The sons of Israel were “to cause the lamp to burn continually” (v. 2b). Verse 3 goes on to say, “Outside the veil of the testimony in the tent of meeting, Aaron shall tend it from evening to morning before Jehovah continually; it shall be a perpetual statute throughout your generations.” This signifies that the divine light of Christ shines continually in the house of God.
“He shall tend the lamps on the pure lampstand before Jehovah continually” (v. 4). This signifies that Christ as our High Priest continually takes care of His divine light, causing it to shine for God continually.
Many of us have experienced Christ’s taking care of the light within us. In the morning we contact the Lord as the High Priest. In our contact with Him, He takes care of the light within us. If in the morning we do not have any contact with the Lord, we shall be short of light the whole day. Although we may not be in darkness, we shall have the sense that there is no light within us. However, if we spend some time with the Lord in the morning, the light will come in spontaneously. Something will be shining within us the whole day. That shining is the very Christ whom we experienced and enjoyed in the morning tending Himself within us as the shining light.
Leviticus 24:5-9 shows us the arrangement of the showbread.
“You shall take fine flour and bake twelve cakes with it; two-tenths of an ephah shall be in each cake” (v. 5). This signifies that the resurrected Christ, the Christ who produced the church (typified by the two-tenths of an ephah of fine flour-23:13, 17), is the element that constitutes the food in full (typified by the number twelve) for all God’s people and for God to enjoy.
The number twelve in 24:5 certainly refers to the twelve tribes of Israel. This indicates that this kind of food supply is sufficient to nourish all the people of God.
Christ’s being our food is related to the church life. This indicates that if we hope to be nourished adequately, we must live a life that is related to the church life.
“And you shall place them in two rows, six in a row, upon the pure gold table before Jehovah” (v. 6). This signifies that the believers enjoy Christ in parallel for a testimony (typified by the number two) based on Christ’s holding us up (signified by the table) by His pure, divine nature (signified by the pure gold).
“You shall put pure frankincense with each row, that it may be a memorial portion for the bread as an offering by fire to Jehovah” (v. 7). This signifies that it is with the fragrance of His resurrection as a memorial portion that Christ becomes food to both God and us.
Actually, the cakes of bread were food for the high priest and for the priests. But verse 7 tells us that they were an offering by fire for God’s food. From this we see that what we eat is what God eats, and what God eats is what we eat. This indicates that we as God’s serving ones, the priests, are one with God. What we enjoy is God’s enjoyment, and what God enjoys is our enjoyment. God and we, we and God, are one in His service. Here we have the nourishment of Christ.
If we get into the depths of all these points, we shall realize the kind of life we should live by. In this life is an element which is the fragrance of the resurrection of Christ. This kind of enjoyment is always a memorial, something that is worthy of remembrance.
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