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.