Zechariah 4:3 says, "There are two olive trees beside it, one to the right of the bowl and one to the left." These two olive trees signify Joshua the high priest and Zerubbabel the governor at the time, who were the two sons of oil, filled with the Spirit of Jehovah for the rebuilding of God's temple (vv. 3-6, 12-14). The two sons of oil are also the two witnesses in the last three and a half years of the present age, who will be witnesses of God in the great tribulation for the strengthening of God's peoples—the Israelites and the believers in Christ (Rev. 11:3-12; 12:17). These two witnesses are Moses and Elijah. Moses, representing the law, and Elijah, representing the prophets, both testify for God. The expression "the law and the prophets" (Luke 16:16) refers to the Old Testament. The law is centered in Moses, and the prophets are centered in Elijah. These two, Moses and Elijah, will support and supply the persecuted Israelites and the believers during the great tribulation.
The nation of Israel is the lampstand, signifying God's testimony. God's testimony needs the shining. For this shining there must be the burning, and in order for there to be the burning, there must be the supply of olive oil. In order to have the olive oil, there must be some olive trees. The two olive trees on the two sides of the lampstand are the two sons of oil, Joshua and Zerubbabel.
In Zechariah 4:11 the prophet says to the angel, "What are these two olive trees on the right of the lampstand and on its left?" In verse 12 Zechariah goes on to ask, "What are the two olive branches that are by the side of the two golden spouts, which empty the gold from themselves?" In verse 11 there are two trees, and in verse 12, two branches. The two branches are part of the two trees. When the bowl of the lampstand is void of oil, the two trees will supply oil by flowing it out through the branches and into the two spouts. The oil will then flow from the spouts into the bowl, and from the bowl into the lampstand.
The relative pronoun which in verse 12 refers not to the spouts but to the branches. These branches "empty the gold from themselves." To empty the gold is to cause the gold to flow out. The word gold here refers to the oil. The oil and the gold are one. The oil denotes the Spirit, and the Spirit is God. Furthermore, in typology gold signifies God. The gold that fills the bowl is the Spirit; the Spirit is God; and God is typified by gold. As we apply this matter to our experience today, we see that the Spirit who flows out of us is God, and God is gold. Thus, when we minister Christ to others, supplying them with oil, we are actually supplying them with God. God is flowing out from us into them. We all should be olive trees emptying God from ourselves into others. In this way oil will be provided to the needy by those who are olive trees out of which God is flowing.
Let us consider further why the two trees are called two branches. In Zechariah 3 and 4 the same person, Zerubbabel, is signified by a shoot (3:8), a tree (4:3, 11), and a branch (v. 12). This indicates that Zerubbabel himself is not the source. If he were a tree complete in himself, he would be the source. However, he is a tree which is actually a branch of another tree, and that tree is the source. Moreover, Zerubbabel is also a shoot from the other tree. That tree is Christ. Christ is the unique olive tree, and both Zerubbabel and we ourselves are branches, offshoots, of Christ. To branch out is to be an offshoot. Although Christ is the unique olive tree, out from Him many shoots have issued forth. The issuing forth of these shoots is Christ's branching out. These branches, or shoots, are now the many olive trees on earth today. Are you not such an olive tree? As bona fide Christians, we are olive trees. Strictly speaking, we are olive trees not in the sense of being separate trees but in the sense of being branches of Christ, the unique olive tree. As branches we need to supply others with oil, that is, with the Spirit, that they may be enlivened. Praise the Lord that in Christ we are olive trees supplying others with the sevenfold Spirit!