The light in the Holy Place was a particular light. It was not a natural light, that is, a light that comes from the sun during the day or from the moon and the stars at night. Neither was the light in the Holy Place a man-made light. Neither a natural light or a man-made light, it was a light that came from the golden lampstand. In other words, it is a light that comes from the divine nature.
In the messages on the golden lampstand we pointed out that the lampstand is made purely of beaten gold. No substance or material other than gold is used. The light comes out of the gold. This indicates that the light in the Holy Place comes purely out of the divine nature of Christ.
The lampstand is the embodiment of the Triune God. With the gold we have the nature of the Father, the divine nature; with the form, the shape, of the lampstand, we have the Son; and with the lamps of the lampstand, we have the expression of the Spirit. Therefore, the lampstand is the embodiment of the Triune God, and the light in the Holy Place issues from the Triune God. With this golden lampstand, there is no mixture. With the exception of the wick, everything is golden.
The light of the lampstand comes from the burning of the wick. In ancient times the wick was made of materials from plants. The wick signifies Christ’s humanity. Yes, Christ is divine, golden. But it is His humanity, signified by the wick, that burns with oil. If the wick had not been saturated with oil, it would give off smoke instead of light. This is the reason 27:20 speaks of bringing “olive oil, pure, beaten, for the light, to light the lamps continually.”
We need to dwell on this matter of the olive oil used in lighting the lamps. Christ, as signified by the lampstand all of gold, is the embodiment of the Triune God. But in the center of the lamps there were the wicks. These wicks were not of gold; on the contrary, they were of the plant life. Because gold does not burn, it cannot give light. It is the wicks that burn to give light. However, in themselves it is very difficult for the wicks to give off light. Instead of giving off light, they give off smoke. This is the reason it is necessary to saturate the wicks with oil in order to have light.
In typology oil signifies the Spirit of God. Oil comes from olive trees, and the olive tree signifies Christ. In the sight of God, Christ is the real olive tree.
Chapter nine of Judges speaks positively of three kinds of trees: the olive tree, the fig tree, and the vine tree. According to Judges 9:9, the fatness of the olive tree is used to honor God and man. According to verse 11, the fig tree is known for its sweetness and good fruit. This fruit is for man’s nourishment. Verse 13 says that the vine produces wine which cheers God and man. All three of these trees typify Christ. Christ is the olive tree, Christ is the fig tree, and Christ is the vine tree. In John 15 the Lord Jesus clearly said, “I am the vine.” In this message we are concerned with Christ as the olive tree.
We have seen that the lampstand is Christ as the embodiment of God, that within the lamps are the wicks, and that the wicks signify Christ’s humanity. The wicks burn with oil, and the oil signifies the Spirit of God. What we have today is not only the Spirit of God, but the Spirit of Christ. The Spirit of God has become the Spirit of Christ. Just as olives pass through a process to produce olive oil, so the Spirit of Christ has passed through a process. For us today, the oil with which the wicks burn signifies the Spirit of Christ.
Putting all these matters together, we have the gold to make the lampstand signifying Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God; we have the wick, Christ’s humanity burning with oil; and we have the oil signifying the Spirit of Christ. As the olive tree, Christ grew on earth and then passed through a process that included incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection. When all these matters are put together, we have the coming forth of the light.