After Zechariah’s vision of Joshua and the Angel, the prophet received a message regarding Zerubbabel: “The Angel who talked with me came back and wakened me, ... ‘and there is a lampstand of solid gold ... with seven pipes to the seven lamps. ... Two olive trees are by it... .’2TC 291.2

“So I ... spoke to the Angel, ... ‘What are these, my Lord?’ ... So He answered ..., ‘This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: “Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,” says the Lord of hosts.’” “And I further answered and said to Him, ‘What are these two olive branches that drip into the receptacles of the two gold pipes from which the golden oil drains?’ ... So He said, ‘These are the two anointed ones, who stand beside the Lord of the whole earth.’” Zechariah 4:1-6, 12-14.2TC 291.3

From the anointed ones that stand in God’s presence divine light, love, and power flow to His people, so that they may give light and joy and refreshing to others. Those whom God has enriched are to enrich others with His love.2TC 292.1

In rebuilding the house of the Lord, Zerubbabel had worked in spite of many difficulties. Enemies had “tried to discourage the people of Judah. They troubled them in building,” “and by force of arms made them cease.” Ezra 4:4, 23. But the Lord now spoke through His prophet to Zerubbabel, “Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain! And he shall bring forth the capstone with shouts of ‘Grace, grace to it!’” Zechariah 4:7. Throughout history, great mountains of difficulty have loomed up before those trying to carry out God’s will. The Lord permits such obstacles as a test of faith. This is the time to trust in God. When we exercise living faith, we increase our spiritual strength and develop unfaltering trust. Satanic obstacles will disappear before the demand of faith. “Nothing will be impossible for you.” Matthew 17:20.2TC 292.2

Human Ways Contrasted With God’s Way

The way of the world is to begin with pomp and boasting. God’s way is to start the glorious triumph of truth with the day of small things. Sometimes God trains His workers by disappointment and apparent failure. He wants them to learn to master difficulties.2TC 292.3

Often we are tempted to become discouraged when we meet perplexities and obstacles. But if we will hold our confidence unbroken, God will make the way clear. Success will come. Mountains of difficulty will become a plain; and he whose hands have laid the foundation, even “his hands shall also finish it.” Zechariah 4:9.2TC 292.4

Human power did not establish the church of God. The church was not founded on the rock of human strength, but on Christ Jesus, the Rock of Ages, “and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.” Matthew 16:18. God’s glorious work will never come to nothing. It will go on, “‘not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,’ says the Lord of hosts.” Zechariah 4:6.2TC 292.5

The promise to Zerubbabel was fulfilled literally. See verse 9. “The elders of the Jews ... built and finished it, according to the commandment of the God of Israel, and according to the command of Cyrus, Darius, and Artaxerxes king of Persia. Now the temple was finished on the third day of the month of Adar.” Ezra 6:14, 15.2TC 293.1

The second temple did not equal the first in magnificence, nor was it made holy by those visible signs of the divine presence that the first temple had. No supernatural power marked its dedication—no cloud of glory filled the newly built sanctuary, no fire from heaven consumed the sacrifice on its altar. The Shekinah no longer rested in the Most Holy Place. The ark, the mercy seat, and the tablets of the law were not found there.2TC 293.2

The True Glory of the Second Temple

And yet this was the building of which the Lord had declared, “The glory of this latter temple shall be greater than the former.” “The Desire of All Nations” would come. Haggai 2:9, 7. Jesus, the Desire of All Nations, made the temple holy by His personal presence. Yet many have refused to see any special significance in His advent. Their minds are blind to the true meaning of the prophet’s words.2TC 293.3

God honored the second temple, not with the cloud of His glory, but with the presence of the One in whom was “all the fullness of the Godhead bodily”—God “manifested in the flesh.” Colossians 2:9; 1 Timothy 3:16. In this alone did the second temple exceed the first in glory. The “Desire of All Nations” had indeed come to His temple when the Man of Nazareth taught and healed in its sacred courts.2TC 293.4

Satan, the Accuser; Christ, the Defender

Esther, the Hebrew Girl Who Became Queen