NSM Article: Jesus and the Golden Lampstand

[NSMinistries]

Jesus and the Golden Lampstand

By R. Adam Quigley, Owner, Natural Spirit Ministries; and Gary Piper, Staff Administrator, Natural Spirit Ministries

Using detailed instructions from God Moses and the Israelites undertook one of the greatest tasks ever given to humankind to build a house for God’s Spirit to live. Because the Israelites were nomadic after the Exodus from Egypt the first House of God was in the form of a tent, which was called a Tabernacle. Later in their history the Tabernacle gave way to an intricately constructed Temple in Jerusalem, which eventually was completely destroyed.

Because of our developing relationship with God we know we cannot contain Him to the confines of any structure. Or can he?

The purpose of this article is not to go into detail of the design, the construction, and the destruction of either of the Houses of God just mentioned. Neither is its purpose to explore the ministries that took place in their walls. The purpose of this article is to examine symbolically one of their fixtures.

A room was built in the Tabernacle and the Temple called the Holy of Holies it was in this room where God made his home. However because of God’s ultimate Holiness the Holy of Holies contained no windows and was secluded by thick curtain. No one was able to enter with the exception of one priest, the high priest after a very long and laborious cleansing ritual for the Day of Atonement. (The cleansing ritual is written in Leviticus chapter 16 and is reprinted below) Having no windows and thick curtain the Holy of Holies was always dark. Therefore God gave Moses the following instructions.

31"You shall make a lampstand of pure gold. Of hammered work shall the lampstand be made, even its base, its shaft, its cups, its buds, and its flowers, shall be of one piece with it. 32There shall be six branches going out of its sides: three branches of the lampstand out of its one side, and three branches of the lampstand out of its other side; 33three cups made like almond blossoms in one branch, a bud and a flower; and three cups made like almond blossoms in the other branch, a bud and a flower, so for the six branches going out of the lampstand; 34and in the lampstand four cups made like almond blossoms, its buds and its flowers; 35and a bud under two branches of one piece with it, and a bud under two branches of one piece with it, and a bud under two branches of one piece with it, for the six branches going out of the lampstand. 36Their buds and their branches shall be of one piece with it, all of it one beaten work of pure gold. 37You shall make its lamps seven, and they shall light its lamps to give light to the space in front of it. (*Exodus 25:31 – 25:37 WEB) It is the symbolism of the above-described lampstand as it relates to my life that is the focus of this article.

According Jesus and the Apostle Paul we are temples.

Jesus answered them, "Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up." The Jews then said, "It has taken forty-six years to build this temple, and will you raise it up in three days?" But he spoke of the temple of his body. (John 2:19 – 2:21 RSV)

Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God? You are not your own; you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body. (1st Corinthians 6:19 – 6:20 RSV)

If what they say is true then somewhere deep within each of us there is a Holy of Holies where the Spirit of the Lord lives, grows, encourages, empowers us.

For the sake of this article let’s say our hearts are the Holy of Holies and because of our inability to understand God without some form of Light we would be in absolute spiritual darkness. Okay, lets bring in the Lampstand (please take notice of the use of the capital "L") and for the sake of this article say that it represents Jesus. Again Jesus spoke to them, saying, "I am the light of the world; he who follows me will not walk in darkness, but will have the light of life." (John 8:12 RSV)

First of all the lampstand was made of pure gold the dictionary defines pure as free of extraneous elements of any kind. The pure Spirit of God animated Jesus’ life and because he was free of sin he was also filled with purity. It’s also of significance that his earthly conception was also pure.

It is interesting to note that God commanded that the lampstand be made from one piece of gold. There is only one True Light in our world; there is only one Pure Revelation of God; there is only one Savior; there is only one Jesus!

The greatest disaster ever to befall humankind was our blandishment from the presence of God resulting from our sins.

Our need to be in the presence of God is the greatest need ever to haunt the emptiness of our lives. And in response to that greatest need God sent His Pure Only Begotten Son to be our Lampstand, to be our Light illuminating and unveiling the brokenness of our lives and at the same time re-creating in us the image into which we were first created.

But the symbolism of the Golden Lampstand does not end there. During earthly upheavals following Jesus’ resurrection the veil isolating the Holy of Holies was destroyed allowing the light coming from lampstand to illuminate the lives of all people who seen it. For us the opening of the Holy of Holies and the spilling of the Light symbolically represents the responsibility we have as Christians to reflect into the world the Light of the Golden Lampstand. For some people we may be their first encounter with Jesus, The Golden Lampstand.

You’ll notice from God’s instructions the golden lampstand was to be hammered. Since pure gold is soft it was easy for the goldsmiths to hammer the gold into the form specified by God. It is also interesting to note that hammering gold also is a way to compact it. This would have caused it to be heavy because such much gold was in a smaller form. Symbolically the depth of our relationship with the Golden Lampstand is hammered out of our everyday lives. We might add its amazing how even compacting such much gold into something such as a Lampstand shows us God’s love no matter how much its put into the body, or vessel as you will, it still is so much it overflows. Speaking only for ourselves that is very painful process yet we know with each blow of the hammer we are being formed into the image of Jesus. Many times his hammer strikes the hardened steel of the external covering of our hearts yet relentlessly his hammering never stops.

We at Natural Spirit Ministries because of our dedication to be a lampstand for Jesus seek to as perfect as we can make it possible for you to see through us and allow the One and Only Golden Lampstand to reveal to you the God who longs to walk and talk you as He did our ancestors Adam and Eve.

Grace and Peace,

Adam & Gary











Yahweh spoke to Moses, after the death of the two sons of Aaron, when they drew near before Yahweh, and died; 2and Yahweh said to Moses, "Tell Aaron your brother, not to come at all times into the Most Holy Place within the veil, before the mercy seat which is on the ark; lest he die: for I will appear in the cloud on the mercy seat.

3"Herewith shall Aaron come into the sanctuary: with a young bull for a sin offering, and a ram for a burnt offering. 4He shall put on the holy linen coat, and he shall have the linen breeches on his body, and shall put on the linen sash, and he shall be dressed with the linen turban. They are the holy garments. He shall bathe his body in water, and put them on. 5He shall take from the congregation of the children of Israel two male goats for a sin offering, and one ram for a burnt offering.

6"Aaron shall offer the bull of the sin offering, which is for himself, and make atonement for himself and for his house. 7He shall take the two goats, and set them before Yahweh at the door of the Tent of Meeting. 8Aaron shall cast lots for the two goats; one lot for Yahweh, and the other lot for the scapegoat. 9Aaron shall present the goat on which the lot fell for Yahweh, and offer him for a sin offering. 10But the goat, on which the lot fell for the scapegoat, shall be presented alive before Yahweh, to make atonement for him, to send him away for the scapegoat into the wilderness.

11"Aaron shall present the bull of the sin offering, which is for himself, and shall make atonement for himself and for his house, and shall kill the bull of the sin offering which is for himself. 12He shall take a censer full of coals of fire from off the altar before Yahweh, and two handfuls of sweet incense beaten small, and bring it within the veil: 13and he shall put the incense on the fire before Yahweh, that the cloud of the incense may cover the mercy seat that is on the testimony, so that he will not die. 14He shall take some of the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it with his finger on the mercy seat on the east; and before the mercy seat he shall sprinkle some of the blood with his finger seven times.

15"Then he shall kill the goat of the sin offering, that is for the people, and bring his blood within the veil, and do with his blood as he did with the blood of the bull, and sprinkle it on the mercy seat, and before the mercy seat: 16and he shall make atonement for the Holy Place, because of the uncleanness of the children of Israel, and because of their transgressions, even all their sins; and so he shall do for the Tent of Meeting, that dwells with them in the midst of their uncleanness. 17There shall be no one in the Tent of Meeting when he enters to make atonement in the Holy Place, until he comes out, and has made atonement for himself and for his household, and for all the assembly of Israel.

18"He shall go out to the altar that is before Yahweh and make atonement for it, and shall take some of the bull’s blood, and some of the goat’s blood, and put it around on the horns of the altar. 19He shall sprinkle some of the blood on it with his finger seven times, and cleanse it, and make it holy from the uncleanness of the children of Israel.

20"When he has made an end of atoning for the Holy Place, the Tent of Meeting, and the altar, he shall present the live goat. 21Aaron shall lay both his hands on the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions, even all their sins; and he shall put them on the head of the goat, and shall send him away into the wilderness by the hand of a man who is in readiness. 22The goat shall carry all their iniquities on himself to a solitary land, and he shall let the goat go in the wilderness.

23"Aaron shall come into the Tent of Meeting, and shall take off the linen garments, which he put on when he went into the Holy Place, and shall leave them there. 24Then he shall bathe himself in water in a holy place, and put on his garments, and come out and offer his burnt offering and the burnt offering of the people, and make atonement for himself and for the people. 25The fat of the sin offering he shall burn on the altar.

26"He who lets the goat go for the scapegoat shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp. 27The bull for the sin offering, and the goat for the sin offering, whose blood was brought in to make atonement in the Holy Place, shall be carried forth outside the camp; and they shall burn their skins, their flesh, and their dung with fire. 28He who burns them shall wash his clothes, and bathe his flesh in water, and afterward he shall come into the camp.

29"It shall be a statute to you forever: in the seventh month, on the tenth day of the month, you shall afflict your souls, and shall do no manner of work, the native-born, or the stranger who lives as a foreigner among you: 30for on this day shall atonement be made for you, to cleanse you; from all your sins you shall be clean before Yahweh. 31It is a Sabbath of solemn rest to you, and you shall afflict your souls; it is a statute forever. 32The priest, who is anointed and who is consecrated to be priest in his father’s place, shall make the atonement, and shall put on the linen garments, even the holy garments. 33Then he shall make atonement for the Holy Sanctuary; and he shall make atonement for the Tent of Meeting and for the altar; and he shall make atonement for the priests and for all the people of the assembly.

34"This shall be an everlasting statute for you, to make atonement for the children of Israel once in the year because of all their sins."

It was done as Yahweh commanded Moses.

(*Reprinted from the World English Bible available at http://ebible.org/bible/web/)

[DantheRM]

great analogy on a topic rarely discussed pertaining to New Testament and Old Testament Scripture.

You may want to edit that last sentence if you notice you left out a word if you submitted it this way to NSM:

We at Natural Spirit Ministries because of our dedication to be a lampstand for Jesus seek to as perfect as we can make it possible for you to see through us and allow the One and Only Golden Lampstand to reveal to you the God who longs to walk and talk you as He did our ancestors Adam and Eve.

Grace and Peace,

Adam & Gary

"talk ____ you" talk to you... no biggie.

Have a good one.

[NSMinistries]

thanks for the catch...