Dive deep into Zechariah’s teachings as Dr. J. Vernon McGee brings profound insights from the Old Testament. Explore the symbolic vision of the lampstand and its implications for understanding Christ and the Holy Spirit’s work in our lives today. Listen to heartfelt testimonials from listeners who have experienced life-changing journeys through the Bible, emphasizing the importance of spiritual learning and growth.
the foundation ye saints of the Lord is laid for your faith
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brawn or brains? If you could only choose one in this life, which would it be? Welcome to Through the Bible, where our teacher Dr. J. Vernon McGee tells us that if we want to serve the Lord, we really don’t need brawn or brains. I’m Steve Schwetz, your host on this five-year journey through God’s entire Word. So why don’t you go ahead and grab your Bible, and as you do, turn to the Old Testament book of Zechariah at chapter 4, verse 4. Now while you find your place, here’s a fun voicemail from a fellow Bible bus passenger.
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My name is Mona Lisa and I’m listening from Hobe Sound, Florida. I listen online. And I love the Bible bus and what it has done in my life. And it became so evident yesterday at a woman’s luncheon. We had a little game on your knowledge of the Bible. And I was the only one who got everything right. And people were amazed that I knew so much. And I said, it’s not me. I said, it’s the Holy Spirit and J. Vernon McGee on the Bible bus. And it has amazed me. I’m in the five-year study. And before that, I had been in the tail end of the five years. So I got three years before I started the new five-year study. And it’s just amazing how much I’ve learned. But it calls to mind the story that J. Verna McGee was sharing about how he is a young seminary student, went to a grandmother’s house and she was illiterate and she knew more than him. And his companion said maybe the Holy Spirit taught her. And that’s exactly what’s happened with me. And I’m just so thankful for the Bible bus and everything that I’ve learned down through the years. But I know it’s the Holy Spirit and J. Verna McGee. So thank you so much. Bye.
SPEAKER 01 :
It’s so great to hear how much you’re learning, so thanks for calling. And here’s an email. This one’s from Kelly, who writes, I’ve just finished my five-year journey through the Bible, and it has been life-changing. Dr. McGee’s steady, faithful, daily preaching has grown my confidence in the Bible being the Word of God, and therefore my faith in God, incrementally, day by day. I cannot say how much this daily anchor has shaped me in my journey of faith. I pray for many more to be blessed in the same way and for the work to continue. Thank you for persevering, and God bless. Well, congratulations on completing your first journey, and yes, I hope that you’ll keep riding along. I can say from personal experience after over 30 years with this ministry and listening through the Bible through several five-year cycles, there’s always something new to discover each time through. And what about you? What are you learning from these studies yourself? You know, we’d love to hear your story, so why don’t you call us at 1-800-65-BIBLE, or send us a note through the app, or email us at biblebus at ttb.org, or write to us at Box 7100, Pasadena, California. 9-1-1-0-9. In Canada, Box 25325, London, Ontario, N6C 6B1. Now let’s pray as we dig into God’s Word together. Our gracious Father, our hope is that you are glorified as your Word goes out. We commit this time to you and ask your Spirit to instruct our hearts and minds as Dr. McGee teaches your Word. In Jesus’ name we pray. Amen. Well, we’re off to Zechariah 4 on Through the Bible with Dr. J. Vernon McGee.
SPEAKER 02 :
Now, friends, as we come back here to this fourth chapter of Zechariah, we got down to verse 4 last time, and we saw that this is a vision of the lampstand. It’s the identical lampstand that was in the tabernacle and later on in the temple. It is probably the most complete and the best picture of Christ that we have in the tabernacle. The measurement was never given because the gold speaks of the deity of Christ, and it was a golden lampstand, and you can’t measure deities. So the measurements were never given. But it was made in a very wonderful way, and it was an open blossom, an almond blossom at the top. And in it, the little lamps were placed after they had been filled with oil and the wicks trimmed so they would give a good light. And that lampstand speaks of the fact that the Holy Spirit takes the things of Christ and shows them unto us. The lampstand held up the lamps, the oil, and the light that was given. That is the Holy Spirit, and Christ sent the Holy Spirit into the world. But the purpose of the Holy Spirit… was to take the things of Christ and show them unto us, so the light reveal the glories and the beauty of the lampstand. And that’s the picture that we have before us. But you remember he said that we are to be lights in the world today. He is not here. Now, in this lampstand, And the vision of it, we have a very beautiful arrangement of these visions that were given to this man, Zechariah. It’s almost like just taking certain steps. There are certain stepping stones here. They tell out a story, and they reveal a very beautiful, complete picture when we put them together. And they had a local fulfillment. Zechariah gave these to the people for their encouragement. They had been in Babylonian captivity. They’ve come out of it. God has made it very clear to them that all of this happened according to the arrangement of God and according to His plan and according to His purpose. But now they’ve come back to the land. They must be cleansed of their sin. And having been cleansed and brought into a right relationship with God, their sins forgiven, now they can render an effective testimony for God. And that is the picture that is before us. There to be a light in that day. Then it has a local application, not only for them, but for us today. It had an application in the past. It has an application in the present. And it puts down certain great principles for us that God today can’t use an unclean witness. Now, I know that there are many that are tempted to witness that are unclean, but that doesn’t mean that they are effective witnesses for Christ. They are not. All they build is a big haystack, wood, hay, and stubble. And it’ll be tested someday by fire, and we’ll find out that there was nothing genuine really done for God. Everything was artificial and superficial. Now, it looks also to the future, and it has its complete fulfillment in the millennial period, that God will return them back to that land and that God will cleanse them in that day. In the last part of this book, we’ll find that a fountain is going to be open for cleansing for David’s offspring and for the city of Jerusalem. Now, God intends them at that time after they’ve been cleansed, that they will again become a light to the world. And that was God’s original intention for them. In Deuteronomy, the 32nd chapter, verse 8, and I read this. When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when He separated mankind, He set the boundaries of the peoples according to the number of the children of Israel. Now, why did He do that? Why was it put on that kind of a basis that according to the number of the children of Israel is the way God arranged the nations of the world? Well, because… They are to be a witness to the world. That is God’s intention, that they will be a witness in every corner and crevice of this world someday. And God has made it that way. Now, they failed in the past, but the church has failed in the present. We’ve been told to go into all the world, but how many places in the world today do not have a witness? That is one of the things that we have been so delighted with radio. Radio is penetrating today into places where no human witness can get. I think I shared with you some time ago, if I didn’t, I should have, a letter that’s come to us from South America where a young man came to Christ, listening to the radio, and he immediately became the preacher to his village. Why? Because there wasn’t any preacher there. And he was the only witness in the town. And he became a flaming evangel. He became a light for the Lord in that place. Well, we believe that radio is penetrating out and raising up multitudes today that are witnessing for Christ. So this is a very meaningful verse here. And that’s not the only one. Ezekiel in the 5th chapter, verse 5, he says, “…thus saith the Lord God.” This is Jerusalem. I have set her in the center of the nations with countries round about her. Why? That she could be a witness. You see that little land over there. The reason it’s such a sensitive piece of real estate is, of course, first of all, because God has chosen it, and he’s made it that way. But he chose it because, actually, it’s the very center of the three major continents, and that is Africa, Asia, and Europe. And it is right on the crossroads of those three continents. And it’s a very important piece of real estate, as we have certainly witnessed. There’s no place as sensitive as that place is today. And no place has caused any more of a problem than that little spot has caused. Well, God, I think, intended it that way. It’s at the very center of things. And there’ll be trouble until it becomes a center for the proclamation of the Word of God. Because God said in Isaiah that the Word will go forth from Jerusalem. And that is not true, of course, today. But it looks down to the future. Now, in the meantime, you and I are to be lights in the world. It has that meaning for us today. So that makes this very important, as you can see indeed. Now, with that in mind, let me read verse 4. He says, “…so I answered, and spoke to the angel who talked with me, saying, What are these, my lord?” Now, this young man, Zechariah, he had no inhibitions. He says, “…what am I seeing?” I see these things, but what’s the meaning of it? Now will you notice the answer of the angel, verse 5. Then the angel who talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these are? And I said, No, my lord. In other words, really what the angel is saying to him here is just simply this. He’s saying to him, you ought to know. If you don’t know, you ought to know what this is. That is something that you ought to be able to understand. You know what you’re looking at. It’s the golden lampstand, and you ought to know the meaning of it. And the angel says, knowest thou not what these are? Or you ought to know what you’re seeing. And this man says, Well, no, I don’t know my Lord. I don’t understand it at all. Then he answered and spoke unto me, saying, This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel. Now, this is the message that is for Zerubbabel. And we need to keep that in mind, that it has a real meaning for him. And it’s a great principle for us today. And here is the message. not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hopes. Now, the word might and power are quite interesting. Actually, the word for might has in it the sense not of physical strength, It has in it more or less what we would call today mental ability, sagacity, that which has to do with a wise decision. So let me change the reading here a little. It’s not by brain nor by brawn, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts. Now, this was a great encouragement to Zerubbabel. Zerubbabel was the civil ruler. Joshua was the religious ruler. And they are represented in those two trees, the olive trees that were supplying oil to the lampstand. The message is simply this, that it’s not going to be by your cleverness, your ability, and it’s not going to be by your physical strength, but the temple will be built by the Spirit of God. And friends, if the Spirit of God is not in our enterprise today, it’ll come to naught. Because God is not carrying on His work by might, that is, by brain or by brawn. We like to talk about this man’s a clever man. He’s a clever preacher. He gets up very nice little sermons and all of that. But friends, God’s work is not carried on that way. I think sometimes the clever man is the dangerous man. The fellow that is sharp mentally can be sharp mentally in the wrong direction and cause a great deal of difficulty among God’s people and take a great many in by doing it. There’s been a great deal of religious racketeering that’s gone on. In our day, I stand on the sidelines and see a great deal going on when I actually couldn’t lift my voice against it without being misunderstood. Yet it was quite evident that some clever fella or several clever fellas They’re good back-slappers. They are good public relations men. They’re good administrators. They have a nice personality. They have a great deal of charisma. And they make an appeal. But God says, I don’t carry on my work that way. It’s not by the human that God does it. It’s not by might nor by power. It’s not by brain nor brawn. But God says, it’s by my spirit, saith the Lord. So this has a tremendous meaning And it puts down a great principle for us today. It is only what the Holy Spirit of God can and does do through us that God uses today. Or let me be very personal and very frank. Anything that Vernon McGee does in the flesh By my own effort, by Vernon McGee doing it, God hates it. God can’t use it. God won’t use it. God has no use for it. And it will come to nothing because it’s nothing in the world but Vernon McGee building a haystack that’s going to ultimately be consumed by fire. Now, he wants to do His work through us. And it’ll have to be by the power of the Holy Spirit. That’s important for us to see here. Now, in the future… This is going to be especially true in the millennium. Again, it will not be by brain or brawn, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord. Barron put it like this. He says it is in his, that is Messiah’s, light and by means of the golden oil of his Spirit. which shall be shed upon them abundantly, that Israel’s candlestick shall yet shine with a sevenfold brilliancy for the illumination of all the nations of the earth.” And that, my friend, is a great statement, by the way, that there will be and there was a remnant back yonder in the day of Zechariah, that needed this encouragement because they were overwhelmed by opposition and they were beset by doubt. and by fears, and they needed some encouragement. And this was given. And so the vision is given here. This is the word of the Lord unto Zerubbabel. This was to encourage him. God today is not carrying on his work by intellectual entertainment of a congregation, but it has to be by the Spirit of God. And he doesn’t do it by just human strength. Just brute strength. Now, we find that this vision is of great encouragement and was in that day. Now, let me read on. Verse 7. “‘Who art thou, O great mountain?’ Now, a mountain represents opposition. “‘Who art thou, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain, and he shall bring forth the headstone of it with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it.’ In other words, the cornerstone is going to be put in this new temple. It’s not a great, impressive temple, but they’ve had all kinds of opposition. And now this vision encourages them that he’ll be able to move mountains. And you remember the Lord Jesus used it like that. Why, if you say to this mountain, be removed. Well, I don’t think it was ever given to remove physical mountains. There weren’t many of them moved over in that land, and there are not many of them being moved around today except by earthquakes. But the faith that removes mountains is a faith that removes obstacles and opposition to the work of God. And that is the picture here. God’s temple will be rebuilt. And what an encouragement it was to these people. And he’s told definitely he’s to finish the rebuilding of the temple. Verse 8 now, Moreover the word of the Lord came unto me, saying, The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house. His hands shall also finish it, and thou shalt know that the Lord of hosts hath sent me unto you. In other words, this was to be for his encouragement, and it was what Paul said, being confident of this very thing, that he which hath begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. In other words, the rubble you put on the foundation, God was with you in putting down the foundation. Well, you’re going to put the roof on it too, and God will be with you. Verse 10, “…for who hath despised the day of small things?” Well, I can tell you who has. We do today. We Americans go in for the big and the brassy. We like the thing to be a success story. And so today the successful preacher or the successful church is the one that has the crowds and that sort of thing. And I’m beginning more and more to believe that the Lord is working in a quiet way, in quiet places today. And we’ve learned to despise the day of small things. We need to get back to that, by the way. And I’m afraid that you’re listening to a man that might be guilty of that. I get discouraged some days when our mail count here goes down. I say, oh my. And then I find out on that day when we only had just a few letters that one of those letters was the most priceless letter that we’ve ever received. May I say to you, let’s quit despising the day of small things. Now he says, “…for they shall rejoice and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel.” That plummet was a weight on the end of a string, and that’s the way you can build a thing, you know, straight with the earth. I wish I had thought of that when I put up a little shed on my place. because it isn’t quite straight. Will you notice this? See, the plummet and the hand is the rubbable with those seven. They are the eyes of the Lord which run to and fro through the whole earth. God is still overruling. Then he says, verse 11, Then answered I and said unto him, What are these two olive trees upon the right side of the lampstand, upon the left side of it? And I answered again and said unto him, What are these two olive branches, which through the two golden pipes empty the golden oil out of themselves? And he answered me and said, Knowest thou not what these are? In other words, he’s saying again, you ought to know what these are. You ought to know what they are. And I said, No, my Lord, I really don’t know what they are. Then said he, These are the two anointed ones that stand by the Lord of the whole earth. Now, these are two spirit-filled men. Zerubbabel, a civil ruler. Joshua, the religious ruler. We’ve already seen he’s been cleansed. He now stands in the righteousness of Christ. A new garment has been put on him, and he can now stand before God. Again, may I say, It had a local message. When these people back there confessed their sins and turned to God’s redemption, the way that he planned it in that day to bring a little offering that pointed to Christ, and they brought it by faith, they are now cleansed, and they now stand clothed, and they now can be spirit-filled and be used to God. That has a message for us today, does it not? that God wants to fill us with His Spirit. And there are certain conditions to be met. There are two of them I think are negative. Grieve not the Holy Spirit. You can’t have a filling of the Spirit if there’s sin in your life. God can’t use you. And then quench not the Spirit. That’s when we’re out of the will of God. And if we’re out of the will of God, God can’t use us. If God wants you in Africa and if you’re in this country, I don’t think he’s going to use you. But listen, if you’re in Africa and you ought to be in this country, he still is not going to use you. Then he says, walk in the Spirit. And walk in the Spirit is a very practical sort of thing. It’s just to get up and start out and rest upon the Spirit of God. Now, this is a picture of the future. This looks forward to the day. when God will pour out His Spirit without measure. That day hasn’t come yet. There’s very little of the pouring out of the Spirit today, if you ask me. But in that day, He says, I’m going to pour out my Spirit on all flesh. That day’s yet future, friends. This is a very remarkable prophecy in this chapter. Now, next time, we’re really going to begin to move where it’s getting exciting. We’re going to see that the first astronaut was a woman. Believe it or not, we’ll see that next time. Until then, may God richly bless you, my beloved.
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You know, Dr. McGee is right. That day is yet to come, but the Spirit of God is working in our lives today. To learn more about how the Holy Spirit provides us with the power to do the work of the Lord, take a look at a digital booklet by Dr. McGee called Living the Christian Life God’s Way. It’s available for free either in our app or when you visit ttb.org and while you’re there why don’t you check out one of my all-time favorite resources that we offer they’re dr mcgee’s bible companions i use them myself with my own small group and you’ll find them you guessed it in our app or at ttb.org or if we can help you find another resource by dr mcgee to deepen your own study of god’s word just call us 1-800-65-BIBLE is the number. And when you call, do be sure to tell us how you hear through the Bible. There are so many options, and it really helps us to know what works best for you so that we can make wise use of your financial support that keeps the Bible bus rolling through God’s Word. Our travels through Zachariah’s strange and wonderful visions continue next time as Dr. McGee explains a flying scroll that covered the skies. I’m Steve Schwetz, and I’ll be here saving a seat just for you.
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Jesus paid it all, all to him I owe. Sin had left a crimson stain, he washed it white as snow.
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Well, ride the Bible bus for five years and you’ll be amazed at what God teaches you from his word about what it means to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved. It’s a blessing that keeps on going. That’s what we believe at Through the Bible.
