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In this message we will continue to consider Christ as the Priest who trims the lampstands, the churches.
Revelation 3:20-21 says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, then I will come in to him and dine with him and he with Me. He who overcomes, to him I will give to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat with My Father on His throne.” Christ is the One who will dine with the overcomers and give the overcomers to sit with Him on His throne as He overcame and sat with His Father on His throne. Here to overcome is to overcome the lukewarmness and pride of the degraded recovered church, to pay the price to buy the needed items (gold, white garments, and eyesalve), and to open the door so that the Lord can come in and dine with those who open the door.
This door is not the door of the hearts of individuals but the door of the church. The Lord as the Head of the church is standing outside the degraded church, knocking at her door. The degraded recovered church must realize this. The door is the door of the church, but the door is opened by individual believers. The church in Laodicea has knowledge but does not have the Lord’s presence. The Lord is dealing with the whole church, but the acceptance of the Lord’s dealing must be a personal matter. The Lord’s dealing is objective, but the believers’ acceptance must be subjective.
We often shut the door on the Lord, leaving Him outside the door. Our condition may be like that of the church in Laodicea. Although we love the Lord and consistently pray and attend the meetings, we may not be willing to practically pay a price, and in the end we become lukewarm. The Lord has no ground in us and has been shut outside the door by us, the lukewarm Laodiceans. Even though He is in our spirit, we often shut Him outside the door. For instance, we shut Him outside the door of our emotion. Our spirit is like a prison in which we keep the Lord. Therefore, the Lord has no way to enter into our inner chambers and into our heart. The Lord is standing and knocking in our cold spirit, longing to enter into our heart and our emotion. The Lord desires to have mutual enjoyment with us.
In verse 20 the Lord also said that, after He comes in to him who opens the door, He will dine with him and he with Him. According to the Greek, the word dine signifies the principal meal of the day at evening. To dine is not merely to eat one item of food but to partake of the riches of a meal. This may imply the fulfillment of the type of the children of Israel eating the rich produce of the good land of Canaan (Josh. 5:10-12). During the yearly feasts the children of Israel feasted with God, and God feasted with them. Whenever the Israelites had a feast, they ate with God, offering what they were eating to God and letting God eat with them. In like manner, the Lord says that He will dine with us and that we will dine with Him.
The dining promised here is not only for the future but also for today. If we are an overcomer, we will have the special privilege of eating with the Lord when He comes in the kingdom. Before that day, however, we may enjoy His dining with us.
If we have an overall view of the seven epistles in Revelation 2 and 3, we will see that the Lord exalts the eating of Himself, the taking in of Himself as our life supply, that we may grow, be transformed, and be the same as He is. In His promises concerning the reward to the overcomers in the seven churches, Christ is considered as the tree of life, the hidden manna, and the feast for us to enjoy with Him. This corresponds to the three stages of eating by God’s people in the Old Testament. God’s people were destined to eat the tree of life, God’s redeemed people were given to eat the manna while wandering in the wilderness, and in the good land they had a feast three times a year on Mount Zion to enjoy the rich produce of the land. These three stages of eating are repeated in Revelation, the concluding book of the Bible, as rewards promised to the overcomers, to whom Christ will be the tree of life, the hidden manna, and the rich produce of the good land. This is altogether for our enjoyment of Christ. We may eat Christ as the tree of life, the hidden manna, and the feast for our enjoyment. Through our enjoyment of Christ, we may be constituted with Him. Eventually, we will be mingled with Him in our constitution as one entity in order to express Him as the New Jerusalem.
The Lord’s word in Revelation 3:20, regarding enjoying Him as a feast, was spoken to the church in Laodicea, which had become lukewarm. The lukewarm saints are self-contented; hence, they have become proud. The best way to help these saints overcome their lukewarmness is to help them open their hearts to the Lord in order to let the Lord come in to dine, to feast, with them. The enjoyment of Christ as a feast will cause us to gain the faith in Christ, the white garments, and the eyesalve (v. 18).
We need to be those who dine, who feast, with the Lord in this age so that we can sit on the throne with the Lord in the kingdom age. To sit with the Lord on His throne will be a prize to the overcomer that he may participate in the Lord’s authority in the coming millennial kingdom. This means that the overcomers will be co-kings with Christ ruling over the whole earth. Strictly speaking, all the promises in these seven epistles concern the coming kingdom. Any negative word regarding loss or suffering refers to a loss during the coming kingdom, and any positive word regarding gain or enjoyment refers to the enjoyment of Christ as our special portion during the age of the kingdom. We must have the insight to understand these promises in a proper way. Nevertheless, in principle, these promises may also be applied today, and we may pre-taste them now. There is no need to wait until we enter into the kingdom age to enjoy all these special portions. Today in the church life we are privileged to enjoy the kingdom.
The overcomers will be on the throne with Christ as His co-kings (2:26-27; 3:21). Christ is on the throne, and they also will be on the throne. He has the authority, and they also will have the same authority to rule over the nations.
God’s intention is to work on man in order that man can be on the throne. God will not be satisfied until we are on the throne. God’s intention is to take us to the throne. His desire is to make us people of the throne. God’s kingdom cannot come in full until we are on the throne. Furthermore, God’s enemy will not be subdued until we are on the throne. God’s goal, therefore, is not merely to deliver us out of hell but to bring us to the throne.
God desires to bring us to the throne because of the rebellion of Satan against God’s throne (Isa. 14). If we read the Bible carefully, we will see that the greatest difficulty God faces in the universe is that His throne has been opposed and attacked by rebel forces. God’s throne is absolute, but one of His creatures has rebelled and seeks to exalt his throne to be equal with that of God. In his rebellion against God’s throne, Satan intended to exalt his throne to the heavens and thereby to intrude upon God’s authority. Isaiah 14:12-14 says, “How you have fallen from heaven, / O Daystar, son of the dawn! / How you have been hewn down to earth, / You who made nations fall prostrate! / But you, you said in your heart: / I will ascend to heaven; / Above the stars of God / I will exalt my throne. / And I will sit upon the mount of assembly / In the uttermost parts of the north. / I will ascend above the heights of the clouds; / I will make myself like the Most High.” From the time of Satan’s rebellion until now, there has been a dispute in the universe regarding authority. Much of what is happening on earth is an expression of Satan’s resistance to God’s throne. The crucial question is this: Who is actually reigning on earth — God or Satan?
The Lord Jesus became a man, and as a man He went to the throne. When the Lord Jesus was on earth, He was absolutely submissive to God’s authority. To obey God is to be a person under the throne. Because the Lord Jesus obeyed God the Father and submitted to God’s authority in an absolute way, after He was resurrected from the dead, God gave Him all authority in heaven and on earth (Matt. 28:18) and exalted Him to the throne. Now the One sitting on the throne is not only God but also man, for this One is the mingling of God and man. Therefore, after the ascension of the Lord Jesus, there has been a man on the throne.
Through His crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension, the Lord Jesus was brought to the throne. A real man whose name is Jesus is on the throne. This is why we declare, “Jesus is Lord,” and this is why we call, “O Lord Jesus.” God has always been the Lord, but now a man is on the throne as the Lord. Through His resurrection and in His ascension, “God has made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus” (Acts 2:36). God has made Jesus, a Nazarene, the Lord, and now today the Lord of heaven and of earth is a man.
It would not seem strange to us to say that Jehovah Elohim is the Lord of the universe. But it is not easy for us to realize that a man who could be crucified and buried could be the Lord of the universe. When Judas and the multitude came to arrest Him, He did not run away. He willingly made Himself weak and allowed Himself to be arrested and crucified. In the words of 2 Corinthians 13:4, “He was crucified out of weakness.” But after He was crucified and buried, God resurrected Him and set Him at His right hand, making Him the Lord of all the universe. Today the Lord of the universe is a man.
We need to see that the Lord Jesus led the way to the throne. He was the Pioneer, the Forerunner (Heb. 6:20), cutting the path to the throne (2:10). This indicates that He is not the only man destined for the throne. He has cut the path and has taken the lead so that we may follow. He was the first one to the throne, and we will come after Him. Now we are marching to the throne, for God intends to bring us into glory and to set us on the throne. When we overcome, we will sit with Christ on His throne and have authority to reign with the Lord and rule over the nations.
God’s mind is on man (v. 6), and He wants man to express Him and to exercise His authority. Man has God’s image and God’s dominion with His authority. God desires to manifest Himself through man, and He desires to reign, to administrate, through man. God’s intention is to cast Satan down and to redeem many of those taken captive by Satan and bring them to His throne. God cannot receive the full glory until we are brought to the throne. One day we will be brought to the throne, and then God will be able to boast to Satan. He will triumphantly declare that His chosen ones, who had been taken captive by Satan, have been brought to the throne.
However, we need to realize that in our present condition we may not be qualified to be on the throne. This is a very serious matter. We have been called to be sons of God, and we are destined to be kings, but we need God to work in us and on us to qualify us for kingship.
In Revelation 2 and 3 Christ is the Spirit who speaks to all the churches (2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22). At the beginning of each of the seven epistles recorded in chapters 2 and 3, it is the Lord who speaks to a certain church (2:1, 8, 12, 18; 3:1, 7, 14). But at the end of each epistle, it is the Spirit who speaks to all the churches (2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22). In Revelation 2 and 3 the speaking of the unlimited, life-releasing, sevenfold intensified, pneumatic Christ to the seven churches at the beginning of each epistle becomes the speaking of the sevenfold intensified, all-inclusive life-giving Spirit to all the seven churches at the end of each epistle universally. Here we see that the speaking Christ becomes the speaking Spirit, the Spirit who speaks to all the churches. This implies that the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are one. Christ as the Spirit speaking to the churches is the processed Triune God. In Christ, the Triune God has been processed for our enjoyment so that we may be constituted with all that He is to become His ultimate manifestation and expression for eternity.
Christ’s speaking and the Spirit’s speaking are one speaking. Christ speaks to a particular local church, and the Spirit speaks to the universal Body. This proves that the speaking Christ is the Spirit and that He speaks in the Spirit, with the Spirit, and through the Spirit. Whatever Christ speaks, that is the speaking of the Spirit. This not only indicates that the Spirit is the Lord and the Lord is the Spirit, but it also emphasizes that in the darkness of the church’s degradation the Spirit is vitally important, as indicated by the sevenfold intensified Spirit in 1:4. The same emphasis is seen also in 14:13 and 22:17.
It is significant that the Lord is speaking as the Spirit not only to a certain church but to all the churches. The Spirit, as the eyes of the Lord, looks into the situation of all the churches (5:6), and He speaks concerning the whole situation. The Lord as the Spirit speaks to the churches without any limitation of time and space. While the church in a certain locality reads the epistle to Ephesus, the Spirit looks into the church in that locality and speaks to the ones there. The seven Spirits of God are sent forth not only to Ephesus but to the whole earth. The seven epistles in Revelation 2 and 3 are words spoken by the Lord Jesus, but today when we read them, the seven Spirits of God speak these words to us in our spirit for the purpose of God’s administration. The Lord’s word at the beginning is to a certain local church, but later when the people from all the ages read it, it becomes the Spirit’s speaking to all the churches. Whatever the Lord speaks is recorded in the Bible, but when we read it, the Spirit still must speak it. First, this matter proves that the Lord’s speaking is the Spirit’s speaking and that the Spirit’s speaking is the Lord’s speaking. This indicates that the Spirit is one with the Lord, and the Lord is one with the Spirit. The Lord speaks in the Spirit, through the Spirit, and with the Spirit, because the Lord is the Spirit, and the Spirit is the Lord. Furthermore, although the Lord’s word was already spoken to a certain local church, today when the churches want to hear His word, there is still the need for the Spirit to speak it. This indicates that the Spirit we have within us is the speaking Spirit.
If the Speaker were only Christ and not the speaking Spirit, He would not be able to speak words into our spirit, and His speaking would not be very subjective and touching. But as our experience testifies, if when we read these epistles, we are open in our spirit to Him the Spirit will immediately speak something of Christ into us. Because the Speaker is not the outward, objective Christ but the inward, subjective Spirit, He speaks not only in the black and white letters of the Bible but also in our spirit. Once we hear His speaking, something indelible is wrought into us, and nothing can take it away. Whenever we hear His speaking, Christ is wrought into us.
The speaking of the Spirit always turns us to the infusing of Christ. The Spirit’s speaking is Christ’s infusing. If we listen to His speaking, we will immediately be under Christ’s transfusing and infusing, and we will be immersed into Christ. Today the seven Spirits are speaking to the churches, and anyone who has an ear and listens to this speaking will be turned to Christ’s infusing. Whenever we listen to the speaking of the seven Spirits of God to the churches, we are immediately under a precious, sweet, and dear transfusing, an infusing that changes us, transforms us, makes us the proper material, and builds us into God’s building. Whatever must go to the lake of fire is burned away by the seven lamps, and now we are under the seven eyes, being infused with all that Christ is in order that we may become part of the New Jerusalem.
Because the Spirit today is speaking to the churches, we need to be in the churches in order to be rightly positioned to hear the Spirit’s speaking. Those who are not in the churches cannot hear what the Spirit is speaking to the churches. Even though the believers in the churches are in a position to hear the Spirit’s speaking and thus can easily have ears to hear, not all of them will closely follow His speaking. Hence, there is the call for the overcomers. When the majority of God’s people have failed God and cannot meet His need, God calls a small group of overcomers. Whoever has an ear to hear what the Spirit speaks to the churches should first hear and then be an overcomer. Overcomers are produced by having an ear that can hear, and the ear to hear is produced through the Spirit’s speaking to the churches. The Spirit speaks to the churches. Those who have an ear to hear what the Spirit says to the churches should hear, and those who hear will be overcomers.
Each epistle was written to a particular church in a certain locality, yet all the seven epistles conclude in the same way — with the Spirit speaking to all the churches. This means that each epistle was written to all the churches, and it indicates that all the churches should be the same. This is a base for all the churches to practice the one accord. There must be the one accord among all the churches. All the churches should listen to the word that the apostles have received of God, which is the teaching of the New Testament. This implies that all the churches, as the Lord’s testimony in the Spirit, should be the same.
In Revelation 1 we see many titles for the wonderful One — Jesus Christ, the faithful Witness, the Firstborn of the dead, the Ruler of the kings of the earth, the Redeemer, the One who made us a kingdom and priests to His God and Father, the One who comes, and the Son of Man appearing as the High Priest. Yet in chapter 2 we see Christ, the all-inclusive Head, and the speaking Spirit. This means that all that Christ is in chapter 1 has been condensed into the all-inclusive Christ and the speaking Spirit in chapter 2.
