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The Tabernacle If we would shine before God, like the candlestick, we must be lighted with the holy light from Him. This life which we receive from Him is eternal. "The life," which is "the light of men," shall never go out! "For God so loved the world, that he gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in him should not perish, but have everlasting life" (John 3: 16). 6. A Light to Shine before the Lord. Twice in the above passage from Leviticus we read that the candle- stick was to shine "before the Lord." And earlier in this lesson we were reminded that it shone upon the beautiful things in the Holy Place which speak to us of Christ, the Light of the World, the Bread of Life, the Interceding Priest-in all His deity and glory and beauty. Beyond the veil, in the Holy of Holies, stood the Shekinah Glory, the very Presence of God "in the midst" of His people. Ver- ily the light from the golden candlestick did shine "before the Lord." Our one purpose in this life should be to live as in the Presence of God. It is possible for us to shine before men, yet not before the Lord. God said to Abraham, "Walk be- fore me"; and He bids us walk before Him, remembering that One is our Master, even Christ. To this end we need the devoted heart and singleness of purpose, that we may say, with Paul, "This one thing I do ..." (Phil. 3:13 ). The lamps manifested the beauty of the candlestick, even as we would, by our shining, reveal His glory who loved us and gave Himself for us. When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, after having talked with the Lord, "he wist not that the skin of his face shone." He had to put a veil over his face, in order that the children of Israel might bear to look upon him as he gave them God's com- mands. If we spend much time in His Presence, we shall,
193 The Tabernacle unconsciously, be "changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord" (II Cor. 3:18). All the while the table of shewbrcad was standing in the Holy Place; but if the light had not shone upon it, the priests should never have found it. Without the light which our Lord sheds abroad in our hearts, we should never know Him as the Bread of Life for our heart-hungry souls. All the while the golden altar of incense was standing before the veil in the sanctuary, but it required the beams of light from the golden candlestick to show forth its beauty, and to remind the priests of the One who was to come to be the interceding Great High Priest. The power of prayer through the risen and interceding Lord, at the right hand of the Father, will be seen and felt through the life that lives and shines before Him. The Oil-A Symbol of the Holy Spirit We have seen that oil, in the Scriptures, is a type of the Holy Spirit of God. The priests were anointed with the holy oil when they were consecrated to their sacred office. David was anointed with oil by the prophet; so were other kings in Israel. Christ was anointed by the Holy Spirit when He was baptized, although He was ever One with the Father and with the Spirit of God. For His High Priestly work on earth He was anointed with the Spirit; and the Father gave not "the Spirit by measure" unto Him. In accordance with this symbolism concerning the oil, we find that the "pure oil olive" in the golden candle- stick foreshadowed the Holy Spirit of God. In the verses we read a few moments ago from Leviticus, we learn that this oil was "pure," and that it was "beaten for the light," not obtained by being pressed from the olive.
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