The Lampstand And The Shewbread

I recently re-read The Sabbath by the respected Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel. The copy I bought had very abstract pictures of OT concepts at each chapter head. To be honest, they didn't make much sense to me... except for one. It was a picture of a "living" menorah.. a menorah made out of vines and almond blossoms. Like the instructions of a golden lampstand being made in the likeness of an almond tree. I quickly got a copy made and it now sits facing me on the table at the end of my bed to contemplate each time I glance at it.

I read a Christian theology textbook on the Tabernacle, so I could go into a lot of detail about the significance of all the details of the lampstand, but I want to focus on the most simple: it was to give light. Filled continually with pure olive oil by the designated priests, it was lit at all times. But it giving light is only the first part of what I want to focus on. What is important is what it illumined: the table of the shewbread, or the Bread of the Presence, eaten then replaced each week by the priests after fresh consecration.

I finally understood why this elusive picture of the lampstand had captivated me for weeks: it was a symbol of the illumination of the Presence of God in my life, particularly the vast, dark three years preceding this moment in time. I could see where he was all along in my sin, pain, and transgression: with me.

And if you're sitting there worried that, since this is an OT concept it doesn't apply to you and you won't be able to see the Presence of God in your murky past, your tenuous present, or your uncertain future, remember that Jesus is the Light of the world, the exact imprint of the nature of the God, given to us to know the Father. And his name is Emmanuel, which means "God with us."

Past, Present, and Future

There are two parts to this blog. I just want to get some of my thoughts on paper and flesh them out with y'all.

Part I:

Today, I meditated for 30 mins on Isaiah 53:4a in preparation for Easter Sunday when we get to celebrate after this long, Lenten, penitential season. I want to do Lent well and I pray I have. Christ's crucifixion is everything; without it, we would still be sick. Which is where Part I comes in. Isaiah 53:4a in the NASB translation reads: "Surely our griefs [sickness/disease both internal and external] he bore, and our sorrows [pain both physical and mental] he carried [this verb has an alternate meaning of 'being pregnant with' about which I spent much time thinking]" (Isaiah 53:4) NASB."

I had a Zoom call with my therapist today and at the end she said I would have to work through the trauma of having had cancer and having Bipolar I eventually. I liked her directness as I know those are things that hold me back from the past in the present and hopefully not the future. Isaiah 53:4a is in the past tense, meaning Christ already bore and carried those things while he was on the Cross. What does that mean for the healing of my trauma? I don't know if this will make sense, but today, during my Lectio Divina on verse 53:4a, I prayed that Christ would go back and heal my trauma, both physical and mental, in the past tense that I wouldn't suffer so much from it today. I believe he can do that but that that's not all he's doing.

He also is doing those things in the present tense as I experience the day to day grievances of life. Always bearing, always carrying.

And, finally, I believe he will consummately heal me in the future, when I see him face to face. In his manifest Presence in heaven. Some words of C.S. Lewis from his book The Great Divorce apply:

“Ye cannot in your present state understand eternity… That is what mortals misunderstand. They say of some temporal suffering, ‘No future bliss can make up for this,’ not knowing that Heaven, once attained, will work backward and turn even that agony into a glory... The good man’s past begins to change so that his forgiven sins and remembered sorrows take on the quality of heaven… And that is why the Blessed will say, ‘We have never lived anywhere except in Heaven.’”

This brings me to Part II of this blog post:

Genesis 1:2 states, "The earth was formless and void, and darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was moving [hovering] over the surface of the waters," (Genesis 1:2) NASB.

The Hebrew word for formless is "tohuw" which means "formelessness, confusion, emptiness... a place of chaos." Anybody ever feel like that? I do. And I have. And I will. Void comes from the Hebrew word "bohuw" which means "emptiness, waste... a vacuity... an indistinguishable ruin." I definitely feel like my mind, body, soul, emotions, etc. are indistinguishable ruins at times. Both from the cancer and the Bipolar. As I was meditating on this verse, I also focused on the Hebrew verb for "hovering" which is "rachaph." One of the major translations comes from its Syrian transliteration/counterpart meaning "a bird brooding over its young." My dictionary app defines this version of brood as: "(of a bird) to warm, protect, or cover (young) with the wings or body." That's exactly what Christ did during his Crucifixion: he covered us with his bloody, beaten, and torn body and with his wings of healing (Mal. 4:2).

So I recollected that Christ was "rachaph-ing" over my soul and body when I was close to physical death and every moment of mental anguish I have faced since. He is "rachaph-ing" over my soul and body even know, "a very-present help in trouble" (Psalm 46:1). And, finally, his healing, protection, hovering, in short, his "rachaph-ing" will be consummated when I see him face to face. 

When dealing with a God outside of time, we get to consider all the angles our finite minds can comprehend of his activity among us.

Take heart in knowing that he is healing you, restoring you, hovering over you, in the past, present, and future.