The Local Churches in the Book of Revelation
The Local Churches in the Book of Revelation |
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Additional Quotes about the Local Church by Witness Lee and Watchman NeeThe seven lampstands that John saw were the seven churches. These seven churches depict the conditions of seven local churches on the earth….It is very meaningful that in the Bible the lampstands represent the churches. In the Bible gold symbolizes God’s glory. The responsibility of the church is to express God’s glory. A lampstand does not have any light in itself; its light comes entirely from the oil as well as from the fire. In order for the church to shine for the Lord, it should trust continuously in God’s Spirit and His holy fire. Otherwise, it will not shine. How we wish to see the church shining “in the midst of a crooked and perverted generation…as luminaries in the world, holding forth the word of life” (Phil. 2:15-16). (Watchman Nee, Collected Works, Set 2, Vol. 34, 166-168) Revelation 1:20 tells us that the local churches are lampstands. Lamps are needed in the nighttime, not in the daytime. Revelation 1:20 proves strongly that the church age is not the daytime, but the nighttime. As a lampstand the church shines in the night. However, the lampstand itself does not shine; the lamp does. The seven lampstands are in Revelation chapter 1 and the seven lamps are in chapter 4. The seven lamps are the seven Spirits (Rev. 4:5). The church is the lampstand and the Spirit is the lamp held by the stand. If the church lacks the Spirit, the church is a lampstand without light. It is then a stumbling block. But, the lampstand with the shining lamp is wonderful. (Witness Lee, LS of Genesis, 51) Both lampstands and stars are for shining in the night. A lampstand, representing a local church, is a collective unit, whereas a star, representing a messenger of a local church, is an individual entity. In the dark night of the church’s degradation, the shining of both the collective churches and the individual messengers is needed. (Witness Lee, Footnotes, 1239) A proper local church is a local golden lampstand (Rev. 1:12, 20b). Gold signifies the divine nature. This shows that the churches as the golden lampstands are constituted with the divine nature. (Witness Lee, Satanic Chaos, 119) The real meaning of the word holiness is separation and distinction. Among billions of material things in the universe there is one item that is distinct and uncommon—gold. Gold typifies God in His divine nature. God is distinct, which means that God is holy. The opposite of the word holy is common. Gold signifies the “golden God” or the holy God, the very God of separation. Our God is separated and is a God of separation. To be holy is to be set aside, to be separated, to be made distinct, just as God is. After reading this, do not make up your mind to be distinct or to make yourself different. If you remain in the divine fellowship to enjoy, not only what God gives or what God does for you, but also what God is as love in His essence and as light in His expression, you will be bathed in the love of God. You will become not only a man of love, but you will become love itself. This love makes you distinct….The issue of remaining in the fellowship is that you become someone who is not common but holy….God is distinct and separate from all the material things in the universe, and the New Jerusalem is a golden mountain, a distinct entity in the entire universe. Also, every local church as a golden lampstand is distinct and different. (Witness Lee, NT Economy, 344-345) While he was in spirit, John saw a number of visions, resulting in his writing the twenty-two chapters of the book of Revelation. This book is composed of four major visions: (1) the vision of the churches (chs. 1-3); (2) the vision of the destiny of the world (chs. 4-16); (3) the vision of Babylon the Great (chs. 17-18); and (4) the vision of the New Jerusalem (chs. 21-22). John was in his spirit when he saw these four visions (1:10; 4:2; 17:3; 21:10). We too need to be in our spirit to see the visions in this book. It is not merely a matter of mental understanding in our mind but of spiritual realization in our spirit….When I was young, I was very interested in studying the prophecies in the book of Revelation. Today I have less interest in the prophecies but more interest in being enlightened by considering the spiritual visions in this book, in particular the visions of the seven lampstands and of the New Jerusalem. At the beginning of Revelation, we have the local churches as the golden lampstands; at the end, we have the New Jerusalem as the unique, universal golden lampstand in eternity (21:10-11, 18b, 23). Seeing the visions in Revelation will help you to be a person in the spirit. (Witness Lee, LS of Job, 144-145) | ||||