08 SEVEN-BRANCHED CANDLESTICK
All My Light Is Christ's
The priest who ministered within the Tabernacle had to move the veil aside before he was able to enter the holy place. He did this with confidence because he had been justified. The sacrificial blood had paid the price of his entry, and the laver had washed away the filth of sin clinging to his hands [his works] and feet [his walk]. Let us lift the veil and follow him into the shrine by faith.
We search in vain for windows, only to find that no sunbeam ever plays upon the sacred table nor does moonlight fall upon the golden altar (
PP 348). Only the candlestick's seven flames chase the darkness from this chamber. Their light illumines the way which stretches with prophetic eye into the most holy shrine, where the pilgrim's journey will end at God's throne of mercy. The most holy oracle itself depicts the heavenly Zion, where the sun and moon never shine, nor does a star twinkle, forever eclipsed by the blazing splendor of God and the Lamb (Rev 21:23). The meaning of these signs is clear. The lamp of life is Christ, man's only and complete and everlasting Light (John 1:9).
Made of Solid Gold
At God's command only man's most precious gift might be used for the candlestick. So Israel's purest gold was brought. This sings of Jesus Who is more precious than Ophir's fabled gold (Isa 13:12), and Whose life holds up the flame of ageless truth. "The gold mentioned by Christ, the True Witness, which all must have, has been shown me to be faith and love combined, and love takes the precedence of faith" (
2T 36;
7BC 965), disciplined by the Goldsmith's hammer, to form God's Lampstand, the body through which the Light of the world shines forth (Ex 25:31). From childhood's earliest lisp to Calvary's dying cry Christ is life's Light (John 8:12), displaying how our lives should shine. Listen to the song of the gold: The life of the Man of Nazareth, woman given, is the most radiant ever lived. It displays His undying love driven by His unshakable faith.
The
Menorah was made by "beaten work" (Ex 25:31), in contrast with the "molten" calf (Ex 32:4) cast in a lifeless form. The apostle warns us, "Stop allowing yourselves to be poured into the world's mold: but permit yourselves to be transformed by the re-lighting of your minds" (Rom 12:1,2). He used the middle voice of the verbs to emphasize the part each Christian plays in this "metamorphosis." Paul's word also describes the daily rekindling of the seven-branched candlestick by the priest.
Listen as Bezaleel fashioned the candelabrum. The clang of his hammer cried out again and again as he beat the formless gold into shape. Each blow of the "beating" resounded with Calvary's agony. By bitter stripes Christ's luminous life was fashioned, and the gold of His love made "perfect through suffering," as He "learned obedience" and developed faith as our Example (Heb 5:7-9; 2:18; Phil 3:10).
Shaped by Hammer and Fire
But hammered metal grows brittle, and must be annealed in the flame. And so the celestial Craftsman regulates the fiery trials which soften the hardened mind, and subdue the obstinate will (1 Pet 1:7; 4:12; 1 Cor 3:12, 13; Eph 6:16; James 1:2, 3, 12), that faith's gold might again, and yet again, be battered into shape.
The hammer in the Goldsmith's hand is the inspired word (Jer 23:29). With it the Spirit strikes down obtruding pride and smooths sharp and rough deeds. Then pray: "Lord, help me to trust Thy will and yield to Thy word, and accept joyfully every discipline which shapes my life to be Thy light?" This is the duet which the anvil sang with the hammer when wielded by Bezaleel's inspired hand (Ex 31:l-6).
In Sinai's shadow God's artificer forged the shapeless gold. Its yet unseen form shone in his inner eye, drawn by the celestial ray. To remind us of the Reality of this design the Light of ages long before sang, "Thine eyes did see My substance, yet being unperfect; and in Thy book all My members were written, which in continuance were fashioned, when as yet there was none of them" (Ps 139:16). The joy of seeing this beautiful lampstand take shape impelled Bezaleel to beat the gold until the Divine ideal took final form, each bough a fruitful ornament, all reaching upward to a crown of seven stars (Ex 25:37).
Bezaleel's One Talent
The gold for the lovely
Menorah must weigh precisely "one talent" (Ex 25:39). But in this craftsman's hand it became a thing of useful loveliness. When tempted to hide our single "talent" "in the earth" (Matt 25:18, 25), we should remember that the Spirit's hand (cf. Ezek 1:3; 3:14, 22) is ready to make our least gift a lampstand splendid with His light.
The Lord set no measure to the candelabrum's height. Bezaleel might make it as lofty as he chose, for "higher than the highest human thought can reach is God's ideal for His children. Godliness--godlikeness--is the goal to be reached" (
Ed 18). How wide His light will shine if we but let Him stretch our reach!
The lampstand's central pillar sent forth six branches. The Hebrew word for this shaft or "thigh" (
yarak, loins, Gen 46:26; Ex 1:5, see 37:17) is used as a symbol of creative power from which seed is procreated (Ex 1:5, margin; Jud 8:30, margin). From this the reeds (
qanah, Ex 25:31; 37:17; Num 8:4) or branches of the
Menorah emerge (Ex 25:31; 37:17-22; Num 8:4). Christians are the "branches" begotten through the Spirit to be lights in the world through their holy lives (2 Pet 1:4; 1 Pet 1:23). The Spirit speaks of these six branches as though they were one, because they grew from a single source. Their unity fulfills our High Priest's prayer for His disciples (John 17:11, 21, 22). Across the centuries their gospel hymn is: "The seven candlesticks are the seven churches" (Rev 1:20). Although differing in outward appearance from country to country and century to century they are united in their Saviour as boughs are in a tree.
Seven Lamps of Fire
The branches of the lampstand were crowned with seven lights. These are never spoken of in the plural (Ex 25:31; Ex 37:17), because, although they are separate flames, they shed forth one "Light." Theirs is a single radiance, for Jesus is their indivisible flame.
"Seven" suggests completeness (
AA 585; cf. Isa 11:1, 2) in both time and scope. Though each bough held aloft a discrete flame, its radiance alone was not complete. Only the church of God in all ages upholds One comprehensive and living Splendor. Our Saviour explained this sign: "Ye are the light of the world." He then urged that once the Spirit has set aflame the candle of the mind (Prov 20:27), the place of the disciple is on the candlestick (Matt 5:14), that is, in the church (Rev 1:20).
The ancient likeness of the lampstand pillaged from the Temple in Jerusalem in A.D. 70, and still displayed on the Arch of Titus in Rome, depicts the branches and central shaft rising to one height. Does this suggest that each branch, each church, each believer, once illuminated by the Spark of Heaven, may rise to equal heights when joined with Christ?
Fulfilled God's Mystic Design
Upon each of the six boughs were three triads of opening buds, delicate blossoms and ripe almonds (Ex 25:31-36). These triple threes signal the fullness of heaven's blessing. On the central shaft there were four sets of three. The
Menorah represented Israel as a luminous almond tree (see Jer 1:11, 12).
The Almond a Symbol of the Resurrection
The first use of almond as a symbol is found in Israel's saga of jealousy and intrigue. Korah, Dathan and Abiram, envious of heaven's appointed leader and anointed priest, arrogantly focused their hate against Yahweh (Num 16:1-35). In His good time the Lord acted. After the celestial fire had struck down the rebels, and the earthquake buried them, He ordered each of Israel's tribal chiefs to present his scepter at the Tabernacle (Num 17:1-5). Aaron, as the prince of priests, added his staff of office to these dozen sticks. Inscribed with each man's name, these thirteen representative staves were laid before the Lord in the holy place.
During the darkness of the night, before the veil before the throne, in only one rod life was reborn. Upon the dead wood of Aaron's branch living green appeared! Tightly bound buds seemed eager to burst into life, snowy blossoms sang of spring's awakening and the promise of fruit, while plump almonds told of the reward of the harvest (Num 17:6-9). In the high priest's staff of authority life's full cycle was displayed, "first the blade, then the ear, and after that the full corn in the ear" (Mark 4:28).
The almond tree itself is used as a sign. Before other trees awaken from their death-sleep, it flings aside its winter wraps and decks itself in spring flowers of purest white. Because it is the first to blossom in the land of Canaan the Hebrews call it "the awakener" or "the watcher" (Jer 1:11, 12, cf. Moffatt). The precocious almond's gospel song is of Jesus, Who, as the Firstborn from the dead, has become "the First Fruits" of those who sleep in the grave (1 Cor 15:20, 23; James 1:18; Rom 8:29; Heb 12:23). In Him, once slain in mankind's place, the Source of the abundant life is first disclosed, and then made the guarantee of the disciple's resurrection.
The Resurrection Validated Christ's Priesthood
All Israel saw clearly that God had validated Aaron's priestly authority by miraculously putting new life into the rod which represented him. Paul reminds us that Christ's authorization as Priest and High Priest of the heavenly Sanctuary rests on His resurrection (Heb 7:14-17). The story of Aaron's resurrected scepter thus adds meaning to the message of the branches sprung from an almond stem in the lamp of gold (Num 17:8). Only the new birth can enable gospel "royal priests" to uphold the gospel light.
The central shaft (cf. John 15:l-6) and its six branches formed a golden "burning bush." From a fragile desert acacia's limbs the mystic fires of heaven once flamed, and yet the tiny tree remained unconsumed (Ex 3:2). In the Sanctuary the Voice from the incandescent golden shrub belongs to the great "I AM," Who long ago explained, "I am the light of the world" (John 8:12).
