THE SECOND COMING OF THE

HOLY GHOST – Part II

Astute Bible students will be aware of the Hebrew concept of midrash. That is that the prophecies and promises spoken and written by the prophets of old have more than one fulfilment. First, they are fulfilled in small measure in the time they were spoken by the Lord. Thus, in Zechariah 4:8-10 Zerubbabel is assured the Lord will empower him to complete the building of the second temple he was then engaged on, despite it being a day of “small things”.

The building was to be accomplished by the Spirit’s power, symbolised in verses 1-3 by an augmented Menorah (lampstand), now featuring an added bowl and pipes to each of seven lamps, along with two olive trees continually supplying the oil. In other words the power of the Spirit was to be greatly increased and enforced continually.

What’s more, these seven lamps were described as “the eyes of the Lord which run to and fro throughout the whole earth”, meaning that the power of the Spirit was not confined just to rebuilding the Jerusalem temple but would have worldwide impact both then and, of course,  much more so in the Day of Christ to come.

“Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit saith the Lord of Hosts” (Zechariah 4:6) is not limited to the Spirit’s intervention to subdue those obstructing reconstruction of Zerubbabel’s temple. It has a far wider and future global impact.

This is indicated in that the seven lamps are “the eyes of the Lord which run to and fro throughout the whole earth” (Zechariah 4:10) and in the angel’s declaration that the two olive trees (or branches) supplying oil to the bowl at the head of the lampstand are the “two anointed ones that stand by the Lord of the whole earth”.

The picture painted in the vision is that of a huge increase in the flow of oil through the lampstand, which is augmented by a bowl on top and pipes flowing oil to the seven lamps. Hitherto, in the lampstand (the Menorah) as commissioned by the Lord (Exodus 25:31-40) each lamp was a bowl that had to be replenished often. But in Zechariah’s vision there is a constant oil flow through the pipes, replenished in turn by the olive trees. An unlimited supply.

This speaks of the power and anointing of the Holy Spirit outpoured continually “without measure” as it will be in the pre-advent Day of Christ, called by Jesus “the world to come” (Matthew 12:32).

Just how powerful will that be? Well, Elisha received a double portion of the Spirit of Elijah and did more and greater miracles than his predecessor. Jesus in his earthly ministry performed miracles that have been unequalled since. Who since Him has raised the rotting dead, fed 5,000 from a boy’s lunch box or walked on the raging sea? Answer: Nobody. But then didn’t Jesus say:

He that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these          because I go to my Father?

Yes, He did. The question is when will this take place? I am convinced this will be when the Spirit’s power is fully released in Day of Christ when the Lord Jesus Christ brings his kingdom upon earth in the pre-millennial age to come.

Wonderful things will happen in this great day of blessing as the prophets foretold. Men will live as long as trees, there will be worldwide peace, the curse of death and sickness will be lifted, hearts will be turned back to God and the earth restored to its pre-Flood beauty. Just check out Isaiah, Hosea, the Psalms and see for yourself.  For example, in Isaiah 11:1-3 he prophet says the Spirit of the Lord shall rest upon the “root of Jesse” (i.e. Jesus) and…

…with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and He shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth and with the breath of his lips shall He slay the wicked.

Has that happened yet? No, just ask the poor and meek, if you doubt me. But very soon, in the now imminent Day of Christ, it will be executed by Christ speaking in the power of the Spirit

This will be the Spirit’s “second coming”. For the prophet Zechariah in his vision of the greatly empowered Menorah (or lampstand) was looking forward to the “end time” when Israel would be turned back to the Lord and his kingdom brought to earth in the power of His Spirit.

As to how much power the Holy Spirit will exert “in that day” (John 16:23), consider verses 7-11 in the same chapter:

…if I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will send Him to you. And when He is come He will reprove the world of sin, and of righteousness, and of judgement. Of sin, because they believe not on Me, of righteousness because I go to my Father, and ye see Me no more. Of judgement because the prince of this world is judged.

Let’s face it. None of the above mighty works by the Holy Spirit have happened yet. If the world has been reproved of sin, it must have happened while I was asleep for when I woke up today the world was still as wicked as it was the day before, if not more so.

As to righteousness in society where can it be found today? And true judgement in the biblical sense, which means putting things right, where is that seen in today’s war-torn, sin stricken, poverty-riddled, violent world. This present world we live in is blatantly evil. Galatians 1: 4 says so.

The word “reprove” in the above verse means to convict. But more, it also means to convince and in its original form meant to “reproof” that if, to produce proof of change for the better.

Has the world been convinced of sin, righteousness and judgement in the last nearly 2,000 years? The answer is a resounding no. But it will be by the Spirit in the age to come. The power of the Spirit’s work in this was foreshadowed in the story of the adulterous woman (John 8:1-11).

Note in verses 7-9 that Jesus told the woman’s accusers who wanted to execute her: “Let him that is without sin first cast a stone at her”:

And they which heard it, being convicted by their own conscience, went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last: and Jesus was left alone, and the woman standing in the midst.’

Unhappily, most modern versions leave the word “convicted” out of their translations but the KJV, the Literal Standard Version, Websters and the Majority Standard Bible retain it. One wonders if the translators of the NIV, NASB, ESV, etc, themselves have a problem with conviction. Else why should cast a stone at the majority text translation which definitely retains the word “convicted” (Greek: elencho)?

Note also that it is not the conviction of individuals as a prelude to their conversation that is in view in Zechariah’s vision of the pre-advent age to come but the conviction of the world. You see, Jesus is the “Saviour of the world” (John 4:42). As the Apostle John said: “And we have seen and do testify that the Father sent the Son to be the Saviour of the world”. Thankfully the Lord is still saving people, one person at a time. But it will be a whole different ball game to save the world as a whole.

You see, today we live in the time of God’s great grace, “the dispensation of the grace of God” (Ephesians 3:1-4) and He is allowing the nations to go their own way. Isaiah 26:10 states: “Let favour (grace) be shown to the wicked, yet will he not learn righteousness”. But verse 9 has better news: “…for when thy judgements are in the earth, the inhabitants of the world will learn righteousness”. And it is judgement with a capital J that the Spirit will enforce in the days of the kingdom of heaven on earth.

Now without doubt the greatest sin of all is to not believe in Jesus as Saviour and Lord (John 15:9). The world has persistently refused to do this from Jesus’ time until now. But that will change when the Spirit’s power is poured out “without measure” in this new age to come.

In fact people will be “compelled” by the Holy Spirit to believe and bow the knee to Jesus (Philippians 2:10-11). This enforced capitulation is prefigured in the kingdom parable Jesus told in Luke 14:23:

And the Lord said to the servant, Go out into the highways and the hedges, and compel them to come in, that my house may be full.

More evidence of the Spirit’s great power that will be exerted in the Day of Christ is found by noticing what happens when it is withdrawn. In 2 Thessalonians 7-8 explains:

For the mystery of iniquity doth already work: only He who now letteth (i.e. hinders and holds it back, indeed represses it) will let (hinder) until He is taken out of the way. And then that Wicked (one) shall be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the Spirit of his mouth and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming.

In the soon coming Day of Christ the Holy Spirit will be the enforcer, keeping a strict lid on evil, sin and the devil that hasn’t been seen in operation since Adam’s day. As the Spirit of the Lord He will execute judgement in the world, putting things right but also punishing and even destroying those who will not yield to Him. This so that all the blessings promised by the prophets of a renewed world in which righteousness will prevail will come because He as the Holy Spirit will ensure they do (Acts 3:21).

Yet towards the end of this blessed era, which will abolish sin evil and death to bring about peace, the benign but powerful work of the Holy Spirit will be withdrawn and rebellion will break out among some. His withdrawal is in line with God’s abiding principle of first blessing mankind then testing his creatures to see whether they will obey. In this case without the compulsion of the Spirit to do so.

Given that Zechariah’s Menorah vision was about building the second temple, some ask, will a physical temple be rebuilt in the Day of Christ, this eon of blessing that is next on God’s agenda for the world?

Answer: Yes, it will but, importantly, right now, the Lord is already building another temple, as Ephesians 2:18-22 confirms. You see it’s a principle of God that first there is the natural, then the spiritual. (1 Corinthians 15:46). In the current dispensation of the grace of God (Ephesians 3:1-4) God has suspended and postponed rebuilding of the physical Jerusalem temple but is right now growing “an holy temple in the Lord” (Eph. 2:21-23) for an habitation of God through the Spirit”.

It is my firm conviction that this spiritual temple, with the Lord as its “cornerstone”, now under construction, will be the seat of government in the age to come when He will be its “capstone”. Actually, in Zechariah’s time the temple was for a while the seat of government, there being no king at the time.

That it, the temple both spiritual and physical, will be so in Day of Christ when he rules from heaven (2 Timothy 4:1), is plainly forecast in Isaiah 2:2-3:

And it shall come to pass in the last days (that is the Day of Christ) that the mountain (i.e. government) of the Lord’s house (i.e. his temple) shall be established in the top of the mountains (that is over all the governments of the world) and shall be exalted above the hills (i.e. above any attempted form of ungodly human government); .and all nations shall flow unto it.

And many people shall say, Come and let us go up to the mountain of the Lord, to the house of the God of Jacob; and He will teach us of his ways, and we will walk in his paths ; for out of Zion shall go forth the law (i.e. government), and the word of the Lord from Jerusalem.

And He shall judge among the nations, and shall rebuke many people: and they shall beat their swords into ploughshares and their spears into pruning hook: nation shall not lift up sword again nation, neither shall they learn war any more.

O, what a promise of the wonderful world that is to come. The above scripture “Come and let us go unto the mountain of the Lord” was a highly popular song during the Charismatic Movement of the 1970s. Back then God’s promises about his imminent intervention to govern the world were empowered afresh by his Spirit and sung to beautiful melodies. My prayer is that even now the Spirit of the Lord would cause a fresh awakening of the truths of his soon coming kingdom to arise in the hearts of all those who seek Him.

John Dudley Aldworth

Email: john.aldworth@hotmail.com