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

This is the resurrection of the prophet; so that what he saw after he awoke is to be referred to the time after the resurrection for its accomplishment.

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:

Candlestick

...the word should be rendered "lampstand,". The light came not from "candles" but from lamps supplied by oil from the two olive trees which Zechariah also saw.

The figure is drawn from the Tabernacle, for there the darkness of the Holy Place was illuminated by the seven branched lampstand that stood over against the table of shewbread (Exod. 26:35), the light at which enabled the twelve loaves of bread which stood upon the Table, and which were representative of the Hope of Israel, to be clearly seen.

In fulfilment of the symbol, Christ called upon His followers to let their light shine before men (Matt. 5:14-15), a light that should reveal the Hope of Israel.

The Lamp of the Tabernacle was replenished by oil supplied by the children of Israel through the ministry of the Priests who conveyed it to the Holy Place (Exod, 27:20). In the symbol that Zecbariah saw, however, two branches connected with two olive trees performed the work of the priests, for through them the oil poured from the trees to the reservoir of the Lampstand.

The Lord Jesus is the Lamp stem and Lamp bowl or reservoir from whence the oil is distributed to the burners (the saints) who radiate the Light of truth after a process of combustion (see Rev. 1:12).

The Christadelphian Expositor

The apostles, whose teaching consisted largely of "the revelation of the mystery hid from the aions and generations," have supplied that which the angel carefully concealed from Zechariah. They have taught us, that the Golden Lightbearer of the Spirit is the "One Body," of which the Lord Jesus is the head, or globular reservoir of the oil, anointed with the holy oil of truth; for "the spirit is the truth," says John.

This is the stem, and the bowl, and the seven tubes branching from the top, and the seven burners, and the two pipes; through which flows the spirit-oil of the truth, that it may "shine before men." This one body, or lightbearer, is "the light of the world" (Matt. v. 14-16).

It has been set up in the world to "give light unto all that are in the house," that they may see the good works of them who are burners of the spirit-oil, and "glorify the Father who is in heaven."

It is through them that the Spirit operates in enlightening mankind, in "opening their eyes, and turning them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan (which is ignorance) to the Deity;" and in "pulling down of strongholds, and casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself against the Deity's knowledge, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of the Christ" (Acts xxvi. 18; 2 Cor. x. 5).

In doing this, the seven Eyes of the Deity shine like lamps of fire from the burners of the lightstand. In apostolic times, they stood before the principalities and powers in the heavenlies making known to these rulers of the earth the manifold wisdom of the Deity, according to an exposition of the aions which he made concerning Jesus their anointed Lord (Eph. iii. 10,11).

Without this lightbearing body, the world in all the ages and generations from apostolic times until now, would have been in lightless outer darkness. The One Body has been the golden seven branched lightbearer in all the gloomy period of the times of the Gentiles. "Their testimony," which is their light, is not only enlightening to the understanding of the ignorant, but it is tormenting to the adherents and advocates of the traditions and sophistries of the catholic and protestant apostasy (Apoc. xi. 7,10).

Eureka 11.1.2.

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

... the two olive trees stood on the right and left sides of the candlesticks, which had two golden pipes, each pipe being connected with a branch from each tree, and through which the oil, termed golden, from the oil itself, emptied itself into the urn, lamp, or reservoir.

The oil which distils through the good olive tree, is symbolic of the truth in all its parts. This truth came to men by the Spirit of God through the prophets and apostles of the Jewish nation, or good olive tree.

Hence, they were said to be anointed ones, because they were oiled, or anointed with the holy oil, or spirit, which is also termed unction, from the Holy One, by which they knew all things and which taught them all things past and to come. The descent of the spirit of Jesus in the form of a dove is styled the anointing by Peter, and it was then that Yahweh made him "The anointed King," or the Christ.

A lamp or candlestick is to contain or sustain something that is capable by inherent power of illumination to diffuse light around it. But one olive tree, or lamp, cannot give light except from the oil which the tree supplies, and the lamp contains; hence in Zechariah, the tree is connected by golden tubes to the lamp that there might be a constant supply, and thus give out an enduring light before the God of the whole earth.

Bro Thomas - scraps from his writings

The Christadelphian, Oct 1872

Now the Organic Manifestation is represented by the Lampstand, with its Bowl on the top, and Seven Pipes projecting from it, and terminating in Seven Burners; by the Two Olive-Trees, Two Branches of the same, and Two Golden Pipes passing from the branches to the Bowl. We are told that the Seven Burnings are the Eyes of Yahweh which leads to the conclusion that the Lampstand, with its Bowl and Pipes, is representative of Yahweh as manifested in David's Son and his brethren.

This conclusion is ratified by Psa. 132:17, "There (in Zion, ver. 13) I will make to spring a Horn for David; I have prepared A LAMP for my anointed." David was Yahweh's anointed; and David's Son and Lord, JESUS, is the Lamp Stem, and the Lamp Bowl, or Reservoir, of the Anointing Spirit, which is thence distributed to the Seven Burners.

Eureka 1.1.5b.

Two olive trees

The two communities who stand covered with him though at this time fused into one candlestick are Jews and Gentiles, from both of whom the elements of Spirit-candlestick of the future age will be derived. They will be "no longer twain." They will be "both one," the middle wall of partition having been broken down.

But, historically, it will remain a fact, to be recognised in the ages of perfection, that they were two. It is proclaimed in the day of redemption, that the kings and priests of God were redeemed "out of every kindred, tongue, people and nation." So it will be a fact that the one body of that glorious age was originally two - Jew and Gentile - both of whom required anointing before they could be qualified to

"stand before the Lord of all the earth."

This historic aspect of the glorious state of things prevalent in the age to come is exhibited in the two olive trees which stand on each side of the oil-combusting candlesticks with which they are connected by two

"olive branches which through the two golden pipes empty the golden oil out of themselves."

The two olive branches show it is only a section of the two communities as a whole that is used, and the two golden pipes, that it is on the principle of faith that any are selected from Jew or Gentile to be made use of as sons of light and power in the coming age of glory.

Seasons 2.85

Seven burners

Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.

 Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted.

 Blessed are the meek: for they shall inherit the earth.

 Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness: for they shall be filled.

 Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.

 Blessed are the pure in heart: for they shall see God.

 Blessed are the peacemakers: for they shall be called the children of God. Matt 5: 3-8

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

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.

6 Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of Yahweh unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith Yahweh of hosts.

6 Then he answered and spake unto me, saying, This is the word of Yahweh unto Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might, nor by power, but by my spirit, saith Yahweh hosts.

The whole "philosophy of evil," as men talk, is summed up in Paul's description of man's present lot:

"made subject to vanity, not willingly but by reason of Him who hath subjected the same in hope."

The vanity to which we are subject is not an affair of human will, but of divine ordinance, which we are subject is not an affair of human will, but of divine ordinance, yet with light in the darkness, for it is "in hope" that we are subjected to the evil. It is not without a reason, nor without a purpose, nor without a hope that mankind are in their present evil state. No system of human wisdom can solve the terrible enigma. It is solved and solved completely in the Bible, and the Bible cannot be overthrown.

"Is it not of Yahweh Hosts that the people shall labour in the very fire, and shall weary themselves for very vanity?" (Hab. 2:13).

It is God who creates evil (Isa. 45:7). Man is in an evil state because he is not using his life and his power for the purpose for which God bestowed them. The words have come to pass which were specially addressed to the priests through Malachi,

"If ye will not hear and if ye will not lay it to heart to give glory unto my name, saith Yahweh Hosts, I will even send a curse upon you, and I will curse your blessings. Yea, I have cursed them already, because ye do not lay it to heart" (Mal. 2:2).

Till this curse is removed there can be no reformation of the human lot, such as man needs and such as his constitutional mentality leads him to desire and aspire after. Human aims and human schemes in this direction are all in vain.

Men might conceivably by human effort be better clothed and fed and housed and educated (though even in these items improvement as regards the mass is not possible to any appreciable extent), but as regards the fundamental needs of man in these relations of his being and state of his nature that have to do with making "life worth living"- man can never change the world from the hell-upon-earth state which has been the average character of its experience for six thousand years past.

"Not by might nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts."

His Spirit in olive-tree-fed candlestick manifestation, or operating through the society being developed from Adam's race during its painful progress from darkness to light- in other words, working in the sons of God in the day of their manifestation upon the earth in glory-will do the work and will do it with such perfection that at last it will be said,

"There is no more curse, no more pain, no more death."

Seasons 2.85

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.

Many of Zechariah and Haggai's countrymen who had witnessed the destruction of Jerusalem and the temple of Solomon by the Chaldeans, had lived to see the fall of Nebuchadnezzar's dynasty, and the completion of the new temple, which was finished shortly after Zechariah had the vision of the Lamp and Olive Trees. Hag. 2:3.

They knew that the Burnt Mountain was among the things of the past; and that Zerubbabel had had nothing to do with its burning, and its downfall from the rocks: what then could the Eternal Spirit mean by the "Great Mountain" he apostrophized, as destined to become a plain before Zerubbabel after his resurrection from among the dead?

It was not the Chaldean, nor the Bear, nor the Leopard; for they saw by Daniel that all these were removed by conquest in the ordinary way. What else could it be then but that Fourth Beast Dominion which is to be destroyed by the Saints? To this then Zechariah's attention was turned. The dominion was "diverse" from all that preceded it.

"It spoke great words against the Most High, and wore out the Saints of the Most High Ones, and thought to change times and Laws."

This was a very peculiar dominion; and it was judged proper to give the prophet and his readers some idea of its origin; of the original of its peculiarity. Hence the prophecy of the "Flying Roll" and "the Ephah."

Herald of the Kingdom and Age to Come, June 1858

'... the mission of the Stone is not exclusively to take away the iniquity of Israel. He has to level the "Great Mountain," which, at his apocalypse, will be found "destroying the earth." The Chaldean Babylonish empire is styled by Jeremiah "the destroying mountain which destroyed all the earth" (51:25). Zerubbabel was contemporary with it, but it did not become a plain before him; he died without witnessing such a result...

Here, then, is a work still to be accomplished. A great mountain to be levelled in the presence of Zerubbabel; and consequently, to be levelled after his resurrection, when he shall have wakened out of his sleep: for then, as we have seen in Haggai,

"Yahweh will shake the heavens and the earth, and overthrow the throne of kingdoms, and destroy the strength of the kingdoms of the nations."

These make up the great mountains to be levelled, or abolished, as symbolized in Apoc. 16:20.

The Four Carpenters, of which Zerubbabel is an element, are "to cast out the horns of the Gentiles;" and are therefore to level this great political mountain. Now the resurrection of the dead is as necessary for their development as for his. This being so, their resurrection is dramatically foreshadowed by Zechariah, another constituent of the Four, being awaked by the Angel.

8 Moreover the word of Yahweh came unto me, saying,

9 The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house; his hands shall also finish it; and thou shalt know that Yahweh of hosts hath sent me unto you.

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 Yahweh, which run to and fro through the whole earth.

His Eyes As Lamps Of Fire

The eye is the symbol of intelligence: for, "the light of the body is the eye." The extent, and, perhaps, the degree of intelligence, is indicated by the number, and its character by the expression of the symbol. Daniel does not record the number of the eyes of the glorious Man of Multitude: but tells us that their appearance was "as lamps of fire," which would give them a flaming, and therefore, terrible expression to those whom they will neither spare nor pity (Ezek. 5:11). The symbolical number of these flaming orbs is revealed in Zechariah. In chapter 3, the Eternal saith,

"Behold, I will bring forth my servant, the Branch": or Messiah. "For, behold, the stone which I have placed before the Faces of Joshua (or Jesus, in Greek), upon the same stone shall be SEVEN EYES" (verses 8, 9) : and "they shall rejoice and see the stone of separation in the hands of Zerubbabel, even those Seven. They are the eyes of YAHWEH scourging in all the earth" (chap. 4:10).

In this testimony and its context, the Eternal Spirit sets before us several representative men --Joshua and his brethren, and Zerubbabel: the former, the High Priest and his household at the time of the restoration from Babylon, and the latter, governor of Judah and of the house of David at the same crisis. They were constituted a symbolical group, and were so regarded by their contemporaries in Jerusalem; as it is written "they are men wondered at," or anshai mophalth, "Men of Sign," that is, men representing others besides themselves.

But as the things to be represented by them required other symbols than those furnished by the human form, priests, and governors, the deficiencies are supplied from other sources. Joshua and his brethren represented Messiah and his brethren in name and office; as did also Zerubbabel as a governor of the house of David; and as a group of sign-men, they symbolized the kings and priests of the Eternal Power of the house of David, occupying their places over Israel in Messiah's times, commonly styled "the millenium."

But it was required also to represent that the Spirit's servant, "the man whose name is the Branch," styled in the New Testament "Jesus Christ," was the same who had been styled by Jacob, David, Isaiah and Daniel, "the Stone"; that the precious gem in its brightness and splendour was to blaze forth in the glory of the Spirit; that, as a consuming fire, he and his companions were to scourge the wicked; in short, that Israel was not to expect redemption by their own prowess, apart from the Man of.the Eternal Power,

...a stone was placed before Joshua, by which action a relation between them was established. It is afterwards seen in the hand of Zerubbabel, by which also he becomes identified with it. Hence the stone comes to represent at once the High Priest and Governor of Judah -- "a Priest upon the throne" of the house of David, which indicated a change in the constitution of the kingdom of Israel.

In the hand of Zerubbabel it is styled the "Stone of Separation," by which we are taught that "the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel" will be a purifier of his nation from all alloy; for

"He is like a refiner's fire, and like fuller's soap. And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; and He shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto Yahweh an offering in righteousness. Afterwards shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto Yahweh, as in the days of old, and as in ancient years" (Mal. 3:2-4).

But the nature of the case demanded that intelligence and multitudinousness should be symbolized in the Stone. To answer this, "Seven Eyes" are placed upon it with the inscription: "I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day." These eyes, we are told, are "the eyes of Yahweh": that is, the eyes of the Spirit, self-styled Yahweh.

Now, John in Patmos saw the same vision: and in his description of what he saw, uses the words of Daniel and Zechariah, which he blends together. He says there were "Seven lamps of fire burning before the throne." He then tells what they represent, saying, "which are the Seven Spirits of power," or of God.

"Grace and peace" were sent through John to the Seven Ecclesias from these Seven Spirits in concert with Jesus Anointed (Rev. 1:4-5); who, in chapter 5:6, is symbolized "by a lamb that had been slain." Now, the description of this lamb identifies it with the Stone of Joshua and Zerubbabel; and with the Eyes of Daniel's Man of the One Spirit. The slain lamb had "seven horns and seven eyes, which (Horns and eyes) are," or represent, "the Seven Spirits of Power, sent forth into all the earth" (chapter 5:6).

The symbolical number is "seven." This is a sign-number, signifying more or less. That it does not signify less than seven, is evident from other symbols of the Spirit.

...We conclude, then, that the symbolical number "seven" in the case before us, is representative of a great and innumerable multitude -- "a multitude which no,man can number," because its amount is not revealed.

Phanerosis

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?

"Ye are the Branches," said Jesus to his disciples; "and severed from me ye can do nothing." This is true, whether Jesus be regarded as a Vine, or as a Seven-Branched Lampstand. The branches of the Olive-Trees are connected with the Bowl by the two golden tubes, which makes them thus Branches of the Lamp. The Olive-Trees represent Israel after the flesh, and Israel after the Spirit, in their post-resurrectional relation to the Lamp of David's house.

Here, then, is one olive-tree -- Israel in post-resurrectional relation to the Lamp of David's house; the other olive-tree is the Wild Olive-Tree also in its post-resurrectional relation to the same. In Rom. 11:17, Paul tells us that the Gentiles are represented by this tree. Thus we are left without doubt as to the two olive-trees.

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?

By these branches and tubes a connection was established between the Lamp-bowl and the two trees. The golden colored olive-oil is exuded from the two branches through the golden tubes into the Lamp-bowl, from which it is combusted through the Seven Burners, for the illumination of all the nations of the earth, then "blessed in Abraham and his Mystical Seed," which is the Christ and all in Him...these two branches represent the Saints, who are separated, first, from the Israelitish Olive-Tree; and secondly, from the Gentile Olive-Tree, by nature wild. The Two Branches are not to be confounded with the Two Trees. These are not the Anointed Ones, but only the nationalities whence the Two Branches are developed.

These two branches stand before the Ruler of all the earth. [14]

They rule with him as Kings and Priests, being all anointed with the Holy Spirit from the throne of the Invisible Father. They are His eyes, hands, body, and feet, in the subjugation and government of the world. He fills them with his spirit; in fact, they are His spirit corporealized - condensed, if we may so speak, into a multitude of living, incorruptible, and intelligent personages: "That which is born of the Spirit is SPIRIT" -- the multitudinous Spirit-Man.

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

14 Then said he, These are the two anointed ones, that stand by the Lord of the whole earth.

They represented Sons generated by the Golden Oil, or "word of truth" -- the "unction from the Holy One, which teacheth of all things, and is the truth" (1 John ii. 20,27).

Eureka 11.1.

The symbol as a whole is an apparatus of brightness; and the Golden Oil in combustion upon the seven burners styled in the Apoc. 4:5, "Seven lamps of fire burning before the throne," is the Spirit of God, which, in its sevenfold distribution, is styled in Apoc. 5:6,

"Seven Eyes, which are the Seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth."

Hence, what is accomplished "in all the earth," namely, the levelling of the great Babylonish mountain, and the bringing forth the Head Stone to lordship over the whole earth, as the word of Yahweh says to Zerubbabel, is "Not by army, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith Yahweh of armies;" that is, the effectuation of these results by such means alone as one nation employs to overturn the power of another, in which its success depends upon numbers, discipline, artillery, and so forth, courageously and scientifically applied, is impossible.

Jerusalem will never attain to her destined exaltation as Yahweh's throne, by the mere prowess and strategy of an Alexander or a Napoleon. It is to be accomplished by "Zerubbabel," in whose hand is the plumb-line, which distinguishes him as the Builder of David's tabernacle - of "the City which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God - Heb. 11:10. "By my Spirit," saith Yahweh, "it shall be done," even by those Seven Eye-Lamps of Yahweh.

But shall this post - resurrectional work be performed by Yahweh's Spirit unclothed; by pure naked spirit, as a psychologist would prevail over a subject - by afflation, and a simple exercise of will? The answer from the testimony before us is, by no means.

"That which is born of the Spirit is spirit" (John 3:6). Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joshua the High Priest, Zerubbabel, and all the prophets, which includes Jesus and the Apostles, together with many from the east, west, north, and south (Luke 13:28-30) will be born of the Spirit in the resurrection, and will therefore be "Spirit" -- as Jesus is now, as angels, "walking among those that stand by:" "when He (Jesus) shall appear," says John, "we shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is" (2 John 3:2).

By Spirit in organic manifestation the face of the world shall be changed, and Jerusalem shall be made to shine; for "Her Righteousness (Jer. 23:5, 6; 33:15-17) shall go forth as Brightness; and her Salvation (that which effects her deliverance) as a Lamp that burneth" (Isai. 52:1).

...The Lamp and Olive-Trees, then, are an organization of spirit manifested in the Saints and nations of the earth blessed in Abraham and his seed, after the resurrection - the Spirit in full evening tide manifestation.

Eureka 1.1.5b

The Lamp and Olive-Trees

Post apocalyptic - The two trees (the blessed first and second dominions) the branches (the Jew and Gentile immortal saints) The central stem of the lampstand Yahoshua - its 7 branches his brethren together illuminating the earth.

Zechariah's Symbolism

In the fourth chapter of Zechariah there is a very remarkable symbolic prophecy concerning Zerubbabel and the "great mountain." In this there is contained a hidden mystery -- wisdom concealed, which the prophet confessed he did not understand.

The exposition of the eleventh chapter of the apocalypse cannot be satisfactorily unfolded irrespective of Zechariah's prophecy; for this portion of John's is a symbolical revelation of the mystery therein contained. We shall therefore briefly look into what the spirit said to Zechariah about Zerubbabel.

First, then, the prophet was symbolically awakened by an angel out of a symbolic sleep, to show that what was about to be revealed would in its consummation, be manifested after he should rise up from among the dead.

Being thus figuratively introduced into the resurrection state, he saw therein a group of symbols representative of post-resurrectional Spirit-manifestation. The one group consisted of a golden lightstand with a hollow ball, or bowl, upon the top, from which projected seven tubes and burners. On each side of this was an olive tree, one on the right, and the other on the left; and from a branch on each tree a golden pipe connected with the bowl.

When the prophet beheld the lightstand and the two trees, he inquired of the angel what it meant; or what was the solution of the mystery? But, instead of a definition of the symbols with an analytic exposition of the truth, he was told in very general terms, that the group represented the Spirit in manifestation, prepared to level the Great Mountain, and to establish the Head Stone triumphantly (verses 2-7).

This "great mountain" is the mountain out of which the Head Stone is cut without hand (Dan. ii. 45); and symbolizes "the kingdom of men" as existing at the epoch of its final overthrow, when "the kingdoms of this world become the Lord's and his Christ's." "Before Zerubbabel" it becomes "a plain."

The HEAD STONE is the Spirit in olive-tree and lightstand manifestation, and surnamed Zerubbabel -- scattered in Babylon. "They shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel those seven, which are the Eyes of Yahweh" (ver. 10). This is the "one stone of seven eyes" surnamed Zerubbabel. It is the Spirit head Stone so named, constituted, not of one individual only, but of a number of individuals, "which no man can number," with one individual at the head of them, named Jesus the Anointed.

But, Zechariah in looking more narrowly at the symbolic group discerned two remarkable olive branches, one upon each of the olive trees; and he saw besides two golden pipes, one proceeding from each olive branch to the golden globe of the lightstand. He perceived, that the pipes were for the conveyance of the golden colored oil from the olive branches into the globe of the lightstands, that it might be combusted in the seven burners at the end of the seven tubes projected from the top of the golden globe.

But he did not see into the truth or meaning of the mystery of the two olive branches, and the two golden pipes; he therefore asked the angel what they represented? He gave him, however, very scanty information. He simply replied, "these are the two Sons of Oil standing before the Lord of all the earth" (ver. 14).

Eureka 11.1.1.