The Golden Lampstand: The Light of the Holy Spirit

And thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold: of beaten work shall the candlestick be made: his shaft, and his branches, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, shall be of the same. And six branches shall come out of the sides of it; three branches of the candlestick out of the one side, and three branches of the candlestick out of the other side: (Exodus 25:31,32)

Their knops and their branches shall be of the same: all it shall be one beaten work of pure gold. (Exodus 25:36)

When the priest entered the door of the Tabernacle, the Table of Showbread was on the north (right). The Lampstand was on the south (left), and the Altar of Incense was straight ahead before the veil, in line with the Ark of the Covenant but in the Holy Place.

The Lampstand consisted of a high central shaft and six side-branches standing on a base. On top of each of the seven branches was a lamp containing pure beaten olive oil and a wick.

There were tongs and censers accompanying the Lampstand that were used for the daily servicing of the lamps, and also pitchers for holding and pouring the olive oil. The Lampstand was lighted in the evening and burned through the night.

And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying, Command the children of Israel, that they bring unto thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamps to burn continually. Without the vail of the testimony, in the tabernacle of the congregation, shall Aaron order it from the evening unto the morning before the LORD continually: it shall be a statute for ever in your generations. He shall order the lamps upon the pure candlestick before the LORD continually. (Leviticus 24:1-4)

Just as the Altar of Burnt Offering dominated the Courtyard of the Tabernacle, so the Lampstand dominated the Holy Place. The covering Cherubim of Glory and He who dwelled between their wings dominated the Most Holy Place.

The Courtyard represents the nations of the saved.

The Holy Place represents the Church, the Body of Christ, the new Jerusalem.

The Most Holy Place portrays the throne and Person of God.

The Lampstand dominated the Holy Place just as the Holy Spirit dominates the Body of Christ. The Holy Spirit is the christing, the anointing. The Body of Christ is the fullness of the Anointed Deliverer. Christ, Head and Body, is He who is to come and set up the Kingdom of God on the earth.

One of the greatest needs of the hour in which we live is that the Holy Spirit receive His proper role in the Church. We Christians must become much more aware of the mind of the Spirit in matters pertaining to the Church and to our personal discipleship.

The Holy Spirit has been charged, as was Eliezer of Damascus, the servant of Abraham, with presenting to the Son of the Father a suitable bride. Therefore all matters of the Church of Christ are under the supervision, authority, and control of the Holy Spirit.

The Spirit of God assigns all ministries and gifts and directs their use. He is the Spirit of truth and gives all understanding of the Word of God. He is the Counselor, Comforter, and Guide of the Church of Christ, Sanctification is the work of the Spirit of God as He applies the grace that is in Christ to the task of creating a suitable wife for the Lamb of God.

Without the flame of the seven lamps the Holy Place would have been dark by night. The Holy Place was enclosed by two hangings on the east and west ends, and upright boards on the north and south sides. There were three layers of material covering over the linen ceiling. None of the three holy furnishings could have been seen at night if there were no light from the seven lamps of the golden Lampstand.

By means of the light from the seven lamps, the Table of Showbread, the Altar of Incense, and the central shaft of the Lampstand itself were revealed. So it is that the Holy Spirit is the One who reveals all the graces of the ascended Christ that operate in the building of the believers during the present "night." The Holy Spirit provides the wisdom and power for the verbal statements and works of power of the Body of Christ, the Servant of the Lord.

When the holy anointing oil, the Holy Spirit, is absent from a congregation, the congregation's light—its testimony—is extinguished (Revelation 2:5). When the anointing is absent from an individual, that person's light is extinguished (Matthew 25:3). There is no Christian testimony apart from the Presence of the Holy Spirit (Romans 8:9).

There were only two furnishings of the Tabernacle that were constructed from pure gold: the Lid of Reconciliation (Mercy Seat) and the Lampstand. There is a relationship between these two. They both portray God and the fullness and Presence of God.

The Laver, which stood out in the Courtyard, was solid bronze.

Each of the other four furnishings contained wood, one being overlaid with bronze and the remaining three with gold.

Gold symbolizes Divine Presence and Nature. Bronze portrays Divine judgment, the separating of the clean from the unclean by fire. The Lid of Reconciliation was solid gold, revealing the Glory of the Presence of God Almighty. There was no wood (humanity) in the Lid of Reconciliation.

The Lampstand was solid gold. The Lampstand represents Christ—Head and Body. The oil in the lamps typifies the Holy Spirit who dwells eternally within, upon, and with Christ.

There is to be nothing of flesh when the Body of Christ bears witness of God.

If the Lampstand were made of wood covered with gold, we could state that to people was given the responsibility of carrying on the work of the Church of Christ, and that the Holy Spirit's task was to bless and help with the endeavor.

Because the Lampstand was solid gold we understand that the building and operating of the Church of Christ is the work of the Holy Spirit alone; and that we humans, as far as the testimony of God is concerned, primarily are points of origin for the ministry of the Holy Spirit. We are as wells from whose depths are to flow the waters of eternal life.

The Lord adds to the Church daily such as should be saved. The construction and working of the Church of Christ are of God. How much of the Christian work being performed today is of the Holy Spirit and how much is of human wisdom and energy?

The solid bronze (no wood) construction of the Laver represents the judging power of the Word of God that cleanses the believer. The judgment of the sins of the believer and of the world proceeds from the standards of God Himself. Fleshly decisions do not enter the distinction between good and evil, between righteousness and unrighteousness, between holiness and unholiness, between cleanness and uncleanness. Every such decision comes from Christ alone. He has been assigned the work of judgment by the Father.

No human wisdom or activity is to be applied when distinguishing between what is sin and what is righteous and acceptable to the Lord. Judgment proceeds from God and is expressed through the Lord Jesus Christ. The Church is required to perform Christ's will without any "creative" modifications. The elders of the churches can make practical decisions concerning marriage and other aspects of human life only as they are living in the Spirit and hearing from God.

Both the Lampstand and the Lid of Atonement (Mercy Seat) were beaten into shape from pure gold. They were not cast in a mold, a much simpler and quicker process, but were beaten from a mass of gold in a skillful manner, a task requiring truly extraordinary (perhaps supernatural) ability.

Hammering out the Lampstand and its implements, and the Lid of Atonement, from masses of gold required gifted, exacting effort. The Spirit of God worked through Bezaleel and Aholiab. Without the guidance of the Spirit no human being would have been able—or would yet be able—to hammer out the Lampstand, according to its specifications, from a mass of gold.

In the case of the Christian believer, God refines the Divine gold (the part of God Himself that is in the disciple, particularly Divinely imparted faith) by fiery trials. God shapes the vessel by the blows of hammers that He sends.

The Divine goldsmith hammers, hammers, hammers all day long. We come to the place where we begin to feel that we can't bear it anymore. Yet the hammering goes on, and on, and on, until we are quite willing, as Paul exclaimed, to depart and be with the Lord. Each day the process begins anew.

It isn't enough that we have the Divine Substance of Christ in us. The Divine Nature, the gold from Heaven, must be beaten into shape. It cannot be cast into shape by one dramatic move, such as a sudden work of instantaneous sanctification or by a "rapture" or by dying and going to Heaven.

Beating us into the shape God desires goes on throughout our pilgrimage on the earth. Day by day, day by day, moment by moment, the hammering continues. Will He never be satisfied with us?

Yet we must keep in mind that God is creating us for His eternal service. Therefore, we are to bear up patiently under the painstaking work of the Master Craftsman. God is creating the testimony, the light of the world, the Body of the Anointed Deliverer. It is to be refined gold beaten into shape. There can be nothing of the old nature in it. No human wisdom, energy, or motive can be included in the ministry of Christ.

There were three ornamental figures fashioned in the central shaft and in each of the six side-branches of the Lampstand. The three figures were the cup (fashioned according to the shape of the calyx of a flower), the fruit (knop; knob; bulb; apple; pomegranate), and the flower.

The cup is symbolic of the Christian discipleship poured out unto the Lord, yielding the sweet incense of consecration to the point of death.

The fruit speaks of the Life of Christ that is formed in us and then reproduced in others.

The flower portrays the beauty of the mature, chaste Christian personality—the image of Christ.

The cup is listed first because there can be no fruit until first there has been a pouring out of someone's life. Fruitfulness proceeds from the life poured out to death. "Let this cup pass from me," Jesus cried in Gethsemane.

The fruit is Christ formed in the believer. The fruit contains in itself the incorruptible Nature, and also the Divine Seed that is able to reproduce the image of Christ in whoever will receive it.

The Bride of Christ is the "lily of the valley," the "rose of Sharon." The Bride is beautiful to Christ, as the Song of Solomon informs us, having been made so by the ministry of the Holy Spirit. Here is the "flower" of the Lampstand ornamentation.

Christ asks for a pouring out in consecration—consecration unto death—of our personality. This is the meaning of the cup in the ornamentation of the golden Lampstand.

It is significant that in each of the six side-branches there were three cups, one fruit, and one flower. The three cups are three deaths (in accordance with the subject of our book). From the third death comes the fullness of fruitfulness and the fullness of the beauty of holiness.

In the central shaft there were four cups, seven fruits, and four flowers. Four is the number of the Holy Spirit, and seven is the number of the fullness of redemption. The fruit of Christ is perfect, giving rise to the fullness of His image in the heavens and on the earth.

The four cups and four flowers reveal to us that Christ was "offered through the eternal Spirit" and was raised again by the "Spirit of holiness." The resulting fruit is perfect and "fills all in all."

The central shaft was the Lampstand proper, being thicker, taller, and containing more ornamentation than the side-branches. The central shaft represents Him who is anointed with oil above His fellows. The six side- branches of the Lampstand symbolize the members of the Body of Christ.

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