Verse for the Day, 5 February 2015.

Leviticus 24:1-9, “The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,  (2)  "Command the people of Israel to bring you pure oil from beaten olives for the lamp, that a light may be kept burning regularly.  (3)  Outside the veil of the testimony, in the tent of meeting, Aaron shall arrange it from evening to morning before the LORD regularly. It shall be a statute forever throughout your generations.  (4)  He shall arrange the lamps on the lampstand of pure gold before the LORD regularly.  (5)  "You shall take fine flour and bake twelve loaves from it; two tenths of an ephah shall be in each loaf.  (6)  And you shall set them in two piles, six in a pile, on the table of pure gold before the LORD.  (7)  And you shall put pure frankincense on each pile, that it may go with the bread as a memorial portion as a food offering to the LORD.  (8)  Every Sabbath day Aaron shall arrange it before the LORD regularly; it is from the people of Israel as a covenant forever.  (9)  And it shall be for Aaron and his sons, and they shall eat it in a holy place, since it is for him a most holy portion out of the LORD's food offerings, a perpetual due.”

The lampstand and the twelve loaves appear to be rather obscure signs and symbols, what is it that they represent, what does God seek to constantly teach and remind the people of?

From the passage above we learn that both the oil for the lamps and the loaves of bread had to be made from the best of the best. The oil for the lamps was the purest oil and in many respects involved the hardest, most labour intensive method of extraction. The flour could not be any flour you had to hand, it had to be the finest flour, the flour most refined and beaten, so as to produce the best loaves. The oil and the flour served to remind the people of God’s purity, perfection and holiness, only the very best should be offered to God. They were also reminded of the infinite value, worth of God. Pure olive oil and the finest flour were significant in value, they took time and hard-labour to produce, they were made from the best olives and grain, thus they were valuable. Their worship of God was to be sacrificial, require time, effort and preparation, a willingness to give what is most valuable to God, trusting God to supply their needs. They were to offer up twelve loaves of bread, a loaf for each tribe, this bread was to be left in the tabernacle for a week. These loaves served as a continual offering to God from the entire nation, from every tribe as a symbol of worship, thankfulness and trust in God.

Whilst the loaves were an offering, an act of worship, thankfulness and a demonstration of trust in God to supply their daily needs, the lampstand with the burning lamps had a very different function. We are told that this lamp was to burn continually, it was to never go out. This lamp served to both remind the people of God’s presence with them, and their unique calling as the people of God. God had chosen them and redeemed them from Egypt, He gave them His Law, entered into a covenant with them and was about to give them the Promised Land. But God was not doing this simply for the benefit of the Israelites, God had a global purpose in mind. The Israelites were to be a unique nation, living differently to the rest of the world around them so as to be a light to those nations. They were not called to hate, despise or think of themselves as being superior to the other nations, the people of Israel were called to constantly remember their salvation by the hand of God, the receiving of God’s undeserved favour and then their responsibility to make the salvation and grace of God know to all others. Essentially this burning lamp reminded them that God is light, God is with them, God is present among mankind, God has acted in grace and mercy so as to save undeserving sinners. Because God is all this, they as God’s people are also to be a people who reflect and radiate with the light of God, seeking to extend the kingdom of God through making God’s ways, God’s grace and God’s salvation known to the nations.

There is one final truth that they would have been taught and reminded of, and that was a constant dependence upon God to enable them to do this work of being a light to the nations. They were called to supply the oil for the lamps, but this oil did not come from their own hands, it came from the olives, olives that they were dependent upon God to supply. They planted the seeds for the olive trees, but they depended upon God to give the growth and produce, they were powerless to manufacture olives. They depended upon God to supply the olives, which they could then use to make the oil for the lamps. This was a valuable lesson for them to learn, they would only ever be the people that God called upon them to be if they lived in dependence upon Him, looking to Him for all things, serving Him and worshipping Him in obedience.

For those of us who are believers in the Lord Jesus Christ we have a similar calling, we are called to be a light to the nations, to the world around us. We are called to be Christ’s ambassadors, going to the ends of the earth proclaiming the Gospel and living out the truth of it in our lives. Many of us find this very difficult and frustrating, we seem to fail more than we succeed. But the important question we need to ask ourselves is, Who am I depending on? If we are depending upon our own knowledge of the Gospel, of the Scriptures, of evangelism techniques, if we are depending on our own strength and ability to live out our faith, then we will grow tired, weary, discouraged and we will fail. Essentially we are trying to manufacture our own olives, to make our own oil, with which we can light our lamp. Yet this is futile and foolish, we cannot do it. We need God to provide the olives, the oil, which we should then use thankfully, responsibly, obediently and daily. Where are olives and where is the oil? God has given this to us in the form of the Holy Spirit, upon which we are to draw all this from, upon whom we are to depend and trust in. As God says in Zechariah 4:6, “Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, says the LORD of hosts.” (For further reading, read Zechariah 4:1-14, which records more about the lampstand.) We can only reflect and radiate with the light of Christ, the light of the Gospel, when we live in complete dependence on God, trusting Him to supply us with what we need, when we need it, rather than depending and trusting on ourselves. This is no easy task, for we are naturally (but only due to the fall into sin) inclined to be independent and self-sufficient. It requires us to deny ourselves daily and to live out the words of John the Baptist, He (Jesus) must increase and I must decrease (John 3:30).

Our glorious and great God, who dwells in unapproachable light, glory and majesty, we praise You today for You have caused Your light to shine upon us and into our hearts, through the work of Christ. Thank You that You have opened our eyes to see Your light and that You have breathed new life into us. We rejoice in our salvation, and in the fact that You have given us the privilege of reflecting and radiating Your light to the dark world around us. Forgive us for so often trying to do this work in our own strength and effort. Help us to remember that You have given us Your Spirit, who supplies us with all things so that we may be Your faithful ambassadors. May we shine brightly and joyfully with the light, life and love of Jesus Christ today. Amen.