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In this message we will continue to consider Christ as the Priest who trims the lampstands, the churches.
In Revelation 3:14 Christ is revealed as “the Amen, the faithful and true Witness, the beginning of the creation of God.”
Christ has a name, and His name is called Amen. The title Amen has various meanings: “reality,” “yes,” “let it be.” Amen is a kind of eternal yes. Because Amen is the Lord’s name, our saying Amen is equal to calling on the name of the Lord. When we say Amen, we mean “O Lord Jesus.” May we all learn to say Amen.
As the Amen, Christ is also the ending. In His address to the church in Laodicea the Lord declares Himself to be the “Amen” first, “the faithful and true Witness” second, and “the Beginning” last. These expressions in such an order show us that He is One that we cannot explain. The order of these titles is not according to our human logic. He is the Beginning of the entire universe, the Witness to maintain it, and the Amen, the ending. Whatever God intended to do — including His intention to establish many local churches and to consummate the New Jerusalem — will be done. For instance, God wants us to be overcomers and co-kings of Christ. Instead of stating that we cannot be such, we need to simply say Amen. To all of God’s promises and to all that God desires to do, Christ is the Amen. It is significant that He declares Himself to be the Amen not in the first epistle to the churches in Asia but in the last epistle. He is the Amen, He is everything, and He is Amen to everything. We all need to see and know Him to such an extent. He is the One who is all-inclusive, excellent, marvelous, mysterious, and wonderful.
The word Amen, from Hebrew, means “firm,” “steadfast,” or “trustworthy.” The Lord is the firm, steadfast, and trustworthy One. Hence, He is the faithful and true Witness. This indicates that the church in Laodicea, the degraded recovered church, is not firm, steadfast, trustworthy, or faithful and true as the Lord’s witness.
Christ is the true Witness, and He is faithful and true in testifying. He never tells a lie in His testimony. His being the faithful and true Witness is for dispensing. A liar, a false witness, can never give life to others. If we would give life to others, we must be faithful and true. We must have no falsehood. Then we will be qualified to give life. Because He is living and holy and faithful and true, He is qualified to impart life into us.
In Christ we see that God is love and light and that He is holy and righteous. Thus, the New Testament reveals that Christ is the embodiment of God (Col. 2:9). For Christ to be the embodiment of God means that He is the portrait of God, and as such, He is the testimony of what God is. Because Christ is the testimony of what God is, He is called “the faithful and true Witness” (Rev. 3:14; 1:5). As God’s Witness, Christ bears God’s testimony to show us what kind of God He is.
The beginning of the creation of God refers to the Lord as the origin, or source, of God’s creation, implying that the Lord is the unchanging and ever-existing source of God’s work. This indicates that the church in Laodicea has changed by leaving the Lord as the source. Moreover, as the beginning of the creation of God, He is the chief of the creation, the first of all creatures.
Christ being the beginning of the creation of God means that the entire universe as God’s creation began from Him. As the unchanging and ever-existing source of God’s work, Christ was the beginning of God’s entire creation. Without Him nothing could happen, because He was the beginning.
God’s dispensing is to dispense His life into His human beings, His creatures. It is Christ who originated the creatures. This indicates that the entire creation is under His control, His headship. He is the beginning, the origination, of God’s entire creation. Thus, the entire creation is under His direction for the purpose of dispensing God into His chosen creatures.
Revelation 3:18 goes on to say, “I counsel you to buy from Me gold refined by fire that you may be rich, and white garments that you may be clothed and that the shame of your nakedness may not be manifested, and eyesalve to anoint your eyes that you may see.” Christ is the gold, the white garments, and the eyesalve for the overcomers to buy. Buying requires the paying of a price. The church in Laodicea must pay a price for gold, white garments, and eyesalve, which she desperately needs. In order to be the overcomers, daily we need to pay the price to buy the gold (Christ as our increasing faith to partake of His divine element), the white garments (Christ expressed as righteousness in our daily life), and the eyesalve (the Spirit as the enlightening ointment to anoint our eyes so that we may see the spiritual things).
In the Bible our operating, working faith (Gal. 5:6) is likened to gold (1 Pet. 1:7), and the divine nature of God, which is the divinity of Christ, is typified by gold (Exo. 25:11). By faith we partake of the divine nature (2 Pet. 1:1, 4-5). The church in Laodicea has the knowledge of the doctrines concerning Christ but not much living faith to partake of the divine element of Christ. She needs to pay the price to gain the golden faith through the fiery trials that she may participate in the real gold, which is Christ Himself as the life element to His Body. Thus, she can become a pure golden lampstand (Rev. 1:20) for the building of the golden New Jerusalem (21:18).
As mentioned above, in typology, or in biblical figure, gold signifies two things: God’s divine nature and the living faith by which we appreciate and appropriate the divine nature. These two things are combined. If we do not have the living faith to appreciate and apply the divine nature, it cannot be ours. The divine nature can become our enjoyment only through our living faith. Christ is the embodiment of the divine nature, and He is also our living faith. If we have faith, then we can participate in the divine nature. This means that we must have Christ. We must pay the cost and tell the Lord, “I have much knowledge of the Bible truths, but I admit that I do not have much of You. Lord, I would rather have You than mere knowledge or vain teachings. Lord, You are the real gold, the embodiment of the divine nature. In order to appreciate and apply this divine nature, I need living faith. Yet, Lord, I do not have this living faith, but I look to You. Lord, be my living faith. I want to live by You as my faith, the faith of the Son of God” (Gal. 2:20). If we speak to the Lord in this way, He will tell us that if we would gain Him, we must pay the price by dropping things that hinder Christ from becoming our enjoyment. If we keep these things, the Lord will stay away from us, but if we drop them, empty our hands, and grasp Christ, we will have Him as our enjoyment.
We can never separate living faith from the divine nature. Although this is difficult to explain doctrinally, we know experientially that when we have living faith, we enjoy the divine nature. Conversely, when we are in the divine nature, we surely have this living faith. Hence, these two things are combined and are both signified by gold. The church in Laodicea needs this gold — the divine nature applied, appropriated, by the living faith, which is Christ Himself. If we would gain this, we must pay the price.
In the New Testament our faith, the living faith, is a person, and this person is Christ. This is why we must look away unto Him, pray to Him, have fellowship with Him, and read His Word (Heb. 12:2). The more we read His Word and listen to His word, the more the living Christ will be inwardly unveiled to us, and this inward Christ will be the spontaneous faith to us. Faith is not a mere action but a living person, living in us and acting in us. The living faith, which is Christ Himself, is the gold that we need to buy.
The Lord counsels the church in Laodicea to buy white garments that they may be clothed and that the shame of their nakedness may not be manifested. In figure, garments signify conduct. White garments here refer to conduct approvable to the Lord, which is the Lord Himself lived out of the church, and which is required by the degraded recovered church to cover her nakedness. These white garments are not Christ as our objective righteousness for justification. Rather, the white garments are Christ as our subjective righteousness, Christ lived out of our being. The Christ who is lived out of us will be our second garment for us to be approved by the Lord. This is not for salvation but for being chosen (Rev. 17:14). We all need this second garment. When we have living faith and participate in the divine nature, this divine nature will eventually come out of us to be our living. This living is Christ lived out of our being, and this is the second garment, which gives us the standing and the qualification to be approved by Christ. This garment will cover our nakedness. Yes, we all have been justified and have been covered by the first garment, the best robe put on the prodigal son in Luke 15. But after being justified, we must love the Lord, be on fire, and be absolutely for the Lord. If we are this kind of Christian, we will have the living faith to participate in the rich, divine nature, which will become the Christ lived out of our being as the second garment to cover our nakedness.
After being justified, if we do not love the Lord and live by, for, and with Him, we are naked. A brother who does not love the Lord or live by the Lord is shameful and is naked. He does not have the lovely Christ as his covering. He believes in Christ and belongs to Christ, but since he neither loves Him nor lives by Him, he is naked both in the eyes of the Lord and in the eyes of other believers. He does not have Christ as his beautiful covering.
We must pay the price for this second garment, the Christ lived out of our being. This is the subjective Christ, the Christ experienced by us in a subjective way. According to our experience, we can testify that, on the one hand, we may have the assurance that we are justified, but on the other hand, we may sense that we are naked. Undoubtedly, as children of God, we have been justified, redeemed, saved, and regenerated, and we are members of Christ. But on the other hand, we sense that we are naked, not having Christ lived out of us to be our beautiful covering. Inwardly, we condemn ourselves for this. If we check this word with our experience, we will see that it is true. Thus, we all must pay the price, saying, “Lord, whatever the cost, I will pay the price to have You live out of my being. Lord, I want to have You as my living. I do not want to behave myself, correct myself, or improve myself. Lord, I desire to have You lived out of me. Day by day I want You to live out of my being to be my outward living. Lord, be not only my inward life but also my outward living.” If we pray this way to the Lord, He will become our outward covering, the second garment for us to be approved and chosen by Him. There is no need to wait for the day of His second coming. Even today we may have the assurance that we have been approved and chosen. Therefore, when that day comes, He will surely tell us to come with Him to enjoy our portion and to fight with Him against the army of the Antichrist.
Third, the Lord counsels the church in Laodicea to buy from Him eyesalve to anoint their eyes that they may see. The eyesalve needed to anoint their eyes must refer to the anointing Spirit (1 John 2:27), who is also the Lord Himself as the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45). Because she has been distracted by the dead knowledge of letters, the degraded recovered church needs this kind of eyesalve for her blindness. For the eyesalve the Lord counsels her to buy; she must pay the price.
Spiritual insight is always related to the Spirit. We need more Spirit, not more knowledge. We do not need many doctrines — we need more Spirit to anoint our eyes and the depths of our inner being so that we may have insight to see things from within. With this eyesalve, this anointing, we may have both foresight and deep insight to see things thoroughly. Then we will say, “Lord Jesus, because I now see what a treasure You are, I am ready to pay any price.” Many Christians are unwilling to pay the price for Christ because they do not see what a treasure Christ is. They do not see the preciousness, the worth, and the value of Christ. But once our eyes have been anointed by the divine, spiritual eyesalve, we will realize that it is worthwhile for us to pay any price for Christ. If we would see this, we need eyesalve. This is so that we may have the sight to see the divine and spiritual things.
As we have pointed out, the gold, the garments, and the eyesalve are all Christ. Christ is everything; our need today is Christ. The intention of the ministry in the Lord’s recovery is to help the Lord’s people to be enlightened that they might see the value, worth, and preciousness of Christ, and by having this insight, they might be willing to pay any price to gain Him. It is worthwhile for us to pay the cost of our future, our destiny, and our whole life for Christ. If we would pay all this, the price is still too cheap. Our self, our future, and our life are all worth nothing. We actually pay nothing to gain Christ who is everything. Paul says that all the things he counted loss for Christ were just refuse, dog food (Phil. 3:8). In the church life in the Lord’s recovery, we are for the rich Christ. The goal of the ministry in the Lord’s recovery is to minister some ointment that people’s eyes may be anointed to see the preciousness of Christ and be attracted to Him. The degraded church needs eyesalve; she needs revelation, vision, and great grace.
As soon as we are willing to pay the price, to buy the eyesalve, we will see. The crucial matter is the willingness to pay the price. What we cannot put aside is the price. Whatever replaces Christ, is a substitute for Christ, or is even against Christ — whether it be our reputation, position, knowledge, wealth, desires, or thoughts — is the price. We need to buy the eyesalve, instead of excusing ourselves by saying that we have not seen the vision. We need to pray, saying, “Lord Jesus, by Your mercy I will buy the eyesalve. By Your mercy I am willing to pay the price.” If we say this to the Lord, the heavens will be opened, the scales will fall from our eyes, and we will see the heavenly vision.
In brief, the Lord counseled the believers in Laodicea to buy from Him gold, white garments, and eyesalve. The reason that the Lord charged them to buy from Him gold is that in the church in Laodicea there was much clay — many things other than God — but very little gold — very little of the element of God. With regard to white garments, the color white denotes purity, the absence of mixture, and garments refer to our walk and conduct. Hence, white garments signify a walk and conduct that express the purity of God. Eyesalve is for anointing the eyes. When the eyes have an ailment and are unable to see, there is the need to buy eyesalve to cure the eyes and make them bright again. In normal situations the inner nature of a Christian should be pure, and his outward living should be white and bright. All these three items require us to buy, to pay a price. God’s intention is to accomplish His eternal purpose through man. Thus, after the Lord calls us, we need to pay a price so that we may become useful to Him.
