Will you please turn to the book of Exodus? Exodus 25. We are reading from verses 31 through 40.
And thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold: of beaten work shall the candlestick be made, even its base, and its shaft; its cups, its knops, and its flowers, shall be of one piece with it.
And there shall be six branches going out of the sides thereof; three branches of the candlestick out of the one side thereof, and three branches of the candlestick out of the other side thereof:
Three cups made like almond-blossoms in one branch, a knop and a flower; and three cups made like almond-blossoms in the other branch, a knop and a flower: so for the six branches going out of the candlestick:
And in the candlestick four cups made like almond-blossoms, the knops thereof, and the flowers thereof;
And a knop under two branches of one piece with it, and a knop under two branches of one piece with it, and a knop under two branches of one piece with it, for the six branches going out of the candlestick.
Their knops and their branches shall be of one piece with it; the whole of it one beaten work of pure gold.
And thou shalt make the lamps thereof, seven: and they shall light the lamps thereof, to give light over against it.
And the snuffers thereof, and the snuffdishes thereof, shall be of pure gold.
Of a talent of pure gold shall it be made, with all these utensils.
And see that thou make them after their pattern, which hath been showed thee in the mount.
Shall we have a word of prayer?
Heavenly Father, we do thank Thee that, through the rent veil, Thou hast come out to us, and we are able to come into Thy very presence. O Lord, we do thank Thee that we are now in Thy presence.
We ask Thee, Lord, that Thou wouldst speak to us through Thy written Word, that we may hear Thy voice, respond to Thee, and be made to be what Thou wouldst have us be. May it all be to the praise of Thy glory.
Lord, we give this time back to Thee and ask Thee to bless it and use it. In the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
The burden that the Lord seems to have put upon my heart for our time together is the golden lampstand.
We know that, after God had delivered His people out of Egypt and brought them to Mount Sinai, He gave them the law. But after He gave them the law, He also gave them the vision of the tabernacle.
In other words, in that revelation of the tabernacle, God showed His people exactly what His purpose was for them. The tabernacle was given to the children of Israel for one purpose only: it expressed God’s desire to dwell among His redeemed people.
Without the tabernacle, God was not able to dwell with them; but through the tabernacle, He was able to make His home among His own. The tabernacle was built according to the pattern that God showed Moses on the mountain.
In other words, the tabernacle itself is only a shadow, a figure, a type, of the heavenly and eternal reality. The eternal will of God is to dwell among men. That is the eternal will of God.
The way for this will to be fulfilled is through the tabernacle. Yet, as we have said, the tabernacle is only a shadow or figure. In spiritual reality, God is able to dwell among His people only through His beloved Son, our Lord Jesus.
The tabernacle and all its furniture are types and representations of our Lord Jesus. It is through our Lord Jesus, God’s own Son, that God is able to dwell among us. This is the only way for God’s purpose to be fulfilled.
We know this very clearly because, when our Lord Jesus came into this world, John 1 says that the Word became flesh and dwelt among men, full of grace and truth. The word dwelt in the original is “tabernacled.”
In other words, the Word became flesh and tabernacled among men. And, of course, in that tabernacle there is the glory of God. God, in His Son, was now in this world among men.
If the tabernacle is a type of Christ, then all its furniture represents various aspects of our Lord Jesus. The golden lampstand is a representation of Christ Jesus as the Light of the world.
You remember that John 1 says, “In Him was life; and the life was the light of men.” He is the true Light that, coming into the world, enlightens every man. Our Lord Jesus is the Light.
But we also know that the church, which is in union with Christ, is represented by the tabernacle. What Christ is, the church must be.
In Matthew 18:20, it says, “Where two or three are gathered together unto My name, there am I in the midst of them.” Here are two or three—the minimum number of believers—coming together and putting themselves under the name of the Lord Jesus, that is, under His headship. The presence of the Lord is with them.
The church is that tabernacle in which Christ dwells and manifests Himself to this world. Again, in 1 Corinthians 14, when the church assembles and God’s people come together, an unbeliever or an uninstructed person who enters is judged by all. The secrets of his heart are exposed, and he falls down and worships God, declaring that God is indeed among them.
So, dear brothers and sisters, the tabernacle and all its furniture are primarily types of Christ; but secondarily, they are also types of the church and its various functions. The tabernacle represents the church.
The golden lampstand in the tabernacle tells us of one of the principal functions of the church upon this earth. During this time, we would like to focus on the golden lampstand and, by the grace of God, see the chief function of the church of God on this earth.
This morning we would like to share on the golden lampstand in the holy place, using Exodus 25 as our background.
When God revealed the tabernacle to Moses, He commanded Moses to build it. Outside the tabernacle was an outer court. The outer court was open. Although it was surrounded by curtains, there was no covering overhead, so the sunshine shone directly into it.
There, the one thing that catches our eye is the brazen altar, which speaks of the cross of our Lord Jesus—Jesus Christ and Him crucified. This is the message God gives to the world.
Anyone and everyone could enter into the outer court. Anyone and everyone can hear the message of the gospel of Jesus Christ; and by believing in Him, our sins are forgiven, we receive eternal life, and we are justified. In this sense, the outer court represents the world.
Within the outer court was the sanctuary, the tabernacle. The tabernacle was divided into two parts: the holy place, where the priests served, and the holiest of all.
In the holiest of all there was only one item: the ark, with its cover, the mercy seat. The glory of the Lord dwelt upon that mercy seat. Yet a veil separated the holiest of all from the holy place.
When the tabernacle was first set up, the glory of God came into the holiest of all and rested upon the mercy seat. But that glory was confined, as it were, within the holiest of all.
In the holy place, there were curtains and boards, and it was heavily covered. The sunlight could not enter. It would have been pitch dark, except for the golden lampstand.
Thus, the holy place was lighted by the light of the golden lampstand. In the outer court, there was sunlight—the natural light. In the holy place, there was the light of the golden lampstand. In the holiest of all, there was the glory of God.
But today, we know that the veil has been rent. When our Lord Jesus was crucified on Calvary’s cross outside Jerusalem, and when He cried, “It is finished,” the veil in the temple was rent from top to bottom.
Because the veil was rent, the glory of God came out from the holiest of all and filled the holy place. And, as we have seen, we can now enter within the veil and come into the very presence of God.
Today, the light upon the lampstand is none other than the glory of the Lord in the face of Jesus Christ. In 2 Corinthians 4, we are told that God, who said that light should shine out of darkness, has shone in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
The light upon the lampstand is the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. Or, to put it another way, the light upon the lampstand is the testimony of Jesus. The lampstand is the vessel of light. It holds up the light so that the light may shine and fill the house.
First of all, this lampstand is in the tabernacle, in the holy place. In other words, the church is in the world, but it is not of the world.
The tabernacle was within the court, yet separated from the court. So the church today is in this world, and yet it is separated from the world. It does not belong to the world.
Today, the church is in the world holding forth the testimony of Jesus, that the glory of the Lord in the face of Jesus Christ may be known by all. This is the mission and function of the church.
Whenever the church loses its separation from the world, it loses its testimony. In Revelation 2, in the letter to the church in Ephesus, our Lord Jesus said, “I know thy works.” Everything seemed to be right, but there was one thing against them: they had left their first love.
He said, “Repent. If thou dost not repent, then I will remove thy lampstand out of its place.” So, dear brothers and sisters, how important it is for us first of all to realize the place of the church in this world.
The church is placed by the Lord in this world, but it does not belong to this world. There must be a separation. Whenever that separation is lost, the testimony is lost. The light is gone, and the function is gone.
How we need to be before the Lord, that the church may continue to function as God has ordained it to be.
Secondly, consider the material. The golden lampstand was made of pure gold.
You notice that all the furniture in the tabernacle, except two items, was made of acacia wood overlaid with gold. The table of showbread was made of acacia wood, but overlaid with gold. The golden altar of incense was also made of incorruptible wood and overlaid with gold.
Even the ark in the holiest of all was made of acacia wood, overlaid inside and outside with pure gold. Thus, the furniture in the tabernacle was generally made of wood and gold.
Wood in Scripture speaks of human nature. It represents the human element. Yet it was incorruptible wood. Human nature today is corrupt, defiled, and fading; but in God’s original thought, there is a human nature that is incorruptible, undefiled, and unfading. It is represented by the acacia wood.
Gold in Scripture speaks of the divine nature. How glorious and weighty it is! It represents God’s nature. Thus, the furniture is a combination of wood and gold—a combination of the human and the divine, joined together by God.
But, strangely, there are two things made of pure gold. One is the mercy seat, the cover of the ark. The other is the golden lampstand.
We can understand why the mercy seat was made of pure gold. The mercy seat is a type of Christ. Romans 3:25 says that God set forth our Lord Jesus as the propitiation; but the word in the original is “mercy seat.” God set forth Jesus Christ as the mercy seat.
The ark, also, is a type of Christ. It reveals Him as Emmanuel, God with man. He was originally God; therefore there is gold within. Yet God came to become man; therefore there is wood in the middle. And He is still God; therefore there is gold without.
The ark speaks of our Lord Jesus as the only One in whom the commandment of God is kept. When the commandment of God was given to man directly, it was broken before it reached man. But it was preserved in the ark. Only Christ Jesus fulfills the law of God.
The cover of the ark is the mercy seat. On the basis of what He has accomplished, God is able to set Him forth as the mercy seat and to show mercy to us.
But the lampstand is a type of the church. When you think of the church, what is its composition? Surely, the church is both human and divine. If it is only human, it is not the church. If it is only divine, it is not the church. The church is a combination of the human and the divine.
Out of every nation, tribe, tongue, and people, God has called a people and gathered them unto Himself. He has put His own life in them, and His life has so transformed them that they are able to magnify and glorify God Himself. That is what the church is made of.
We may say that its composition is wood and gold—but wood, not in the corruptible sense. It is the new man, not the old man. The old creation has been finished on Christ’s cross, and there is a new creation.
Yet, in this new creation, there is still the human element. The divine is able to express itself through that human element. This is the composition of the church. We might expect the lampstand to be made of wood and overlaid with gold, but it is all of gold. There is no wood in it.
How are we to explain this? I do not know; I am trying, and if you are not satisfied, I will accept it.
So far as the person of our Lord Jesus is concerned, He is the Son of God and the Son of Man. He is Emmanuel, God with man.
But so far as His testimony to the world concerning His Father is concerned, it is pure gold. In the life of our Lord Jesus, we see nothing but God Himself. We see the Shekinah glory of God. There is nothing that belongs to this fallen creation in His testimony.
The testimony our Lord Jesus manifested was pure gold. The same is true of the church. So far as the composition of the church is concerned, there is the human element and the divine element. But so far as the testimony of the church is concerned, it is pure gold.
You cannot mix anything human into it. We do not preach ourselves; we preach Jesus Christ as Lord. This is our testimony.
To me, this probably explains the difference between composition and testimony. The composition is a combination of human and divine. Divinity is magnified through humanity. But, so far as the testimony is concerned, it is the pure light of God. There is nothing human in it.
This lampstand is made of pure gold because it is to be the vessel of light. It must have a suitability, a compatibility, with the light that it is going to uphold. That is what the church is.
Dear brothers and sisters, let us remember this: when we come to the matter of testimony, it has to be pure gold. We do not testify to anybody or anything other than the Lord Jesus. He is Lord. He is God. He alone is our pure testimony.
Today, we do acknowledge that even in the composition of the church, the human element often seems to be blocking, hindering, restraining, and imprisoning the divine life within.
When we come together, sadly, we often see more of men than of God. We see more manifestation of human character and nature than of divine nature. And, even more sadly, because human nature has not been dealt with, the corrupt human nature—the old Adamic life—still seems to come forth in the church.
When this happens, it affects the very testimony that the church is to hold before the world, because the lampstand has to be pure gold. May the Lord help us to realize how we need to be before Him and let the Word and life of the Lord do such a work in us that the pure testimony of Jesus may come forth.
Thirdly, this lampstand has a shape. It has a base, a shaft, and seven branches: the middle branch and three branches on each side.
It is a beautiful work. On each branch there is a cup like an almond blossom, then a knop, then a flower; then another cup, knop, and flower. It is an exquisite and beautiful lampstand.
The church, in God’s original design, is a beauty. It has a base and a shaft.
You remember 1 Timothy 3:15: the house of God is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. What is the church? The church is the ground and pillar of truth.
Truth here is singular. In other words, it is the sum total of all the truths that we find in the Word of God which constitute our faith. But it is more than the truths of our faith. It is living. The Lord Jesus said, “I am the truth.”
The church not only has all the truth of God and all the truths found in the Word of God; it is the ground and pillar of that testimony. The church also has a living faith—that is, a living Christ. A living Christ is what the church has.
Out of that base and shaft come seven branches. Seven in Scripture always speaks of perfection—perfection in this age. Perfection in eternity is twelve, but perfection in this age is seven. Here, then, is fullness and perfection.
In every branch there is a cup. What does the cup represent? Psalm 16:5 says, “The Lord is my chosen portion and my cup.” Psalm 23:5 says, “My cup runneth over.” In John 18:11, the Lord said, “The cup which the Father hath given Me, shall I not drink it?” And in 1 Corinthians 10, we read of the cup of blessing which we bless.
The cup in Scripture speaks of a portion, because the cup contains something. What is our portion? What is our inheritance? Thank God, the portion of our inheritance is none other than Christ Himself. He is our inheritance.
The cup is shaped like an almond. The almond in Scripture speaks of resurrection, because the almond is the first fruit to come forth after winter. The church is a new creation. It is on resurrection ground that we contain the fullness of Christ.
Ephesians 1:23 speaks of the church as the body of Christ, “the fulness of Him that filleth all in all.” The church is to be the fullness of Christ, but it contains the fullness of Christ on the ground of resurrection. Whenever we move away from the ground of resurrection, we lose that portion.
Out of the cup comes the knop. What is a knop? A knop is a concentration, a precipitation, a crystallization. Everything is crystallized, concentrated, and solidified.
First Peter 5:10 says that the God of all grace, who called us unto His eternal glory in Christ Jesus, after we have suffered a little while, will Himself perfect, establish, strengthen, and settle us. To Him be the dominion for ever and ever. Amen.
God has called us in Christ Jesus to His eternal glory. Dear brothers and sisters, our calling is a glorious calling. It is not a cheap or low calling. We are not merely called to be saved, to get out of hell and into heaven. We are called into His eternal glory.
Who can fathom the eternal glory of God? Yet that is what God has called us into. In order to enter that glory, today we have to suffer a little. Our present suffering is a light affliction, Paul says, and it works for us an eternal weight of glory.
To be called into eternal glory is not merely something that we enter into; it is something that must enter into us. Unless glory becomes our portion, we cannot enter into that glory, because it would be too much for us. We would not be able to stand it.
Therefore, suffering is good for us. God allows us to suffer a little today in order that we may enter into eternal glory. Through suffering, He is perfecting us, establishing us, strengthening us, and grounding us in Christ Jesus. That is the knop.
Too many believers are like liquid—fluid. We need to be solid, solid Christians. The church has to be solid. The character of our Lord Jesus must become our character.
It is not merely that, once in a while, the grace of God comes upon us and we manifest something of Christ. Dear brothers and sisters, the very life of Christ within us must be developed into character—solid character. The character of Christ must become our character.
These are like fruits with which God is satisfied. Then, out of the knop comes the flower. Usually we say that there is first the flower and then the fruit, but here there is first the fruit and then the flower. The character of Christ is developed in the church and in our lives.
Next, we see how this lampstand is made. The Bible tells us that the lampstand, together with its utensils, its snuffers, and its snuffdishes, was made of one talent of pure gold.
You have a talent of pure gold, and from that talent you make the lampstand and its utensils. But the way it is wrought is by beaten work.
Here is a mass of gold, and you beat it and beat it and beat it until, gradually, the mass of gold takes the shape of a lampstand. You continue to beat it until there come the branches, the cups, the knops, the flowers, and the lamps. It is a beaten work.
Our God is most patient. The longsuffering of God, the patience of God—I do not think anyone else has that kind of patience. But God does. It is a beaten work, not a molten work.
Do you remember when Aaron made the golden calf? It was a molten work. Aaron took the earrings and ornaments, melted them, made a mold of an ox, poured the gold into it, and out came the golden calf.
Man’s work and Satan’s work are always molten work. Molten work is mass production, because you can make a mold and reproduce it. But God’s work is singular. It is not mass production.
You may say, “Well, Aaron made only one golden calf.” But wait. When you come to 1 Kings 12, Jeroboam made two golden calves. He put one in Bethel and one in Dan to make it easier for the people to worship.
It began with two; then it could become twenty, two hundred, or more, because it is molten work. Dear brothers and sisters, God’s work is beaten work.
God is not time-conscious as we are. We want everything instant, everything quick, everything in mass production. But that is not God. Our God has eternity with Him. He is never in a hurry, and He does not like mass production.
Everything that comes out of God is unique. Think of yourself: you are unique. You are different from everybody else in the world—not only from those existing today, but from all who have existed since human history began. No one person is exactly like you.
You are not a molten work; you are a beaten work. Every person is different. God is unique, and He wants everyone to be unique. The same is true with the church. You cannot reproduce the church.
What is our problem today with Christianity? We try to reproduce the church. We think that we have found a mold in the New Testament, and we call it the New Testament pattern.
We study the book of Acts and the New Testament, and we say, “Have we not found the mold?” Then we take the mold in our hand, go wherever we go, and reproduce it.
But, brothers and sisters, that is not the church. God never reproduces anything. It has to be born. The church has to be born everywhere.
It was born in Jerusalem; it had to be born in Antioch. It was born in Antioch; it had to be born in Ephesus. If it was born in Ephesus, it had to be born in Santa Barbara. Wherever the church is, it has to be born. It cannot be reproduced.
Especially in our time, we think that we have the New Testament pattern; therefore, we can go out and make it work. But, brothers and sisters, you know the result: you build a golden calf, not the tabernacle of God. It becomes idolatry; it is not worship.
Well, the strange thing is this: do you think you need a little beating? Thank God, you are in the Lord. You have His life in you. That is precious.
But I believe that, sooner or later, you realize that even though you have that gold within you, there is a great deal of earth and much decayed wood.
In other words, you find that in you—that is, in your flesh—there is no good thing. Have you discovered that even after you are saved?
When you are first saved, you may think you are perfect now. You live in the third heaven. But I do not know how long you will remain there—perhaps a week, perhaps a month—and then you find yourself down on earth, doing the very same things that you did before.
Old habits seem very difficult to cast off. So, after you are saved, you soon discover that you are not all gold. There is much rubbish in you.
You may think it is only a little rubbish, and that if you can get rid of this little rubbish, all will be well. So you begin to deal with it. First, you deal with certain bad habits and outward things which, as Christians, you know you should not have.
After you deal with some outward things, you feel lighter and better. But unfortunately, as you grow in the Lord and more light shines upon you, you make a new discovery every day. It seems to take longer than you expected.
Then you begin to see that it is not only sins that need to be dealt with. You find that the world seems to have a hold upon your life. You thought that when you were baptized, you had died to the world.
But you find that you came out of Egypt, while Egypt is still within you. The Holy Spirit begins to remind you that this is the world.
You do not need anyone to tell you what the world is. The world is so intangible that you cannot simply itemize it and say, “Now this is the world; when I have dealt with every item, the world is gone.” You cannot do that. The world is quite intangible.
It seems to expand and extend all the time. Yet you find that the world has a claim upon your life—a touch, a hold, a grasp. The Holy Spirit begins to reveal it to you.
Thank God, the Holy Spirit is so patient. He does not reveal everything to you at one time, because if He did, you would perish. You could not stand it. He usually reveals one thing at a time, just to help you along.
Gradually, there is a beating here and a beating there. It is a little painful to the flesh, but He is good. Later, as you grow more in the Lord, you may find that sins are not the great problem, and even the world is not the great problem. But the self is the great problem: I, me, mine.
The Holy Spirit may not touch this self at the beginning, but the cross begins to work upon it. The beating grows more serious and harder. It is hard to die to the flesh.
Then you thank God and say, “Lord, it is necessary. I know it is necessary. In order to be pure gold, I need these beatings.” Blessed are you if you cooperate and do not resist.
If you resist, it only prolongs the time. God will not stop the beating; it only takes longer. Therefore, cooperate. You will not escape it anyway. If you try to evade it today, you will meet it tomorrow.
It is reasonable, because we know that this is not Christ. This is not pure gold. This is ourselves. We need to take such dealings.
But do you know that, in the work of the golden lampstand, the beating is not to beat out dross? It is already pure gold. The beating is upon the pure gold.
Does pure gold need beating? Does the divine life that God has given us need beating? That seems very strange, does it not?
But, dear brothers and sisters, it is true. You may have that gold within you, but there is no shape, no building, no working, no beauty. In order to have shape, it needs to be beaten.
Even the life of Christ in us needs to be fitted—not only individually, but fitted together.
If you read 1 Corinthians, you find that the Corinthian believers needed many beatings, and they deserved them. Paul’s remedy for them was the cross: “I determined not to know anything among you, save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.”
They needed the cross to work in their lives, because they were a mixture: a little of Christ, but much of themselves. They were carnal, not spiritual. That is 1 Corinthians.
But when you come to 2 Corinthians, you still find beatings. The apostle Paul received many beatings. Why? Because he had to bear in his body the dying of Jesus, in order that the life of Jesus might be manifested in others.
In 2 Corinthians, here is a man in Christ, a man who received great revelations. Yet God allowed Satan to attack him with a thorn in the flesh. That thorn was a stake, not merely a needle. It kept him humble, lest he should boast in the revelations the Lord had given him.
In his weakness, the power of God was manifested. He was being made a builder, a master builder, of the house of God.
Brothers and sisters, this is perhaps something we do not expect. But through all this, the church may be formed according to God’s original design.
When we are together, how the Holy Spirit uses the cross to beat us together. Even the life of God, the grace you have received, and the gift God has given you—all these need to be regulated, disciplined, and brought under the control of the Head.
This is the only way that we can truly be fitted together and minister one to another. Remember, God is not seeking spiritual giants. He is not seeking to produce one piece of gold, and then another piece of pure gold.
That is not what God wants. Spirituality is not the goal; spirituality is the process toward the goal. God wants a lampstand. He does not want spiritual giants here and there.
Often we find spiritual giants, those with great spiritual gifts. On the one hand, they seem to be building the church; on the other hand, they may destroy the church more than anybody else.
The more spiritual God’s people become, it sometimes seems that the less able they are to work together with other people. You may go among God’s people and find that they all love the Lord. Individually, they all seem spiritual. Yet they cannot live together, talk together, or work together.
Why? They think they have a right because they have received beatings and all the dross has gone. But, dear brothers and sisters, even that gold in you, even that divine life of Christ, even that gift which the Holy Spirit has given you, and even the grace you have experienced, need to be beaten together with your brothers and sisters.
Sometimes you have to learn not to be high-minded, but lowly minded. You have to come down, as it were, to the level of your weak brothers and sisters in order to help them.
Remember Caleb and Joshua. They could have entered into the promised land thirty-eight years earlier than the rest of the people. Yet they wandered in the wilderness with the people and entered forty years later with a new generation. That is beating.
The more spiritual we become, sometimes the more we look down upon our brothers and sisters. We feel that they are not what they should be. We are not able to come alongside them, minister to them, and serve them with humility and lowliness.
That is the trouble with the church today. So, dear brothers and sisters, if you think you are spiritual, then all the more you need to take many beatings. You need the cross to work in your life so that you are willing to lay down your spirituality and come to serve your brothers and sisters.
Because you run fast, your brothers and sisters may not be able to follow you. You must not say, “Let them die.” No. Try to be with them and help them along. That is beating.
It is only through this love that the church takes shape. We ought to be beaten into shape.
Why is it that today we do not see the church as we ought to? We can see spiritual people here and there, but we do not see the church. Why? It is because those who think themselves spiritual refuse to be beaten with their brothers and sisters into shape. May the Lord help us.
What is the function of a lampstand? The lampstand is a work of beauty. Our God is a God of beauty, but He is not merely ornamental; He is practical.
Though He made the lampstand so beautiful, it was not made merely as an ornament. It was put in the holy place for a purpose: that it might enlighten the place.
Suppose you put that beautiful golden lampstand in the holy place and do not light it. You have put it there only as an ornament. What happens? Not only is its beauty not seen, but all the other furniture in the holy place cannot be seen because it is pitch dark.
Everything is dark, and no priest can serve. The lampstand is functional. Even though it is beautiful, it is functional. It serves the purpose of holding forth the light and holding up the light so that the light may shine and fill the whole house.
Oh, brothers and sisters, is this not what the church is? The church is not the end; the church is the means to an end. The church is not the light; the church is the light-holder.
Sometimes we think the church is everything. No—Christ is everything. The church is the light-holder, a vessel of light. Its purpose and function are to hold forth the light so that the light may shine. That is the function of the church.
Why has God put His church in this world? It is for the purpose that the testimony of Jesus may shine, that the world may see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. That is what the church is for.
If the church is not conscious of its own beauty but only conscious of its function, you know what the result will be. When the light shines, the Bible says, it reflects upon the seven branches. In other words, the beauty of the lampstand is also seen.
Finally, we have spoken of the tabernacle and the lampstand in the tabernacle. This is true not only in Exodus; it is also true in the book of Hebrews.
Hebrews does not use the temple as its illustration; it uses the tabernacle. Why? The book of Hebrews is a book of the church in the wilderness.
The church is still in the wilderness. In the wilderness, you have the tabernacle. Only when you arrive in the promised land do you have the temple, which is permanent. That speaks of the millennium and eternity.
But today, dear brothers and sisters, the church is the tabernacle of God upon this earth. The church today is on a journey. We are in the wilderness. The world is a wilderness, and we are passing through it toward our final destiny.
As we pass through the wilderness, we are to magnify and manifest the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. This is our testimony to the world.
In order to fulfill this testimony, it is important for us to see that we must be a lampstand of pure gold. It is important for us to see how we need the discipline of the Holy Spirit and the work of the cross in our lives.
If we are willing to accept the discipline of the Lord, then God can use us, wherever we are, to be the golden lampstand holding forth the testimony of Jesus.
Especially in our days, we are in the last days. The coming of the Lord is near. When the night is dark, the need for the lamp is greatest.
This is the time when God must recover His testimony as the lampstand’s light. God must use His church to hold forth to the world, that the world may see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. So may the Lord help us. Shall we pray?
Dear Heavenly Father, we pray that Thou wouldst impress upon our hearts Thy desire to find a dwelling place among Thy people.
Even today, how Thou dost desire to dwell among Thine own, and to be manifested and magnified through Thy people, that the world may know the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.
We do pray that this may be our testimony. In the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.