#9-ZECHARIAH’S 5TH VISION: THE HIGH PRIEST – PART 9

FULL MEETING WITH MIDRASH HERE

NOTE: THE TRANSCRIPT IS NOT THE SAME AS THE RECORDING. 

HAGGAI & ZECHARIAH: PROPHETS FOR THE END OF DAYS – PART 9

ZECHARIAH’S 5TH VISION: A MENORAH, THE MELCHIZEDEK & THE NUMBER SEVEN

SEVEN

Let’s have a look at the number “7” before we go any further in Zechariah’s visions. We will understand chapter 4’s vision and also chapter 3’s vision with the “7” eyes on the foundation stone much better if do this study.

“Seven” does have a particular meaning but it’s not what most people including New Agers and occultists think it is. They say “7” symbolizes completeness, spiritual perfection, and divine fulfillment. That depends on the context in which we encounter the number “7”.

Let’s examine the premise that “7” symbolizes completeness, spiritual perfection, and divine fulfillment. To do that, let’s define the word “complete” since that is the one word most often used to define “7”.

“Complete” means “having all necessary parts or elements with nothing missing”, according to an online dictionary. It also means “finishing an action and bringing it to a final end.” Therein lies a contradiction. If nothing is missing and the thing is complete, then there is nothing to finish and bring to a final end. Within the definition of the word “complete” something is wrong. Either a thing is complete or it is not. It is not complete if it still needs finishing.

If we have been paying attention for the last 6,000 years, we can see, as we read our Bibles, that the earth has not yet reached completion, spiritual perfection nor is it at its final end with nothing missing. The truth is that “7”, in terms of the earthly realm, is decidedly incomplete. We need to stop letting Satan define YHVH’s symbols through man’s word definitions or the New Age and occult and let YHVH’s own words and His principles and patterns define His symbols.

Why are the earth’s “7s” incomplete? Where can we see this in scripture and understand that “7”, in the earthly realm, does not actually mean everything is “completed”? The answer is in Genesis 1.

Every day of creation week was closed by God saying it was “good”. Every day, that is, except for the 7th day, the day of human creation. Six days were “good”, but the 7th day was not. That suggests that there is more to come, doesn’t it? Which means “7” cannot always be defined as “completeness”.

YHVH used “7” and variants of “7” 680 times throughout the Bible. So there is definitely a message from Him to us in the number “7”. And those 680 times is not counting the time when He used 7 particular words to express a promise. We will find that the number “7” contains the biggest promise of all promises in scripture. It is a promise that is still unfulfilled.

Let’s define a Hebrew root word.

If we look at the Hebrew number “seven” (‘sheba’, H7651) and the Hebrew root word for “oath”, which is ‘shaba’, Strong’s H7650, we will see that these 2 Hebrew words do indeed have the same root – ‘shin – bet – ayin’. ‘Shaba’, “oath”, literally means “to ‘sheba’ or “seven” oneself in a promise of future completion. An oath is a promise to complete, not something that is already completed!

We find this promise of all promises in Genesis 1:1.

Genesis 1:1 Bereshit (In the beginning), bara (created) elohim (God) et (direct object marker, left untranslated) hashamayim (the heavens) ve’et (and, with another et) ha’aretz (the earth).

Seven ‘sheba’ words which are also an oath ‘shaba’ with one word left untranslated in English – the “alef tav”. What matters here is because ‘sheba’ is “seven” and ‘shaba’ is “oath, God literally “sevened” Himself to His creation as a promise to complete it within this cycle of “7”.

Did you notice that the “alef tav” appears twice in Genesis 1:1? Once all by itself and then inside the phrase “and the” – ‘ve’et’? The fact that “alef tav” appears twice in Genesis 1:1 tells us that the living “Alef Tav”, the beginning and the end, the first and the last (Isaiah 44:6, Revelation 1:17-18, 2:8, 22:13), who is Yeshua Himself, will have 2 appearances inside His creation on the earth. The first one has been fulfilled. The second one will be fulfilled when He returns to rule and reign. So, there is an as yet unfulfilled promise in Genesis 1:1.

The last letter in the words ‘sheba’ and ‘shaba’ is ‘ayin’. ‘Ayin’ literally symbolizes an “eye”. Seven words in the first sentence of our Bibles, which are an oath toward completion, point to the foundation stone with “7” eyes in Zechariah 3:9! YHVH simply chose not to reveal the “7-eyed” foundation stone to any human being in this manner until the Book of Zechariah, even though Isaiah, Daniel and the Book of Psalms mention it, albeit without “7 eyes”.

So when you see “7”, just know that you are looking at God’s ongoing and active plan, His promise of all promises, in progress and that promise should bolster your faith in Him rather than make you go away scratching your head knowing “there must be more, but you don’t know what it is”. The earth, and particularly mankind, are still works in progress but don’t worry because everything will be alright. YHVH keeps His promises! The earth will once again be aligned with all the other parts of creation; it will be complete and perfected because it already is in Heaven.

Now, let’s understand something else that “7” tells us about this earthly realm. It has to do with what we call “type and shadow”. We can understand this concept now, in this chapter, because of the menorah YHVH presented to Zechariah. Types and shadows are things that we only partially understand because we are looking through a dark glass (1 Corinthians 13:12).

A type and shadow is the promise of something better which automatically means the thing is incomplete or lacking in some way. The things we have here on earth are not the complete version that exists with YHVH in Heaven. Therein lies the conundrum faced by New Agers and occultists which apply the Heavenly meaning of “7” to this current incomplete creation cycle. Creation is not done yet. Particularly the creation of man is not finished. It won’t be finished until the final end of the 7th 1,000 year segment, after the Great White Throne Judgement and after YHVH brings His Heavenly temple back to the earth.

THE SPECIAL MENORAH OF ZECHARIAH 4

Now, with all that in mind, let’s turn our attention to Zechariah’s vision.

This vision is a continuation of the prior one with Joshua the High Priest. But it presents the ministrations of the 2 Priesthoods: Yeshua’s Heavenly Priesthood (the Order of Melchizedek) and Joshua’s earthly one (the Levitical Order, the type and shadow) through the unusual menorah in the vision in chapter 4.

YHVH presented Zechariah with a menorah but there was no menorah in 520 BC for Joshua to attend and minister to. Don’t worry! This vision is telling us that YHVH always fills in the gaps. YHVH has a menorah in Heaven ministered to by the High Priest of the Order of Melchizedek which will be applied to the second temple being built so that nothing will be lacking or incomplete.

Zechariah 4:1  The angel [pre-incarnate Yeshua] who talked with me came again, and wakened me, as a man who is wakened out of his sleep.
Zechariah 4:2  He [pre-incarnate Yeshua] said to me, “What do you see?” I said, “I have seen, and behold, a lamp stand [menorah] all of gold, with a bowl on the top of it, and its seven lamps on it; there are seven pipes to each of the lamps, which are on the top of it;

Let me start by just telling you this is the menorah of the High Priest of the Order of Melchizedek that stands in the Heavenly temple. It is different than the one Moses made. The Heavenly one is the complete one. The one Moses made was the “type and shadow” menorah, the incomplete one which still has the number “7” associated with it because it does have “7” branches and “7” bowls. But again, it is incomplete just like the last day of creation is incomplete.

Both menorahs require a High Priest to minister to them. The original Order of Melchizedek Priesthood’s menorah that stands in YHVH’s Heavenly temple has always been ministered to by Yeshua in His High Priest aspect. But it does not need daily ministrations because it is 100% complete.

There are 2 differences between these 2 menorahs. First, there was no bowl on top of the Tabernacle’s menorah. Second, there were no pipes going from a bowl to each of the 7 bowls.

The bowl on top of the Order of Melchizedek menorah feeds the literal Holy Spirit, symbolized by olive oil in the Tabernacle, into the 7 “pipes” which then fill each and every one of the 7 bowls continually through eternity for a multiple of 49 pipes. Seven pipes to each bowl. This multiple of “7” did not exist in the earthly menorah. The configuration of this is the light of the Jubilee. “Seven” reveals YHVH’s plan and objective because the Jubilee explains His benevolence to His people.

The bowls never even get low on Holy Spirit “oil”. His Spirit, His “oil” never fails. Those bowls never run dry, and no one can capture this menorah and take it away like the earthly menorah was taken away by Babylon. This is always the goal of Babylon: to remove the light of Yeshua from the earth! That’s what the menorah is: the light of Yeshua.

Yeshua’s Spirit in Heaven, “feeding” into each of the 7 bowls, is symbolized here on earth by olive oil being poured into each of the 7 bowls by a single human High Priest.

I want to say something else about the bowls here because I believe that the Heavenly menorah’s 7 bowls will be poured out on the earth during the Tribulation. Each bowl produces a different kind of suffering for the wicked: painful sores, sea turning to blood, rivers and springs turning to blood, scorching heat, total darkness, the drying of the Euphrates river, and then unprecedented flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder, and the greatest global earthquake in human history. Cities will collapse, islands will vanish, mountains will fall, and massive hailstones will fall from the sky to kill people. But the righteous will be saved. They will be in The Ingathering place.

When wickedness comes into contact with holiness, the wicked suffer greatly. This is why YHVH put such large boundaries between Himself and the Israelites at Mount Sinai (Exodus 19:12) and again when He separated the Tabernacle in the middle of the Israelite camp. He said it was so no one would die by coming too close to Him (Numbers 1:50–53).

Zechariah 4:3  and two olive trees by it, one on the right side of the bowl, and the other on the left side of it.”
Zechariah 4:4  I answered and spoke to the angel [pre-incarnate Yeshua] who talked with me, saying, “What are these, my lord?”
Zechariah 4:5  Then the angel [pre-incarnate Yeshua] who talked with me answered me, “Don’t you know what these are?” I said, “No, my lord.”
Zechariah 4:6  Then he [pre-incarnate Yeshua] answered and spoke to me, saying, “This is Yahweh’s word to Zerubbabel, saying, ‘Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit,’ says Yahweh of Armies.

Why do 2 olive trees stand beside the Heavenly menorah? That’s not the way the menorah was configured in the Tabernacle. They are sentries guarding YHVH’s plan to reestablish the Order of Melchizedek government on the earth again because the menorah they stand beside is the Heavenly menorah, not the earthly one.

Why do people believe these 2 olive trees are same 2 olive trees who are YHVH’s witnesses at the end? It’s because they are but there is more to this than just olive trees. Zerubbabel and Joshua are olive branches, not trees, even though they may be types and shadows of the 2 witnesses in Revelation 11.  

Skipping to verse 11:

Zechariah 4:11  Then I asked him [pre-incarnate Yeshua], “What are these two olive trees on the right side of the lamp stand and on the left side of it?”

No answer was given so Zechariah asked the question a different way.

Zechariah 4:12  I asked him [pre-incarnate Yeshua] the second time, “What are these two olive branches, which are beside the two golden spouts, that pour the golden oil out of themselves?”

Pre-incarnate Yeshua did not answer Zechariah about these figures being olive trees. So he had to change the question to ask about the 2 of them as olive branches. Zerubbabel and Joshua are immature types and shadows of the 2 mature witnesses later on. But here, Zerubbabel and Joshua were just sentries, not doing anything but guarding the menorah as progress toward restoration of the Order of Melchizedek proceeded after which we arrive at 2 fully grown and mature olive trees. In verse 10, YHVH will have something to say about not despising small beginnings, right? Do you understand now why He said that? Zerubbabel and Joshua were the small start to the coming greater Kingdom in the end of days.  

THE GREAT MOUNTAIN

And then YHVH makes a prophetic statement about a global government which will not stand before Zerubbabel who is the type and shadow of Yeshua, the King who is coming at the end of the age.

Zechariah 4:7  Who are you, great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you are a plain; and he will bring out the capstone with shouts of ‘Grace, grace, to it!’”

“Who are you, great mountain? Are you Persia, Greece, Rome?” Some commentators think this refers to Persia. I don’t. The reason is that YHVH is showing Zechariah the future 2600 years beyond the time of the second temple.

“Mountains” are symbols for governments. “Great mountain” refers to more than just a “mountain”, a government. So, let’s parse this out? Let’s first go back and connect the preparation of Joshua to this vision.

Who was standing beside Pre-incarnate Yeshua when Joshua was being prepared? Satan. He was rebuked and was not allowed to be present for the preparation of the High Priest. What does Satan do when he gets sent away? He causes trouble! Trouble, as in Tribulation.

This is the only scripture where “great” and “mountain” are used together as a title: “great mountain”, except in one place in the Book of Revelation.

Rev 8:8  And the second angel sounded, and as it were a great mountain burning with fire was cast into the sea: and the third part of the sea became blood;

Revelation 8:8 has dual meanings. First, this is actually a big stone, probably an asteroid. But the other meaning has to do with a global government such as has never existed before.

At the time of the end, when the Book of Revelation is being fulfilled, there will be a “great government”, i.e. a “great mountain”. We find its description in Revelation 13, 17 and 18. This will be a global government having rule and reign over the entire earth. None of the empires of the ancient Near East governed the entire earth. They only conquered huge swaths of the Near East and North Africa, but the earth had other empires happening elsewhere during this time. So this “great mountain” is more than any of those beast empires of Daniel combined. This one exists now and it has pieces and parts of Daniel’s empires as described in Revelation 13:2.

The throwing of the “great mountain” asteroid into the sea is a precursor and sign to tell God’s people that He is about to throw Satan’s “great mountain” into destruction.

This “great mountain” will be leveled, like a plain before Yeshua’s symbolic King. Zerubbabel is a type and shadow of Yeshua as our Great King, and the “great mountain” will be nothing, will be as a leveled “plain” before Yeshua. No earthly government can affect or overcome Him.

The shouts of “grace, grace to it” when the capstone is set on the second temple is also a prophecy of when Yeshua Messiah’s 3rd temple is finished. The capstone is the final piece in the Millennial temple’s construction. The capstone will be set by Yeshua’s grace.  

Zechariah 4:8  Moreover Yahweh’s word came to me, saying,
Zechariah 4:9  “The hands of Zerubbabel have laid the foundation of this house. His hands shall also finish it; and you will know that Yahweh of Armies has sent me to you.

Now YHVH returns from the futurist prophecy of our King Messiah destroying the “great mountain” of Satan’s kingdom, and away from the High Priesthood, to Zerubbabel again, and to the task at hand which was the rebuilding of the temple. YHVH promised that the second temple will be completed during Zerubbabel’s lifetime. And it was.

Zechariah 4:10  Indeed, who despises the day of small things? For these seven shall rejoice, and shall see the plumb line in the hand of Zerubbabel. These are Yahweh’s eyes, which run back and forth through the whole earth.”

“Despising the day of small things” not only refers to the immature olive branches beside the Heavenly menorah, it is also a reference to what the second temple would be in comparison to the one which The Branch will build that would not be possible without the small second temple. And I do mean small.

Most people still talk about the grandeur of the second temple. Yeshua’s 7th Millennium temple will make the first and second temples look like shacks! Don’t despise the small beginnings of the day of the second temple.

The plumb line in verse 10 symbolizes the authority of the Order of Melchizedek government Yeshua will bring with Him to the earth. Many people won’t like it and will rebel against Yeshua at the end of the Millennium. They will fail, but that is for another teaching.

OLIVE BRANCHES: PLAY ON WORDS

We already studied verses 11 and 12.

Zechariah 4:11  Then I asked him, “What are these two olive trees on the right side of the lamp stand and on the left side of it?”
Zechariah 4:12  I asked him [pre-incarnate Yeshua] the second time, “What are these two olive branches, which are beside the two golden spouts, that pour the golden oil out of themselves?”

There is something more here than what I said about this before. There is a play on the word “Branch”. Zerubbabel and Joshua were, indeed, “branches”. Yeshua came from those “branches”.

Zerubbabel was His direct ancestor who came from the cut off line of Jeconiah in order to remove the line of Solomon from having his throne established eternally. This is why YHVH made Zerubbabel into a Governor, not a King. Zerubbabel’s wife was from David’s son Nathan. Zerubbabel and she bore Rhesa. It is from here that Mary’s genealogy comes.

Mary was in the line of the Aaronic priesthood through her family, though her own primary tribal lineage belonged to Judah. She was not a direct descendant of Joshua, the High Priest. However, in Luke 1:36, the angel Gabriel informs Mary that her kinswoman, Elizabeth, was pregnant. Luke 1:5 explicitly states that Elizabeth was from the “daughters of Aaron,” meaning she belonged entirely to the Aaronic line.

Mary and Elizabeth were cousins through their mothers who were from the Levitical line, but they belonged to two completely different tribes through their fathers. Mary’s father was from the tribe of Judah. Her husband also was from the tribe of Judah and was a descendant of David through Solomon. Thus, no matter you look at it, Yeshua is counted as coming from Judah but He is also connected to the line of Aaron.

So these 2 “branches” produced “The Branch”. Get it? Do you see the play on words?

Zechariah 4:13  He [pre-incarnate Yeshua] answered me, “Don’t you know what these are?” I said, “No, my lord.”
Zechariah 4:14  Then he [pre-incarnate Yeshua] said, “These are the two anointed ones who stand by the Lord of the whole earth.”

Standing guard by the Sovereign, or some say “Master”, of the whole earth.

OIL PRODUCERS

But here’s more. I hope you are still with me, because actually, this verse says “these are the two ““oil-producing” ones””. In other words, it is because of them that Yeshua was born.

The English word “anointed” here is a wrong translation. The word for “anointed” is actually Strong’s H3323, ‘yitshâr’, meaning “oil (as producing light)”. Another play on words since we have the Heavenly menorah in this chapter and the menorah is all about God’s light.

‘Yitshar’ appears in scripture 23 times. Every time, it is translated only as “oil” except right here in Zechariah 4:14. The English translator should have called them the “two oil-producing” ones. Israelites would have understood this concept because olive trees are for the purpose of producing oil.

The Hebrew word for “anoint” is Strong’s H4886, mâshach, from where we get the Hebrew word ‘Mashiach’. To ‘mashiach’ or anoint someone is to anoint them with the ‘yitshar’, the olive oil. But there is no verbal reference to ‘mashiach’ in verse 14.

The 2 branches which are also the oil-producing ones will produce The Branch whose Order of Melchizedek government will return at the end of the Tribulation as witnessed by the 2 fully grown olive trees in Revelation 11.

The restoration of YHVH’s government on earth started in 520 BC. The second temple was a transition temple. It served the people during its own time but it was incomplete – no Ark of the Covenant, no menorah no tables of shewbread and incense, although these were later made sometime in the 2nd century BC. YHVH used the second temple to transition toward the ultimate goal of restoring the Heavenly Order of Melchizedek’s government one earth, the one framework within which creation happened; the one in which Adam was made; the one in which man was to steward the earth as a priesthood of caretakers over the earth. Starting with the second temple’s construction, the Order of Melchizedek moved closer to restoration.

The coming Millennial temple of Messiah Yeshua will also be a transitional temple. It also will not be permanent. Its construction and use will ultimately lead to the return of the temple that stood on the earth at the time the garden grew eastward from it in Eden (Genesis 2:7-8).

WHAT IS GOD ACTUALLY RESTORING?

There is nothing new happening in this cycle of 7. There is only restoration of the original cosmos.

John 3:16  ForG1063 GodG2316 soG3779 lovedG25 theG3588 world,G2889 thatG5620 he gaveG1325 hisG848 only begottenG3439 Son,G5207 thatG2443 whosoeverG3956 believethG4100 inG1519 himG846 should notG3361 perish,G622 butG235 haveG2192 everlastingG166 life.G2222

“World” is ‘cosmos’.

G2889
κόσμος
kosmos

kos’-mos

Probably from the base of G2865; orderly arrangement, that is, decoration; by implication the world (in a wide or narrow sense, including its inhabitants, literally or figuratively [morally]): – adorning, world.

What was God’s original “orderly arrangement”?

G2865

κολυμβάω,
kolumbaō

kom-id’-zo

From a primary word κολυμβος kolumbos (to tend, that is, take care of); properly to provide for, that is, (by implication) to carry off (as if from harm; generally obtain): – bring, receive.

YHVH simply wants to care for His creation, particularly mankind. And He wants man to take care of what was created. That is the orderly arrangement. That is what started being restored in 520 BC.

The restoration of the orderly arrangement begins and ends with God restoring mankind to his original disposition before the fall of Adam. After that, everything will be aligned again. That is what the number “7” in its incomplete form tells us. When everything is restored, the magnificent menorah standing in the earthly, and I believe, in the Millennial temple, will have a big bowl of Holy Spirit at its top with 7 pipes going to each bowl for a total of 49 pipes of Holy Spirit flowing in and into the temple.

The restoration doesn’t start with the Tribulation. The Tribulation is just the final step before the Millennium and then there’s still more before everything is complete.