The Lampstand

The understanding, knowledge, and wisdom of the Church are not to come from the natural "light" of the world but from the revelation and manifestation of the Holy Spirit of God. This is true during the "night" of the Church Age. During future ages the light will come from the Presence of God in Christ in the saints. It will be "that which is perfect."

11.
What "brings us into the Holy Place of the Tabernacle"?

Being born again of the Spirit of God.

12.
What must always be preeminent when a person approaches the Kingdom of God?

The death and resurrection of Christ.

13.
What is the responsibility of the Holy Spirit?

Creating and perfecting the Church, and presenting the Church to the Lord Jesus Christ as His Bride.

14.
What term did the Lord use when referring to the Holy Spirit?

"Another Comforter."

15.
What is one of the first works that the Holy Spirit performs in the Church of Christ?

Assigning, directing, and empowering gifts and ministries.

16.
What is the second work?

Forming Christ in the saints.

17.
Who is the "law of the Spirit of Life"?

The Holy Spirit.

18.
What does the "law of the Spirit of Life" enable us to do?

To put to death the deeds of our flesh.

19.
Why has each member of the Body of Christ been given a gift of the Spirit?

So he or she may do the work of the Spirit in building the Body of Christ, the Body of the Anointed One.

20.
What must the Church of Christ do in the present hour?

Give back to the Holy Spirit the responsibility that is His—that of perfecting and empowering the testimony of Christ in the earth.

21.
What is a principal concern of the Holy Spirit?

The holiness of the members of the Body of Christ.

22.
What is the significance of the fact that the Lampstand was solid gold, having no wood in it?

The testimony of Christ is Divine in Substance.

23.
What does wood typify in the Scriptures?

Human wisdom and energy.

24.
What do the wicks of the Lampstand typify?

People—the channels through which the oil of the Holy Spirit flows.

25.
Who bears witness of Christ?

The Holy Spirit in us.

26. Read Acts 1:8.

27.
What does the "Lampstand" ("Pentecostal") experience signify?

A midpoint experience, a turning point in our redemption.

28.
How may each aspect of our salvation be considered?

As a level on an ascending spiral.

29.
How is the Christian to live, twenty-four hours of each day?

In obedience to the Spirit of God.

30.
If an individual desires to press forward to the fullness of his inheritance in the Lord, what must he or she be prepared to be?

Fully obedient to God.

31
. What does the Spirit of God testify to our spirit?

There is a land of promise where the spiritual grapes are ripe and abundant.

32.
What is the problem involved in pressing forward and possessing our land of promise?

It is inhabited already, and with fierce warriors.

33.
What is true of the way of God?

It is supernatural.

34.
What will follow as a result of our strict obedience to the Father?

Service to mankind.

35.
What is the best way to serve and bless mankind?

To seek God with the whole heart as did Abraham.

36.
What Man was the most effective servant of mankind?

Christ.

37.
What do we leave behind when we "enter the Holy Place"?

The daylight (direction by the human mind) is left outside.

38.
What else do we leave with the world?

The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.

39.
What are the four Gospel accounts, with respect to the Lampstand?

Pictures of the Lampstand in action.

40.
What were the three ornaments of the Lampstand and of its six side-branches?

The "bowls," the "knops" and the "flowers."

41.
Of what is the cup a symbol?

Suffering and death.

42.
What did the knops resemble?

An apple, pomegranate, or bulb.

43.
What does the knop, or fruit, represent?

Divine Life, Christ—that which yields food to the hungry and seed to the sower.

44.
What does the flower represent?

Beauty, the beauty of the image of Christ, the beauty of holiness to the Lord.

45.
Of what does the Christian life consist?

A pouring out, fruit, and beauty.

46.
To what furnishing of the Tabernacle is the cup related?

The Altar of Incense.

47.
To what furnishing is the fruit related?

The Table of Showbread.

48.
To what furnishing is the flower related?

The Lampstand itself.

49. Read Luke 22:42.

50.
From what does Divine fruit always proceed?

Death.

51. Read John 12:24.

52.
What is the first death the saint dies?

Death to the world.

53.
What is the second death the saint dies?

Death to sin.

54.
What is the third death the saint dies?

Death to self.

55.
When the world, sin, and self are poured out of the cup of the Christian, what does God pour back in return?

Christ.

56.
What is not possible apart from the three deaths?

The forming of Christ in the personality of the believer.

57.
What is the end result of the three deaths?

The Christian comes into the image of Christ; he receives the fullness of fruitfulness and dominion promised to mankind; and he becomes a blessing to the nations of the earth, in that he is able to bring the glorious liberty of the children of God to all who will believe.

58.
What do we receive through means of the first death?

Forgiveness of sins.

59.
What do we receive through means of the second death?

Freedom from sinful practices.

60.
What do we receive through means of the third death?

The fullness of fruitfulness and dominion.

61
. What is our first death?

Complete separation from the world.

62.
What legal freedom do we possess as a consequence of our first death?

The Law of Moses no longer has dominion over us.

63.
What additional legal freedom do we now possess?

We are free from all guilt—absolutely without condemnation.

64.
How is our first death accomplished?

The first death is accomplished by our association with Christ on the cross of Calvary.

65.
How is our second death accomplished?

By our cooperation with the Holy Spirit as He brings to us the wisdom and strength necessary for total victory over the sins we keep on practicing.

66.
Is our second death accomplished instantly?

No.

67.
What should we do when the Holy Spirit makes us aware of a sin we are practicing?

We are to confess the sinful practice, receive the cleansing of the atoning blood of Christ. Then, by the Spirit of God, we are to resist such sin in the future.

68
. Can we maintain our joy, peace, and poise while the Holy Spirit is dealing with the sins of our behavior?

Yes. As much as possible we are to maintain our joy, peace, and poise while the Spirit is dealing with the sins of our flesh.

69.
What does Christ always destroy?

The works of the devil.

70.
What does the third death accomplish in us?

The third death brings us to the place where the purposes of God can be established in the heavens and on the earth.

71. Read Romans 7:20.

72.
With what is the question of the "I" concerned?

Stern obedience to the Father.

73.
What was God's purpose in bringing Abraham, Job, and Joseph into such difficulties?

To test their obedience.

74.
What must be poured out in total consecration?

The self of the believer.

75
. What must always be held before God as an offering?

Our "Isaac"—that which God Himself has given to us.

76.
How is our third death accomplished?

By self-denial, as we become willing to make Christ the absolute Lord of our life.

77.
Should we allow Christ to make "unreasonable" demands on our life?

Yes. To present our body a living sacrifice is actually a "reasonable" service of worship (Romans 12:1,2).

78.
Is it possible to be one of Christ's victorious saints and at the same time hold back some part of our life from the death that God requires?

No.

79.
Is God impressed with our twentieth-century notions of whether He is treating us fairly?

Derisive laughter from Heaven (Psalms 2:4).

80.
What must every saint do and keep on doing?

He must deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Christ wherever and whenever He may lead.

81.
Are we to perform unpleasant tasks without complaining against people or against God?

Yes.

82
. Could it happen that we would be called on to suffer the loss of all things?

Yes.

83.
Does the Gospel of the Kingdom always appear to be "good news"?

No.

84.
Who presents our human body a living sacrifice?

We do.

85.
What happens to God's will and our will?

The will of God is ground into our will, just as the holy incense of the Tabernacle was compounded, until the two wills are indistinguishable.

86.
What takes place when God "smells" that perfume?

He is blessed.

87.
What happens to us when the Lord receives our offering?

God's love and blessing pour forth from the throne, and the result is the fullness of fruitfulness, of dominion, and of every other blessing.

88.
What must take place before Christ can be created in us and in those around us?

We must be willing to lay down our life before the Lord.

89.
What does the fruit signify?

Christ, who is the Fruit of God.

90.
What does the Divine Seed bring forth?

The image and likeness of God.

91.
What takes place as we are willing to "abide in the Vine"?

The Divine Fruit—Christ—is formed in us.

92.
What produces righteous behavior in us?

As Christ is created in us, righteous behavior begins to follow.

93.
What takes place when Christ is dwelling in us?

Other people experience a transformation. Christ is formed in them. They are healed and released.

94.
Is it the will of God that each Christian bear much fruit?

Yes.

95. Read Isaiah 27:6.

96.
How can it be that the Seed, Christ, is both singular in number and plural in number?

Christ is the only fruit that is acceptable to God, and God has determined that Christ shall be multiplied in and through the members of the Body of Christ.
This is an important understanding. God is not interested primarily in creating righteous people. God is desirous of multiplying His firstborn Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. For us to be like Christ apart from being in Christ, of Christ, a part of Christ, results in the False Prophet (Revelation 13:11).
We are being created in the image of Christ for the Father's purposes and for the Son's purposes. Our interests and purposes are secondary in importance, and sometimes evil. The purposes of the Father and of the Son can be fulfilled only by the increase of Christ; never by the increase of religious people.
The Seed always is singular because the Seed is Christ and only Christ. The Seed is plural in the sense that Christ is multiplied in the saints. The Christian Church is the fullness of Him who fills all in all—Christ.

97.
What is the purpose of the grace that comes to us?

To bring forth the righteous Seed.

98. Read Isaiah 61:11.<br?>

99.
Why do some devout saints bring forth fruit very slowly?

God has in mind to bring forth in them fruit of special quality and quantity.

100.
What was produced when Abraham and Sarah attempted to bring forth fruit by their own ingenuity?

An abundance of confusion and conflict—a "wild man."

101.
What is produced when we attempt to bring forth fruit by our own ingenuity?

An abundance of confusion and conflict—a "wild man."

102
. To what extent has God fulfilled His promise to Abraham and Sarah?

The gift of God has far exceeded in glory and abundance anything Abraham and Sarah possibly could have imagined.

103.
What sometimes happens to saints who are waiting on the Lord?

They are cut off from every opportunity for fruit-bearing.
104. Read Isaiah 54:1,11.
Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the Lord. O thou afflicted, tossed with tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires (Isaiah 54:1,11).

105.
Why is the new Jerusalem associated with barrenness, in the fifty-fourth chapter of Isaiah?

Because God's most glorious and eternal works are brought forth when every ability and opportunity has been reduced to ashes.

106.
What does God look for in the believer?

Perfect faithfulness and obedience.

107
. Who has been charged with the perfecting of the beauty of the Bride of the Lamb?

The Holy Spirit.

108.
What does the Spirit give to the believers, in order to perfect the Bride of the Lamb?

The gifts of anointing.

109.
What is the beauty of the Bride of the Lamb?

The beauty of Christ Himself.

111. Read Song of Solomon 5:10; 2:2; 4:7,9.

112.Read Psalms 45:11.

113.
What is being created in the Bride of the Lamb?

The image of Christ Himself—His Divine attributes: His holiness, His strength, His majesty, His compassion, His faithfulness.

114.
What must Christ never become to us?

A means to an end.

115.
What is the sole interest of the Bride?

Christ Himself.

116.
What proceeds from the union of Christ and the saint?

The Divine Fruit—children in the image of Christ who will fill the universe with the Glory of God.