AND Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, Speak unto Aaron, and say unto him, When thou lightest the lamps, the seven lamps shall give light over against the candlestick. And Aaron did so; he lighted the lamps thereof over against the candlestick, as Jehovah had commanded Moses. And this was the work of the candlestick: [it was] of beaten gold; from its base to its flowers was it beaten work; according to the form which Jehovah had shown Moses, so had he made the candlestick (8:1-4).
Then there is this little paragraph about the lampstand, or candlestick. It is not out of its place. There is a reason for its being introduced here, and I believe an important reason to us now.
We are priests to God, a holy priesthood; are heavenly worshippers, and know the most wonderful intimacy; we have a perfect standing before Him in all the perfection of Christ. You know when the high priest went in on the day of atonement he had to sprinkle the blood with his finger, once on the mercy-seat, but seven times before it, telling of our most blessed perfect standing. Now we are not only priests, but Levites, servants. “If any man serve Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there shall also My servant be; if any man serve Me, him will My Father honor.”
Each one of us, each dear saint, is a servant as well as a priest, and we must not separate them. If we make everything of service and little or nothing of communion, our service will not be worth much. When the Lord Jesus chose twelve men from among His disciples, it was “that they might be with Him.” That is the first, and most important thing: with Him to be taught, and fitted for His service, and then “sent forth.” The word “apostle” means “sent one;” but it does not say chosen to be sent forth, though it does say, “whom also He named apostles;” but they were chosen to be with Him. This was most important for them, and for us too. We must know what it is to be in His presence, and taught of Him, to be fitted for His service.
We think of the apostle Paul, when the Pharisees and Sadducees were together, and he cried he was a Pharisee, and son of a Pharisee, and knew it would set them at variance, as he acknowledged afterward, he did wrong, when he said, “Except it be for this one voice,” etc. Then he is taken to Cæsarea and kept in prison for two years; and then when we come to chapters 26, he is thoroughly recovered. Those two years in prison had been a blessed time to him, and we do not see him shine anywhere more than before Agrippa; and I have no doubt God overruled it, and also his being taken to Rome and kept another two years in prison there, that the saints of God should have the benefit of those blessed prison Epistles,―Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, Philemon, Hebrews and 2 Timothy,―all full of precious truth!
And so again in the case of John, put by the Roman emperor on the isle of Patmos, but oh! what a time of blessing it was! Just the place where the Lord could open His mind to him, and so we have the book of Revelation! What should we do without it? It all shows the necessity of being alone with the Lord. Then our service should flow out from it; and be like the service of Martha and Mary, the two combined. In John 12 Martha is in her right place. Mary represents communion, and Martha service, and Lazarus walk, because it is as risen ones we are called to walk in newness of life.
Well, by the use of the candlestick here, and the way it is presented to us, I should judge it would be to show us it was not Levitical service. We are pointed by these types to the present service of the Lord Jesus, and this is the real secret of a bright testimony being given in this dark world. It is not all that is brought before us here. We know the snuffers are in the hands of Aaron too. He knows how to remove what would be a hindrance to the candlestick giving a bright light. So here he lights the lamps, not only to give light all around, but to show up the beauty of the candlestick itself.
All we get in verse 4 was according to the heavenly pattern seen on the mount, and its beauty was seen in the light of the lamps. A New Testament scripture that would help us to understand is Philippians 2:15: “That ye may be blameless and harmless, the sons of God without rebuke in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world;” though the word used there is not “lamps” but “heavenly luminaries.” But when we come to 2 Corinthians 4 it says: “The god of this world has blinded the thoughts of the unbelieving, so that the radiancy of the glad tidings of the glory of the Christ, Who is [the] image of God, should not shine forth [for them]. For we do not preach ourselves, but Christ Jesus Lord, and ourselves your bondmen for Jesus’ sake. Because [it is] the God who spoke that out of darkness light should shine who has shone in our hearts for the shining forth of the knowledge of the glory of God in [the] face of [Jesus] Christ” (2 Cor. 4:4-6,4In whom the god of this world hath blinded the minds of them which believe not, lest the light of the glorious gospel of Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto them. 5For we preach not ourselves, but Christ Jesus the Lord; and ourselves your servants for Jesus' sake. 6For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. (2 Corinthians 4:4‑6) J.N.D.).
So if it shines forth, it shines forth from Him: we have to be recipients before it can shine forth through us. I was thinking, too, of 1 Tim. 3:1515But if I tarry long, that thou mayest know how thou oughtest to behave thyself in the house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth. (1 Timothy 3:15). In 1 Timothy God’s house is in its order; in 2 Timothy it is a great house in disorder, but with resources for faith in it. It is our privilege to display Him, unitedly, you know. Individually only just a little bit; but unitedly, the Truth as He has been manifested here, and we have Him pourtrayed in 1 Tim. 3:1616And without controversy great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, received up into glory. (1 Timothy 3:16). So Paul could say, “To me to live is Christ.”
Of these servants, these Levites, God says, “They are Mine,” and He lets us know on what ground they are His. First of all, all the firstborn belonged to Him, and then the Levites were substituted. It means they had been the subjects of grace where God was acting in judgment. Mercy had rejoiced against judgment and the firstborn of Israel were sheltered from the sword of judgment, when none of the Egyptians, from Pharaoh downwards, could escape. That is the ground on which we are servants too. We have been dealt with by God in saving grace, and then are privileged to serve. The Lord Jesus said of His disciples, “Thine they were, and Thou gavest them Me”... they are not of the world even as I am not of the world.” “As Thou hast sent Me into the world so have I also sent them into the world.” Taken out of the world, and belonging to Him, we are sent back into the world to do service for Him here.
And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, Take the Levites from among the children of Israel, and cleanse them (8:5, 6).
Then He gives instructions how they have to be cleansed. God values a clean vessel. Many scriptures remind us of that. There are those who are careful about moral evil and doctrinal evil, but are not careful about associated evil. Paul says, “If a man purge himself from these, he shall be a vessel unto honor, sanctified,”―set apart as the Levites were here, ― “and meet for the Master’s use, and prepared unto every good work;” it is very comprehensive, “every good work.”
It would seem to tell us this; any of us would rather drink out of an earthenware cup or mug if it was perfectly clean, than from a vessel of gold, studded with diamonds, if it were filthy. So with the Lord; that which is clean He will use: “Fit for the Master’s use.”
And thus shalt thou do unto them, to cleanse them: sprinkle upon them water of purification from sin, and they shall pass the razor over all their flesh, and shall wash their garments, and make themselves clean (8:7).
Now we have no instruction here about the water of purifying. It would be, I take it, water mixed with the ashes of the red heifer, and that instruction does not occur till chapter 19. It is the only instruction about any offering in the book of Numbers.
How were the disciples made clean? “Through the word,” the Lord told them. “And ye are clean, but not all.” There was one there who had all the outward privileges the others had, yet had never been made clean; he had no faith, and no love to the Lord. “Ye are clean, but not all.”
The Lord’s present ministry of love in heaven is to keep us clean. In Ephesians 5 there is a past, a present, and a furture. The past takes us back to the cross. “Christ loved the church, and gave Himself for it.” This is never to be repeated, though the love remains. “That He might sanctify and cleanse it.” Such is His present service of love. And then the future, ―to “present it to Himself a church glorious, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing,”―holy, separate from every defiling thing, and without blame before Him in love.
Then there is another side. There is nourishing and cherishing here, as well as the sanctifying and cleansing. Oh, what love is expended on us every day! May we be able to appreciate it in fuller measure.
“Let them shave all their flesh,” contains another important lesson for us, viz, to disown all natural adornment. “What things were gain to me, those I counted loss for Christ,” is the New Testament thought. That which I have thought so much of, I give up entirely. All the hair, all natural adornment had to go; there must be no confidence in the flesh in His service.
“Let them wash their clothes,” not only the person, but the circumstances, that which surrounds us must be cleansed. Our circumstances have to be clean if we want to meet the mind of the Lord as His servants. All are liable to make mistakes, and in many things we all offend, ―everyone, even the most godly and devoted. So there is no room for human pride, or human boasting. Only those are well kept whom the Lord keeps.
It is the happy man who feareth always. The presence of the Lord is a wonderful safeguard. We can trace most of our failures and falls to getting out of the Lord’s presence.
“In Thy presence we are happy,
In Thy presence we’re secure;
In Thy presence all afflictions
We can easily endure.”
We want to be kept in His presence. Many little incidents bring that out. The disciples talked together about many things they would not talk about in His presence. He knew it, of course, and asked them about it. If they had been nearer the Lord that conversation would not have taken place.
Oh, may the word sink down, “So make themselves clean.” The Lord wants His servants clean.
And they shall take a young bullock and its oblation of fine flour mingled with oil; and another young bullock shalt thou take for rt sin-offering (8:8).
I do not think I have said anything about that, but it is very noticeable in the previous chapter that a much larger provision is made for the peace-offering than any other. The provision is made for a large number to have communion. This is the thought of the peace-offering. Jehovah had His part; the priest that offered had his part; the priestly family had their part, and the offerer had his part to divide among his friends. Some translate it “thank offering;” but the thought is communion. So a very large provision is made by this princely, liberal, willing people for fellowship.
But here, at the cleansing of the Levites, we have the burnt-offering, the meat-offering, and the sin-offering. We all remember the different laws relating to the sacrifices. As to the burnt-offering, all, except the skin, was burnt on the altar. In the case of the red heifer, everything was burnt; ―it was burnt whole; but in the burnt-offering all inwards, and the legs were washed with water. It represented Christ in His absolute perfection and to make it typically suitable the inwards and legs had to be washed. It had to be flayed, and then the skin became the property of the offering priest: but all the rest went up to God, a sweet smelling savor, telling of all the perfections and excellencies found in His beloved Son, which are the ground of our acceptance.
The meat-offering sets forth the perfection of the Lord’s life as a Man. The ingredients were fine flour mingled with oil, the fine flour telling of His perfect evenness. The greater the pressure brought to bear on it, the more the evenness is manifested. So it typifies, you see, the perfection of Christ the Man, perfect in everything, nothing predominating, and nothing uneven.
All the prominent New Testament saints, and servants of the Lord brought before us there, are characterized by some special trait: there was no evenness in them. All failed, ―everyone. Paul had to admit he was wrong in saying, “God shall smite thee, thou whited wall”! The Lord had to rebuke James and John for wishing to call down fire from heaven on the Samaritans; and I have no doubt if we had as many particulars about the other apostles as we have about Peter, we should find as many mistakes in them as we see in him. But the Lord knew what a place would be given him by a great portion of the professing church.
One ingredient of the meal-offering I left out just now, the frankincense. Fine flour mingled with oil tells of the birth of the Lord Jesus; of the Holy Ghost and the perfect humanity of the Lord. But unleavened wafers also tell of the absence of all evil.
It is delightful how the Holy Ghost guards His Person. He knew no sin; He did no sin; in Him is no sin. “Holy, harmless, undefiled, separate from sinners;” there was an absence of all evil.
“Another young bullock for a sin-offering,” was enjoined in order to be cleared judicially. It is a great mercy God in His grace has, so to speak, broken this up for us, and given us teaching about the various offerings.
The first three offerings in Leviticus were of a sweet smelling savor, but the trespass and sin-offerings were not. They bring out the awfulness of sin in God’s sight. The body of the sin-offering whose blood was taken into the holy place was burnt without the camp; and we are called to go forth also unto Him without the camp, bearing His reproach. The Epistle to the Hebrews was the final appeal to Christian Jews to separate themselves from the temple worship, before it was destroyed; and we believe it had the desired effect, and they were separated from it. It is great grace on the part of God to give us His mind about it, and if He gives us all these particulars, how interested we ought to be in them all!
We have several times said that we are both priests and Levites; and we need the priestly communion before the Levitical service. We cannot separate them; and the service which does not flow out of priestly communion is not worth much.
And thou shalt bring the Levites before the tent of meeting; and thou shalt gather together the whole assembly of the children of Israel. And thou shalt bring the Levites before Jehovah; and the children of Israel shall put their hands upon the Levites (8:9, 10).
All the congregation of Israel were identified with the Levites.
And Aaron shall offer the Levites as a wave-offering before Jehovah from the children of Israel, and they shall perform the service of Jehovah (8:11).
So theirs was a holy privilege, and the Lord claimed them on the ground of the death of the paschal lamb. They represented the firstborn of Israel; and on that ground God claimed them, and yet accepted them as the gift of the children of Israel.
They are said in the margin to be waved as a wave-offering, and things were offered as wave-offerings which were not burnt on the altar. The wave sheaf, which represented Christ, was waved before Jehovah; then, fifty days after, two loaves, which were leavened (there was no leaven in the offering of the wave sheaf which represented Christ), were also waved before the Lord, though they could not be burnt on the altar. God was showing by those leavened loaves that though He fits the saints which form His church even now to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light, yet as long as they are here there is not an entire absence of evil. We have a holy nature, but we have the old nature still. But both were wave―offerings, ―that which represented Christ, and that which represented the church.
The nearest thing that I can think of in the New Testament, that would correspond with this is in Rom. 15:15, 1615Nevertheless, brethren, I have written the more boldly unto you in some sort, as putting you in mind, because of the grace that is given to me of God, 16That I should be the minister of Jesus Christ to the Gentiles, ministering the gospel of God, that the offering up of the Gentiles might be acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost. (Romans 15:15‑16). The Levites were not their own: upon the ground of the Passover the Lord claimed them; and we can never afford to forget that we are not our own, but bought with a price. It is a question of service, and puts it on a higher ground than man would.
So the Levites were offered by the children of Israel to the end that they might serve Him.
And the Levites shall lay their hands upon the heads of the bullocks, and thou shalt offer the one for a sin-offering, and the other for a burnt-offering, to Jehovah, to make atonement for the Levites (8:12).
Then we have identification in a double way. The children of Israel lay their hands on the Levites, and the Levites lay their hands on the heads of the bullocks. So we can see that while the sin-offering met their need, and cleansed them from everything offensive to God, their service was acceptable to God in all the acceptance of the burnt-offering.
And thou shalt set the Levites before Aaron, and before his sons, and offer them as a wave-offering to Jehovah (8:13).
We can regard ourselves in that way. If we see that He has made us His own, then we are privileged to serve Him; and ourselves and our service are before God in all the acceptance of the burnt-offering, a sweet-smelling savor to God.
We have what corresponds to that in Philippians 4. The Philippians were poor. It speaks of the poverty of the churches of Macedonia. But Paul says, “Even in Thessalonica ye sent once and again unto my necessity,” and he was not there very long. He went from Philippi to Thessalonica, where the Jews persecuted him, and he went to Berea. We must remember he was a prisoner at Rome when he wrote this Epistle; and he says of that which Epaphroditus brought from them that, it was “an odor of a sweet smell, a sacrifice acceptable, well-pleasing unto God.”
There is something very beautiful in that verse. Any little thing we can do, to think that the Holy Ghost should speak of it thus.
And they were not losers. God is no debtor to anyone. “My God,”―the One Paul had proved experimentally, the One he had been going on with for many years, ― “My God shall supply all your need” [not all they lusted for], “according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus.” A marvelous thing! “According to His riches,” for they are infinite, a bank that can never fail! There will always be ample supply from thence.
And thou shalt separate the Levites from among the children of Israel, that the Levites may be mine (8:14).
We have often spoken of the marvelous place God has given a Christian, but it is good to have it before us, again and again. We are Gentiles who were dispensationally afar off, while the whole nation of Israel was dispensationally nigh.
Then out of the twelve tribes we have one tribe separated.
But I must explain a little. Reuben failed as the firstborn, and the birthright was taken from him and given to Joseph. So we find he had a double portion, one for Ephraim, and one for Manasseh; and they were reckoned among the sons of Jacob, who were twelve. So now the Levites are separated there are still twelve.
God had a design in having the number twelve, a complete administrative number. Numbers are very significant in Scripture. The twelve apostles shall sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel.
So the Levites being separated, still left twelve tribes. The Levites, more than the other tribes, were God’s in a special way, and had special service. But there was one family of the tribe of Levi nearer than all the other families, viz. the family of Aaron, the priestly family. There was one, only one, in that family, always nearer than the other priests, one who could come in once a year to make atonement for the children of Israel. Each Christian now is a priest, and instead of only being able to come near to God in a special place of access once a year, we can come at any moment of the day or night; for we have access at all times, and to heaven itself, not that which typified it.
Of course, we ought to remember that this privilege belongs to us as a heavenly people. It could not be an earthly people. The Lord Jesus could not be a priest on earth. He was of another tribe. But He is Priest in heaven, and of a superior order. If the Aaronic priesthood had been perfect, you could not have had another order following. But “Thou art a Priest forever after the order of Melchizedek:” a heavenly priesthood. The functions of the priesthood of the Lord Jesus are typified by Aaron; the order itself by Melchizedek. His functions as the Melchizedek Priest await a future day. They go with His Kingship. Melchizedek was king and priest, priest of the Most High God, and king of Salem, a royal priest.
And afterward shall the Levites come in to do the service of the tent of meeting. And thou shalt cleanse them, and, of them as a wave-offering (8:15).
There seems a great point in that they were to be cleansed. And we need the cleansing too; and are glad to own
“The grace that sought and found us
Alone can keep us clean!”
For they are wholly given unto me from among the children of Israel; instead of everyone that breaketh open the womb, instead of every firstborn among the children of Israel, have I taken them unto me. For all the firstborn among the children of Israel are mine, both of man and beast; on the day that I smote every firstborn in the land of Egypt, I hallowed them to myself (8:16, 17).
“When I smote every firstborn in the land of Egypt,”— that is of the Egyptians, for He did not smite the firstborn of Israel “I sanctified them for Myself,”―those that had been sheltered from the stroke of judgment. “I set them apart for Myself.”
And I have given the Levites as a gift to Aaron and to his sons, from among the children of Israel, to perform the service of the children of Israel in the tent of meeting, and to make atonement for the children of Israel; that there be no plague among the children of Israel, when the children of Israel draw near to the sanctuary (8:19).
Then you see they are given to Aaron. Presented by the whole congregation to Jehovah, He gives them to Aaron. They are servants of Jehovah, and servants of Aaron and his sons. If God has severed them thus, it is proved in a previous book, “I will be sanctified in them that come nigh Me.”
And the Levites purified themselves from sin, and they washed their garments; and Aaron offered them as a wave-offering before Jehovah; and Aaron made atonement for them to cleanse them (8:21).
So all these instructions are carried out, and the Levites were purified, and they washed their clothes; their surroundings were cleansed too; and they were fitted in this way, by God’s instruction, to do service in connection with the tabernacle.
There is no anointing here; they were not anointed. We are; we have the Holy Ghost and therefore we can be called a holy priesthood. You cannot have the perfect thing in the type. Different people represent us as priests and as Levites. So we are represented by them as passing through the wilderness; and when they are in the land, wrestling against flesh and blood. We are in the wilderness, and have crossed the Jordan at the same time; and we need both the lessons from the wilderness, and the lessons from the land. We have not yet reached the glory, but already we are in heavenly places in Christ Jesus, and wrestling against principalities and powers there.
And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying, This is that which concerneth the Levites: from twenty-five years old and upward shall he come to labor in the work of the service of the tent of meeting (8:24).
Twenty-five years speaks of maturity for service. Our maturity is the grace, power and energy of the Holy Spirit.
And from fifty years old he shall retire from the labor of the service, and shall serve no more; but he shall minister with his brethren in the tent of meeting, and keep the charge, but he shall not serve [in] the service. Thus shalt thou do unto the Levites with regard to their charges (8:25, 26).
But we must not think they had any less place through that; it is rather looked at here as promotion. I have heard of a brother, greatly used in the gospel, who was taken ill; and the saints of God felt it must be a great trial to him to be laid aside, and wrote to him to that effect. He replied he rather regarded it as a promotion. His service before had been Levitical; now he was able to take the place of an intercessor, and pray for them; so he regarded his service then as priestly.
So here “they shall minister... to keep the charge.” They still had holy privilege and solemn responsibility. Our responsibilities are measured by our privileges. The more laborious service would be in the hands of the younger men.
A brother writing on the tabernacle, and referring to the cherubim, regarded them as representing the service of the four principal gifts that remain in the church. Other gifts suitable to the early days have passed away. There are more gifts spoken of in 1 Corinthians than in Ephesians. In Ephesians we have apostles who have passed away; then prophets, pastors, teachers, and evangelists, which four remain. “Prophets” must be understood not in the sense of foretelling future events, but as bringing the consciences of those listening to them into God’s presence. This is the very teaching brought out in Corinthians 14. They in Corinth were making much of unknown tongues, so that a stranger would think they were mad; but if a prophet was speaking, the stranger would have to say “God is in you of a truth.”
There were two ministries committed to the apostle Paul. In Colossians 1 you see two Headships, two reconciliations, and two ministries, ―the ministry of the church, and the ministry of the gospel.
Writing when a prisoner at Rome, the apostle says, “Paul the aged.” He had been two years a prisoner at Cæsarea, and two years at Rome when the Acts closed; but he could speak of some who had heard the gospel from him, and were saved. There were some in Caesar’s household. He would not always have had the same soldier with him; they would change guards; I have no doubt, Paul was always receiving visitors, and the soldiers would hear all the conversation, which God used.
He can make the wrath of man to praise Him, and even use Satan for blessing to His saints. The thorn in the flesh was a blessing to Paul. So with Job. God took the first step, and drew Satan’s attention to him.