Menorah: The Revelation of His Light
When I was younger, darkness terrified me. It felt like a gruesome weight of a presence pressing in from all sides. With the lights on, everything feels lighter; shadows lost their teeth, and the world became gentle again. Those were the days of imagining monsters in corners and demons beneath the bed. Any sliver of light felt like safety.
But as I grew older, my understanding shifted. I began to train my consciousness, unlearning the illusions of childhood. I learned that the “monsters” were not real per se, and the demons held no power over a child of light. Slowly, the weight of darkness lifted. Now it was not because the room changed, but because I changed. I discovered I was a city set upon a hill, a very bright lamp that could not be hidden. I discovered that I am a bearer of divine radiance.
The irony is that the brighter my inner world became, the more I found peace in the very darkness that once tormented me. I began to love dim rooms, with little or no lights and minimal distractions, just enjoying the stillness. I could sit for hours, losing sense of time, finding a solitude that ministered to me in ways noise never could. My deepest prayers formed there, my thoughts became clearer; in here I had my truest encounters.
It was during these moments that I was drawn into a meditation on the tabernacle of Moses. This, as we know from scriptures (Exodus 25-31), is the first physical representation of the temple of God. It was delivered expressly to Moses on the mount and God commanded that it was built according to that pattern (Exodus 25:9,40. Hebrews 8:5). In that temple, the people approached God from a distance. Only the high priest entered beyond the veil, carrying sacrifices for himself and the nation. Now, beyond the veil, in that structured separation, something profound was revealed.
While the Outer Court lived in natural sunlight, and the Holy Place was lit by the golden lampstand, the Menorah, the Holy of Holies remained without any man-made source of light. Behind that thick veil, no flame burned, no lamp flickered. The only illumination came from the very Presence of God: the Glory, the Kavod. It was this divine overshadowing of the Mercy Seat that filled the room with light.
And suddenly Scripture aligned itself in me:
“The Lord shall be a light unto her, and there shall be no night there.” (Revelation 21:23-25)
The more I sat in the darkness, the more I understood why I felt so at home. I was not sitting in the dark. I was sitting in Him. I had encountered the Father of Lights, and in His presence, darkness loses definition. It does not register the same way because everything is lit from within. This led me into a meditation practice I can only describe as self-illumination; not in the mystical or self-exalting sense, but in the deeply scriptural reality that Christ in me is the Light of the world. In these moments, I sit quietly, aware of my body as a vessel of glory, beholding the word of God in Isaiah 11:2, until the candles of the Lord are lit within me.
Recall, before the priest stepped into the Holy of Holies, he first tended the lampstand in the Holy Place. In the same way, I begin by lighting the Menorah within by meditating on the sevenfold Spirit of God, recognizing in sequence the operations of the Spirit at work in me, furnished by the understanding that the spirit of man is the candle of the Lord, searching the inward parts (Proverbs 20:27). And as I behold Him in Isaiah 11:2, one light at a time- wisdom, understanding, counsel, might, knowledge, and the fear of the Lord- the consciousness begins to rise. A quiet kindling, like a warm inner brightness. An illumination that does not come from the room around me, but from the Presence within me until the space is lit from the inside out.
And this is what I long for you to discover too.
There is so much in God that we often rush past; there are treasures of revelation waiting to be explored, if only we would sit long enough to behold them. For me, it began with a simple encounter: “You are the light of the world.” I lingered over that scripture until it enlightened me from within, until I could trace its glow into every corner of my life.
What word has touched your heart recently?
Have you sat with it long enough for it to transform you? Have you allowed the Spirit to paint its reality on the canvas of your imagination, through quiet, focused meditation? Because when the seven candles are lit within you, the presence of God becomes almost tangible. It is from this inner illumination that the soul moves, gently and naturally, toward the Holy of Holies within.
And just as the High Priest carried the Urim and Thummim beneath the breastplate, close to his heart, so we too carry the revelation of righteousness as a living, awakened conscience under Christ. In that place of holy stillness, where light and truth converge, the whole counsel of God becomes available. Suddenly, you are not groping in the dark for answers; you are standing in light, equipped with divine insight for every matter presented before you.
