Lighting the Lamps in the Sanctuary of God by Serving as Priests Clothed with the Expression of Christ

Prophecy note, 23 October 2016
God
is light,
and the believers in Christ,
as children of God,
are children of light:

Light is
the nature of God
in His expression.

Light is
God’s shining, God’s expression;
when God
is expressed,
the nature of that expression
is light.

As God is light,
so we, the children of God,
are the children of light;
we have believed
into the light
and have become
sons of light .

To walk in the light
as God is in the light
is to live, walk, and have our being
in the divine light,
which is
God Himself.

In typology
lighting the lamps
in the sanctuary of God
signifies the proper way
to meet
as Christians:

The tabernacle
was a place
both for God’s dwelling
and for the meeting
of the children of Israel;
hence,
it was called
“the tabernacle
of the Tent of Meeting”
(40:2, 34; 25:8; Lev. 1:1):

Whenever we
come together
to meet
as the church,
that meeting
is God’s dwelling place.

Our meeting
is the sanctuary of God,
the Holy Place.

The proper way
to meet
is to light the lamps,
that is,
to give off light;
everything that we do
in the church meetings
should cause the holy light
to ascend.

The lighting of the lamps
is a priestly service,
a service of the priests:

There is the need
for holy persons
to light the holy lamps
in the Holy Place.

A priest
is a person
who is absolutely for God,
who is fully possessed by God,
and who lives
and has his being
wholly for God;
in every respect
and in every way,
his unique interest
is God.

The one
who lights the lamps
is a person
who is possessed
by God,
who is saturated
with God,
and who lives
absolutely for God:

Whatever such a person
says and does
in the sanctuary of God
is the lighting of the lamps;
all his actions
are the lighting of the lamps.

When the holy priests
speak in the church meetings,
the light ascends,
and the sanctuary
is full of light.

The light
in the sanctuary of God
is neither a natural light
nor an artificial light;
it is
a divine light, a holy light,
the real light,
which is
God Himself:

Today’s Christians
are divided by
many kinds of
natural and artificial light.

For the building up
of the Body of Christ,
we need to live and walk
under the unique and genuine light,
the light of
our redeeming and shining God.

God’s light
is in the sanctuary,
and in this light
we see
light and the true nature of things;
we see
what God sees
and know
His way:

“O God,
Your way
is in the sanctuary”
(77:13):

God’s way
is hidden
and His paths, with His footsteps,
are not known to men.

His way
is revealed
in the sanctuary,
that is,
in our spirit and in the church.

When we
exercise our spirit
and live in the church,
God’s way
becomes clear to us.

“When I considered this
in order to understand it,
/ It was
a troublesome task
in my sight,
/ Until I
went into the sanctuary of God;
/ Then
I perceived
their end”
(Psa. 73:16-17):

Once we
are in the sanctuary
—in the spirit and in the church—
we will have
another view,
a particular perception,
of the situation.

In our spirit and in the church,
under the shining of God’s light,
we receive divine revelation
and obtain the explanation
to all our problems.

Certain elements
are involved
whenever we experience
the genuine lighting of the lamps
in the church meetings
—the embodiment of the Triune God,
the divine nature,
the uplifted humanity
of Jesus,
and the Spirit of Christ:

The light
in the sanctuary of God
issues from the lampstand,
which signifies
the embodiment of the Triune God.

The light
comes out of the gold,
that is,
the divine nature of Christ.

Christ
is golden (divine),
but it is
His humanity,
signified by the wick,
that burns with oil.

The oil
signifies the Spirit of God,
who has passed through a process
to become
the Spirit of Christ:

Oil
comes from olive trees,
and the olive tree
signifies Christ.

Just as olives
pass through a process
to produce olive oil,
so the Spirit of God
has passed through a process
involving incarnation, human living,
crucifixion, and resurrection
to become
the Spirit of Christ.

Whatever we
utter in the meetings
must be with
the pure oil of the olive tree:

We need
the experience of Christ
as the olive tree
in His incarnation, human living,
crucifixion, and resurrection;
this means
that the aspects of Christ’s process
need to become
our experience.

We need the cross
to work in us
so that we
may have the pure olive oil
—oil that has passed
through incarnation and crucifixion
and has entered
into resurrection.

Meeting
to light the lamps
in the sanctuary
involves every aspect
of our spiritual experience
in the Christian life.

The qualification
for the priests
to light the lamps
in the sanctuary of God
is the expression of Christ,
signified by
the priestly garments:

The significance
of the priestly garments
is the expression of Christ
in the priesthood:

We have
not only Christ
as the embodiment of the Triune God,
the divine nature of Christ,
the uplifted humanity of Christ,
and the Spirit of Christ
with all the steps of His process,
but we have also
the expression of Christ.

The qualification
for a priest
to light the lamps
in the sanctuary of God
is the expression of Christ.

The garments
signify Christ
lived out of the priesthood.

The priestly garments,
being mainly for glory and for beauty,
signify the expression of
Christ’s divine glory
and human beauty:

Glory is related to
Christ’s divinity, His divine attributes,
and beauty, to
Christ’s humanity, His human virtues.

Christ’s divinity,
typified by
the gold of the priestly garments,
is for glory,
and His humanity,
typified by
the blue, purple, and scarlet strands
and the fine linen,
is for beauty.

A life
that expresses Christ
with the divine glory and human beauty
sanctifies us
and qualifies us
to carry out
the priestly service
of lighting the lamps
in the sanctuary of God.

The purpose
of the gathering of the believers
is to have
the sanctuary of God
with the lighting of the lamps
by qualified priests
so that we
may have a vision
of the different aspects of Christ
and see the way
to enter
into the depths of Christ
within God.

Day 5
Rom. 11:17
But if some of the branches
were broken off,
and you,
being a wild olive tree,
were grafted in among them
and became
a fellow partaker of the root
of fatness of the olive tree.

Phil. 3:10
To know
Him
and the power of His resurrection
and the fellowship of His sufferings,
being conformed to
His death.

Judges 9
speaks positively of
three kinds of trees:
the olive tree,
the fig tree,
and the vine tree.
According to Judges 9:9,
the fatness of the olive tree
is used to honor
God and man.
According to verse 11,
the fig tree
is known for
its sweetness and good fruit.
This fruit
is for man’s nourishment.
Verse 13 says
that the vine
produces wine,
which cheers
God and man.
All three of these trees
typify Christ.
Christ is the olive tree,
Christ is the fig tree,
and Christ is the vine tree.
In John 15
the Lord Jesus clearly said,
“I am the vine”
[v. 5].
In this message
we are concerned with Christ
as the olive tree.

The lampstand
is Christ
as the embodiment of God,
…within the lamps
are the wicks,
and…the wicks
signify Christ’s humanity.
The wicks
burn with oil,
and the oil
signifies the Spirit of God.
What we have today
is not only the Spirit of God,
but the Spirit of Christ.
The Spirit of God
has become
the Spirit of Christ.
Just as olives
pass through a process
to produce olive oil,
so the Spirit of Christ
has passed through a process.
For us today,
the oil
with which the wicks burn
signifies the Spirit of Christ.

Putting all these matters together,
we have the gold
to make the lampstand
signifying Christ
as the embodiment
of the Triune God;
we have
the wick,
Christ’s humanity
burning with oil;
and we have the oil
signifying the Spirit of Christ.
As the olive tree,
Christ grew on earth
and then passed through a process
that included incarnation, human living,
crucifixion, and resurrection.
When all these matters
are put together,
we have
the coming forth
of the light.

The pure and holy pray-reading,
calling on the Lord’s name,
and praising
should not be mixed with
lightness or joking.
Whenever there is
such a mixture,
there is darkness
instead of light.
Whatever we
utter in the meetings
must be with
the pure oil
of the olive tree.
This is
the only oil
that will burn
to give light
in the Holy Place.

Lighting the lamps
in the Holy Place
is a serious matter.
It requires
certain basic things:
the lampstand,
the wicks,
and the olive oil.
Furthermore,
in order to have the oil,
it is first necessary
to have
the olive tree with olives.
As we consider
the picture of the lighting
of the lamps
with olive oil,
we have
a portrait of spiritual experience.
If we
would light the lamps,
we need much experience.
We need
the experience of Christ
as the olive tree
in His incarnation, human living,
crucifixion, and resurrection.
These aspects
of Christ’s process
need to become
our experience.
This means
that what is His
must become ours.
If we
do not have
the experience
of Christ’s process,
we do not have
the olive tree
with the olive oil.
Then
we shall be empty-handed
when we come
to light the lamps.
We shall be short of
olive oil.
Therefore,
we need
the adequate experience
of Christ.

We need the cross
to work in us.
The pure olive oil
is oil that has passed
through incarnation and crucifixion
and has entered
into resurrection.
In this oil
there is
no mixture,
no natural element.

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.

Day 3
John 1:4-5
In Him
was life,
and the life
was the light of men.
And the light
shines in the darkness,
and the darkness
did not overcome it.

John 1:9
This was
the true light
which, coming into the world,
enlightens every man.

The light of the holy city
is the unique eternal divine light
in which the redeemed elect
live and move within the city,
needing not
the natural light,
the sun and the moon,
created by God,
nor the artificial light
made by man.
In the whole universe
there are
only three kinds of light.
First,
there is
the natural light,
the sun and the moon,
created by God.
Then
there is
the artificial light
made by man.
Third,
there is
the real light, the genuine light,
which is
God Himself.
Revelation tells us
that in the New Jerusalem
we do not need
the natural light of
the moon and the sun
or the artificial light.
This is
because we
have the first-class light,
which is
the source of all the light.
This light
is God,
shining within Christ,
diffused over all the nations.

Our natural knowledge,
our natural ability
in understanding and realizing things,
is like the light of
the sun and the moon.
Furthermore,
we have received
many “lamps”
from the teachers
in high schools and universities.
These are
the artificial “lamps.”
In the church life,
we do not need
our understanding
by our natural ability
or our school-taught knowledge.
Instead,
we have
our God
shining within us
through His word.

Today’s Christians
are divided by
many kinds of
natural and artificial light.
We must be controlled
by the unique, genuine, top, first-class light.
This light
is our redeeming and shining God.
We must apply this light
to our daily walk.
Many of the saints
exercise their natural ability too much,
even in the church life.
This is
why there are
murmurings and reasonings
in the church life.
We do not need
the natural and the artificial light.
For the building up
of the Body of Christ,
we walk and live
under the divine, redeeming, and shining light
through the word of God.

Psalm 36:9b says,
“In Your light
we see light.”
This tells us
that a man
can only see
real light
and realize
the true nature of things
through God’s light.
The first occurrence
of the word “light”
in this verse
means the enlightening light,
and the second occurrence
of “light”
means the true nature of things.
The first “light”
refers to the light
that comes from God’s enlightening,
and the second “light”
is the facts
that one sees,
that is,
the facts
that are revealed
under God’s enlightening.
A believer
must live
in God’s light
before he can have sight.
Only those
who live in God’s light
will see light,
and only those
who live in His light
can discern
the true nature of things.
Those who do not know
the power of sunlight
will search around
with a torchlight.
But once a man sees
the power and radiance of sunlight,
he will drop
his torchlight.
Once we
realize that God is light,
we will live in His light,
and there will be
no more need
for human firebrands.

God’s way
is hidden in the sea,
and His paths
in the great waters,
with His footsteps,
are not known to men
(Psa. 77:19),
but His way
is revealed in His sanctuary,
that is,
in our spirit and in the church.
When we
exercise our spirit
and live in the church,
God’s way
becomes clear to us.

In Psalm 73
the solution
to the psalmist’s perplexity
concerning the prosperity
of the wicked
was obtained
in God’s sanctuary.
First,
God’s sanctuary, His habitation,
is in our spirit
and, second,
it is
the church.
Thus,
to go
into the sanctuary of God,
we need
to turn
to our spirit
and go
to the meetings
of the church.
Once we
are in the sanctuary
—in the spirit and in the church—
we will have
another view,
a particular perception,
of the situation
concerning the wicked.
In our spirit and in the church
we receive divine revelation
and obtain the explanation
to all our problems.

Day 1
1 John 1:5
And this is the message
which we have heard from Him
and announce to you,
that God is light
and in Him is
no darkness at all.

Eph. 5:8
For you were once darkness
but are now light in the Lord;
walk as children of light.

Spirit is
the nature of God’s person,
love is
the nature of God’s essence,
and light is
the nature of God’s expression.
Light, therefore,
is God’s expression;
it is
God shining.
Hence,
when we
dwell in God,
who is
the shining One,
we are
in light.

First John 1:5 says
that in God
there is
no darkness at all.
As light
is the nature of God
in His expression,
so darkness
is the nature of Satan
in his evil works.
Thank God
that He has delivered us
out of the satanic darkness
into the divine light.
The divine light
is the divine life
in the Son
operating in us.

As God is light,
so we, the children of God,
are the children of light.

The Lord Jesus
came to this world
as the shining light
that man
might not remain in darkness.
Christ is
the manifestation of God
as light,
and if people
receive Him as light,
they will have God.
If a man
believes into Him,
he will not remain in darkness.
However,
if a man
refuses to receive Him as light,
he simply rejects God
and will be overcome
by darkness.
Christ
comes as light.
If a man
receives Him,
he will have God
and will become
one of
the sons of light,
the children of God.
In John 12:46
the Lord
was making a declaration
to the religious crowd
that He is
the manifestation of God
coming to them
as light.
If they
receive Him,
they will become
sons of light.

To walk in the divine light
is not merely to dwell
in this light;
it is
to live, move, act, do things,
and have our being
in the divine light,
the light
which is
actually God Himself.
When we
dwell, live, and have our being
in God,
we walk
in the divine light,
which is
the expression of God.

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.

Whenever we
come together
to meet
as the church,
that meeting
is in God’s dwelling place.
It is very important
to remember this.
Our gathering
is a sanctuary.
…We need
to remember
that we
are in a holy gathering
of the saints.
As those
whose gathering
is the sanctuary of God,
we need to light the lamps
in the sanctuary,
that is,
in the tent of meeting.
Of course,
the physical building
in which we meet
is not the sanctuary,
or the Holy Place;
it is
the gathering
which is
the sanctuary.
No matter where
we may meet,
in a building
or in the open air,
our gathering
is the Holy Place.
For this reason,
we should not meet
in a natural way
or in a secular way.
Everything we do
in the meeting
—our speaking, singing, praising,
calling, shouting, pray-reading—
must cause the holy light
to ascend.
This is
to light the lamps
in God’s sanctuary
so that the light
may swallow up
the darkness.