Chapter 4 of Zechariah takes place during the second half of the Great Tribulation, while satan is on earth posing as antichrist, the false messiah. This chapter runs parallel to Revelation 11, which teaches about the two witnesses and their role in the last days.

(Zec 4:1) And the angel that talked with me came again, and waked me, as a man that is wakened out of his sleep,

Zechariah is being awoken from his sleep, but this sleep is a spiritual slumber that keeps us from understanding God’s deeper truths. Since he is no longer asleep, his eyes are being opened to another spiritual lesson that he is to share with us in the last generation.

(Rom 11:7-10) What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded (According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day. And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them: Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway.

(Zec 4:2) And said unto me, What seest thou? And I said, 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:

(Zec 4:3) And two olive trees by it, one upon the right side of the bowl, and the other upon the left side thereof.

(Zec 4:4) So I answered and spake to the angel that talked with me, saying, What are these, my lord?

(Zec 4:5) Then the angel that talked with me answered and said unto me, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord.

The angel will be explaining this vision shortly.

(Zec 4:6) Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of the LORD unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the LORD of hosts.

Zerubbabel is word #H2216 in the Hebrew  section of the Strong’s Concordance.

H2216
זרבּבל
zerûbbâbel
zer-oob-baw-bel’
From H2215 and H894; descended of (that is, from) Babylon, that is, born there; Zerubbabel, an Israelite: – Zerubbabel.

The word, Zerubbabel, comes from words H2215 and H894, in the Hebrew.

H2215
זרב
zârab
zaw-rab’
A primitive root; to flow away: – wax warm.

H894
בּבל
bâbel
baw-bel’
From H1101; confusion; Babel (that is, Babylon), including Babylonia and the Babylonian empire: – Babel, Babylon.

Therefore, when we look at the name Zerubbabel closely, it is Hebrew for, “Coming out of confusion.” This is what you do when you begin to understand the deeper lessons God has for you in the Bible. This is what happens when you begin to receive your spiritual eyes to see and ears to hear.

This verse is telling Zechariah to speak to those whose spiritual eyes and ears are open to understanding the knowledge of God. This understanding comes from God through His Holy Spirit, and no matter how intelligent you think you are, or how smart you are by man’s standards, if you are given the spirit of slumber, you’re just not going to get it. Do you have eyes to see and ears to hear?

(Zec 4:7) Who art thou, O great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain: and he shall bring forth the headstone thereof with shoutings, crying, Grace, grace unto it.

In biblical symbology, a mountain is a nation, so this is a great nation. In the end times, the great nation is the one world government system. However great it may be, when Jesus returns, He is going to destroy the whole entire thing and anything else He doesn’t like. He will slay the first and second beasts of the tribulation, and He’ll bury them. Satan will be able to operate in the last days only under the authority of God, and when God says his time is up, it’ll end in the blink of an eye.

(Zec 4:8) Moreover the word of the LORD came unto me, saying,

(Zec 4:9) 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.

In the book of Ezra, Zerubbabel was one of the men who help lay the foundation of the second temple in Jerusalem, at the House of God, Bethel, when some of the Israelites were allowed to return there.

(Ezr 3:1-10) And when the seventh month was come, and the children of Israel were in the cities, the people gathered themselves together as one man to Jerusalem. Then stood up Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and his brethren the priests, and Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and his brethren, and builded the altar of the God of Israel, to offer burnt offerings thereon, as it is written in the law of Moses the man of God. And they set the altar upon his bases; for fear was upon them because of the people of those countries: and they offered burnt offerings thereon unto the LORD, even burnt offerings morning and evening. They kept also the feast of tabernacles, as it is written, and offered the daily burnt offerings by number, according to the custom, as the duty of every day required; And afterward offered the continual burnt offering, both of the new moons, and of all the set feasts of the LORD that were consecrated, and of every one that willingly offered a freewill offering unto the LORD. From the first day of the seventh month began they to offer burnt offerings unto the LORD. But the foundation of the temple of the LORD was not yet laid. They gave money also unto the masons, and to the carpenters; and meat, and drink, and oil, unto them of Zidon, and to them of Tyre, to bring cedar trees from Lebanon to the sea of Joppa, according to the grant that they had of Cyrus king of Persia. Now in the second year of their coming unto the house of God at Jerusalem, in the second month, began Zerubbabel the son of Shealtiel, and Jeshua the son of Jozadak, and the remnant of their brethren the priests and the Levites, and all they that were come out of the captivity unto Jerusalem; and appointed the Levites, from twenty years old and upward, to set forward the work of the house of the LORD. Then stood Jeshua with his sons and his brethren, Kadmiel and his sons, the sons of Judah, together, to set forward the workmen in the house of God: the sons of Henadad, with their sons and their brethren the Levites. And 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.

The original Zerubbabel began building this temple, and with the help of those who have come out of confusion in this last generation, who have or will receive the Seal of God, Jesus’ Millennial temple will be built as well (read Ezekiel 40-48). And, once Jesus Christ has returned and rules from earth in His new temple, the entire world will know who He is and will bow to Him.

(Zec 4:10) For who hath despised the day of small things? for 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.

God’s elect may be individual people, but with God’s support, anything can be accomplished. The elect will rejoice when they see this temple built, and they will be the ones who help to make it upright and keep it righteous. The plummet is a tool known today as a plumb bob, and it is used to make sure that what you are constructing is perfectly vertical, and that is a symbol for doing things God’s way. These elect watchmen, the eyes of the Lord, are the same eyes in the last chapter when we were told about the stone with seven eyes. Jesus is the stone and the seven eyes are His 7000 predestinated elect, who are people placed all over the earth that know and understand God’s plan, and who see that it comes to pass the way it was written.

A few of you reading this may be God’s watchmen.

(Zec 4:11) 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?

Now back to the first part of the vision. These two olive trees are the same two men we read about in Revelation 11, the two witnesses. They stand by the body of Christ, the true Christians on earth, represented here by a golden candle stick. Gold, in the Bible, represents the pure truth of God, by which the body of Christ lives.

(Zec 4:12) And I answered again, and said unto him, What be these two olive branches which through the two golden pipes empty the golden oil out of themselves?

Each of these olive trees had a branch, from which the golden [olive] oil, representing the Holy Spirit carrying God’s truth and knowledge, flows to God’s elect, which themselves are represented in this vision by the seven lamps on top of the golden candlestick, and in-turn shine their light through the darkness of the tribulation.

For more information on this golden oil, check out this article: The Parable of the Ten Virgins.

(Zec 4:13) And he answered me and said, Knowest thou not what these be? And I said, No, my lord.

(Zec 4:14) Then said he, These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth.

The two witnesses are two of God’s most trusted servants, who, since the time of satan’s rebellion (and ever before), have been completely faithful to Him.

How about you? Do you feel God can count on you to help carry out his plan? Well, prove it to Him! He can’t use you unless you understand His plan. And how do you learn His plan? You must study His Word in the Bible deeply. Otherwise you will receive the spirit of slumber and strong delusion, and there will be a long road ahead for you.

God bless!