The passage before us is Revelation 1:9-20.
I John, your brother and partaker with you in the tribulation and kingdom and patience which are in Jesus, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
I was in the Spirit on the Lord’s day, and I heard behind me a great voice, as of a trumpet, saying, What thou seest, write in a book and send it to the seven churches.
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.
And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as one dead. And He laid His right hand upon me, saying, Fear not; I am the first and the last,
and the Living one; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.
Our heavenly Father, we do pray that Thou wouldst forgive us and give us another opportunity. We thank Thee that we may meet together in the name of Thy beloved Son, our Lord Jesus Christ.
We ask Thee to quicken Thy word to our hearts, that we may not only hear Thy word, but may see our lives in its light. We submit ourselves to Thee and ask Thee to do Thy work among us. May all be for the glory of Thy Son.
In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, amen.
Brothers and sisters, we are living in a day of great shaking. Everything that belongs to the old creation is being shaken. Only that which belongs to the new creation will remain forever.
It is therefore very essential for us to have a heavenly vision. Without that heavenly vision, we will not be able to distinguish what belongs to the old creation and what belongs to the new creation. We will not be able to see what can be shaken and what cannot be shaken. Nor will we be able to let go of that which can be shaken and lay hold of that which cannot be shaken.
Without a heavenly vision, we will not have the strength to press on toward the goal. It is therefore of extreme importance that we have a heavenly vision and are obedient to it.
That is the burden we have during these two evenings. We have considered the vision given to the apostle Peter, and we have also considered the vision given to Paul. This evening, we would like to share concerning the vision given to John the apostle.
Although three different visions were given to three different apostles, the vision itself is one. These are all stages of the same heavenly vision.
Peter’s vision laid the foundation. He received revelation from the heavenly Father that Jesus is the Christ, the Son of the living God. By confessing Him as such, we become living stones, and the Lord builds His church upon this rock. The gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
Then, in Matthew 17, Peter was given a vision of the kingdom of God on the Mount of Transfiguration. The kingdom of God is the realm in which Christ is King. Moses and Elijah are not His equals. It is the will of God that we see no one but Jesus only.
Brothers and sisters, do we see our Lord Jesus as King? Have we submitted ourselves to Him completely? Do we see no one but Jesus?
Peter was also given a vision concerning the church. In Acts 10, he saw a great sheet descending from heaven, containing all kinds of creatures. Through this vision, God showed him that salvation was not only for the Jews but also for the Gentiles.
What God hath cleansed, make not thou common.
We receive all whom the Lord Jesus has received. The church includes all God’s people.
The Lord apprehended Saul on the road to Damascus. In that heavenly vision, Paul saw the universal Man. The Head is in heaven, represented by the risen Lord, and the Body covers the whole earth. The Body includes all believers, all the followers of our Lord Jesus.
Jesus is Lord over all. We are to yield ourselves completely to Him and to His will, and we are to do the work of our heavenly Father.
Paul’s vision continued in Damascus, where he met a disciple named Ananias. His eyes were opened, he was filled with the Holy Spirit, and he was received into the fellowship of the local church.
How is the universal church built? It is built through the building up of local churches. The Lord said, “I will build My church upon this rock.” This universal church includes all God’s people, from the first person who believed in the Lord Jesus to the last person who will believe in Him.
Yet the universal church is built in localities—first in Jerusalem, then in Judea, Samaria, Antioch, and throughout many generations in many different places. By the building of the local churches, the universal church is built.
The church is not merely an ideal. It is lived out by brothers and sisters who receive one another, identify with one another, become one, love one another, and call one another brothers and sisters.
Paul could say:
Wherefore, O king Agrippa, I was not disobedient unto the heavenly vision.
The vision given to John brings the heavenly vision to its consummation. We read of this in Revelation 1.
John was exiled to the island of Patmos for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus. John was among the first to follow the Lord Jesus. In John 1, when John the Baptist said, “Behold, the Lamb of God,” two disciples followed the Lord. One was Andrew, and the other was John himself.
John was one who was very close to the Lord. He leaned upon the Lord’s breast. He was also the apostle who lived the longest. Peter and Paul were martyred, but John evidently ministered from Jerusalem to Ephesus and cared for the churches in Asia Minor.
During the reign of Emperor Domitian, John was arrested and exiled to Patmos. Patmos was a rocky island in the Aegean Sea, and most likely John was sent there to labor as a slave in the mines.
He was exiled for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus. The word of God, in that context, refers especially to the Old Testament—the Law, the Prophets, and the Psalms—which all speak of the coming Messiah. The testimony of Jesus is that the Lord Jesus came to this earth, accomplished the work of salvation, rose from the dead, and is Lord over all.
The early apostles proclaimed the Old Testament Scriptures and used them to prove that Jesus is the Messiah. They preached Jesus Christ, and Him crucified.
Most likely, on the Lord’s Day, John was free from his labor. Perhaps he sat upon a rock and looked across the sea toward Asia Minor, where the churches were located.
His heart was with the churches. He had ministered to them and cared for them, but now he was on an island and could no longer shepherd the flock as he had before. He must have wondered what had happened to the churches and who would care for them.
Then suddenly he heard behind him a loud voice, like the sound of a trumpet. He turned to see the voice that spoke with him.
John had been looking across the sea toward the churches in Asia. He was considering them in his mind and carrying them in his heart. But the voice came from behind him, and he turned around.
Brothers and sisters, he was no longer looking at the physical condition of the land, nor was he merely considering the outward condition of the churches. He was given a heavenly vision.
As John turned, he saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the seven lampstands was One like unto a Son of Man.
The meaning is explained in Revelation 1:20:
The seven candlesticks are seven churches.
There were seven churches in Asia, but there were more than seven cities and more than seven churches in that region. For example, Colossae was also in Asia. The seven churches were selected because they represent the churches in every age.
Each church is represented by a lampstand. There was a church in Ephesus, and before God it was a golden lampstand. There was a church in Smyrna, and before God it too was a golden lampstand. In the sight of God, the seven churches were seven golden lampstands.
No matter what the outward condition of those churches may have been, before God they were represented as golden lampstands.
When Moses built the tabernacle, God commanded him to make everything according to the pattern shown to him on the mount. One of the vessels in the holy place was the golden lampstand.
In Exodus 25, the lampstand was one lampstand with seven branches. It spoke of unity. Seven is the number of spiritual completeness, but the seven branches were part of one lampstand.
In Revelation, however, there are seven separate lampstands. This speaks of local responsibility. Each local church is directly responsible to the Lord.
Before God, the church is a lampstand. But remember, the church is not the light; the church is the light-bearer. Christ is the light of the world. The church is the vessel that holds forth His light and bears the testimony of Jesus.
The church is not an end in itself. The church is a means to an end. Its responsibility is to hold forth Christ and His testimony.
There is something very significant concerning the golden lampstand. Most of the furniture in the tabernacle was made of acacia wood overlaid with gold. The ark was made of wood and overlaid with gold. The altar of incense was made of wood and overlaid with gold. The table of showbread was made of wood and overlaid with gold.
But the lampstand was made of pure gold. There was no wood in it.
Wood represents human nature, while gold represents the divine nature. The church is composed of people like you and me, but in the sight of God the church is to be pure gold. All that belongs to the old creation, to Adam, and to the flesh must be dealt with by the cross. Only Christ and Christ alone are to remain.
The church is not an organization. It is an organism composed of believers in the Lord Jesus who gather together in His name.
In the reality of the church, there is no room for the old creation. There is no room for self, natural ability, natural wisdom, personal opinion, or human strength. The church is Christ in you and Christ in me; it is all of us in Christ.
Let me give a simple illustration. Suppose that in Singapore there were only three believers: Peter, Paul, and John. What would the church in Singapore be? It would be composed of Peter, Paul, and John.
These were great apostles, yet each had a strong natural disposition. Peter always wanted to be first. John and James wanted to sit at the right hand and the left hand of the Lord. Paul was a strong-willed man who would not compromise the truth.
If the church consisted merely of Peter, Paul, and John in their natural selves, there would be difficulty. But if it is Christ in Peter, minus Peter; Christ in Paul, minus Paul; and Christ in John, minus John, then there is the church.
Before God, the church is a golden lampstand. In reality, there is nothing but Christ Himself. All that is of man must be crossed out by the cross. Only that which is Christ remains.
The Lord taught that a lamp is not put under a bushel, under a bed, or in a secret place. It is put on a lampstand so that those who enter may see the light.
A bushel is a measure used for grain. To put a lamp under a bushel is to allow the cares of this life, material concerns, and worldly pursuits to cover the light of Christ.
To put a lamp under a bed is to seek the ease and comfort of life. When we seek our own comfort, the light of Christ is hidden.
The light must be placed upon the lampstand. The church exists to hold forth Christ as the light of the world.
The lampstand was made of one talent of pure gold. It was not made by melting gold and pouring it into a mold. Rather, it was beaten and fashioned from one piece of gold.
This speaks of the divine life. The church is built out of the one life of Christ. Yet that divine life must be worked and formed into a corporate expression.
Brothers and sisters, this is why we need to go through things together. There is no church without problems. We go through difficulties together, and in this process we are like gold that is beaten and formed. The Lord is producing something beautiful and exquisite—a corporate lampstand.
Our old man must be dealt with, but even the life of Christ within us must be formed. It remains gold, but it is beaten into a form. Our opinions, practices, wisdom, and strength must all be dealt with so that Christ may be expressed corporately.
The lampstand had a base and a shaft. Scripture says that the house of God, which is the church of the living God, is the pillar and ground of the truth.
The house of God, which is the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of the truth.
The lampstand also had branches, cups, knobs, and flowers, fashioned like almond blossoms. The almond blossom is the first flower to appear in the spring, and it speaks of resurrection.
The church is to be full of the resurrection life of the Lord Jesus. The knobs speak of the abundance of life, and the flowers speak of the beauty of the life of Christ. There is the fruit of the Holy Spirit, as described in Galatians 5.
What is the church? The church is a golden lampstand, full of the life and beauty of Christ, holding forth Christ as the light of the world.
When we look at the churches on earth, we may see many weaknesses and failures. Even in Revelation 2 and Revelation 3, most of the churches needed correction. Their outward condition was not very good.
Yet before God, the church is a glorious thing. How does God measure the success or failure of a church? It is not measured by numbers, activity, enthusiasm, or outward accomplishment.
God’s measure is this: How close is the church to the golden lampstand? How much in the church is purely Christ? That is the measure of the success or failure of the church on earth.
John saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands he saw One like unto a Son of Man.
The lampstands are the background; Christ is the center. God does not want us to make the church the foreground. The church is there to make Christ more manifest. The church is the background upon which Christ is seen more clearly.
John knew the Lord very well. He had leaned upon His breast and had walked closely with Him. Yet when he saw the Lord in this vision, he saw Him in an entirely different way. He saw the risen and ascended Lord, the great High Priest.
When our Lord was on earth, He was the Apostle sent by God. Now that He is in heaven, He is the anointed great High Priest of the church.
What is our Lord doing today? He is walking in the midst of the seven golden lampstands. Like the high priest tending the lampstand in the tabernacle, He is caring for the light of the churches. If the light is dim, He supplies oil. He attends to the lampstands so that the testimony of Jesus may be maintained.
He is clothed with a garment down to the feet. This speaks of His righteousness. He is the Righteous One, our Advocate before the Father.
He has a golden girdle around His breast. This speaks of divine love and sympathy. He is full of love and sympathy for us. He never gives us up.
His head and His hair are white as white wool, white as snow. He is full of wisdom. His eyes are as a flame of fire. He is full of discernment. Man looks upon the outward appearance, but He looks into our very hearts.
His feet are like unto burnished brass, as if they had been refined in a furnace. This speaks of judgment. His voice is as the voice of many waters.
In His right hand He holds the seven stars. The stars are the messengers, those responsible before the Lord for the churches. His right hand speaks of power and supply. He supplies those who bear responsibility in the churches.
Out of His mouth proceeds a sharp two-edged sword. His words are full of authority. His countenance is as the sun shineth in His strength. He is full of glory and beauty.
Thank God, we have a great High Priest. He not only intercedes for each one of us individually and is able to save us to the uttermost; He is also the great High Priest of the church.
He is working to recover the church according to God’s original purpose. Our Lord Jesus never gives up on any one of us, and He never gives up on His church. He is doing the work of recovery.
He calls for those who overcome—those who respond to the Lord as He reveals Himself, those who are not disobedient to the heavenly vision. Through the overcomers, the Lord will gain His glorious church.
May the Lord have mercy upon us. We may see many things on earth that discourage us, but God has shown us what the church is in His sight. This heavenly vision enables us to press on toward the goal.
Heavenly Father, we thank Thee that Thou hast a beautiful purpose. Even though outwardly there may be failure and confusion, Thou never failest.
Thou hast apprehended us, and Thou wilt never let us go. Thou wilt continue to recover us until Thy work is done, Thy purpose is fulfilled, and Christ is glorified.
We praise Thee that Thou hast never given us up. Continue Thy work not only in us individually, but also among us together. We humble ourselves before Thee and ask Thee to work until Thy purpose is fulfilled and Christ is glorified.
We ask in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. Amen.