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In the Bible the golden lampstand is revealed in three stages. The first is in Exodus 25, where the lampstand typifies Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God. The second is in Zechariah 4:2, where the lampstand represents the children of Israel who are in the position of receiving grace. The third is in Revelation 1, where the golden lampstand is the church. In the foregoing message we considered the lampstand as a type of Christ, who is the embodiment of the Triune God. In this message we shall go on to see that the lampstand signifies Israel as God’s testimony and also that the golden lampstands signify the seven local churches as God’s testimony.
The lampstand is first mentioned in Exodus 25. Near the end of the Old Testament, the lampstand is mentioned again in Zechariah 4:2. “What seest thou? And I said, I have looked, and behold a lampstand all of gold, with a bowl upon the top of it, and his seven lamps thereon, and seven pipes to the seven lamps, which are upon the top thereof” (Heb.). Here the lampstand signifies Israel as God’s testimony in the Old Testament and in the millennium. In Old Testament times, whenever the nation of Israel was in a normal condition, it was God’s testimony. In the coming millennium, the restored nation of Israel will once again be God’s testimony symbolized by a golden lampstand.
In Exodus 25 we only have the lampstand with the seven lamps; there is no mention of what the seven lamps refer to. In Zechariah, however, we are given a definite interpretation of the seven lamps, for in this book we are told that the seven lamps are the seven eyes of Jehovah (4:10) and the seven eyes of the stone (3:9).
The golden lampstand in Zechariah 4 shines through the seven eyes (Spirits) of Jehovah. Zechariah 4:10 says, “For who hath despised the day of small things? for they shall rejoice, and shall see the plummet in the hand of Zerubbabel with those seven; they are the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole earth.” Here “those seven” refers to the seven lamps in verse 2. Those seven are “the eyes of the Lord, which run to and fro through the whole earth.” Therefore, the seven lamps on the lampstand are the seven eyes of Jehovah.
In Zechariah we have the seven eyes and the seven lamps but not the seven Spirits. But in Revelation the seven lamps are developed into the seven Spirits. “Out of the throne come forth lightnings and voices and thunders; and seven lamps of fire are burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God” (Rev. 4:5). Here we have a new and further development of the seven lamps as the seven Spirits, for we are told clearly that the seven lamps are the seven Spirits of God. Since the seven lamps are the seven eyes and also the seven Spirits, then the seven eyes in Zechariah 4:10 are the seven Spirits. This gives us the ground to say that the lampstand in Zechariah 4 shines through the seven eyes, the seven Spirits, of Jehovah.
The seven eyes, the seven Spirits, of Jehovah are the seven eyes of Christ, who is the Stone-Savior for God’s building. Zechariah 3:9 says, “For behold the stone that I have laid before Joshua; upon one stone shall be seven eyes: behold, I will engrave the graving thereof, saith the Lord of hosts, and I will remove the iniquity of that land in one day.” The reference to engraving the stone indicates that this stone is Christ. The Lord Jesus as the building stone, was engraved, dealt with, by God on the cross for the iniquity of God’s people. In one day, by that engraving on the cross, the Lord Jesus took away all the sins of God’s people (John 1:29). Hence, the stone with the seven eyes is Christ, the Stone-Savior.
We know that Christ is the Stone-Savior by the fact that the seven eyes of the stone in Zechariah 3:9 become the seven eyes of the Lamb in Revelation 5:6. “I saw in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures, and in the midst of the elders, a Lamb standing as having been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God, sent forth into all the earth.” The Lamb here has seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God. In Revelation 4:5 the seven lamps are the seven Spirits of God, and in 5:6 the seven eyes of the Lamb are the seven Spirits of God. Here we have a further development over Zechariah, for the seven eyes are not only the seven eyes of the stone but also the seven eyes of the Lamb. These seven eyes of the Lamb are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. This is a reference to Zechariah 4:10, where we are told that the seven eyes of Jehovah run to and fro through the whole earth. In Zechariah 3 and 4 we have the seven eyes of the stone, the seven lamps of the lampstand, and the seven eyes of Jehovah, all of which are the seven Spirits of God.
Both in Exodus and Zechariah the lampstand is uniquely one. But in Revelation, the book of consummation, there are seven lampstands signifying seven local churches (Rev. 1:11-12, 20b). This indicates that Christ as signified by the lampstand in Exodus and the Spirit of God as signified by the seven lamps of the lampstand in Zechariah are for the reproduction of the local churches. One lampstand is reproduced in the seven lampstands. Actually, there were more than seven local churches on earth at the time of Revelation. Hence, the number seven in Revelation 1 is a representative number. All the local churches as the many lampstands are the reproduction of Christ and the Spirit as the one lampstand. This reproduction is actually a multiplication of the wonderful expression of Christ as the life-giving Spirit in a practical way.
In Exodus 25 the emphasis is on the stand — on Christ. In Zechariah the emphasis is on the lamps — on the Spirit. Eventually, in Revelation both the stand and the lamps, that is, both Christ and the Spirit, are reproduced as the local churches. The lampstands with their lamps in Revelation are the reproduction of Christ and the Spirit.
The seven golden lampstands signifying the seven local churches have Christ, as the Son of Man, walking in their midst. Revelation 1:13 says, “In the midst of the lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment reaching to the feet, and girded about at the breasts with a golden girdle.” Christ today is in the midst of the churches. As the Son of Man, He is moving in the churches to care for them. He cares for the churches in His humanity. Furthermore, according to Revelation 2:1, He, as the Son of Man, “walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands.” Christ walks in the midst of the churches to care for them.
Christ takes care of the churches as the High Priest in His heavenly ministry (Heb. 4:14-15). The garment in Revelation 1:13 indicates that here Christ, the Son of Man, is depicted as the High Priest. As such a High Priest, He cares for the churches in love. This requires Him to be “girded about at the breasts with a golden girdle” (Rev. 1:13). The breasts signify love, and the golden girdle signifies the divine strength. Christ, the High Priest in His priestly ministry, cares for the churches in love and with His divine strength.
As the High Priest, Christ trims the lampstands; that is, He deals with the churches (Rev. 2:4, 14, 20; 3:3, 19). He is like the priest in the Old Testament coming to the Holy Place to dress the lamps (Exo. 27:20-21; Lev. 24:1-4). To dress the lamps, the priest first had to snuff the burned out wick and then add fresh oil. The Lord Jesus appears in Revelation as the High Priest walking among the lampstands to snuff the burned out wicks and to add more oil. The burned out wick signifies something that is not according to God’s purpose, and the oil is the sevenfold Spirit. In nearly every epistle to the seven churches, the Lord Jesus snuffed some negative things and added more oil, which means He added more Spirit into the churches. Christ today is trimming the lampstands, dealing with the churches, to make all the golden lampstands pure and shining.
As golden lampstands, the churches shine in the darkness. The word “lampstand” enables us to understand much about the church and its function. The church is not the lamp; it is the lampstand, the stand which holds the lamp. Without the lamp, the lampstand is vain and means nothing. But the lampstand holds the shining lamp. Christ is the lamp (Rev. 21:23), and the church is the lampstand holding the lamp. God is in Christ, and Christ as the lamp is held by the stand to shine out God’s glory. This is the testimony of the church.
The churches as golden lampstands bear the testimony of Jesus. “The testimony of Jesus” (Rev. 1:2, 9; 20:4) is an all-inclusive expression. The testimony of Jesus is the testimony of the Son coming with the Father by the Spirit to live on earth, to die on the cross to clear up the universe, to release the divine life, and to resurrect from the dead to become the life-giving Spirit, who then comes as the Son with the Father compounded with divinity, humanity, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection, including all the divine attributes and the human virtues. Such a compound testimony is the testimony of Jesus. This testimony has a symbol — the golden lampstand. The golden lampstand is the testimony of Jesus.
The lampstands shine in the darkness. If there were no darkness, there would be no need for the shining of the light of the lamp. The shining of the lamp is quite particular. In order for the lamp to shine, it must have oil burning within it. If the oil burns within the lamp, the light will shine out through all the darkness. This is the function of the church. The function of the church is not simply to preach or to teach doctrine. In the dark night of this age, the church must shine out the glory of God.
As the testimony of Jesus, the golden lampstands are the embodiment of the Triune God. In the golden lampstand there are three main factors: the substance, the shape or form, and the expression. The substance, the material, of the lampstand is gold, which signifies the Father’s divine essence.
There was no dross in the lampstand, for it was made of pure gold. In typology, dross signifies something other than God brought in to cause a mixture. The fact that the church is a golden lampstand indicates that we should not bring anything other than God into the church life. Even good things such as ethics, culture, education, and proper religion are dross, because they are not God Himself. Only God, the divine Being, is the gold which is the substance of the lampstand. No doubt Paul had this realization when he told us in 1 Corinthians 3 that upon Christ, the unique foundation of the church, we should build not with wood, hay, or stubble but with gold, silver, and precious stones.
As the local churches, the lampstands are golden in nature. In typology, gold signifies divinity, the divine nature of God. All the local churches are divine in nature; they are constituted of the divine essence. These stands are not built of clay, wood, or any inferior substance; they are constructed out of pure gold. This means that all the local churches must be divine. Without divinity, there can be no church. Although the church is composed of humanity with divinity, humanity should not be the basic nature of the local churches. The basic nature of the local churches must be divinity.
The golden lampstand is not a lump of gold but gold in a definite form and purposeful shape. The form, the shape, of the lampstand signifies the Son’s human form. Christ, the Son, is the embodiment of the Godhead, the embodiment of the Father’s nature (Col. 2:9). Therefore, the church should have not only the Father’s divine essence but also the Son’s human form.
The fact that the form of the lampstand signifies the Son as the embodiment of the Godhead indicates that the church should not be vague but should have a definite shape. In chapters two and three of Revelation the Lord Jesus, as the embodiment of the invisible God, was clearly standing as He spoke to the churches. All the churches should also stand, having the Son’s shape.
Furthermore, the golden lampstands as the testimony of Jesus have the Spirit’s expression. The seven lamps of the lampstand shine for God’s expression. These seven lamps are the seven Spirits of God. Thus, with the lampstand are the Father’s essence, the Son’s human form, and the Spirit’s expression. Since the golden lampstand has these three aspects, we can say that the golden lampstand signifies the embodiment of the Triune God, with the Father as the substance, the Son as the form, and the Spirit as the expression.
To say that the church is the embodiment of the Triune God is not to make the church a part of deity or an object of worship. We mean that the church is an entity born of God (John 1:12-13), possessing God’s life (1 John 5:11-12) and enjoying God’s nature (2 Pet. 1:4). The church has the divine substance, bears the likeness of Christ, and expresses God. Because we have been born of God, we have God’s life and possess His nature. Now we may enjoy this life and nature day by day and learn to live not by our natural life but by the divine life and nature. As we live this way and are transformed, there will be the fullness, the expression, the form, the appearance of Christ. Furthermore, we shall shine by the sevenfold, intensified Spirit.
As symbolized by the golden lampstand, the church is the embodiment of the Triune God to express Him. As members of Christ, we are sons of God born of Him, having His life and possessing His nature. Now we are learning to live by this life and nature that we may be filled and saturated with the processed Triune God to become His corporate expression through the sevenfold, intensified Spirit.
All the golden lampstands are identical with one another, without any distinct characteristic. According to the biblical revelation, the seven churches, on the positive side, are the same, because the churches signified by the golden lampstands are exactly the same in essence, appearance, and expression. The lampstands are identical as the multiplied embodiment of the processed Triune God. Hence, in a positive sense, all the local churches should be identical.
In the seven epistles to the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3, the churches are different only in a negative sense, that is, in negative things. The particular characteristic of the church in Ephesus was the loss of the first love (2:4), whereas worldliness was the particular characteristic of the church in Pergamos (2:13). The specific, particular characteristics of the apostate church in Thyatira were Jezebel, idol worship, fornication, and adultery (2:20-22). The characteristic of the church in Sardis was deadness (3:1), and the characteristic of the church in Laodicea was lukewarmness (3:16). From this we see that the churches are different from one another in negative things. However, the lampstands in Revelation 1, among whom Christ as the Son of Man is walking, are identical. In the positive sense as the testimony of Jesus, the lampstands should not be different. Jesus does not have different testimonies. He has only one testimony — the testimony of the Triune God. Thus, all the local churches as the embodiment of Christ and the reproduction of the Spirit should be exactly the same.
The churches as golden lampstands will be consummated in the New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem, the holy city, is the aggregate of all the lampstands. If we consider the facts that the New Jerusalem is a golden city (Rev. 21:18b), that it has one street which reaches all twelve gates (Rev. 21:21; 22:2), that the wall of the city is one hundred forty-four cubits high (21:17), and that the city itself is twelve thousand stadia high (21:16), we shall realize that the city proper must be a mountain. On top of this mountain is a throne, from which the street spirals down to the bottom to reach the twelve gates. On top of this golden mountain is the throne as the center. On the throne is Christ as the Lamb with God in Him (22:1). This Lamb is the lamp with God in Him as the light (21:23; 22:5).
This golden mountain is a stand, and upon this stand is a lamp. Therefore, this golden mountain — the New Jerusalem — is a golden lampstand. As a golden lampstand, it has Christ as the lamp with God in Him as the light shining out for eternity. Thus, the New Jerusalem, the aggregate of all the lampstands, the totality of today’s lampstands, is a consummate, universal golden lampstand to shine forth God’s glory in the new heaven and new earth for eternity.
Revelation 21:18b says, “The city was pure gold, like pure glass.” Since gold signifies the divine nature, the nature of God, the city being pure is altogether of the divine nature. The “pure gold, like pure glass” signifies that the whole city is transparent and not in the least opaque. The New Jerusalem is a mountain of gold. As a golden mountain, the New Jerusalem is the ultimate, unique, and eternal golden lampstand, absolutely composed of God’s nature. If we see the vision of the New Jerusalem built with the nature of God, we shall renounce everything that does not belong to God’s nature and reject anything that does not match it.
Revelation 21:23a says, “The city has no need of the sun nor of the moon that they should shine in it, for the glory of God illumined it.” God as the light is within Christ as the lamp. The glory of God, which is God expressed, illumines the New Jerusalem. Hence, the glory of God, with God as its substance, essence, and elements, is the light of the New Jerusalem, which shines in the Lamb as its lamp.
Revelation 21:23b says of the New Jerusalem that “its lamp is the Lamb.” In the New Jerusalem Christ, as the lamp of the holy city, will shine with God within as the light to illumine the city with the glory of God, the expression of the divine light. Because such a light will illumine the holy city, it will not need any other light, whether created by God or made by man (Rev. 22:5). Christ, the lamp, will shine with God as the light.
The New Jerusalem will also bear the Spirit’s expression. Revelation 21:11b says, “Her light was like a most precious stone, as a jasper stone, clear as crystal.” Jasper, a precious stone, signifies the expression of the Spirit in His transforming work with all the unsearchable riches of Christ. Likewise, the other precious stones in the New Jerusalem signify that the city bears the Spirit’s expression.
As the consummation of the golden lampstands, the New Jerusalem will express the processed Triune God in eternity. The New Jerusalem will be a mountain of gold with pearl gates and with a jasper wall built upon twelve layers of precious stones. Gold expresses God in His nature, pearls express Christ in His death and resurrection, and the precious stones express the Spirit in His work of transformation. Therefore, the New Jerusalem will be the triune expression of the processed Triune God — the expression of the Father as the source, the Son as the embodiment, and the Spirit as the realization and transmission.
