Table of Showbread and Golden Candlestick

Notes

1. By comparing Ex. 26:15-25 with 1 Kings 6:2, 16-20, we learn that the tabernacle was ten cubits wide and thirty cubits long, that the temple proper was twice as large, viz., twenty cubits wide and sixty cubits long, and that the latter was composed of two apartments, one twice as large as the other. The oracle, or most holy place, was a perfect cube, twenty cubits on a side. Verses 16, 20. As both these structures were built after a pattern, we conclude that the most holy place of the tabernacle was also only half as large as the holy place, or first apartment. See "Looking unto Jesus," pp. 61, 62.

2. "It was called showbread, or bread of the presence, because it was ever before the face of the Lord. Ex. 25:30. It was an acknowledgment of man's dependence upon God for both temporal and spiritual food, and that it is received only through the mediation of Christ. God had fed Israel in the wilderness with bread from heaven, and they were still dependent upon His bounty, both for temporal food and spiritual blessings. Both the manna and the showbread pointed to Christ, the living bread, who is ever in the presence of God for us."—Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 354. Fine flour is bread-corn, bruised until it is smooth and even. Christ is the bread-corn bruised. Isa. 53:5; John 6:48, 51.

3. As the candlestick gave light in the sanctuary and temple of ancient times, so Jesus by His Spirit and Word sheds light into our hearts. John 8:12; 1:1, 4, 9; Eph. 3:17; Ps. 119:105. Thus we as temples of God are lighted, and God's people are the light of the world. 1 Cor. 3:16, 17; 6:19; Matt. 5:14. So in Rev. 1:12, 13, 16, 20; 2:1, the seven golden candlesticks represented the seven churches, God's people, and Christ walked among them. In the heavenly sanctuary we have the seven lamps of fire burning before the throne (Rev. 4:5), the antitype of the candlestick with seven lamps in the worldly sanctuary.

4. "There being no windows in the tabernacle, the lamps were never all extinguished at one time, but shed their light by day and by night."—Patriarchs and Prophets, p. 348. We read about snuffers and snuff-dishes, but not a word is said about an extinguisher. When our High Priest walks among the golden candlesticks He has often to apply the snuffers, and cut off something which would hinder the lamp from sending forth its light. But when the high priest came with the snuffers, he brought the oil vessel at the same time. So when Christ removes something that we love, He gives us more of the oil of the Holy Spirit, that we may be brighter and better Christians.