This is a picture of the lampstand that was in the Tabernacle in the Old Testament. What does it have to do with bearing fruit? I went through a little Biblical journey and was so astounded at how beautifully it ties into my own present life, and how it was used to remind me how God wants me to profoundly bear much fruit.
When the Tabernacle was to be built, the Lord gave Moses a very exacting picture of what it was to entail, and how it was to be built. Exact. This was by no accident, as it was a picture of a heavenly scene, and an echo of Eden if you will. Vern S. Poythress said in The Shadow of Christ in the Law of Moses: "The tabernacle is a renewed version of the Garden of Eden. But curtains with cherubim on them still bar the way into God's presence, just as cherubim barred the way into the original Garden of Eden after the Fall (Gen 3:24)."
In the Tabernacle, we see this lampstand with branches, buds, and blossoms (Exodus 25:33). "It is a message about time, the familiar cycle of growth of plants, springtime, summer, and harvest." He goes on to say, "This strange tree has buds, blossoms, almond flowers, and fruit all at once, because it must be a static picture of the whole cycle of time that God has created and sustains." So, phew; a lot of info and a picture of this lampstand with all the cycles of growth on it. What does that mean to me? The one thing that came to me was time. For these cycles of the fruit to mature, it takes time. How often do I want to get to the harvest time and don't really want to spend time in the summer, where it may look as if nothing is going on? How I love spring where I can see the newness of the buds, but just want to skip the process and go right to the reaping? We need to have a long obedience in the same direction, if it's the direction that the Lord has clearly shown us to go. Go by the last clear Word the Lord has given you, and remain obedient!
I realized something about us women. We like to do whatever we do, and keep doing it, even if it looks as if that fruit is no longer producing. The fact that we are in this group, and part of that friendship, and do this activity, just because it's "what we've always done", may not be what is best. We can do a thousand things and none of them well, just because we don't like change. God desires to prune us, to fix those branches that are broken, and sometimes that requires cutting them off. It's not this season's fruit. It's last season's.
To continue on the significance of what exactly the Lord has on the lampstand is so deep and made my brain spin with much information. I'll just relay a little of what stuck out to me. He described the flowers on the stand were to be almond flowers. The Hebrew word for that is (shaqed) and is related to the Hebrew word for 'watch' (shaqad). The stem sh-q-d means to be "watchful, wakeful, vigilant." (JPS Torah Commentary) In Jeremiah 11, God is talking to Jeremiah and is using these terms to convey a play on words to say He is watching, and vigilant that His Word will be fulfilled. And, how awesome that even though we must be patient to wait out His seasons that He gives us this picture of the almond tree. It is the earliest spring-flowering plant in the land of Israel, often even before the end of February. Isn't that so like God? To give us fruit, even unexpected results early in season? Just because of His love for us? Awesome.
If you read in Rev 1:11-13, 20, and Rev 2:1, 7, you start to get a picture of what the lampstands and the tree represent. The tree representing the Tree of Life, the lampstands representing the churches, God's people. We are the lights in this world. We have charge to bear much fruit. God gives us the ability to do so in John 15:1-3 when He tells us to abide in Him. Leviticus 24:4 exhorted the priests to tend the lamp continually, to keep it going and to not let it go out. Just as we have to allow the Lord to continually tend to our branches. The ones that are hanging off, broken, and needing to be pruned. God said He is vigilant, watching "I am early of the watch (soqed) to carry out my purpose." (Jer 1:12) Watching MY life to see His Word fulfilled. And I felt insignificant.
I don't know if any of this made sense, as I said, my mind was spinning after this. But, I came away with a greater knowledge of WHY God put things the way He did. The interweaving of Himself throughout scripture, and how NOTHING in any part of His Word is there by accident. I love that. I love that everything God is doing is about dwelling with us until we dwell with Him. I think that's so amazing. That's the picture I am getting as I read more about the Tabernacle and it's significance in my life.
