"BURN BRIGHTLY"
Exod 25:31-32 And thou shalt make a candlestick [of] pure gold: [of] beaten work shall the candlestick be made: his shaft, and his branches, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, shall be of the same. And six branches shall come out of the sides of it; three branches of the candlestick out of the one side, and three branches of the candlestick out of the other side:
Exod 25:37-38 And thou shalt make the seven lamps thereof: and they shall light the lamps thereof, that they may give light over against it. And the tongs thereof, and the snuffdishes thereof, [shall be of] pure gold.
Pure gold candlesticks were to be made as part of the furniture of the Tabernacle of Moses.
One staff with six branches protruding from the sides.
John 15:5 I am the vine, ye [are] the branches: He that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing.
Jesus said He is the vine, the main staff.
We are the branches.
Six branches.
Six is the number of man.
Man was created on the sixth day.
That is why the mark of the beast (man-worship) is 666.
Jesus is the vine in the middle.
Six branches on the vine makes a complete unit of SEVEN.
Seven always meant "complete" in the Bible.
Without Jesus we are incomplete.
The candlestick was of "beaten work."
The gold was not melted and poured into a mold.
It was hammered and beaten.
Without this candlestick, one could not have light to see while in the Holy Place of the Tabernacle.
Jesus was "beaten" and wounded for our transgressions.
He was whipped and buffeted.
And because of that we can see His light.
We can be branches in Him.
He said, "I am the light of the world" (John 9:5).
And He also said, "Ye are the light of the world" (Matt 5:14).
He and us together are vine and branches giving light, like the candlestick.
The lamp is Jesus Christ.
Each lamp had WICKS on them.
Olive Oil was added to the wicks, and the fire burned the olive oil.
The Olive Oil and the Fire speaks of the Holy Ghost.
The gold is Jesus Christ.
But there are the wicks.
What does the wicks represent?
YOU AND I.
The oil would saturate the wicks.
Literally, the wicks were immersed, or baptized (Greek meaning of baptized is "immersed").
The wick is soaked in oil.
That would allow the oil to burn on the wicks.
God created man to be baptized with His Spirit.
And we are meant to be set ablaze with the fire of His Holy Spirit.
There is a lesson to learn in the picture of the wicks.
When such oil is all over a wick, the part that burns is the oil.
But the wick carries the oil.
And the wick CHARS in the process.
The wick keeps charring until the fire cannot burn brightly any more.
The Pure Olive OIL is not the problem.
The Pure Gold is not the problem.
As the wick chars, impurity collects.
WE, the wicks, ARE THE PROBLEM.
The lamp may be pure gold.
The oil may be pure olive oil (Ex. 27:20).
But a charred wick stops the light from shining.
Instead of light, a charred wick causes smoke and an odour to fill the room.
So the wick had to be dressed.
Exod 30:7 And Aaron shall burn thereon sweet incense every morning: when he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it.
The lamp actually went out in Eli’s day.
1Sam 3:3 And ere the lamp of God went out in the temple of the LORD, where the ark of God [was], and Samuel was laid down [to sleep];
The priests were supposed to extinguish the lamp in the morning with snuffers.
They would trim the lamps.
The ashes and the char from the wicks were carried away in golden dishes.
And a fresh new supply of oil was applied at the same time.
The Bible mentions snuffers and snuffdishes.
Exod 37:23 And he made his seven lamps, and his snuffers, and his snuffdishes, [of] pure gold.
Natural light is not in this holy place.
Only unnatural light from the candlesticks.
The holy place where the candlesticks were, was a room to be traversed immediately before one entered the Most Holy Place behind the veil, where God’s Presence actually dwelt.
There is a message here.
As you come near to God, you need illumination from His Spirit because natural illumination (opinions of God) cannot help you.
The wicks were then lit in the evening time.
Then extinguished again in morning.
Tongs removed the charred matter.
Tongs lifted up the wick to a fresh position for the oil and the fire to burn upon them brightly again.
Repentance.
We char and become impure as we continue our lives, so we require repentance in order to be lifted up to where we belong.
We repent so that we can burn brightly again.
Repentance removes our charring corruption that sneaks up on us all in a world where there is so much sin.
You are meant to be the light of the world.
You participate through doing your part and staying clean of char.
God does His part and sends His Spirit to us, and fire comes upon us.
The oil flows through us.
But we must keep ourselves in the right place.
An odour and smoke result if we are not in the right place.
Don’t be too proud.
A wick that is raised too high than it should will cause more smoke than light.
And don’t condemn yourself either.
A wick that is too low than it should be will either have the fire extinguished or cause a bad odour to fill the room.
Trim the wick.
Smoke and odour and soot will be removed and the light will burn brightly.
Trim up before you go to bed and in the morning.
Matt 25:1-4 Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom. And five of them were wise, and five [were] foolish. They that [were] foolish took their lamps, and took no oil with them: But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
Here is a picture involving lamps and wicks.
Matt 25:6 And at midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him.
A cry was made for the virgins to meet the bridegroom.
Matt 25:7 Then all those virgins arose, and trimmed their lamps.
So they trimmed their lamps.
Why?
They had to have the lamps burning brighter than they were.
Trim the wicks.
Also time to put on more oil if necessary.
But the fools’ light burned out.
We must be the best believers we are able to be and receive the Spirit of God.
I cannot give you the grace that God gave to me.
You have to obtain grace from God yourself.
The wise could not give their oil to the fools.
When the fools could have bought more oil at the proper time, before the cry was made, they didn’t.
There is a proper time to ensure your fire is bright and will stay bright.
But it became too late for them to do so.
One man said, "The fools came looking for mercy when it was time for judgment."
The whole picture started out fine.
But the fools did not complete their parts.
They did not go all the way and ensure the fire keep burning.
We must prepare to go all the way with Christ, and not just start a journey with Him not considering the end and not ensuring we make it all the way.
Many start a christian life with no thought as to what they will do when persecution arises.
They take no thought about what they will do when hard times come.
Will they keep living for God?
They only take thought for a moment.
Their true commitment to Christ is not there.
Fire burns the wick, the wick is used up and char remains.
We cannot live and burn on what we did for God yesterday.
We may have kept ourselves trimmed yesterday, but became careless and are not presently keeping ourselves trimmed and brightly burning.
You are charred as you work for Him.
You WERE used by God, but you must cut off that part of the past and put yourself, like a wick, into the place to be used some more today.
On a vine, last year’s fruit grew on branches that must be trimmed off and removed in order to see more fruit this year.
The wood that bore the fruit will never bear fruit again.
We cannot live on last year’s dedication.
We must always be dedicated to God.
Always trimmed and ready to burn brightly.
The point is to burn on fire!
When that is desired, you are not concerned over a trimming.
We don’t like trimmings.
We tend to want to ride on an experience we once had.
It is not comfortable to think that what we once had is not good enough for today.
We must be in the proper place to burn right now.
As in the parable of the sower, the shallow ground represents the souls who are so excited about God at first.
But they stop serving God when trouble comes.
When your time comes to meet God, you should not have to buy oil, but you should be filled with oil and burning brightly.
We should not have to GET it, but should be USING IT already.
The fools had to have known the lamps were getting dimmer.
But they let it ride.
Do you know your lamp is dimmer than what it once was?
Do something about it!
Burn brightly!!!
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