In this message we will consider the vision of consolation and promise in chapter four of Zechariah.
The priesthood and the kingship are the two offices in God's administration among His people. These two offices always go together as a pair and are never separated. The priesthood may be compared to the legislative branch of the government, and the kingship, to the executive branch. In God's administration legislative matters are decided by God Himself through the Urim and the Thummim worn by the high priest. The decisions made known through the priesthood are then executed, carried out, by the kingship.
In the church life today, we need both the priesthood and the kingship. Through the exercise of the priesthood, we are brought into God's presence. Through the exercise of the kingship by the older, experienced ones, the church is saved from anarchy and preserved in a good order. For the church life, we as God's people with His administration must have both the priesthood and the kingship.
One function of the priesthood is to teach us how to worship God and how to have the proper remembrance of the Lord at the Lord's table. We should not worship God or remember the Lord according to our natural concept. In John 4:24 the Lord Jesus says, "God is Spirit, and those who worship Him must worship in spirit and truthfulness." This chapter also shows us that the worship God desires is that we drink of Him as the living water. The more we take God as our living water, the more we worship Him. We drink of God not by exercising our mind but by exercising our spirit. Regarding the remembrance of the Lord at the Lord's table, we also need the instruction of the priesthood. It is crucial for us to realize that the way to remember the Lord is not to exercise our mind to recall everything He did in His incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection; the way to remember Him is to enjoy Him by eating and drinking of Him. As we partake of the bread and of the cup, we remember Him and worship Him.
The visions in Zechariah 3 and 4 are concerned respectively with the priesthood and the kingship. The previous vision in chapter three concerning Joshua is to strengthen Joshua the high priest in the priesthood. To strengthen Joshua is to strengthen the priesthood and establish it. The vision of the golden lampstand and the two olive trees in chapter four is to strengthen Zerubbabel the governor of Judah in the kingship. Zerubbabel was not a king but a governor in the position of a king. Although Zerubbabel was not actually a king, he was nevertheless a descendant, a shoot, of the royal family of David. In chapter three Joshua was measured, and as a result of that measuring, he was strengthened and established through the cleansing. In chapter four Zerubbabel is measured so that through it he may be strengthened and established. The strengthening of Joshua in the priesthood and of Zerubbabel in the kingship are both for the rebuilding of the temple.