Radiance: Lampstands

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Begin by Reading: Revelation 1:9-20

Throughout the book of Revelation, John draws comparisons between the Temple in Jerusalem and the heavenly Temple.  One treasure, which adorned the Holy Place in the earthly Temple, where the priest ministered, was the golden seven-branch menorah.  The High Priest’s job, as the Lord dictates in Leviticus 24, is that he is to tend to those lamps constantly, so that they continually burn.  Welcome to your first day of being a High Priest, Aaron.  Your job is to make sure those lights don’t ever go out.  Sounds rather pedestrian doesn’t it?

There’s a reason for this.  The light from the menorah represents the eternal presence of God, and the Lord wanted to make sure that Israel knew that as long as they adhered to His commandments, He was always with them.

In Revelation, we receive a similar yet much more profound image.  John sees not just one lampstand but seven lampstands.  Assuming that the imagery is the same, he doesn’t see one seven branch menorah, he sees seven of them – a total of forty-nine branches.

This imagery is important.  It is connecting the Old Testament Temple – a physical building for gathering with the New Testament Church – a body of believers indwelled by the Holy Spirit.  The voice in Revelation 1 explains that each lampstand represents a church.  Each church is complete in the sense that it contains a lampstand.  In other words it’s not like certain branches are burning and certain ones might be extinguished; each church has a lampstand that they’re responsible to keep aflame.  However, each church participates in a much larger arena made up of other churches.

Who does John see standing among them?  He sees Jesus – our High Priest!  He’s not just standing among one lampstand; He’s manning all seven.  What’s His role?  He keeps them burning just like Aaron did.

This imagery reiterates to us the type of partnership churches have with the Lord.  He gives us our place and He is the source for our light.  However, we have a responsibility to remain in Him, and follow in obedience.

I also like the imagery of the seven branch menorah for another reason.  The lampstand was always referred to as a collective piece though it had many lights.  When Aaron was instructed to keep the lampstand burning, the Lord wasn’t just talking about one branch.  He was referring to all seven.  In the same way, as we looked at the other day, each of us has a personal responsibility to radiate the glory of God.  The result is that the entire lampstand will radiate the glory of God.