The Unforced Rhythm of Grace Text: Zechariah 4:1-7
Introduction: The Discouragement of Small Things
We live in an age of spectacle. We are conditioned to measure success by the size of the explosion, the noise of the crowd, the numbers on the spreadsheet. We want big, we want fast, and we want it now. And when we apply this worldly metric to the work of God's kingdom, the result is almost always a profound and crippling discouragement. The people of God in Zechariah's day were in just such a state. They had returned from exile, full of grand visions of a restored Jerusalem and a glorious new temple. But reality had set in. The work was slow, the opposition was fierce, the resources were meager, and the temple they were building looked like a sad little shack compared to the glorious edifice of Solomon that their grandfathers had told them about. They were despising the day of small things.
Their leader in this project was the civil magistrate, Zerubbabel. And we can imagine the weight on his shoulders. He was facing a mountain of rubble, a mountain of political opposition, and a mountain of discouragement in his own people. The temptation in such a moment is always to resort to the arm of the flesh. To trust in political maneuvering, in fundraising gimmicks, in military might, in human power. We think that if we can just get a bigger budget, a better strategic plan, or a more charismatic leader, then the mountain will move. We think the kingdom comes by force of will, by human striving, by might and by power.
Into this very human and very modern-feeling despair, God sends the prophet Zechariah with a vision. And this vision is God's eternal answer to the church's perennial temptation to trust in the flesh. It is a vision designed to lift the prophet's eyes, and Zerubbabel's eyes, and our eyes, from the smallness of our own efforts to the infinite, inexhaustible resources of God the Holy Spirit. This passage is a divine corrective. It teaches us that the kingdom of God does not advance through the noisy machinery of human enterprise, but rather through the silent, steady, and unstoppable flow of golden oil, supplied by the Spirit of God. This is the grammar of kingdom growth, and if we don't learn it, we will either burn out in frustrated activism or give up in cynical despair.
The Text
Then the angel who was speaking with me returned and roused me, as a man who is roused from his sleep. And he said to me, “What do you see?” And I said, “I see, and behold, a lampstand all of gold with its bowl on the top of it, and its seven lamps on it with seven spouts belonging to each of the lamps which are on the top of it, also two olive trees by it, one on the right side of the bowl and the other on its left side.” Then I answered and said to the angel who was speaking with me saying, “What are these, my lord?” So the angel who was speaking with me answered and said to me, “Do you not know what these are?” And I said, “No, my lord.” Then he answered and spoke to me, saying, “This is the word of Yahweh to Zerubbabel, saying, ‘Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says Yahweh of hosts. 'What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain; and he will bring forth the top stone with shouts of “Grace, grace to it!” ’ ”
(Zechariah 4:1-7 LSB)
A Vision of Self-Sufficiency (vv. 1-5)
The vision begins with the prophet being roused from what seems to be a visionary stupor. The angelic messenger has to wake him up, which indicates the stunning nature of what he is about to see.
"And he said to me, 'What do you see?' And I said, 'I see, and behold, a lampstand all of gold with its bowl on the top of it, and its seven lamps on it with seven spouts belonging to each of the lamps which are on the top of it, also two olive trees by it, one on the right side of the bowl and the other on its left side.'" (Zechariah 4:2-3)
Zechariah sees a golden lampstand, a menorah, which immediately brings to mind the lampstand in the tabernacle and the temple. The lampstand in Scripture represents the people of God, who are to be the light of the world (Matthew 5:14). In the book of Revelation, the seven lampstands are explicitly identified as the seven churches (Revelation 1:20). So this is a vision about the church, the covenant community, in its task of bearing witness to God in a dark world.
But this is no ordinary lampstand. This one has a bowl on top of it, and it is flanked by two olive trees. The trees are connected directly to the bowl, which in turn feeds oil directly to the seven lamps through seven spouts for each lamp. This is a picture of a continuous, uninterrupted, and self-sufficient supply of fuel. In the earthly temple, the priests had the daily chore of trimming the wicks and refilling the lamps with oil. It was a task that required constant human effort. But in this vision, there is no need for human tending. The oil flows directly from the source, the living olive trees, into the lamps. The light never flickers, never wanes, and never depends on a priest running around with an oil can.
The two olive trees are later identified as "the two anointed ones who stand by the Lord of the whole earth" (v. 14). In the immediate context, this refers to Joshua the high priest and Zerubbabel the governor. They represent the two God-ordained offices of leadership in Israel: the priestly and the kingly, or the religious and the civil. These two offices, when functioning rightly, were to be the channels through which God's grace, His anointing oil, flowed to the people. This is a glorious picture of church and state, not fused together, but standing side-by-side in service to the Lord, mediating His blessing to the nation.
Of course, this is a type, and it points forward to the one who would perfectly unite both offices in Himself. Jesus Christ is our great High Priest and our sovereign King, the ultimate anointed one. He is the true source of the oil. The prophet asks the angel what all this means, feigning ignorance, so that the divine interpretation can be given for our benefit.
The Central Declaration (v. 6)
The angel then provides the central interpretive key to the entire vision, and it is one of the most crucial verses in all of Scripture for understanding how God works in the world.
"Then he answered and spoke to me, saying, 'This is the word of Yahweh to Zerubbabel, saying, "Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit," says Yahweh of hosts.'" (Zechariah 4:6)
This is the message for Zerubbabel, the overwhelmed governor. The temple will not be rebuilt, the city will not be restored, the kingdom will not be established, by might or by power. The word for "might" here often refers to the strength of an army, collective force. The word for "power" refers to individual strength, the prowess of a great man. God is systematically eliminating all the things we naturally trust in. It will not be accomplished by your armies. It will not be accomplished by your political coalitions. It will not be accomplished by your clever strategies. It will not be accomplished by the sheer force of your personality, Zerubbabel.
How then? "But by My Spirit." The oil in the vision is a clear symbol of the Holy Spirit. The work of God is accomplished by the power of God. This is the fundamental axiom of the Christian life and of Christian civilization. This is profoundly encouraging, but it is also profoundly humbling. It strips us of our pride and our self-reliance. We bring nothing to the table. Our best efforts, our most strenuous exertions, are utterly useless apart from the energizing work of the Spirit. This is why our postmillennial hope is not some kind of Pollyanna optimism based on human progress. It is a robust confidence in the person and work of the Holy Spirit, who has been poured out upon the church to bring all of Christ's enemies under His feet.
The world believes in might and power. The world builds its empires with swords and legislation and propaganda. But the Church is built by a different power entirely. It grows like a mustard seed, silently. It works like leaven, invisibly. It is fueled by an unseen oil, flowing from a divine source. We are not called to be mighty; we are called to be faithful. We are not called to be powerful; we are called to be conduits. The pressure is off. The work is His.
The Mountain and the Capstone (v. 7)
With this principle established, God then speaks directly to the obstacle that is overwhelming Zerubbabel.
"'What are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become a plain; and he will bring forth the top stone with shouts of "Grace, grace to it!"'" (Zechariah 4:7)
God addresses the mountain directly. This "great mountain" represents the sum total of all the obstacles. It is the pile of rubble where the temple should be. It is the Samaritan opposition. It is the Persian bureaucracy. It is the people's apathy. It is a mountain of impossibility. And God speaks to it with what can only be described as divine contempt. "What are you, O great mountain?" He belittles it. He mocks it. Before Zerubbabel, the man who is not trusting in might or power but who is a conduit for the Spirit, you will become a plain. The obstacle will not just be overcome; it will be leveled. It will be annihilated.
This is what faith does. Jesus tells His disciples that if they have faith like a grain of mustard seed, they will say to this mountain, "Move from here to there," and it will move (Matthew 17:20). The power is not in the faith itself; the power is in the God to whom the faith is directed. A weak faith in a mighty God can move mountains. A strong faith in human ability can't move a molehill.
And the work will be completed. Zerubbabel himself "will bring forth the top stone." The capstone, the final piece of the temple, will be set in place. This is a promise. The work that God begins, He will finish. And what will be the response when this impossible task is finally completed? There will be no self-congratulation. There will be no victory speeches praising Zerubbabel's leadership or the people's resilience. The cry will be one of pure, unadulterated, hundred-proof praise to the grace of God. "Grace, grace to it!"
The work begins in grace, it is sustained by grace, and it is completed to the glory of grace. From foundation to capstone, the entire project is a monument to the unmerited favor and sovereign power of God. This is the anthem of the redeemed. We are saved by grace, we are sanctified by grace, we persevere by grace, and when we finally enter into glory, our eternal song will be about grace. This is the death of all pride, all boasting, all self-reliance. The gospel leaves no room for human swagger. It is all of Him, through Him, and to Him. When the great work of building Christ's church is finally complete, the only words on our lips will be, "Grace, grace to it!"
Conclusion: The Fuel for Our Labor
This vision is intensely practical for us. We too are called to a building project. We are called to build our families, our churches, and our communities into outposts of the kingdom of God. And we too face great mountains. We face the mountain of our own sin and weakness. We face the mountain of a hostile and decadent culture. We face the mountain of spiritual apathy and discouragement.
And the temptation is always the same as it was for Zerubbabel: to resort to our own might and our own power. We try to argue the world into submission with our superior logic. We try to organize our way to revival. We try to shame our culture into righteousness. And we grow weary and discouraged when the mountain doesn't budge.
God's word to us today is the same as His word to Zerubbabel. Stop looking at the mountain. Stop looking at your own meager resources. Look at the lampstand. Look at the olive trees. The supply of oil is limitless. The Holy Spirit has been given to the church without measure. Our task is not to generate the power, but simply to stay connected to the source. The Christian life is not a matter of frantic effort, but of faithful dependence.
The work of God is accomplished by the Spirit of God, and the work of the Spirit is always to glorify the Son of God. The Spirit flows from Christ, our King and Priest. He is the true source. And because He is the source, the final victory is not in doubt. That mountain of secularist arrogance and pagan rebellion that looms over our nation? Before the Spirit of God, it is a plain. The work of discipling the nations will be completed. The capstone of Christ's kingdom will be set in place. And when that day comes, when the knowledge of the glory of the Lord covers the earth as the waters cover the sea, there will be one great shout that echoes through the cosmos: "Grace, grace to it!"
Therefore, do not despise the day of small things. Do not measure your faithfulness by the world's standards of success. Simply be a clear channel for the golden oil. Abide in Christ. Be filled with the Spirit. And watch Him do what He alone can do. For it is not by might, nor by power, but by His Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.