The Vision of a Golden Lampstand

“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.”… “These [the olive trees] are the two aanointed ones (Lit sons of fresh oil) who are standing by the Lord of the whole earth.” –Zechariah 4:2-3, 14

About 2500 years ago the prophet Zechariah saw a mysterious vision of a golden lampstand. Seven lamps were shining on the lampstand while two olive trees, one on each side, were supplying oil for the lamps. The oil was pressed from the olive trees into a golden bowl which was on top of the lampstand. The oil then flowed from the bowl to the lamps making them brightly shine. When Zechariah asked what he was seeing, God replied, Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit (Zechariah 4:6), indicating that this intricate lampstand scene is actually a picture of the working of His Spirit.

It is hard to find another scene in the Bible that so concisely captures all that is dear to God and accessible to His people. The shining lights—God’s divine illumination in a dark world—are supported by the lampstand—a picture of the assembly of God’s people. Oil—a symbol of the Spirit—is supplied to the lights by the Olive trees—a picture of God’s spirit-filled servants—who empty their oil into a bowl which distributes it to the lights through pipes.

The scene does not only speak of people who are filled in Spirit. It displays spiritual people fit together in spiritual ways to support spiritual light. C. A. Coates, writing in the early 1940's, sees in this picture an aspiration for every church and every spiritual person. He writes, God calls our attention to a wonderful vessel of light, and gives us to understand that it sets forth symbolically a system of things which is suitable to be pervaded by the activity of His Spirit.. Furthermore, he sees this as a crucial blueprint directing every person who desires to build the church. God would say to us, If you want to be builders of My house, you must have this vision before you (Coates).

It is fitting that we concentrate on each element of this scene and the lessons thereof.

First, we look at the two olive trees, the sons of fresh oil. The supply for the lights begins with these two. They are called "sons of oil," and the oil which they yield is called "gold" in verse 12. This figure suggests that, by the grace of the Lord, there may be found conditions among His people which may become sources of spiritual supply. (Coates). These trees are pictures of God’s servants who are truly filled in Spirit. They begin with Spirit, know the Spirit, are filled with the Spirit, please the Spirit and even flow the Spirit out of them. However, they are not isolated trees growing in a desert. Their oil flows into a bowl.

Our attention now turns to the golden bowl on top of the lampstand.

The oil from the trees does not spill onto the ground. Nor, does it merely stay with the spiritual servants of the Lord. It flows into the bowl. Coates likens the church to a bowl, a container for the work of the Spirit. The bowl upon the top of it, gives too, the thought of a containing vessel. When it is said, “Be filled with the Spirit (Eph. 5:18), it implies that the saints of the assembly are a containing vessel for the Spirit. (Coates) This is a wonderful picture of the church life. The church should be a vessel to contain the Spirit’s work. Without the church, God may have a lot of work in people, but it never is accumulated in any container. Because the church is a bowl, when God’s Spirit does His work in people, the church can be filled with the results of the divine working.

Our attention now must turn to the pipes connecting the lights to the bowl.

Commentators argue whether or not there are seven pipes, one to each light, or forty-nine pipes, seven to each pipe. Either way, the pipes show us that the oil from the trees does not merely fill up the bowl. It flows. It is not enough for a church to be full of the Spirit with no outlet or testimony. The bowl must be connected to the lights. It is not enough that we should recognize that the Spirit is here—that this is the Spirit’s day—but we should be greatly concerned to be spiritual. It is only in spiritual persons that there can be the flow of what is spiritual, and without this the assembly cannot be in any real way a vessel of spiritual light. (Coates). Zechariah’s picture shows us that the trees—the spiritual servants of God—need to press their oil into a vessel—the assembly. In turn, other spiritual members need to be the channels for the oil to flow to the lights. They all work together in a spiritual arrangement to make the lights shine.

Finally, we must realize that this picture implies a continual flow of the Spirit.

The flow of oil to the lamps in Zechariah’s vision is not periodic; it does not happen once a week or once a month. It is a continuous flow. The "pipes" and "tubes" in the Scripture before us clearly intimate the thought of a flow….The olive-trees, the bowl, and the pipes combine to suggest a continuous flow of the Spirit. (Coates) In God’s wisdom, He chose the church as a vessel which has capacity to uphold a continuous flow of the Spirit. This implies that all the members in a spiritual coordination can allow a rich flow of oil. It is a life of Spirit and of mutual dependency. He shows us in this striking symbol that the lamps are dependent on the flow of oil through the pipes, and the pipes are fed from the bowl, and the bowl is fed from the two olive trees. The whole system works together as the oil circulates through it, and the light is seen to be dependent on the continuous flow of oil. (Coates)

What is a church? A church is a vessel that can allow God to shine as a result of a continuous flow of the Spirit. The realization of such a vessel amongst God’s children today is the crying need of our time. Coates concludes, There was a time when it needed to be much stressed that the Spirit of God is here, a divine Person, dwelling in the saints, for this was feebly apprehended generally. But now that this truth is fairly widely accepted, it becomes necessary to lay stress on the character of the vessel in which spiritual activities can be known. Apart from spiritual activities in the vessel, there will be no flow of oil to maintain spiritual light. (Coates)

As we seek to build the church today, may we have Zechariah’s vision always before our eyes!