One of the functions of the priests in the Old Testament was the lighting of the lamps in the Holy Place; God ordained that the light has to be on all day and throughout the night, and it was the priests’ responsibility to make sure this happens. The details of this picture are quite interesting, and they are very much related to our Christian life in their spiritual application.
First of all, the persons qualified to light the lamps were holy – they were the holy priests; only those saturated and filled with God, those who care for nothing else but God and His interest here on earth are qualified to light the lamp in the Holy Place.
Then, they had to use pure olive oil to keep the light on; this means that we need to exercise our spirit and allow the consummated Spirit to flow into us for the lighting of the lamp. We cannot bring “our own fuel” or make “our own fire”; this fire is of the divine life and the divine nature, and the fuel is the Holy Spirit.
The lamps to be kept lighted up were the seven lamps of the lampstand; this means that in the lighting of the lamps in the meetings of the church we need to have the embodiment of the Triune God with the humanity of Jesus (the shape of the lamp), the divine nature (gold as the nature of the lampstand), and the Spirit of Christ (typified by the pure olive oil).
Lighting the lamps in the Holy Place doesn’t merely mean “being enlightened by the Lord as we come to Him”; we need to go deeper into the holy word of God to see what we as priests should do to light the lamps, and we need to enter into the personal and corporate experience of lighting the lamps in the Holy Place, the church meetings.
Hallelujah, we are priests to God, those separated unto God who are in the process of being saturated and permeated with God as we spend time with God, and we are qualified to light the lamps by expressing Christ (wearing the priestly garment) with the exercise of our mingled spirit to receive and flow out the Spirit of Christ (the pure oil) all the time!
The Need for Holy Persons Filled with God to Light the Holy Lamps in the Holy Place
Only the holy priests were qualified to light the holy lamps in the holy place (Exo. 27:20-21; 30:7-8). Before we can DO anything for God in our service to Him we first need to BE the right kind of persons. God is not after “works” but “persons”; God cares more for what we are and who we are than for what we do for Him.
Spiritually speaking, a priest is a person who spends time with God to be filled and saturated with God until he is possessed by God. The priests in the Old Testament were a type, a shadow, of what we as real priests to God today are; all believers in Christ are priests to God, and we should be filled with God, saturated with God, and possessed by God so that we may be absolutely for God and have a holy living for God.
As priests to God, our only concern should be God and His interests here on earth; our life should be to the Lord, our only care should be for God and His business, and our living should be an expression of God. It is our privilege and responsibility as priests to God to spend time with God every day to contact God, receive God, be filled with God, and be saturated with God.
When we are saturated and filled with God, we become men of God, holy priests who are qualified to light the lamps in the holy place. In our daily living, we need to be those contacting the Lord, again and again, to be filled and saturated with Him, and we will be qualified to light the lamps as we meet with the saints.
In our meetings we should keep the principle of “lighting the lamps in the holy place”; as holy priests, we should light the holy lamps in the holy place, allowing Christ as the light within us to shine and not hiding Him “under a bushel” (Matt. 15-16).
Our being and our living as holy priests (those saturated and filled with God) qualifies us to light the lamps in the meetings of the church by speaking Christ to others for their enlightening, edification, supply, growth in life, and building up.
A priest is a person who is absolutely for God, one 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 (see 1 Pet. 2:5, 9; Rev. 1:6; 5:9-10).
As priests, we should have the embodiment of God with the divine nature and the humanity of Christ, and we should be filled with the Spirit of Christ which contains Christ’s incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection. Our living and our being needs to be absolutely for God and fully filled with God, and we will spontaneously bring the light of God wherever we go and whatever we do.
Lord Jesus, make us the holy priests who are saturated and filled with God to be qualified to light the holy lamps in the holy place, the meetings of the church. Lord, we want to spend more time with You every day to be infused with You and be filled and saturated with You so that we may be full of the Spirit of Christ, the oil to fuel the divine light. Oh Lord, we give ourselves to You to be absolutely for God, those fully possessed by God whose living and being is wholly for God. Fill the church meetings with much light through our exercise to be the holy priests who light the holy lamps!
Being Saturated with God and Possessed by God to Spontaneously Bring in God’s Light
As priests we are part of a priesthood, which is both a body of priests (a priestly body) and a service of the priests. We are a priesthood; we’re not meant to be “individually holy priests” but together a royal priesthood, a holy nation (1 Pet. 2:5).
As priests to God, we need to be persons possessed by God, saturated with God, and living absolutely for God so that spontaneously we would bring God’s light wherever we are, whatever we say, and whatever we do.
If we don’t spend time with the Lord personally every day, we are disqualified to serve as priests; but if we fight for our time with the Lord and pay the price to be filled with God in His word in our fellowship with Him, whatever we do and say in the meetings of the church will be the “lighting of the lamps” – we will bring in God’s light!
If we spend time with the Lord in the morning and touch Him again and again throughout the day, we have much of the Spirit of Christ (the oil) to flow out to others (light the lamps) in the meetings of the church. But if we somehow manage to get to the meeting of the church and yet we’re not filled with God, we are not qualified to light the lamps.
Many meetings of the believers may be in darkness because none of the believers pays the price to personally spend time with God and be filled with God to have the oil of the Spirit of Christ to light the lamps.
Even if there’s some sort of “man-made light” in the meeting, a manufactured “spiritual light”, it will not last and it is not received by God; what God desires and what we all need in the Holy Place (the meetings of the church) is the lighting of the lamps by the holy persons, the priests of God who are filled with God, saturated with God, possessed by God, and who live absolutely for God.
Whatever such persons say and do in the meetings of the church is the “lighting of the lamps” – they bring in God’s light, and all their actions are causing us to enjoy the shining Christ from within them. 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).
May we be those who do not allow the worries of this age, the anxiety and the riches of this world, or anything related to our daily living cover our shining, but may we put Christ as the light on the lampstand, being filled with the Spirit and letting Christ shine through us in the meetings!
May the meetings of the church be filled not with natural light or man-made light but with Christ as light shining from within the holy priests who are filled and saturated with God and are filled with the Spirit of Christ!
Lord Jesus, saturate us and fill us as we spend time with You to fellowship with You. Lord, we want to be the holy priests You need today, those who are saturated with God and who live absolutely for God so that everything we do and say in the meetings of the church would bring in the divine light! Oh Lord, fill us with Yourself until You can shine from us wherever we are and whatever we do and say! May our light shine – may Christ as light filling us shine! Lord, recover a body of priests, a priesthood, who are filled with God and saturated with God and bring in God’s light!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Andrew Yu’s sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1966, vol. 1, “The Priesthood,” ch. 16, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Recovery of the Priesthood or God’s Building, week 4 / msg 4, Lighting the Lamps and Burning the Incense.
- All Bible verses are taken from, Holy Bible Recovery Version.
- Hymns on this topic to strengthen this burden:
# Lord, to know Thee as our Person, / Earnestly we seek and pray; / To experience Thy fulness / In a constant inner way. / Never longer only outward / Or with soulish thoughts obsessed, / But, O Lord, in realest contact / We by Thee would be possessed. (Hymns #1181)
# Prayer is the golden pipes the Spirit fills, / Which feed the lamps of God with oil divine, / And, as with one accord we wait and pray, / The Spirit fills, the lamps with brightness shine. (Hymns #762)
# I long to have such fellowship / To read and pray and blend with Thee; / I long that Thou wouldst saturate / Till Thou may overflow from me. (Hymns #813)
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. (Life-study of Exodus, p. 1309, by Witness Lee)
Amen. Oh Lord Jesus cause us to be absolutely for you grant us a pure heart to care only You to be filled and saturated with you! May your abundance grace poured out more upon us so that we can be your light shining upon your grace we can do nothing without you oh God cause us to be holy every moment everyday to remain our mingled spirit where you are mingled in us the holy place…We abide and we trust in your name that you can do towards us your church! Amen.