“What are these two olive branches …?” (Zech. 4:12, NKJV)
In the previous teaching we covered the twentieth characteristic of the corporate spirit or mantle of Zerubbabel, and in this teaching we discuss the twenty-first characteristic. It is found in the following two pericopes:
- “Now the angel who talked with me came back and wakened me, as a man who is wakened out of his sleep. And he said to me, ‘What do you see?’ So I said, ‘I am looking, and there is a lampstand of solid gold with a bowl on top of it, and on the stand seven lamps with seven pipes to the seven lamps. Two olive trees are by it, one at the right of the bowl and the other at its left.’So I answered and spoke to the angel who talked with me, saying, ‘What are these, my lord?’ Then the angel who talked with me answered and said to me, ‘Do you not know what these are? And I said, ‘No, my lord.’” (Zech. 4:1-5).
- “Then I answered and said to him, ‘What are these two olive trees—at the right of the lampstand and at its left?’ And I further answered and said to him, ‘What are these two olive branches that drip into the receptacles of the two gold pipes from which the golden oil drains?’Then he answered me and said, ‘Do you not know what these are?’ And I said, ‘No, my lord.’ So he said, ‘These are the two anointed ones, who stand beside the Lord of the whole earth.’” (Zech. 4:11-14).
This clearly symbolic link to the two anointed witnesses, presumably Joshua and Zerubbabel, gain greater importance when we reach chapter 11 of the book Revelation. Here the two witnesses again pop up in a very prominent role. We do alas have to present a large part of the chapter to understand the context:
- “Then I was given a reed like a measuring rod. And the angel stood, saying, ‘Rise and measure the temple of God, the altar, and those who worship there. But leave out the court which is outside the temple, and do not measure it, for it has been given to the Gentiles. And they will tread the holy city underfoot for forty-two months. And I will give power to my two witnesses, and they will prophesy one thousand two hundred and sixty days, clothed in sackcloth.’ These are the two olive trees and the two lampstands standing before the God of the earth.And if anyone wants to harm them, fire proceeds from their mouth and devours their enemies. And if anyone wants to harm them, he must be killed in this manner. These have power to shut heaven, so that no rain falls in the days of their prophecy; and they have power over waters to turn them to blood, and to strike the earth with all plagues, as often as they desire. When they finish their testimony, the beast that ascends out of the bottomless pit will make war against them, overcome them, and kill them. And their dead bodies will lie in the street of the great city which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified. Then those from the peoples, tribes, tongues, and nations will see their dead bodies three-and-a-half days, and not allow their dead bodies to be put into graves. And those who dwell on the earth will rejoice over them, make merry, and send gifts to one another, because these two prophets tormented those who dwell on the earth. Now after the three-and-a-half days the breath of life from God entered them, and they stood on their feet, and great fear fell on those who saw them. And they heard a loud voice from heaven saying to them, ‘Come up here.’ And they ascended to heaven in a cloud, and their enemies saw them. In the same hour there was a great earthquake, and a tenth of the city fell. In the earthquake seven thousand people were killed, and the rest were afraid and gave glory to the God of heaven. The second woe is past. Behold, the third woe is coming quickly. Then the seventh angel sounded: And there were loud voices in heaven, saying, ‘The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ, and He shall reign forever and ever!’”
To understand the pieces of Scripture from Zechariah we need to start elsewhere, as the equally apocalyptic use of the same figures in the text of Revelation brings an interesting relief if we first look at the latter.
Remember – it is impossible to interpret the book of Revelation in literal terms. A key to the book lies in the word signified in Rev. 1:1, which means “something by which another thing is represented”. The book is thus filled with symbolic and figural language, which renders the rejection thereof a completely inconsequential (dogmatic) reading of imaginary, preconceived events – a symbol is, after all, never reality! People who are guilty of this faulty approach often predict the second coming based on the book of Revelation, alas without any success.
Based on Tom Gouws’s series of teachings on the book of Revelation we here draw from the Personal-typological exegetic approach. This approach considers Revelation as a book about the revelation of the Bride’s personal calling and the personal unfolding thereof. Revelation presents every believer with the keys of the unfolding of YOUR calling WITHIN yourself, as the Phillips-translation of 1 John 3:2 beautifully suggests: “We don’t know what we shall become in the future. We only know that, if reality were to break through, we should reflect His likeness, for we should see Him as He really is!” The symbolic offer of the book thus presents to each believer a personal typology that needs to be interpreted as heuristic guidance for the fulfilment of a calling. [The heuristic process is the art of, through logical argumentation, reaching the point of discovering truth.] The book of Revelation is thus not a revelation about the frightening things that will happen in the future – no, it is a revelation of who Jesus Christ is WITHIN us (Col. 1:27). In the process many things will manifest that are anti-christ, and this needs to be dealt with. Christ is hidden by our carnal mind, therefore it needs to be unveiled. The book of Revelation is a progressive unfolding of the life, victory and triumph of Christ in His Bride and in His creation!
When we then start with a broad overview of Rev. 11, it is important to note that the chapter is introduced by an assignment from God regarding measuring the temples. The New Testament reality is that “the Most High does not dwell in temples made with hand” (Acts 7:48).
When we thus read, anywhere in the new covenant, of a temple or tabernacle, we know that with “the true tabernacle which the Lord erected, and not man” (Heb. 8:2), the following is meant: “Do you not know that you are the temple of God and that the Spirit of God dwells in you?” (1 Cor. 3:16).
The temple that is thus measured in this case is firstly the individual believer and secondly the corporate Body of Christ (John 2:21; Eph. 2:19-22; Heb. 3:6; 1 Pet. 2:5). This temple is not on earth, but according to Rev. 11:19, it is “in heaven,” in other words, in the spiritual realm.
The angel who guards John, who needs to measure the temple, is none other than “the Messenger of the covenant, in whom you delight,” who “will suddenly come to His temple,” “the Lord, whom you seek” (Mal. 3:1)! According to the root language an angel is a messenger, and he is always linked to a new revelatory message. The rod with which is measured is also spiritual in nature, and to determine “the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ” (Eph. 4:13). We thus need to “comprehend with all the saints what is the width and length and depth and height” (Eph. 3:18). The only measure is the complete Christ – there is no other measure!
Obviously it is a very important requisite that the same measure with which you measure is the same one with which you’ll be measured (Luke 6:38). The assignment given to John in the opening sentence of the pericope, “Arise …” was pointed out in the teaching of Day 1277-1278, a call to the individual to arise within their calling or purpose. We are also called to arise from the death of a carnal attitude and mindset (Rom. 8:6). We are called to a new reality, and through the reed of His rule (Matt. 27:29), which later grows, in Revelation, to a golden reed, an indication of the fulness of the revelation of who Jesus the Christ is (Rev. 21:15).
What would this fulness be, in symbolic language? In 2 Kings 6:2 we read of the physical measurements of the temple of Solomon: “Now the house which King Solomon built for the Lord, its length was sixty cubits, its width twenty, and its height thirty cubits.” The sum of this physical construction is 36 000 cubits. It is absolutely amazing to realise that the Hebrew gematria of the word tabernacle or tent () is 36. Multiplied by 1000, which symbolically means: to the thousandth generation, that is to say, eternally (Ps. 105:8). It is the same gematria as the phrase “This is my beloved” (Song of Songs 5:16), multiplied by 1000, that is to say, my beloved is eternal!
Let us look at the detail of this building in symbolic terms:
- The length of the temple was 60 cubits. Six is the number of man, and ten is the number of testing. Thus 60 means the man who has been tested (James 1:12).
- The breadth of the temple is 20 cubits. The number 20 in the Bible often is concerned with the fact there is counting happening (and thus measuring, too) – see for instance Ex. 30:14.
- The height of the temple is 30 cubits. The number 30 symbolically points to the beginning of ministry in the Bible (Num. 4:23; 1 Chr. 23:3) – drawn together in three important figures: Joseph (Gen. 41:46), David (2 Sam. 5:4), and then of course Jesus (Luke 3:23).
Calculated together this symbolic mathematic calculations would thus say the following about this Godly construction: God’s tested man nominated for ministry! With the following task, beautifully mapped out by Eph. 4:12: “for the equipping of the saints for the work of ministry, for the edifying of the body of Christ”.
A different view of 36 000 could also be: 3 is, amongst others, the number of Godly revelation; 6 is the number of man; and then the three zeros that point to thousands, which denotes fullness. Added together it means: the Godly revelation to and of man around his fulness! We have the hope that David noted in Ps. 138:8 (ASV: “Jehovah will perfect that which concerneth me …”)
In conclusion – in Rev. 11:3 & 4 the two witnesses are presented to us, specifically as “the two olive trees” and “the two lampstands standing before the God of the earth”. What would this then mean to us, in symbolic terms? Clearly this twomanship is important for God’s all-encompassing agenda that is presented in verse 15, as follows: “The kingdoms of this world have become the kingdoms of our Lord and of His Christ.” How this links to the corporate spirit or mantle of Zerubbabel will become more clear in the next teaching.
- Selah: Try to explain the symbols found in the first section of Rev. 11 to someone.
- Read: 1-10.
- Memorise: 4:14 – “Born for a time such as this.”
