Lord, open our hearts and our eyes, that we may see Him. Focus our minds, hearts, spirits, and souls before You. We ask Your blessing upon Your servant now, that Your Word may be known in our hearts. Prepare our hearts before You, that what You desire may be accomplished in this gathering.
Lord, reveal Christ unto us, that we may do nothing but know and worship You, and be that which You would have us to be. Thank You for Your presence. Saturate our very being with Your presence and Your power, that our hearts may be alive unto You and that we may hear You speak.
Blessed Holy Spirit, come. In the name of the Lord Jesus, we seek Him tonight. Take away every hindrance and all dullness that comes because of the hours of the day. Give us Your freshness and Your aliveness. We take this for every brother and sister in the meeting tonight. In Jesus’ lovely name. Amen.
Lord, may Your light shine upon us. It is only in Your light that we can see light. In You may we see the truth, the way, the life, and the Father. Lord, do Your work tonight among Your people. Glorify Yourself. We ask in Your precious name. Amen.
Please turn to the Book of Revelation. We will read Revelation 1:1-3, 12, and 20.
The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show unto His servants, even the things which must shortly come to pass: and He sent and signified it by His angel unto His servant John;
who bare witness of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, even of all things that he saw.
Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of the prophecy, and keep the things that are written therein: for the time is at hand.
And I turned to see the voice that spake with me. And having turned I saw seven golden candlesticks;
and in the midst of the candlesticks One like unto a Son of man.
The mystery of the seven stars which thou sawest in My right hand, and the seven golden candlesticks. The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches: and the seven candlesticks are seven churches.
Now turn to Exodus 37:17-24.
And he made the candlestick of pure gold: of beaten work made he the candlestick; its base, and its shaft; its cups, its knops, and its flowers, were of one piece with it.
And there were six branches going out of the sides thereof; three branches of the candlestick out of the one side thereof, and three branches of the candlestick out of the other side thereof.
Three cups made like almond-blossoms in one branch, a knop and a flower; and three cups made like almond-blossoms in the other branch, a knop and a flower: so for the six branches going out of the candlestick.
And in the candlestick were four cups made like almond-blossoms, the knops thereof, and the flowers thereof;
and a knop under two branches of one piece with it, and a knop under two branches of one piece with it, and a knop under two branches of one piece with it, for the six branches going out of the candlestick.
Their knops and their branches were of one piece with it; the whole of it one beaten work of pure gold.
And he made the seven lamps thereof, and the snuffers thereof, and the snuffdishes thereof, of pure gold.
Of a talent of pure gold made he it, and all the vessels thereof.
Brothers and sisters, we remember what the Word says: “The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.” God is interested today in the testimony of Jesus Christ.
A testimony is a declaration and an affirmation of a fact, a truth, a reality. The testimony of Jesus is a declaration of Jesus; it is an affirmation of Who Jesus is and what He is.
This testimony of Jesus Christ is committed today to His church. That is the reason why, on the island of Patmos, when John turned to look at the voice, he saw seven golden lampstands; and in the midst of the seven golden lampstands, One like unto a Son of Man.
We mentioned last night the vision of the Son of Man in the midst of the seven golden lampstands. Here is the testimony of Jesus: the words that He spoke to John:
I am the first and the last,
and the Living One;
and I became dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore,
and I have the keys of death and of Hades.
These words constitute the testimony of Jesus. Brothers and sisters, there is nothing greater and nothing more important than Who Jesus is and what He is. This is what God is interested in, and this is what God intends to reveal to His people.
The revelation of Jesus Christ was given to the Apostle John, not just for him alone. It was given to him that he might report it to the seven churches of Asia. Through those seven churches, we are able to hear it and to see it. In other words, the testimony of Jesus is given to the church.
The vision of the Son of Man is in the foreground, but the background is the seven churches. You cannot see the church until you see Christ. You cannot see the body until you see the Head.
But after you have seen Christ, after you have seen the Head, you should see the body. You should see the church, because this constitutes one vision.
It is true that you should never lift the church higher than Christ. Yet how can Christ be lifted up if there is no church? How can the light be lifted up if there is no lampstand? These two go together.
Brothers and sisters, if the Lord has given you a vision of Who Christ is and what He is, I believe you will see the church as it is in God’s purpose.
This evening, we would like to fellowship together concerning the vessel of the testimony of Jesus. The church is the vessel and the instrument of the testimony of Jesus.
Just as, in Old Testament times, the testimony of God was deposited in the nation of Israel, so today the testimony of Jesus is given to the church. It was a tremendous privilege for Israel, among all the nations, to become, as it were, the guardian of the testimony of God.
They had the oracles of God. They had the law of God. They knew the one living God, and they were to be a nation bearing witness to this tremendous testimony. It was a great privilege, but at the same time, we know that it was a very great responsibility.
Today the testimony of Jesus is given to the church. It is a great privilege, but it is also a tremendous responsibility.
Why does the Bible use the lampstand to represent the church? The seven golden lampstands represent the seven churches in Asia. Why?
A lampstand is to uplift the light. You remember our Lord Jesus saying in Matthew 5:15:
Neither do men light a lamp, and put it under the bushel, but on the stand;
and it shineth unto all that are in the house.
The purpose of a lampstand is to uplift the light. People today may make a lampstand that is very exquisite and very artistic, and put it in their house as an ornament. But God is too practical for that.
When God mentions the lampstand, He has a very specific purpose in mind. That specific purpose is to bear the light. It is to witness to the Lord Jesus. That is the one purpose, and the only purpose, of a lampstand.
A lampstand is not a purpose in itself. A lampstand is not an end in itself. It is merely an instrument, a vessel, to be used by God for a specific purpose.
So, dear brothers and sisters, the church of God is not an end in itself. It is never God’s purpose that the church should become an end by itself. It is a means to an end, and the end is Christ.
The lampstand does not exist for itself; the lampstand exists for the light. The church does not exist for itself; it exists for Christ. For this reason, the Bible uses the lampstand to represent the church.
If you light a lamp and put it under a bushel, the light is covered. If you put it under a couch, the light is restricted. But when you put it upon the lampstand, the light shines out.
A bushel is used to measure wheat, flour, rice, and other things. In a sense, it represents the things of this world. If we seek the things of this world, the cares of this life, or the riches of this world, we cover the light.
The couch is where we take it easy, rest, and relax. In other words, it represents the pursuit of comfort and ease in life. Again, we limit the light of Christ.
But, brothers and sisters, when there is a lampstand, the light is unrestricted and shines far and wide. I believe that the reason why the Bible uses the lampstand to represent the church is very meaningful.
There is no description in Revelation of the lampstands. John simply saw seven golden lampstands. But John, being a Jew and well acquainted with the Old Testament and temple service, had no need for a description, because the lampstand in the temple was described in the Old Testament.
In Scripture, we sometimes find different presentations of the same thing. Sometimes the Bible says that we have a treasure in earthen vessels.
We are earthen vessels. Whether you look at it individually or corporately, we are but earthen vessels. In ourselves, we are nothing—cheap, common, and nothing special. That is what we are naturally.
But thank God, He put a treasure in the earthen vessel. If you have a treasure, would you put that treasure in an earthen vessel? Probably, if you had a treasure, you would put it in a gold casket or something more suitable. It does not seem fitting to put a treasure in an earthen vessel.
But this is the wonder of God: that He should put the treasure in the earthen vessel. Of course, the treasure speaks of Christ. He is the treasure. Yet God has put Christ in us, who are but earthen vessels.
I hope it never enters our minds to think that, because we have believed in the Lord Jesus, because we are saved by His grace, and because He has blessed us so much, we are something in ourselves. That is foolishness.
It is the mercy of God. It is the grace of God. So far as we are concerned, we are but dust and ashes. We are earthen vessels—very fragile and easily broken.
We think we are strong. We think we have arrived somewhere. But then a little thing happens, and we are frightened. No, we are nothing but earthen vessels. But thank God, there is a treasure.
When we think of the grace of God, this is how we feel, and we will feel this way forever. But on the other hand, there is another presentation: the presentation of responsibility.
When you look from the viewpoint of responsibility rather than grace, there must be suitability. God will not trust His light to a bushel. God will not trust His light to a couch. God trusts His light to us; therefore, there needs to be a suitability, a spiritual likeness.
These two things are not contradictory; they complement each other. When you look at yourselves, we are always unworthy, like earthen vessels. But thank God, there is treasure in the earthen vessel, and that draws from us worship and praise.
But when you look at God’s purpose and responsibility, there is a tremendous demand upon us. God requires suitability to Himself. He cannot commit Himself to anything that is not suitable to Himself.
John, on the Lord’s Day, was probably sitting on a rock on the island of Patmos, looking east toward the Roman province of Asia, where the seven churches were located.
I do not know what his inward feeling was as he thought of the seven churches in Asia. When Paul wrote to the Philippians, he could say that every remembrance of them brought thanksgiving and praise to God.
Brothers and sisters, if you are laboring among believers and spending your life for them, what is your inward feeling when you remember them before God? Does it bring sweet memory, encouragement, and joy? Or does it bring pain and sadness because they are not what they should be?
I wonder what went through John’s mind as he remembered Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamum, Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, and Laodicea. Did they give him much joy, or did they give him much concern? I do not know.
Then he heard the voice: “What thou seest, write in a book and send it to the seven churches.” The voice came from behind him, so he turned around and saw the seven golden lampstands, which stood for the seven churches in Asia.
Do you see the picture? John was looking east, and his mind was upon the seven churches in Asia. But the Lord turned him around to see seven golden lampstands in the presence of the Lord.
In other words, if we look only at the churches that we know, we will never rise above the situation. Brothers and sisters, you will never see what the church is if all you are looking at are the churches that you know.
The reason why you do not have the vision of the golden lampstand is because you see only the churches around you. We can never rise above what we see.
That is the problem of many believers. The more you love the Lord, and the more you long for the fullness, the more you see that the actual condition is different. And you wonder, “Is there anything else?”
The Lord turned John away from the temporary, from the earthly, and from the immediate situation—not that he should become blind to it. But the Lord wanted John to have a vision of the vessel of the testimony as God had ordained it.
If all you see of Christ is Jesus of Nazareth, the Man who walked on earth, did good, and performed wonders, you may still be offended by Him. Saul came to the conclusion that Jesus of Nazareth must be wiped out.
But on the road to Damascus, Saul saw Christ in glory, and that vision delivered him. Brothers and sisters, if what we see is only the physical—only that which we can touch with our hands, see with our natural eyes, and hear with our natural ears—we are the most hopeless people in this world.
Thank God, He turns us away from the earthly view and turns us to Himself, to see the vessel which God has ordained for the testimony of Jesus. If you can see it, no matter what happens on earth, there is something that you can live by.
The Lord turned John around. The second look is all right, but not the first look. When John turned, he saw the seven golden lampstands, with the Son of Man in the midst of them. Brothers and sisters, that is a beautiful picture.
The vessel of the testimony of God, as God has ordained it, is in perfect suitability to the testimony. If you read the Old Testament, you know that the seven golden lampstands which appeared before John were none other than the golden lampstand in the holy place.
If we want to see what the golden lampstand is like, we must go back to Exodus 37. There we find that God commanded Moses to make a golden candlestick, a golden lampstand, and the Bible says that it was of pure gold.
Not an alloy. No mixture. Nothing impure. It was pure gold.
Gold in Scripture always represents the nature of God, the glory of God. It never changes. Pure gold speaks of God and of God alone.
What, then, is the church of God? It is true that the church of God is made up of people. We all know that the church of God is not made up of buildings. We call a building “church,” but it is only a church building.
Peter says that, as we come to the Lord, we are as living stones being built together into a spiritual house. The church of God is made up of living stones, all brought forth from that one piece: Christ.
What kind of vessel is the church for the testimony of Jesus? Remember one thing: we cannot bear the testimony of Jesus unless the vessel is purely of God.
The church of God is made up of people whom God has called out of every nation, tribe, people, and tongue, and gathered together unto Christ. Thank God, out of every nation, every tribe, every people, and every tongue, God has called us out and gathered us unto Christ.
But remember: after we are called out and gathered unto Him, something happens. God draws the Gentiles and draws the Jews, making the Gentiles and the Jews into one body. But when that one body appears, it is neither Jew nor Gentile.
Something has happened. Everything that is not pure gold is eliminated by the cross. Only that which can go through the fire and come out in resurrection makes up the vessel.
Do not think that you and I can make the church. If you and I, and all of us here, make the church, it will be a battlefield. If it is not a battlefield, it will be a courtroom.
The golden candlestick is made of pure gold. It is Christ in you. It is Christ in me. It is God in you and God in me. Pure gold—that is the candlestick.
It requires that we be eliminated by the cross. Whenever we try to bring ourselves into the church, or bring any mixture into the church, it brings in a shadow. It affects the testimony.
The church in God’s thought is a golden candlestick of pure gold. There is perfect suitability in substance.
This is not merely imagination. From Genesis to Revelation, you find this truth. In the type of Adam and Eve, Adam represents Christ and Eve represents the church. How did Eve come into existence? She was built by God from that which was taken out of Adam. There was perfect suitability.
Brothers and sisters, only that which is Christ and only that which is God in us can be used as material for the building of the vessel. Nothing else. How much rubbish we have!
This pure gold was made into the golden lampstand through beaten work. Here was a talent of gold, a solid piece, and then the goldsmith beat upon it. I do not know how long it took, but it was beaten and beaten and beaten.
It was slow and tedious work. Yet gradually, the form of a lampstand came into view. It was beaten work.
We often think it is our flesh that needs to be beaten. Certainly, the flesh, the human life, and the world must be eliminated. They are not beaten into shape; they are eliminated.
But do you know that even the Christ whom we have received in us—the new life of Christ in us—needs to be beaten in order to be formed? The purpose of the beating is to shape it.
How often we have to receive such dealings. A Christian who has never been beaten can never be adjusted with other brothers and sisters.
The reason why we need the discipline, the chastening, and the beating of the Lord is not that He is punishing us. Not at all. We often think that when God deals with us, He is punishing us. But that is not so.
He is shaping us according to His purpose. That is why we take the beating. Brothers and sisters, it is because we have Christ in us, because we have His life in us, that we can stand the beating. There is something in us that can be formed.
Scripture says that if we were not sons, God would not chasten us. But because we are sons, He treats us as sons. He wants to mature us, form us, and shape us.
A church can never be built in a day. How often God puts His people together, as it were, in one piece, and begins to beat. You cannot get away because you are joined together.
But gradually, you are made together and fitted together, and the lampstand begins to take shape. It is to be a lampstand—nothing else—just a lampstand to uplift the light.
When you look at the golden lampstand, you find that it has a base, a shaft, and seven branches. Each branch is beaten into beautiful work: a cup, a knop, and a flower; a cup, a knop, and a flower.
The cups were shaped like almonds. What is a cup? A cup is a container. A cup is made to receive something and to be filled.
A cup is an empty vessel ready to receive the riches of heaven. Brothers and sisters, if we are to be a vessel of the testimony of Jesus, we need to be beaten into the shape of a cup.
We must be receivers. We must be made able to receive Christ in all His fullness.
The cup was shaped like an almond. The almond in Scripture speaks of resurrection, because the almond is the first to blossom after winter. It speaks of resurrection life.
Do you think that we can receive Christ in the flesh? The natural man does not know the things of God; they are foolishness to him. Even the receiving of Christ must be on resurrection ground.
You cannot receive Christ merely with your natural mind or natural ability. No, you will not be able to. The Christ of God is beyond the natural capacity to receive. That is why you need revelation.
It is on resurrection ground that we receive Him as our portion, until our cup runneth over.
When the cup runs over, it becomes a knop. What is a knop? A knop is a concentration, a solidification, of all that has been received.
The Lord pours His riches into our cup, and we are filled with Him. Then gradually, He establishes and solidifies that which we have received, making it a definite strength in us—not merely beauty, but strength.
Often the Lord pours Himself out to us, and our cup runs over. How happy we are! Then, just at that moment, testing comes.
You may think that if you are filled with blessing, you must always be joyful. Yes, you are joyful; your cup runneth over. But when it begins to run over, you find that it begins to solidify. Chastening comes. Testing comes. Trials come.
You may be filled with the love of Christ and say, “Oh, see how we love one another.” Then something happens. You begin to see the unloveliness in your brothers and sisters, and they become unbearable.
But under pressure, you solidify. There is strength until you are established in the Lord. When you are established, the beauty of the Lord blossoms into flowers.
Along the branches, you find cup, knop, flower; cup, knop, flower; cup, knop, flower. You find the increase of Christ in the church.
All this comes through beaten work. Nothing is cheap. Nothing is easy. It all comes through dealings.
You may ask, “Why so much trouble? After all, the lampstand is not for itself; it is simply to uplift the light. Why not have one plain shaft standing up? Would that not be enough?”
But when you go into the temple, you find that the priest lights the lamps, and the light reflects upon the workmanship of the lampstand.
In other words, it is true that the church is a lampstand to uplift Christ. But when Christ is uplifted, He is reflected in the church. He is not seen abstractly.
The testimony of Jesus is to be manifested practically in the church. The church is not the purpose, and the church is not the object; Christ is the object. But how is the testimony of Jesus to be seen, heard, and manifested to this world? Through the church.
For this reason, all these dealings are absolutely necessary. God takes great pains in preparing His vessel for the testimony of Jesus, lest His testimony be distorted.
In the Old Testament, in the tent of meeting, there was one golden lampstand with seven branches. But in Revelation 1, instead of one golden lampstand with seven branches, there are seven separate lampstands. There is a change.
On the one hand, the seven golden lampstands are the same in principle as the one golden lampstand with seven branches. Yet there is a variation because the Holy Spirit is teaching us different lessons.
Do not try to divide these visions as though they are two entirely different things. No, they are one, but they show us different emphases.
In the tent of meeting, the golden lampstand was one with seven branches. Seven in Scripture speaks of perfection. Here, the perfection is the perfection of unity and oneness.
There is a unity there, and that unity is in its perfection in the golden lampstand with seven branches. But when you come to Revelation, you find seven separate golden lampstands. Why? Because it speaks of responsibility.
When you come down to responsibility, each local church must be responsible to the testimony of Jesus.
Do you think that because there were seven churches in Asia there was no unity? There was unity, but it was not a physical unity. The seven golden lampstands were united by the Son of Man in the midst. He united them.
When you come to see the church as God’s vessel and instrument for the testimony of Jesus, you see two aspects of the church.
On the one hand, the church is one universally: one golden lampstand with seven branches. No matter how many God’s people there are, wherever they are scattered through time and space, God’s people are one. The church is one.
That is what our Lord Jesus said in Matthew 16. When Peter confessed the Lord Jesus as the Christ, the Son of the living God, the Lord said:
Blessed art thou, Simon Bar-Jonah:
for flesh and blood hath not revealed it unto thee, but My Father who is in heaven.
And I also say unto thee, that thou art Peter,
and upon this rock I will build My church;
and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
“I will build My church.” The Lord Himself is the Builder. The church is one—“My church.” It belongs to Him.
The church is built upon this rock: the revelation and confession of Jesus Christ. Because Peter received the revelation and confessed Christ, he became a living stone to be built upon the foundation with other living stones.
The gates of Hades shall not prevail against it. No matter how the church is fought, the keys of death and Hades are in the hand of the Lord.
The whole matter is spiritual: revelation, confession, and the Lord Himself doing the building. The church is one.
We need to see the church universally. All those who are the Lord’s are built upon the one rock into His church. Throughout the centuries, the gates of Hades have tried to swallow it, but the church is still here.
But then, when you come to Matthew 18, you see another aspect. Our Lord Jesus mentioned the word “church” only twice in the Gospels: once in Matthew 16 and once in Matthew 18.
In Matthew 18, He said that if your brother sins against you, go to him in love—not in accusation—and seek to restore him. If he does not listen, take one or two brothers with you as witnesses. If he still does not listen, tell it to the church.
If he does not listen to the church, then regard him as a Gentile and a publican.
If your brother sins against you, naturally that brother must be close to you. If a brother lives in South Africa and you live here, it is difficult for him to sin against you in a direct and personal way.
We have a problem. We say that we love all the brothers and sisters in England, but often we find it difficult to love the brothers and sisters who are with us. God has put them close to us, and there we begin to have problems.
Learn to love your brother. Love will make you willing to go through all the trouble necessary to restore him.
If he will not listen, then tell it to the church. But where is the church? The universal church fills the whole earth. How can you tell it to the whole universal church? It is too big.
Therefore, the church here must mean the local assembly, where God’s people assemble in the same place: the local church.
In the universal church, the conflict is spiritual. But when you come to the local church, your problem is with your brother or sister.
The golden lampstand with seven branches emphasizes the universal church. The seven separate golden lampstands, joined by the Son of Man, represent the local assemblies.
At the time of the Apostle John, there were more than seven local assemblies in Asia. But the Holy Spirit used these seven local assemblies to represent this aspect of the church.
The vessel of the testimony of Jesus is the universal church: one church. All who belong to the Lord are built upon the rock.
But because we are still in the body, and still limited by time and space, the practical working out of these principles is in the local aspect.
God sovereignly places His people in a certain place. There they become that golden lampstand, to uplift the light and to shine in the darkness, that the testimony of Jesus may be known.
As the universal church is one, the local church is one. There were not two lampstands in Ephesus—only one. One lampstand in Ephesus, one in Smyrna, one in Pergamum, one in Thyatira, one in Sardis, one in Philadelphia, and one in Laodicea.
Oh, how God’s people should manifest the oneness in Christ in this testimony of Jesus.
How is God building His church? Does He build the church by sending materials to heaven and building it there? No. He is building the church right here—right here.
That is why, in the first three chapters of Revelation, we are given the vision of the seven golden lampstands. This is the time when the Spirit of God is working, building, and perfecting the vessel for the testimony of Jesus.
But when you come to the last two chapters of Revelation, what do you see? You do not see seven cities; you see only one city.
If you try to visualize the description there, that city is a giant lampstand. The twelve foundations serve as the base, and the wall serves as the shaft.
There you find God and Christ. At last there is one giant lampstand—only one.
God is working through the local assemblies because that is the only practical way of working it out. If you allow Him to work it out, eventually you will find it finalized and consolidated in the one holy city, the giant golden lampstand.
The light will shine forever and ever.
Brothers and sisters, we need to have a vision of the Son of Man, and we need to see the Son of Man in the midst of the seven golden lampstands.
I believe God wants us to turn away from anything and everything that we may be given a chance to catch a vision of Christ in the midst of His churches.
We are not visionaries, but we need to see vision. If there is no vision, the people are scattered and disintegrate.
Brothers and sisters, that is what is happening today. The problem with God’s people is a lack of vision.
There is no lack of activity. There is no lack of zeal. But the one thing lacking among God’s people is the vision that John saw on the island of Patmos: the Son of Man in the midst of the seven golden lampstands.
Brothers and sisters, once you are caught by Him and by that vision, there is no alternative anymore.
The vision unites us with God and unites us with one another.
So, dear brothers and sisters, knowing the importance of the vessel, may the light be lifted up. For this reason, we need to give ourselves to the Lord and let Him work it out. May we have some prayers before the Lord.