Our Priestly Duty is to Pray and Read the Word to have God’s Speaking, His Shining

As believers in Christ, it is our priestly duty to burn the incense and light the lamps, that is, pray and read the word of God, so that the churches may be shining and the lampstand would be bright.

The light of the lampstand depends on the strength of our priestly service; if we exercise our spirit to pray and intercede one with the Lord, and if we pray over the word of God, we will be shining, and the church will be shining.

The shining of the divine light is everything to us in the church life, just as the shining of the lampstand was vital for the priestly service in the Old Testament in the Holy Place.

Every morning and every evening the priests had to burn the incense and light the lamps, making sure that the light was shining unceasingly in the Holy Place. Without the shining of the light of the lampstand, the children of Israel could not move or fight for God.

Therefore, as soon as they consecrated something to God (see Num. 7, the Nazarite vow), they immediately lit the lamps in order for the light to shine.

The purpose of lighting the lamps was for offering, fighting, and moving; for God’s people to offer the sacrifices, to fight for God’s interest, and to move one with God on earth, they needed light.

On one hand God Himself is light, Christ is the light of the world, the Spirit brings in light, and light is in the Word of God; on the other hand, we need to cooperate with the Lord and fulfill our priestly duty to light the lamps in the church life so that we may keep the divine light shining.

Many times, however, we serve in the church life with no light; we do things in our natural man and according to our natural capability, and we are in darkness.

But for God’s building work to go on, for us to fight the spiritual warfare, and for us to move one with the Lord and offer Him the Christ who satisfies Him, we need to have God’s light and we need to light the lamps.

The more light we have in the church life, the more we can fight the spiritual warfare, the more we can serve the Lord properly, and the more the building work can continue.

But without the shining of the light, the lamps are going out, the speaking of God in the church through the saints is rare, and the Lord doesn’t have a way to move, work, and accomplish what He’s after.

Our Priestly Duty is to Pray and Read the Word to have God’s Shining in the Church

The light of the lampstand is based on the strength of the priests’ service; there is light on the lampstand, but how much this light is shining depends on the priests’ service.

This light on the lampstand depended on the wicks, the olive oil, and the burning fire; it is possible for the light to be not so strong but dim, and sometimes to going out.

There is something to be said about the quantity and quality of the divine light in the church life; we need to fulfill our priestly duty to intercede and pray the Word of God for the divine light to shine bright.

It all depends on the priests’ service; we need to have the priestly service strengthened in the church life.

In 1 Sam. 3:3 we see the sad situation in the times of Eli the priest; the way the Bible describes that situation is that the lamp of God did not yet go out. This is a situation where God’s testimony was about to go out, for the shining and brightness in the tabernacle was about to go out.

May these words not describe our situation or the situation in the church; may we not be like Sardis who had a name to be living but according to their works they were about to die.

The light in a local church cannot be bright unless we all fulfill our priestly duty to burn the incense and light the lamps (see Exo. 25:37; 27:20-21; 30:7-8; Acts 6:4; 1 Cor. 14:24-25).

We need to cooperate with the Lord by fulfilling our priestly duty to light the lamps and burn the incense. Burning the incense refers to the intercessory prayer, the prayer with Christ and His virtues added to it to ascend to God, and it refers to our prayer, the priestly prayer; such a prayer is very important along with the lighting of the lamps.

On one hand we need to get rid of the charred wicks and on the other keep the oil supply.

If we mean business to serve the Lord in the church and be a real priest, we need to rise up and keep the light shining; this means we need to cooperate with the Lord to deal with the old things, the natural things of the old man, and also receive the fresh supply of the Spirit, being filled in spirit so that we would be strengthened and keep the lamps shining!

We need to do this both personally and corporately; every morning we need to contact the Lord and dress the lamps again, tending to the lamps.

When we read the word of God or the Holy Word for Morning Revival, we should not just read but contact the Lord and allow Him to clip away the charred things and fill us with His Spirit. In Acts 6:4 we see how the apostles continued steadfastly in prayer and the ministry of the word.

The burning of the incense refers to prayer, while the lighting of the lamps has much to do with the Word. The entrance of God’s word gives light; what gives us light today is the Triune God shining through His word.

We need the word of God; light doesn’t shine from dead letters but from the Spirit-word, the Spirit embodied in the Word.

The essence of the Word of God is the Spirit; what gives the word reality is the Spirit. When we mingle the word with the exercise of our spirit through prayer, the Word becomes living.

We need to practice praying the word of God; we need to practice striking the God-breathed word with our spirit so that the Word becomes spirit and be effectual. When we pray-read the word of God, the Lord’s light shines within us.

Our time with the Lord in the morning should not be a routine; we shouldn’t merely read the morning revival to extract points for the prophecy at the end of the week…rather, we should pray the word, mix the word with the Spirit by using our spirit.

When this happens in a deep and living way, light will burst forth, and this light will judge any negative things in us, it will trim the wicks, and it will add the oil.

Many times, however, the light is not intense enough in us and in the church life; there may be some light, but this light is not strong enough.

The lack of intensity of the light of the lampstand exposes the weakness of the priestly service. May we rise up and fulfill our priestly duty to light the lamps and burn the incense!

Lord Jesus, we want to fulfill our priestly duty to light the lamps and burn the incense so that the divine light would shine in the church life. Amen, Lord, we exercise our spirit to offer Christ with all His virtues for a sweet-smelling offering before God in prayer so that God would be satisfied and carry out His heart’s desire. Lord, we come to Your word with the exercise of our spirit to contact You, receive light from You, and be the brightly shining lampstand for Your testimony on the earth! Amen, Lord Jesus, we want to spend time in Your presence to light the lamps and burn the incense!

When we have God’s Speaking in the Church, the Light Shines Bright among God’s People

Chapter 7 of Numbers ends with God’s speaking in the Tent of Meeting, and ch. 8 begins with God’s continued speaking concerning the lighting of the lamps for light (see Num. 7:89-8:3).

This sequence indicates that, whenever God’s word comes, His people receive light; when we have God’s speaking in the church, the light will shine bright among God’s people.

During the age of Eli the priest, when the word of Jehovah was rare, the lamps in the Holy Place were about to go out (1 Sam. 3:1-3; cf. Psa. 110:105, 130). Where the Lord’s word is, there is light.

Today in the church life we need the word of God. We cannot have the church life without the Lord’s fresh speaking, and we should not have meetings where the word is weak.

We need to have God’s speaking not only in the prophesying meeting but in any meeting, in any situation; the word has to be present, we need to pray over God’s word, minister through prayer, and have God’s light.

As we are learning to practice group meetings in the homes, it is possible that we only outwardly meet but with no light; instead of the divine light there’s natural light, even man-made light.

The home meeting is not the place where we elaborate on our philosophy or discus our political views; the meetings of the church are not the place where we expound on our theories of life but the place where light should shine!

If we are proper priests full of the Spirit and the word, we will fulfill our priestly duty to light the lamps and burn the incense, that is, we will bring light to the meeting. It may be just a few words, a question, an answer, a song, or a verse, but once we open our mouth, light is in the meeting.

As we take care of the new ones and not over-feed them with the Bible or the high peak truth, we need to have the Spirit-word, the living word of God, the Lord’s light.

We need to have God’s speaking in the church; there needs to be abundance of light from many saints speaking the living Word of God so that the inner thoughts of the heart would be manifested and many would see that God is among us because His light is there.

May our home meetings, prayer meetings, group meetings, prophesying meetings, and Lord’s table meeting be full of light by all the saints functioning to light the lamps and burn the incense!

God’s word is a lamp unto our feet, and the opening of His word gives light, imparting understanding to the simple.

Only when there’s God’s speaking in the church can light shine brightly among God’s people.

The ministering priests are able to minister and move because of the light of the lampstand (see Mal. 2:7). Without the Lord’s light, we can’t minister or serve in the church life.

Moreover, as seen in the fact that the seven lamps of the lampstand would give light in the same direction, we need to realise that even though each person has a distinct ministry in the Body, their direction is the same and their ministries are still one ministry (see Col. 4:17; 2 Tim. 4:5; Acts 20:24).

We are many members – we are many priests serving and ministering; however, the direction of our ministry is the same. We all learn to speak in the same direction, following the flow of the Spirit to speak as one man.

We see this in the New Testament – Paul had his ministry, Peter had his ministry, and John had his ministry, but their direction was toward Christ! They testified for Christ together, and their light shone out from Christ and show toward Christ, so their ministries were one.

When we speak in the meeting, we don’t speak to the saints first but to Christ; we make an offering to Christ, we testify for Christ, and we minister to Christ by being one with Christ, shining Him out, and shining from Christ and toward Christ.

Lord Jesus, may all the local churches on earth, whether large or small, have Your speaking and Your shining! Only when we have Your speaking in the church can the light shine brightly among God’s people so that we as priests would minister and serve You. Shine on us, Lord, and keep us enjoying You in the light. Shine on us in Your word. We exercise our spirit to receive light and life from Your word. May Your word among us be rich and may all the saints exercise their priestly duty to light the lamps and burn the incense for the divine light to shine bright in the church!

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References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1977, vol. 3, “The Ultimate Significance of the Golden Lampstand,” ch. 4, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallisation-Study of Numbers (1), week 9, Lighting the Lamps.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # Jesus is the living Spirit / And the living Word; / When we touch Him by pray-reading / We receive this Lord. (Hymns #1142)
  # I’ll read His Word, His light receive, / E’en as the lamp before Him lit, / His holy light illum’ning me / To others I’ll transmit. (Hymns #791)
  # Every verse reveals Yourself to me, / Every line conveys reality. / When I pray the words that You breathed out / You become so real to me. / As I read, I pray, as I pray, I read, / Mingling both as one spontaneously. / You respond within with words so sweet, / I repeat these words to Thee. (Song on, Reading the Bible)