The Bread and the Candlestick
The Bread and the Candlestick
Exodus 25:23-40
3/12/08
The instructions for the tabernacle are being given to Moses by God. God wants the His people to build this tabernacle so that he may come and dwell in the midst of his people. You need to understand that the tabernacle is both a copy and a shadow. It is a copy of a heavenly reality. And is a shadow of Jesus Christ.
We must be careful giving symbolic meaning to things that have no Biblical basis. For any symbolic meaning to be given it must either be given symbolic meaning in the New Testament or it must have been deemed symbolic at the time construction, in its original context.
There are a lot of off the wall symbolic interpretations of the tabernacle but holding to those two rules will help us stay on the straight path in dealing with these things.
Last week we began where God began, with the Arc of the Covenant—that symbolized the Presence of God. It was the exact place where God was going to meet his people, between the two cheribums. Of course, it pointed toward the blood of Christ that would be sprinkled on the mercy seat between holy God and law breaking man and would allow God and man to have a relationship together.
Tonight we are going to look at two other pieces of furniture in the Holy Place, the room right outside of the Most Holy place where the Arc resided.
23 Thou shalt also make a table of shittim wood: two cubits shall be the length thereof, and a cubit the breadth thereof, and a cubit and a half the height thereof. 24 And thou shalt overlay it with pure gold, and make thereto a crown of gold round about. 25 And thou shalt make unto it a border of an hand breadth round about, and thou shalt make a golden crown to the border thereof round about. 26 And thou shalt make for it four rings of gold, and put the rings in the four corners that are on the four feet thereof. 27 Over against the border shall the rings be for places of the staves to bear the table. 28 And thou shalt make the staves of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold, that the table may be borne with them. 29 And thou shalt make the dishes thereof, and spoons thereof, and covers thereof, and bowls thereof, to cover withal: of pure gold shalt thou make them. 30 And thou shalt set upon the table shewbread before me alway.
This title identifies the most important thing about the table—namely, what was on it. The table in the Holy Place held twelve loaves of sacred bread as well as various plates, dishes, pitchers, and bowls.
Take fine flour and bake twelve loaves of bread, using two-tenths of an ephah for each loaf. Set them in two rows, six in each row, on the table of pure gold before the Lord. Along each row put some pure incense as a memorial portion to represent the bread and to be an offering made to the Lord by fire. This bread is to be set out before the Lord regularly, Sabbath after Sabbath, on behalf of the Israelites, as a lasting covenant. It belongs to Aaron and his sons, who are to eat it in a holy place, because it is a most holy part of their regular share of the offerings made to the Lord by fire. (Lev. 24:5–9)
The bread here seems to represent:
1. The Providence of God!
This bread was not for God, he is not Santa Claus you leave milk and cookies for, no, he is God and needs nothing from us. But we need everything from him.
Notice the Focus of the Bread. The bread is in the presence of God—verse 30. The bread is always before the face of God. This spoke to the truth that God always knows what our needs are because they are always before him. He knows before we ask. He is not some ignorant god—no, he is the all-knowing God and he knows our needs. When you are tempted to doubt the providence of God, remember the bread always in the presence of God. He knows your physical needs, your emotional needs, your financial needs, your family needs, and your spiritual needs. There is not one need you have that is not already before the face of God. He never overlooks our concerns or neglects to provide for them. Whether it is meeting a basic material need, granting wisdom for a major decision, sustaining us through a serious illness, comforting us in a painful sorrow, or providing friendship in a time of loneliness, God never fails to provide what we truly need. Whatever difficulties we may encounter, we can trust him to sustain us along the way.
Then notice the Freshness of the Bread. The bread is changed every seven days. God does not deal in staleness. Fresh bread is put on the table. His grace is fresh. He does not just give once but God keeps on giving and giving. His providence is fresh and new everyday. He providentially took care of me yesterday but I don’t have to live on yesterday’s providence because God will come fresh and anew today. God goes every step with his people and meets their needs.
Then finally notice the Fellowship of the Bread. When the priests replaced the bread on the table with fresh bread, they were to eat the old bread. Where? Right there in the presence of God. They were to have fellowship with God. Let me remind you tonight, every providential care of God from your next breath, your next meal, the roof over your head, an automobile to get to church, and so on are reasons for us to stop and fellowship with God. It is time to stop and reflect how good he is to us in meet our needs and thanksgiving and blessing is in order. It is a fellowshipping with God.
The key thought here in the table of showbread is the reality that what some Christians still need to learn is that our real need is for God himself. It is true that we need God to provide for us. But our deepest need is to have fellowship with the living God. More than needing God to feed us, we need to feed on God. Eventually Moses figured this out. Years later, when he looked back on all the things God had done to provide for his people, he said to them, “He humbled you, causing you to hunger and then feeding you with manna, which neither you nor your fathers had known, to teach you that man does not live on bread alone but on every word that comes from the mouth of the Lord” (Deut. 8:3). Why did God provide his people with bread? Was it to teach them to trust him for their daily needs? Yes, but the bread had a deeper purpose. God sent it to teach his people to feed upon his Word, placing their total dependence upon his divine grace.
Have you learned to feed upon God? Are you drawing spiritual nourishment from his Word and his sacraments? Do you have a growing appetite for spending time alone with God in prayer? God is not some kind of cosmic vending machine: Just pull the lever and out pops a job or a car or whatever else we happen to need. Of course, these are all things that God provides, but what he is trying to teach us is our total need for himself. Our relationship with God is need-based. And our needs are not merely physical but also spiritual; they are not simply temporal but also eternal. So what we need is not only for God to do this or that for us, but for him to be our God. This is something we will need long after all our material needs have been met. We will still need God the way a beggar needs bread. He is the food for our soul.
This is not an easy lesson to learn. It is easier for us to ask God to do something for us than it is to crave God himself. People had the same problem in Jesus’ day. The best example is what happened after Jesus fed the 5,000. The next day everyone was looking for him, but they were missing the point because all they wanted was more bread. They only wanted Jesus for what he could do for them, not for who he was in himself. Jesus could see what their motivation was. He said to them, “I tell you the truth, you are looking for me, not because you saw miraculous signs but because you ate the loaves and had your fill” (John 6:26).
What the people really needed was Jesus—not the bread he could provide, but Jesus himself. Only Jesus could forgive their sins. Only Jesus could satisfy their souls. Only Jesus could bring them into a relationship with God. Only Jesus could give them eternal life.
2. The Provision of God!
31 And thou shalt make a candlestick of pure gold: of beaten work shall the candlestick be made: his shaft, and his branches, his bowls, his knops, and his flowers, shall be of the same. 32 And six branches shall come out of the sides of it; three branches of the candlestick out of the one side, and three branches of the candlestick out of the other side: 33 Three bowls made like unto almonds, with a knop and a flower in one branch; and three bowls made like almonds in the other branch, with a knop and a flower: so in the six branches that come out of the candlestick. 34 And in the candlestick shall be four bowls made like unto almonds, with their knops and their flowers. 35 And there shall be a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, and a knop under two branches of the same, according to the six branches that proceed out of the candlestick. 36 Their knops and their branches shall be of the same: all it shall be one beaten work of pure gold. 37 And thou shalt make the seven lamps thereof: and they shall lightb the lamps thereof, that they may give light over against it. 38 And the tongs thereof, and the snuffdishes thereof, shall be of pure gold. 39 Of a talent of pure gold shall he make it, with all these vessels. 40 And look that thou make them after their pattern, which was shewed thee in the mount.
The next piece of furnishing was the seven branched golden candlestick. So notice three things concerning this candlestick.
Firstly, notice the Light of the Candlestick. The primary function of the candlestick is to provide light in the Holy Place. The tabernacle will have no windows and the walls will be made of thick material so that it will be very dark in this place. But a light will be lit so to symbolize that where God is there is light and where God is not there is no light. God is the light giver in creation when he said, Let there be light and he is the light giver in redemption when he said in Psalms 43:3. O send out thy light and thy truth: let them lead me; let them bring me unto thy holy hill, and to thy tabernacles.
Of course we know that Jesus Christ said, I am the light. Away from God and Christ there is darkness but with God and Christ we are in the light. God is the source of light. We must walk with Christ if we are to walk in the light or else we walk in darkness.
Then also notice the Life of the Candlestick. The candlestick is fashioned in the shape of a tree, its arms even called branches. This tells us that where there is light then there is life. God is not only the light he is the life. The golden lampstand stood as a permanent reminder that God is the life-giver. The life we lost through sin is regained wherever he is present.
Jesus Christ says that he is the light and he is the life. Everyone who believes on him shall have eternal life. To know him is to live. And we should never forget that the way he became the life-giver was by dying for our sins on the cross and rising from the dead to justify us before God.
One more thought here, notice the Leadership of the Candlestick. The bible tells us that if we have trusted in Christ then we walk in his light and we are alive in Christ. He is the vine and we are the branches. The same Jesus that said I am the light of the world also said You are the light of the world, let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven. “The world has no light other than the light which we shed abroad, by holding aloft the lamp of the Word and lifting the Lord Jesus Christ and letting Him shine through us.”
We have no light in and of ourselves but we light as we lift up the light.
Be a light for Jesus, brightly shine each day;
Radiate the Savior, in the home, at play.
Others soon will see it, as you onward go;
Keep on burning brightly, with a steady glow.
Never let it flicker, never let it dim;
Trim your lamp for Jesus, let it shine for Him.
Shine on thru the darkness, precious in God’s sight,
Are His own dear children, walking in His light.
This should be our prayer: never to flicker or grow dim, but to keep shining brightly for Jesus.
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b shall light: or, shall cause to ascend