Lights In The World

Reading Zechariah chapter 4 again and again. A man of God is like an olive tree and the anointing is like olive oil used by a lamp to produce light. Without artificial light we would only have light during the day and darkness at night (relative to moonlight and clouds of course).

'And he said to me, 'What do you see?'

I said, 'I see, and behold, a lampstand all of 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 the top of it. And there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.'

And 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.'' - Zechariah 4:2-5 ESV

The writer needed to be awakened to see it. Why are people's lives so dark? Perhaps it is because there is no oil tree in their lives or those oil trees don't have bowls near them to draw the oil and produce a place of safe ignition and illumination of truth.

A lamp provides a way to see beyond the light provided in creation.

"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?'

He said to me, 'Do you not know what these are?'

I said, 'No, my lord.'

Then he said, 'These are the two anointed ones who stand by the Lord of the whole earth.' " - Zechariah 4:11-14 ESV

It is good to identify who the anointed people in my life are. I need the light they produce.

"For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the LORD, which run to and fro through the whole earth." - Zechariah 4:10 KJV

If we discern the anointed man and see the plumb line that measures the straightness of a design in His hand we will rejoice even if things seem small right now.

An anointed man who carries the objective word of God with him and measures by that measure can start things and they will bud with life. The beginning may seem small but the seed will grow in unexpected ways.

The temple built by these two men in Zechariah is no more. It was built and it is gone now but the small beginnings of the project affected many people and generations. Life is the issue not the project.

An anointed person starts a family, or a business, or is involved in a Church project and that project has delays and problems. There are victories and defeats also but the project serves as a bowl to collect the oil so that light can be produced. It may look small and we may need our eyes opened to see it for what it is but those projects and people become vehicles for illumination.

"Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, 'I am the light of the world. Whoever follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life.' " - John 8:12 ESV

"You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden." - Matthew 5:14 ESV

God has made us to be lights and give us eyes to see illumination. I want to recognize the source of it and be a friend to those men who have little projects on the Earth. They may seem little now but they are blazing fires in Heaven's eyes.

--