Zechariah 4: Strengthened by the Vision, Look Ahead

Introduction

This Sunday, Tokyo Church of Christ begins a two-week series in the book of Zechariah. The title of the message: "Strengthened by the Vision." The preacher admits it is impossible to study everything in two weeks and encourages everyone to read Zechariah for themselves, along with a book on Zechariah by a brother from the Philippines, which the church has had translated.

Zechariah is not an easy book. It speaks of the present and the future at the same time, so it is not always clear what is being described. It speaks through symbols and images rather than direct words. But it is also a book that points to Jesus Christ again and again.

The book falls into two parts: chapters 1 to 8 answer the problems the people were facing at the time, while chapters 9 to 14 look toward a more distant future. The message focuses on the first part, with a single question: what did God say to this struggling people, and what is he saying today to us, who also have our own struggles? The point of the day fits in one sentence: "Through the vision, look ahead."

Message outline

1. A building project stalled for sixteen years

Around 538-537 BC, a group returned from captivity to Jerusalem with Zerubbabel, determined to rebuild the temple with their own hands. The following year, the foundations were laid.
Then the work was hindered and stopped for sixteen years. "Sixteen years is extremely long."
The prophet Haggai, whom we read two weeks earlier in this series, called the people to start again. In 520, the rebuilding resumed, but nothing had changed yet: the temple was still in ruins and its completion seemed very far away.
In 519, Zechariah received eight visions. Encouraged by them, the people kept going without seeing results, and three or four years later the temple was finished.
We live through similar situations: you started reading the Bible and believing, but your life has not been turned upside down; you launched a mission team or a small group, but it is not growing; you began walking with a couple, but nothing has moved; you want God's kingdom to spread across Japan, but it seems so far away.
In those moments, what you are doing feels tiny and worthless. The people of that time struggled with discouragement too.

2. Looking ahead is not just being positive

The preacher quotes that book: Zechariah's visions were given at the perfect moment, in a time of discouragement when defeat seemed closer than victory. All of them say: "Look ahead. Something better awaits you. So do not give up."
God speaks this way while the work is still small and in progress: "I am the one working, I am the one who will complete it, so look ahead."
This is not about becoming positive. It is by knowing how God sees the future that we, too, receive the hope to look ahead.

3. Eight visions built as a mirror

The eight visions are not separate stories. They answer each other in pairs, from the first to the last, and the main message sits at the center. The preacher invites us to imagine what the listeners of that time felt as they heard them.
Visions 1 and 8: God rules over the whole earth. The horsemen patrol the earth; God sees and knows the situation of Jerusalem. The four chariots show his Spirit spreading everywhere. God is at work across the whole earth, not in just one city.
Visions 2 and 7: God removes the enemy and evil. The four horns, the powers that scattered Israel, are cast down by the craftsmen God sends. The woman in the basket represents wickedness itself, carried far away to the land of Shinar. God removes the adversaries outside and also the evil within us.
Visions 3 and 6: God rebuilds, enlarges, protects and purifies Jerusalem. He himself will be a wall around the city and will dwell in the midst of it, and nations will join his people. The flying scroll announces that God takes away lying, stealing and sin.
Visions 4 and 5, at the center: God purifies people and uses them by his Spirit. The high priest Joshua wears filthy clothes, and God takes them off him. Then comes the vision of the golden lampstand, connected with Zerubbabel.

4. The lampstand: God supplies the oil

The preacher reads Zechariah 4:2-3 and 4:12: a lampstand all of gold, a bowl on top, seven lamps, and two olive trees, one on the right and one on the left, pouring out oil through two golden pipes.
Ordinarily, a lamp burns because someone pours oil into it. Here, it is God who keeps pouring the oil, and the flame never goes out.
To people facing harsh reality and poverty, God says: I am the one who brings the strength and the work of rebuilding. So look ahead and keep rebuilding.

5. Why eight visions for a single goal

In Haggai, God simply said: rebuild the temple. Here, for the same goal, he gives eight visions. Why?
The preacher thinks the people already knew what they had to do. As individuals and as disciples, we often know the goal. The problem lies elsewhere: faced with their situation, they were disappointed, told themselves "I can't," gradually lost faith, and their eyes drifted away from the goal.
Crushed by problems and deprived of encouragement, we can no longer see what God wants to show us further ahead. What we need then, "is not the goal, it is the strength God gives each day to move toward the goal."
We need visions like these every day, because they show clearly who God is and what he promises to do.
The preacher shares a testimony: the working adults' ministry has set a goal for 2030 of a ministry where everyone makes disciples. He is convinced that God wants to bring the gospel to working adults in Japan, but he also admits to doubt and discouragement. The vision of the lampstand strengthens him: the source of everything is God, not his own efforts. "I will do it. Move forward step by step, carefully."

6. Three parts to tell apart

Who does the work? Zechariah 4:6: "Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit," says Yahweh of Armies. Zerubbabel's group was small and weak, but God says he will accomplish the work by his Spirit. The preacher notes that Japanese people may tend to carry everything alone: "Let us move from what I can do by my own effort to what can be done by the power of God."
What God can do. Zechariah 4:7: "Who are you, great mountain?" God's word to the mountain is that it will become a plain before Zerubbabel. The mountain stands for the obstacles to the rebuilding. God does not deny its size (the English says "mighty mountain"), but he speaks to it: seen from heaven, it is far smaller than he is. Do not measure God's work with human eyes, and shout to your own mountain too: "Who are you?"
What we can do. Zechariah 4:8-10: Zerubbabel's hands laid the foundation of this house, and his hands will finish it. "The day of small beginnings" refers to the period when the rebuilding had just resumed and nothing could be seen yet. What they did each day was small, but "small does not mean God is not working."
We readily think God is acting when something big happens. But the good news to share may be the small daily relationship with God, a small discovery in his Word. "In small beginnings, a great God is at work." Let us be faithful in small things.

7. Small steps of faith, all the way to the end

A small group leader announced that he would hold a "Bible Talk" every month, something that had not been done since the 2020 pandemic. He regretted it right away, overwhelmed by his work responsibilities, and the year ended without it holding. This year he announced it again and regretted it again. But the meetings are happening regularly, an in-person meeting took place last month at the group's request, and each time someone interested in the Bible attends.
Some sisters started a prayer team on their own this year, convinced that victory begins with prayer. The participants are few, but what matters to them is not the number: it is praying, reading the Word together on a theme, and rejoicing in this relationship of prayer. The preacher says he feels carried by this team.
Every month since last year, a futsal evening has brought together, always with just enough players, working adults but also married people, students and young people. An invited friend even turned down a game with another team to come, because this community was different. God is at work through a community that goes beyond generations.
The person who organizes a Korean meal had decided two years ago to stop, disappointed by the results. This year, they were asked to start again. They overcame their discouragement and fear, and the meal took place the day before. "God always rejoices over the small step that overcomes discouragement and fear."
To some, these are small things. But because we believe in God's work, we encourage one another to look ahead and to keep doing our small part, by faith.
So that the temple would be rebuilt to the end, God gave eight visions. Strengthened by them, the people finished it three or four years later.
This rebuilding leads further, to the rebuilding that Jesus Christ accomplishes. That will be the subject of next week's message.
"Let us be strengthened by God's vision and keep moving forward together."

Key takeaways

Most of the time, we know the goal. What we lack is the strength God gives each day to reach it.
Looking ahead is not positive thinking: it is seeing the future as God sees it, he who reigns, removes evil, rebuilds and purifies.
As with the lampstand, it is God who supplies the oil: the work is accomplished by his Spirit, not by might.
Your mountain is big, but it is small before God. Do not measure his work with human eyes.
In small beginnings, God is at work. Your part is to be faithful in small steps.

Personal application

What project or struggle seems so tiny or ineffective to you today that you have stopped looking ahead?
In what God has entrusted to you, are you carrying everything by your own effort, or are you counting on the power of his Spirit?
What is the "great mountain" in front of you, and what would it look like to say to it, with Zechariah 4:7, "Who are you?"
Among the eight visions of Zechariah 1 to 8, which one gives you the most strength this week?
What small step, set aside out of discouragement or fear, can you take up again now?

Verses cited

Frequently asked questions

Why does God give Zechariah eight visions?

The people already knew they had to rebuild the temple. But facing the ruins and sixteen years of stopped work, they became discouraged. According to the preacher, what was missing was not the goal, but God's strength each day to move toward it.

What does "not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit" mean?

In Zechariah 4:6, God tells Zerubbabel, who leads a small group without strength, that the work will be accomplished by his Spirit. In the vision of the lampstand, it is God himself who supplies the oil that keeps the flame burning. The preacher invites us to move from "what I can do by my own effort" to "what can be done by the power of God."

What does "the day of small beginnings" mean in Zechariah 4:10?

It refers to the period when the rebuilding had just resumed and nothing was visible yet. The preacher stresses that small does not mean God is not at work: the great God works in small beginnings, and that allows us to stay faithful in small things.