Then said he, These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the LORD of the whole earth.
Then said he, These are the two anointed ones х bªneey (H1121) hayitshaar (H3323)] - literally, sons of oil (margin, Isaiah 6:1). Joshua the high priest, and Zerubbabel the civil ruler, must first be anointed with grace themselves, so as to be the instruments of furnishing it to others (cf. 1 John 2:20; 1 John 2:27).
Remarks:
(1) The Church, in both dispensations alike, is compared to a "candlestick" (Zechariah 4:2); because her function in all ages is to be the light of this dark world, by "holding forth the words of life" (Philippians 2:15-16).
(2) The Church is designed to be all pure in her faith, more precious than "gold" indestructible by the fire of persecutions and trials. Her light is not self-derived or self-sustained. She draws all her supply of grace from the "fountain," Christ Jesus, who is her Head. Holy ordinances, prayer, praise, meditation, the Word, Christian communion, ministers, and the sacraments, are the channels whereby the oil of grace flows from the divine "bowl upon the top" of the candlestick, to the several particular churches and their individual members. The perfect number seven implies the perfect completeness of the means of grace vouchsafed for the Church's spiritual life and light.
(3) As the "bowl" or fountain above was ever renewed by the oil from the two living "olive trees," so Messiah as man was filled with the infinite fullness of the Holy Spirit: and out of that fullness flows the two-fold grace whereby as Priest He offered Himself as the atonement for sin, and as King He reigns in the hearts of His chosen people now, and shall at last reign as universal King over all the earth. The earthly civil powers and the religious functionaries, when they fulfill their true ideal, are "the two anointed ones that stand by the Lord of the whole earth" (Zechariah 4:14). His true ministers in church and state are the type of Him who, filled with the infinite fullness of the Holy Spirit, shall hereafter visibly, as He now doth invisibly, combine the Kingship and the Priesthood in His own person (Zechariah 6:13).
(4) When we are disheartened in respect to the Lord's work in our own souls and in those of others, let us remember the lesson taught us here. If the candlestick and pipes had to feed themselves, their light would soon go out; but their supply is from the "fountain" above; and that fountain, even the Lord Jesus, the Head of the Church, is never-failing. Ever filled with the fullness of the living Spirit, He is the source at once of atoning grace and of sanctifying and glorifying grace. Let this, then be the watchword and the consolation of the people of God under all discouragements, "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts" (Zechariah 4:6).
(5) Difficulties, like a "great mountain," seem to be in the way of the completion of the salvation of any one soul, much more so in the way of that of the whole elect Church. But "faith laughs at impossibilities, and says it shall be done." "If ye have faith," saith the Lord, "and doubt not ... if ye shall say unto this mountain, Be thou removed and be thou cast into the sea, it shall be done" (Matthew 21:21). To all who take the Lord as their King, before Him who is the antitype to Zerubbabel the mountain of opposition shall "become a plain" (Zechariah 4:7). Before Him "every hill shall be made low" (Isaiah 40:4): for the Spirit of Christ "casteth down every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringeth into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ" (2 Corinthians 10:5). And in the coming last apostasy even Antichrist, the antitype to Babylon "the destroying mountain" (Jeremiah 51:25-26), shall be "rolled down from the rocks, and made a burnt mountain." And whereas from the latter shall not be taken "a stone for a corner, nor a stone for foundations," Christ Jesus, "the Author and Finisher of our faith, "shall form the crowning "head-stone" of the completed spiritual, building, as He is also its "foundation-stone."
(6) As angels' acclamations hailed His birth into the world in lowliness, so shoutings of joyful Hallelujahs from the innumerable company of angels and the Church of the first-born shall celebrate His coming again to earth in manifested glory. "Grace, grace unto" the redeeming love of the Father, the Son, and the Spirit, shall be the theme of their triumphant song. As grace from eternity devised, so grace shall in God's own good time complete the scheme of divine love.
(7) Men are too apt to judge of the character of the whole plan of redemption by the "small" beginnings of it which they see now (Zechariah 4:10). It is the judgment of unbelief which estimates the things of God by present appearances, rather than by the glorious promises of the future which God hath given to His believing people.
(8) In proportion to the greatness of the past unworthy fears of believers shall be the greatness of their joy when they shall see the work being actually brought to its completion by our great Zerubbabel (Zechariah 4:10). The same all-watchful eyes which "run to and fro through the whole earth," are especially vigilant in behalf of the welfare, progress, and final perfecting of the Church. What, then, need we fear, if we be true members of the spiritual Church? To despair of her final triumph would be to doubt the faithfulness, power, and omniscience of God Himself.
(9) The Lord Jesus is filled with the fullness of grace from the double olive tree of the Holy Spirit, so as to be at once our Priest and our King. He atones for our sin by the once-for-all completed sacrifice of Himself, and He rules in our hearts by His Spirit. He is the tree: earthly ministers are but the branches (Zechariah 4:11-12). The duty of ministers is to act as channels of grace, drawing all grace, not from themselves, but from the fountain-head, and "emptying the golden oil out of themselves" for the supply of the Church, and to the glory of the Author of grace.
(10) Christians who desire to be instruments of grace to others must first, like Joshua and Zerubbabel, be "anointed" themselves (Zechariah 4:14). Let us not be ashamed to own our spiritual ignorance before God, but ingenuously confess our natural blindness to the things of God, as the prophet Zechariah did (Zechariah 4:5; Zechariah 4:13); so shall we receive the "unction from the Holy One" which shall "abide in" us, and "teach us of all things" (1 John 3:20,27).