02.12. Chapter Twelve
Chapter Twelve The Golden Lampstands
“And the candlesticks [lampstands] of pure gold, five on the right side, and five on the left, before the oracle [speaking-place] with the flowers, and the lamps, and the tongs of gold, and the bowls, and the snuffers, and the basons, and the spoons, and the censers [fire-pans or snuff-dishes] of pure gold” (1 Kings 7:49-50; 2 Chronicles 4:7; 2 Chronicles 4:20-22). In the Temple there were ten golden lamp-stands, with their seventy lamps. The word is generally rendered “candlestick, “but the word “candle “never occurs in the sacred Scriptures, neither in the Hebrew nor in the Greek; it is always “lamp “and “larnpstand. “The lampstand is a type of the Lord Jesus Christ as the centre, source, and subject of testimony in the power of the Holy Ghost. The centre shaft is typical of His own personal ministry; the branches of ministry in the Church by the evangelist, pastor, teacher. The candle is self-sufficient and self-continuing; you have only to light it, and it burns from beginning to end. Not so the lamp, which is dependent on the oil, typical of the Holy Spirit. There lies the difference between that ministry which is in the words which the Holy Ghost teacheth, and that ministry which is the result of man’s wisdom and intellect. Real ministry is dependent on the presence and power of the Holy Spirit, who has come to testify of Jesus, to take of the things of Christ in the glory of the Father, and reveal them to us, and to show us things to come. In Revelation 21:23, we read, “And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light [lamp] thereof. “Christ is not only the centre and source and subject of trutn in the present time, but He will continue to be so throughout eternity; light in the glory tenfold; in beauty, splendour, and truth revealed, there we shall bask in His full light. The Silver Lampstands
“And for the candlesticks [lampstands] of silver by weight” (1 Chronicles 28:15). The silver lampstands were probably for the use of the priests in me side-chambers of the sanctuary, and express spiritual truth held in the communion of saints, by the teaching of the Spirit of God.
—Our Daily Homily