02.19. THE GOLDEN CANDLESTICK
THE GOLDEN CANDLESTICK THE Golden Candlestick was set in the Holy Place on the south side opposite the Table of Shewbread. It was handmade. It was beaten by hand out of pure gold. It had a central shaft and six branches, three coming out of each side. A branch came out of the shaft at the top and was actually the extension of the shaft.
There were .seven branches in all.
It was highly ornamented.
Each side branch had three sections.
Each section had spindles shaped like almonds, a knob at the upper end and a flower. The central shaft had four of these sections. Golden lamps were placed on ‘the top of the flowers. “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:
Three bowls made like unto almonds, with a knop and a flower in one branch; and three bowls made like almonds in the other branch, with a knop and a flower: so in the six branches that come out of the candlestick. And in the candlestick shall be four bowls made like unto almonds, with their knops and their flowers. And there shall be a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, according to the six branches that proceed out of the candlestick. Their knops and their branches shall be of the same: all it shall be one beaten work of pure gold.
“And thou shalt make the seven lamps thereof: and they shall light the lamps thereof, that they may give light over against it.” (That is, over against the central shaft.) (Exodus 25:31-37) The Golden Candlestick was both a light and a light bearer.
It was a perfect, a fitting and a divine symbol of our Lord Jesus Christ.
He was both light and light bearer. He was light as it is written:
“He was the true light, which lighteth every man that cometh into the world.” (John 1:9.) The correct rendering should read:
“The true light which lighteth (is able to light) every man, was coming into the world.”
“I the LORD have called thee in righteousness, and will hold thine hand, and will keep thee, and give thee for a covenant of the people, for a light of the Gentiles.” (Isaiah 42:6.)
“I will also give thee for a light to the Gentiles, that thou mayest be my salvation unto the end of the earth.” (Isaiah 49:6.)
“Then spake Jesus again unto them, saying, I am the light of the world: he that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but shall have the light of life.” (John 8:12.) “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world.” (John 9:5.) He was moral and spiritual light.
He was essential light; as it is written:
“God is light, and in him is no darkness at all.” (1 John 1:5.) As He was God manifest in the flesh, He was pure, essential light, and in Him was no darkness at all. The priests walked in the light of the Golden Candlestick that they might perform the service of God.
It is in Him as the light we must walk if we would efficiently fulfill the service of God; as it is written:
“Come ye, and let us walk in the light of the LORD.” (Isaiah 2:5.) “Now are ye light in the world: walk as children of light.” (Ephesians 5:8.)
“If we walk in the light, as he (God) is in the light, we have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son cleanseth us from all sin.” (1 John 1:7.) “As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him.” (Colossians 2:6.) The Golden Candlestick was a constant testimony to the priests that they must not walk in the light of nature; and that they could fulfill the service of God only as they walked in the light provided by Him.
All natural light was excluded from the Tabernacle. They had only the light of the Golden Light Bearer. The moment they wished to walk by the light of nature they must go outside the Tabernacle. But the moment they were outside with all the light of nature upon them they were unable to see the wondrous things in the Tabernacle. No longer would they have the vision of a man’s face in the midst of the outspreading wings of the cherubim; that symbol of a man who is very God, and that God who is real man would be shut out from them. No longer would they see the blood of the Brazen Altar upon the Golden Altar of Incense; that symbol of priestly intercession in Heaven, based on the blood of the cross as the blood of a penal sacrifice, could no longer be seen. The priest entering behind the vail with the blood of atonement and putting the blood before and upon the Mercy Seat would have been hidden from their eyes; that symbol of a priest, risen and ascended to Heaven with the blood of the cross would have been blotted from their vision. The more they should walk in the light of nature, less and less would they be able to see the things in the Holy and the Most Holy Place. And here you have in startling and terrific object lesson the secret of the unbelief, the down grade and the open apostasy among those who profess to serve the Lord in His sanctuary today and call themselves, the” ministers of Christ; “men who profess to preach Christ.
They are no longer walking in the light of the Holy Place.
They are walking in the light of human reason. Christ in the Cherubim they cannot see.
Christ as Over All God, Son of Mary and real man has disappeared from their view. The light of nature is so strong, so dazzling, the refraction of light from evolution and biology so intense they cannot get the vision of the Virgin Birth; they cannot read intelligently, understandingly, the great fact that God sent His own Son, not the son of any man, but His own Son, “made (and by Him) out of a woman.” The blood on the Mercy Seat disappears.
Christ as High Priest after the order of Melchisedec disappears.
Nature’s light has become spiritual darkness to them. The truth is, they walk by the boundaries of limited human reason and not with the eagle––like eyesight of faith.
They are no longer in the sanctuary, the secret place of the Most High.
They are out in the world, on the plane of the world, going by the light of the world, and not by the light that God provides and which alone shines in the Tabernacle of His presence. The moment a professed believer attempts to live the Christian life or serve the Lord in the light of the natural understanding he is walking outside of Christ; he is no longer in fellowship with Him and the Father.
He is not walking nor serving according to the Word of God; he is not going according to His mind and will.
Such an one cannot and will not be used of God. To go according to the .light of nature is to go according to a light that becomes the darkest of all darkness; as our Lord Himself has said:
“If the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness.” (Matthew 6:23.)
If we would be used of God, if we would be in fellowship with the Father and the Son we must walk in the light as Christ is in the light, in Him as the light and the Light bearer––the Golden candlestick and the light of God. The Golden Candlestick was furnished with oil of the sanctuary, oil specially prepared and ordered of God.
“And thou shalt command the children of Israel, that they bring thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamp to burn always.” (Exodus 27:20.) Oil was for anointing. Our Lord Jesus Christ was anointed; as it is written:
“Thy holy child Jesus, whom thou hast anointed.” (Acts 4:27.) He was .anointed by the Spirit.
He speaks anticipatively through the prophet of that anointing.
He says:
“The Spirit of the LORD God is upon me; because the LORD hath anointed me.” (Isaiah 61:1.) The Apostle Peter says:
“God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power.” (Acts 10:38.) Oil is therefore the divine symbol of the Holy Spirit. Our Lord had the Spirit without measure; as it is written:
“God giveth not the Spirit by measure to him.” (John 3:34.) The Spirit was• not given to Him by measure because the fulness of the ‘Godhead dwelt in Him bodily.
He walked the earth a Spirit-filled man.
Because He was Spirit filled He was absolute and essential truth.
Truth is light, therefore was He the True Light, the only light by which any man can find his way to God – as the Father.
He says so Himself:
“No man cometh unto the Father, but by me.” (John 14:6.) Therefore He says:
“He that followeth me shall not walk in darkness, but have the light of life.” (John 8:12.) As the Church is the reincarnation of Christ and the Candlestick is the symbol of Christ, then the Candlestick is also a symbol of the Church of Christ. Our risen and glorified Lord says so:
After His resurrection and ascension to Heaven He appeared to John in a vision on the Island of Patmos.
John saw Him in High Priestly garments walking in the midst of seven golden candlesticks.
He tells John what the golden candlesticks mean:
He says:
“The seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.” (Revelation 1:20.) As the Golden Candlestick represents our Lord Jesus Christ and was filled with oil as a symbol that He was filled with the Spirit; and as the Candlestick is declared by Him to be a symbol of the Church, then the Candlestick filled with oil is a testimony that the Holy Spirit has been given to the Church. But mark how the oil was brought forth and made to fill the Candlestick.
It was, “beaten.” The olives were not put into a press, but beaten by hand. The word “beaten” signifies “bruised.”
He was “bruised,” and “bruised” by the hand of the Father; as it is written: “But it pleased the LORD to bruise him.” (Isaiah 53:10.) The Hebrew employs two distinct words for “bruise,” but the signification is the same, it is a smiting, a beating, a breaking down.
It was out of, as a consequence of, the agony of the Cross the Spirit came to the Church.
After He rose from the dead and in the evening when he had returned from His high priestly ascension to Heaven, He gave the Spirit.
He gave it to the disciples assembled in the upper room; as it is written:
“He breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost.” (John 20:23.)
You will notice He did not say” receive ye the Holy Ghost and power;” He said simply, “Receive ye the Holy Ghost.” This was the fulfillment of the promise made concerning the Comforter.
He promised that after He should rise from the dead He would send the Holy Spirit to be their Comforter to comfort and sustain them during His absence.
“Comforter” means, literally, “stand by.” The Holy Spirit should come to them, be their Stand by and His Vice-gerent, His Vicar, His unseen but representative Agent and Proxy.
He had said to them:
“The Spirit of truth dwelleth with you, (at that moment in the Lord’s own body) and shall be in you.” (John 14:17.) “The Comforter. Whom I will send unto you from the Father.” (John 15:26.) Ten days before He ascended to Heaven publicly, He promised the disciples they should be baptized in the Holy Ghost. He said:
“Ye shall be baptized with (in) the Holy Ghost not many days hence.” (Acts 1:5.) On the day of Pentecost while the disciples (there were now twelve, Matthias having been chosen in the place of Judas- Acts 1:26) while the disciples were all “with one accord” in one place the Holy Ghost was manifested to them as a mighty rushing wind and cloven tongues of fire. He sat upon each of them and gave them power to speak with tongues. The Apostle Peter standing up with the eleven declared the Lord had, not only risen (and of that resurrection they were the living witnesses) but that this risen Lord had ascended to Heaven and sat on the throne of God as incarnate Jehovah; and that this mighty power impelling the disciples to speak with different tongues was the proof.
He said:
“This Jesus hath God raised up, whereof we are all witnesses,
Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, he hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.” (Acts 2:32-33.) “To shed forth” is literally “to pour out.” The outpouring of the Holy Spirit and the giving of the Comforter are widely distinct from each other, they are absolutely as far apart as the east and the west. The Comforter is the promise of the Son. The Outpouring is the promise of the Father. The promise of the Comforter was made by the Lord previous to His death. The promise of the Outpouring at Pentecost was made eight hundred years before our Lord was born. The promise of the Comforter was made directly and individually by the Lord Himself. The promise of Pentecost was made by the Father through the prophet Joel. This is the statement of the Apostle Peter. He said:
“This is that which was spoken by the prophet Joel” (Acts 2:16.)
Joel foretold the great and notable day of the Lord was coming. The Lord Himself would descend to Jerusalem, to the valley of Jehoshaphat, and pour out His judgments on the nations assembled there. He would overthrow the enemies of Israel and establish the covenant kingdom.
Just before He should reveal Himself in His judgments He would pour out of His Spirit on the inhabitants of Jerusalem, they should speak with tongues and all who should call upon the name of the Lord should be saved. This explains the question of the disciples. When the Lord announced to them the outpouring of the Spirit, they said unto Him:
“Wilt thou at this time (at the outpouring of the Spirit) restore again the kingdom to Israel?” (Acts 1:6.)
They knew the promise of the outpouring had been given by Joel. They knew its fulfillment meant the overthrow of their national oppressors, the establishment of the kingdom and the coming again of the glory of Israel. The question in the light of the Lord’s promise was logical: if the Spirit should be given would all that Joel foretold come to pass, would the long desired kingdom be brought in?
They were in the quiver of expectation. He did not answer them directly.
He said it was not for them to know the times and the seasons the Father (you will notice it is the issue of the Father, not the Son) had put in His own power (that is, had shut up to His own final determination).
There are wide and inclusive areas in the promises of God, the incoming of events and conditions not always precised.
He did not answer because Pentecost was to be a test to the Jewish nation.
If they should accept the outpouring of the Spirit as the begun fulfillment of the prophecy of Joel, as the proof that Jesus of Nazareth whom they had so wantonly crucified was their true Messiah, had risen and was now on the throne of God, if they should be willing to accept Him as their covenant King, the Father would send Him back, restore the nation and fill the land of Israel with glory.
Later on, standing in the temple after he had healed the lame man at the gate Beautiful, arraigning the people because they had accepted a murderer and crucified their own Messiah, and yet recognizing they had done it through ignorance, not knowing that this Jesus was the very Prince of life, and assuring them He had fulfilled all the law and the prophets, and was now seated on the Father’s throne waiting to be gracious to them, Peter announced to the listening throng their opportunity and obligation as a nation.
He said:
“Repent ye therefore, and be converted, that your sins may be blotted out when (so that) the times of refreshing (restoration of the kingdom) shall (may) come from the presence of the Lord; And he shall send Jesus Christ, which before was preached unto you.” (Acts 3:20.) As a nation they failed to meet the test.
They failed to recognize the meaning of Pentecost.
Having rejected the Lord when He walked in their midst, having acclaimed Caesar instead of Christ for King, they finally and officially rejected Him as risen from the dead, refused to believe He was on the throne of God. And this they did when the Sanhedrim rose up as one man against Stephen whom they had summoned before them, rose up against him when full of the Holy Ghost he declared unto them that he saw Jesus standing at the right hand of God, and casting him out of their midst caused him to be stoned to death.
After that Peter under the call of the Lord went to the house of Cornelius in Caesarea and preached Christ to a chosen and elect company of Gentiles; and on them the Lord poured forth His Spirit as He did at Jerusalem. The spiritual body of Christ was thus made complete, being composed of elect Jews and Gentiles. From that moment the Jew nationally was set aside. The Church and this parenthetic age were brought in. The manifestation of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost and at the house of Cornelius was – a baptism. Our Lord was the Baptizer. The Holy Spirit never has, and does not now, baptize anyone, He is the environment in which the baptism takes place. And herein is to be seen the distinction between the giving of the Comforter and Pentecost. The Coming of the Comforter was a—breathing. The manifestation at Pentecost was a baptism. To baptize is to—immerse. In water baptism the water becomes the environment of the person baptized. At Pentecost .the risen Lord immersed His disciples in the ‘Holy Spirit. When He gave the Comforter He put the Spirit in the disciples. At Pentecost He put the disciples in the Spirit. When the Comforter came they got life. At Pentecost they got the power of that life. When the Gentiles were baptized in the Holy Spirit at the house of Cornelius, and the Body of Christ was then fully formed in all its functional responsibility, baptism in the Holy Spirit ceased for the Church age. The laying on of hands, the gift and gifts of the Holy Ghost were not baptisms, not a single one of them.
There is no such thing as baptism in the Holy Spirit today.
It would be fundamentally out of place.
There can be no baptism in the Holy Spirit till the Church is taken away. When this occurs the Spirit will again be poured out. This outpouring will take place at Jerusalem, upon the ‘elect remnant among the Jews, and according to the Prophet Joel, just before the Lord appears in His glory to deliver Jerusalem and set up’ His kingdom. This is unqualifiedly and distinctively the age of the Church. As the oil was in the Candlestick, so the Holy Spirit is in the Church and on the Church corporately.
What is true of the Church corporately is true of the Church individually. The Spirit in the Christian makes him the most sacred and holy temple on earth; as it is written:
“What? Know ye not that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you?” (1 Corinthians 6:19.) The Holy Spirit is in the believer so that the believer may be the agent by which the light of divine truth may be given to the world. The Candlestick was seven branched.
There was a central shaft, and as already described six branches going out of the shaft. The six branches joined on to and in the shaft constituted the complete Candlestick. A candlestick represents a church or assembly in a definite place. This is illustrated in the letter which the risen Lord commands John to write to the Pastor of the Church at Ephesus.
He says:
“I will come unto thee quickly, and will remove thy candlestick out of his place, except thou repent.” (Revelation 2:5) The Church in Ephesus is definitely called a candlestick, the light bearer, the spiritual light for that city ––the transmitter of Heaven––sent truth. A Church in a city or province might be composed of several assembles and pastors. A letter addressed to any Church in any locality would mean a circular letter to be read in all the assemblies of that locality; the different assemblies would be reckoned as the one Church.
These assemblies found their unity in Christ as the Head of the Church.
He was the Head and He was the Center. This is clearly set forth in the vision given to John. He said:
“I saw seven golden candlesticks; And in the midst of the candlesticks one like unto the Son of man.” (Revelation 1:12-13.) Our Lord declares these seven candlesticks represent the seven churches of the province of Asia:
“The seven candlesticks which thou sawest are the seven churches.” (Revelation 1:20.) These seven churches represent the whole Church in the world during the time of our Lord’s absence.
They particularly represent the seven distinct characteristics during that time, be it long or short.
All the characteristics of all the churches may be found in anyone of the churches in principle and incipiency at anyone period; so that, the whole range of characteristics might be released and consummated at anyone stage in the .Church’s history. In other words, while the picture is a forecast of what might become detailed and lengthened out history, yet the whole might be telescoped at any one time under the pressure of the Lord’s imminency, the sudden ripening of Satanic evil or the accelerated falling away in the professing Church. But whatever may be the varied history through which the Church shall pass during the time our Lord is away, its unity is to be found in Him and in Him alone. The six branches of the Golden Candlestick proclaim the manifoldness of the assemblies of Christ, but the Shaft to which they are joined reveal the Lord Jesus Christ in the midst, the center of life and relationship. Without the central shaft the side branches could not be maintained. Without Christ as the very center the Church cannot exist. The Golden Candlestick is a symbol of the Church as a light bearer in the world. Our Lord said to His disciples:
“Ye are the light of the world.” (Matthew 5:14.) “Let your loins be girded about, and your lights burning.” (Luke 12:35.) “Ye shine as lights in the world.” (Php 2:15.) As the light of the Candlestick was not the light of nature, but a light specially provided of God; as the light was fed and made possible only by the oil, and the oil is a symbol of the Holy Spirit, then the Church is not in the world to give the light of nature to men, but the light and truth that comes through the energy and revelation of the Spirit. The Church is not here to give instruction in the things of nature. The Church is not here to become a school, an academy, a college or a university of human knowledge.
It is not the function of the Church to educate in the sciences, to deal in the philosophy and speculations of men; the Church is not ‘called on to educate or culture the natural man in any direction.
These things lie in the realm of human research and the light of applied reason.
Just as the light of the Candlestick revealed what ‘Was hidden from the light of nature, even the wonders of the sanctuary, the symbols of redemption and glory, so the Church is to set before men what the light of nature cannot reveal concerning these things. The Church is to set before men the things that are supremely worth knowing, and the knowledge of which makes for life eternal: The fact of God, His being and relationship to man, man’s fall, his sin, the full meaning of death, the way of redemption through sacrificial death and blood, eternal life and immortality, the glorious ultimate of the earth when it shall be delivered from sin, sickness, sorrow and death, warning men that apart from the crucified, risen and ascended Son of God eternity holds neither life nor the hope of it, but only death and endless loss. The Church is to preach all this by and through the Holy Scriptures as the inspired, inerrant, infallible Word of God, and to preach it, proclaim it in the energy and demonstration of the Spirit. In short the Church is to give the light of God’s revealed truth to the world. An illustration of the Church as the light bearer may be found in the story––of the woman seeking for the lost piece of money, as recorded in the Gospel according to Luke. The piece had on it the image and the superscription of the king.
It had fallen from its place and rolled away into a dark corner.
It was lost.
It was out ‘of circulation. The king’s face and name were no longer revealed by it.
Both name and face were hidden from view. The woman lighted a lamp, swept the house and sought diligently till she found it. The piece of money is man.
He was created in the image of God.
He fell from his true place as the revelation of God, as His manifestation in the flesh.
He has fallen into dark and hidden corners of sin.
He is out of the divine circulation.
God’s name and character are no longer revealed in and by him.
He is no longer the manifestation of God in the flesh. He is a lost value, lost to God and lost to himself. The woman is the Church. The lamp is the Word of God. The light is the truth that flashes out of the Word. Seeking the lost piece with the light of the lamp is seeking the lost soul with the light of God’s truth.
Sweeping the house is using the God-given energy of the Church, the Holy Spirit. The light of the woman’s lamp was cast into all corners. The Gospel is to be preached to every creature. The woman continued till she found that chosen and select piece that had been lost. The Church is to continue in this world till she find those who have been foreseen and chosen, and elect and bring them to the God who has foreseen and chosen and elected’ them. The seven lamps of the Golden Candlestick cast their light upon the central shaft and revealed the wealth, the beauty and the wonder of it.
“And the LORD spake unto Moses saying,
Speak unto Aaron, and say unto him, When thou lightest the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light over against the candlestick.” (Numbers 8:2.) The ultimate work of the Church in the world is to so shine that Christ may be seen in all the wealth, the beauty, the wonder and the glory of His person and work. The Church is here to magnify and exalt Him in all that He was and is and is to come; in all that He has done” is doing and will do. This thought is fully expressed both for the Church and the individual in the lofty utterance of the Apostle:
“According to my earnest expectation and my hope, that in nothing I shall be ashamed, but that with all boldness, as always, so now also Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life or by death.” (Php 1:20.)
Whenever the Church fails to exalt Him above all things; whenever it fails to set Him forth as revealed in Holy Scripture, in all His pre-existent state, in all His fulness of the Godhead bodily, in all the perfection of His divine and sacrificial death, in the triumph of His resurrection; whenever the Church fails to hold up to view so all can see it the crimson of His outpoured blood; whenever the ministers of the Church fail to enter the sanctuary or preach to the people with the priest’s bason full of blood; whenever the Church fails to preach the finished work of the cross and salvation without human merit and by the work of Christ alone, it is no longer like the Golden Candlestick flashing its light over against the central shaft, it no longer glorifies Him who died for her and rose again; nay, the light of such a professing Church is put out and the risen Lord will no longer recognize it as His candlestick at all. The Golden Candlestick was made of beaten gold.
“And this work of the candlestick was of beaten gold, unto the shaft thereof, unto the flowers thereof, was beaten work.” (Numbers 8:4.) The symbol in its application to our Lord is complete. The word “beaten” means “hammered.” He was hammered. In all the earth, in all the ages of the earth, was there ever such hammering as took place that day on the hill called “Calvary?”
They laid Him down upon the cross.
They hammered first one hand and then they hammered the other to the accursed tree.
They hammered His feet fast.
They hung Him up there in the sight of men such a piece of hammered work as never was seen before or since that hour. But “hammering” means, as when gold is beaten and shapened with blow after blow till it stands out in open relief, clear, distinct, what men call repousse work, the outline and form revealed in sharp and manifest intensity; so was He hammered and beaten till the outlines of the infinite purpose of God were seen and may be seen today in all their repousse intent and decree.
He was hammered by the hand of God.
I repeat to you again and again that it was the hand of God that hammered Him.
He was hammered with the hammer of divine righteousness, the righteousness that mercilessly strikes its blow upon sin.
How mercilessly those strokes fell upon Him in that evil hour; for that day He was counted sin and the hammer of God’s inexorable justice smote Him and smote Him in the place of all who have claimed Him since that hour to this and all who claim Him now. As we are identified with Him in His hammering, in His death for us, it is our privilege to be identified with Him in this life, be His shining, and make the life we live for Him––each word we speak and deed we do for Him, a compensation to Him for every hammered blow ––He received in our behalf.
It is our privilege to own that we are children of the light and not children of darkness; that we are children of the day (the day to come) and not children of the night (the night of spiritual darkness). It is our right to affirm that we are sons of God in all the illumination of our Lord’s golden light, and then go forth and by fellowship with Him in our inmost soul, walking in the light He gives, shine forth so that we may reveal Him to the darkened minds of men as the true light, as the only light that leadeth to Heaven; to Home, to glory and to God.