The Candlestick – Light

Perhaps a person may say, as to being a light-bearer, I have no desire to be one. If so, it would prove one of three things; either that the person was not converted at all; else, was quickened but not delivered; or in a very bad condition of soul, really away from God. Well, I take it for granted that none of us are in either of these three conditions; but that we are all longing to be, in our little measure, light-bearers for God. If we are in a right condition of soul, we shall desire to be light-bearers; and if we are to be light-bearers, we must be put upon the wheel. You never saw a potter make a vessel without putting the clay on the wheel. If you are a vessel of honor, you must have been put on the wheel. I do not know your wheel, and you do not know mine; but we each know our own.
The candlestick was, first, of pure gold; for this the crucible was needed. Secondly, of beaten work—beaten into the shape of a lampstand with the hammer. The crucible is some severe, sharp, short, trial—separative. The object of the crucible is to make a vessel of pure gold. It does not add to or take from it. If a pound of pure gold be put into a red-hot furnace, it comes out two hours afterward a pound of pure gold; it loses nothing. It is put into the crucible that what is not pure gold may be taken from it. We are gold, and are put into the crucible to separate us from the dross. The nearer we get to God, the more glad we shall be to be nothing but what is suited to God and to Christ; to be separated from everything, personally, domestically, commercially, and ecclesiastically, that would dim the gold; from anything that hinders our growth, advancement, and, testimony for God and Christ in this world. The crucible is sharp, short, and separative. The object of the crucible is to separate and purify. The hammer is slow, sure, and formative. We find it in the history of the saints in the Old and New Testament, and in our own. When Abraham offered up Isaac, it was the crucible for him—sharp, short, and separative. Just before, we read, Abraham planted a grove; but after he offered Isaac we never hear of the grove again. The taking away of Joseph from Jacob was the crucible for him, but it acted in a different manner; he needed the successive strokes of the hammer as well. The crucible did not do the work when Joseph went because Benjamin was slipped into his place; all the rest of his life Jacob had the successive strokes of the hammer, but who would have thought that his life would have had such a magnificent sunset! How splendidly he was formed by the successive strokes of the hammer!
The Lord did not command Moses to make a mold of a seven-branched candlestick, and to run the gold into it. No, it was to be hammered out of a solid block of pure gold; it was to be made of beaten work, and the character of the metal unmixed pure gold— “beaten work,” not molded, “of pure gold.” Ah, beloved, we are not fit to be light-bearers for God if we shrink from the crucible and hammer! If we really want to be light-bearers for Him we shall welcome the crucible because it separates, and the hammer because it forms. If we saw that, we should see how wonderfully all the trials and difficulties that come on us are sent by God. In this day of trial, when there are difficulties around, when we dread the post coming in lest it should bring bad news, when we do not know what sorrow may come next, how wonderful to be able to say, “As for God, His way is perfect.” We do not attain to this in a moment; there are four distinct stages to it. After all the exercises and discipline God has passed you through, can you say, “As for God, His way is perfect?” I do not mean in a stoical way. I abhor stoicism from the depths of my heart. “Jesus wept.” He was no stoic. Paul wept. I wish I could weep like Jesus and Paul. It would be a good thing if there were a few more tears shed in this hard day. Tenderness is what we want. Jesus set His face as a flint, yet was there ever such tenderness as His? It is not just stoically saying, “Oh, yes; as for God, His way is perfect!” that is human schooling. Can you really say, “As for God, His way is perfect?” People say they wish to be resigned, and talk about dying and being resigned. Is that the highest condition of soul a saint of God can reach to?
There are four stages:
1. Resignation. That is the lowest.
2. Acquiescence. That is not the highest, but it is one above.
3. Justification. Being able to justify God.
4. To adore Him for all His dealings. That is the highest. One of the Latin Fathers wrote on the wall of his cell—
“I bow me to Thy will, my God,
And all Thy ways adore.”
That was not resignation, acquiescence, or justification; it was adoration. Can you say, “I know my Father is doing the best thing for me?” He is doing the best for His own glory, and for my richest blessing. “As for God, His way is perfect.” I may be crushed, bowed down, yet will I adore and worship Him.
Look at those poor men, with the blood clotted on their backs, a damp, dirty, dingy prison cell, yet not a murmur, so above self that they can pray and then praise. “As for God, His way is perfect” (Psalms 18:30-32). God says, “Now that you adore me for all my ways, I will come in for you.” “It is God that girdeth me with strength, and maketh my way perfect.” My way is in exact correspondence with His way, and He goes on until the poor weak fingers are so strong that they can break the bow of steel. There is not a difficulty but I am superior to it. In the first epistle of Peter we find —
1. Trial from God.
2. Trial for unrighteousness.
3. Trial for righteousness.
4. Trial for Christ.
5. Trial from the devil.
And all to make me a more efficient light-bearer for God in this world. It is exceedingly precious to know that God has the metal in His own hand. We see people putting heavy strokes where they should be light, and light where they should be heavy; few where there should be many, and many where there should be few. We are in divine hands, not in one another’s. When God offered David three things, he said, “Let me fall into the hand of the Lord.” He would rather be in the hands of God than of the devil or his enemies. —We are in the Father’s hands. “The Father Himself loveth you.” He knows how long to keep His bit of gold in the crucible, and when to put it under the hammer. God knows how to touch us so that we welcome the crucible and the hammer, and adore God for both. “As for God, His way is perfect.” That is God’s way of making light-bearers.