As believers in Christ, we are holy priests lighting the holy lamps in the holy place, the meetings of the church. Hallelujah, our God is light, and in Him there’s no darkness at all, and we are children of light who are daily learning to walk in the light.
The nature of God’s expression – whenever God reaches us and we contact Him – is light; He shines on us through His word, and in all circumstances He shines on us and draws us to Himself so that we may walk in the light even as He is in the light.
The whole world lies in darkness; even the self-made light conjured up by philosophers and religions out there are simply darkness, even deeper darkness. All men grope and seek for the truth, and a blind guides the blind only to both fall in a pit and be surrounded by even deeper darkness.
But in this dark world the Lord Jesus came as a great light shining over us, those living in darkness; He came as the light of the world, and His word imparted light so that we may receive the divine life.
Whoever receives His, that is, whoever believes into Him, receives the authority to become a child of God, that is, a son of light. Hallelujah, our Father is a Father of lights, He is Light itself, and we as children of light have light in ourselves because God in Christ as the Spirit lives in our spirit!
Now we are learning to live and walk in the light by dealing with anything that hinders the light and by confessing our sins, so that we may have fellowship with God and with one another.
Furthermore, when we meet together as the church, our function as priests to God is to light the lamps; our meeting is the sanctuary of God, God in Christ is in our midst as we get together, and our function is to light the lamps.
How wonderful it is to meet together with the saints and cause light to ascend! When we walk in the light and allow the Lord as the light of the world to shine out of us, spontaneously when we meet we cause light to ascend, thus fulfilling our holy priesthood.
Holy Priests are Lighting the Holy Lamps in the Holy Place, the Meetings of the Church
It is only the priests that are qualified to light the lamps in the Holy Place; no ordinary person can do this or have access here (see Exo. 27:21). The priests are the ones who have to light the lamps; this is a service of the priests.
There are three main functions of the priests related to the tabernacle: they had to offer the sacrifices upon the burnt offering altar in the outer court, they had to light the lamps of the lampstand in the sanctuary of God (the Holy Place), and they had to burn the incense on the incense altar in the Holy of Holies.
The offering of sacrifices was rough since they had to deal with large animals and sacrifices, but the lighting of the lamps and the burning of incense were more fine and particular. There is the need for holy persons to light the holy lamps in the Holy Place.
Everything in the Holy Place had to be holy: the priests were holy, the lamps were holy, and the place itself was holy. As believers in Christ, we are not merely separated unto God but we are also holy, in a condition that is distinct, different, not common; our God is Holy, and we are His holy sons and His holy priests.
God chose us before the foundation of the world to be holy and without blemish before Him in love (Eph. 1:4). Our destiny is to be holy: we are destined to be separated and sanctified, saturated with God’s holy element and nature.
Among billions of people, God chose us, separated us, and sanctified us unto Himself to make us holy by imparting His nature, His holiness, into us. Now we are a holy priesthood, and our function is to light the lamps in the holy place.
The Holy Place is the meetings of the church; everything we do and say in the meetings of the church should be holy. God is present among us; He is with us, and every aspect of the meeting is holy: our singing is holy, our prayers are holy, and our testimonies are holy.
Everything we do and carry out in the meeting is not common. We may be able to give a speech at work for our job, but when we come to the meeting we should not use our natural ability to speak for God; we are holy people, we speak holy words, we sing holy songs, and we offer holy prayers to our holy God to light the lamps in the Holy Place, the meetings of the church.
How much we need to exercise our spirit, walk in the light daily, be sanctified, and light the lamps in the Holy Place, the meetings of the church! When we are in the meeting and open our mouth to speak something, the light should ascend and darkness should vanish.
God, thank You for choosing us before the foundation of the world to be holy and without blemish before You in love. Thank You for regenerating us with Your life to make us children of light. We want to walk in the light and have our whole being in the light, so that when we meet with the saints we would cause light to ascend. Make us the holy priests lighting the holy lamps in the Holy Place, the meetings of the church! May our speaking, prayers, testimonies, and even our being in the meeting cause the light to ascend!
Being Saturated and Possessed by God to Light the Lamps in the Meetings of the Church
What is a priest? According to the Old Testament, a priest is one called, chosen, and set aside by God for His service. In the New Testament sense, a priest is one who is possessed by God, saturated with God, and filled with Him to serve God and be one with Him. How wonderful!
I was really encouraged and enlightened by the following definition of being a priest,
According to the Bible, spiritually speaking, a priest is one who has been fully possessed by God. In the New Testament sense, a priest is not only possessed by God in full, but is entirely filled and saturated with God. The priests in the Old Testament were types, shadows, of the real priests in the New Testament. Today we who believe in Christ are true priests. As priests, we should be possessed by God, filled with God, and saturated with God. Furthermore, a priest is a person who is absolutely for God. His life and living are wholly for God. He lives and has his being for God. He does not care for anything on earth except God. Hence, a priest is a person possessed by God, saturated with God, and living for God. He has no other interest. In every respect and in every way, his unique interest is God. Because a priest is filled and saturated with God, he is a man of God. The lighting of the lamps in the Holy Place requires the service of this kind of person. For this reason, we emphasize the fact that the lighting of the lamps was a priestly service, a service of the priests. Witness Lee, Life-study of Exodus, msg. 114
As priests to God, we are those who are being saturated and possessed by God, those who live and have our being wholly for God; in every respect and in every way, our unique interest is God (1 Pet. 2:5, 9; Rev. 1:6; 5:9-10).
God is our business, our profession, our occupation, and our living. We have been called by Him, set aside by Him, and selected by Him; now we are being saturated and filled with Him to be a holy priesthood, those purchased for a possession to tell out the virtues of Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light.
If we are such a priest saturated with God and possessed by Him, whatever we do or say in the sanctuary of God will be the lighting of the lamps; all our actions are the lighting of the lamps.
When we live a life wholly and absolutely for God, being filled with God, everything we do and say in the meeting – whether a prayer, singing, an Amen!, a prophecy, etc – we are lighting the lamps. Even when we listen to others’ sharing and say Amen! to their speaking, we are lighting the lamps.
When we light the lamps, using the oil of the Spirit of Christ, we cause the light to ascend. When we as holy priests speak in the church meetings, the light ascends, and the sanctuary is full of light (see Exo. 27:20; 1 Cor. 14:19; Matt. 5:14-16; Mark 4:21).
We do not hide the light we have under a bushel but rather exercise our spirit and let our light shine for others to see the Lord and enjoy Him in His word. And when we speak, we exercise our spirit to be one with the Lord and release what He has impressed us with, what He has wrought into us.
What a wonderful place the church life is, with meetings full of the divine light ascending! When people go to see a football game, even though everything is lighted up and lovely outwardly, there’s much darkness inside; but in the meetings of the saints, we have the divine light ascending: light is here because God is here, and He is light!
Lord Jesus, we give ourselves to You to be saturated and permeated with You so that we may be persons who are absolutely for God, fully possessed by Him. Saturate us and fill us with Yourself, Lord, until our being and living is wholly for You. May our unique interest, business, and occupation be God Himself, the One who called us, acquired us, selected us, saturated us, and permeated us. Fill us with Yourself day by day, and may there be light ascending in our meetings as we exercise our spirit to light the lamps as we meet!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by brother James L. for this week, and Life-study of Exodus, msg. 114 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Exodus (part 4, 2016 Summer Training), msg. 8 (week 44 in the HWMR), Lighting the Lamps in the Sanctuary of God by Serving as Priests Clothed with the Expression of Christ.
- Hymns on this topic:
# The priest’s position holy is; / He sacrifices e’er to God, / Beholds His beauty, incense burns / Of prayer before the Lord. / 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)
# To God we offer Christ the Lord / Whom we experience; / With God we too delight in Him. / His light and sweetness sense. / In spirit and reality / Together here we meet, / To worship, praise, and fellowship / Around the mercy-seat. (Hymns #865)
# In my prayer and deepest plea / In my spirit always be / Saturated and soaked with Thee, with Thee. / This would be my life daily. / Every hour expecting Thee, / This I pray, Lord, desperately! (Song on being saturated with God)
About aGodMan
The divine light, the holy light, includes the embodiment of the Triune God, the divine nature, the humanity of Christ, and the Spirit of Christ. Christ is the One who has passed through incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection. When we light the lamps, using the oil of the Spirit of Christ, we cause the lamps to ascend. Literally, “to make the lamps burn” means “to cause the light of a lamp to ascend” (Exo. 27:20)….When the holy priests speak in the church meeting, the light ascends, and the sanctuary is full of light. (Life-study of Exodus, p. 1314, by W. Lee)
Amen oh Lord, fill us, make us such ones!
Amen! The lighting of the lamps in the church meeting requires believers in Christ who are possessed, saturated, and absolute for God. When such ones light the lamps, using the oil of the Spirit of Christ, the light ascends, and the meeting is full of light. They give light in all they do and say. May the Lord produce us to be such ones in the church and the church life for His testimony.
Praise the Lord !!!
Amen lord thank you you are the light of life. Thankyou for the further light on the tabernacle and the priest. Thankyou today you want a priest who is filled soaked and saturated by you. Thankyou for the sevenfold intensified light of the lampstand. Continue shine yourself into us till we are fully possed by you lord jesus
Amen ptl Christ is the one who has passed through incarnation human living, crucifixion and resurrection when we light the lamps using the oil of the spirit of Christ we caused the lamps to ascend
Praise the Lord!, As priests, we should be possesed by God, filled with God and saturated with God! This requires the kind of person to light the lamps in the Holy Place!
The lighting of the lamp is a priestsly service! Amen!!!