Passage: Exodus 25:31-40
The Big Idea
We all long for someone to “light up our lives,” and people inevitably let us down. But God takes responsibility for lighting our lives Himself. The golden lampstand, hammered from a single piece of pure gold and decorated with almond blossoms, pictures the suffering and risen Christ, who is the light of God. Its seven lamps, fed by oil, picture the Holy Spirit, who shines in our hearts to show us Jesus, His table, His altar and His throne of grace.
You Light Up My Life
Back in the 1970s, a hugely popular love song was titled “You Light Up My Life.” It was about a life becoming something more: deeper, complete, joyful.
Countless songs express that longing, and the thing we think will fulfill it: love.
Being loved by someone is like light in a dark place. It changes us. It completes us. It becomes the lens through which we see the whole world.
So we search far and wide for someone who’ll love us enough to light up our dark hearts. Then we learn that people fail us. Boyfriends and girlfriends leave. Spouses betray. Children turn away. People don’t light up our world, even when they try their best.
What do we do? Give up? Resign ourselves to the darkness of isolation?
Jesus promised that He would ask the Father to send another Helper, the Spirit of truth, to be with us forever. The world can’t see or know Him, but we know Him, because He lives with us and will be in us. Jesus promised He would not leave us as orphans; He would come to us (John 14:16-18).
- The Holy Spirit would come.
- When? After Jesus left the world.
- Jesus said, “As long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world” (John 9:5). Then the Spirit would carry that light into our hearts.
- God takes responsibility for lighting up your life Himself. He won’t disappoint you. He won’t leave you alone in the dark.
“The LORD is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear?” (Psalm 27:1).
The Holy Place
Arthur Pink beautifully summarized the three pieces of furniture in the Holy Place:
- The table with its twelve loaves pictured Christ as the substance of our fellowship, the One we feed on.
- The lampstand pictured Christ as the power for fellowship, supplying the light it requires.
- The altar of incense pictured Christ as maintaining our fellowship, His intercession securing our continued acceptance with the Father.
The Design (Exodus 25:31-40)
God told Moses to make a lampstand of pure gold, its base, shaft, cups, buds and blossoms all hammered out of one piece. Six branches came out from the sides, three on each side, each with cups shaped like almond flowers, and the central shaft had four. On top were seven lamps to light the space in front of it. The trimmers and trays were gold too, and the whole set used a talent of pure gold (about 75 pounds). And God added: make it exactly according to the pattern shown you on the mountain (Exodus 25:31-40).
(The cups held the oil, and oil is a frequent picture of the Holy Spirit.)
A Picture of Christ
Who does this lampstand picture?
- It was hammered, beaten into shape from a single piece of gold. Jesus was beaten for us. He was crucified to supply what we need. “He was pierced for our transgressions, crushed for our iniquities” (Isaiah 53:5).
- It was decorated with almond blossoms. In Israel the almond is the first tree to blossom after winter, a picture of new life. Remember Aaron’s dead staff that budded with almonds (Numbers 17:8). Jesus was raised to new life, the firstfruits from the dead (1 Corinthians 15:20).
- So even its materials and decoration show us the suffering Christ, now risen and glorified.
Why picture Jesus as a lamp?
Hebrews describes Jesus as the radiance of God’s glory and the exact imprint of His nature, holding everything together by His word. After making purification for sins, He sat down at the Father’s right hand (Hebrews 1:3).
- Jesus is the light, because He shows us God.
- He reveals God to us in our darkness.
- That’s who Jesus is and what He does.
- A lamp exists to shine, to reveal, to make things visible so they can be known.
Seven Lamps, Seven Spirits
Look at this picture fulfilled in heaven.
John greets the churches with grace and peace from the eternal God and from the seven Spirits before His throne (Revelation 1:4). Later he sees seven lamps of fire blazing before the throne, which he says are the seven Spirits of God (Revelation 4:5).
- The seven lamps picture the fullness of the Holy Spirit.
- And remember: the difference between the tabernacle and heaven is the veil. In heaven, and in our reality now, there is no veil between us and God’s presence. When Jesus died, God tore the temple veil from top to bottom (Matthew 27:51).
God’s design is for us to be in His very presence, before His throne of grace, with the light filling the whole room.
- Jesus is on the throne.
- Jesus provides the bread for communion.
- Jesus provides the light so we can enjoy it all.
How does Jesus provide that light? By sending His Spirit.
Isaiah prophesied that a Branch would grow from the stump of Jesse, and that the Spirit of the LORD would rest on Him: the Spirit of wisdom and understanding, of counsel and might, of knowledge and the fear of the LORD (Isaiah 11:1-2).
- Many have noticed this sevenfold description of the Spirit resting on the Branch: the Spirit of the LORD, plus three pairs. Like a central shaft with three pairs of branches, a seven-branched lampstand.
- The Spirit is the Spirit of Jesus (Romans 8:9).
What the Light Shows
The same God who commanded light to shine out of darkness has shone in our hearts, giving us the light of the knowledge of His glory in the face of Jesus Christ (2 Corinthians 4:6). That’s God lighting up our lives!
In the Holy Place, the lampstand’s light revealed four things:
- The lampstand itself. The light showed the beauty of the lamp. The Spirit glorifies Jesus; He takes what is Christ’s and shows it to us (John 16:14). Jesus is the best thing in the world. He’s perfect in every way, and spending time with Him and thinking about Him is the most satisfying use of our lives.
- The table and the bread. Can you imagine the priests trying to eat in the dark? Communion with Jesus is a complete mystery unless the Holy Spirit reveals it to your heart.
- The altar of incense. The Spirit teaches us how to pray and worship (Romans 8:26).
- The throne. The lamps burned “before the LORD” (Exodus 27:21). Now that there’s no veil, it’s all one room. The Spirit shows us how much we need God’s grace, His presence blessing us with everything. We can’t do anything on our own. We have to abide in this room.
Paul says that whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. The Lord is the Spirit, and where His Spirit is, there is freedom. With unveiled faces we behold the Lord’s glory and are being transformed into His image, from glory to glory, by the Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:16-18).
The Holy Spirit reveals the love of Jesus to us, and that love transforms us, fulfills us and makes our lives complete.
Taste and see that the Lord is good!
Paul prays that we would know the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge, so we may be filled with all the fullness of God (Ephesians 3:19).
Grace Takeaway
We’ve all hoped someone would light up our lives, and people can’t carry that weight. But God has taken it on Himself. Jesus, beaten and risen, is the golden lampstand, and His Spirit is the oil and the flame, shining in our hearts to show us Jesus, His table, His altar and His open throne. Is your life lit with the light of Jesus? Ask Him to fill you with His Spirit, and let Him show you how good and loving He really is.