Message 115
(2)
Scripture Reading: Exo. 27:20-21; 28:1-5
Throughout the centuries, especially since the Reformation, Christians have been debating the matter of how to meet. The various denominations and Christian groups all meet in their particular way. For example, the Presbyterian way of meeting is different from the Baptist way. What is your way to meet? The proper way of meeting is related to the Old Testament type of lighting the lamps in the Holy Place. We should never think that lighting these lamps is an insignificant thing. In typology, the lighting of the lamps at least implies the proper way to meet.
The lighting of the lamps always took place in the tent of meeting. The tabernacle was not only God’s dwelling place; it also was a place of meeting. Hence, it was a place both for God’s dwelling and for the meeting of the children of Israel.
The lighting of the lamps is related to the meeting of God’s people. If we are asked in what way we meet in the church life, we should reply that we meet in the way of lighting the lamps. To meet properly as Christians is to light the lamps. Whenever we come together for the church meetings, we need to light the lamps. Furthermore, everything we do in the meetings should cause the lamps to shine. All the singing of hymns and the giving of testimonies must be the lighting of the lamps.
Meeting together to light the lamps in the sanctuary comprises every aspect of our spiritual experience in the Christian life. It includes our experience of Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God, our experience of the divine nature, our experience of the uplifted humanity of Jesus that burns to give light before God and before His testimony, our experience of the Spirit of God as the oil pressed out of the fruit of the olive tree, and our experience of Christ in His process with the steps of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection. Furthermore, it includes our wearing the priestly garments, that is, our expression of Christ.
As we have pointed out, in order to be qualified to light the lamps in the Holy Place, we must have every aspect of the priestly garments. If we have the priestly robe but not the ephod or the breastplate, we are not qualified, for we are lacking in the expression of Christ. Due to such a lack, certain ones who attend the meetings are not able to light the lamps.
Do you know what it means to light the lamps in the sanctuary? To light the lamps is to give off light. When some dear ones open their mouths to speak in the meeting, we all have the sense that the light is ascending and that the darkness is vanishing. Those who shine forth light in this way are surely those with the priestly garments, the expression of Christ. How much light there will be in the sanctuary depends on the extent to which we are qualified to light the lamps by wearing Christ as the priestly garments. In order to light the lamps, we must express Christ, and we must have the experience of the embodiment of God, the divine nature, the humanity of Jesus, and the Spirit of Christ with the elements of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection. All these elements need to be the ingredients of our Christian life. If this is the case, then we are qualified to light the lamps in the sanctuary of God.
When we come to the meetings to light the lamps, we may be short of the real experience of Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God. We may also be lacking in the experience of the divine nature and the humanity of Christ. Furthermore, we may not have the oil of the Spirit of Christ. Instead, we may try to light the lamps with something other than olive oil. Sometimes in the pray-reading of certain saints and in their calling on the name of the Lord Jesus, there is no olive oil. They do not have the oil which comes from Christ as the olive tree, but they have oil from some inferior source. Should someone pray-read or call on the Lord in a light way, he certainly is not lighting the lamps with pure olive oil. When some saints hear this word, they may be disappointed and say, “Now I feel condemned for the way I pray-read, call on the Lord’s name, and shout praises to the Lord. From now on I’ll be silent in the meetings. I don’t want to use oil that is not olive oil.” There is no need for us to be discouraged, but there is the need for us to be purified. Young brothers, you must admit that sometimes when you shout, “Praise the Lord!” there is no olive oil in your shouting. We need to praise the Lord in a proper way, with the pure olive oil of the Spirit.
I do not agree with pray-reading, calling, or shouting that brings in some impure, natural element. The pure and holy pray-reading, calling on the Lord’s name, and praising should not be mixed with lightness or joking. Whenever there is such a mixture, there is darkness instead of light. Whatever we utter in the meetings must be with the pure oil of the olive tree. This is the only oil that will burn to give light in the Holy Place. Pray-reading, calling, or shouting in a natural way never causes the holy light to ascend, and it never enlightens the other saints.
We need the cross to work in us. The pure olive oil is oil that has passed through incarnation and crucifixion, and has entered into resurrection. In this oil there is no mixture, no natural element. Certainly we need to be released in the meetings and also full of joy. Sometimes we may even laugh. But our release, enjoyment, and laughter must always be with pure olive oil.
Whenever we come together to meet as the church, that meeting is in God’s dwelling place. It is very important to remember this. Our gathering is a sanctuary. Therefore, we should not behave as if we were in a stadium. We need to remember that we are in a holy gathering of the saints. As those whose gathering is the sanctuary of God, we need to light the lamps in the sanctuary, that is, in the tent of meeting. Of course, the physical building in which we meet is not the sanctuary, or the Holy Place; it is the gathering which is the sanctuary. No matter where we may meet, in a building or in the open air, our gathering is the Holy Place. For this reason, we should not meet in a natural way or in a secular way. Everything we do in the meeting — our speaking, singing, praising, calling, shouting, pray-reading — must cause the holy light to ascend. This is to light the lamps in God’s sanctuary so that the light may swallow up the darkness.
Exodus 27:21 says, “In the tent of meeting, outside the veil which is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons shall set them in order from evening until morning before Jehovah; it shall be a statute forever for their generations by the sons of Israel.” This verse speaks of “outside the veil which is before the testimony.” The reason we still need the lighting of the lamps is that, for the most part, we are not yet in the Holy of Holies. Our gathering is in the Holy Place, not in the Holy of Holies. This means that the veil still separates the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place. Behind the veil there is the ark with the law, called the testimony. The phrase “before the testimony” means before the law in the ark. Even though we have the light ascending in the Holy Place, we are still in the Holy Place, not yet in the Holy of Holies. But we are in the Holy Place with a view to entering the Holy of Holies. Even though we are still in the Holy Place, we are before the testimony. We have the expectation that we shall enter the Holy of Holies. We are lighting the lamps before the testimony, which is on the other side of the veil, hoping that the veil will be taken away. Therefore, whenever we come together to meet in the sanctuary of God, we light the lamps, causing the light to ascend before the testimony, with the expectation of entering the Holy of Holies. Once we enter the Holy of Holies, the shekinah glory will replace the light we cause to ascend in the sanctuary. This is to light the lamps with the qualifications of the priesthood. We need to have these qualifications in order to be before the testimony with the expectation of coming into the Holy of Holies. By lighting the lamps we can see the way leading into the Holy of Holies, the way leading into the depths of Christ within God.
I hope that we all shall be impressed that in the meetings, the gatherings, we need to light the lamps and that lighting the lamps is a matter of the priesthood. In our gatherings we should cause the divine light to shine so that the darkness may vanish and that we may be brought into the light with the expectation of stepping into the Holy of Holies, where the testimony of God is. Perhaps we are still in the Holy Place. Nevertheless, we are very close to the testimony, and we have the expectation of coming into the Holy of Holies.
Another reason for lighting the lamps in the Holy Place is that when there is light in the sanctuary, we can see the different items of furniture in the Holy Place. This means that we can see the different aspects of Christ in the holy sphere. Whenever we light the lamps in the church meetings, we can see some aspect of Christ. However, if instead of seeing an aspect of Christ, we see something common, natural, or worldly, there must be something wrong with the light. What we should see under the shining of the lamps in the sanctuary is Christ in His different aspects. By our singing, testifying, speaking, and sharing, the light must shine to present the various aspects of Christ. Furthermore, we see the way into the Holy of Holies. Our experience in the church meetings proves that whenever the lights are shining, we see Christ and we also see the way to enter the Holy of Holies.
According to 27:21, the priests were to set the lamps in order “from evening until morning.” Nothing is said here about the day. During the Christian life, we are in the night, not in the day. Because we are in the night, we need the light to shine until the day dawns. By the light shining in the meetings during this age of night, we are enlightened to see more of Christ and to see more clearly the way into the Holy of Holies.
Today many who come to the meetings do not know how to light the lamps. They need to learn how to light the lamps in order to enlighten the meeting. When we were in Elden hall in the years from 1969 to 1971, the lamps were lighted long before the announced time for the beginning of the meeting. But in some of the meetings today the lamps are not lighted until well after the announced time of meeting. Moreover, during those years in Elden hall, the saints prepared to light the lamps while they were still at home or while they were on the way to the meeting. During those years, the saints wrote many living songs and hymns, such as “Now Christ is the life-giving Spirit,” one that I especially like. This song brings in light. Many saints have been stirred in their spirit by singing it.
Lighting the lamps in the Holy Place is a serious matter. It requires certain basic things: the lampstand, the wicks, and the olive oil. Furthermore, in order to have the oil, it is first necessary to have the olive tree with olives. As we consider the picture of the lighting of the lamps with olive oil, we have a portrait of spiritual experience. If we would light the lamps, we need much experience. We need the experience of Christ as the olive tree in His incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection. These aspects of Christ’s process need to become our experience. This means that what is His must become ours. If we do not have the experience of Christ’s process, we do not have the olive tree with the olive oil. Then we shall be empty-handed when we come to light the lamps. We shall be short of olive oil. Therefore, we need the adequate experience of Christ. We also need the lampstand as the embodiment of the Triune God. We need this lampstand not merely doctrinally, but also experientially. Furthermore, we need the experience of dressing the lamps, that is, setting them in order, and also the experience of trimming them and filling them with oil. As we have pointed out, we also need the priestly robes, the expression of Christ.
Many who attend the meetings cannot light the lamps because they do not have the oil. They do not have the necessary experience of Christ, and they are lacking in the expression of Christ. They are not qualified to serve as priests to light the lamps in the Holy Place. By this we can see that the lighting of the lamps is serious and important.
Many years ago I was taught that the lampstand typifies Christ and that the oil signifies the Holy Spirit. But there was no emphasis on spiritual experience. Our understanding of the lighting of the lamps is not mainly doctrinal; rather, it is very much related to our Christian experience. In our experience we need to be priests, we need to have the lampstand with the wicks, and we need to have the oil. The oil is especially important. This requires that we experience Christ as the olive tree in His incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection. Then we shall have the necessary substance for lighting the lamps. Only when we experientially have the lampstand, the wicks, and the oil are we qualified to light the lamps.
In addition to all these experiential matters, we need the further experience of the priestly garments. Only those who have these garments are qualified to light the lamps. If we do not have these garments, this means that we are lacking in the experience of Christ and in the expression of Christ. If we try to light the lamps without the proper expression of Christ in different aspects typified by the garments, we shall experience spiritual death in the Holy Place. This is not mere doctrine, but is actually the case in experience. When they come into the meetings, many saints suffer a spiritual killing because they are not clothed with priestly garments.
We have pointed out that when we light the lamps in the Holy Place, we see the furniture signifying different aspects of Christ: the showbread table, the lampstand, and the incense altar. By the proper vision under the lighting of the lamps in the sanctuary, we see the different aspects of Christ and also the way which leads into the Holy of Holies. Although we may not be in the Holy of Holies, we have the view and the expectation of entering into this inner place to touch the deeper things of Christ.
I hope that through these messages on the lighting of the lamps and the garments for the priesthood many of us will understand the real meaning of the gathering of the believers. The purpose of the meeting is to have the proper sanctuary with the lighting of the lamps by qualified priests so that we may have a vision of the different aspects of Christ and see the way to enter into the depths of Christ with God.
