Balancing Spirit and Word
Exodus 27:20 NKJV
[20] “And you shall command the children of Israel that they bring you pure oil of pressed olives for the light, to cause the lamp to burn continually.
Someone said if you’re all Spirit and no Word, you will blow up; and if you have all Word and no Spirit, you will dry up.
Psalm 51:10-13 NKJV
[10] Create in me a clean heart, O God, And renew a steadfast spirit within me. [11] Do not cast me away from Your presence, And do not take Your Holy Spirit from me. [12] Restore to me the joy of Your salvation, And uphold me by Your generous Spirit. [13] Then I will teach transgressors Your ways, And sinners shall be converted to You.
Matthew 25:1-4 NKJV
[1] “Then the kingdom of heaven shall be likened to ten virgins who took their lamps and went out to meet the bridegroom. [2] Now five of them were wise, and five were foolish. [3] Those who were foolish took their lamps and took no oil with them, [4] but the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.
The Word is a lamp
Exodus 25:31-40 NKJV
[31] “You shall also make a lampstand of pure gold; the lampstand shall be of hammered work. Its shaft, its branches, its bowls, its ornamental knobs, and flowers shall be of one piece. [32] And six branches shall come out of its sides: three branches of the lampstand out of one side, and three branches of the lampstand out of the other side. [33] Three bowls shall be made like almond blossoms on one branch, with an ornamental knob and a flower, and three bowls made like almond blossoms on the other branch, with an ornamental knob and a flower-and so for the six branches that come out of the lampstand. [34] On the lampstand itself four bowls shall be made like almond blossoms, each with its ornamental knob and flower. [35] And there shall be a knob under the first two branches of the same, a knob under the second two branches of the same, and a knob under the third two branches of the same, according to the six branches that extend from the lampstand. [36] Their knobs and their branches shall be of one piece; all of it shall be one hammered piece of pure gold. [37] You shall make seven lamps for it, and they shall arrange its lamps so that they give light in front of it. [38] And its wick-trimmers and their trays shall be of pure gold. [39] It shall be made of a talent of pure gold, with all these utensils. [40] And see to it that you make them according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain.
The Spirit is oil
Psalm 119:105 NKJV
[105] Your word is a lamp to my feet And a light to my path.
So we know that the lamp stands represented the Word in type and shadow.
The things of The spiritual cannot be understood by the carnal mind.
1 Corinthians 2:4-16 NKJV
[4] And my speech and my preaching were not with persuasive words of human wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, [5] that your faith should not be in the wisdom of men but in the power of God. [6] However, we speak wisdom among those who are mature, yet not the wisdom of this age, nor of the rulers of this age, who are coming to nothing. [7] But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the ages for our glory, [8] which none of the rulers of this age knew; for had they known, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. [9] But as it is written: “Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, Nor have entered into the heart of man The things which God has prepared for those who love Him.” [10] But God has revealed them to us through His Spirit. For the Spirit searches all things, yes, the deep things of God. [11] For what man knows the things of a man except the spirit of the man which is in him? Even so no one knows the things of God except the Spirit of God. [12] Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might know the things that have been freely given to us by God. [13] These things we also speak, not in words which man’s wisdom teaches but which the Holy Spirit teaches, comparing spiritual things with spiritual. [14] But the natural man does not receive the things of the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned. [15] But he who is spiritual judges all things, yet he himself is rightly judged by no one. [16] For “who has known the mind of the LORD that he may instruct Him?” But we have the mind of Christ.
PART 2
Psalm 73:16-17 NKJV
[16] When I thought how to understand this, It was too painful for me- [17] Until I went into the sanctuary of God; Then I understood their end.
Review:
Worship in Spirit and Truth
Someone said if you’re all Spirit and no Word, you will blow up; and if you have all Word and no Spirit, you will dry up.
The Word is a lamp
The Spirit is the oil
2 Samuel 23:1-5 NKJV
[1] Now these are the last words of David. Thus says David the son of Jesse; Thus says the man raised up on high, The anointed of the God of Jacob, And the sweet psalmist of Israel: [2] “The Spirit of the LORD spoke by me, And His word was on my tongue. [3] The God of Israel said, The Rock of Israel spoke to me: ‘He who rules over men must be just, Ruling in the fear of God. [4] And he shall be like the light of the morning when the sun rises, A morning without clouds, Like the tender grass springing out of the earth, By clear shining after rain.’ [5] “Although my house is not so with God, Yet He has made with me an everlasting covenant, Ordered in all things and secure. For this is all my salvation and all my desire; Will He not make it increase?
Covenant and unity bring a constant and sustained supply of Spirit.
The Brazen Laver represented God’s Word as a mirror and a washing place.
Ephesians 5:25-27 NKJV
[25] Husbands, love your wives, just as Christ also loved the church and gave Himself for her, [26] that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, [27] that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.
Three articles in the first sanctuary
- Lamp stand
- Shewbread
- Altar of incense
Hebrews 9:1-2 KJV
[1] Then verily the first covenant had also ordinances of divine service, and a worldly sanctuary. [2] For there was a tabernacle made; the first, wherein was the candlestick, and the table, and the shewbread; which is called the sanctuary.
The table of shewbread represented The Word of God as the bread of life.
Deuteronomy 8:3 NKJV
[3] So He humbled you, allowed you to hunger, and fed you with manna which you did not know nor did your fathers know, that He might make you know that man shall not live by bread alone; but man lives by every word that proceeds from the mouth of the LORD.
The Word is seed
Luke 8:11 NKJV
[11] “Now the parable is this: The seed is the word of God.
The Spirit is water
The Word is bread
Bread requires oil
The Word will tell you it is wrong to lust.
BUT the Spirit will tell you that you need to check your son’s cell phone.
The Word will tell you Truth.
BUT the Spirit will tell you when to shut your mouth and not use Truth to kill someone.
The Word will tell you to love your neighbor.
BUT The Spirit will prompt you when and how to show love to your neighbor.
The Spirit will also empower you to love beyond yourself.
The letter killeth but The Spirit giveth life.
You don’t answer a question, you answer the “questioner”.
You don’t cut off someone’s nose, then hand them a rose to smell.
Luke 4:18-19 NKJV
[18] “The Spirit of the LORD is upon Me, Because He has anointed Me To preach the gospel to the poor; He has sent Me to heal the brokenhearted, To proclaim liberty to the captives And recovery of sight to the blind, To set at liberty those who are oppressed; [19] To proclaim the acceptable year of the LORD.”
Romans 8:9-11 NKJV
[9] But you are not in the flesh but in the Spirit, if indeed the Spirit of God dwells in you. Now if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he is not His. [10] And if Christ is in you, the body is dead because of sin, but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. [11] But if the Spirit of Him who raised Jesus from the dead dwells in you, He who raised Christ from the dead will also give life to your mortal bodies through His Spirit who dwells in you.
John 1:1-5 KJV
[1] In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. [2] The same was in the beginning with God. [3] All things were made by him; and without him was not any thing made that was made. [4] In him was life; and the life was the light of men. [5] And the light shineth in darkness; and the darkness comprehended it not.
John 1:14 KJV
[14] And the Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us, (and we beheld his glory, the glory as of the only begotten of the Father,) full of grace and truth.
Golden Candlesticks
Table of Shewbread
Altar of Incense
At the entrance to the Holy of Holies was the sweet incense of prayer.
Exodus 30:1-8 NKJV
[1] “You shall make an altar to burn incense on; you shall make it of acacia wood. [2] A cubit shall be its length and a cubit its width-it shall be square-and two cubits shall be its height. Its horns shall be of one piece with it. [3] And you shall overlay its top, its sides all around, and its horns with pure gold; and you shall make for it a molding of gold all around. [4] Two gold rings you shall make for it, under the molding on both its sides. You shall place them on its two sides, and they will be holders for the poles with which to bear it. [5] You shall make the poles of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold. [6] And you shall put it before the veil that is before the ark of the Testimony, before the mercy seat that is over the Testimony, where I will meet with you. [7] “Aaron shall burn on it sweet incense every morning; when he tends the lamps, he shall burn incense on it. [8] And when Aaron lights the lamps at twilight, he shall burn incense on it, a perpetual incense before the LORD throughout your generations.
Malachi 1:11 KJV
[11] For from the rising of the sun even unto the going down of the same my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts.
We have lamps
We have bread
We have lunch…
Revelation 8:1-6 KJV
[1] And when he had opened the seventh seal, there was silence in heaven about the space of half an hour. [2] And I saw the seven angels which stood before God; and to them were given seven trumpets. [3] And another angel came and stood at the altar, having a golden censer; and there was given unto him much incense, that he should offer it with the prayers of all saints upon the golden altar which was before the throne. [4] And the smoke of the incense, which came with the prayers of the saints, ascended up before God out of the angel’s hand. [5] And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and lightnings, and an earthquake. [6] And the seven angels which had the seven trumpets prepared themselves to sound.
Love is shed abroad by THE HOLY GHOST.
Judges 14:5-6 NKJV
[5] So Samson went down to Timnah with his father and mother, and came to the vineyards of Timnah. Now to his surprise, a young lion came roaring against him. [6] And the Spirit of the LORD came mightily upon him, and he tore the lion apart as one would have torn apart a young goat, though he had nothing in his hand. But he did not tell his father or his mother what he had done.
Unity and balance.
Zechariah 4:11-14 NKJV
[11] Then I answered and said to him, “What are these two olive trees-at the right of the lampstand and at its left?” [12] And I further answered and said to him, “What are these two olive branches that drip into the receptacles of the two gold pipes from which the golden oil drains?” [13] Then he answered me and said, “Do you not know what these are?” And I said, “No, my lord.” [14] So he said, “These are the two anointed ones, who stand beside the Lord of the whole earth.”