THE RECOVERY OF THE PRIESTHOOD FOR GOD'S BUILDING
Message Four
Lighting the Lamps and Burning the Incense
Scripture Reading: Exo. 27:20-21; 30:7-8, 34-38; Psa. 141:2; Rev. 5:8; 8:3-4
I. The lighting of the lamps in the sanctuary of God is a priestly service, a serv-ice of the priests—Exo. 27:20-21:
A. In typology, lighting the lamps in the sanctuary of God signifies the proper way for us to meet as Christians:
1. The tabernacle as the Tent of Meeting, the place where God met with His people and spoke to them (Lev. 1:1), typifies the meetings of the church.
2. In typology, lighting the lamps points to the proper way to meet as the church; the proper way to meet is to light the lamps, that is, to give off light— Luke 11:33.
3. Everything we do in the meetings—praying, singing, praising, and prophesy-ing—should cause the holy light to ascend.
B. There is the need for holy persons to light the holy lamps in the Holy Place— Exo. 27:20-21; 30:7-8:
1. 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—1 Pet. 2:5, 9; Rev. 1:6; 5:9-10.
2. Theone wholightsthe lampsisaperson whoispossessedbyGod, who is saturated with God, and who lives absolutely for God—Exo. 27:21:
a. Whatever such a person says and does in the Holy Place is the lighting of the lamps; all his actions are the lighting of the lamps.
b. When the holy priests speak in the church meetings, the light ascends, and the sanctuary is full of light—1 Cor. 14:19; Matt. 5:15-16; Mark 4:21.
C. The light in the Holy Place is neither a natural light nor an artificial light—it is a divine light, a holy light, the real light, which is God Himself—John 1:9; 1 John 1:5; Rev. 21:23-24a:
1. Today's Christians are divided by many kinds of natural and artificial light— Isa. 50:10-11; 2 Cor. 11:14.
2. 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— Rev. 21:23; 1 John 1:5, 7; Eph. 5:8-9.
3. 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 see the different aspects of Christ, signified by the items of furniture in the Holy Place, and also see the way leading into the Holy of Holies, into the depths of Christ within God—Exo. 25:23, 31; 30:1.
4. Certain elements must be involved whenever we experience the genuine lighting of the lamps in the church meetings—the embodiment of the Triune God (the lampstand), the divine nature (gold), the uplifted humanity of Christ (the wick), and the Spirit of Christ (the oil)—Col. 2:9; 2 Pet. 1:4; Rom. 1:3-4; 8:9.
5. Meeting together to light the lamps includes every aspect of our spiritual experience in the Christian life.
II. The main commission of the priesthood is to burn the incense—Exo. 30:7-8:
A. The lighting of the lamps is connected to the burning of the incense—vv. 7-8:
1. Whenever the priests burned the incense, they lit the lamps, and whenever they lit the lamps, they burned the incense.
2. Whenever we read the Word (light the lamps), we should pray; to light the lamps is to read the Word, and to burn the incense is to pray.
3. Proper prayer is prayer that issues out of the light from reading the Word; the light from the Word will enlighten us to have the right words to pray.
B. The burning of the incense is the central matter of everything in the taber-nacle, God's dwelling place.
C. Burning the incense typifies praying—Psa. 141:2; Luke 1:10-11; Rev. 5:8; 8:3-4:
1. Burning the incense signifies our praying in and with the resurrected and ascended Christ.
2. This kind of prayer, which is actually Christ, is our ascending to God through Christ and with Christ; such is a sweet-smelling fragrance to God.
3. The smoke of the incense indicates that the incense is burned and ascends to God with the prayers of the saints; this implies that the prayers of the saints become effectiveand areacceptabletoGod—v.3.
4. The prayer offered in Christ and with Christ as the incense governs God's dispensing of grace and motivates the execution of the divine administra-tion.
D. The holy anointing oil signifies Christ as the all-inclusive Spirit coming to us from God, whereas the incense signifies Christ as our prayer going to God from us—Exo. 30:23-25, 34-38:
1. For the two-way traffic between the Triune God and us, we need both the anointing of the holy ointment and the burning of the incense:
a. The anointing brings God to us in Christ and through Christ for our participation in the divine element; the incense is our going to God with Christ and as Christ in prayer for God's enjoyment.
b. This kind of prayer simultaneously satisfies God with a sweet fragrance and carries out God's economy, God's administration.
2. God sanctifies us with the holy ointment so that we may enjoy the com-pound Spirit, and we may satisfy God with our prayer, the holy incense, and carry out God's administration.
E. Priests are a people of incense; their work is mainly to burn the incense:
1. A priest is a person who burns the incense inwardly to contact the Lord— vv. 7-8.
2. We need to learn how to burn the incense in a fine way to offer a sweet savor to God.
3. When we pray in the way of expressing Christ, it is not only we who are praying but also Christ who is praying within us; we and Christ become one by praying, and our prayer to God is sweet incense ascending to Him— Psa. 141:2:
a. "Thou art the incense unto God, / In Thee acceptance is complete; / I want to pray yet more and more, / To offer up this fragrance sweet"—Hymns, #813.
b. "Let us the incense burn / Of prayer before the Lord; / The lamp we'd light, through day and night / Our praise to Him outpoured"—Hymns, #791.