The Local Churches in the Book of Revelation

The Seven Lampstands as Symbols of the Local Churches (Revelation 1:20)

This is a local church. It is not just an outward assembly. It is something inward, of life, yet expressing the very God.

These local churches are lampstands. A lampstand is the embodiment of the Triune God. How do we know this? First, the substance of the lampstand is gold, signifying God the Father and the divine nature. Then, the lampstand has a shape; it is not just a lump of gold but has a definite form. This signifies Christ as the very embodiment of God. Third, the seven lamps are the seven eyes of the Lamb and the seven Spirits of God (Rev. 5:6; 4:5). The seven lamps as the seven Spirits of God are the expression of the Triune God. The Spirit is the expression, the Son is the shape, the form, and the Father is the substance of the church as the wonderful lampstand.

To say that the church is the embodiment of the Triune God is not to make the church a part of deity, an object of worship. We mean 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 the very God. Since we have been born of God, we surely have God’s life and possess His nature, and we enjoy this life and nature every day. We are learning by His mercy and grace not to live by our natural life but by the divine life and nature. As we are thus being transformed, there will be the fullness, the expression, the form, the appearance, of Christ, and we shall be shining, not by ourselves but by the sevenfold, intensified Spirit.

The church is the embodiment of the Triune God to express Him. We as members of Christ are the sons of God born of Him, having His life and possessing His nature. We are doing our best to live by this life and nature that we may be filled and saturated with this rich Christ to become His expression through the sevenfold, intensified Spirit.

This is a local church. It is not just an outward assembly. It is something inward, of life, yet expressing the very God.

(Witness Lee, Basic Revelation, 68-69)

Elsewhere, Witness Lee remarks further:

Every local church in this book is a lampstand. The lampstand is the embodiment of the Triune God. With the lampstand there are three things: the substance, which is pure gold. The substance is not made of wood nor of mud, but of pure gold. In the biblical figures gold signifies the divine nature of God the Father. So in the lampstand there is God the Father as the substance. Second, the golden lampstand is not just a formless piece of gold. It is gold formed and shaped into the form of a lampstand. The form, the embodiment, of the Triune God is the Second of the Trinity. All the fullness of the Godhead dwells in this Second of the Trinity bodily (Col. 2:9). Jesus Christ is the form of God. This is God the Son. So there is the substance of the Father and the form of the Son.

Third, there is the expression of the lampstand. The lampstand is for shining, and the shining is the expression. The expression is seven lamps. The Bible tells us clearly, not only in Revelation, but also in Zechariah that the seven lamps are the seven Spirits (Zech. 4:2, 6; Rev. 4:5).

(Witness Lee, Lord’s Recovery, 72)

4. In the Bible, Lampstands Being Always Related to God's Building

The fact that the lampstand throughout the Scripture consistently relates to God’s building indicates that the lampstands in Revelation coincide with and relate to the building of the local churches. Witness Lee remarks:

In the Bible the lampstand is always related to God’s building. The first time the lampstand was mentioned was in Exo. 25:31-40, when the tabernacle was built. The second instance was in regard to the building of the temple in 1 Kings 7:49. The third instance was closely related to the rebuilding of the temple in Zech. 4:2-10. Here in Revelation the lampstand is related to the building of the churches.

(Witness Lee, Footnotes, 1237)

Furthermore, throughout the Bible the seven lamps of the lampstand consistently coincide and correlate with God’s building. Witness Lee explains:

The lamps in Exodus 25 are for the building up of the tabernacle, especially for the move in the tabernacle. Without light, it is impossible to move. The light is for the move, and the move is for God’s building. The seven lamps, therefore, are for the building up of the tabernacle, God’s dwelling place on earth.

The seven lamps in Zechariah 3 and 4 are for the recovery of God’s building. The principle is the same in the rebuilding of the temple as it was in the building of the tabernacle. The same is true of the book of Revelation….the seven Spirits, which are the seven eyes of the Lamb and the seven lamps before God’s throne, are for God’s building….Revelation begins with the seven local churches and it ends with the New Jerusalem.

(Witness Lee, LS of Revelation, 267)

Main

Seven Lampstands

Spirit’s Speaking

Bibliography

Links