Exodus 25:31 - Meaning and Application

The next thing commanded for furnishing God’s palace was a rich, stately lampstand made of pure gold, solid rather than hollow. The details given about it show several things. First, it was very beautiful and added greatly to the tabernacle’s appearance. It had many branches coming out from the main stem, and these carried bowls for the oil and burning wick, as well as knops and flowers for decoration.

Second, it was very useful and carefully designed. It spread the light well and helped keep the tabernacle free from smoke and charred wick ends. Third, it was full of meaning. The tabernacle had no windows to let in daylight, so all its light came from lamps. This points to the relative darkness of that old covenant time, before the Sun of righteousness had risen, or the morning star had visited his church.

Still, God did not leave himself without witness, or his people without teaching. The commandment was a lamp, and the law was a light, and the prophets were like branches from that lamp, giving light to the Old Testament church in their own times. The church is still dark, like the tabernacle was, when compared with the glory it will have in heaven. Yet God’s word is the lampstand, a light shining in a dark place (2 Peter 1:19), and the world would truly be dark without it.

The Spirit of God, with his different gifts and graces, is compared to the seven lamps burning before the throne (Revelation 4:5). The churches are golden lampstands, the lights of the world, holding out the word of life just as the lampstand holds out its light (Philippians 2:15, 16). Ministers are to light the lamps and keep them trimmed (Exodus 25:37) by opening the Scriptures. The treasure of this light is now kept in jars of clay (2 Corinthians 4:6, 7).

The branches of the lampstand reached out in every direction, showing how the light of the gospel would spread to all places through Christian ministry (Matthew 5:14, 15). There are different gifts, but the same Spirit gives them all so each may be useful.

In the middle of these instructions, Moses is given a clear warning not to depart from the model shown to him: “Make them according to the pattern shown you” (Exodus 25:40). Nothing was left to his own ideas, the workers’ imagination, or the people’s preferences. God’s will had to be followed carefully in every detail.

This teaches us two things. First, all of God’s works of providence are carried out exactly according to his plan, and the copy never differs from the original. Infinite wisdom never changes its course, and whatever God has planned will surely be done. Second, all his ordinances must be carried out according to his own commands. Christ gave the same instruction to his disciples: “Teach them to observe all I have commanded you” (Matthew 28:20).