Devotions - Read Online

Friday | 18 May 2012

Coming down and growing up

Our journey is not to the lampstand, but to the ark, to the throne of God. However, without the lampstand administration there is no light upon the path. This path of the righteous is the way in which our sonship will grow to full maturity. We grow up to be the almond planting of the Lord as the administration of the seven Spirits of God comes down from above. The lampstand provides the light in which to walk. This is the purpose of lampstand churches. As we proceed on to the fullness of Christ, the lampstand is the ministry of the Spirit by which we arrive at that glorious hope and goal.

The lampstand is constructed in two parts. The lampstand itself is made from one piece of gold, beaten by craftsmen into the shape of almond blossoms. The lamps are made separately and positioned in the flowers of the seven branches. The lamp symbolises the fellowship of the Spirit in which we live as individuals and congregations as we proceed on to the hope of the glory of God.

In this way, the lampstand represents the fruit and the growing up of the people of God as almond branches. And it also represents the administration of the seven Spirits of God that is coming down as the oil. This is clear from Zechariah’s vision with the two olive trees. The bowl and pipes supply oil to the lamps. The almond tree growing up and the oil coming down represent the administration of the lampstand by which we achieve the full inheritance of new creation sonship. Then, the throne of the Son, represented by the ark, will finally be revealed ‘all in all’.