Zechariah 4

Zechariah 4:1-14

THE AND THE TWO OLIVE TREES Zechariah 4:1-14THIS fourth chapter of Zechariah brings to us the Prophet’s fifth vision, for the reception of which he was roused by the angel “as a man that is wakened out of his sleep”. The language employed would indicate that he was in a sort of stupor, having been overwhelmed by the greatness of the visions which he had already experienced.You will remember that when Daniel was addressed by Gabriel he says, “I was afraid, and fell upon my face: * * I was in a deep sleep on my face toward the ground: but he touched me, and set me upright” (Daniel 8:17-18). And again, the Apostle Peter at the transfiguration of Jesus, together with those that were with him, is reported as “heavy with sleep” and when they “awoke they saw His glory”. It is little wonder, therefore, that Zechariah should be in kindred condition, for he had seen a succession of glorious visions; and a respite was essential before another could be apprehended; and God had given it to him. But now the Angel rouses him again with the question, “What seest thou”?The vision vouchsafed to the Prophet was in perfect line with what he had already beheld:—“I have looked and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof: “And two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof” (Zechariah 4:2-3). And when the angel explains this vision, lo, it is a promise from God that Zerubbabel is to complete the Temple, which he had begun, but weakly deserted through fear of foes.If, by the fourth vision, God gave to Zechariah a true conception of the priesthood of his times, in showing Joshua—ragged and filthy, and yet encouraged him by a change of raiment—symbol of an improved priesthood—so in this fifth vision Zechariah’s sorrows over the weakness of his Prince Zerubbabel are brought to an end by God’s picture of a better prince—in the same man, when he shall become Spirit-filled. About the time that Peter denied his Lord with cursing and swearing the little company of believers must have thought that they had a poor prospect for the Church, if its success depended in any measure upon that cowardly disciple. But when Pentecost was fully come, and Peter was Spirit-filled, how changed the prospect!The chief purpose of this fifth vision was to show Zechariah, the Prophet, God’s plan to perfect His Temple by the hand of Zerubbabel. But a careful study of all the appointments of the vision bring out the chief features of this revelation.THE OF THE SEVEN LAMPS “I have looked, and behold a candlestick all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof”. This is not the first time this candelabrum has appeared in Scripture: and it is this same candlestick of pure gold, with the six branches going out of the sides thereof, “three branches of the candlestick out of the one side, and three branches of the candlestick out of the other side”, which, together with the central stem, were finished in seven cups, all of which were to be made after the pattern shown to Moses in the mount. It belonged, therefore, to the symbols of that Levitical system, and a good student of the Scriptures would expect it to appear again, and yet again, on the further pages of the Father’s Book, in order that its great lessons might be repeated until their truths were evident and deeply impressed. What this candlestick meant in Exodus it means in Zechariah; and what it sets forth in Zechariah it suggests again in Revelation.There are appointments of this candlestick about which equally faithful students dispute. But some of its lessons are so clear that no instructed Christian will dissent from that expression of them which I now propose.First of all:—God will not leave His world without light. The first sentence attributed by inspiration to the lips of God is this—“Let there be light: and there was light”. And since that hour the physical world has never been without it.

God’s treatment of the human world—the world of mind and morals, the world of man—has not been less considerate. The antediluvians had their lights—Abel, Enoch, Noah; the postdiluvians had their lights— Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Moses, Joshua, Samuel, David, and so on.But God did better for the ancients than send them a few Prophets of light. He raised up a luminous nation in Israel. How marvelous are the types of the Old Testament! Has it not occurred to you that when that awful time of thick darkness lay on the land of Egypt for three days— reproof for Pharaoh’s sin,—a darkness in which the Egyptians “saw not one another, neither rose any from his place for three days”, “the Children of Israel had light in their dwellings”.Bible students seem to be agreed that as this candlestick dispelled the darkness round about it, so Israel is God’s candlestick to that long period of time between Abraham and Jesus; and the Church has been God’s new candlestick now almost two thousand years. That is why the ancient Prophet, remembering the very appointments of Israel, could call upon her in this language:—“Arise, shine; for thy Light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. “Far, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness the people: but the Lord shall arise upon thee, and His glory shall be seen upon thee. “And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising” (Isaiah 60:1-3). That is why Jesus, in that marvelous sermon on the Mount, could say to His disciples “Ye are the light of the world” (Matthew 5:14). That is why, when Jesus, in the Revelation, vouchsafed the glorious visions of the Apocalypse to the Apostle John, he saw “seven golden candlesticks; and in the midst of the seven candlesticks one like unto the Son of Man”, and afterward explained, “The seven candlesticks * * are the Seven Churches”. If one follows Revelation through he will find the Churches of Christ, the world’s luminaries—and its only luminaries, until our Lord, who is indeed “the Sun of Righteousness” shall arise.While the candlestick cannot dissipate all the darkness, who can tell what it means to the sons of men to have it? „ Dr. Talmage once asked these questions, “What is the difference between London and Madras? What is the difference between Edinburg and Canton?” We can answer,—the difference was that the Church had been shining, through her members, in New York and London and Edinburg, as she had not shone in Pekin, Madras and Canton. There had been light in the former cities; and gross darkness in the latter.

Thank God that these candlesticks are now being lighted in the darkest places of the earth. It is said that in the dark vaults, where the Czars of Russia are buried, candles used to be kept ever burning.

But it is in vain that they throw their feeble rays upon the eyes of the dead men. Not so with the candlesticks of our text. In their light is life, and where they shine the eyes of the dead are opened and they rise to walk in that light until “the day dawn, and the Day Star arise”.The Godly alone can be world-luminaries. You must have noticed how, in the further figure of this candlestick it is “all of gold”. You will find by consulting comparative texts that the very pipes leading to the lamps were also of beaten gold. Gold, as a symbol of the character of the saints, is common in sacred literature.

Job said, “When He hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold” (Job 23:10); and Jeremiah in Lamentations 4:2 speaks of “The precious sons of Zion, comparable to fine gold”. And when the Apostle writes to the Philippians, appealing to them in the name of the highest Christian living, he says,—“Do all things without murmurings and disputings: “That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world; “Holding forth the Word of Life” (Philippians 2:14-16). It is only the man of golden character who can do this to the praise of God. Oh, to live such a life as to have the light therefrom never obscured! Who does not covet it? To shine steadily in the home; to shine steadily in the shop and office; to shine steadily when we walk the very streets,— this indeed is the will of God for those whom He has set “as lights in the world”!The lights from these candlesticks burned without intermission, and were types, therefore, of those who live Godly in Christ Jesus and continue in the things learned of Him. Better a small but steady light than the most brilliant one if it but light the darkness in the hour when men have need thereof.There is a beautiful story told of a girl who lived on one of the Orkney Islands where, off from her home, a great rock jutted to the very surface of the sea. One night her father’s boat was driven on it, and the next morning his dead body was washed up on shore.

When the father was buried and night came again this girl, remembering his fate, said, “I will try to save other fishermen from the same.” So she took her little candle and set it in the window casement. All night long she kept her spinning wheel turning, taking, now and then, time to trim the candle, and when it was exhausted replacing it with a new one.

After that, in the wild storms of winter and the moonless nights of the more peaceful summer, in the times of driving mists, or heavy fogs, the coast was never a single night without the candle in the window. The men out at sea, coming in, knew just where the danger was because that little light shown unceasingly to guide them.Oh, men in humble station; oh, women, shut up to what you have supposed to be small spheres, and possessed of only medium talents and opportunities, grieve not that yours is not a brilliant life; what God needs in His world is the steady light of holy living.Permit another remark concerning the significance of the seven lamps.The secret of their shining is the fullness of the Spirit. The lights of Zechariah’s vision never failed because the bowl on the top thereof, from which the pipes received the oil, was being constantly replenished. In the Scripture, oil is the symbol of the Holy Spirit. As this oil poured through the knob into these candlesticks and kept them ever burning, so the Holy Ghost, through Jesus Christ—the Head of all the saints—vivifies the willing servant. There is all the difference between the believer who has not received the Holy Ghost for service, and one who has received Him, that there was between the smoking, charred wick without oil, and the bright flame when the wick was trimmed and the pipes were oil-filled.

There is no more difficult endeavor, no more egregious failure than the attempt to serve God without the infilling of the Spirit. Jesus said, “Without Me ye can do nothing.

He also said, “Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you”. If one wanted to know just what is the fullness of the Spirit-filled life let him read John 7:38-39,— “He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. (But this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him should receive)”.Ah, beloved, if our lives are indeed luminous, continually luminous, it will only be by such vital connection with our Head—Christ—that the Holy Ghost can come upon us for service. We are continually asking the secret of successful Christians; the secret of the Peters, the Pauls, the Johns, the Luthers, the Wesleys, the Spurgeons, the Moodys.A writer speaks of having seen a portrait representing a fire burning brightly against a stone wall. There seemed to be no fuel upon it, and yet the flame never faltered or diminished, and all this in spite of the fact that a huge figure was standing by the fire and constantly pouring water into the flames. But with each bucketful the flames burst forth even more brightly. This is not understood until one gets a glimpse behind the stone wall, where stands an angel with a mighty reservoir of oil beside him.

The tube, connecting this oil with the fire, is in his hand, and as the water is dashed on, this smiling angel opens the tube and a fresh supply of oil runs into the bosom of the flame, so that instead of being quenched the water is converted into steam and sends the flame higher.What a significant picture this is of the Spirit-filled life! Who can extinguish the flame thereof?

What enemy can obscure its shining? Ah, truly, “When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him”. This, beloved, is the significance of the seven lamps!THE TWO OLIVE TREES AND THEIR TYPICAL MEANING “Then answered I, and said unto Him, What are these two olive trees upon the right side of the candlestick and upon the left side thereof? “And I answered again, and said unto Him, What he 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 be? And I said, No, my Lord. “Then said He, These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth” (Zechariah 4:11-14). This is Jehovah’s word to Zerubbabel and it says, “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts. Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain”.The two olive trees were types of priest and prince. “These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth”. Zechariah’s questions concerning the two olive trees and the two olive branches are one question, as is evident from the answer, referring them to Joshua and Zerubbabel—the two sons of oil. The priest and the prince are Divine appointments for the advancement of God’s cause in the earth. They combined in Melchisedec, who was the type of Christ; and, although in the Old Testament dispensation the offices commonly existed separately, they joined in pointing to that time when they should exist in One,—even in Jesus. Zechariah is, himself, our authority for this assertion, for did not the Word of Jehovah come unto him, saying,“Then take silver and gold, and make crowns, and set them upon the head of Joshua the son of Josedech, the high priest; “And speak unto him, saying, Thus speaketh the Lord of Hosts, saying, Behold the Man whose Name is The BRANCH; and He shall grow up out of His place, and He shall build the Temple of the Lord: “Even He shall build the Temple of the Lord; and He shall bear the glory, and shall sit and rule upon His throne; and He shall be a priest upon His thro fie: and the counsel of peace shall be between them both” (Zechariah 6:11-13). Today these offices are better apart. Let God’s minister keep to his priesthood and his prophecies, and let rulership alone. Aaron has no right in Moses’ seat; Ezekiel can afford to turn over to Daniel the rulership in Babylon, and Joshua can keep his hands off Zerubbabel’s office.Savonarola succeeded better as a priest than when he attempted to be Prince in Florence; John Calvin was a better preacher than ruler, and, on the whole, his influence would have been more far-reaching had he let the political administration alone. But, blessed be God, when Christ shall come He can fill, to the full, both offices; as a Priest, sit upon His throne, and the “counsel of peace shall be between them both”. “Worthy is He that once was slain, The Prince of Life that groaned and died, Worthy to rise, and live and reign At His almighty Father’s side.” Through these two God overthrows the enemy.When you have a righteous priesthood and a Spirit-filled prince, mountains of difficulties are leveled before their faces. As one rehearses the history of Israel he will find that when the enemy came in like a flood and Israel turned from God, there was fault either with the prince or priest, or both,—and it is so today. In England, in America, in every civilized country of the world the priest and the prince are determining the state of the people.It is possible to have a true ministry, such as existed in the time of Paul and Peter, but with worldlings upon the throne, such as were some of the Caesar’s, wickedness will abound and Christ be crucified afresh. When, however, the ruler and the minister are alike Godly, as in the days when Winthrop governed in Massachusetts, and the Puritan preachers were God’s priests and prophets, the enemy of mountainous proportions is laid low, and there is found to be in this combination a Divine power for which unregenerate men are unable to account.You will remember the oration which Wendell Phillips delivered in the old South Meeting House in 1876. Speaking of the times of the Revolutionary War, he said of Boston, “It was a petty town of some twenty thousand inhabitants; but the rays of royal indignation collected upon it served only to illuminate and not to consume. Almost every one of its houses had a legend.

Every public building hid what was treasonable debate or bore bullet-marks of bloodshed—evidence of royal displeasure. It takes a stout heart to step out of a crowd and risk the chances of support, when failure is death. The strongest, proudest, most obstinate race and kingdom on one side; a petty town the assailant; its weapons, idea; its trust, God and the right.”Yet, I doubt if even Phillips saw the truth so truly suggested by this vision, that Boston and vicinity were able to stand against the world’s first kingdom and defeat it, because, forsooth, they had righteous priests and a righteous prince.The strength of these two was not physical but spiritual. This is Jehovah’s Word to Zerubbabel, and it says, “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts. Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain”. It is a lesson hard to learn, that God can take the weak things of the world and confound the mighty. And yet it is a lesson often affirmed in Scriptures; and just as often confirmed by history.In the preceding picture we saw a ragged and filthy priest; and in this, a weak and irresolute prince. But God changed the raiment of the priest,—evidence of the change which His Spirit had wrought in his character;—and God casts cowardice from Zerubbabel’s heart and fills him with courage to the finger-tips, because God proposes through these men to finish His Temple.What an illustration of the truth, “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts”. When one learns this he will know how to pray and how to meet the mightiest adversary.Asa had learned it, and when he was about to join battle with Zerah, the Ethiopian, who had an army of “a thousand thousand, and three hundred chariots”; “Asa cried unto the Lord his God, and said, Lord, it is nothing with Thee to help, whether with many, or with them that have no power: help us, O Lord our God; for we rest on Thee, and in Thy Name we go against this multitude. O Lord, Thou art our God; let not man prevail against Thee” (2 Chronicles 14:9; 2 Chronicles 14:11).No wonder we read, “So the Lord smote the Ethiopians before Asa, and before Judah; and the Ethiopians fled” (2 Chronicles 14:12). That is like our God!Beloved, do you not get consolation out of the fact that our very weakness, in His hand, becomes an instrument of power.

Think how He encouraged Jacob, saying, “Fear not, thou worm Jacob”, —worm without strength,—“I will help thee”, “Behold, I will make thee a new sharp threshing instrument having teeth: thou shalt thresh the mountains, and beat them small, and shalt make the hills as chaff” (Isaiah 41:14-15).Why then need God’s man be filled with fear when the enemies round about him are thick and strong? I do not know, beloved, what may be your apparent source of danger; but, oh, I do know that however great your weakness, if you link it to God’s strength, you will be more than a match for the mountains that come against you!It is said that when Saladin looked at the sword of Richard Coeur de Leon he wondered that a blade so ordinary should have wrought such mighty deeds. The English King bared his arm and said, “It was not the sword that did these things; it was the arm of Richard.”And so it was not Zerubbabel, not Joshua, but the arm of God, and that arm is not now shortened. The very same arm is bared in behalf of all believers. What occasion then for the Apostle’s words to the Hebrews, “Let us therefore come boldly unto the throne of Grace, that we may obtain mercy, and find grace to help in time of need”.THE TOP STONE AND ITS ETERNAL TRUTHS “And he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it! “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, “For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall Rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel”.. The top stone completed the Temple of God. It is not the foundation stone, but, as the text puts it, it is e(the top stone”, the corner of the Temple. It was a stone in the form of a triangle, the sides of which lay along the walls. There is a tradition to the effect that one stone was set aside by the builders as without a place into which it could be fitted, and they believed that it was a mistake. But when at last the building was completed, save for a single stone, this rejected one was discovered to fit perfectly, and it was used as the top stone.This tradition seems to have been confirmed by the Psalmist when he says, “The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner”. And also by Jesus Himself, who asked the Jews rejecting Him, “Did ye never read in the Scriptures, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is become the head of the corner”? (Matthew 21:42); and by Peter, addressing the elders and people regarding Jesus Christ whom they had crucified, declaring unto them, “This is the stone which was set at nought of you builders, which is become the head of the corner”.There is no conflict between making Jesus the head of the corner, and the foundation stone also, as Isaiah makes Him, for He is truly both foundation and finial to that spiritual temple into which we are builded as living stones. We rest on Him as our foundation; we are finished in Him as our Head. He is indeed, the “Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end, the first and the last”.This stone comes to its place with acclamations.“And he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it”. Have you never read how,“When the builders laid the foundation of the Temple of the Lord, they set the priests in their apparel with trumpets, and the Levites the sons of Asaph with cymbals, to praise the Lord, after the ordinance of David king of Israel. “And they sang together by course in praising and giving thanks unto the Lord; because He is good, for His mercy endureth for ever toward Israel And all the people shouted with a great shout, when they praised the Lord, because the foundation of the House of the Lord was laid” (Ezra 3:10-11). And now that the cap-stone is being placed, they greet it with song, “Grace, grace unto if”!How suggestive to remember that when Jesus was born a babe in Bethlehem a chorus of angels celebrated the event; when He made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem, the multitude that followed, and went before Him, cried, saying, “Hosanna to the Son of David: Blessed is He that cometh in the Name of the Lord; Hosanna in the highest”.So sang those who had to do with the laying of the foundation of our hope, for this is Jesus, the Christ.But if one wants to know what will be its completion, let him turn to Revelation 19:1, and listen with John to the “great voice of much people in Heaven, saying, Alleluia; Salvation, and glory, and honour, and power, unto the Lord our God”. And again, as the Seer adds, “I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunderings, saying, Alleluia; for the Lord God omnipotent reigneth. Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to Him” (Revelation 19:6-7).His work indeed is worthy of acclamation!To put the top-stone of the Temple into its place was important; but to finish the work of our salvation was more important. And as God declared concerning Zerubbabel, the prince, saying, “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it”, so He has promised concerning the work of Jesus Christ.If one once becomes acquainted with dispensational truth his spirit must glow within him as he approaches the end of the Book of Revelation and studies that picture of Christ’s glorious triumph, casting the old serpent into the abyss, and shutting it and sealing it over him that he should deceive the nations no more; of Christ’s reigning alone over the whole wide world, and getting ready for the new heaven and the new earth, whose glories beggar description; and then to be told that we, as saints, shall share it all with Him! Should we not shout unto the Christ, “Grace, grace to Him,” and cry to men and angels in the language of the saintly Edward Perronet:— “All hail the power of Jesus’ Name! Let angels prostrate fall; Bring forth the royal diadem, And crown Him Lord of all.

“Crown Him, ye martyrs of our God, Who from His altar call; Extol the stem of Jesse’s rod, And crown Him Lord of all.

“Ye chosen seed of Israel’s race, Ye ransomed from the fall; Hail Him who saves you by His grace, And crown Him Lord of all.

“Sinners, whose love can ne’er forget The wormwood and the gall; Go, spread your trophies at His feet, And crown Him Lord of all.

“Let every kindred, every tribe, On this terrestrial ball, To Him all majesty ascribe, And crown Him Lord of all.

“O, that with yonder sacred throng, We at His feet may fall; We’ll join the everlasting song, And crown Him Lord of all.”

Zechariah 4:8-10

THE PROMISE IN THE DAY OF SMALL THINGS Zechariah 4:8-10THE Sundays concerned, this day terminates the thirty-five years of the present pastorate. The banquet of Tuesday night celebrates the exact anniversary, the day of the month regarded, as this pastorate began on March 1st, 1897. At that time it was impossible to anticipate the years that have intervened, and any prophecy on their results for us as pastor and people would have been a pure speculation. However, we so firmly believe in the unseen vision, and in the unheard Voice, that we stand at this hour without the least surprise at what has taken place.When Mrs. Riley was packing to leave Chicago for Minneapolis, her heart torn with separation from friends she had learned to love, and her tears dropping upon the garments that were being placed in trunk and traveling bag, I said to her, “Don’t cry, dear; we will never do this again!”For quite a time back of that hour I had had a clear conviction that somewhere, probably in the West, there was a growing city, and a downtown church that should claim the overwhelming portion of my ministerial endeavors, and when the call from this church came, I believed this to be the city and this to be the church of which the Lord had whispered in the silences, had visualized for me in the darkness of night; and somehow, I knew that I was moving to an experience very closely akin to that which these thirty-five years have brought to pass.In facing the future, e’en though one enjoyed inspiration itself, he would see only the general course of events. Matters of minor importance, and even the personal experiences of deepest concern, are not revealed. It is like standing on an eminence and following the long road with the eyes. Its direction is plain; but not so its slight elevations and depressions; not so the stones which may be in the direct line of travel, and certainly not so for those tacks and nails that often harrow us suddenly and sometimes even disastrously, in the automobile transportation; and if there should be highwaymen lurking in the bush, these would not appear.

When disaster overtakes one and a friend comes to his aid, he would not have been seen in advance. Life is much like that; we only comprehend it fully as we come to it.In searching, therefore, for a text for this day, I did not find it where I hoped and preferred to come upon the same, namely, in the Book of Ezekiel,— our present consecutive study—but rather in this volume of Zechariah—my favorite among the minor Prophets.As the text is developed I think you may consent that there is a certain appropriateness in its employment, for I want you to think with me today on,—Completing that Commenced: The Importance of Small Things: and on The Discovery of Future Opportunities. THAT “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” (Zechariah 4:8-9). Forty-four years ago, or in June, 1888, I was installed as regular pastor of the First Baptist Church, Lafayette, Ind., where, for six months previous, while yet a student in Louisville, Ky., I had been acting as student-pastor. Dr. George Lorimer, who was then pastor of the Immanual Church, Chicago, preached my installation sermon and employed this text.I do not remember a word he uttered except the constant repetition of Zerubbabel; but I well remember how profoundly he moved me with his matchless eloquence; and, so far as I recall, it is the only time in my life that I have ever heard the text used. I am under the necessity, therefore, of formulating my own outline and filling in the same as the Spirit shall suggest.I learn from it:—The Lord is the arbiter of duty. We quite often hear that “the Lord is the arbiter of destiny,” but duty and destiny are quite akin.“Moreover the Word of the Lord came unto me, saying”. Who has such right to say as He?

To whom else does command belong? It was of Christ the Prophet was speaking when, voicing God, he uttered the words, “Behold, I have given Him * * a leader and a commander to the people” (Isaiah 55:4).It was Christ Himself who said, “All power (or authority) is given unto Me in Heaven and in earth.

Go ye therefore”.Unfortunately, the days in which we live present a drift away from this conception of Christ as the One and full Commander of men. Our fathers and mothers in the faith almost uniformly conceded to Christ the right to command. If He said to a son or daughter, “Go,” the believing father and mother said, “Let it be so!”His calls might have been to far away India, to little known China, to the distant isle of Japan, or even to the inhospitable South America, or cannibalistic Africa, and yet, however deep their grief, they dared not dissent; and if they did, they rather anticipated chastisement for their dissent.In the home state of my youth, a man had two daughters. The younger of them felt called to be a foreign missionary, but the father refused to let her go. Shortly the mother was taken. He feared that it was a reproof, but again to her pleas, he answered, “No.

You cannot go.” A few weeks, and the elder daughter was called Home, and once more the girl said, “Father, I must be obedient to Jesus Christ.” His answer was, “You are all that I have left, and I cannot and will not spare you.” She replied, “Father, it may be that I am not yours, but that I belong to Him first. Have you ever thought of that?”The night through he tossed with no sleep, and when the morning came, he said, “I have given a night of thought and prayer to it, and I have fully concluded that you do belong to Him first, and if it is His command, you shall go!”Years afterward, on that foreign mission field, the father found his daughter surrounded by scores of Christian girls whom she had won to Christ, and as he looked at them, he said, “Thank God I was obedient; I now have my child, and in addition all these also, for they are the Lord’s, and they are mine.”It is the Lord’s to select His own agents of office.Here again our text talks: “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it” (Zechariah 4:9).God has His work and is competent to select for each needful job the best suited agent.

Therein is involved a principle that too many of my fellow ministers forget. Every week of the world I have from one to a half dozen letters from men who want a pastorate. The church of Albert Lea, and the church at Austin, have recently been vacant. These men have wanted that I recommend them to one or the other, or even to both these pulpits. Some of them are men I have never seen; and most of them are men who have never seen these churches, and who know nothing of the churches or congregations. The idea of an adaptation of the man to the office seems not to have been entertained.But it is quite impossible to believe that God ever ignores such fundamental principles of success.

When He, by His Holy Spirit, brings a man to a pulpit and opens that pulpit for that particular man, He has known that the man could undertake and accomplish the needed ministry, or He would never have sent him to that station. A wise General would never appoint a subordinate to a position for which he was unfitted.

A wise University President would never nominate to the Chair of Philosophy a Professor that had no equipment for that course of instruction. It is pathetic to reduce God below the level of mediocre man, and imagine that He conducts His work hit or miss, higgledy-piggledy, as we say. That is not God! Beyond question, there are plenty of misfits in the ecclesiastical world; but equally is it certain that they are man-made and not Divinely appointed.One of our church officials, who is just now traveling in the South, has made it his business to attend church on every Sunday of his absence, and to send to me some report of the same. Along with one of these was a newspaper clipping, entitled, “Church Picks its Pastor Through Series of Tests.” The clipping goes on to record how a certain church, in an important city in Ohio, had adopted a scientific basis for preacher selection. One is not surprised to learn that the Chairman of the Committee was a professor in the State University in the psychology department.There were nine points under which the man must measure for selection:—“Spirituality—not necessarily belief in dogmas,” (which, correctly interpreted, means,—We care nothing for doctrine.) “Intellectuality—interest in good books, art and music.” “Scholarliness—knowledge of his job from Greek to modern social problems.” “Adaptability—this includes the preacher’s wife.” “Poise—stage presence; the minister should not be unnerved if the first deacon drops the collection plate.” “Personality—ability to lead people out of sin, inspire devotion and radiate kindness.” “Tolerance and sympathy—there are twenty-four different sects in the Community Church, and the preacher must get along with all of them.” “Vision—the pastor must be able to hope and dream of progress for his church and his members.” “Appeal to youth—in the younger generation is the hope of the world, and it is up to the preacher to inspire the youngsters.” The man called scored ninety-three points out of a possible 100 in the test, so it was claimed.New method! God is not once named in all of it; His will has not been consulted. We predict that the progress to be marked under such conditions will exist very largely in the “hope and dream” of the preacher.This same city, some years since, had a man who could have scored 100 under these nine points, and after some thirty years in a dead and declining church, he resigned, expressing the deepest pessimism concerning the future of Christianity. It may be that some secular businesses can be carried on without consulting God, but when it comes to laying the foundations for His “House” and finishing the same to its finial, woe to the people that disregard Him!The Divine commission should be met by human consent.“Thou shalt know that the Lord of Hosts hath sent Me unto you” (Zechariah 4:9). You will remember that Paul in his Letter to the Ephesians, speaking of Jesus Christ, said,“When He ascended up on high, He led captivity captive, and gave gifts unto men, * * “And He gave some, Apostles; and some, Prophets; and some, Evangelists; and some, Pastors and Teachers; “For the perfecting of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ” (Ephesians 4:8; Ephesians 4:11-12). Appointment to the ministry is a prerogative that Christ has never surrendered to another; and it is our judgment that He who “gave gifts unto men” in the form of “Apostles,” “Prophets,” “Evangelists,” “Pastors,” “Teachers,” retains equally the right to determine where they shall work, as well as to what order of the ministry they should belong. If so, it is a strange condition into which we have come that men, called of God, are on an eternal hunt for a job.Paul was at Troas preaching as he had opportunity and a vision appeared to him in the night. “There stood a man of Macedonia, and prayed him, saying, Come over into Macedonia, and help us” (Acts 16:9). And the record is, “And after he had seen the vision, immediately we endeavoured to go into Macedonia, assuredly gathering that the Lord had called us for to preach the Gospel unto them” (Acts 16:10).Recently I hit upon this incident brought up to date. It involves something of a contrast between the preacher method of two thousand years ago and that of the present. “The Pentecostal Herald” published what purported to be an overlooked epistle from the Apostle Paul’s hand:—“Dear Sir and Brother:— Doubtless you will recall the invitation you extended to me to come over into Macedonia and help the people of that section. You will pardon me for saying that I am somewhat surprised that you should expect a man of my standing in the church, seriously to consider a call on such meager information. “There are a number of things I should like to learn before giving my decision, and I would appreciate your dropping me a line, addressing me at Troas. “First of all, I should like to know if Macedonia is a circuit or a station. This is important, as I have been told that once a man begins on a circuit it is well nigh impossible to secure employment in station work. If Macedonia embraces more than one preaching place, I may as well tell you frankly that I cannot think of accepting the call. “There is another item that was overlooked in your brief and somewhat sudden invitation. While it is true that I am not preaching for money, there are certain things that need to be taken into account. I have been through a long and expensive course of training; in fact, I may state with reasonable pride, that I am a Sanhedrin man,—the only one in the ministry today. “The day is past when you may expect a man to rush into a new field without some idea of the support he is to receive. I have worked myself up to a good position in the Asiatic field, and to take a drop and lose my grade would be serious. Nor could I afford to swap ‘dollar for dollar’ as the saying is among us Apostles. “Kindly get the good Macedonia brethren together and see what you can do in the way of support. You have told me nothing about Macedonia beyond the implication that the place needs help. What are its social advantages? Is the church well organized? “I recently had a fine offer to return to Damascus at an increase of salary, and am told that I made a very favorable impression on the Church at Jerusalem. If it will help me with the board at Macedonia, you might mention these facts, and also some of the brethren in Judea have been heard to say that if I kept on, in a few years I might have anything in the gift of the church. For recommendations write to the Rev. Simon Peter, D.D., at Jerusalem. I will say that I am a first class mixer and especially strong on argumentative preaching. If I accept the call, I must stipulate for two months’ vacation, and the privilege of taking an occasional lecture tour. “My lecture on ‘Over the Wall in a Basket’ is worth two drachma of any man’s money. “Sincerely yours, Paul.”Can any man imagine such a letter emanating from the Apostle Paul? And does it require any imagination at all for those of us who live today to conceive exactly such a correspondence from a present-day candidate for an open pulpit? In truth, do not our letter files hold essential copies of the same?It would be a great day for the Church of God, a time when a genuine revival of grace might be anticipated with reason, if we returned to the conviction that the Lord is the arbiter of duties; that it is His to select agents for office, and above all, that our consent should be given heartily to the Divine commission.Turning back to the text, let us attend upon THE OF “Who hath despised the day of small things”? As Joseph Parker says, “The whole action of God has been an action from the small to the great.” God is continually surpassing all that He has yet done.“Who is left among you that saw this House in her first glory? and how do ye see it now? is it not in your eyes in comparison of it as nothing? * * “The glory of this latter House shall be greater than of the former, saith the Lord of Hosts: and m this place will I give peace, saith the Lord of Hosts”. There is no accomplishment apart from commencement. Origins are all important. The beginning of things is our supreme concern. Let us not misunderstand here. We are not commending now those people who are always trying to start something, but never finish anything: those people who dream of castles and lay flimsy foundations in sand! Of them the world has had enough; yea, more than plenty!But, on the other hand, the principle of life abides. We must have the mustard seed in order to get the tree, in the branches of which the birds might lodge; we must have the acorn in order to get an oak.There is not a big thing in America but had a small beginning. The country itself, in its potentiality, existed at one time in those few feeble folk who embarked on our shores from the Mayflower.

Even the days of George Washington were pioneer days; the land existed in promise only. Its present growth might have been in prospect, but it required a far vision to behold it. All the more glory to the men and women who dared pioneer, who were content to commence things, who believed that if they could lay the foundations others would follow and work on the superstructure.This principle has its spiritual application as well. The Kingdom of God itself is first a grain, then the blade, and then the full corn in the ear! The harvest field is, in the spring time, nothing but unseen kernels that lie underground modestly out of sight, until the touch of sun and rain makes a beginning.There is potentiality in the day of small things.Seventy-nine years ago next Sunday this church was organized with ten members that owned not a square foot of property; their home at that time was the hospitable house of Asa Fletcher. The village stood in a wilderness,—Indians and wild beasts all about.

But who shall despise the day of small things? The Church of God, properly conducted, ought to be like a snowball;—the further it moves the fnore rapidly it grows.By God’s grace and favor only that is true of this body of believers!

Would God it were equally true of every other Christian church in the state. The first forty-four years of this church’s history it attained to a membership of 662, and to an annual financial output of $14,000.00. The next twenty-five years it attained to a membership of 2484, and to annual gifts of $26,934.15. In those twenty-five years it gave to all causes $1,117,627.12. But in the last ten years it has attained to a membership of 3364, and it has given $1,993,478.51, an amount larger than in all its previous history, and a total amount, in thirty-five years, of this pastorate, of $3,111,105.63. “Who hath despised the day of small things”?In the February number of the North Star Baptist, the editress called attention to the fact that in 1849, twelve members formed themselves into the First Baptist Church of St. Paul.

That was the beginning of Baptist work in the State. There remains seventeen years before the century is finished, and yet in that time 220 Baptist churches are in existence, with a combined membership of 33,625; and while this report is a disappointment, especially since it is considerably smaller, in number of churches, than we had thirty years ago, still it is another illustration of the text, “Who hath despised the day of small things”?Christ Himself entered an inhospitable world 1900 years ago.

At the time when His ministry opened He had a forerunner, but no followers; and when He finally hung on the Cross and with dying breath said, “It is finished”, few indeed were His disciples. But “behold, how great a matter a little fire kindleth”!The mightiest movement on earth today is Christianity!Grace Noll Crowell beautifully writes:— “This is the dream that the Master dreamed As He walked on the hills and beside the sea The greatest dream and the whitest dream Of time and of all eternity.

“Twelve men up from the sea, the town, To carry a message by word of mouth As seeds are borne on the summer air To the East, the West, the North, the South.

“Until all men of the earth should know The beautiful things that the Twelve would say: ‘I am the Truth,’ ‘tis thus Christ spake, ‘I am the Door, the Light, the Way.

“ ‘He who wants water shall never thirst, He who bears sorrow within his breast— Come unto Me.’ the Master said, ‘And find My comfort and peace and rest.’

“Until the last man with broken breath Turns on his way down a barren land To fall at a waiting Savior’s feet, To cling to a Savior’s reaching hand.

“This is the dream that the Master dreamed As He walked on the hills and beside the sea; The greatest dream, and the whitest dream Of time and of all eternity.” Dr. Russell Conwell, perhaps the most successful pastor preacher yet appearing on the American Continent, was facing death. He took a pen and wrote what he called:—MY PRAYER “I ask not for a larger garden, But for finer seed.

I ask not for a more distant view, But for a clearer vision of the hills between.

I ask not to do more deeds, But more effective ones.

I ask not for a longer life, But a more efficient one.” We pass then to the further consideration of the text, namely,THE OF FUTURE “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”. Zerubbabel had laid the foundations of the building and with his hand he had finished it; and yet the life of Zerubbabel was not at an end, consequently his ministry would carry on, and it would follow the lines of duty seen by the eyes of the Lord and marked out for him.The Lord Himself searcheth the earth’s needs. Since the day when Adam and Eve sinned and lost the garden, and going out there from faced briars and thorns and thistles, the Lord has presented multiplied opportunities of service, and has demanded sweat of every brow. Since sin forfeited Eden, man’s supreme task is to recover the same. And that task, like a woman’s work, goes on and on and on. God’s eyes search out the fields of service and God’s finger points men to the places thereof. And while life lasts the task is never done.

Cato at 80 was mastering Greek; Plutarch at the same age, Latin; Theophrastus at 90 published his greatest work. The cessation of labor should mark the last heart beat!Recently the “Lutheran Herald” carried an article to this effect,—“The grand total of adherents to the Christian religion in the earth today Isaiah 765,000,000.

That leaves 1,265,000,000 outside the church, while millions on millions of those who are inside have ‘a name to live but are dead.’ ”How tremendous the task then before the face of the church! This is not a job for preachers only; it is a task for all the people who have named the Name of the Lord. The problem of life is to find one’s place, and fill the same under the direction of the Spirit. There are men and women who say “That is our difficulty! We cannot find the place into which we fit.”Don’t try to find it; but know this, that God will find it for you. It is His “eyes that run to and fro throughout the whole earth.” He knows every place of need; He is familiar with every person of need; and His quivers are full of appointments.

Hear Him! Turn your hearts toward Heaven and there will be a still small voice saying, “This is the way, walk ye in it”.

Lift your eyes to the Lord of Life, and if you are fit for aught, His finger will divinely point the way.Peter never had any trouble on this subject; Paul never had any; John, James, Philip and Stephen; how divinely they were directed! The full surrender to service makes exceeding clear the still small voice.We are told that “God is no respecter of persons.” That is not only true in His grace, but it is equally true in His callings. There is work for every man; but in the church, as in the world, there are many men who are looking from work instead of to the same.But yesterday I met a man who was begging for bread. While I fed him I questioned him to discover that he only intended to work on condition that he could follow a trade of his own preference and receive a high wage for the same. His counterpart is in the Church of God. There are people even there who are not unlike the Dutchman who originated the song: ANY FOOL CAN WORK What’s the use of working, Any fool can work Pleasant occupation I would never shirk

Put me in a brewery Turn the faucets loose, Since I can get a job like that Oh, what’s the use? God’s appointment demands the believer’s response. The Lord of Hosts who sees, also sends! He whose eyes “run to and fro throughout the whole earth” seeks men who shall follow His vision and be obedient to His command.My candid conviction is that one reason that some of the talented people of the earth haven’t a big job rests in the circumstance that they were unwilling to undertake a little job.Thirty years ago I sat down one Monday morning, in a room in the old church just across there, to teach seven people who were too young to be old and too old to be young. Their school days were over so far as public provision was concerned, but their Christian education was ahead, so far as ambition was concerned. That little company has now grown to 437 enrolled in all its departments, and instead of my being equal to its undertaking, it requires a fine Training School of sixteen people, several of them full time, with the rest part time, to carry on; and the day of small things has become a joy and a rejoicing!Its financial problem is an eternal one, and a difficult one, and at times, as just now, one that presses heavily upon the heart of the President.But when this great company of magnificent young men and women, consecrating their lives to the service of the King of Glory is looked upon, the vision is a delight and we are grateful to God who has His “eyes run to and fro in all the earth,” point out this little company of people and this particular place of service.After all, perhaps the greatest thing that a man can do in this present day is to multiply himself. That seems to have been the principle upon which Jesus Himself wrought, for when He died He left eleven Apostles behind to carry on.

He was not so deeply concerned that His Name should live, but He was anguished that men might not perish. He came not into the world for His own glory, but rather for the good of His fellows.

The only reason why, when Calvary came, He could not save Himself therefrom was in the circumstance that He was here to save others.What an objective! The Church of God should have no other. For thirty-five years we have labored to that end; the future is with the Father. I am not at all attempting to fathom it. How many more years He shall be pleased with this relationship and continue His approval upon it is not for me to settle; but this I know, that while it lasts, our hearts and hands should be alike linked in the Divinest of endeavors, namely, the redemption of our fellows by the presentation of Christ from lip and in life.My great and good friend Dr. J. C. Massee employed this marvelous illustration:—“Thirty-four men were dying in a submerged submarine S-4.

There had been a wreck and they were imprisoned at the bottom of the sea off Provincetown. The S.O.S. call had been signalled abroad. Rescuers were hastening from all directions. An admiral of the United States Navy was in charge of the rescue work. The Nation was aroused to anxiety and sympathy. The Government was doing all that could be done, seemingly. Later there was to be a court of inquiry to fix the blame for the disaster.But fixing the blame did not save the thirty-four men. They died because the rescuers did not reach them in time.During the progress of the rescue work, communication, by signal of tapping, was established between the rescuers and the imprisoned men.

The one message from the doomed men tapped out again and again was, “How long will you be now?” “How long will you be now?”There is an infinite and heart-breaking pathos in that tapped-out cry of doomed men. “How long will you be now?” One by one they died. Gradually the signals ceased. Painfully the last despairing plea—“How—long—will—you—be—now?”There are multitudes sunk in sin, wrecked, ruined, prisoners of doubt, of evil living; slaves of habit doomed by circumstances, conditions! They are held fast by tradition, by custom, by weak wills and evil passions. It seems that I can hear the cry of these victims of Satan’s cruel wrecking, tapping out to us, to the church:—“We are dying; how long will you be now? We are doomed! How long will you be now?”