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Scripture Reading: Rev. 1:12-18; 2:1, 7-8, 10-12, 17-18, 26-29; 3:1, 5-7, 12-14, 20-22
The book of Revelation opens the heavens to show what Christ is now doing there. Though we are here on earth, we can see what is going on in the heavens. We who accept the Bible as God’s revelation surely treasure what is revealed in this last book. Its contents are like a television program portraying what is taking place in the heavens.
Day by day an infinite number of activities are carried out on earth. These happenings, however, are for the most part insignificant. What really matters is what is taking place in the heavens and what there is on earth that corresponds to it. There the heavenly ministry of Christ is being carried out, and here there are the two earthly ministries that correspond to it, Paul’s and John’s.
Consider the books of the Bible that precede the writings of Paul and John. There are the thirty-nine books of the Old Testament, the four Gospels, and the Acts. If you were asked to give a summary as to how these books conclude, you would probably find it hard to do so. You might mention God, the creation, the fall of man, the children of Israel, Christ, and the spread of the church. But to say what after all is the message of these books is difficult, because the Bible is not completed with them. There is a long record but no conclusion. Even the book of Acts is, as the title indicates, a record of the doings of the apostles. It does not contain much revelation to bring us to a conclusion of the Bible.
The book of Acts tells us that the incarnated, crucified, and resurrected Christ ascended to the heavens. From there He took action to cause the acts in the Acts to take place. Peter, James, John, and even Saul of Tarsus were active because Someone above was gearing them to action. But there was not much revelation going on.
If you were to ask Peter the meaning of what he was doing in the Acts, he probably could not explain why he did what he did. Even from reading his two Epistles you can see that his part in the concluding revelation in the Bible was minor. He was honest and faithful to direct us to Paul, though he found in Paul’s Epistles “some things...hard to understand” (2 Pet. 3:15-16). Catholicism has exalted Peter, but Peter rather commended Paul to us, saying that Paul had written according to the wisdom given to him.
Peter might tell us, “Go to Paul. Some of the things he knows I really don’t quite understand. When I was called, the man of Nazareth simply passed by and said, ‘Follow Me.’ He promised to make me a fisher of men. On the day of Pentecost I spread out the net and caught three thousand fish. Not too long after, some five thousand fish were caught. My calling was to be a fisherman, and catching fish was what I did. I don’t know much of God’s mystery. I had only a simple education. If you want to know about the deep things, check with Paul. He is an expert. From his calling, you can see that he was ordained to be an expert. His calling was not simple like mine. He was called not by the Jesus on this earth but by the Lord Jesus in the heavens. He thought Jesus was dead and buried, but suddenly this One appeared to him, not from the tomb but from the heavens.”
It was a strange question that Paul heard from the heavens. “Saul, Saul, why are you persecuting Me?” (Acts 9:4). Jesus, Saul was certain, was in the tomb. Saul was surely persecuting the followers of the Nazarene even unto death, but this One was now claiming that Saul was persecuting Him. From such a calling, Saul came to realize that the “Me” was a corporate “Me.” It included Stephen, Peter, John, and all the other believers. They had all become part of this enlarged “Me.” When Saul persecuted Stephen, he was persecuting Christ. How profound was this calling! It made Paul not a simple fisher of men but a minister to supply and build up all the members of the Body.
After Saul found out who Jesus was and asked, “What shall I do, Lord?” (22:10), the Lord did not give him a direct answer. With Peter’s calling he was clearly told that he would be a fisher of men (Matt. 4:19). But Saul was told only that he must arise and go into the city in order that he might find out what to do. While he was in Damascus, he saw in a vision that a man named Ananias would come and heal him of his blindness. Here was another lesson for Saul to learn about the Body. He was directed not to Peter, the leading apostle, but to Ananias, a little member whom he had probably never heard of. Yes, the Lord Himself came to visit Saul and to rescue him. But He would leave it for His little finger to complete the rescue. An unknown disciple would represent the Body to receive this rebel into the Body as another member.
In Hebrews 3:1 Paul calls the believers “partakers of a heavenly calling.” Peter’s calling was from the earth, but Paul’s was a heavenly calling. We are partakers with him of that heavenly calling.
The sermons heard today usually linger around the four Gospels. Many Christian preachers find no place in their sermons even for the book of Acts. Yet even Acts is largely a record of doings, not of revelations. What about the books that follow Acts? From Romans to Revelation are twenty-two books. These books form the conclusion to the Bible. In them the ultimate issue is fully revealed. If you look into the messages we have put out in this country, you will find that most of them center on these very books. In my Bible the pages of these books are nearly worn out because I spend so much time in them. Others may neglect them, but we have focused on them.
From this it is clear that in the Lord’s recovery we do have the completing ministry and the mending ministry. Most of the messages spoken these past eighteen years have been in the nature of completing. More recently we have been covering the mending ministry.
Christ’s heavenly ministry is fully revealed in these last twenty-two books. This ministry is carried out mainly by the ministries of Paul and John. The earlier messages in these series dealt with these ministries. All that remains for us to cover is the last part of the mending ministry. The first part is the Gospel of John; the second, his Epistles. Now we are on the last part, Revelation.
When we come to the last part of a writing, we know that we have the final word of the author. We can see this in John’s writings. In his Gospel we do not have much sense of being in the heavens. The same is true of his Epistles. With Revelation, however, we are at least at the front door of the heavens! If we are not in, we can at least stretch our necks and look around! What a view! How much is going on! We are sitting before a universally wide television screen. We can see Christ’s ministry in the heavens, this ministry which is now being carried out on earth by John’s mending ministry.
In this final book there are twenty-two chapters, but only three positive major things are covered. The first is the local churches, represented by the seven golden lampstands (chs. 1 through 3). The second is the open heavens (chs. 4 through 20), unveiling God’s universal administration. The last is the New Jerusalem (chs. 21 and 22), the ultimate consummation of the churches.
It is interesting that Revelation begins with the golden lampstands, the local churches. I used to consider why John did not first show us the heavens opened, with God sitting on the throne. This seemed more logical, since Christ has ascended to the heavens. Then he could portray for us how Christ came forward, took the scroll of the new testament, and opened it. After that scene, the view of the churches could follow.
John chose to show us the churches before unveiling the open heaven. Here is an indication that the churches come before the heavens. The churches are better than the heavens. If they are not above the heavens, at least they are before the heavens. Today we are in the church. Where are the churches? We may answer that the churches are in the heavens. This answer is only partially true. If the churches are only in the heavens, then the church is no greater than the heavens. But the churches are superior to the heavens! Why do I say this? Eventually, God will leave the heavens and stay in the consummation of the churches. In Revelation 21 we are told that the New Jerusalem, God’s tabernacle, comes down out of heaven (vv. 3, 10). God comes to stay with His chosen people, who are the components of the church.
We do not realize how precious the church is to God the Father. We are in Him and in the church, yet we do not have much appreciation of the church. God is homesick in the heavens! To be homesick is to be away from home and to keep thinking about home and to long to be there instead of somewhere else. God is in the heavens, but that is not His home. He longs to be with us. We are His home.
John places the churches before the heavens because in his speaking, as in God’s, the most treasured thing is the churches. In God’s consideration the churches have the preeminence in the whole universe. The first item in God’s seeing is the churches. The book of Revelation is the final word of God. In His final word the churches come first. Someday you will realize that there is nothing in the whole earth, even in the whole universe, more precious to God than the churches.
In Revelation 2 and 3 Christ is shown walking in the midst of the churches. How many churches are there on the earth? The seven mentioned here are representative of all the churches. If He is walking in the midst of seven churches, He is surely walking in the midst of all of them. We are here from several different localities. Do you realize that the Lord Jesus has often been in your locality, walking in the church? The Lord has often been here to visit the church in New York. He has passed again and again through Newton, Miami, and Goldsboro.
Yes, He still walks in the midst of the churches. The churches, however, are on the earth, whereas the One walking is not the earthly Jesus. His walking is in the atmosphere of the heavens. His garments indicate this. Suppose a uniformed policeman walked into the room while we are meeting. We would all become aware of his presence and take note of him. Of course, if he came in ordinary clothing instead of his uniform, we would not notice him. In uniform, however, he brings a police atmosphere. The same principle would apply if the queen of England came amongst us wearing her royal garments. She would bring with her a regal atmosphere.
What garment is Christ wearing as He walks among the churches? He is “clothed with a garment reaching to the feet, and girded about at the breasts with a golden girdle” (1:13). He is wearing the priestly robe (cf. Exo. 28:33-35), but He is girded not at the loins but at the breasts with a golden girdle. The gold indicates that He is divine, bringing the divine administration. The girdle at the breasts indicates love. The atmosphere He brings is not that of a policeman but a divine atmosphere filled with love.
Watch out for His eyes though! They will terrify you. They are “like a flame of fire” (Rev. 1:14). In fact, in Revelation He has seven eyes (5:6). Think how frightened you would be if I were here before you with seven eyes! Keep your gaze fixed on His breast, which is full of the divine love for us. How tender is His concern for the church in New York, in Philadelphia, in Washington, D.C.!
His feet are terrifying too. They are “like shining bronze, as having been fired in a furnace” (1:15). The Lord is visiting the churches. He goes from church to church — from Washington to Raleigh to Goldsboro, then down to Miami, then over to Atlanta, and then on to Houston and Austin. The Lord with His shining bronze feet is walking through the churches. Surely many times you have sensed this. Because of the golden girdle at His breasts, you have been aware of His loving care. How tender is His love for the church! Yet at the same time you dare not look at His face. You want to kneel before Him, cover your head, bow lower and lower, and weep. “Too poor! Too poor!” you groan. If the Lord Jesus were not walking through the church, watching you with His seven eyes, you would not feel that you are too poor. You would feel that your church is the best.
As you sense under His gaze how poor the church is, you begin also to realize how poor and unworthy you yourself are. His shining feet cause you to notice your own dirty, muddy feet. How weak, how earthly, how dusty you are! You become fearful and trembling.
Many times such humbling experiences have come to us. This is a strong sign that the Lord is walking through the churches. How much His loving accomplishes! I may give one message after another, but the Lord Jesus simply walks through and looks at us, without saying much. Just a glance at His feet, and the elders and all the service groups are judged and humbled. Such is our experience in the churches time and again. In the denominations we rarely if ever felt humbled and fearful of the Lord’s moving. We had no inclination to weep and confess our failure. Why do we so often feel humbled and repentant in the churches? It is because the Lord is walking in the midst, caring for us.
Such experiences, which happen to us again and again, are an indication that our High Priest is walking through, loving us and also judging us. His tender care and the judging fire are to purify us. We may have the sense day after day that we are poor, unclean, and desperately in need of His mercy. On the one hand, it is good for us to realize our condition, but on the other hand, we also need to see that in His eyes the church in our locality is a pure, shining, golden lampstand.
In His eyes every church is a golden lampstand. Yet if you read the seven epistles to the seven churches, you will see how poor some were. Suppose you were in Thyatira (2:18-23). After hearing such a letter, you might feel that you must leave and go to Philadelphia. But both Philadelphia and Thyatira were golden lampstands. Even in Thyatira there was something golden (vv. 24-29). The same is true of Pergamos (vv. 12-17). I surely would not have liked to remain there. If I could not go to Philadelphia, at least I would have tried to go to Ephesus. Nonetheless, in Pergamos there was still a golden lampstand.
As long as we are on the proper ground and have come back to the genuine nature of the local church, in the Lord’s eyes we are a golden lampstand, regardless of how poor, weak, and defeated we may be. How can this be so? It is because here the Lord has the position to come in and deal with us. He does not have this way in the denominations; they are closed to Him. In His recovery every church is open to Him. Not one has been usurped by any human hand. Each one takes the position before the Lord, “Lord, this is Your church. It is a part of Your life. Lord, come in. We welcome You. We are waiting for You to come and look at us, to visit us, and to walk through our midst.” What matters is not our condition of weakness and poverty but our openness to Him. Do we give Him the ground to come in and walk around? Do we welcome His visit? I believe we would all say, “Surely we do.” As long as a local church is open to Him, it is a golden lampstand because there is at least some gold there.
John’s revelation is finer, more detailed than Paul’s. Paul’s highest revelation of the church is as the Body of Christ, the fullness of the One who fills all in all, and the new man. He does not mention the church as a lampstand. Yet this point is great.
In the Bible Christ Himself is portrayed as a lampstand. In Exodus 25:31-37 God charged Moses to make a lampstand according to the pattern he had been shown. That lampstand was a type of Christ. In Revelation John tells us that the local churches are lampstands. This is an indication that every local church is Christ. The church is not only the Body of Christ. It is not only the new man. The church is Christ. In Exodus there was only one lampstand. In Revelation there are seven. In the United States there are more than seven lampstands. Every one is Christ. Do you think I am too bold? How else shall we describe the church in our locality? It is surely not a synagogue of Satan (2:9). It is Christ.
The lampstand is a full symbol of the Triune God. According to the full revelation of the New Testament, Christ is the fullness of the Triune God (Col. 1:19). The Father is embodied in Him, the Son. He, as the Son embodying the Father, is fully realized as the Spirit. With Christ, then, we have both the Father and the Spirit. This Triune God is fully symbolized in the lampstand.
Its nature is golden. A wooden table has wood as its nature. The lampstand is of pure gold. In typology gold signifies the Father’s divine nature. Thus, the nature and source of the lampstand signify God the Father.
There is a form to the lampstand. It is not a shapeless lump of gold. Its design is the very best possible. Just as the human face is so beautifully designed that no one can improve upon it, so the lampstand, whose pattern is given to us in Exodus, has never been improved upon all these centuries. Christ is the shape of the lampstand. He is the image of the invisible God (Col. 1:15). The shape of the lampstand signifies the excellent form of the Son of God.
The seven lamps shining speak of the seven Spirits, which are the seven eyes of the Lamb (Rev. 1:4; 5:6). The seven lamps symbolize the Spirit for expression.
In this one entity, the lampstand, there is the Father as the nature, the Son as the form, and the Spirit as the expression. The lampstand, then, is the Triune God embodied and symbolized.
Some say that they have no trust in typology; they will take only plain words. But if the emblems have no meaning, why are they revealed in the Bible, not only in the Old Testament but also in the New? If this emblem of the lampstand in the last book of the New Testament has no spiritual significance, why is it revealed there? A picture is better than a thousand words. The heavenly vision of the lampstand is worth ten pages of description.
Not only is the Triune God embodied and symbolized by the simple symbol of the lampstand; the church in Revelation is the lampstand. This indicates that the church is also the embodiment of the Triune God. The church in your locality is the embodiment of the Triune God. First the Triune God is embodied in Christ. Now Christ is enlarged into a corporate Christ. In New York, Los Angeles, Stuttgart, Taipei, and Hong Kong — wherever there is a church — there is the corporate Christ. The church is the lampstand, symbolizing both the Triune God and the enlarged Christ.
How is it possible for every local church to be an embodiment of the Triune God as the lampstand? Christ’s heavenly priesthood is needed. His walking in the midst of the churches is His functioning as the heavenly High Priest. By ministering His priesthood to us, He purifies and transforms us. Originally, we are not golden but muddy. We may still have a layer of mud on us! We need to be purified. We need to be transformed.
Read again the seven epistles in Revelation 2 and 3. There Christ as the High Priest is ministering to cleanse away the mud and add the gold. If you read these two chapters with this thought in mind, you will have new insights. These epistles seem full of rebukes. Why did He rebuke so much? He wanted to purify.
While He was rebuking, His word was also supplying. To the church in Ephesus He said, “To him who overcomes, to him I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God” (2:7). To the church in Pergamos He promised, “To him who overcomes, to him I will give of the hidden manna, and to him I will give a white stone, and upon the stone a new name written, which no one knows except him who receives it” (v. 17). To eat of the tree of life and of the hidden manna is to take in Christ as our life supply. The result of eating this supply is transformation. We become a white stone. To the overcomer in the church in Philadelphia the Lord promises, “Him I will make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall by no means go out anymore” (3:12). Purified and transformed, those who overcome eventually are built into the temple as pillars.
The outcome of our High Priest’s ministering in the churches is that a number of overcomers are brought forth. This is not to say that everyone in the local churches is an overcomer. Outside the churches, however, does the Lord have a way to produce any overcomers? I do not see any possibility for Him to gain any overcomers in the Catholic Church. I doubt that He can do so in the denominations or free groups either. In the local churches, however, the Lord has the full ground and a full entrance to come in and purify His seeking ones, supply His lovers, and transform them into stones for His building and pillars for His temple.
Thus, Christ’s heavenly priesthood ministered to the churches produces a number of overcomers. We are now under this ministry. Christ is busy walking through the churches and speaking. As He walks through the churches, He speaks to everyone.
His speaking is according to what He is and also according to the condition of the church. In every epistle He begins by saying who and what He is. Then He also speaks in every case according to what the church is. His speaking is both practical and equipping.
In His walking He is Christ. In His speaking He is the Spirit. At the beginning of each of the seven epistles it is the Lord who speaks (2:1, 8, 12, 18; 3:1, 7, 14). At the end it is the Spirit speaking to the churches (2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22). “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.”
Your experience will confirm this. When Christ came and walked through the church in your locality, you were enlightened and rebuked. The walking Christ became the speaking Spirit. Christ is the Spirit. By His speaking you are supplied with the tree of life and the hidden manna. Then you are transformed. Little by little the muddy things are washed away, and you become a white stone, justified, accepted, and approved by God for the building up of His dwelling place, which consummates in the New Jerusalem. Christ today is busy ministering His heavenly priesthood.
