[The person who delights in the Lord's instruction] is like a tree
planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.
—Psalm 1:3
You shall make a lampstand of pure gold...You shall make seven lamps for it. And the lamps shall be set up so as to give light on the space in front of it.
—Exodus 25:31a, 37
You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
—Matthew 5:14-16
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
—James 1:17
One of my prized possessions is my Dad's slide rule, which is roughly 80 years old. I can do simple calculations on it, but with nothing like the skill and speed possessed by post-WW2 engineers like my Dad. In contrast, I can use my computer to crunch numbers with much greater volume, precision, and speed than the fastest slide rule operator of that earlier time. It is absolutely not because I am more skillful than they were, but because I am standing on the shoulders of giants. (That phrase was apparently used by Isaac Newton, but the metaphor has been traced to hundreds of years earlier.)
With only a little exposure to logarithms, trigonometry, and logic, one can recognize that the slide rule and the contemporary digital computer rest on the same fundamental principles of Mathematics.
I want to be careful with that metaphor. I'm not suggesting that twenty-first-century technology has reached a point of divine completeness—far from it! But I believe that it illustrates an important point. The word of the Lord through Malachi was “I the Lord do not change”. The letter of Hebrews teaches that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” The Lord desires to be with His people and wants to give them life with Him.
Although disobedience sent humans into exile from the Garden of Eden, imagery of the Garden calls us to remember the lost relationship and prepares us to accept the Lord's offer. Many teachers and scholars have pointed out ways in which the tabernacle and its furnishings resonated with images of the garden, including the connections between the lampstand and the Tree of Life.
Life and light are woven together throughout the Scripture. The lampstand, with its branching, tree-like structure, illuminated the bread of the presence. It gave light to the approach to the mercy seat. Jesus, who came as God's presence among humans is also described as the “bread of heaven” and “the true light” in whom “was life”. John states directly that “grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”
And James connected those themes to the enduring, consistent nature of the Lord, “the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”
Tree of Life and Light (part 1)
[The person who delights in the Lord's instruction] is like a tree
planted by streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
and its leaf does not wither.
In all that he does, he prospers.
—Psalm 1:3
You shall make a lampstand of pure gold...You shall make seven lamps for it. And the lamps shall be set up so as to give light on the space in front of it.
—Exodus 25:31a, 37
You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.
—Matthew 5:14-16
Every good gift and every perfect gift is from above, coming down from the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.
—James 1:17
One of my prized possessions is my Dad's slide rule, which is roughly 80 years old. I can do simple calculations on it, but with nothing like the skill and speed possessed by post-WW2 engineers like my Dad. In contrast, I can use my computer to crunch numbers with much greater volume, precision, and speed than the fastest slide rule operator of that earlier time. It is absolutely not because I am more skillful than they were, but because I am standing on the shoulders of giants. (That phrase was apparently used by Isaac Newton, but the metaphor has been traced to hundreds of years earlier.)
With only a little exposure to logarithms, trigonometry, and logic, one can recognize that the slide rule and the contemporary digital computer rest on the same fundamental principles of Mathematics.
I want to be careful with that metaphor. I'm not suggesting that twenty-first-century technology has reached a point of divine completeness—far from it! But I believe that it illustrates an important point. The word of the Lord through Malachi was “I the Lord do not change”. The letter of Hebrews teaches that “Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.” The Lord desires to be with His people and wants to give them life with Him.
Although disobedience sent humans into exile from the Garden of Eden, imagery of the Garden calls us to remember the lost relationship and prepares us to accept the Lord's offer. Many teachers and scholars have pointed out ways in which the tabernacle and its furnishings resonated with images of the garden, including the connections between the lampstand and the Tree of Life.
Life and light are woven together throughout the Scripture. The lampstand, with its branching, tree-like structure, illuminated the bread of the presence. It gave light to the approach to the mercy seat. Jesus, who came as God's presence among humans is also described as the “bread of heaven” and “the true light” in whom “was life”. John states directly that “grace and truth came through Jesus Christ.”
And James connected those themes to the enduring, consistent nature of the Lord, “the Father of lights, with whom there is no variation or shadow due to change.”