Links for today’s readings:
May 22 Read: Zechariah 4 Listen: (1:53) Read: Luke 13 Listen: (5:02)
Links for this ’s readings:
May 23 Read: Zechariah 5 Listen: (1:35) Read: Luke 14 Listen: (4:36)
May 24 Read: Zechariah 6 Listen: (2:08) Read: Luke 15 Listen: (4:19)
May 25 Read: Zechariah 7 Listen: (1:57) Read: Luke 16 Listen: (4:27)
Scripture Focus: Zechariah 4.1-14
4 Then the angel who talked with me returned and woke me up, like someone awakened from sleep. 2 He asked me, “What do you see?”
I answered, “I see a solid gold lampstand with a bowl at the top and seven lamps on it, with seven channels to the lamps. 3 Also there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.”
4 I asked the angel who talked with me, “What are these, my lord?”
5 He answered, “Do you not know what these are?”
“No, my lord,” I replied.
6 So 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 Almighty.
7 “What are you, mighty mountain? Before Zerubbabel you will become level ground. Then he will bring out the capstone to shouts of ‘God bless it! God bless it!’ ”
8 Then the word of the Lord came to me: 9 “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this temple; his hands will also complete it. Then you will know that the Lord Almighty has sent me to you.
10 “Who dares despise the day of small things, since the seven eyes of the Lord that range throughout the earth will rejoice when they see the chosen capstone in the hand of Zerubbabel?”
11 Then I asked the angel, “What are these two olive trees on the right and the left of the lampstand?”
12 Again I asked him, “What are these two olive branches beside the two gold pipes that pour out golden oil?”
13 He replied, “Do you not know what these are?”
“No, my lord,” I said.
14 So he said, “These are the two who are anointed to serve the Lord of all the earth.”
Reflection: When a Lampstand is Not a Lampstand
By John Tillman
When is a lampstand not a lampstand?
Zechariah would have recognized the golden lampstands that had been made for the temple. Even if he had not seen them in person, he would have known them by description. Is that what he saw in his vision? If so, the vision lampstand was different enough to be confusing to him.
The gold lampstand In Zechariah’s vision stood between two olive trees. Normally, the priests and Levites supplied the temple’s lampstands with oil to ensure the lights in the temple never went out. But this lampstand was not normal.
Olive oil is not tapped from olive trees like maple syrup from maples. But these strange trees had branches and “gold pipes” pouring out golden oil to supply the lampstand. Perhaps this supernatural mechanism is why Zechariah was so curious that he asked three separate times what the lampstand and trees were. He never got a straight answer. He got a prophetic answer. What does this lampstand represent? Let’s look at its important qualities.
The lampstand functions not by might or power but by the Holy Spirit of God. The lampstand brings the light of truth and the warmth of God’s love to the entire world. The lampstand conquers mountainous obstacles, making straight and level paths. The lampstand is anointed to serve the Lord (Jesus) and those united to him. The lampstand is connected to the flowing fuel of God’s Holy Spirit that empowers all that it is and does.
What can you think of that should share the qualities of this lampstand?
Shouldn’t the worldwide church? Shouldn’t local faith communities? Shouldn’t families? Shouldn’t each individual believer?
Get plugged in like the lampstand! Be supernaturally supplied with the Holy Spirit to do the work God has called you to do, in the way he asks you to do it, sharing the light of his love to every person of every race, tribe, and tounge.
Function not by might or power but by the Holy Spirit of God. Bring the light of truth and the warmth of God’s love to the entire world. Conquer mountainous obstacles obstructing people from seeing Jesus. Make straight and level paths for them to approach our loving father. Serve Jesus and those united to him in the power of your annointing. Connect to the flowing fuel of God’s Holy Spirit, whose power supplies God’s purposes.
Be a supernaturally supplied lampstand.
Divine Hours Prayer: A Reading
Jesus taught us, saying: “The lamp of the body is the eye. It follows that if your eye is clear, your whole body will be filled with light. But if your eye is diseased, your whole body will be darkness. If then, the light inside you is darkened, what darkness that will be! — Matthew 6.22-23
– From The Divine Hours: Prayers for Springtime by Phyllis Tickle
Read more: Confused Along With the Prophets
Zechariah’s visions were of hope and restoration in the midst of suffering and doubt….restoration that seems insurmountable will find completion.
Read more: Suffering and Sin
We feel less responsible when we can believe that only the lazy are poor, only the promiscuous are in danger of sexual assault or disease, only hedonists become addicts, and only nihilists suffer depression.
