"Command the Israelites to bring you clear oil of pressed olives for the light so that the lamps may be kept burning. 21 In the Tent of Meeting, outside the curtain that is in front of the Testimony, Aaron and his sons are to keep the lamps burning before the LORD from evening till morning. This is to be a lasting ordinance among the Israelites for the generations to come. Exodus27:20-21
While the Israelites journeyed through the wilderness for 40 years, they built the tabernacle which symbolised the holiness, beauty and presence of the Lord.
They already had the pillar of cloud by day and the pillar of fire by night, but now God asks them to have lamps burning throughout the night in the tabernacle. (We see the same Lamp of the lamp of God in the tabernacle when the boy Samuel hears the Lord calling him in 1Sam3)
Why is this so important?
Because darkness is the absence of light and to keep physical and spiritual darkness at bay we simply need light.
It's really important for us to grasp this concept.
We are discouraged by the darkness of evil, despair and pain in our world.
But it's in the tabernacle, and later the temple, where the lamps were kept burning through the night that the Israelites were reminded that God's light will always drive back the darkness.
From my teen years I remember the little Anglican Church in Irene. It was left unlocked and one could go there to pray at any time and there was a light by the altar that always shone.
The symbolism is powerful: Come to worship and you will find light.
Come to God's presence and you'll find the darkness in your soul will be driven back. God's presence does to emotional, spiritual and moral darkness what physical light does to the night.
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Theo Groeneveld theo@emmanuel.org.za
You can see past EmmDevs at http://emmdev.blogspot.com/
