The Local Churches in the Book of Revelation

Additional Quotes about the Local Church by Witness Lee and Watchman Nee

3. The Substance, Shape, and Expression of the Lampstand

All the golden lampstands are identical in nature, in shape, and in function to be the one expression of Christ. If the seven lampstands were put before us, we would not be able to distinguish them, because they are identical. Without numbering them, no one could discern which lampstand is which. They all are identical in their golden nature, the divine nature, in their shape, the form of Christ, and in their function, the shining of the Spirit. The Father is the nature, the Son is the shape, the form, and the Spirit is the shining power. All the local churches should be identical in the same nature of God, form of Christ, and function of the Spirit.

(Witness Lee, Critical “Ones”, 60)

In Revelation the churches, signified by the golden lampstands, are the testimony of Jesus (1:2, 9) in the divine nature, shining in the dark night locally, yet collectively. The churches should be of the divine nature—golden. They should be the stands, even the lampstands, that bear the lamp with the oil (Christ as the life-giving Spirit), shining in the darkness respectively and collectively. They are individual lampstands locally, yet at the same time they are a group, a collection, of lampstands universally. They are not only shining locally, but also bearing universally the same testimony both to the localities and to the universe. They are of the same nature and in the same shape. They bear the same lamp for the same purpose and are fully identified with one another, not having any individual distinctiveness. The differences of the local churches recorded in chapters two and three are all of a negative nature, not of a positive nature. Negatively, in their failures, they are different and separate one from another; but positively, in their nature, shape, and purpose, they are absolutely identical and connected one to another.

(Witness Lee, Genuine Ground, 133)

A local church is a lampstand, signifying the Triune God embodied in human beings. This is the great mystery of godliness revealed in 1 Timothy 3:16-God manifested in the flesh. This not only transpired in Jesus Christ as an individual person, but this also transpires in all the local churches. Jesus Christ Himself was a lampstand, and today every single local church is also a lampstand. In element or in nature, in shape or in type, in expression or in manifestation, a local church is exactly the same as Jesus Christ. The local churches are the testimony of Jesus.

(Witness Lee, NT Economy, 272-273)

In Revelation there is not merely one lampstand but seven, and these lampstands are the local churches. In Exodus the lampstand was Christ as God’s embodiment, and at the end of the New Testament the lampstands are the churches as the multiplied embodiment of the Triune God.

In this lampstand there are only two basic elements—the gold and the oil. The gold is the solid form and the oil is the burning element. When these two are put together, there is a lampstand shining to express God in His Trinity with the Father’s nature and essence, the Son’s image and appearance, and the Spirit’s expression. On the negative side, the priest snuffs all the negative things. On the positive side, the priest also functions to add more oil to the lampstand. Zechariah 4:12 tells us that the oil of the lampstand is golden oil. The two elements of the lampstand are the golden element and the element of the oil, but according to Zechariah these two elements actually are one. The oil itself is golden oil, which means that the gold flows as oil. When more oil is added into the lampstand, that means that more gold is added. The church as the lampstand is the solid embodiment of the Triune God with the sevenfold Spirit as the oil. Actually, the essence of the oil is the element of the gold.

(Witness Lee, Divine Economy, 129-130)

Main

Seven Lampstands

Spirit’s Speaking

Bibliography

Links