The shining of the lampstand directs us to enjoy Christ as our life supply. When we come into the Holy Place, the light shines upon us. Because we are not in darkness, we know what is in the Holy Place, and we also have direction. The light directs us to the table where we have the bread of God’s presence for our life supply. This is the reason that in the church meetings, when we are under the shining of the light, we receive the life supply.
Only priests were qualified to enter into the Holy Place. The nourishment on the table was for them alone. After they were nourished at the table, the priests would go to the lampstand and carry out their duty of snuffing the charred wick and supplying fresh oil. When we enjoy Christ as our life supply on the table and are nourished by Him, we also come to the light and trim the old, charred wick. From our experience we know that in the church life the light shines upon us and directs us to the nourishment of Christ. Then after we have been nourished by Him, we snuff, cut, trim, the wick. We do not trim others’ wick; we trim ourselves. When we have only the natural light, the light in the outer court, we may criticize others. But when we come into the Holy Place to receive nourishment and enlightenment, we snuff ourselves. Instead of criticizing others, we trim our own wick. I can testify that often after enjoying Christ as my nourishment, I have snuffed myself.
The issue of the snuffing is a brighter shining of the light. In experience this means that the life supply received at the table turns out to be the light of life to us. The more life we enjoy, the more shining there will be.
The shining of the lampstand not only directs us to enjoy Christ as our life supply, but also leads us to enjoy Christ as the fragrant incense of resurrection in the prayer of fellowship with God. First we enjoy Christ at the table as our nourishment, and then we enjoy Him at the incense altar as the fragrant incense of resurrection. The resurrection life is the incense offered to God in prayer.
What is difficult to understand doctrinally can be understood in the light of spiritual experience. When we are in the outer court, we are natural, and our thoughts and concepts are natural because the light in the outer court is a natural light. But after we come into the Holy Place, we are no longer natural, for we are ushered to the threshold of the spirit. In the Holy Place Christ as our life supply deals with our natural life, and the snuffing cuts away the natural life. To trim the wick is to cut off the charred natural life. Then the light burns brighter and leads us to the resurrection life at the incense altar. Thus, we enjoy Christ not only at the table, but also at the incense altar with the resurrection life as the fragrance offered to God. When we reach this point, it is difficult to determine whether we are in the Holy Place or in the Holy of Holies. The Bible does not locate the incense altar with certainty. We are not sure from reading the Bible whether the incense altar is within the veil or outside the veil. Sometimes it seems to be in the Holy Place, and at other times in the Holy of Holies. This points to the fact that in our experience we may either be absolutely in the spirit or on the threshold, the border, of the spirit.
The light from the lampstand also guides us into the Holy of Holies to enjoy Christ as the testimony of God with the throne of grace. The throne of grace (Heb. 4:16) is the propitiatory cover of the ark. The ark is the testimony of God, and the propitiatory cover is God’s throne. Both the ark as a whole and the cover in particular are Christ.
In the Holy of Holies we enjoy Christ to the uttermost. After we enjoy Him as our life supply at the table and as our resurrection life at the incense altar, we enjoy Him as God’s testimony and as the throne of grace in the Holy of Holies. This is both the deepest and highest experience of Christ. When we enjoy Christ as God’s testimony and as the throne of grace where God meets with us, we can commune with God, and He can infuse us with Himself.
When we experience Christ in the Holy of Holies and enjoy Him there to the uttermost, we no longer need the shining of the lampstand. The shining light now becomes the shekinah glory for our closest fellowship with God. The shekinah glory in the Holy of Holies equals the light from the lampstand in the Holy Place. This means that the light from the lampstand and the shekinah glory are synonyms and both refer to God Himself.
Although both the light and the glory are God Himself, there is a difference between them. At the lampstand, God shines, but on the throne of grace, God appears. God’s appearing is different from His shining. God’s appearing is always in glory. In the meetings we often have the sense that God is shining and that the meeting is full of light; however, there may not be much of God’s glory in the meeting. However, at other times we have the sense not only of light shining, but also of glory dawning.
The difference between light and glory can be illustrated by the difference between electricity and lightning. Through electricity we have the shining of light. But this shining is not the appearing of electricity. The appearing of electricity is lightning. We may sit peacefully under the shining of a lamp powered by electricity, but when lightning appears, we may be terrified.
Because the appearing of God’s shekinah glory can be awesome and frightening, we need the redeeming blood sprinkled on the propitiatory cover, the throne of grace. Apart from the sprinkling of the redeeming blood of Christ, no one can withstand the appearing of the shekinah glory. Whenever the glory of God is manifest to our sight, we immediately sense the need for the blood. This experience, along with all the others described in this message, comes by means of Christ as the lampstand shining through us, with us, and in us in the church life.