Part 2 – Our Journey From Calvary To The Upper Room | Sunday Service | June 07, 2020

Good morning Church! We are glad to be back and to be connected with you online. Today we will be continuing with our series, “Our journey from Calvary to the Upper Room to the Ends of the Earth.“

I, John, your brother and partner in the tribulation and the kingdom and the patient endurance that are in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos on account of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a loud voice like a trumpet saying, “Write what you see in a book and send it to the seven churches, to Ephesus and to Smyrna and to Pergamum and to Thyatira and to Sardis and to Philadelphia and to Laodicea.”  Then I turned to see the voice that was speaking to me, and on turning I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed with a long robe and with a golden sash around his chest. The hairs of his head were white, like white wool, like snow. His eyes were like a flame of fire,

As for the mystery of the seven stars that you saw in my right hand, and the seven golden lampstands, the seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

We need to understand while we study from the book of Revelation, there are lots of symbolisms. What exactly are the symbols? Verse 20 sums it all.

The golden lampstand is very important.

A lampstand itslef an object which gives light however of there is no lamp in the lampstand, it wont give light. Churches are just lamps and we are to hold the light.

And the angel who talked with me came again and woke me, like a man who is awakened out of his sleep. And he said to me, “What do you see?” I said, “I see, and behold, a lampstand all of gold, with a bowl on the top of it, and seven lamps on it, with seven lips on each of the lamps that are on the top of it. And there are two olive trees by it, one on the right of the bowl and the other on its left.” And I said to the angel who talked with me, “What are these, my Lord?” Then the angel who talked with me answered and said to me, “Do you not know what these are?” I said, “No, my Lord.” Then he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.

Who are you, O great mountain? Before Zerubbabel you shall become a plain. And he shall bring forward the top stone amid shouts of ‘Grace, grace to it!'”

The prophet’s spirit was willing to attend, but the flesh was weak. We should beg of God that, whenever he speaks to us, he would awaken us, and we should then stir up ourselves. The church is a golden candlestick, or lamp-bearer, set up for enlightening this dark world, and holding forth the light of Divine revelation. Two olive trees were seen, one on each side the candlestick, from which oil flowed into the bowl without ceasing. God brings to pass his gracious purposes concerning his church, without any art or labour of man; sometimes he makes use of his instruments, yet he needs them not. This represented the abundance of Divine grace, for the enlightening and making holy the ministers and members of the church, and which cannot be procured or prevented by any human power. The vision assures us that the good work of building the temple, should be brought to a happy end. The difficulty is represented as a great mountain. But all difficulties shall vanish, and all the objections be got over. Faith will remove mountains, and make them plains. Christ is our Zerubbabel; mountains of difficulty were in the way of his undertaking, but nothing is too hard for him. What comes from the grace of God, may, in faith, be committed to the grace of God, for he will not forsake the work of his own hands.

In the book of Zechariah, there are eight visions, and the one we read is the fifth vision.

Then he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.

Without the Spirit of God, everything is very difficult. There are some similarities between these two lampstands and few differences.

1: The oil bowl was connectied to the lampstand.

2: It was a large bowl collecting all the oil and all connected pipes to seven lamps.

3: Two olive trees were constantly supplying oil.

In the Old Testament, it is talking about the people of Israel. However the lampstand is representing the people of God in the book of Revelation.

Jesus said, “You are the light of the world!” However be informed that without oil there is no light and there has to be a constant supply of oil.

Earlier, it was Jews, now it is all, the Gentiles and Jews. We are more blessed!

There were seven branches and each was burning, shining its light brightly. Paul says, “Each part of the body of Church is important”. Not one but all, that is our priority.

We thank God, there is always provision in Him. Whoever needs to be filled and overpoured with the Holy Spirit. Now that we are in the upper room, it isn’t enough, we now have to move to the ends of the earth.

Illustration: Locomotive makes noise and pulls the compartments. If fuel isnt there, it will whistle but wont do the task of much needed transportation. 

One of the clearest symbol in this scripture for Olive Oil is His Holy Spirit. Don’t take the scriptures lightly. We need to be the light in the darkness, not be a part of darkenss. Otherwise there are many dark things which can easily over power us.

King Solomon drafted forced labor out of all Israel, and the draft numbered 30,000 men. And he sent them to Lebanon, 10,000 a month in shifts. They would be a month in Lebanon and two months at home. Adoniram was in charge of the draft. Solomon also had 70,000 burden-bearers and 80,000 stonecutters in the hill country, besides Solomon’s 3,300 chief officers who were over the work, who had charge of the people who carried on the work. At the king’s command they quarried out great, costly stones in order to lay the foundation of the house with dressed stones. So Solomon’s builders and Hiram’s builders and the men of Gebal did the cutting and prepared the timber and the stone to build the house.

In Judah it was said, “The strength of those who bear the burdens is failing. There is too much rubble. By ourselves we will not be able to rebuild the wall.”

We have to succeed as a Church, but we cannot do it by our own will. How do we get the strength then? The answer is simple, only through the Holy Spirit. God wants to send the annointing to the Church, we need to pray fervently, which is a task that God has given us.

But Jesus looked at them and said, “With man this is impossible, but with God all things are possible.”

Then he said to me, “This is the word of the Lord to Zerubbabel: Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the Lord of hosts.

Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit,

A lampstand cannot do anything on its own, i.e. ‘The Church’. The power is in the oil, ‘The Holy Spirit.’

Zechariah chapter 4 takes us back to the temple court and the tabernacle. The lampstands were the only method of light, nothing else. The Bible says, oil is available for everybody, but for the one who asks for it.

I myself did not know him, but he who sent me to baptize with water said to me, ‘He on whom you see the Spirit descend and remain, this is he who baptizes with the Holy Spirit.’

Nevertheless, I tell you the truth: it is to your advantage that I go away, for if I do not go away, the Helper will not come to you. But if I go, I will send him to you.

And I will ask the Father, and he will give you another Helper, to be with you forever,  even the Spirit of truth, whom the world cannot receive, because it neither sees him nor knows him. You know him, for he dwells with you and will be in you.

God will grant us victory, but we need to have overflowing and over-pouring of oil in our lives. We are lampstands, but are we burning? Come before God and He will reveal Himself unto you. As you are all back at your home, think about your family as I am thinking about my family and my children, I want to see more and more anointhing on my family. Not just mine, but also the Church family. What can we do? The book of Revelation is talking about the things that are happening and the things that are to come.

Illustration: Imagine if we buy some home appliances and do not connect it to the source of electricity, what will happen? It wont work. Likewise, we need to be filled with the oil and keep burning and not just that, there has to bame a constant supply of oil to keep it burning. Our journey has come from Calvery to the upper room, but whats next? Ends of the earth!

Dear people of God, if Lampstand isn’t holding the light, He will remove it. We do not want that to happen, right? So let us all joint together and seek the oil in our lives to keep us burning. Let God annoint us all with His Holy Spirit.

We hope you are encouraged with today’s service. We look forward to see you again next Sunday. God bless!