to come and help build this temple. Then you'll know that I have come. Okay, so our option, as we studied chapter 2, was this is some sort of parenthetical statement that the prophet just inserts in there. Kind of like, right now you might not believe me, but when these things are coming true, then you'll know God sent me. To me, these seem to be something a little more special and a little more future than that. Talking about this future temple that's going to be built that all the nations are going to help with. And that it's this Messiah figure who has come, saying, Then you will know that the Lord of hosts has sent me to you. In verse 10, then, it says, Whoever has despised the day of small things shall rejoice and shall see the plumb line in the hand of Zerebbabel. Okay, so I think that what he's saying there is that, yes, this temple is. Tiny, and I've told you Zerubbabel is going to finish it. But I'm telling you that this might be the day of small things, but in the future, there's going to be another temple, and Jerubbabel is going to be there too. And when you see him, you're going to know that I have sent you, or that the Lord has sent me. Okay? So I know that's a little hard to follow. Let me just review real quick. Probably the majority Christian position on that is that he's just still talking about this temple that's happening right now. And the prophet interjects some kind of statement saying, whenever Zerubbabel does finish this temple, you're going to know that God sent me as a prophet. I think he's echoing what he said in chapter 2 about the Lord being sent by the Lord and saying that Zerubbabel is going to have a role in this future time. He's going to be there at the temple, and you're going to know it when you see him holding a plumb line. You guys know what a plumb line is? You know, we use laser levels or bubble levels or something like that, but they would use plumb lines. So it's just a string with a weight on the end. And since gravity pulls it down, you know it's straight. And so you make your building straight by having a plumb line. So you get this picture that he's there helping building. Another idea to consider with that is if you remember, we had kind of a unique passage at the end of Haggai 2, the end of Haggai, total. It says, the word of the Lord came a second time to Haggai on the 24th day of the month. Speak to Zerbby. Zerubbabel, this is the same figure, governor of Judah, saying, I'm about to shake the heavens and earth and overthrow the throne of kingdoms. I'm about to destroy the strength of kingdoms of the nations and overthrow the chariots and their riders, and the horses and the riders shall go down, everyone by the sword of his brother. And so he seems to be talking about this great battle, I think, an end times battle, where he's shaking the heavens and coming. And then he says, verse 23, on that day, declares the Lord of hosts, I will take you, O Zerubbabel, my servant, the son of Shealtiel, declares the Lord, and make you like a signet ring, for I have chosen you, declares the Lord of hosts. And so I just think that what's happening here is God is saying that, Zerubbabel, you be faithful now. Yes, you're going to raise that topstone in the temple. But also then, the word of the Lord interrupts in Qurzen and says, And for those of you who are despising this day of small things, know that there's also this future where I believe that Zerubbabel is going to be there too, helping with the temple. Okay?

28:10So that is the interruption. Then he gets back to interpreting this vision that he's seen. And he jumps right back into it. Your Bible probably has a paragraph break there, even though it's right in the middle of a verse. Maybe not. But he says, first, these seven are the eyes of the Lord, which Range through the whole earth. Now, what are the seven? The lamps, right? Or at least the lights on the lamps, or the lamps, or the arms. But something seven is the eyes of the Lord. Now, if you remember, last time we didn't look at something. I skipped over it on purpose. A couple people noticed and asked afterward. But at the end of chapter 3, he's given this stone, chapter 3, verse 9: Behold, on the stone that I have set before Joshua, on a single stone with seven eyes, I will engrave its inscription, declares the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of this land in a single day. We looked at how that seems to be a messianic prophecy, but we didn't really look at why the stone has seven eyes, or it could be translated there seven facets. So maybe it's just a seven-sided stone.

29:21But maybe it's related to what he's saying here, because he says this time he uses the same word for eyes. These seven are the eyes of the Lord which range through the whole earth. So something that's the seven is signifying the fact that God is watching everywhere. He's looking out everywhere. Maybe his light shines everywhere from these lampstand. Verse 11. Then I said to him, What are these two olive trees on the right and the left of the lampstand? And a second time I answered and said to him, What are these two branches of the olive trees which are beside the two? Golden pipes from which the golden oil is poured out. So he seems to ask about something specific now, and then he doesn't get an answer again. And so he just asks again, verse 12. A second time I answered and said to him, only this time the question is a little different: What are these two branches of the olive trees which are beside the two golden pipes from which the golden oil is poured out? He said to me, Do you not know what these are? I said, No, my Lord. And he said, These are the two anointed ones who stand by the Lord of the whole earth.

30:38These are the two anointed ones who stand by the Lord of the whole earth. So let's review our picture, okay? Since we were interrupted in between, let's think back to our candlestand. We've got the, I mean, our lampstand. We've got the seven lamps, they've got the seven lights around them. There's a bowl above them full of the oil that seems to be filling these lamps. Okay? Now, if we're thinking about that picture, and then the message that corresponds with that picture is he's saying, not by might, not by power, but by my spirit.

31:17Can you kind of start to see what the picture is trying to communicate? That maybe this candlestand is Israel or something like that, and it's being constantly supplied and filled. Fed by this oil, because this is the prophecy that was given to accompany this vision. And so maybe the bowl is that the Holy Spirit, but by my spirit, that is feeding what's going on in this lampstand. Well, there are these two trees next to it, these two olive trees. And what we don't see at the beginning that he asks about later is that he says, What are these two branches of the olive trees, which are beside the two golden pipes from which the golden oil is poured out? And so it seems to be that there's this bowl, and out of the bowl is flowing these two pipes, and that's what's feeding these lamps.

32:17Okay, and so he's asking about those. He's already gotten an answer about what the picture as a whole is signifying, that it's God's Spirit that is fueling this endeavor. But then he sees these two pipes. He says, What are these two pipes? And the angel answers, Do you not know what these are? And I said, No, my Lord. And then he said, These are the two anointed ones who stand by the Lord of the whole earth. So, any guesses or thoughts? What would be your first thought of who is he talking about?

32:50Yeah, I would say Zerubbabel and Joshua, right? You can disagree with me if you want to, but it seems like what he's saying is that this. What Israel is doing right now is not going to be done by might, like the other nations do things or by power, but God is fueling this, and the conduit of his blessing are going to be two individuals. And he just spent the whole last chapter talking about one person who is in authority over his people, and now he spent a second chapter talking about another person who's in authority over his people. And to me, the picture is clear: that he's saying, I'm going to be blessing this endeavor, and you're my two.

33:39So you're not disqualified. I've set you up as a priest. I've given you authority to finish this temple, Zerubbabel. So keep being those people through whom this blessing is coming like a pipe. As we think about this chapter, I think that in the original audience, obviously the applications are really clear for Zerubbabel and for Joshua, right? Keep being those two people. God has set you up and put you in authority. You are supposed to keep building this temple. And you need to do what he says. And I have these future special plans for you also. So be faithful now. Keep building the temple.

34:29I think another. Another broader principle that we can take out is that idea of the Spirit being the one behind what's going on, the Spirit of God. I thought it would be helpful to turn to Psalm 33. Yeah. Do you think this ties into all of Revelation 11? The two witnesses. I think there's definitely parallels. I don't know. I mean, it's hard to say when you look at Revelation. They don't tell us who the two witnesses are.

35:15You just mean imagery-wise? Yeah, or do you thought through your study or something, or have you heard that people make that connection there? Yeah, people do make that connection, for sure. In fact, I'd say a large portion of the church interprets this to be maybe about the church, that Israel was the candlestand or the lampstand, but now the church is the lampstand, and the church is always going to be fed by this priestly side and the kingly side, and that's Jesus now. So the Spirit's feeding us through Jesus is the conduit, or something like that. And they'll point to parallels with texts like that. Yeah, Jackson? When Zechariah says, No, my Lord puts the Hmm.

36:07I'm going to guess that it's Adonai because it's not all caps. So it's not Yahweh. Was that what you were thinking? Okay. All right, so Psalm 33. Adonai? Okay. Thank you. Verse 13. We don't have time for the whole thing, but you can read the whole thing for homework because it's a wonderful Psalm. Psalm 33, verse 13. The Lord looks down from heaven. He sees all the children of man. From where he sits enthroned, he looks out on all the inhabitants of the earth. He who fashions the hearts of them all and observes all their deeds. Verse 16. The king is not saved by his great army. A warrior is not delivered by his great strength. The war horse is a false hope for salvation, and by its great might it cannot rescue. Okay, let's say you were reading this, and this is ancient times, and you're thinking a war horse would be pretty awesome, right? I would be scared to go against a guy with a war horse. And if I was standing against an army, I want a war horse, right? At least so I can get away. But he's saying, look, the king's not saved by his army. A warrior is not. Delivered by his great strength. And so our first thought is to think we need more strength, we need an army, or something like that. But he's saying, look, that's not the issue. Look down at verse 18. Behold, the eye of the Lord is on those who fear him, on those who hope in his steadfast love, that he may deliver their soul from death and keep them alive in famine. Our soul waits for the Lord, for he is our help and our shield. For our heart is glad in him because we trust in his holy name. Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you. And so I think in that early generation, that is the call, that is the application. Build this temple.

38:14Maybe dirubble, you're scared. Maybe you think these people are going to attack you. Build it anyways. Joshua, act as the high priest anyways. I have set you up to do this. You need to do what I say. But you also need to trust that it's not armies, it's not powerful things that are going to protect you. It's God that's protecting you. And so it's not by might, not by power, but by my spirit, says the Lord, that this endeavor is going to be accomplished.

38:47And I think that that idea is echoed in Psalm 33. And so I think the principle for us is the same trust in God's sovereignty and God's plan. Of course, We might disagree on some parts of Zechariah 4, and that's okay. But I think that the principle is the same for all of us. That we are called, even in the New Testament as Christians, to not be constantly anxious as we're going about our lives because we know that our Father, who is good and loves to give good things, he is over us, and He's the one who's in control. That the endeavors that we partake in, they're going to fail if He's not, if He wants it to fail. And they're going to succeed if He wants it to succeed. And so I think the attitude that we adopt is the same kind of attitude that He's calling Zerubbabel to adopt in our text: do what you're supposed to do and just trust the Lord. Trust the Lord. And when trials come, you keep trusting the Lord. You don't start panicking, you don't get anxious, but you trust in Him. I love the end of that psalm. Our soul waits for the Lord. He is our help and our shield. For our heart is glad in him, because we trust in His holy name. Let your steadfast love, O Lord, be upon us, even as we hope in you.

40:14Any other thoughts or applications as we finish that? I'm trying to remember if you get a numerology. And out of the number seven, ten or in four of the seven was that there are different things. I think most people think it's. Both. So it's the same idea. Yeah. Yeah, so you've got the seven stands. We already had the stone with the seven faces or the seven eyes. Now you've got these seven lamps, and each of them has these seven holes. And what these seven, what these seven represent is what he says in the text, is that the eyes of the Lord are roaming about the whole earth. So you get this picture of perfect omniscience, complete knowledge of everything that's going on, this picture of God's power and control over everything.

41:05Good question. Any other thoughts or questions? Yeah? When I think of the magistrate, the book of Matthew said, it reminds me of the Messianic book, and so the sufferings are and the mockery being and hurting both sides of this minor situation. Yeah. He's going to, Zechariah keeps getting cooler and cooler. I don't know if you're allowed to say that about a book of the Bible, but he's going to keep combining some of these ideas in really special ways, really unique ways, so that it'll be the only passage like that that we see. And so I think you're going to really enjoy it. So stick with us. We'll get to see more clearly the office of priest and governor or king as a dissent. And of David combining in this future one who's going to come and reign.

42:07Any other thoughts or questions before we close? Let's pray. Father, we thank you for this text, even if it was hard for us to go through it. I pray, Lord, that you would help us keep struggling through it. You'd help us keep trying to fix these things in our imagination, this vision that he saw, and the message that accompanied it, that you were with him, and that because of that, because of your spirit, the temple was finished. It's not because Israel was the strongest nation at this time. It's not because they had the biggest army, but it is simply and purely because you were in the endeavor and you were protecting them and you were guiding the events of the world.

42:58And so, Lord, just as they were called to trust you and fulfill their responsibilities, I pray that we would, as believers, I pray that we would trust you with a deep trust that we would obey your word and not try and take things in our own hands by sinning to get ahead or take shortcuts or something like that, but that we would just trust you. And as trials come our way, that we'd keep trusting you and knowing that your eyes do. Rove all about the earth. You do see everything, and you're in control.

43:38So, Father, thank you for this passage. I pray that we'd remember it and learn from it. In Jesus' name, amen.