Genesis is the field into which nearly all the seeds of the truths were sown. In Revelation we have the harvest of the truths sown in the beginning of the Bible. In this book of consummation, the local churches are crucial. The local churches are also the focus of this book. We have seen that the local churches are the destination of God’s progressive revelation and manifestation. In the Bible we not only have God’s revelation but also His manifestation. Revelation may be considered as being close to doctrine, but manifestation is definitely related to experience. Therefore, the Bible not only gives us the doctrine but also the experience, not only the revelation of God, but also the manifestation of God. If there were no local churches, there would be no destination for God’s revelation and manifestation.
The subtle enemy, Satan, hates the local churches. Throughout the centuries, many good Christian teachers have devoted their attention to many other things. We admit that some of these things have been important. Nevertheless, most of these teachers have still missed the mark, missing the destination of the local churches. We must worship and praise God for being the Lord. He would never let this matter go. After recovering so many items during the past several centuries, in our time He has come to this destination. This is the reason that, day and night, our only burden is to build up the local churches. All the attack and opposition that we undergo are simply because of our stand for the local churches.
Everybody knows that the term church is not found in the Old Testament. The first time it is used is in Matthew 16:18, where the Lord Jesus said, “I will build my church.” However, in the Old Testament there are many types that foreshadow the church. For instance, in Genesis 2 we have the bride as a type of the church being Christ’s counterpart. Furthermore, both the tabernacle and the temple are types of the church being God’s dwelling place among men on earth. The children of Israel as a corporate people signify that the church is also a corporate people to express God. None of these types, however, is as all-inclusive as the lampstand.
The lampstand is first mentioned in Exo. 25. If we only had this chapter, we would be unable to realize that the lampstand is related to the church or to the churches. Near the end of the Old Testament, we find the lampstand mentioned again in Zechariah 4. Zechariah shows some progress and improvement over Exodus. In Exodus we only have the lampstand with the seven lamps; there is no mention of what the seven lamps refer to. But in Zechariah 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 God (Rev. 4:10) and the seven eyes of the stone (Rev. 3:9). Zechariah tells us two main things regarding the lampstand — that the seven lamps of the lampstand are the seven eyes of God and the seven eyes of the stone. Consider the picture presented in Zechariah. That the stone has seven eyes, which are the seven eyes of God, indicates that these seven eyes infuse what God is into us. God is light, life, love, holiness, etc. All that He is as the life element is infused into us through His seven eyes. This is even true of us as human beings, for as we look at others something of us is infused into them through our eyes. What is the significance of the seven eyes of God also being the seven eyes of the stone? Undoubtedly, the stone is for building. Thus, these seven eyes not only infuse God as the life element into our being; they also infuse Christ into us as the building material, making us the material for God’s building. Zech. 4:2-6 and 10 also imply that these seven eyes of God, which are the seven lamps of the lampstand, are the Spirit. In answering the question, “What are these?” it says, “Not by might nor by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord” (4:6). This verse indicates that it is only through the Spirit that we can be prevailing in God’s building. Hence, we can see that the lampstand in Zechariah 4 reveals a definite development beyond the lampstand in Exodus 25. However, Zechariah is not the book of consummation, and we must continue until we come to the last book of the Bible, the book of Revelation.
In Revelation there are seven golden lampstands. This book also reveals that the seven lamps are the seven Spirits of God and the seven eyes of the Lamb (Rev. 5:6). Therefore, the lampstand includes God, Christ, the Spirit, the Redeemer, and the building material.
As we consider Exo. 25, Zech. 3 and Zech. 4, and the book of Revelation, we see four aspects of the lampstand that we must experience. Firstly, we must participate in the essence, the golden element, of the lampstand. Secondly, we must experience the forming of this golden substance into a definite form — the stand. The gold in the lampstand is not a lump; rather, it is formed into a stand. Thirdly, along with the form, we must experience the expression of the lampstand through the shining of the seven lamps. Fourthly, there is the matter of the reproduction of the lampstand. Hence, we must experience four aspects of the lampstand — the element, the form, the expression, and the reproduction.
We all need to experience the golden element of the lampstand. If we only have an ounce of gold, how could we form a lampstand? This would be impossible. We might be able to make a ring, but certainly not a lampstand. In order to have a lampstand, there must be a talent of gold (Exo. 25:39). (A talent equals approximately one hundred pounds, or sixteen hundred ounces.) We need more gold, more of God. If we would have the church as the lampstand, we must have something substantial — the gold, which is the substance, the essence, the element, of God Himself. If we do not have this substance, all our talk about the church is vain. How pitiful is the situation among so many Christians today. They have so little of the substance, of the divine gold; instead of acquiring the substance, they discuss vain doctrine. Even if our doctrine is sound, right, fundamental, and scriptural, it is not God Himself. Only God Himself is the element. How we need God as the golden element!
What is God? In John 4:24 the Lord Jesus clearly said, “God is Spirit.” In Greek, there is no article before the word Spirit. Thus, we should not say that God is a Spirit, but that God is Spirit. To say that God is Spirit is like saying that the table is wood. Just as the element of the table is wood, so the element of God is Spirit. According to John 4:24 in order to worship God we must worship Him in spirit. To worship God is not simply to bow down to Him; it is to reach Him, to contact Him, and to receive Him. According to the context of John 4, to worship God is to drink of Him as the living water (v. 14), which is the very Spirit flowing into our being. How can we receive Him into us as this living water? We receive Him by opening our whole being to Him and by exercising our spirit. We must receive God Himself as the golden element into the depths of our being. Day and night, we need to open ourselves. Never close yourself to Him or shut any part of your being to Him. Rather, tell Him, “O God, I am absolutely open to You. I exercise my spirit to contact You, the divine Spirit. O divine Spirit, come into me and saturate me.” This is the way to gain more gold.
If we all gain more gold, among us there will not only be one talent but perhaps a hundred talents. We shall be exceedingly rich in the divine element, in the material for the lampstand. All the brothers and sisters will be full of God and wherever we go, we shall see gold. When we enter into the saints’ homes, we shall see nothing but gold. When I visit the brothers and sisters, I shall see gold. When I come to the young ones, I shall see gold, and when I contact the older ones, I shall see even more gold. The sisters should not be wooden or muddy; they should be golden. I always feel shameful when I hear some sisters gossiping. Although I do not condemn them, I experience the sense of shame, for sisters in the church must be golden. A gossiping sister is not truly in the church. Likewise, I also feel shameful whenever I see a brother exchanging words without love with his wife. Where is the gold in this brother? If he is a brother in the church, he should be full of gold. When I see such things, I turn away. I do not like to see the muddy condition of the saints. Rather, I enjoy seeing the gold in them. We all need more gold. The church must be full of gold, full of God. When I see this, I feel glorious and I am in the third heaven.
However, it is not adequate merely to have a large quantity of gold. We may have a thousand talents of gold and not yet have the lampstand, for we may just have the substance without the form. How can we have the form? All fundamental students of the Bible agree that the lampstand was made by beating the gold. One brother may have ten pounds of gold, another may have seven pounds, and still another may have five pounds. How can all this gold be formed into a stand? Only by its being beaten together. All the gold must be brought together into one. This refers to the building. Firstly, we need the substance and then we need the building by beating. It is a shame to the Lord if today He cannot see any building. Many people argue with us about the church, asking how we can say that we are the church and that they are not the church. But the question is: where is the building? You may even have a great deal of gold, but if you do not have the form, by the way of the building, you do not have the lampstand. This means that you may be rich in gold but poor in the lampstand — the building.
If you would have the stand, you must be beaten together with others. You need to lose your identification. Do not say, “This is my gold. I’m spiritual.” For you to be spiritual as an end in itself is meaningless as far as the lampstand is concerned. Your experience and enjoyment of God must be beaten together with that of others. Our gold must be put together, beaten, and built up as one entity, as one unit. Then we not only have the gold, but are also built into a golden lampstand. This is the church.
If those in the church in Anaheim are merely several hundred individual units, we are finished. God does not desire hundreds of individual units of gold. He wants all the gold put together and beaten to form the lampstand. What a need there is for the building! If we have seen the building, we will never be individualistic. Rather, we would realize that whatever we gain or receive of the divine element is for the building of the lampstand. Because God’s desire is for the building, we have given message after message saying that we need God in Christ as our very substance that we might be built together. It is good to have a large quantity of gold and thereby to be rich in God. But are you still individualistic, or are you part of a corporate entity? We need the building.
Even though we may have the gold and are beaten together and are built into one as a lampstand, we still need the seven lamps, the seven Spirits of God as the expression. If we do not have the seven Spirits of God, we shall be unable to shine to express God. Whether we are young or old, we daily need to be filled with the sevenfold Spirit of God. Whenever we are filled with God’s sevenfold Spirit, we are living and shining. Because we are filled with the seven Spirits of God, we cannot be dead or dim. Being filled with the sevenfold divine pneuma, we can never be like a flat tire. Nothing can suppress us. Because we are full of the Spirit of God, the more we are pressed down, the higher we bounce up. I can testify that the more difficulties I have, the higher I rise up. Many times, others have advised me not to say certain things, but I could not keep from speaking about them because of being filled with the seven Spirits of God. Someone once asked me this question: “Why are you so living, fresh, and evergreen? Please tell me your secret.” My secret is that I have the Spirit.
There is no need to prepare yourself to function in the meetings. If you do this, your function will be a performance. To function is simply to be what you are. Sometimes the leading brothers strongly encourage the saints to function in the prayer meetings. But all such functions are not genuine functions but performances, because the saints are not filled with the Spirit. Rather, they are deflated like flat tires. They are deflated before they come to the meeting. But the leading ones may still insist that these flat tires roll around a little in the prayer meeting. This kind of activity does not come from the infilling and indwelling pneuma but from the pushing of the elders. After a brother or sister has been forced to function, he may not pray for two weeks. I can testify of this from my experience. Pushing never helps. When a tire becomes flat, it is better not to roll it around, for the more you roll it, the more damaged it will become. However, none of us should be a flat tire. Instead, we must be filled with pneuma. We have a “station” in the third heaven, and we can always be filled with the heavenly pneuma. When we are filled with the Spirit, we can function at any time. This function is not a performance — it is our living. When I am filled and bubbling over with the Spirit, I am active, aggressive, and youthful. I can even deliver a message to the demons. If the Devil would come to me, I would give him a good teaching. When we all are filled with the sevenfold Spirit of God in the built-up church, this sevenfold Spirit of God will become the very expression of God in Christ.
Now we come to the fourth aspect of the experience of the lampstand — the reproduction. Both in Exodus and Zechariah the lampstand was uniquely one. But in the book of consummation, there are seven lampstands signifying seven local churches. 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 not only for the production of the universal church, but also for the reproduction of the local churches. One lampstand is reproduced in the seven lampstands. All the local churches as the many lampstands are the reproduction of Christ and the Spirit as the one lampstand. The more the critics oppose the local churches, the more reproduction there will be. Opposition simply lays the tracks for further reproduction. Do not care about the opposition. Simply care for the substance, the building up, and the expression. The more we have of these three things, the more we shall see the reproduction. What is this reproduction? It is actually a multiplication of the wonderful expression of Christ as the life-giving Spirit in a practical way. This is the reproduction of the church. I am glad to say that I have the full assurance that this reproduction will pave the way for the Lord to come back. By means of this reproduction, the Lord will have a beachhead on which to place His feet for His coming back to possess the whole earth.
