“And thou shalt command the children of Israel, that they bring thee pure oil olive beaten for the light, to cause the lamp to burn always. In the tabernacle of the congregation without the veil, which is before the testimony, Aaron and his sons shall order it from evening to morning before the LORD: it shall be a statute for ever unto their generations on the behalf of the children of Israel” (Exo. 27:20-21). We are told here that the priests must do two things with the lamp. First, they must light the lamp with the pure olive oil. Second, they must order or arrange the lamp.
Then let us read Exodus 30:7-10: “And Aaron shall burn thereon sweet incense every morning: when he dresseth the lamps, he shall burn incense upon it. And when Aaron lighteth the lamps at even, he shall burn incense upon it, a perpetual incense before the LORD throughout your generations. Ye shall offer no strange incense thereon, nor burnt sacrifice, nor meat offering; neither shall ye pour drink offering thereon. And Aaron shall make an atonement upon the horns of it once in a year with the blood of the sin offering of atonements; once in the year shall he make atonement upon it throughout your generations: it is most holy unto the LORD.” In these verses, to dress the lamps means the same as to arrange or to order the lamps in chapter twenty-seven.
Now we must read Psalm 119:147-149: “I prevented the dawning of the morning, and cried: I hoped in thy word. Mine eyes prevent the night watches, that I might meditate in thy word. Hear my voice according unto thy loving-kindness: O LORD, quicken me according to thy judgment.” Here David is praying and dealing with the Word in the early morning. We see that his praying was mingled with the reading of the Word.
Finally, we must read John 15:7: “If you abide in Me and My words abide in you, ask whatever you will, and it shall come to pass to you.” From this verse, we see that when we have the Word abiding in us, we will get the answer to whatever we pray.
In the last chapter, we have seen that the main commission of the priesthood is to burn the incense. We need to be impressed that the burning of the incense is the central matter of everything in the tabernacle, God’s dwelling place. We know that there is the outer court, and then the tabernacle with the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. In the Holy of Holies there is the ark, which is a type of Christ, and it is on this ark that God meets with His people. This is the place where man can meet God. Then there is the lampstand, the showbread table, and there is also the golden incense altar for the priests to burn the incense. These are the things within the tabernacle. There are two other things outside the tabernacle in the outer court—the laver for cleansing and the burnt offering altar to offer the sacrifices.
If we look at a chart of the tabernacle showing all these things, we see that the incense altar is the very center of the whole tabernacle. It is the very center of God’s building, God’s habitation. The incense altar is for man to meet God at the ark.
By this we may realize that all the things in the tabernacle are for the incense altar. The offering altar, the laver, the showbread table, and the lampstand are all for the incense altar. And the incense altar is for man to contact God at the ark.
All this is a prefigure, a shadow of the church. The tabernacle is a type of the church as God’s habitation among man. Today the church is the real tabernacle for God. In the church there is the reality of Christ as the ark in which, on which, and by which God can meet man and man can meet God. In the church man can meet God on Christ, in Christ, and with Christ. But how can this be done? This can only be done by having the altar for the offerings, the showbread table for the life supply, and the lampstand for the light. All these things are for the burning of the incense through which man can meet God in Christ.