THE LIVES OF THE PATRIARCHS #195 THE LIFE OF MOSES #176
Lesson 3881
THE LIVES OF THE PATRIARCHS #195
THE LIFE OF MOSES #176
MOSES AT MT.SINAI#75
THE TABERNACLE OF MOSES ( Part 34)
THE MENORAH #4
SYMBOLS OF JESUS AND THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE MENORAH
What we have studied so far is that the Menorah is symbolic of Jesus while the Olive Oil (used for lighting its 7 lamps) represent the indwelling Holy Spirit.
1. JESUS AS THE LIGHT OF THE WORLD
In John 8:12 Jesus makes the remarkable claim that he is the “Light of the World.
Jesus declares to crowds gathered to celebrate the Feast of Dedication that he is the True Light.
Jesus makes this statement at the Feast of Dedication, or Hanukkah, a festival celebrating the rededication of the Temple after the Maccabean Revolt in 165 B.C.
After Antiochus desecrated the Temple, the Jews fought a war to re-capture Jerusalem. When the Temple was secured, the altar was replaced so sacrifices could begin again. There was not enough oil consecrated to light the Temple Menorah and it would take seven more days to consecrate more oil. They used what oil they had and it lasted for the whole eight days.
This is the miracle remembered during the feast by the lighting of Menorahs in homes and in the Temple.
Please note that the 9 branched Menorahs used nowadays for the celebration of Hannukah were a later invention.
The word "Menorah" in most usages refers to the 7 branched Temple Menorah which was the prototype.
As people are celebrating the liberation from their oppressors by the lighting of the 7-branched Menorah in the Temple, Jesus stands up and declares that He is the true light of the world!
What does that mean for modern day believers?
Jesus as the light of the world is a major theme in John’s gospel.
Those who follow Jesus walk in the light, those who reject Jesus walk in the darkness.
Light exposes what is hidden in the darkness. Light is always associated with truth, lies with darkness.
Jesus makes it clear that to reject Him is to willingly choose to remain in the darkness, those who follow Jesus are walking in the light.
2. THE HOLY SPIRIT AS OLIVE OIL
The priests attended to the Menorah to keep it burning continually from evening till morning.
They employed the finest olive oil exclusively for the Temple Menorah.
Among the more than 200 times that oil is mentioned in the Bible, the connection as a metaphor of the Holy Spirit’s presence and action is clear in the ritual of anointing prophets, priests, and kings. For example, when the prophet-judge Samuel anointed David with oil to be the new king of Israel, the next statement is that “the Spirit of the Lord came mightily upon David from that day forward” (1 Sam 16:13 )
Despite David’s failings, he prefigures as the model of God’s future work to save the people through the ultimate Anointed One, the Messiah to come in David’s family line.
The patterns of anointing prophets, priests, and kings come together in Jesus the Messiah. By these three roles, Jesus is the man empowered by the Spirit to declare, reconcile, and accomplish God’s salvation for the people.
The idea of anointing with oil points to the Spirit upon an individual, even for the Son of God.
The repeated emphasis on Jesus Christ as the Anointed One (Meshiach in Hebrew and
Christos in Latin - both mean “anointed”) plays on the metaphor of oil for the intense presence and action of the Holy Spirit.
This connection seems clear in two examples where the Spirit’s presence is told in the terms of anointing with oil in relation to the Messiah.
Isaiah 61:1
The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me, because he has anointed me to bring good news to the afflicted; he has sent me to bind up the brokenhearted, to proclaim liberty to captives and freedom to prisoners (cf. Luke 4:18)
Acts 10:38
You know of Jesus of Nazareth, how God anointed Him with the Holy Spirit and with power, and how He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was with Him.
The biblical associations of oil with light in oil lamps is a good fit with the Spirit’s work to reveal and illuminate God and His Word.
This meaning also overlaps with fire, which is another metaphor of the Spirit.
When God reveals to people, the Spirit of prophecy anoints people to function as prophets.
The use of oil in consecration and healing also fits with the Spirit’s work to sanctify people, which is stated multiple times in the N.T.
Conclusion
The Menorah is not your average stand-alone lampstand.
It points to Jesus not - just as the Tree of Life - but as the Light of the World who is powerfully and fully anointed by the Holy Spirit to save the world from the darkness of sin, death and satan's devices.
The Menorah thus remains a potent symbol to unite both Old and New Testaments and to give us fresh revelations of the work of Jesus and The Holy Spirit in the lives of believers worldwide based on the Hebraic roots of the Bible.
