THE CANDLESTICK AND THE LEVITES
C.R.B. It seems instructive that the direct sequence to God speaking to Moses from this wonderful place of grace "from off the mercy-seat which was upon the ark of testimony, from between the two cherubim" is the matter of the candlestick and then the Levites. This would show how the whole principle of the service of God in the liberty of sonship is to proceed from the knowledge of God. A brother was referring on Tuesday to the matter of gifts, and the Levites are seen here as being given, and given in relation to the firstborn sons being ransomed. God in relation to the preciousness of the blood of Jesus is claiming persons for His service, but is bringing them forward in the spirit of unity and the spirit of dignity as firstborn. This would be related to the Levites as given from among the children of Israel to Aaron and his sons. That would be directly related to what the Lord is doing as operating from His own place as "ascended up above all the heavens", Eph 4: 10.
A.B.P. You carry forward the thought of the firstborn. The Levites were taken instead of the firstborn. Does the thought of the firstborn ones carry through in relation to the Levites?
C.R.B. Yes. The way it is brought in here is to liberate the children of Israel to draw near to the sanctuary; that is the purpose of the giving of the Levites. It really brings out that if we are to be maintained in the liberty of approaching God, it is as this principle of the firstborn and of the Levites marks us in our own spirits and beings.
A.B.P. Does the selection of the Levites relate to their devotedness in a time of crisis? Is that a qualification that should be seen with Levites? The very fact that the Levites were located immediately around the tabernacle would indicate that they have a special place in the defence of the testimony.
C.R.B. According to the book of Samuel God sovereignly chose them whilst the children of Israel were still in the house of Pharaoh in Egypt, but the faithfulness of the Levites in a time of crisis showed how right God was in His choice; they morally qualified as showing that God's choice was, as it always is, justified.
J.A.P. Where is that reference in Samuel?
C.R.B. 1 Samuel 2: 27: "there came a man of God to Eli and said to him, Thus saith Jehovah: Did I plainly reveal myself to the house of thy father when they were in Egypt, in Pharaoh's house, and choose him out of all the tribes of Israel, to be my priest, to offer upon mine altar...?" I do not think that comes into the historical account of the book of Exodus, but in a time of breakdown later God brings out that his own sovereign choice was there; and Samuel comes in on the line of recovery to show that God maintains His original thought. It will be maintained on the standard of the candlestick.
G.D.P. In Mark's gospel it says, “And he goes up into the mountain, and calls whom he himself would”, chap 3: 13. Would that link on with the thought of sovereign choice?
C.R.B. Yes, and it goes on "And he appointed twelve that they might be with him"; that is the principle of the Levites. They are given in relation to the spirit of unity, but the whole of their service is dependent on their nearness to Christ. So that the actions of the Levites here, involving purification and all the searching exercises connected with that, are in relation to the candlestick, which is really Jehovah speaking. When Jesus spoke, it was Jehovah speaking from above the mercy-seat.
E.T.M. In that scripture in Samuel the note suggests the upward line: 'go up to', "to offer upon mine altar".
C.R.B. That is the normality of the way God works. In the very midst of one of the worst breakdowns in the history of the children of Israel, when everything seemed to be going from bad to worse in Eli's day, God comes in through a man child and secures this upward line, which flows through to the whole service of song being introduced under David.
E.T.M. Mr Darby was prophetic in his outlook and feelings; he said 'That way is upward still' (hymn 12). I suppose he expected that to carry on to the end.
C.R.B. Just so. We are expecting to go up together at any moment actually, but spiritually that is to be our experience all the time.
A.B.P. Is there a sequence in the reference to the character of divine speaking, then the lighting of the candlestick, and then the Levitical service?
C.R.B. Yes. Mr Taylor sen said "it would seem as if all the communications were on that principle after Moses experienced what he did in Numbers 7" (N.S. Vol 61, p.119).
A.B.P. Does not Peter bring it into Christianity?: "If any one speak - as oracles of God", 1 Pet 4: 11. That would be this kind of speaking, would it not?
C.R.B. Yes, I think so. The candlestick being brought in at once as the divine standard of light would show that the working out of the matter of the Levites and the service of God and the testimony is only supported of God as it is in keeping with the divine pattern. You were referring earlier to one of the kings bringing in brazen shields instead of the gold shields (see 1 Kings 14: 27), but you could not bring in a brazen candlestick. The brazen shields were not right, but a brazen candlestick would not be right at all. The candlestick would give us an impression of the fulness of what has come out in Christ personally. When He said "I am the light of the world" (John 8: 12) was that not really the candlestick here? "The Word became flesh", John 1: 14.
A.B.P. In answer to the question, "Who art thou?", He said, "Altogether that which I also say to you", John 8: 25. That would be the light that had come out through His speaking, shining on the candlestick to disclose its beauty.
C.R.B. And the shining of the candlestick would ensure that we are preserved on this upward line.
E.T.M. The Spirit of God seems to delight to focus on the candlestick; it is mentioned four times in first four verses.
C.R.B. It does not go into the detail which we have elsewhere and yet it is in absolute accord with the divine mind, because it says “according to the form which Jehovah had shown Moses”. This was the direct result of what, God showed Moses on the mountain.
A.B.P. So that ministry should really be testimony as to Christ, He personally being in heaven but the testimony being rendered here in the power of the Spirit.
C.R.B. The service of the Spirit enters into that in a detailed way because it involves the lamps and the oil, and also the snuffers in the working out of it; but it is peculiarly the service of the Spirit of truth as drawing attention to the fulness of the revelation of the divine mind in Christ personally.
S.D.K.R. In Isaiah 11 it says "And there shall come forth a shoot out of the stock of Jesse, and a branch out of his roots shall be fruitful; and the Spirit of Jehovah shall rest upon him, the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of Jehovah" (vv 1,2). I wondered if the Spirit of Jehovah resting upon Him is like the lamp, the top, and then there were three branches coming out of each side - the moral excellence of the Lord Jesus.
C.R.B. The Spirit seems to delight to draw attention in the prophets to Christ as the Branch. It comes in again in the days of recovery in Zechariah. There seems to be a certain link with Christ as the root and the offspring of David. As the Branch He comes in to ensure the working out of every detail of divine counsel, but then the Spirit of Jehovah resting upon Him brings in all the resources that are needed in the testimony. Days of breakdown are not intended to bring out weakness but to give God opportunity to show what infinite resources He has available to us in the Spirit.
S.D.K.R. Would that be confirmed in Zechariah where we get the lamp-stand in a day of revival and recovery? In the footnote it says there are seven lamps and seven pipes to each lamp (see chap 4: 2).
C.R.B. You mean the principle of perfection is always maintained?
S.D.K.R. Yes, and adequate power in the Spirit to maintain the testimony in a day of breakdown.
C.R.B. And it works out by way of enlargement in the hearts of the saints, because one of the features that marks Zechariah is that they were emptying the gold out of themselves. It is love finding expression in a way which is fully in accord with the divine glory. The liberty of sonship is something which is normal to Christians.
A.B.P. Would there be any analogy between the seven golden lamps and the way Revelation brings in seven times "He that has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says"? The seven assemblies are like the sphere of the Spirit's service.
C.R.B. And the Lord moving amidst the seven golden lamps?
A.B.P. Yes, and the presentation of Him at the commencement of each letter. It is the ministry in the power of the Spirit that is drawing attention to Christ and endeavouring to correct departure in the saints in view of overcomers reaching the true light that should be shining.
C.R.B. The Lord presents Himself to each assembly in the particular feature of glory which is directly related to what needed either help or strengthening in that local assembly. So to each of them He says "I know" as conscious of just what was needed. He present s Himself as fully in touch with what was proceeding in every assembly, and He brings in just what was needed to bring that local assembly to what was His own thought for it.
G.D.P. Last week we were noticing the footnote to the word "lightest" - 'cause to ascend'. It is an upward thought from this exalted position of ascension - He who has ascended up above all the heavens.
C.R.B. God always works from the top. Our natural minds always try and work from the bottom. As God works from the top, the response is to the top.
E.E.H. Do you think that, in his first address, Peter was the lamp shining over against the candlestick? He focuses the attention on that glorious Man: "God has made him, this Jesus whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ", Acts 2: 36. That was an instance of the lamp shining. It is intended to light up the candlestick; the Levites are intended to be in relation to that.
C.R.B. So whilst Peter and the others from their own experience could witness to the fact that Christ had actually risen from among the dead, they were dependent on the witness of the Spirit as having come down from heaven that He had been made Lord and Christ. The Spirit was functioning directly through Peter as drawing attention to the exaltation of Christ. Everything that was going to follow from that moment until the rapture was to proceed in the power of the Spirit under the touch of a Man who had ascended up far above all the heavens and had been made Lord and Christ.
J.A.P. Following Peter's ministry a Levite was affected. It says "And Joseph, who had been surnamed Barnabas by the apostles (which is, being interpreted, Son of consolation), a Levite, Cyprian by birth, being possessed of land, having sold it, brought the money and laid it at the feet of the apostles", Acts 4: 36,37. That is a fine thing when the Levites are affected by ministry of Christ, as it would seem here in our chapter: it begins with Christ and then the Levites are to be affected by that.
C.R.B. And that man was a good man who was caught up in the spirit of giving; he not only gave himself (which is the first thing of course) but he gave what he had. The spirit of giving is not to be limited to the special collection; it is characteristic of persons who are affected by the giving of Christ. A great line of preservation in the testimony is to be kept as honouring the preciousness of the blood of Jesus and all that flows out of it.
E.T.M. Do you think then that the spirit of Barnabas in his giving would be like the two olive trees? I wondered whether emptying the gold out of themselves does not suggest a certain liberality. It is acting like God in response to the light that comes from God.
C.R.B. As that spirit was found with Barnabas he was given a distinctive place in the testimony, because he was used of God to bring Saul of Tarsus into activity. The fact that he later failed reminds us of how we need to be preserved, but he was obviously recovered in due course. The way that Paul refers to him shows that he was fully back in the service.
E.T.M. It would seem as though there was a continuous extension of that liberal way of giving. So he would seek out the best for the saints to respond to God in the way that God has come out in Christ.
C.R.B. He had some impression of what the Lord had in mind in the distinctiveness of the gift entrusted to Saul of Tarsus. He was in the spirit of giving himself and so he got some impression of what had been given by Christ and the distinctiveness of Paul as a man who was going to complete the word of God.
E.E.H. Tell us something about the purpose of waving these Levites before Jehovah: "And thou shalt bring the Levites before Jehovah; and the children of Israel shall put their hands upon the Levites. And Aaron shall offer the Levites as a wave-offering before Jehovah from the children of Israel".
C.R.B. Christ would always be the perfect waveoffering. The thought of a wave-offering is that you can dwell upon some impression of what Christ means to the Father. It is not only what He was here as the heavens opened and the Father's voice was heard, but what the Firstborn is to the Father at the present time. We were referring last night to the glory of the Firstborn in the very presence of the Father and yet the wonder of divine love is that we are able to be alongside Christ, associated with Him in His glory and at home in the presence of the divine glory. Do you think the thought of the wave-offering here in connection with the Levites means that we are to take on something of the feelings of Christ as to the pleasure of the Father? Christ served as having in His heart wonderful thoughts in relation to arriving at what was pleasing to the Father. The wave-offering would show that the saints are taking on something of that.
E.E.H. I thought that the act as they were waved before Jehovah was pleasing to Him. It is not so much the Levites lighting up the lamps but it is for Jehovah's pleasure.
C.R.B. Yes; we must have the candlestick first. It is wise to cling to what beloved Mr Raven said: 'the Lord is where the truth is' (Vol.5, p.123). We cannot reverse that. If you try and find out where the Lord is and ignore the question of the truth you will get into trouble. The great matter is to find where the truth is being held and then you are sure the Lord is there. You must have the candlestick first and then you can be sure of the divine presence supporting you.
J.A.P. Peter is careful to say "by faith in his name, his name has made this man strong", Acts 3: 16. That was the truth; it is not in our power but in the power of that name.
C.R.B. And that immediately directs an person, who is prepared to make way for the truth, to Christ where He is at the present time. "His Name” involves Christ exalted, but what is maintained here by the power of the Spirit is in keeping with Him.
A.S.H. These Levites were available. Would you say something as to the process through which they had to pass before they could enter into service. There was the water of purification from sin, and cleansing their garments and various things they had to pass through.
C.R.B. The first section would remind us of the Spirit of truth in relation to the candlestick; what follows would remind us of the Spirit as the Holy Spirit. If we are to find liberty in approach to God it is only in the power of One who is infinitely holy, the Holy Spirit. These purifying processes have to be operating amongst us all the time. It is not that we go on according to our own will for six days in the week and then prove ourselves in view of taking part in the Supper. "Let a man prove himself" is to be marking us all the time. We want to be always morally under the touch of the Holy Spirit, who would remind us of the penetration of the word of the cross, so that we are always ready to go into the presence of God.
A.B.P. Passing the razor over all his flesh - we may only do it in self-judgment where the beard is rather stiff, but this is over the whole flesh; every part of the body has to have every expression or every issue that comes from the flesh removed.
C.R.B. Does it bring out the wonderful way in which the Holy Spirit helps us not to be occupied with ourselves but to be able to judge ourselves and all that flows from what we are according to the flesh. The hair would speak of what has its source in the flesh. The Spirit helps us to judge all that and to find that it has its roots in the flesh which can never please God. But the result of it is that we get through to some fresh appreciation of Christ as the wave-offering.
A.B.P. So that you would assume from what is said that this is only done once; it was not a continual thing.
C.R.B. That would be so. Yet in working it out with ourselves we find that we constantly have to be coming back to this judgment.
A.B.P. Would that not be like the maintenance of the judgment?
C.R.B. Yes, just so.
B.T. I was struck with a word in the preaching last Lord's day that the Lord was not vindictive. I suppose the razor should go over us in that respect because that is something we may not easily judge. We might say, That brother was very bad and still is, and there may be some vindictiveness there too that we could judge.
C.R.B. That is important. The whole setting here is in relation to the death of Christ typically. The more impressions I get of the death of Christ and the more I marvel at the mercy which has brought me into the liberty of approaching God, the more would I be preserved from going beyond God 's judgment of anyone else. We would be very careful how we judge anyone else and we would seek to be with the Spirit in the way that He would value His own work in everyone. If we value the work of God in one another we shall not unduly dwell on features that may need to be corrected, but we shall dwell on the positive character of the work of God. You cannot be vindictive if you are looking that way. You may find something in someone that may need to be judged, but you find in yourself either that thing even more fully developed or certainly the possibility that it could be. The word of the cross would keep us very humble and prevent us from being vindictive. Is that right?
B.T. Yes. There were those around the cross who deserved to be judged, yet the Lord was not vindictive.
A.B.P. The principle of a homoeopathic doctor's treatment (if I understand it rightly) is to fortify and strengthen the body so that its own healing capacity and quality may be developed; the body does the healing. Is that not a great thing if we can bring about in persons not just a do-and-don't system but bring in the positive side so that the constitution is built up and is able to deal with irregularities and evil.
C.R.B. The Samaritan pouring in the oil and the wine was not giving homoeopathic doses but it resulted in the man being restored. He was only half alive before but he became fully alive when he was cared for in the inn.
A.B.P. There are some treatments where you have to get over the disease and then you have to get over the effect of the medication. But when Peter was adjusted on the mount there was not any sequential problem at all, his soul was filled with glory.
G.D.P. "Each one of us has been given grace according to the measure of the gift of the Christ", Eph.4: 7. Would that link in any way with the wave-offering - the appreciation of the saints?
C.R.B. Yes, I think so. It brings out that what is of God is the way in which what is for God is to be maintained by every one of us. It is no doubt instructive that in Ephesians 4 the apostle, after referring to the giving of grace to each one, says "Wherefore he says..." as though he is directly connecting it with the freeing of captives. But in the Psalm, what precedes the freeing of captives is "The chariots of God are twenty thousand, thousands upon thousands", Ps 68: 17. The saints really are chariots of God, preserved because grace has been given to each chariot to be maintained in movement. Although it would seem that it did not function in practice due to the frailty of the flesh, the service of God was intended to be carried through the wilderness in powerful movement in chariots of God. It does not seem that Moses had any pattern of chariots, but David had the pattern of the chariot of the cherubim of gold, as though God was going to preserve the principle of powerful movement in relation to the flowing forward of the service of God in song. In 1 Chronicles 28: 18,19, reference is made to "the pattern of the chariot of the cherubim of gold, which spread out their wings and cover the ark of the covenant of Jehovah. All this said David, in writing, by Jehovah's hand upon me, instructing as to all the works of the pattern".
A.B.P. There is the mercy-seat; the cherubim were a part of it, fashioned out of it and overshadowing it. Would the chariot be like the seat of God's government?
C.R.B. Yes, I think so. And does it involve what is upward, because it comes in again in connection with Elisha seeing Elijah go up by a whirlwind: "the chariot of Israel and the horses thereof", 2 Kings 2: 12. Is that the principle of the chariot which is going to carry up everything, not according to man’s standard but according to God’s standard. The cherubim were of gold.
A.B.P. It seems to me that the idea of the chariot relates to the seat of government, that it is not simply a quiescent matter but something in active and powerful movement.
C.R.B. It will be seen in the millennium in one Man judging the habitable earth in righteousness (see Acts 17: 31), but seen eternally in the day of God, for God always retains what is according to His own supremacy.
J.A.P. The Levites would never forget this matter of cleansing. That is where there has been departure, when we got away from that line of things. The next thing was "And thou shalt bring the Levites before the tent of meeting; and thou shalt gather together the whole assembly". That is another matter we need to be encouraged in, getting together, to honour the assembly whenever convened and to be there. A Levite would take the lead in that.
C.R.B. That is important. Levites here of course are somewhat distinct from the priests but as they get nearer the land the priests and the Levites become pretty much identified in the book of Deuteronomy, so that a Levite would take on the power to consider for God in every circumstance. That is to mark us, both as priests and as sons. As we consider for God, God sees to everything else; the main matter is to consider for God, and it is to be by maintaining in the spirit of unity what is of God. The name Levite would remind us of the need of unity.
S.D.K.R. Would the Levites as being offered as a wave-offering be linked up with Christ Himself? I was noticing in Leviticus 8: 26,27 it says, "he took one unleavened cake, and a cake of oiled bread, and one wafer, and put them on the fat and upon the right shoulder; and he gave all into Aaron's hands". The note says about the wave-offering that it is more 'consecration'. Would the service be taken up by the Spirit in the spirit in which Christ served and the energy of that service?
C.R.B. So that it really involves the formation of Christ in us. When difficulties had come in among the assemblies of Galatia which would have hindered the service of God, Paul brings in that his own exercise with God was that Christ might be formed in them. We have been instructed that that is a collective reference, that the assemblies of Galatia would be recovered to the true liberty of sonship as Christ was formed in them collectively. What is going to result in the maintenance of liberty amongst us according to God is that Christ is formed in us collectively, that is the working out of the truth of the body of Christ in actual spiritual formation.
S.D.K.R. And would Christ be formed collectively as we are occupied with Himself and His own sacrifice and how pleasing that was to God?
C.R.B. That seems to be why in this chapter God connects it back with the day "that I smote every firstborn in the land of Egypt". Every household of the Israelites was to have the blood on the lintel and the two doorposts, and every firstborn lived only on the basis of the preciousness of the lamb that was slain. The result is that the service of God is secured on the principle of the firstborn had died there would have been no service of God.
S.D.K R. So it says "the assembly of the firstborn", Heb 12: 23.
B.T. You cannot think of waving anything else but Christ before God, it would be an affront.
E.T.M. That would synchronise with the thought of worshippers. The emphasis, as you know, is on worshippers, persons are more pleasurable to God than the service that is being rendered.
C.R.B. Would worshippers "in spirit and truth" (John 4: 23) be the working out of this chapter?
E.T.M. I wondered about that. It seems to focus on the character of persons that are before God.
A.B.P. Is not the waving intended to attract God's attention? With these persons who had the razor pass over all their flesh, and had gone through this procedure, there would be something for God to take account of that would be distinctive. It would be a test to us if we felt that we were being waved before God. What would God find in us?
H.C.MacG. The wave-offering is what God sees and the other offerings perhaps what He smells. They are both delightful.
C.R.B. Might it come out in spiritual experience in a meeting of this character? It is not limited to the service of God on the Lord's day. As we may be helped together in the light of the temple to speak over the perfections of Christ, what Christ was and what Christ is to the Father, we might be conscious in our own spirits of the thought of the wave-offering, that God is pleased. So that we come to the end of the occasion as worshippers in spirit and truth, as having taken on something of the character of the waveoffering itself.
A.B.P. In principle would it be seen in Barnabas taking Saul and presenting him to the apostles?
C.R.B. That would be in some sense the special distinction that Barnabas had as a result of the feature of giving which marked him, after the presentation of the truth.
A.B.P. He could tell the apostles how Saul had seen the Lord in the way, and how in Damascus he had spoken boldly in the name of Jesus. These were features of a totally changed man, such a difference from what he was when he started on the way to Damascus.
E.T.M. Should that not be an encouragement to us in this day when there is such brokenness and confusion? If, by selection, the saints were to have the best in the beginning, it ought to be the same in the end.
C.R.B. The presence of the Spirit here ensures that it will be the best.
BROOKLYN NY
11 April 1974
Key to initials
C.R.B. C.R.Byng London; A.S.H. A.S.Hinkson; E.E.H. E.E.Hoyte; H.C.MacG.
H.C.MacGregor; E.T.M. E.T.Maynard; A.B.P. A.B.Parker; G.D.P. G.D.Pfingst;
J.A.P. J.A.Petersen Plainfield; S.D.K.R. S.D.K.Roberts Croydon; B.T. B.Taylor; (all local except where otherwise shown)