BIBLE CONTRADICTIONS:
THE KEY TO THEIR UNDERSTANDING
CONT., page 3
Numerous theologians have offered perspectives concerning the uniqueness of the four gospels; most suggesting that they were addressed to different ethnic and religious groups. But none have ever recognized the most significant and most dynamic and revealing directives which these four individually unique and often contradicting accounts afford. Apart from understanding the true unique directive of each of the four gospels, one can never understand why the differences and the contradictions exist. This lack of understanding is one key reason why men up to now have failed to understand the meaning of these contradictions.
I use the word directive here, for we find that each gospel is directed to, or one could even say reveals, four specific and unique works of the Holy Spirit. In Zechariah 4 we find three of these specific and unique works. In Chapter four of Zechariah, they are specifically identified as:
May I suggest you stop and read in your Bible this short chapter in Zechariah. This entire picture seen by the prophet and commented on by an angel, was specifically identified by the angel as being that which is "Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit" (4:6). Is there any question that this work of Yahweh which is "Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit," is anything else than the church? It was to the church that Yahshua promised that the Father would send the Holy Spirit at His request (John 14:16-17). And it was this Helper that would accompany the church and never leave it. It was the church that did in fact receive the Holy Spirit on the day of Pentecost (Acts 2), an earnest from God (2 Corinthians 5:5), and with whom men have been filled. Clearly, without any question, it is the church, the work of the Holy Spirit, that Zechariah saw in this vision, and concerning which Zechariah received important commentary by the angel.
But, why is it that the church has never recognized this picture of itself? Because the church has not understood what the Holy Spirit is doing in the entirety of the church. For example, instead of recognizing the two olive trees on the right and the left of the lampstand as being unique parts of the Holy Spirit's work in the church, Christians leap to entirely different eras to identify these two as two Old Testament prophets. How could two Old Testament individuals appear in the church? They cannot, for they are not even a part of the church. There may be Old Testament figures that could equally picture these two olive trees (as in fact do Moses and Elijah), but they are only pictures of two separate and unique works of the Holy Spirit specifically, as we will confirm, at the beginning and at the end of the church period (with the seven-branched lampstand period occupying the center).
The uniqueness and separateness of each of these three parts of the church (or two parts, depending on how one defines them), as well as the unique related quality of the two olive trees, is evidenced through the second question raised by Zechariah during this revelatory occasion - "What are these two olive trees on the right of the lampstand and on the left?" Zechariah was in effect asking - "What are these two parts of the church?" To this question posed twice by the inquiring prophet, the angel answered - "These are the two sons of fresh oil (Lit. translation), who are standing by the Lord of the whole earth."
So one must now ask the question - In the church, what are the two distinct works of Yahweh revealed here in this vision that occupy both sides of the seven-branched lampstand period, and are specifically identified as the "two sons of fresh oil"?
Keep in mind that this entire vision revolves around one common and unifying point - this is the work of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is often characterized in the Scriptures as being oil. In this picture, not only do we see the oil that obviously resided in the lampstand and its bowl, providing the light for the lampstand, but we also see the source of the oil for the lampstand, and that is from the two olive trees on the right and the left.
So we see that the lampstand would have oil, being a work of the Holy Spirit, but the specific and unique characterization of the two olive trees gives them a very important place in the church, for these are "the two sons of fresh oil." Yes, the lampstand would have oil; but, these two olive tree sons would have the fresh oil! Who specifically are these two sons of fresh oil? They are the two works of the Holy Spirit in the church which are formed at its beginning and at its end (on the right and the left) by the "fresh oil" - those that receive the two fresh outpourings of the Holy Spirit. Specifically when is it that these two fresh outpourings occur? One outpouring has already occurred, and that was on the day of Pentecost and the days shortly thereafter, as recorded in the opening chapters of the book of Acts. Pentecost was the "fresh oil" that was poured out on the church at its very beginning, forming the first son of fresh oil. When will the second son of fresh oil be formed? The answer to this is revealed in the question - When will the second outpouring of the Holy Spirit occur? Let us look.
The Scriptures equally speak of two rains - the former rain and the latter rain (Joel 2:23, Jeremiah 5:24). These two rains reveal the two rains or outpourings of the Holy Spirit. The former rain took place at the beginning of the church during and immediately following Pentecost. And even as there is a second son of fresh oil, there is a second or latter rain. When will this latter rain occur? As revealed is Zechariah 4, it will be at the end of the church period - on the other side of the golden lampstand. The latter rain of the Holy Spirit will form the second son of fresh oil who receives the second and final great outpouring of the Holy Spirit on the church. When will this take place? For numerous reasons, I believe its time is upon us. There must be a latter rain that will form this second son of fresh oil just prior to the return of Yahshua. In fact, it will be this outpouring of the Holy Spirit that will prepare the way for Yahshua's return. The latter rain forming the last son of fresh oil provides the required Elijah that must prepare the way for the coming King. The latter son of fresh oil is the Elijah.
Now, we need to introduce another term that is equally used to identify these two sons of fresh oil. This term will be used in this writing instead of the longer descriptive term provided by the angel to Zechariah. Another word that describes the two trees is the Remnant. These two trees are in fact a remnant out of the church whole. Their remnant quality is that they are a small portion out of the whole. The church being the tithe of mankind, the Remnant is the fulfillment of the commanded tithe of the tithe (Numbers 18:26). Even as there exists a tithe out of mankind, of necessity, according to God's laws, there must be the tithe out of the tithe as well. The Remnant are unique in the church in that they are formed by these two specific outpourings of the Holy Spirit - one at the beginning of the church and one at its completion. They are a remnant, a tithe of the tithe, a very small part of the church whole, which is of course almost 2,000 years in duration. This larger and far vaster tithe portion between the former and latter rains, is of course the lampstand period of the church, or Christianity.
A highly unique work formed in a year and a half at the beginning of the church (from the day of Pentecost to the stoning of Stephen, his death marking a most dramatic and significant change in the church), and what will be another highly unique work formed at the completion of the church (for three and a half years), is truly a remnant out of the whole of nearly 2,000 years of the Holy Spirit's work. That which is needed now to complete this work is the second and final outpouring that forms the second son of fresh oil, or the last days or latter rain Remnant.
These two parts, the first or former rain Remnant and the last or latter rain Remnant, are united to form the Remnant whole. It is this Remnant that, as declared by the angel in Zechariah, will "stand by the Lord of the whole earth" - Zechariah 4:14. They will be gathered together as one in heaven, the Moses group who died before entering the promised land, and the Elijah group who enter alive, and there they will receive their incorruptible "born from above" bodies, preparing them to return with Yahshua to reign with Him in the Millennium - Revelation 20:4-6. They will "stand by the Lord of the whole earth." "The kingdom of the world" will have "become the kingdom of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He will reign forever and ever" (Revelation 11:15).
I hope you see this picture and its fulfillment in the church. The church whole is more than what people perceive it to be. Its complete three-part structure is given to us here in Zechariah 4, creating what is of necessity a two-part kingdom - Remnant and Christianity. And let us now add, it is this exact picture or pattern vividly seen here in Zechariah 4 that the gospels consistently reveal. And not only do they reveal and confirm what we have seen in Zechariah, but they greatly elaborate on these very truths. Let us now look at the four gospels in light of what we have just learned.
Continue to page 4 of The Key... for THE UNIQUE MESSAGES OF THE FOUR GOSPELS