Rabbi Schneider - The Golden Menorah: Lighting the Way

What this teaches us, is beloved, if that you and I are going to have intimacy with God, It's going to be by God's Spirit. Menorah was made from one pure piece of gold that had been hammered out to form seven different branches, each one of these branches having a flame of fire protruding from it. Now as we're looking here at this Menorah, it's important that you understand that this Menorah wasn't piecemealed together. In other words, this branch was not at one time separate, formed by itself and then pushed on to the base. But rather, this whole Menorah was made from one pure piece of gold that had been molded, like you'd take a piece of play dough, one clump and mold it into something without disconnecting any piece from it, just molding it out to form the seven different branches.

The reason this is important is because the seven here, the reason that it speaks of seven is because seven is a biblical number. We speak of biblical numerology and seven indicates perfection and it indicates wholeness. So when you speak about a week for example, there are seven days in a week; it's complete. So when we say that there are seven different flames from this or that it's seven different spirits; we're not talking about different spirits that are separate from each other, but we're talking about one. Remember it was made from one pure piece of gold that is manifesting seven different ways. Now as I say that, we're gonna walk back over now, and we're gonna look at the Book of Revelation, and I'm gonna read from you from the Book of Revelation, chapter number 1 and you're gonna see why it is that this Golden Menorah inside the mishkan, inside the tabernacle was a symbol and a type of the Holy Spirit. I wanna remind you that Hebrews chapter 9 tells us that the tabernacle was a, was a copy and a shadow of Jesus.

Now with that in mind, hear the word of God. Revelation chapter 1 verse number 4, the Lord is greeting us, he's greeting John and here's what he says: Grace to you and peace from him who is, who was and who is to come, and from the seven spirits of God that are before his throne. So God is greeting John, he's greeting us, he's revealing himself as the Eternal One: the one who is, who was and who is to come, and he's also greeting us from the seven spirits that are before his throne. Is he talking about seven different isolated spirits? No, he's talking about the Holy Spirit who is revealed in seven, because seven represents completion, fullness and wholeness. This same thing continues in Revelation chapter 3 verse 1, hear the word of God once again. Yeshua's writing here and he's speaking rather, he's speaking in John's writing, and he's writing to the angel or the pastor at the church at Sardis and here's what Yeshua says: He who has the seven Spirits of God, so Yeshua reveals himself, and he says I'm the one that has the seven Spirits of God.

What is Yeshua saying? I'm the one that has the Holy Spirit. He's not talking again about seven distinct different spirits that aren't connected, he's talking about the Holy Spirit who's complete and perfect, and so the Holy Spirit is symbolized by seven. And so when we walk into the tabernacle, when we walk in beloved, to the Holy Place, the first piece of furniture that are eyes are drawn to his the Golden Menorah, who's a physical representation, this Golden Menorah is a physical representation, it's a copy and a type of the Ruach Hako'desh, which is the Hebrew word for Holy Spirit. Ruach means, means Spirit, ha means the, ko'desh means holy. So when we say Ruach Hako'desh, that's Hebrew for the Holy Spirit. Ruach - spirit, ha - the, ko'desh - holy; there's a song that we used to sing in our Hebrew liturgy and it goes like this, it's really simple, it goes: "Ruach, Ruach, Ruach, Ruach, Ruach, Ruach, not by might or power, but by my Spirit saith the Lord. Not by might or power, but by my Spirit saith the Lord".

Now when we consider that the mishkan, which is the Hebrew word for tabernacle, is a pattern for how to have intimacy with God today, and when we recognize and think about the fact that the first piece of furniture that we see when we enter the tabernacle itself, is the Golden Menorah, who is a type of the Holy Spirit. What this teaches us is beloved, that if you and I are gonna have intimacy with God, listen to this, it's gonna be by God's Spirit. Remember when Yeshua got in the discussion with the woman of Samaria in John 4, and they began to dialog about spiritual things, and she said you know, you Jewish person, you worship, you worship in Jerusalem, but we Samaritans, we worship over on that mountain. And Yeshua said woman, I tell you the time is coming and now is when you'll neither worship in this mountain or that mountain, for those that worship the Father must worship in spirit.

Listen, they must listen in spirit Yeshua says and in truth, for such the Father seeks to be his worshippers. So if we're gonna truly worship God, it's not gonna be by our intellect alone beloved, it's gonna be only by his Spirit, because God is Spirit. And the only way that we can relate to God is through his Spirit. That's what he Bible tells us, that God's Spirit has been given to us that we might freely know the things of God. But I want you to hear this; I got news for you, especially you and I that live in this western culture, those of us in America. We're speaking all around the world right now, but I especially wanna speak to those that live in the western civilization.

We have been so culturalized beloved, to live in the realm of intellectualism, and to live in the realm of logic, and to live in the realm where we have two columns, and we right out the do's and the don'ts, and, and why we should do this, and why we shouldn't do this that many of us beloved, are living in the realm of reason, and logic, and we're trapped by intellectualism, and we're not walking by the Spirit of God. And if we wanna get back to really walking with God, we need to learn beloved to walk by his Spirit. And in order to walk by his Spirit, we're gonna learn how to hear his Spirit, we need to learn how to hear his Spirit, we need to learn how to yield to his Spirit. The Bible says lean not on your own understanding, but in all your ways acknowledge him, and he'll direct your paths.

I want you to know beloved, if I rely on my own reason and logic, I would not be where I am today. In fact, I wouldn't even believe in Jesus today, cause all the people around me, the whole Jewish community told me I was a heretic for believing in Jesus. I want you to know beloved, unless you're willing to listen to the Spirit of God and be led by the Spirit of God, you cannot walk in intimacy with God today. Yet too many of you beloved, are trapped. You're trapped in a religion that's devoid of power, just like the Apostle Paul said. Because you've been taught beloved, that the only thing there is to the Christian life is reading and studying the Bible. I want you to know beloved; reading and studying the Bible is the foundation, but the Bible beloved, the written word of God is not designed to replace the living God, it's designed to lead us to the living God.

You see those first disciples of Yeshua HaMashiach, those first disciples of Jesus, listen to me now: they didn't even have Bibles like you and I have today. A few of the parchments of the Torah were in some of the synagogues; some of Paul's letters were eventually floating around some of the churches. But in terms of those first disciples of Jesus beloved, the 1st Century believers, the 2nd Century believers; they didn't have Bibles with leather bound covers that you could go to to, the Table of Contents and turn to any, they didn't have those. They were led by his Spirit. Yeshua said in John 14, he said listen, he said I'm gonna go away. He said I'm not gonna leave you as an orphan, but I'm gonna send you the Comforter, the Ruach Hako'desh, the Holy Spirit and he will lead you into all truth, and remind you of all that I said to you.

Let me tell you beloved: Paul, Peter, Timothy, they were led by the Spirit of the living God. The Spirit of the living God never contradicts the written word of God, because the living God, the Spirit of God wrote the written word of God. But you and I beloved need to learn how to listen to the still small voice of the Ruach Hako'desh in our own life if we have any hope of entering in to a deeper place of intimacy with the Lord. You see, God wants to whisper to you the things that are particularly true for you. Maybe there's things beloved, in your life that God needs to expose to you. The way that he's gonna expose them to you beloved, is by his Spirit. God's gonna give you revelation about your struggles, about your destiny by his Spirit. He speaks in visions, he speaks in dreams, he speaks through other people, he's a living God.

Remember in Acts chapter 2, when the Spirit of God fell on those first disciples, and there was such a powerful experience, they could hardly stand. It looked like they were just kind of off balance, and those that were observing it thought that they, they looked like they were drunk or something. Remember Peter (Cephas) said these men are not drunk as you suppose, but what you're witnessing he said, is what was prophesied by the prophet Joel: In the last day saith the Lord, I'll pour forth my Spirit on all flesh. Your sons and daughters shall prophesy. To prophesy simply means to speak by inspiration of the Spirit. You don't have to say "thus saith the Lord" to prophesy. You just have to be led of the Spirit of what you're saying. All of God's sons and daughters should be able to prophesy. If you're just giving counsel to your child about something, and God is giving you wisdom for that counsel; you're prophesying, you're speaking by inspiration of the Spirit.

God speaks to us in dreams; Peter said what you're seeing is what was prophesied by the prophet Joel: In the last days, I'll pour forth my Spirit on all flesh. Your sons and daughters shall prophesy, they'll speak by inspiration of the Spirit. And when he says, when he says sons and daughters, he's talking about all classes of people. He's talking about a select few anymore, he's talking about everybody that receives the Spirit of God. The sons and the daughters shall prophesy. Your old man he said, shall dream dreams. He's not talking about dreams of accomplishing something great necessarily, but he's talking beloved, in this case about God communicating to us in our sleep. Just like he did Joseph as of old, just like he did Daniel, just like he did, just like he did all the prophets beloved, of the Hebrew Bible.

Dreams are one of the most common vehicles of revelation that we find in Scripture. Look up the word dream, or dreamed, or dreams in your Bible Concordance and you'll be amazed when you begin to look up all the references, as how often in the Bible God spoke to his servants through their dreams. And I want you to know beloved; the same God that spoke to Joseph, the same God that spoke to, to Jacob, the same God that spoke to Paul, the same God that spoke to Yeshua's father in dreams, he's still speaking to his children in dreams today. And if you and I wanna learn how to be led by his Spirit, we need to be paying attention to our dreams at night. I can't tell you the times that God has stopped me from making a wrong decision through a dream that he gave me at night.

I recently was thinking of buying a home, because of the fact that my youngest daughter has just graduated from high school and I wanted to move closer to the Messianic synagogue that I oversee, so I looked at this home. And I called the realtor; I told her I wanted to put an offer on this home. That night after I called my realtor and told her I wanted her to put an offer on the home; I went back to that home that I was gonna put an offer on the next day, and I sat on a bench in the backyard. And I sat on the bench in the backyard, it was dark outside, I began to pray to God, I said Lord: I said is this the home that you want me to purchase, is this the home that you have for me? Then I went back home, I went to sleep; that night in my sleep beloved, God appeared to me in a dream. I'm not saying I saw God, but I'm saying God came to me in my sleep, and he put a picture in my mind, a one second dream.

A lot of the times that when the Lord speaks to me at night, it's through a one second picture that'll bring to my mind in the middle of the night, and I saw myself in my sleep beloved, in this dream. I saw myself in the dream on the very same bench that I'd just been sitting on several hours earlier when I was awake, praying to God, asking him if this was the home that he wanted me to buy. I saw myself in my dream sitting on that bench, and there, and my neck and my hands were like in a guillotine. Not the kind of guillotine that chops your head off, but the kind like if there's a chopping block or your, there's a piece of wood under here, and your, your body's on this side of your, the wood, your necks, your heads over the wood, and the woods got you around the neck, and I saw the, the wood also come down on my, my, on my wrists so that my hands were on one side, my arms were on the other, so that I couldn't move. Let me tell ya, God stopped me from buying that house. He said don't buy that house, that house will put you in bondage.

And God sees the end from the beginning; I'm not exactly sure why it would have, it wasn't that it was that expensive, but God knows our future beloved, and our destiny. And we need to pay attention, because if it wouldn't have been for that dream, I would have bought that house. Beloved, to be closer to my, to the people that God has given me to shepherd and care for. So, so we need to be careful about what we're doing, and God speaks to us and a lot of times God will reveal us, to us what he wants us to do if we're paying attention; even through our dreams, hallelujah, at night. And so we need beloved, to be, to be focusing on the ministry of the Holy Spirit. You see when the Holy Spirit appeared, listen to this now, in Acts chapter 2, I want you to get this. When the Holy Spirit appeared, listen, in Acts chapter 2, listen, he appeared as what? He appeared as a tongue of fire.

Now you know a lot of people have made a real big issue out of the fact that those first disciples, when they were filled with the Spirit, they spoke tongues, but I want you to know and this is just for a biblical education; the type of tongues that these first believers spoke in, in Acts chapter 2, it wasn't the type of tongue that the Pentecostals say should be the experience of those that are filled with the Spirit. Because generally, and I'm not putting down Pentecostals, believe me, I do speak in tongues, but I want, I'm talking about biblical clarity. Listen to this: the type of tongues that believers spoke in, in Acts chapter 2 when they were filled with the Spirit; it wasn't a unknown prayer language, but rather they were filled beloved, with the supernatural ability to proclaim the Gospel in a language that the didn't understand, but it was a known language.

In other words, I don't know how to speak Japanese, but in Acts chapter 2, if I would have been filled with that, with the, with the Spirit of God, and there was a Chinese person next to me; the Holy Spirit would have given me a supernatural ability to proclaim the Gospel to this person in Chinese that or Japanese, when I didn't even know how to speak that kind of language. So all the emphasis that the Pentecostal camp often times puts on you know, the speaking in tongues as being the initial evidence of the Holy Spirit beloved; their form of speaking in tongues, which is the prayer language isn't even the type of prayer, language that was going on in Acts chapter 2. In Acts chapter 2 it was a known language. I don't believe beloved, listen to me, I don't believe that the, that, that the emphasis in, in ones experience when they're filled with the Spirit is tongue, is speaking in an unknown language, in an unknown prayer language.

I believe that every gift that gives is good. I believe it's a blessing to be able to speak in tongues. Listen, I'm not putting it down, but it's not the foundation. The point is beloved, not that we speak in some unknown prayer language; the point is beloved, that those holy, that those first disciples were filled beloved, listen now, listen: with a tongue of fire. The point is, listen to me, that God is a speaking God. The emphasis beloved, when the Holy Spirit appeared to them as a tongue of fire; the emphasis there isn't so much the Pentecostal experience that comes to us from the traditional Pentecostal camp, that's not the emphasis. The emphasis is on who God is and God beloved, is a speaking God.

You think about it, what is a tongue? A tongue is the speaking oracle, so when the Spirit of God came and filled them, he filled them beloved, as they, listen now, a speaking God. The point is beloved; God is now speaking to his children. Yeshua said: I know my sheep, my sheep hear my voice and they follow me. We need to be paying attention that God is alive beloved, and he's speaking to us today. He speaks to us through other people, he speaks to us through our dreams at night, he speaks to us beloved, listen to this now: the Bible says your young men, in Acts chapter 2 and in Joel 2, it says: Your young men shall see visions. Why? Because the Spirit of God had been poured out. We're talking about the Golden Menorah inside the tabernacle.

And to walk with God beloved, we need the Spirit of God who is represented by the Golden Menorah, and the Spirit of God beloved, listen, when he's poured out, comes to us speaking. That's why the Bible says in the last days, I'll pour forth my Spirit on all flesh. Your sons and daughters shall prophesy, they'll speak and it speaks about God communication to us in visions and dreams. And so it says that your young men shall see visions. Now you may think, I've never seen a vision, but I want you to know if you're a child of God; God wants to speak to you in visions. I'm not talking about the type of visions necessarily that John had in the Book of Revelation, but I'm talking about that your mind beloved, becomes like the, the, like the, the motion picture screen. You know you go to a movie and there's a big screen there that you see images on and pictures on.

Seeing in a vision doesn't have to be the type of vision that John had in Revelation, or that Isaiah or that Isaiah had in Isaiah chapter 6 when he saw the Lord. But the visions beloved, that are common, that should be common for all of us today, is that God speaks to us by putting images in our mind, pictures that we can see, and a picture beloved, speaks to us a thousand words. I remember beloved, years ago there was somebody in my congregation, and, and all of a sudden I was looking at this person, and just it was so subtle, I would have, I would have missed it. And all of a sudden I saw, I saw like something coming out like a, like a, like a, like an ax coming down over this person. And I spoke to this person, I said you know I just saw this picture in mind above your head, I said is anything going on? He just found out, he was getting sued.

The point is beloved, that if you and I are paying attention, God will put pictures in your mind that communicate to you a thousand words that will lead you in life. I remember there was this specific situation beloved that I was thinking of getting involved in. And I was sitting before the Lord, asking him whether I should get involved in this situation. And all of a sudden as I was sitting before the Lord Yadid, beloved one, asking him whether I should get involved in this, all of a sudden a picture appeared in my mind. And the picture that appeared in my mind was of a joint, I mean it was like a ball, like a, like a knee joint where you had like a ball that was part of the joint, and the socket.

And in my mind, this picture of this joint appeared, and I want you to know I never had a picture of a joint in my mind. I mean I've never been a medical student, I've never read up on it, I can honestly tell you: I don't think I've ever thought about a joint in my life. But all of a sudden, I'm thinking about getting involved in this particular situation, and a joint appears in my mind, the ball fitting right into the socket, and the Lord was telling me this is right for you. It fits perfectly for you; I want you to get involved in this situation right now. Beloved, God wants to lead you by his Spirit. The Bible says as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are the sons of God, and so the first piece of furniture that we encounter when we enter in beloved, to the Holy Place, is the Golden Menorah with seven different flames coming from it, representing the Holy Spirit. Do you wanna be led into a more intimate relationship with God? Stop relying on the voices of other people so much, stop relying just on reason and on your intellect so much, and open yourself up beloved to the living God who is with you right now.

Father, I pray that you release revelation about this into your people's life. Lead them Father God into loving you more, in Yeshua's name.