«　WEEK 9　DAY 4　»

　　Lev. 1:1 Then Jehovah called to Moses and spoke to him out of the Tent of Meeting...

　　Exo. 27:21 In the Tent of Meeting, outside the veil which is before the Testimony, Aaron and his sons shall maintain it in order from evening to morning before Jehovah; it shall be a perpetual statute to be observed throughout their generations by the children of Israel.

　　The tabernacle as the Tent of Meeting, the place where God met with His redeemed people and spoke to them (Lev. 1:1), typifies the meeting of the church. Thus, in typology the lighting of the lamps points to the proper way to meet. Everything done in the church meetings, whether praying, singing, praising, or prophesying, should cause the lamps to shine. (Exo. 27:21, footnote 1)

　　The lighting of the lamps always took place in the Tent of Meeting. The tabernacle was not only God's dwelling place; it also was a place of meeting. Hence, it was a place both for God's dwelling and for the meeting of the children of Israel.

　　Whenever we come together to meet as the church, that meeting is in God's dwelling place. It is very important to remember this. Our gathering is a sanctuary....No matter where we may meet, in a building or in the open air, our gathering is the Holy Place. For this reason, we should not meet in a natural way or in a secular way. Everything we do in the meeting—our speaking, singing, praising, calling, shouting, pray-reading—must cause the holy light to ascend. This is to light the lamps in God's sanctuary so that the light may swallow up the darkness.

　　Exodus 27:21...speaks of "outside the veil which is before the Testimony." The reason we still need the lighting of the lamps is that, for the most part, we are not yet in the Holy of Holies. Our gathering is in the Holy Place, not in the Holy of Holies. This means that the veil still separates the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place. Behind the veil there is the Ark with the law, called the Testimony. The phrase "before the Testimony" means before the law in the Ark. Even though we have the light ascending in the Holy Place, we are still in the Holy Place, not yet in the Holy of Holies. But we are in the Holy Place with a view to entering the Holy of Holies. Even though we are still in the Holy Place, we are before the Testimony. We have the expectation that we shall enter the Holy of Holies. We are lighting the lamps before the Testimony, which is on the other side of the veil, hoping that the veil will be taken away. Therefore, whenever we come together to meet in the sanctuary of God, we light the lamps, causing the light to ascend before the Testimony, with the expectation of entering the Holy of Holies. Once we enter the Holy of Holies, the shekinah glory will replace the light we cause to ascend in the sanctuary. This is to light the lamps with the qualifications of the priesthood. We need to have these qualifications in order to be before the Testimony with the expectation of coming into the Holy of Holies. By lighting the lamps we can see the way leading into the Holy of Holies, the way leading into the depths of Christ within God.

　　Another reason for lighting the lamps in the Holy Place is that when there is light in the sanctuary, we can see the different items of furniture in the Holy Place. This means that we can see the different aspects of Christ in the holy sphere. Whenever we light the lamps in the church meetings, we can see some aspect of Christ. However, if instead of seeing an aspect of Christ, we see something common, natural, or worldly, there must be something wrong with the light. What we should see under the shining of the lamps in the sanctuary is Christ in His different aspects. By our singing, testifying, speaking, and sharing, the light must shine to present the various aspects of Christ. Furthermore, we see the way into the Holy of Holies. Our experience in the church meetings proves that whenever the lights are shining, we see Christ and we also see the way to enter the Holy of Holies. (Life-study of Exodus, pp. 1317, 1320-1322)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Exodus, msg. 115