The Tabernacle in the Wilderness Series
#11 Our Only Source of True Light
The Golden Candlestick
Exodus 25:31-40, "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: Three bowls made like unto almonds, with a knop and a flower in one branch; and three bowls made like almonds in the other branch, with a knop and a flower: so in the six branches that come out of the candlestick. And in the candlestick shall be four bowls made like unto almonds, with their knops and their flowers. And there shall be a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, according to the six branches that proceed out of the candlestick. Their knops and their branches shall be of the same: all it shall be one beaten work of pure gold. 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. Of a talent of pure gold shall he make it, with all these vessels. And look that thou make them after their pattern, which was shewed thee in the mount."
In our last lesson we learned how the walls were constructed and the symbolic meaning of the shittim wood board, overlaid with gold, held together by silver sockets, gold plated wooden poles and solid gold rings. Now that we have laid the proper foundation and put the walls in place, and then hung the door, the curtains and the coverings in place; we can take the next step and enter into the Holy Place and draw ever nearer to the Shekinah of God upon the Mercy Seat.
Remember the path – from the only door into the “outer court”, representing Jesus Christ, who is the only “Door” into the Kingdom of God. Then to the Brazen Altar where we see Jesus’ sacrifice as our substitute “Perfect Lamb” who has shed His blood for us. Then we go to the Laver to be washed, cleansed and made ready by the Word of the Lord.
Thus far, everything that we have seen from the time we entered the Door has been on the outside of the Tabernacle. Though we may be within the protective walls of Salvation, we are still in the Outer Court. Sadly, that’s where many of God’s people remain for their whole life. They believe in Jesus. They believe that His blood was shed as a sacrifice for their sin. They believe that the Bible is true, but somehow they just never take their relationship with Jesus to the next level.
We sing that song sometimes that says this:
Take me past the Outer Court, To the Holy Place
Take me past the Brazen Altar, Lord I want to see your face
Take me past the crowds of people, and the priests who sing your praise
I hunger and thirst for your righteousness, but it’s only found One Place
Where is that place? What is it that we are really looking for? What should we be longing for most of all? We should be looking for that place where we can dwell in the very presence of God where we can feel his power and see His glory! We have to pay the price to be there. Entering into the Holy Place requires a lot more commitment than standing in the Outer Court. Every priest was under the Law, and all were careful to fulfill the law in performance of their duties. Any one of them could violate the Law and die instantly, but to enter into the Holy Place more was required. This was a place of honor and privilege and very few of the priests would serve in this capacity.
Are we willing to pay the price to be one of those chosen few who will enter into a deeper walk with the Lord? If you are ready, let’s step inside and see what happens next.
As soon as a priest would step inside the curtain into the Holy Place, he would be dazzled by a bright light that seems to come from everywhere at once. The pure Gold that covered every wall seemed to on fire with light and because of the continual reflection and refraction of light on every board, there was no dark place anywhere in this room. It was as though a “Bright Star” shone forth in the middle of the day inside the Holy Place.
2 Peter 1:19, "We have also a more sure word of prophecy; whereunto ye do well that ye take heed, as unto a light that shineth in a dark place, until the day dawn, and the day star arise in your hearts:"
The Apostle Paul experienced this “Brightness” in Acts 26:13, "At midday, O king, I saw in the way a light from heaven, above the brightness of the sun, shining round about me and them which journeyed with me."
We also know that the Antichrist will certainly be overwhelmed by this same “Brightness” in 2 Thessalonians 2:8, "And then shall that Wicked be revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming:"
Where did the bright light in this room come from? The priest would stand there for a moment letting his eyes adjust to the brightness. In a moment, he could begin to focus on the source of that light. It was a very large, solid Gold piece of furniture called the Golden Candlestick.
The term “Candlestick” is really a misnomer, because it really isn’t a candlestick at all. The proper term would be “Golden Lamp Stand”.
Most of us would picture the Golden Candlestick as a candelabra, with long white candles of wax, that were constantly in need of changing as they consumed themselves. But the Golden Candlestick, or Golden Lampstand, didn’t really have any candles on it at all. Instead, the light was the product of burning pure Olive Oil that would have to be constantly renewed by the priests who were assigned that job. They would also have to be constantly trimming the wicks on each flame to keep soot and ashes from contaminating the Olive Oil and dimming the light.
Because the candlestick was to burn continually before the Lord, it was necessary for the priests to replenish it with oil and trim its wicks twice daily, morning and evening. In all of its history of usage the Golden Lampstand was allowed only once to cease giving off its light and when it did go out, there was a very special reason for it.
1 Samuel 3:1-3, "And the child Samuel ministered unto the LORD before Eli. And the word of the LORD was precious in those days; there was no open vision. And it came to pass at that time, when Eli was laid down in his place, and his eyes began to wax dim, that he could not see; 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;"
1 Samuel 3:11-14, "And the LORD said to Samuel, Behold, I will do a thing in Israel, at which both the ears of every one that heareth it shall tingle. In that day I will perform against Eli all things which I have spoken concerning his house: when I begin, I will also make an end. For I have told him that I will judge his house for ever for the iniquity which he knoweth; because his sons made themselves vile, and he restrained them not. And therefore I have sworn unto the house of Eli, that the iniquity of Eli’s house shall not be purged with sacrifice nor offering for ever."
Eli’s sons were called “sons of Belial” meaning “Children of the Devil”. They were rank sinners trying to serve as the holy and anointed priests of the Tabernacle. They were hypocrites who desecrated the sacrifices and polluted the Tabernacle, disobeying the Law of Moses in so many ways. To make matters worse, their father, who was supposed to be a priest, allowed them to do so without correcting them. Since God would share his glory with no man, and would not honor their service, the Lampstand ceased to burn.
Is there any doubt that Jesus is represented in that Golden Candlestick? Jesus is the LIGHT OF THE WORLD! The Golden Candlestick represents Christ, and it represents the true church of God as well because we are but reflections of His light and glory.
God didn’t give any specific measurements to Moses for the candlestick just as He had done for the Brazen Laver. Why would God give such open-ended instructions?
The reason is that there is no way to measure of the power of the LIGHT OF GOD or of the power of GOD’S WORD. There’s no end to the amount of light that He can give, or that we may receive. There is also no limit to the power of the Light of God and His Word to reveal the sin within the hearts of men.
One thing that we must also note is that the Golden Candlestick was made of pure gold. There was no wood used at all. The gold of the Candlestick tells us that the Candlestick was all about God and God alone. Nothing of this earth, and nothing of man had any part in it for it represented the Glory of God in its purest form.
The candlestick is a symbol to us of the Lord Jesus as LIGHT OF THE WORLD. It also symbolizes the New Testament church because we are the bearers of His LIGHT to a dark and sinful world.
The Golden Candlestick and all of the instruments to be used in connection with it were made out of pure beaten gold. When gold is taken out of the earth, it is often very impure and fit for practically nothing. In order to make it useable it must pass through the purifying fires. It is at this point that the impurities are removed, for it is in the fires where that which is pure gold is manifested. After the gold is brought to this point it can be fashioned by a goldsmith. This process is also painful, for the gold must be hammered and beaten into shape. In the process of becoming pure and useful the gold has to go through a lot, but when the work is done, it is a thing of rare beauty and great value.
The process of purifying gold is represented in how God works in His church. God, by the Holy Spirit, is purifying and sanctifying His Church by means of fiery trials, testing and sufferings. All of this has a purpose to it. Through it all the Church will come forth as pure Gold and shine with the brilliance of God’s radiance to all the Earth. That process will intensify the closer we get to the coming of Jesus!
Of course, we are only experiencing the fellowship of his sufferings in a small manner. Jesus bore the worst of the fire when he took upon him the guilt of our sins. He felt the blow of the hammer and the burning of hot blood as it ran down his arms and back. He endured the testing and trials for us, and because of all of this, he has received all power in Heaven and in earth and is now the Light of the World.
The lampstand was made of one talent of pure gold, which weighed about 90 pounds. With gold selling at about $590 per troy ounce the cost of the gold in the Lampstand in 2006 would be about $16.5 Billion.
The Golden Lampstand was fashioned out of one piece of beaten Gold. It had a central shaft, or the Main shaft, which means "His thigh" in Hebrew. From this shaft proceeded six branches, three on either side of the main shaft. Counting the main shaft, then, there were seven branches in all. Under each pair of branches there was a “knop” or knob holding them up. There were a total of three such knops. At the top of each of the seven branches were wicks, soaking in pure olive oil from a reservoir at the top, that were burning continually and perpetually before the Lord.
The Shaft and the Branches make up one solid lamp and the scripture says that they are "HIS" shaft and "HIS" Branches. Who is He other than the LORD JESUS CHRIST!
The union between the branches and the shaft speaks to us of the union between the Church and Christ. John makes reference to this in the 15th chapter saying, "We are the branches, he is the vine." Just as the branches proceed from the side of the Shaft and Eve, the Bride of Adam, was taken from Adam’s side, so the Church, the Bride of Christ, is born out of the pierced side of Christ upon the Cross.
The ornamental design of the Candlestick consisted of three items - knops (almonds), flowers and bowls. In the language used in the text regarding these items we can see a similarity to that which happened when Aaron’s rod budded, flowered and brought forth almond fruit.
Numbers 17:8, “And it came to pass, that on the morrow Moses went into the tabernacle of witness; and, behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds.”
In the almond tree we have the symbol of Resurrection Life. Since it is the fruit that comes from the Rod of Aaron, we can see plainly that CHRIST is typified in the ROD. He becomes the measuring rod for the Church.
The almond tree is the first of all trees to bud in Palestine. Therefore each year it carried the message of Life out of Death. In the Rod of Aaron we get the same message. It was once alive, then dead and finally came to resurrection life, bearing a bud, flowers and almond fruit. Aaron’s Rod attested to his Divinely appointed priestly ministry on behalf of Israel. As a type of Christ, the same ornamentation God used for Aaron’s Rod, was repeated on the Candlestick in the Holy Place to point to that same anointing of Jesus Christ as the High Priest of Eternity.
An interesting thing to note about the Candlestick is the truth revealed through the combination of numbers involved with it. Most of the numbers that appear in the Scriptures have significance, and the Candlestick is full of numbers.
One Piece Of Gold - The number one is significant of UNITY, ONENESS, ONE ACCORD, or ONE CHURCH (Hebrews 2:11-13; John 17)
Three Knops - The number THREE is significant of the Godhead - Father, Son and Holy Spirit. These three knops upheld all the seven branches as the very foundation. This is typical of the truth that the Godhead is the foundation and upholder of the Church.
Seven Lamps - The number seven is significant fullness, completeness and perfection. Upon the seven branches were seven lighted lamps of fire. These seven lamps are significant of seven Spirits upon the Messiah, the Lord Jesus Christ.
Isaiah 11:1-4, "And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: And the spirit of the LORD shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the LORD; And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the LORD: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears: But with righteousness shall he judge the poor, and reprove with equity for the meek of the earth: and he shall smite the earth with the rod of his mouth, and with the breath of his lips shall he slay the wicked."
Nine Ornaments - In the branches the number nine is stamped. In each of the six branches proceeding out of the Candlestick were three Bowls, three Knops and three Flowers. Each branch had nine ornaments in all. The number nine is the number of the Holy Spirit in the Church. There are NINE FRUITS OF THE SPIRIT (Gal. 5:22-24) and NINE GIFTS OF THE SPIRIT
Twelve Symbols - In the main shaft of the Candlestick there were four groups of Bowls, Knops, and Flowers making a total of twelve. The number “12” symbolizes Apostolic Fullness and Government within the church. There are many other 12’s in Scripture that are found as well. Some of them include: the 12 loaves of the Table of Shewbread, the 12 foundations of the City of God; the 12 stones on the Breastplate of the High Priest; the 12 Tribes of Israel and the 12 Apostles of the Lamb.
Sixty-Six - When the Bowls, the Knops and the Flowers on the shaft and the six branches are totaled we see a symbolism of the Books of the Bible. There were three groups of Bowls, Knops and Flowers in the three branches on one side. If we add the 12 in the main shaft we have a total of 39, which speaks to us of the Books of the Old Covenant. Then the remaining branches total 27 corresponding to the 27 books of the New Covenant. The complete total is 66. It has pleased God to give us His Book containing 66 books yet one Bible.
The Candlestick reminds us that it takes the Light of the Holy Spirit to Illuminate the 66 Books to the Church. The number SIX is also significant of MAN. It was the sixth day man was created. The 66 Books constitute God’s Book, which is the only Book of Divine light for MAN! The Bible is God’s WORD to fallen man. There were not 66 separate parts, but there were 66 ornaments fashioned out of one piece GOLD. The Bible is a very important Work of God alone and that is why we must guard it at all cost. We cannot allow it to be changed in any way.
God created it perfectly, with a perfect message that brings about a perfect man if we will accept the perfect sacrifice of His Son upon the cross. In the day that we accept Jesus in salvation, we begin to be identified with Him through the Lampstand as well, as we begin to shine for Him.
