As believers in Christ we need to enjoy and experience Christ in many aspects and in many ways for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ. The tabernacle in Exodus with all its furnishings is a type of our experience of Christ in a specific and detailed way for the building up of God’s habitation, the church.
In particular, the golden lampstand is a type of the Triune God and the church, and we can subjectively experience the detailed aspects of the golden lampstand so that we can have a God-man living and become the reproduction of the lampstand, the expression of the Triune God.
The lampstand is of pure gold, which shows us that we need to enjoy and partake of God’s divine nature (typified by the gold) in our daily life.
We need to exercise our spirit to receive and be filled with the Spirit (the Spirit is the nature of God’s person), we need to allow the Lord’s love to constrain us so that we live to Him and not to ourselves (love is the nature of God’s being), and we need to have a clear sky between us and the Lord to receive and live in His shining light (light is the nature of God’s expression). Daily we need to pay the price to gain more gold, that is, gain more of God in His divine nature.
Then, this gold needs to be “beaten together” into the lampstand, that is, we need to be built up with the saints and be blended together through the cross and by the Spirit so that we together may shine forth the light of God for His corporate testimony.
Today we want to go on and see more aspects of how we can and should experience Christ for the building up of the church as typified by the details and aspects of the golden lampstand.
Christ’s Divinity and His Light are Immeasurable, and His Humanity is Stable and Strong
The golden lampstand was designed by God and was made of one talent of gold (together with its utensils), but there’s no specification concerning the measurement or dimensions of the lampstand. This shows that the divinity of Christ (typified by the gold) and the light that He shines (typified by the lamps) are immeasurable.
Christ came to speak the word of God, and He gives the Spirit not by measure – the Spirit as the shining of the Triune God is immeasurable (John 3:34; cf. 7:18; 1 Cor. 2:13).
The lampstand’s base for stability and its shaft for strength signifies that the Lord Jesus was always stable and strong, and we as the church are being made the same as He is: strong and stable in the divine nature for God’s expression (see Matt. 8:24; cf. 2 Cor. 1:18; Rev. 1:9).
When the Lord Jesus was on earth, the disciples were the opposite to what He was: when He was sleeping in the boat in the middle of the stormy sea, they were panicking (Matt. 8:24), while when the Lord was in agony before the Father in the garden of Gethsemane, they were sleeping (Matt. 26:39-40).
We need to be not fickle persons but our being should be according to our preaching, and we should live what we speak – we speak the word of God, and our living should be matching this word, so that we may express Christ. We can do this because the Lord Jesus, who was always stable and strong, lives in us, and we can allow Him to live such a God-man life in us today.
Lord Jesus, thank You for giving us the Spirit not by measure! Hallelujah, the light that we receive from You and Your divinity are immeasurable, and we can enjoy You to the uttermost! Lord, thank You for being the strong and stable One in our spirit. You make us strong and stable to stand for God’s testimony, one with Christ in His humanity for God to have an expression on earth. Amen, Lord, live again in us a God-man life for the Father’s glory!
The Triune God is a Living, Golden Tree, Growing, Budding, and Blossoming in Resurrection
The lampstand was a piece of furniture in the tabernacle meant to shine light in the Holy Place, but its design was like no other lamp on earth: it had a base, a shaft, six arms, and each arm had cups, calyxes, and blossom buds (see Exo. 25:31).
The cups were shaped like almond buds, there were 25 almond blossoms on the lampstand, and the calyxes (the outer green leafy part of the flower, the flower bed) and flowers were under the blossom bods. Even though this was a golden lampstand, the shape and form and design is of a tree with branches, flowers, and buds – it’s a growing tree!
The lampstand’s having cups shaped like almond blossoms with calyxes and blossom buds signifies that the Triune God (typified by the lampstand) is a living, golden tree which grows, buds, and blossoms in resurrection. The cups were shaped like almond blossoms, signifying the resurrection life blossoming (see Num. 17:8; Jer. 1:11-12).
The golden lampstand is the expression of the Triune God, and the Triune God is a living tree, growing, budding, and blossoming in resurrection. The almond blossoms, as seen in the type of Aaron’s rod, signify resurrection life. Death cannot hold, touch, or damage the resurrection life; resurrection is the life that overcomes death without being damaged, held, or injured by death.
God is resurrection life, and He as a living golden tree grows, buds, and blossoms in resurrection to spread and increase in humanity and reach the entire earth for God’s expression!
What blossoms out of the lampstand – the “fruit” of this golden tree – is light. The expression of the life of God, which is the fruit of the Spirit, is light! In Eph. 5:9 we see that the fruit of the Spirit consists in all goodness and righteousness and truth; goodness signifies God the Father as the only One who is good, righteousness signifies Christ as the One who came to accomplish God’s purpose according to God’s righteous procedure, and truth signifies the Spirit as the Spirit of reality.
The Triune God is symbolized by the golden lampstand, and the fruit of this lampstand is the shining out of God, the Triune God shining out as goodness, righteousness, and truth to the entire universe!
Hallelujah, the Triune God is a living, golden tree which grows, buds, and blossoms in resurrection, and He has now reached us! The Triune God is shining Himself out as goodness, righteousness, and truth to the whole universe, and we are now part of this shining, growing, budding, blossoming, golden tree! Praise the Lord!
Christ as the Resurrection Life is Growing and Blossoming in us, by us, and with us!
If we would shine forth the light of life, if we would be the lampstand expressing the Triune God in His shining, we need to be in resurrection and not in our natural life (Phil. 3:10; S.S. 2:8-9, 14; cf. Psa. 73:16-17).
Sometimes we are introspective: we look into ourselves, we’re walled in by the self, and we examine and analyze ourselves, but we need to look away from our self to the mountain-leaping and hill-skipping Christ in resurrection! Look away unto Jesus, He will bring you into resurrection with Him to skip over every barrier and be one with Him as the crucified One by the power of His resurrection.
“The lampstand, of course, gives light. However, the first significance of the lampstand is not light, but life. The light is at the top of the lampstand and underneath this shining light are the blossoms. The lampstand is something that grows. The calyx under each pair of branches indicates the growth of life….Thus, with the lampstand we see the branching out of life which takes place under the shining of the light. Life grows out light and blossoms with light. This means that the light is actually the blossoming of life. When we grow and blossom, the light shines. Our blossoming is our shining. We grow with life, but we blossom out light.
As those who believe in Christ, we are a part of this wonderful tree. Realizing that I am part of this golden tree causes me to be beside myself with joy. Praise the Lord that we are parts of this tree in resurrection and with the divine nature, life, the Spirit, and the shining light!” (Witness Lee, Life-study of Exodus, pp. 1082-1084)
Christ as the resurrection life is growing, branching, budding, and blossoming in us, by us, and with us to shine the light (Col. 2:19). But how much light there can be in the church depends on the extent to which Christ has a way to grow in us. The more Christ grows in us and through us, the more He can shine through us.
Hallelujah, as those who believe in Christ, we are part of this wonderful golden tree in resurrection and with the divine nature, the divine life, the Spirit, and the shining light!
May the Lord grow in us day by day so that He may shine on us, in us, and through us with His light! When we experience His resurrection life and allow the Lord to grow in us, branch in us, bud in us, and blossom in us, He can shine in us, by us, and with us with the divine light for God’s expression!
Lord Jesus, grow in us and through us so that Your light may shine in us, with us, and through us to others. We want to look away from ourselves and unto You, the mountain-leaping and hill-skipping Christ in resurrection to be brought in resurrection with You and be one with You! Lord, may Your resurrection life operate in us and grow in us, branch in us, bud in us, and blossom in us to shine the divine light through us! Thank You Lord for making us a part of the living, growing, golden tree in resurrection with the divine nature, life, the Spirit, and the shining light!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, brother Ed Marks’ sharing in the message for this week, and Life-study of Exodus, msgs. 93-94 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Exodus (3), week 4 (week 28), The Intrinsic Significance, Subjective Experience, and Organic Maintenance of the Golden Lampstand for a New Revival.
- All Bible verses are taken from, Holy Bible Recovery Version.
- Hymns on this topic to strengthen this burden:
# There are seven golden lampstands in the nature all divine— / Nothing natural does the Body life allow. / When we’re one and share God’s nature, / how the lampstand then does shine— / Hallelujah, it is brightly shining now! (Hymns #1226)
# O Jesus Christ, grow Thou in me, / And all things else recede; / My heart be daily nearer Thee, / From sin be daily freed. / Each day let Thy supporting might / My weakness still embrace; / My darkness vanish in Thy light, / Thy life my death efface. (Hymns #395)
# Death cannot hold the resurrection life, / The more interred, the more it multiplies; / All kinds of suff’ring only help it grow / And fruits of life abundant realize. (Hymns #639)
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