The Tabernacle, The Golden Candlestick, Part 2 - Lesson 25

Exodus 25:31-40,  And thou shall make a candlestick of pure gold: of beaten work shall the candlestick be made: his shaft, and his branches, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, shall be of the same. [32] And six branches shall come out of the sides of it; three branches of the candlestick out of the one side, and three branches of the candlestick out of the other side: [33] Three bowls made like unto almonds, with a knop and a flower in one branch; and three bowls made like almonds in the other branch, with a knop and a flower: so in the six branches that come out of the candlestick. [34] And in the candlestick shall be four bowls made like unto almonds, with their knops and their flowers. [35] And there shall be a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, according to the six branches that proceed out of the candlestick. [36] Their knops and their branches shall be of the same: all it shall be one beaten work of pure gold. [37] And thou shalt make the seven lamps thereof: and they shall light the lamps thereof, that they may give light over against it. [38] And the tongs thereof, and the snuff dishes thereof, shall be of pure gold. [39] Of a talent of pure gold shall he make it, with all these vessels. [40] And look that thou make them after their pattern, which was showed thee in the mount.

God gave clear and specific instructions to Moses to fashion the Golden Lampstand, which was to provide light to the Holy Place, out of one piece of Gold.

The Lampstand had a central shaft, which was the main shaft.

From this shaft proceeded six branches, three on either side of the main shaft.

Under each pair of branches there was a knop or knob upholding them.

There were a total of three such knops on the main shaft.

So with the main shaft and the six branches there were to be seven lighted lamps with instructions that they burn continually before the Lord.

The shaft and the branches are the first things that we notice.

We see that they are spoken of with the use of the personal pronoun, His, as "His" shaft and "His" Branches.

It is obvious that this refers to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ, for on many occasions in scripture he is referred to as the Branch!

In Jeremiah 23:5,  Behold, the days come, saith the Lord, that I will raise unto David a righteous Branch, and a King shall reign and prosper, and shall execute judgment and justice in the earth.

In Isaiah 4:2,  In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel.

And in Isaiah 11:1-3,  And there shall come forth a rod out of the stem of Jesse, and a Branch shall grow out of his roots: [2] And the spirit of the Lord shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord; [3] And shall make him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord: and he shall not judge after the sight of his eyes, neither reprove after the hearing of his ears:

This union between the branches and the shaft speaks of the union between Christ and His body, the Church.

John makes reference to this in the 15th chapter of John saying,

He is the vine, we are the branches.

He is the source, we are that which lives from the source.

The branches of the candlestick proceed out of the center shaft as the branches proceed out of the vine.

Jesus said he is the light of the world, and he also said ye are the light of the world.

He is the main shaft of the candlestick providing light, we are the branches, of the candlestick also providing light because we are attached to the shaft.

It is interesting to see that God choose to make 6 branches, 6 being the number ascribed to man.

Now the ornamentation of the Candlestick was made out of three items – knops, flowers and bowls.

Exodus 25:33-36,  Three bowls made like unto almonds, with a knop and a flower in one branch; and three bowls made like almonds in the other branch, with a knop and a flower: so in the six branches that come out of the candlestick. [34] And in the candlestick shall be four bowls made like unto almonds, with their knops and their flowers. [35] And there shall be a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, according to the six branches that proceed out of the candlestick. [36] Their knops and their branches shall be of the same: all it shall be one beaten work of pure gold.

The language used in this instruction regarding these items shows a similarity to that which happened when Aaron's rod budded, flowered and brought forth almond fruit.

Numbers 17:8,  And it came to pass, that on the morrow Moses went into the tabernacle of witness; and, behold, the rod of Aaron for the house of Levi was budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed blossoms, and yielded almonds.

In the almond tree we have the symbol of Resurrection Life.

The almond tree is the first of all trees to bud in Israel.

Therefore each year it carried the message of life out of death.

In the Rod of Aaron we get the same message.

It was once alive, then dead and finally came to resurrection life, bearing a bud, flowers and almond fruit.

Being the High priest Aaron was a type of Christ.

As a type of Christ, the same ornamentation God used for Aaron's Rod, He repeated in the ornamentation of the Candlestick in the Holy Place which speaks to the same truth of Christ.

Jesus is our ROD OF GOD and our HIGH PRIEST.

Remembering that Aaron’s rod budded, flowered and bore fruit shows us the Godhead portrayed in the Candlestick as follows:

Aaron’s rod budded which is represented in the candlestick by the knop, which is described as a swelling, which is the mark of a bud.

Aaron’s rod flowered which is represented in the candlestick by the flowers of gold.

And Aaron’s rod bore almond fruit, which is represented in the candlestick by the golden bowls which were fashioned as almonds.

Again we see the number three played out here which brings to mind, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

The Knop or round, unopened bud is a type of the Father God who is the source and beginning of everything.

The Central Flower is a type of the SON OF GOD who was crushed as a flower emitting a sweet smelling savor.

The Almond Bowl is a type of the HOLY SPIRIT who proceeds from the Father and produces fruitfulness in the people of God.

So we see the Fullness of the Godhead typified by the bud the flower and the fruit of the Golden Candlestick.

Another interesting feature of the Candlestick is the truth revealed through the combination of numbers involved with it.

All numbers in Scripture have significance, and the Candlestick is full of numbers.

The Candlestick was to be of one piece of gold, the significance being that the number One displays Unity, Oneness, One Accord, or One body, One Church (Hebrews 2:11-13; John 17).

There were three knops where the branches joined the main shaft and three knops on each of the branches.

The number three is significant of the Godhead, the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit.

These three knops upheld all the seven branches as the very foundation.

This is typical of the truth that the Godhead is the foundation and upholder of all things.

There were seven lamps.

The number seven is significant of fullness, completeness and perfection.

Upon the seven branches were seven lighted olive oil fueled lamps of fire.

These seven lamps are significant of seven Spirits upon the Messiah as promised in Isaiah 11:1-4.

For in this Isaiah passage we are told that the promised one will have the spirit of the Lord,

the spirit of wisdom,

the spirit of understanding,

the spirit of counsel,

the spirit of might,

the spirit of knowledge

and the spirit of the fear of the Lord.

We also see the number nine prominent in the candlestick, being arrived at by the groups of threes, three bowls, three knops, and three flowers.

Nine is prominent concerning the Holy Spirit of God for we are told there are nine aspects of the fruit of the Spirit, and nine gifts of the Spirit

I will read Exodus 25:31-37 again as we deal in the details of the candlestick,  And thou shall make a candlestick of pure gold: of beaten work shall the candlestick be made: his shaft, and his branches, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, shall be of the same. [32] And six branches shall come out of the sides of it; three branches of the candlestick out of the one side, and three branches of the candlestick out of the other side: [33] Three bowls made like unto almonds, with a knop and a flower in one branch; and three bowls made like almonds in the other branch, with a knop and a flower: so in the six branches that come out of the candlestick. [34] And in the candlestick shall be four bowls made like unto almonds, with their knops and their flowers. [35] And there shall be a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, according to the six branches that proceed out of the candlestick. [36] Their knops and their branches shall be of the same: all it shall be one beaten work of pure gold. [37] And thou shalt make the seven lamps thereof: and they shall light the lamps thereof, that they may give light over against it.

When we examine carefully the prescribed bowls consisting of an almond, a knop, and a flower, repeated three times on each branch there are nine objects on each branch, nine times three branches equaling 27 objects on each side of the main shaft, a total of 54 objects on the branches.

The shaft itself has four bowls, each bowl consisting of an almond, a knop and a flower, totaling twelve objects.

Total all the objects on the candlestick, 54 on the branches and adding twelve for the shaft totals 66 objects.

When we hear the number 66 it reminds of the number of books of the Bible.

So is the Lord here in the candlestick referring to the 66 books of His word?

It is interesting to note that if you add the 12 objects of the shaft to one side of the objects of the branches you will get 12 plus 27, equaling 39 objects, which is the number of books of the Old Testament with the remaining side having 27 objects which equals the number of books of the New Testament.

Thirty nine books plus twenty seven books equaling 66 books of the Bible.

Now we have to be careful about making dogmatic statements about numbers for numbers can be arranged in a lot of ways but I find this interesting arithmetic.

What better object in the tabernacle to symbolize God’s completed word than the candlestick which emits light to the Holy Place?

The light of the Holy Sprit illumines the 66 books to the church.

The number six is also significant of Man for it was on the sixth day that God created man.

This light that God displays in the candlestick symbolizes God’s gift to fallen man.

The 66 Books constitute God's Book, which is the only Book of Divine light for man!

There were not 66 separate parts, but there were 66 ornaments fashioned out of one piece or talent of GOLD.

Likewise, the Bible is the essential Word of God.

Jesus taught the unity of the Scriptures in their testimony to Him.

Read Psalm 119:105 - Thy word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my path.

This is God’s word in its entirety.

There is only one light for my path.

There is only one way to God and that way is a God provided way for the natural man knows not the way.

There is only one candlestick of beaten gold.

There is only one Ark of the Covenant, one mercy seat, one table of showbread, one table of incense, one laver, one altar, one door to the courtyard.

Everything about the tabernacle speaks of "One" for there is none other name given among men whereby we must be saved than the name of that one and only begotten Son of God, that one, named Jesus Christ.

1 Timothy 2:5 reinforces this,  For there is one God, and one mediator between God and men, the man Christ Jesus;

And as the gold of the candlestick was beaten so was the man Jesus Christ beaten that God’s light may shine in us.

The gold of the candlestick was tried in the fire, then it was beaten, that it might be pure gold and this reveals to us the path for his children, that they may be pure and right before Him.

The Lord wants us "spotless, without blemish or wrinkle."

No, we will never be sinless in this body of sin but God tries us so that our normal course of life is to simply trust Him whatever befalls.

Those trials that we go though are to bring us to a point of obedience to His word that we may survive the attacks of the enemy.

God looks on your trials and knows that you will eventually come to the conclusion that the trials of your faith are indeed more precious than gold that will perish.

Each danger, each toil, each snare is simply the path that we must trod but God tells us that Grace will lead us home

Seeing the golden Lampstand each morning and evening by the priests was glorious but its beauty did not come without cost.

God does not promise that the load will be light.

One of Dr. Bob Jones Sr. sayings that was impressed on me early in my Christian walk was:

Do not ask God to give you a light burden; ask Him to give you strong shoulders to carry a heavy burden.

This Christian life is not a cakewalk, it is not an effortless easy life.

We will face loss of things on earth, but as Paul put it "I count those things as dung, that I may wing Christ!"

Paul knew what the cost was and he counted it as of no value for he, with Abraham, looked far beyond this life and saw the city whose builder and maker is God.

God told Moses to make the candlestick out or one piece of gold but in order for that beautiful lamp to shine forth with light it must be conformed to the pattern that was given Moses on the mount.

That pattern could only be realized by it being beaten into the image that was shown to Moses.

It is no different to God’s child who we are told is being conformed to the image of Jesus Christ.

And in order for that image to be realized it is necessary for dangers, toils and snares to be faced head on but the glorious part of this journey is that we do all this by simply trusting.

Simply trusting every day, Trusting through a stormy way

Even when my faith is small, Trusting Jesus, that is all.

Trusting as the moments fly, Trusting as the days go by,

Trusting Him, whate'er befall, Trusting Jesus, that is all.

Brightly doth His Spirit shine, Into this poor heart of mine;

While He leads I cannot fall, Trusting Jesus, that is all.

Singing if my way be clear, Praying if the path be drear;

If in danger, for Him call, Trusting Jesus, that is all.

Trusting Him while life shall last, Trusting Him till earth is past,

Till His gracious advent call, Trusting Jesus, that is