In this episode of ‘Through the Bible,’ Dr. J. Vernon McGee delves deep into the Old Testament book of Zechariah, exploring the profound spiritual attributes of the millennium. As we examine the prophecies of peace and prosperity, we learn how righteousness will define God’s kingdom. Through various scriptural references, we see the union of peace and righteousness and how God’s just nature is foundational to understanding His will.
00:00:03 Introduction and Spiritual Attributes of the Millennium
The foundation, ye saints of the Lord, is laid for your faith in his excellent word.
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Do you have what it takes to serve the Lord? Welcome to Through the Bible. I’m Steve Schwetz, and our teacher, Dr. J. Vernon McGee, explores this question as our study of the Old Testament book of Zechariah continues. Before we begin, though, here are a few of Dr. McGee’s thoughts on the coming kingdom, where there will be peace and prosperity.
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I have attempted to say something now about the spiritual attributes, our spiritual characteristics of the millennium. Because we’re going to hear a great deal about the millennium from here through the book of Revelation. The kingdom that will be established here upon this earth. The very kingdom that John the Baptist opened his message when he presented the Lord Jesus as his forerunner. He said the kingdom of heaven is at hand. Now, we’ve thought of that kingdom as having just physical characteristics, but the thing that makes it a wonderful place is the spiritual characteristics. And we’ve mentioned the fact that it’s a place of peace, a place of peace. And you could put prosperity along with that, but that would be mentioning something physical. But nevertheless, there would be peace and there would be prosperity. Now, along with peace, there is this matter of the righteousness of God. They are joined together in the Scripture. The kingdom will be characterized by peace, but it’s also characterized by righteousness. We read in Psalm 72, 7, “…for in his days shall the righteous flourish.” an abundance of peace so long as the moon endureth. And then we have mercy and truth are met together. Well, mercy and truth don’t meet together today. They’re not even on speaking terms. And it says, and righteousness and peace have kissed each other. And that’s in Psalm 85, 10. Well, righteousness and peace haven’t kissed each other today. They haven’t even met each other. They are not even on speaking terms with each other. But they will go together in the kingdom. And righteousness, by the way, has to do with the character of Almighty God. God is righteous. He’s righteous in his personality. And he’s righteous in all of his acts that he does. And to put it very simply and get away from the theological, God is right in what he does. And somebody says, well, maybe I don’t think it’s right. Well, who are you? You and I do not set the standards of this world. God does that. And he is righteous. What he does is right. And you and I ought to thank God for that. I want to, later on, when we get to justice, to see that justice is not only associated with the judgment of God, it’s associated with the grace of God. God is gracious and God is just. When he saves you, he is just and the justifier of the sinner. And only God can do that. And yet we want to always associate justice with judgment. But it’s associated with the grace of God. God is right in all that he does. I turn over to the little epistle of James. And I think that I’ve got marked here a word here. in which he is called righteous. And we are told here that every good gift and every perfect gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of lights, with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. And that means that God is righteous, that he’s the Father of light. And you have that same thing over in 1 John, the first chapter, verse 5. This then is the message which we’ve heard of him and declare unto you that God is light and in him is no darkness at all. In other words, God does not make a shadow even. God is light, and everything that he does is out in the open, and everything that he does is right. God does not do anything that is wrong. And we have also in Romans that man, on the other hand, is not righteous. And Paul in Romans says, as it’s written, there’s none righteous, no, not one. And that’s a quotation from Psalm 14, 1 to 3. So God in both the Old Testament… And the New Testament has said, there’s none righteous, no, not one. There’s no one right. Man is like a crooked stick. He can be crooked a thousand different ways. He can be straight only one way. And it’s God who is righteous in all of his dealings, and he’s righteous in his person. How important that is. God is righteous. And peace and righteousness go together. Now, you see, most of the times of peace that we’ve had in this world were not really times of peace. The peace treaties were not peace treaties. They were not righteous. You cannot have peace on this earth until things are right on this earth. And during the millennial reign of Christ, why, things are going to be right on this earth. Won’t that be wonderful? Things are so wrong in so many places today. And that’s all that one political party does to the other political party. Back and forth they tell each other they’re wrong. And the fact of the matter is, chances are both of them are wrong. We’re not right with God. We’re not right with each other. We’re not right in our nation. And in the millennium, things are going to be right. That’s going to be a wonderful improvement, is it not? And there’s going to be peace there. I can’t think of making it anything better than that.
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That’s a great setup for what we’re headed for in our next few studies. Now, before we dive into God’s word together, we got just enough time to hear from a fellow passenger on the Bible bus. Here’s a note from Kashana in Los Angeles. I’m pleased to say that I’ve been on the Bible bus for almost five years. I’m so excited that I’ve almost completed my first trip, and I plan to continue on as many five-year trips as I can, Lord willing. I’m so grateful for the ministry and all who are continuing to fling the seed. I’ve been in the church my whole life and accepted Christ at a young age, but I have been truly blessed and I can see a difference in my life from the structure and studying of God’s word as it’s presented by Dr. McGee and by the help of the Holy Spirit. I’m writing to ask for a few Bible bus passes to distribute at a community event my church is hosting as we celebrate 50 years of ministry. Well, congratulations to you on making it through the entire five years, Kishana. And congratulations to your church on 50 years of faithful ministry. I’m so glad to hear that you’ll be continuing with us. I’ll be sure to save you a seat. And how about you? What are you learning as we travel through the Bible together? You know we’d love to hear your story. You can leave us a note in our app. You can email us at BibleBus at ttb.org or write to us at Box 7100. pasadena california 91109 in canada box 25325 london ontario n6c 6b1 and if you’d like your own pack of bible bus passes to hand out just call us 1-800-65-bibles the number and we’ll send them out to you right away let’s pray heavenly father thank you for the salvation that you offer through your son jesus as we open your word lord help us to hear your voice and to follow you more closely in jesus name amen Well, we’re off to Zechariah 4 on Through the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McKee.
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Now, friends, we’ve come to the fourth chapter of Zechariah. And we’ve come here to, frankly, a very interesting vision. We have the vision of a lampstand and two olive trees. And this is quite a remarkable vision that’s given to us here. And I probably should read two or three verses to get us into the atmosphere of this chapter. And the angel who talked with me came again and waked me as a man that is wakened out of his sleep. And said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold a lampstand, all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and its seven lamps on it. and seven pipes to the seven lamps which are upon the top of it, and two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl and the other upon the left side of it. So I answered and spoke to the angel who talked with me, saying, What are these, my lord? And I’ll stop there with verse 4 of the question that Zechariah, the young man, asked. Now, as we get into this chapter, I’m sure by now many of you who are following us in this study that you have discovered that these very remarkable visions that have already been given to us, and now we actually come to what I’ve labeled the seventh one. We had the riders under the myrtle trees, the four horns, the four smiths or carpenters, and the man with the measuring line, and Joshua and Satan, and then the branch and the stone with seven eyes in it, and then the lampstand and two olive trees is the one that we come to now in chapter 4. So that we’ve had several rather remarkable visions here. But by now, I’m sure that you’re beginning to see that a story is being unfolded to us here, and that it is a rather remarkable story, by the way, that we have seen at the very beginning, those first few visions showed that God was delivering his people out of the slavery and oppression of Babylon, and that he was bringing them back there to the land, and that was a great comfort to those people in Zechariah’s day. But it also looked on down to the end times when again they’ll be scattered throughout the world as they are today, and that they are finally to be regathered in that land when the Lord Jesus brings them into that land. We saw last time a very important vision, and that was this man that was the high priest. Joshua was his name. He had on dirty garments. And immediately Satan could challenge him, and he had to have his garments changed. He had to have that which was white and that which was clean put upon him. Well, that immediately tells out the story that these people are brought back to the land for a purpose, but they can’t be used in their sin. They will have to be cleaned. And they can’t clean themselves, and religion can’t clean them. And therefore, there has to be cleansing coming from the outside. And that cleansing, of course, as Isaiah had put it, “…come now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord, though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be white as snow, though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool.” And Joshua had his garments changed. He couldn’t stand in his own righteousness. Our righteousness is filthy rags in God’s sight. So you and I have to be clothed with the righteousness of Christ. And that is spotless. That will enable us to stand before God. And that would enable Joshua as the high priest to serve God, you see. Now he is made inwardly ready for service. There must be that cleansing which actually is salvation. We are not redeemed with corruptible things, not with silver and gold, but we’ve been redeemed with the precious blood of the Lord Jesus Christ. And that is the way that you and I are redeemed before God today. And it’s not by works of righteousness which we have done, but it’s according to his mercy he saved us by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Spirit. And so this man was cleansed. And somebody says, then he’s ready for service. Not quite. We come now to this vision of the golden lampstand. And this is going to show how he is to fulfill the office, not by his own power at all, but by the power of the Spirit of God, and that he can then become the light of the world. And this nation can become the light of the world. And today we are told that the church is the light of the world. The Lord Jesus said to his own, you’re the light of the world. He came as the light of the world, but he’s left. But the church can’t do it with its own power. There has been an energy shortage in the church for a long time. and we need to have direct contact with the supply of oil. There’s been a shortage of oil today. Well, this is a remarkable vision. Here we have the golden lampstand and pipes coming right from the oil well, from the two olive trees, and they’re pouring oil into it all the time. The middle man has been cut out of this. There’s no rationing of it. There is a generous supply of oil that is given, and there’s no such thing as an energy shortage. They ought not to be in the church today, but the church has become rather impotent and weak before the world. Why? Because of the fact that we are not going forth in the power of the Spirit of God. So that already before us, we have outlined a story and the stepping stones of God’s method of dealing with these people. And it puts a principle down, his method of dealing with us. And then it looks on down to the end of the age when these people will become, after the church has removed the light of the world, and they can’t do it in their own strength and power. Now, let’s come, therefore, to the text and look at it. In verse 1, I read, “…the angel who talked with me again, and waked me as a man that is waken out of his sleep.” And I must call your attention to this again, because it’s always been assumed by people, even after they read all of these, that these were visions given to him in the night, and it meant that he dreamed these things. He didn’t dream up a thing here. In fact, he is waked out of sleep, we’re told. Wakened out of sleep. He had dropped off to sleep because, you see, he’s already had six tremendous visions. And that’s a pretty good night’s work, by the way. And he was working the late shift and the swing shift and the night shift. In fact, he’s working all of them. And it’s time for him to have a little rest. So after he was given the sixth vision, he dozed off and went to sleep. And now the angel had to wake him up because he’s not going to be given this in a dream. He’ll see every bit of it. And now we’re told twice here, and he waked me as a man that is waken out of his sleep. So he got this with his eyes wide open. Now will you notice verse 2? And he said unto me, What seest thou? What do you see now? And I said, I have looked. So he used his eyes, you see, I’ve looked and behold, a lampstand all of gold with a bowl upon the top of it and the seven lamps on it and seven pipes to the seven lamps which are upon the top of it. Well, that is a remarkable vision. Now, the lampstand is familiar to us. It is one of the symbols of the nation Israel. There are many symbols of the nation that are used in Scripture. One, of course, is the burning bush that Moses saw. One is the vine. Isaiah develops that. And today the Lord Jesus is that vine for the church. You are saved today not by belonging to a nation or belonging to a certain class group or going through a ritual or belonging to some religion or performing some religious ceremony. He is the genuine vine, and it means whether you’re joined to Christ or not. Therefore, what does it mean to be saved today? It means to be in Christ. And you get in Christ by trusting him as your personal Savior. So that what we have here now is another symbol. And by the way, the olive trees also use as a symbol of the nation in certain places. Paul uses it when he speaks in Romans about the cutting down of the wild olive tree, and the other one’s going to grow, and that that olive tree is Israel. So that we have now the menorah or the lampstand. And it’s interesting that today the nation Israel in that land is using the menorah, the seven-forked lampstand that has the seven lamps upon it. Now, it was one of the articles of furniture in the tabernacle and later on in the temple. And it was without doubt the most beautiful piece of furniture that adorned the tabernacle. And there were seven articles of furniture. It was made of solid gold, hand-wrought, basileal. The artisan, the very skilled artist, is the one who designed it. And it was a thing of beauty. It had seven branches, three going out on each side from the main stem. And then the main stem made seven branches. And on top, it was like an open almond and a flower. And in that open flower, there was placed the lamps. Now, this was given to the great high priest. He had charge of the lampstand. He would light the lamps in the evening when they would camp on the wilderness march, and they were left on because he was continually putting oil in the lamps. And it was his business also to trim the wick and the seed that they burned. And you have that same picture in the book of Revelation of the Lord Jesus, our great high priest, walking in the midst of the lampstands, those seven churches. And he speaks again and again. If you depart from me, I’ll remove your lampstand. And he’s done it. Those local churches and what is modern Turkey today, there’s not a one of them in existence. He removed the lampstand. And there have been many churches since then that he’s closed the door of that church. It’s no longer effective church when it’s not giving out the word of God. The light is not shining. Our Lord has a snuffer and he just snuffs That out, by the way. And it was here, a picture that the nation Israel would again become a witness for God in the world. But the interesting thing is that you have something that is very important. In fact, it’s all important. It’s the oil that’s put in the lamp on top. Now, the lampstand speaks of Christ. The lamps with the oil in it speak of the Holy Spirit. I don’t suppose that you have a better picture of the Holy Spirit than the oil that is there. It was Hengstenberg who made the statement. He says oil is one of the most clearly defined symbols in the Bible. And he makes it clear that he understood it to mean the Holy Spirit. So that the oil is the Holy Spirit and the light that’s given out speaks of Christ. You see, frankly, what you have here is one of the most beautiful pictures that you have in the Bible of Christ. You remember he said that when he left, he had sent the Holy Spirit. But when the Holy Spirit came, he would not speak of himself, but he would take the things of Christ and show them unto us. Now look at the lampstand. The lampstand held up the lamps with the light in them. And the light in turn revealed the beauty and the glory of the lampstand. Just as the Holy Spirit doesn’t speak of himself, but he reveals the glories and the beauties of the Lord Jesus Christ. so that these people are to witness to him and for him someday. And the popular symbol today is the menorah. You don’t see the olive tree or the fig tree or the vine or anything else, but you do see the menorah. I was over there during their 25th anniversary, and you would see that menorah painted around in many different places. So that that is the picture that’s given to us here. Now, there is something new that’s been added here in this vision that you don’t have in the instructions for the building of the lampstand and the placing of it in the tabernacle and later on in the temple, is the fact that you have above it quite a reservoir or a tank for the gas, if you please. And then each lamp was connected with that. But then the thing that is new, verse 3, “…and two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, the other upon the left side of it.” Now, there were pipes that came out of the olive tree and poured its oil, that golden oil, into this tank. And then from the tank, it went into the different separate lamps there. So this is something new that has been added. Now, the olive trees here are definitely the civil power and the religious power of that day. Zerubbabel being the civil power and Joshua being the religious power in that day. That is, they were the leaders in this particular connection. Now, we are going to have to reserve till next time to follow through on that. But here you have the olive tree is something new, directly connected to the lampstand. And that is very important to see. And he’s going to draw from this one of the greatest principles that you will find in the whole Word of God. And we’ll see that next time. Until then, may God richly bless you, my beloved.
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Next time, we’ll study one of the most popular verses in the Bible. Download our app or check out the many ways to listen by visiting ttb.org or calling 1-800-65-BIBLE. And then maybe invite a friend to join you on the Bible bus. As we go, may God bless and keep you as you set your heart on things above.
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Jesus came in all All to Him I owe
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Through the Bible is a five-year study of God’s entire Word, and together we discover God’s purposes in history and our lives, found only when we believe in Jesus Christ. Do you know Him yet?
