Exodus 37:17-24 Bible Study | Episode 638

March 20 2024

Hope Alive: Applying God’s Word to Your Daily Life

Exodus 37:17-24  Bible Study | Episode #638

I am Chad Harrison, and I am the teaching pastor of Lake Community Church and had been serving as a pastor for 25 years. I'm also a practicing attorney. This podcast is designed to help you study God's word and find God's will for your life. The purpose of studying scripture is that you might know the character of Jesus Christ, and that you might see the world from the Father's perspective. That you gain wisdom that changes your life. I pray in the name of Jesus right now that God would open His word to you and allow you to see Him and to know Him. To know His will, that you might glorify Him and that you might walk in faith and power each day, especially today. In Jesus name.

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Transcript

This is Chad Harrison, and you're listening to Hope Alive, Applying God's Word to Your Daily Life.

Hi, this is Chad Harrison, and I am the teaching pastor of Lake Community Church and have been serving as a pastor for 25 years. I'm also a practicing attorney. This podcast is designed to help you study God's word and find God's will for your life. I pray in the name of Jesus right now that God would open up his word to you and allow you to see him and to know him and to know his will, that you might glorify him and that you might walk in faith and power each and every day, especially today.

Good morning. Welcome to Lake Community Church's Morning Bible Study. We are in Exodus chapter 37, and we're dealing with the golden lamp stand. We've been going through the tabernacle, obviously how the tabernacles build, but most of the Most of the items in the tabernacle are a picture of us in some way.

Obviously the showbread is a picture of Christ, but the table is where Christ is served on. It's us. The the Ark of the Covenant is a picture of us. It's a picture of how God is, has made us to hold his law, hold his Hold the manna from heaven inside of us. He he sits, he comes upon us and the atonement is placed upon us.

You've got all those pictures. You've got the picture of you've got a picture of Christ that is the wall, but the tabernacles where we worship him. We worship him in our heart and the Holy of Holies is a picture of our heart. And as you're studying through the tabernacle, obviously, you're getting a lot of pictures of Jesus, but you're getting a lot of pictures of us and how we're supposed to worship.

Now, When you get to the Golden Lampstand is a picture of the Holy Spirit. And there's, that's not even questionable, but, we can draw some important things from that. Because as far as our own lives, and as far as how the Holy Spirit operates ahem, and understanding how the Holy Spirit operates.

Through us in the world. And when we're reading this I think it's of great importance that you look at the Holy Spirit and look at the work of the Holy Spirit. Oftentimes when I was growing up, very few people talked about the Holy Spirit when I was a child in church.

We, they, passingly, he was mentioned, but rarely was he rarely was he really even mentioned a whole lot as far as in worship or in sermons. A lot of times in Bible studies and things like that. And the truth is the Holy Spirit should be mentioned as much as the father or the son, especially considering the Holy Spirit's the one who is spending time with us.

The Holy Spirit's the one who is our, he's our counselor. He's our paraclete. And so If we're going to grow, we're only going to grow as much as the Holy Spirit can lead us to grow. If we're going to know, we can only know as much as the Holy Spirit is able to reveal to us by our willingness to listen.

If we're going to, if we're going to walk this thing out. Meaning go through the process of sanctification, salvation, if we're going to be sanctified and saved the one who is leading us through that is the Holy Spirit. And by the way, if we're going to know Jesus the only way for us to truly know Jesus and understand Jesus.

is for the Holy Spirit to reveal him to us through his word. Just because you've got the word of God doesn't mean you understand anything about God. I remember going through an antiquities class at my in at the university. And I went I took a, I had to take a literature class and I took antiquities, meaning old ancient writings and we did, we studied the Iliad and, all the stuff.

And obviously one of the the primary ancient writing in history is the Bible. And they chose, I think it's Philippians. It might have been Ephesians. And I remember thinking how amazing my professor was and how knowledgeable he was and how. How much he just really knew a whole lot about all these books and all these writings from our ancient past.

And then when he got up there and started explaining I think it was Ephesians. When he got up there and started explaining Ephesians, I realized how He didn't understand a thing about what was being written. He had no clue about what was going on. He was absolutely clueless as to it. And the reason is because he wasn't born again.

So he didn't have the Holy Spirit living inside of him, communing with the Spirit. He didn't understand God. He didn't understand scripture. He didn't understand how how God related to the universe. Because he didn't have the Holy Spirit to give him light, to reveal that light to him. And so there's just no way for him to understand it.

No way for him to get it. And so he didn't get it. And when I say he didn't get it, he did not get it. He didn't get it at all. So as we're studying through this, I want you to see. See how the Holy Spirit operates in our lives. It said, he also made the lampstand a pure gold. Notice gold is a royalty of God.

The Holy Spirit is, he's not the, he's not the third wheel of the Godhead. He is an equal participant, equal part of the Godhead. He has a role to play, he has an important role to play, but he is just as important as the father and the son and it, he's made of pure gold he is royal as he can be and it says a hammered, a hammered work, he made the lampstand Notice it's shaft, it's branches, it's bold, it's ornamental knob, it's flowers were the same piece.

Meaning, meaning the slant stand was made out of the same piece of gold. It was fashioned out of the same piece of gold. Now this is really important. They fashioned gold for the arc and they fashion go for the table. But when you're making something like a lampstand, and that lampstand has to have a function.

It's, in some ways, I guess in our modern times, in some ways what we would call a machine rather than a tool. You know a hammer is a tool. A screwdriver is a tool. A wrench. Let's take away ranch a hammer screwdrivers tool. It doesn't it. You use it to do things, but it's not a machine. The lamp stand is a machine because it has to function.

It has to bring the oil to the right place. The oil has to be burning it. And this was. Made out of one piece of gold Which means that in its fashioning it had to be very intricate and by the way I think that's a picture of the Holy Spirit I think the Holy Spirit and his work and his power and his presence is very intricate.

It's very ornate The Holy Spirit does things in your life that you don't even realize are going on in your life The Holy Spirit is at work doing things that you We'll never know until you get to heaven, the Holy Spirit and the angelic hosts who are who are protecting us, who are our our ministering spirits, they are doing things in our lives that we have no clue about.

We, we really don't understand and they are teaching us and growing us and allowing us to experience things just at the level at which change takes place. But not at the level where destruction takes place. We're a very I guess the best way for us to say it is because we're made a little lower than the angels.

We're very delicate. We're, we can be torn to pieces really quick. And you think man, strong. No, we're not. We're really not. A car accident kills us really fast. A a terrible event in our life destroys us and tears us down in ways that we don't even know all these things that happen in our lives that go wrong.

Can really wreck us, it really can, it can wreck our lives and so the Holy Spirit is constantly and regularly doing intricate work in our life that we really don't even know and he is leading us and guiding us, and revealing to us and explaining things to us, That in our hearts we don't even realize that's going on while our day is taking place.

He is protecting and yet. Exposing us to things enough to allow us to have the opportunity to deal with it and to grow in it. And in some ways, we don't even realize. Other ways, it's profound insights that all of a sudden we really get and we figure it out. But many times it's the progression of insights that leads us to a great day.

And so the Holy Spirit's work is very refined. He's like a, he's like an expert surgeon on our hearts. He's a, he is a he's a craftsman as far as is building us up and making us. Holy before God the Holy Spirit is a powerful machine and I'm using machine because this lamp stand is a neat machine.

It's got a shaft, it's got branches, it's got bowls, it's got ornamental knobs and it's got flowers and they're all the same piece. The six branches came out of this, it's side notice. The number six, you've got six is the number of man, three branches of the lampstand on one side, and three branches lampstand on the other side, and there were three bowls made like almond blossoms on one branch, and an ornamental knob, and flowers, and three bowls made like almond blossoms on the other branch, so you've got this lampstand, it's got three, three branches on each side, six, the number of man, notice, you've The Holy Spirit, the whole purpose of this lampstand is for for God through the Holy Spirit to reveal his son.

The lamp shines the light and so that we can see and understand his son. And that's what the lampstand did actually in the tabernacle. And that's what the lampstand does or the Holy Spirit does in our lives. And he has a purpose. And so when, notice. He's God, so his number is not six, which is man, but he's made out of a singular piece of gold which points to the singleness of God and his job in the tabernacle, his job in our lives, his job in the world right now.

is to reveal Jesus to us, to allow us to see Jesus in our lives. And even though the Holy Spirit was the power of God when Jesus formed the world, He formed it by the power of the Holy Spirit. When God ordained the world to be made, Jesus formed it Himself. Everything that was made by Him, and nothing that was made was not made by Him.

And And everything was formed, it was formed by the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit has been involved in every aspect of creation, every aspect of what God's plan is on the earth. But also, the Holy Spirit's primary task right now He's got a secondary task. He holds back the enemy.

He holds back a lot of things that could destroy us. His primary task is to reveal to us God. And the only way for Him to reveal to us God is to reveal to us the Son Jesus. So we reveal Jesus. So we know who God is because we know who the son is. But the only way that we know who the son is that the Holy Spirit revealed that to us.

And in regard to the tabernacle, in regard to our relationship with God, in regard to our communion with God, That's what the Holy Spirit's job is to do, is to reveal us Jesus. We have to know Jesus in order to know God. You have to know the Old Testament, know the New Testament. You have to know the work of the Holy Spirit in your life to know Jesus.

And that's important. So not understanding who the Holy Spirit is, not understanding his work, not understanding how he works is important. It says on the lamp stand itself or four bowls. Made like almond blossoms, each with its ornamental knob and flowers. Now notice, this is not a, this is not a candle stand.

It's not candlesticks, okay? And it's a lamp. And there's a difference, and there's an important difference between the two, okay? We're not candles, we're lamps. The church in the book of the revelation the seven churches have golden Okay, and you go why does that matter? Notice that with a candle, the fire is outside the candle on the top.

Okay. Also, with a lamp stand, the fire is high, but the fire emanates from within the lamp. Okay. So when you have a fire with a lamp, the fire or the light emanates from within a candle, the fire emanates from on top. Now, can the light of the Holy Spirit emanate Come upon us and flow out of us and fill the whole room.

Sure it can. The, we can be filled with the Holy Spirit overflowing with the Holy Spirit. He make it, my cup overflow with, we can be overflowing with the Holy Spirit, but the light that is the Holy Spirit. Comes from with inside of us, the light of the Holy Spirit that was in Jesus came from with inside of him.

Okay, the Holy Spirit doesn't as in the Old Testament just come upon us in the New Testament. He lives inside of us. He communes. With our spirit inside of us. And so understanding that is an important understanding. The light doesn't just all of a sudden get up on top and burn like fire and then the candle is slowly burn out.

That's not how it works because the candle will eventually burn out. The source of the light is within us and the source of the light is not. Who we actually are meaning we don't burn down and eventually burn away. The light is the oil, which is another picture of the Holy Spirit. Remember there's three liquids that are pictures of the Holy Spirit.

Water's for, water's a picture of the washing the power of God to cleanse us and to refresh us. That's what water is a picture of. Then you've got then you've got wine, which is a picture of the goodness of God, the goodness of the Holy Spirit. And then obviously you've got oil and oil is a picture of the resonant power of the Holy Spirit.

Oil is a picture of the power and the presence. He's resonant. He's resonating right there with us. He is right there inside of us. And his presence and his power is available to us at all times. That resonant power of the Holy Spirit is not just upon us. And it can be, like I said, when you are faithful and you and you allow the Holy Spirit to and you allow the Father to to form you as a vessel so that you're not holding.

And I don't mean holy in a negative way, I mean leaking. When you become a vessel that's whole and complete, able to hold the Holy Spirit's power, when that happens, you can be filled and then eventually overflowing. And that overflow changes the world. That overflow makes the makes the the world around us different.

Now, that can happen. But the light that comes from the Holy Spirit comes from within inside of us and understanding that and knowing that is, is an important, it's important. You, the, who God is comes from within you. That's why he told Nicodemus, you got to be born again Because it comes from who we are deep within our soul, it says on the laps, it says there was a knob under the 1st 2 branches on the same and a knob under the 2nd 2 branches of the same and a knob on the 3rd 2 branches of the same according to the 6 branches extending from it.

So there's knobs each way down. It is. It is literally an ornate machine that allows allows the oil to flow, the oil to be pulled up, and to be used, and to be burned. It says, and he made seven lamps, each. It's it's wick trim, trimmers, and it's trays of pure gold and of the talent of pure gold who made, of a talent of pure gold who made it, with it's utensils, that is a lot of gold.

A talent of gold is a lot of gold. Dozens of pounds of gold were used to make this lamp stand. And, notice that there's seven lamps. There's not six lamps. There's six branches, but there's a seventh in the middle, which is a picture of the completion, the complete work of the Holy Spirit. That's the number seven.

But that one with six is God with man. Okay. One is the number of God. Six is the number of man. So you have that one lamp, stand in the middle, and then man man outside of it, which is a picture of was, which is a picture of God inside of us, man, on the outside, God on the inside. And and the light of the Holy Spirit burning within those bowls.

The light of God. Jesus said, I'm the light of the world and you are the light of the world. That light burning with inside of us and showing God to us. It doesn't get any better than that. It doesn't get any better than that. And, this is one of those things you gotta a little bit ponder on.

You gotta think about. You gotta allow God to reveal it to you. How is it that I am how is it that I am shining the light of God? From within me to the world, how am I the light of the world? And really at first asked, am I the light of the world father? Am I really being light to the world around me?

And do I really care more about others than I care about myself? Is my life a beacon of hope for the world I live in, or am I just making it? If I'm just making it, then what that means is you've not allowed the Holy Spirit to clean up the house within so that the house without will look look like God to the world we live in.

And if that's the case, then you need to allow him to start cleaning up the inside. And so when we clean, when he cleans up the inside, we don't want to be. Whitewashed tombs beautiful and white and gorgeous on the outside and full of dead men's bones. We want to be full of life on the inside because that life that's on the inside will shine forth brightly to the world on the outside.

And so allow the Holy Spirit to clean you up. Allow the Holy Spirit to take the water and wash you and cleanse you and make you new. And then when that happens. The oil of the Holy Spirit will begin to burn with inside of you and you will change not only your life but the world around you and the circumstances around you because you will be God's representation in the earth.

And that's ultimately what he made us for. I hope that, I pray that you'll be that. I know that you will be. As you seek God out, you're going to find him and you're going to know him. As you seek him out, may you seek him and find him fully in your life. As you go today, I pray that the Lord will bless you and keep you, that he'll make his face to shine upon you, and that he will give you hope and peace today in Jesus n