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Source: https://www.sermonindex.net/speakers/william-skates/the-lampstand/
Philippians chapter 2, and we'll read at verse 15, please. That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world, holding forth the word of life.
Now come back in your Bible, please, to the book of Genesis chapter 1. Genesis chapter 1. Genesis 1 verse number 3. And God said, let there be light, and there was light. And God said, let there be light, and there was light.
Come over to Exodus for our main reading. Exodus chapter 25. Exodus 25, we read at verse 31. And thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold. Of beaten work shall the candlestick be made. And you'll understand that the better word in our language today would be lampstand.
It was a stand that held lamps, not candles. His shaft and his branches, his bowls, his knops, or think buds on a flower, knops, and his flowers, that is, blossoms, shall be of the same. And six branches shall come out of the sides of it.
Three branches of the lampstand out of the one side, and three branches of the lampstand out of the other side. Three bowls shall made like unto almonds, with a bud and a flower in one branch. And three bowls made like almonds in the other branch, with a bud and a flower.
So shall the six branches that come out of the candlestick lampstand. And in the lampstand shall be four bowls made like unto almonds, with their knops, buds, and their flowers. And there shall be a bud under two branches of the same, and a bud under two branches of the same, and a bud under two branches of the same, according to the six branches that proceed out of the lampstand.
Their buds and their branches shall be of the same. All of 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, over against the face of it, that is the lampstand.
And the tongs thereof, and the snuff dishes thereof, shall be of pure gold. Of a talent of pure gold shall he make it, with all these vessels. And look that thou make them after their pattern, which was showed thee in the mount.
Now the Lord will bless to us the reading from his word. Now when we come to our Bibles, God teaches us in a number of different ways. Sometimes it is by direct statement precepts that are found in the scriptures.
Sometimes it is through pictures. Sometimes it is through types. Sometimes it is through principles. There are a variety of ways in which God teaches us from the Bible. Now in danger of stating the obvious, when we come to the tabernacle, that was something that was historic, something that was literal to the nation of Israel.
And maybe you have wondered at times, as I have, what is the relevance of that to us today? I mean, something that took place in the ancient past, as far as the nation of Israel is concerned, what is the relevance of that to us today?
So I want to do something before we take a look at the lampstand, which we've read about. I want to give a little context to the tabernacle, and I trust that that will be helpful for us. I want you to think, first of all, of God's desire.
God's desire. His desire has always been to dwell with man, and that is really the reason why, in the beginning, God created the heaven and the earth. We have two chapters given to creation, but when we come to the book of Exodus, we have 16 chapters given to the tabernacle, and 13 more chapters in the book of Hebrews, but only two to creation, which is the necessary background, really, to the whole of God's dealings with men, to God dwelling with man.
Two chapters. And so we have read, God said his first creative act was to speak light into existence. God said, let there be light, and there was light. So light will ever shine as a testimony to this great fact that God said, that God said.
Now, God had a difficulty, which arose quickly in creation, and that is, though he had the desire to dwell with man and came down in the cool of the day to walk and to talk with Adam, yet we find that Adam sins, Adam fails.
He commits that act of rebellion against God, and as a result of that failure, we find that the whole human race quickly falls into failure as a result of sin coming into the world. And so the first 11 chapters of the book of Genesis will trace for us the failure of the human race.
Now remember, God's desire is to dwell with man, but at the Tower of Babel, humanity proves its rebellion against God, and then we find God moves in a different way. He selects a man, Abraham. And from that one man, God will build a nation to be a peculiar people for himself amongst whom he'll dwell.
You see? So you have Abraham taken up, and from chapter 12 right through to chapter 50 in the book of Genesis, we have the figures of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, and his sons taking up the remainder of the book, chapter 12 right through to the end.
Then we come to Exodus, and we find that the nation that God would build from that one man is down in Egypt, and they're slaves in Egypt, and so God has to move again in a very marked way, and in the first 18 chapters of the book of Exodus, we have God moving to liberate his people.
So we have Israel's liberation by divine power in those first 18 chapters. Then from chapter 19 in Exodus through to the end, chapter 40, we could write over those chapters this, it's Israel's adoption in divine purpose.
So Israel's liberation in divine power, and then Israel's adoption in divine purpose, so that the Prophet Hosea could say, out of Egypt have I called my son. Now, Israel comes out of Egypt. What do we find?
We find that that nation falls into failure, and at Mount Sinai, while Moses is up the mount, we find Aaron made a molten calf, and they said, these be thy gods, O Israel, which brought thee out of the land of Egypt, and immediately the nation falls into failure.
Now remember God's desire to dwell with men. Now we have God's difficulty because of man's failure. So notice God's design. At this point in our story, we find that God gives a design of something that he wants built to Moses, according to the pattern that was showed to him in the mount, and so we have the narrow confines of the tabernacle, and all that goes with that brought to our view.
There's the tangible, touchable priesthood, there's the offerings, there's the feasts, they are physical, they are tangible, smellable, seeable, but they are representations of things. It's God's design, but they are representations even though they are historical and tangible.
So in this display that God gives, God's display if you will, the tabernacle, we learn from the book of Hebrews that it is a shadow of good things to come. They are patterns of things in the heavens. So the tabernacle and all that goes into it, they are actually speaking of something else, you see.
I mean, but ask ourselves the question, what are they speaking of? What was the tabernacle speaking of? It's a dwelling place of God, isn't it? I believe it is speaking of the house of God, the household of God as to his people, where God will dwell in the midst of his people under God's administration of things.
A people fitted to dwell with him, and God free to dwell with man. Now that is the simplest basic principle that we pick up on from the tabernacle and what it speaks of. It is pointing to things that are essential in this matter of God dwelling with man, and man dwelling with God, and enjoying his presence.
So God is something else in mind. When we come to the New Testament, we find that the word became flesh and tabernacled amongst us, and God introduces into this world the person of his own dear Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
God literally dwelling with men, see? But not only that, but he is laying something out in the purposes of God that will enable men to dwell with God. And so we read, Ephesians chapter 2, where we just were, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone of this house building.
That's the word in Ephesians 2, this house building. And there you have the thought of household, there you have the thought of administration, there you have the thought of dwelling, there you have God dwelling with his people.
And of course that is very similar in metaphor to the concept of the temple, if not synonymous with it. So we have Christ coming into the world. You remember in his ministry he said this, I will build my church and the gates of hell shall not prevail against it.
And when he said that, we remind our hearts that he's speaking of the church of the dispensation, he's speaking of the universal church, of which I believe Paul wrote, when he wrote in 2nd Corinthians now, chapter 6, he said, ye are the temple of the living God, as God hath said, I will dwell in them and walk in them, and I will be their God and they shall be my people.
And of course church truth is expressed in the local assembly, and so Paul wrote to Timothy about the church at Ephesus and he described it as the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth, God dwelling with his people, the presence of God known in the midst of his gathered people in the local assembly.
Are we getting it now? House of God. And our brother Eric has been reminding us too, that not only the local assembly, church which is his body, the local assembly, but the Christians own body is a temple for God.
The Holy Spirit of God has taken up a residence within the believers body, and our body is sacred for God, and should be set apart for God, and to live for his glory. That is our calling here in this world.
But it doesn't end there. This household of God not only encompasses each individual believer, church universal, the local assembly, but I believe it is ultimately pointing to what will be in eternity, the celestial city.
Where we read that God that sitteth upon the throne shall dwell, shall tabernacle among them, Revelation 7. Then Revelation chapter 21 verse 3, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and he shall be their God, they shall be his people, and so on.
So what we're discovering is this, that God doesn't change. God's desire to dwell with men doesn't change. Man and his need before God since he has fallen, that doesn't change. So the principles are the same today as they were all those years ago in the tabernacle.
When God set out his design and put on display in shadow and in type what now in reality we see in Christ in glory, and by his atoning work and his enabling power, he fits a people for sanctuary experience that we might enjoy the presence of God in our gatherings and in our hearts.
So then coming to the tabernacle and to the lampstand which we've read about, we can apply it then and its teaching. First of all to the person of Christ, that's valid. We can apply it also to the church universal as a testimony in the age of grace.
We can apply it to the local assembly as a testimony in the locality. We can apply it to the believers own testimony in his life, personal testimony in the world, testimony to the fact that we are citizens of another country, not just Canada, not just the US, not just the UK, but a heavenly country.
And so Paul writes to the Philippines and says that outpost of Rome, remember it was a Roman colony, that ye may be blameless and harmless the sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse generation among whom ye shine as lights in the world holding forth the word of life as a testimony to the spoken word and the written word of God and what it forms in our lives and in our testimony.
Now I hope that's helpful but let's come to the lampstand itself from chapter 25 of Exodus. Israel has received instructions for the tabernacle in Mount Sinai as we mentioned through Moses according to the pattern that God showed to him in the mount.
Chapters 25 through 40 will cover the details that have been given. We find that seven times over we have these words, the Lord speak unto Moses saying. Seven times over you have direct statements like that that are given to Moses concerning what God required for the tabernacle.
So the number seven is interesting, it suggests to us there was a fullness of instruction. There was enough given by the Word of God to get the job done, to build something that would be a house for God to dwell in amongst his people.
You know when we come to the New Testament we think of a New Testament assembly. I hope we are convinced of this brethren and sisters that there is enough instruction in the Word of God for us to form a testimony corporately to shine as a light in a dark place.
There's enough in the Word of God for that. We've been hearing about the attack of the enemy. You know that the number six is man's number and it's interesting in the book of Exodus just as you go through it, mention this in passing, but the sixth time that we have the Lord speak unto Moses saying immediately you have the attack of the enemy and you have them worshiping the golden calf.
After the six days of creation you have the attack of the enemy too don't you? And here it is again in the book of Exodus after the sixth time God said that we have the golden calf narrative in chapter 32.
What we learn is this, that Satan will always seek to corrupt what is for God. The golden calf was ground to powder and that's what God is going to do a false religion to. Remember the words of the Lord Jesus he said whosoever shall fall on this stone shall be broken but on whomsoever it shall fall it will grind him to powder and that's ultimately what's going to happen to false religion in this dispensation at the end of the dispensation of grace.
Now when we think of the lampstand as relating to Christ we remember that Christ is the light, that Christ is the light, the light of testimony for God. That lampstand stood in the holy place where there were two other articles of furniture.
There was the table and the table reminds us that Christ is the bread of life. So not only have we the thought of light we have the thought of life in the holy place. Then there was the golden altar of incense where the incense was burned and that would speak to us of that fragrance that goes up to God regarding Christ, Christ in his devotion to God.
He was fragrant ever to God. Christ in his devotion, his love. So in that holy place we have three articles of furniture that speak to us of light, of life, and of love. I find it interesting too when you come to 1st John where John will focus upon fellowship with God.
If you have read Mr. Gooding's commentary you'll notice that he points out those three cycles that go through the epistle circling around the truths of, number one, truth, and then you have the thought of love, and you have the thought of righteousness.
Three times, truth, love, and righteousness. Three cycles. And in each part of the epistle in cycle number one the theme is this, fellowship with God in the light. Remember chapter one? Fellowship with God in the light.
In the second cycle as he goes through it the emphasis is upon this, family likeness from being born of God. Family likeness of being born of God. That which is born of God is life and is living and evidences the life of God.
Something wrong if it doesn't. And then thirdly in the third cycle you have fellowship with one another being the theme, and of course John will emphasize the truth of love. Love is an evidence between brethren and sisters.
So we have the thought of the lampstand radiating the light. I want to think for a moment of its formation. Notice verse 31. The Lord said to Moses, thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold. Of beaten work shalt the candlestick be made.
His shaft, his branches, his bowls, his buds, his flowers shall be of the same. So this candle, say this lampstand, was made of pure gold. Not just gold, but pure gold. Gold speaks of deity and I take it when it is emphasizing pure gold it is the purity of deity to be consistent.
In other words, holiness is being emphasized. Pure gold. The holiness of Christ in his essential being and in his person. This I understand from helps it was about 114 pounds, but 114 pounds is a talent weight.
The ark and the table and the golden altar of incense, they were all given dimensions, but no dimension here for the lampstand, just its weight. Approximately the size of that lump of gold, in terms of 114 pounds of pure gold, would measure about seven inches by seven inches by three and five eighths.
You can look it up. That's four standard bars of gold or thereabouts. It's not very big is it? Piece of material seven inches, you know, by seven inches, by three and five eighths. Why? And from that piece of material, this lampstand was to be formed.
Just its weight is given. When we come to the book of Revelation, in those first three chapters, each assembly is viewed as a golden lampstand, representing its testimony for Christ in this world. And we might say this, that the size of an assembly is not so much important as its weight in testimony in the community.
We can learn that from the lampstand. Of beaten work shall the candlestick be made. Now that's amazing. It wasn't cut with a saw. It wasn't chiseled with a chisel. But it was formed by beaten work, by power and by pressure being applied repeatedly, consistently, by spirit-filled men guided by the Spirit of God.
Not just one big crashing blow to accomplish the forming of the lampstand, but careful, repetitive, you might almost say boring kind of work of tapping out and forming this lampstand in all its beauty with all its little features to hold the seven lamps.
Fascinating, really, to think of that. While we were in Israel at the Temple Mount Institute, they have various articles constructed already for a third temple. And the one thing that was glaringly obvious was the absence of a lampstand.
And I asked the guy that was giving the talk, I asked him, where's the lampstand? He said, well, we've tried to make it, but we haven't been able to because when you get pure gold, it's a very soft metal, and it's very heavy.
And when they get the arms up, you know, the branches, they just droop down. They're so heavy and not strong enough to hold itself up. What do they need? They need spirit-filled men, you see. And they don't have that yet.
The nation is in unbelief. So they can't build the lampstand as yet, I understand. So, beaten work. It would speak to us of suffering, wouldn't it? Beaten work. I think of the blows that were required to form the church, which is his body.
And upon the cross, the Savior suffered. Suffered at the hand of man, suffered at the hand of God, and where the one ends and the other begins, I do not know. But it was all required in God's plan. The church, which is his body.
When you apply it to the local assembly, there will be spiritual men that will be needed for that careful, delicate work, too, won't it? Men who will bring the Word of God to bear upon the saints with a balanced, consistent ministry.
And it might need repeating from time to time. It'll not be accomplished by just taking a big sledgehammer and hitting at one almighty thump. That'll do more harm than good, won't it? But careful? Well, it was definitely a work of art.
Artistic in its care to form this lovely lampstand for God. You know, really, when you think of it, the assembly is reflecting something of the person of Christ in a locality. The Lord Jesus was marked by grace and truth, wasn't he?
Wasn't all truth. All about him was truth. But there was more than just truth. There was grace, too. And that grace and truth perfectly blended, perfectly balanced in the person of Christ. You could have all truth in an assembly and have a legalistic type of company.
You get the thought. Or all grace, on the other hand, would lead to a liberal sort of a company. But what represents Christ is marked by balance and marked by even-handedness in the things of God. We can apply it as well to personal testimony.
Am I as a believer, am I conscious of the power and the pressure of the Word of God as it applies to my heart? Is it transforming my life that I might shine brightly as a testimony for God in this dark world?
That's what we've been hearing already at the conference. How do we let that Word of God in all its power, how do we let it apply to our hearts? Just talking at lunchtime, how God will teach us certain things.
You know, pretty soon you find yourself feeling in that exact same area. And you have to come back to the Word of God and get re-taught all over again. Time and time again, how patient our God is. What's he doing?
He's forming in us something that will radiate a testimony for his glory of his saving and keeping power. We can apply it to ourselves personally. Now, you'll notice that this lampstand was an appearance very much like an almond tree, and you can link that with the book of Genesis to the Garden of Eden.
I'll leave that for you to beat out yourself. The similarities between creation and the tabernacle, it's all in the ways of God. But here we have the light of divine truth, and it is being portrayed in the form of a tree that is burning fruit, an almond.
So it's the thought of fruitfulness. So notice you got light, you got something representing life, and you've got something now that is speaking to us of fruitfulness. And that's what God is looking for in our lives as well, that we might be fruitful for him.
I think of what God is doing in the ultimate sense as he is gathering a people for his name, ultimately to be in heaven. You remember that Christ is the first fruits. We had this in Blue River. Christ the first fruit, afterward they that are Christ at his coming.
So think of the fruitfulness that comes from Christ, the one who radiated a testimony for God like none other, of whom this lampstand principally speaks to us. And the fruitfulness that he will bring in, as believers will follow in the great resurrection to come.
That will usher us into his kingdom, and you and I then will be seen in a light that will be determined by how we shone down here, here and now. I take it that the degree of reflected glory in that coming day that will be seen in us will be measured by how we have shone down here.
So how we shine now will determine how we will shine then. How much has really been for his glory, how much has been really for Christ. Now the function of the lampstand, not only its formation, but I want you to think of its function just for a moment.
It was to give light in the holy place. There were seven lamps and those seven were to give light in singular over against it. So literally the lampstand was to shine upon itself is the idea. The light would shine on all the beauties of the pure gold of the lampstand itself, setting it out in its artistic detail and its golden radiance right there in the sanctuary.
The Levites never had the privilege of looking on it, never did. When it came time to move the tabernacle, the priests would go into the holy place and they would take the coverings and they would put it upon the lampstand.
And then eventually when the tabernacle is taken down, why the only thing that would be visible would be the coverings that were on the lampstand. And I can imagine those Levites, you know, on the road through the wilderness approaching a priest and saying to him, are you one of the men that covered the lampstand?
I am. Well, he said, could you tell me a little bit about it? He said, what does it look like? I've never seen it. What does it look like? Oh, that priest, he would smile and he would say, it's absolutely radiant.
When you see the lights burning, the lamps burning and that light radiating out from that golden lampstand in the golden light of the sanctuary, it is absolutely beautiful. It is radiant for God. You know, when it comes to the assembly, the radiance of the assembly is only seen as it shows forth the Lord's character in a neighborhood, in a locality.
We need to remember that. We are to represent him. And our fidelity to Christ will be that which will gather us with the other saints to meet in his name as a testimony to him in this dark world. There may be many things that attract people to a local assembly.
It might be, for instance, friendship. It might be family. It might be even that people are followers of men. But you know, the only thing that will really keep believers in a local assembly is not friendships because they can fail, not family because they can fail too, and not merely following men because men will fail too.
But if each one of us had a grip of this in our hearts, fidelity to Christ, faithfulness to Christ, and that when the people gather together according to the pattern set out in the New Testament, we gather together in his name, it is to express faithfulness, fidelity to Christ, and to function for him in this dark world in which we live.
Now, more could be said. There's the fluid of the lampstand. That's the oil speaking to us of the energy and power of the Spirit of God. I'm going to leave that. Let me come to its fitness for a moment, its fitness, and then I'll sit down.
You'll notice that the lampstand was made of gold, but also there were items that were accompanying the lampstand, such as the tongs and the snuff dishes, and therefore the snuffers as well. We'll find that in the morning and in the evening, the priest would come in and use the snuffers to carefully go over to the lamps and trim the lamps and trim off the dark, charred piece of wick.
That would become smoky. That would become stinky and not suited for the sanctuary. It would be removed. He just didn't take that then and discard it and throw it on the desert floor to be walked on and trampled on.
No, God had provided that along with the golden lampstand and the tongs, there were snuff dishes, some kind of little bowl, and the priest would come with the tongs and lift that piece of charred wick that had been trimmed and place it carefully in the snuff dish.
How careful is the detail that God has given for his house? What's it teaching? Well, there is in God's assembly the work of the overseer, the teacher and the minister of the word, to adjust the light of testimony by bringing the word of God to bear.
We've thought of that. There is also at times the sad necessity of discipline to be exercised in God's assembly, and I want to remind our hearts that when that is carried out according to the word of God, that is something that is sacred to God.
It was a golden snuff dish into which that trimmed wick was placed. It was precious to him because it spoke of that which was being sanctified to shine the brighter for God. So when discipline is carried out in an assembly that is not to be gossiped about, I would take it, sacred to God, not to be advertised, not to be fought over, that action is sacred to God and that assembly is accountable to God for the action that they have carried out.
Personally then, applying it personally, when God takes a dealing with us and he's dealing with dross in our lives, isn't it good to know that when we fail, God just doesn't take us and throw us on the trash heap to be trampled under.
No, that little piece of charred wick is taken and put in the golden snuff dish, so that all that is of dross in our lives is a process that God will remove in the process of his discipline and he will not just jettison us, but he will regard that as something necessary for our sanctification.
What for? That you and I might shine the brighter for him in our remaining time here on earth. Precious to him. I'll note this in closing. When those lamps were trimmed, you know what it is when you have an oil lamp that has grown black and charred, starts to get smoky, and that smoke stinks, and olive oil, when it's burning and smoky, stinks.
But when the lamps were trimmed in the morning and in the evening, that was the times when, over there in the golden altar, the priests would take that incense and it would be burned upon the golden altar.
The sweet aroma of Christ rising before God. And you see, there it is again. That's what God has in mind as he deals with dross in our lives, and things that would stink, and things that are not going to shine brightly for him.
With his discipline, he's producing in us something that has the sweet aroma of Christ that brings delight to his heart. So you and I, brethren and sisters, we're called to shine in this world. May we be exercised in our testimony, in the assembly, and personally to reflect the beauty of his character, the beauty of our Savior, until we actually see his face in the golden light of the heavenly sanctuary.