What a privilege it is for us as priests to light the lamps in the Holy Place, in the meetings of the church, so that we may see the way into the Holy of Holies and to enjoy the different rich aspects of Christ with God!
This is both our responsibility and our privilege as New Testament priests of God; in the meetings of the church we need to exercise our spirit to light the lamps, and we will clearly see the rich and deep aspects of Christ in God, and we will be led into the shekinah glory of God, which is in the sanctuary of God.
God’s command to His priests in Exo. 27:20-21 was that the light will never go out; evening and morning, the priests had to add the oil and trim the wicks so that there would be light in the Holy Place.
Every evening and every morning we need to contact the Lord, allow Him to trim anything of the natural man and the flesh, and gain more oil, that is, be saturated with the Spirit more.
Lighting the lamps in the Holy Place is both an individual and a corporate matter; individually, we need to personally contact the Lord in an intimate way, enjoy Him, let Him deal with anything that His light exposes in us, and gain more of the Spirit.
Corporately, whenever we come together we need to exercise our spirit and cause light to ascend; we should not have meetings in darkness, neither should we allow anything of the darkness to remain in the meeting.
How can we cause light to ascend? Is it merely by making a lot of noise in the meeting or by praying much? Lighting the lamps is not an outward activity that we have to do but an inward reality that we have to enter into.
We need to enjoy the humanity of Jesus (as signified by the wicks) and be saturated with the Spirit of Christ (as signified by the oil), and we need to enjoy the divinity of Christ (as signified by the gold in the lampstand).
Christ went through a process of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection so that He may become the Spirit of Christ, the divine and mystical oil that can supply the lamps for the light to shine in the Holy Place.
Furthermore, light shines not merely from the divinity of Christ but from His uplifted humanity saturated with the Spirit; therefore, we need to eat the Lord’s humanity, experience Him in His humanity, and he saturated with the Spirit of Christ, so that light may ascend.
Everything we do in the Church Meetings should cause the Divine Light to Shine!
The priests had to light the lamps in the Holy Place, which was in the tabernacle, and the tabernacle as the Tent of Meeting was the place where God met with His redeemed people and spoke to them (see Lev. 1:1).
The tabernacle, therefore, refers to the meeting place of God with His people, which typifies the meeting of the church.
When we speak of lighting the lamps in the Holy Place, we actually speak of causing light to ascend in the meetings of the church. In the meetings of the church is where we have God’s speaking, His oracle; this is where the lamps are lit and where Christ is testified.
We should not despise the meetings of the church but cause light to ascend as we meet.
In typology, the lighting of the lamps points to the proper way to meet; everything we do in the church meetings – whether praying, singing, praising, or prophesying – should cause the lamps to shine (see John 1:6; Phil. 2:15-16; Eph. 5:8-9).
When we meet together, we should light the lamps in God’s sanctuary so that the divine light may swallow up the darkness.
Whenever we come together to meet as the church, that meeting is God’s dwelling place; our gathering is not merely a social gathering of believers in Christ – it is the sanctuary of God, the Holy Place.
No matter where we meet – whether in open air, in a room, in a large hall, or in the living room of the saints – as long as we exercise our spirit to light the lamps in the sanctuary, our meeting is the sanctuary of God.
If we see this, if we realise that our church meetings are the sanctuary of God where we can have His oracle, we will not meet in a natural way or in a secular way; rather, we will exercise our spirit and touch the Lord, and in everything we do in the church meetings we will cause the divine light to shine so that any darkness would be dispelled.
When we pray, light will shine; when we share something with the exercise of our spirit, light will ascend.
However, sometimes the more someone prays, the darker it gets, for they pray natural and mental prayers. Sometimes our singing in the meeting is just going through the motions, just singing along; this does not give light but rather brings in darkness.
We need to do everything in the church meetings for the lighting of the lamps, not allowing any dark part to remain in us and around us.
In our speaking, in our listening, in our praying, in our singing, and even in the practical things we do, we should exercise our spirit to contact the Lord to cause the divine light to shine.
We shouldn’t just do things or go through the motions; we shouldn’t just read and pray outwardly, but we should just give ourselves to enjoy the Lord, be filled with Him, and speak Him forth for the divine light to shine in the meetings of the church.
Lord Jesus, cause us to realise that the meetings of the church are the sanctuary of God, the place of God’s speaking and His testimony. Make us those who do everything in the meeting for the lighting of the lamps, that is, to cause the divine light to shine and swallow up the darkness. Oh Lord, may we be the priests of today who exercise their spirit and pray, read, sing, prophesy, listen, and do everything in the meeting for God’s light to shine and for His testimony to be expressed!
Lighting the Lamps to Enter the Holy of Holies and Enjoy the Depths of Christ in God
In Exo. 27:21 we are told that the lamps need to be lit and kept shining outside the veil which is before the Testimony. The lampstand was a piece of furniture not in the Holy of Holies but in the Holy Place.
For the most part, our meetings and our very being is not yet in the Holy of Holies; we are still in the Holy Place. Our gathering is in the Holy Place; our aspiration is to be in the Holy of Holies in God’s direct presence, having His glory shine in us and through us, but we still are in the Holy Place.
There still lies a veil separating the Holy of Holies and the Holy Place; behind this veil there’s the ark with the law of Testimony, which typify the hidden depths of Christ within God.
Even though we have the light ascending in the Holy Place, we’re still not in the Holy of Holies yet, but we have a view of the Holy of Holies and we aspire to enter there.
Our expectation is to enter into the presence of God and remain there, in His direct presence, to be with Him in the sanctuary of God. Every time we meet we are in the Holy Place to start, but in a good meeting, we always end up in the Holy of Holies.
Our meeting starts in the Holy Place, but it should end up in God’s presence where we are infused with His glory and have His testimony, being under His direct rule.
The light from the lamps enable us to see the different aspects of Christ, just as the light from the lights on the lampstand enabled the priests to see the different items of furniture in the Holy Place (1 Cor. 2:9-10).
Also, the light that ascends in the meetings of the church shows us the way leading into the Holy of Holies, into the depths of Christ within God.
By lighting the lamps in the Holy Place we can see the way leading into the Holy of Holies; by exercising our spirit in the meetings of the church and cooperating with the Lord for His light to shine, we have the way leading into the depths of Christ within God.
On one hand, when light shines in the meeting, we see the many different aspects of Christ; we see Him as our food supply (the bread on the table) and our light (the lampstand) and our intercessor (the golden altar), and we enjoy Him as such a One.
This is our testimony and experience in the church life: whenever the light shines in the meetings of the church, we see more and more aspects of Christ.
When the light shines in the church, we see the rich and wonderful aspects of Christ being expressed and highlighted, and they become our enjoyment and experience.
It is in the shining light in the meetings of the church that we realise that there’s a way into the Holy of Holies – there is a new and living way into the presence of God through the blood of Jesus Christ.
When the light shines, we can come forward with boldness to the throne of grace based on the blood of Jesus Christ, and we can enjoy the depths of Christ with God and in God.
But if there’s no light in the meeting, if the Lord doesn’t shine through the speaking, singing, and prayers of the saints, we don’t know where we’re going and what are we doing.
Without the enlightening, shining, and illuminating Word of God in the meetings, the saints don’t know where to go. But when the light shines, when we exercise our spirit to light the lamps in the Holy Place, we clearly see the way to the Holy of Holies to enjoy the depths of Christ with God.
In the divine light we are regulated and adjusted so that we can continue in our race, in our journey into the Holies of all.
Lord Jesus, it is our expectation that we would enter into the Holy of Holies to be in God’s presence, enjoying His speaking, and being in the shekinah glory of God. Bring us on, Lord, all the way into Your direct presence, under Your rule, into the place where You can speak to us face to face. Lord, may we exercise our spirit to light the lamps in the Holy Place, in the meetings of the church, so that we and all the saints would enjoy the rich aspects of Christ under God’s light, they would see the way to the Holy of Holies, and they would enter into God’s presence to enjoy the depths of Christ with God! Amen, Lord, we come forward with boldness to the throne of grace based on the blood of Jesus Christ so that we may enjoy the depths of Christ with God!
Read this article / sharing in the Romanian language / citiți acest articol în limba română via, Să aprindem lămpile pentru a intra în Sfânta Sfintelor și a savura adâncimile lui Cristos în Dumnezeu.
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Exodus, msg. 115 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallisation-Study of Numbers (1), week 9, Lighting the Lamps.
- Hymns on this topic:
# We have seen Christ is reality: / But it’s not sufficient just to see: / He in our experience must be / Everything to us. / We in prayer behold Him face to face, / In the Word and meetings know His grace; / But in daily life, in every place, / What is He to us? (Hymns #1178)
# The light which shines within the lamp / Is God as life, unique, divine; / The stand must therefore be of gold / To match the glory which doth shine. / Amid the darkness of this age / The light of life divine doth beam / In many centers of mankind / Where Jesus’ testimony’s seen. (Hymns #822)
# What we are, we’re the lampstand; / We’re the shining forth of Jesus. / In this world’s darkness, sin, and strife, / We’re holding Christ, the light of life. / We’re the lampstand, glorious. (Hymns #1279)
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