THE LAMPSTAND

Jesus - The Light of the World

Exodus 25:31 (NASB) "Then you shall make a lampstand of pure gold. The lampstand and its base and its shaft are to be made of hammered work; its cups, its bulbs and its flowers shall be of one piece with it.

32 "And six branches shall go out from its sides; three branches of the lampstand from its one side, and three branches of the lampstand from its other side.

33 "Three cups shall be shaped like almond blossoms in the one branch, a bulb and a flower, and three cups shaped like almond blossoms in the other branch, a bulb and a flower-- so for six branches going out from the lampstand;

34 and in the lampstand four cups shaped like almond blossoms, its bulbs and its flowers.

35 "And a bulb shall be under the first pair of branches coming out of it, and a bulb under the second pair of branches coming out of it, and a bulb under the third pair of branches coming out of it, for the six branches coming out of the lampstand.

36 "Their bulbs and their branches shall be of one piece with it; all of it shall be one piece of hammered work of pure gold.

37 "Then you shall make its lamps seven in number; and they shall mount its lamps so as to shed light on the space in front of it.

38 "And its snuffers and their trays shall be of pure gold.

39 "It shall be made from a talent of pure gold, with all these utensils.

40 "And see that you make them after the pattern for them, which was shown to you on the mountain.

A talent (125 to 132 lb. depending on the conversion) of pure gold (worth about $750,000.00 @ $350.00/ounce) was used to make the golden Lampstand. It was located in the Holy Place in the Sanctuary. Go over the layout of the tabernacle.

It was placed across from the Table of Showbread on the south side.

The Golden Lampstand speaks of worship and Jesus supplying all of the power and light for fellowship with God. There are no candles mentioned in the worship of God in the Word of God. A candle burns by consuming itself. A lamp consumes oil which is supplied to it from time to time. This is a big difference, giving of one's self as opposed to the giving back of something supplied by another. The Lampstand is better than a candle stick.

The purposes of the Golden Lampstand were:

1. Shine before God.

2. Shine on the Table of Showbread so that man can see the bread that he needs.

3. Shine upon the Golden Altar. If the praises are not a result of illumination from God, they are not praises.

4. It shown upon itself

The Lampstand speaks of divine light (revelation knowledge) supplied by God Himself. It was made of one piece (unity) of pure beaten gold. Gold speaks of divinity. There is no humanity in the light of the Holy Spirit.

God is Light. He has no need of artificial or natural light. There are no windows in the tabernacle because the Living God reveals Himself-by Himself. Jesus is the revelation of God.

The only light in the Holy Place came from the Golden Lampstand. The outer court was lighted by natural light. This tells us that the beauties of Jesus can only be seen by light from God Himself through the Holy Spirit. From the outside, you saw an old tent covered with animal skins. We who have come by the Brazen Altar and the Laver can come into the Holy Place and see all of the beauties of Christ revealed to us.

The world sees no value in going to church.

1 Corinthians 2:14 (NASB) But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.

You can minister the gospel in natural light, but there will be no revelation of God.

Exodus 25:39 (NASB) "It shall be made from a talent of pure gold, with all these utensils.

40 "And see that you make them after the pattern for them, which was shown to you on the mountain.

No measurements are given. You cannot measure the light from God. Also no measurements were given for the Laver because there is no measure for the depths of the Word of the Living God.

Psalms 119:105 (NASB) Thy word is a lamp to my feet, And a light to my path.

Revelation 21:23 (NASB) And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine upon it, for the glory of God has illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb.

Jesus is the Light of the World.

John 8:12 (NASB) Again therefore Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life."

John 12:32 (NASB) "And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will draw all men to Myself."

33 But He was saying this to indicate the kind of death by which He was to die.

34 The multitude therefore answered Him, "We have heard out of the Law that the Christ is to remain forever; and how can You say, 'The Son of Man must be lifted up'? Who is this Son of Man?"

35 Jesus therefore said to them, "For a little while longer the light is among you. Walk while you have the light, that darkness may not overtake you; he who walks in the darkness does not know where he goes.

36 "While you have the light, believe in the light, in order that you may become sons of light." These things Jesus spoke, and He departed and hid Himself from them.

John 9:5 (NASB) "While I am in the world, I am the light of the world."

Jesus goes on to say that we are the Light of the World.

Matthew 5:14 (NASB) "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.

Matthew 5:16 (NASB) "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

1 Peter 2:9 (NASB) But you are A CHOSEN RACE, A royal PRIESTHOOD, A HOLY NATION, A PEOPLE FOR God's OWN POSSESSION, that you may proclaim the excellencies of Him who has called you out of darkness into His marvelous light;

2 Corinthians 4:6 (NASB) For God, who said, "Light shall shine out of darkness," is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

The Church, the Body of Christ is the Light of the World in His physical absence. The Church is all of God. Flesh has no place in it. The church is to manifest the character of the Father in a time-space world. We manifest the light of Jesus Christ in this world. He is the head and we are the body.

The Lampstand was a beaten work. Beating is the symbol of suffering and sorrow. This speaks to the Lord who was beaten. To be workable, gold must be submitted to extreme heat (fire). To be workable, we must go through the fire. Fire also removes impurities. John, the Baptist said that He would baptize with water, but Jesus baptizes with the Holy Ghost and fire. You hear much about the Holy Ghost but not much about the fire, but they go together as one. Much of this fire in the Church is what we are trying to bind and runoff.

Luke 3:16 (NASB) John answered and said to them all, "As for me, I baptize you with water; but One is coming who is mightier than I, and I am not fit to untie the thong of His sandals; He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire.

The Lord is preparing the Church to present it without spot or wrinkle.

Ephesians 5:27 (NASB) that He might present to Himself the church in all her glory, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that she should be holy and blameless.

Your get spots from contacting the world and wrinkles from sitting too long.

Jesus was beaten.

Isaiah 53:10 (NASB) But the LORD was pleased To crush Him, putting Him to grief; If He would render Himself as a guilt offering, He will see His offspring, He will prolong His days, And the good pleasure of the LORD will prosper in His hand.

Contrast the beating and the fire with the golden calf which was cast. What the flesh does is done quickly. Idols can be made quickly but the good things of God were bought at great price. It takes a while to beat us into what God wants.

Exodus 37:17 (NASB) Then he made the lampstand of pure gold. He made the lampstand of hammered work, its base and its shaft; its cups, its bulbs and its flowers were of one piece with it.

The shaft is the center piece that supports the Lampstand. The branches come out of the side of the shaft just as Eve came out of the side of Adam. Shaft is sometimes translated loins. The Hebrew word "yarek" means thighs. Adam's wife came from him. The branches, the Church, the Bride of Christ came from Him, the Center Shaft.

In Revelations, John said that he saw One standing in the midst of the Golden Lampstand. This was Christ, the Center of all. Out of His side come the individual light bearing churches.

Revelation 1:13 (NASB) and in the middle of the lampstands one like a son of man, clothed in a robe reaching to the feet, and girded across His breast with a golden girdle.

14 And His head and His hair were white like white wool, like snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire;

15 and His feet were like burnished bronze, when it has been caused to glow in a furnace, and His voice was like the sound of many waters.

16 And in His right hand He held seven stars; and out of His mouth came a sharp two-edged sword; and His face was like the sun shining in its strength.

17 And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as a dead man. And He laid His right hand upon me, saying, "Do not be afraid; I am the first and the last,

John 15:1 (NASB) "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.

2 "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it, that it may bear more fruit.

3 "You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.

4 "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me.

5 "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.

Genesis 22:1 (NASB) Now it came about after these things, that God tested Abraham, and said to him, "Abraham!" And he said, "Here I am."

2 And He said, "Take now your son, your only son, whom you love, Isaac, and go to the land of Moriah; and offer him there as a burnt offering on one of the mountains of which I will tell you."

Abraham took Isaac to be sacrificed. This is a type of Christ. Mount Moriah is the same mountain called Calvery.

After Isaac was "raised from the dead", the scripture says:

Genesis 22:20 (NASB) Now it came about after these things, that it was told Abraham, saying, "Behold, Milcah also has borne children to your brother Nahor:

21 Uz his first-born and Buz his brother and Kemuel the father of Aram

22 and Chesed and Hazo and Pildash and Jidlaph and Bethuel."

23 And Bethuel became the father of Rebekah: these eight Milcah bore to Nahor, Abraham's brother.

Milcah bore children to Nahor. One of these children was Rebekah, the future wife of Isaac. When Jesus died on the cross, His Bride, the Church was born.

Out from the side of the shaft comes the individual light bearing churches, but just as these branches must remain one with the shaft to produce life, so must the churches remain one with Christ to produce light. Jesus is the vine and the shaft. The branches were actually a part of the whole, not separate pieces attached.

As Eve was taken from the side of Adam, possessed of his life, his very counterpart, so in wondrous grace has the Church been formed from and for her Lord. The same life is in the feeblest member as is in the Head, and not one of these members can ever be severed from Him, or perish. I do not see how anyone can believe the Bible, and hold what is commonly known as "falling-away doctrine." In such a gospel there is no vital union with Christ. The believer is looked upon as artificially united to Him, and liable to lose his hold and drop into hell at any time.

There are six branches which come from the shaft. Six is the number of man. Seven is the number of perfection. From the shaft (Jesus) came the six branches - man's (the churches) perfection comes from union with Christ.

On the top of these arms were buds, flowers, and fruits. Knop or bud is just that, a bud. Out of the bud came a flower and out of the flower a lamp, shaped like an almond. The Lamp was shaped like an almond. The three stages of life are shown when Aaron's rod budded, blossomed and produced fruit (the almonds). The same words are used in both places. These are also the three stages of a Christian; babes, young men, and fathers.

When the people began to complain about Moses and Aaron being the only ones that could minister to the Lord, the Lord settled the argument.

Numbers 17:1 (NASB) Then the LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

2 "Speak to the sons of Israel, and get from them a rod for each father's household: twelve rods, from all their leaders according to their fathers' households. You shall write each name on his rod,

3 and write Aaron's name on the rod of Levi; for there is one rod for the head of each of their fathers' households.

4 "You shall then deposit them in the tent of meeting in front of the testimony, where I meet with you.

5 "And it will come about that the rod of the man whom I choose will sprout. Thus I shall lessen from upon Myself the grumblings of the sons of Israel, who are grumbling against you."

6 Moses therefore spoke to the sons of Israel, and all their leaders gave him a rod apiece, for each leader according to their fathers' households, twelve rods, with the rod of Aaron among their rods.

7 So Moses deposited the rods before the LORD in the tent of the testimony.

8 Now it came about on the next day that Moses went into the tent of the testimony; and behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi had sprouted and put forth buds and produced blossoms, and it bore ripe almonds.

The Lampstand had the same elements as Aaron's rod that budded. The bud is the source (the Father), the flower comes from it (the begotten Son), and the almond comes from it (the Holy Spirit). This is a picture of the Trinity.

All of the rods were dead. They used them as walking sticks. They had their ancestry carved into the rods. All of the tribes were laid before the altar in the person of these dead sticks. Aaron's rod budded - this is a picture of life from death and in full production.

The almond tree is the first to wake up and show it's buds after winter. Winter is the season of death and the almond tree is the first to resurrect when the winter is over.

The fire shows itself and the other furniture in the Holy Place. Only in the light of the Holy Spirit can we have fellowship (Table of Showbread). It shows us the Golden Altar of Incense which is praise and worship. Only with the light of the Spirit can we truly worship. This function of the Holy Spirit is for you and I and it is done in the Holy Place.

Jeremiah 1:11 (NASB) And the word of the LORD came to me saying, "What do you see, Jeremiah?" And I said, "I see a rod of an almond tree."

In the Hebrew, the word for watching and the word for almond are very similar. It is the resurrection that we are witnesses of - not the birth. The resurrection of Jesus was God watching over His Word to vindicate it. The Golden Lampstand speaks of resurrection. The Hebrew word for oil is the same word for Holy Ghost. We have an anointing - we have the Holy Ghost. He teaches us from within.

The seven lamps gave only one light. In Revelations 2:5, God threatened to remove the candle stick from the church at Ephesus if they did not repent. When a Lampstand ceases to give light, it no longer fulfills it's purpose. Get it out of the way.

Revelation 2:1 (NASB) "To the angel of the church in Ephesus write: The One who holds the seven stars in His right hand, the One who walks among the seven golden lampstands, says this:

2 'I know your deeds and your toil and perseverance, and that you cannot endure evil men, and you put to the test those who call themselves apostles, and they are not, and you found them to be false;

3 and you have perseverance and have endured for My name's sake, and have not grown weary.

4 'But I have this against you, that you have left your first love.

5 'Remember therefore from where you have fallen, and repent and do the deeds you did at first; or else I am coming to you, and will remove your lampstand out of its place-- unless you repent.

6 'Yet this you do have, that you hate the deeds of the Nicolaitans, which I also hate.

7 'He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches. To him who overcomes, I will grant to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God.'

The seven Lamp Stands were seven churches. What John saw was the risen Lord standing in the middle of His churches, testing them to see what they were made of.

When light is divided into a spectrum, there are seven colors. There are seven Lamps.

There are also seven spirits of God.

Revelation 4:5 (NASB) And from the throne proceed flashes of lightning and sounds and peals of thunder. And there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God;

Isaiah 11:1 (NASB) Then a shoot will spring from the stem of Jesse, And a branch from his roots will bear fruit.

2 And the Spirit of the LORD will rest on Him, The spirit of wisdom and understanding, The spirit of counsel and strength, The spirit of knowledge and the fear of the LORD.

3 And He will delight in the fear of the LORD, And He will not judge by what His eyes see, Nor make a decision by what His ears hear;

While Jesus was in the world, He was the light of the world. Now that He is not here, we are the light of the world.

There is no longer any Lampstand in Ephesus today. There are churches in Baton Rouge where the Lampstand has been removed. There are individual Christians whose Lamps have been removed.

Zechariah 4:1 (NASB) Then the angel who was speaking with me returned, and roused me as a man who is awakened from his sleep.

2 And he said to me, "What do you see?" And I said, "I see, and behold, a lampstand all of gold with its bowl on the top of it, and its seven lamps on it with seven spouts belonging to each of the lamps which are on the top of it;

3 also two olive trees by it, one on the right side of the bowl and the other on its left side."

4 Then I answered and said to the angel who was speaking with me saying, "What are these, my lord?"

5 So the angel who was speaking with me answered and said to me, "Do you not know what these are?" And I said, "No, my lord."

6 Then he answered and said to me, "This is the word of the LORD to Zerubbabel saying, 'Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit,' says the LORD of hosts.

This puts the Churches of God in a deeply solemn position as His witness and light-bearers down here on earth. If the spiritual condition of the individuals who compose these churches is right with God, and if the saints are living in communion with Him, each subject to Christ as Lord and to His Word, there will be little fear, but the Lampstand will give a clear and shining light. The truth of God will be upheld. Christ's Name will be honored. His gospel will sounded forth, and sinners will be saved.

The Lamps were fueled with pure beaten olive oil. Aaron had to keep the light burning continuously. Today, Jesus , our high priest keep us in light by keeping us supplied with the Holy Spirit. The word Gethsemane can be translated oil press. In Gethsemane, Jesus chose to allow His will to be crushed. The word for oil is also translated charisma. Charismatic = the oiled ones, the gifted ones.

Ephesians 5:18 (NASB) And do not get drunk with wine, for that is dissipation, but be filled with the Spirit,

19 speaking to one another in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your heart to the Lord;

Be ye being filled.

Leviticus 24:2 (NASB) "Command the sons of Israel that they bring to you clear oil from beaten olives for the light, to make a lamp burn continually.

3 "Outside the veil of testimony in the tent of meeting, Aaron shall keep it in order from evening to morning before the LORD continually; it shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations.

4 "He shall keep the lamps in order on the pure gold Lampstand before the LORD continually.

Aaron kept the Lamp burning. There is one baptism - there are many fillings. We are commanded - be ye filled. This is the state of continually being filled. The Devil cannot put out our light because our oil source is unlimited and from another realm.

The High Priest also had to dress the Lamps. They used the finest, lightest, highest grade oil.

Exodus 30:7 (NASB) "And Aaron shall burn fragrant incense on it; he shall burn it every morning when he trims the lamps.

8 "And when Aaron trims the lamps at twilight, he shall burn incense. There shall be perpetual incense before the LORD throughout your generations.

When Aaron came to put incense on the Golden Altar, he trimmed the Lamps. All of the tools he used were made of pure gold. He trimmed burnt spots off of the wicks so that it would not smoke.

The Holy Spirit (oil) is supplied to us by our High Priest - Jesus. He also trims our wicks. Even the best of men have to be cleaned of the ashes. They have to be groomed by the High Priest. The ashes do not come from the oil, but from the wick. The Holy Spirit does not need trimming - we do. The wick was only a channel, it did not give off light, the oil did. The instruments used to trim the wick were solid gold which speaks of divinity. He trims us. The wick is our flesh.

1 Peter 1:6 (NASB) In this you greatly rejoice, even though now for a little while, if necessary, you have been distressed by various trials,

7 that the proof of your faith, being more precious than gold which is perishable, even though tested by fire, may be found to result in praise and glory and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ;

John 15:1 (NASB) "I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser.

2 "Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit, He takes away; and every branch that bears fruit, He prunes it, that it may bear more fruit.

3 "You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you.

4 "Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, so neither can you, unless you abide in Me.

5 "I am the vine, you are the branches; he who abides in Me, and I in him, he bears much fruit; for apart from Me you can do nothing.

The oil was also used to anoint the priests. The word "Messiah" translated "Christ" means literally, "The Anointed One."

Jesus says that He is the vine and His Father is the husbandman. He prunes the vine. Have your ever gotten to the point where you were smoking and stinking and found yourself being pinched (prune by scissors) and binding the Devil through the whole thing. Aaron used instruments to trim the lamp. God uses instruments also. Sometimes they are people. Don't despise the instruments God uses. When you begin to flesh out, God will send someone to snip you. Sometimes the Lord will cut-off things that we think are beautiful and productive for His kingdom and we complain. Have you ever been in a service where the wick was burning instead of the Oil? Didn't it smell?

You can be pruned with a knife which only makes small cuts and heal quickly or you can be pruned with shears which trap and squeeze you until you are cut off. This hurts very much. If not these two, He will use a worm which is slow and painful.

The High Priest does his work in the Holy Place. What is done is done in the Holy Place, if we allow it. The Holy Place is not a physical place, but a spiritual place relative to God's presence.

The praise, the fellowship, the eating of the Bread, the trimming of the Lamps can only be done in the Holy Place and by the light of the Golden Lampstand. The Lampstand produced light from the oil which is a type of the Holy Spirit. The church must also produce light because of communications with the Holy Spirit.

Matthew 5:14 (NASB) "You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden.

15 "Nor do men light a lamp, and put it under the peck-measure, but on the lampstand; and it gives light to all who are in the house.

16 "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven.

Solomon's temple had ten Golden Lampstands. Ten is the number of completeness and speaks of the fullness of the light of the Holy Spirit in the temple. We are a temple made of living stones.

2 Corinthians 4:6 (NASB) For God, who said, "Light shall shine out of darkness," is the One who has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.

In Solomon's temple, there were also Lampstands of silver in the priest quarters. Silver speaks of redemption which is necessary before one can minister.

John 1:9 (NASB) There was the true light which, coming into the world, enlightens every man.

John 9:5 (NASB) "While I am in the world, I am the light of the world."

John 8:12 (NASB) Again therefore Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world; he who follows Me shall not walk in the darkness, but shall have the light of life."

Philippians 2:15 (NASB) that you may prove yourselves to be blameless and innocent, children of God above reproach in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation, among whom you appear as lights in the world,

Isaiah 42:6 (NASB) "I am the LORD, I have called you in righteousness, I will also hold you by the hand and watch over you, And I will appoint you as a covenant to the people, As a light to the nations,

1 John 1:5 (NASB) And this is the message we have heard from Him and announce to you, that God is light, and in Him there is no darkness at all.

Ephesians 5:8 (NASB) for you were formerly darkness, but now you are light in the Lord; walk as children of light

1 John 1:7 (NASB) but if we walk in the light as He Himself is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.

Luke 12:35 (NASB) "Be dressed in readiness, and keep your lamps alight.

We are the apple of God's eye, the pupil, which is where light enters the body. We are the light bearers. Our part is to make sure the light is burning brightly in the place where we fellowship. The light from the flame reveals wickedness. The holiness of Christians makes the wicked world stand out. The darkness hates and is dispelled in the light. Go into the world, fueled by the oil of the Holy Spirit and let your light shine. Go into the Holy Place and have fellowship with the Father and the world will know because one cannot see the Father and not be changed. AMEN.