The Bible is consistent in God’s economy. If we have not seen the significance of God’s economy, we will not be able to get into the real significance of the whole Bible. We may read it again and again without realizing its central thought. When the Lord opens our eyes to see God’s economy, the economy of God immediately becomes a key for us to open the entire Bible. Without such a key, it is hard for us to understand the holy Word. To open everything in the Bible, we need this constant key.
In the past we knew something concerning the lampstand in the tabernacle, but by the Lord’s mercy, He has shown us something further. The lampstand was sown as a seed in Exodus. Then the growth of this seed can be seen in Zechariah. Eventually, the harvest of the truth concerning the lampstand is in the last book of the Bible, Revelation. There is hardly anything new in the book of Revelation. Most of the items in Revelation were already sown in the Old Testament. Years ago, I saw the lampstand in Exodus and the seven lampstands in Revelation. But for many years I did not see that the lampstands in Revelation are the harvest of the lampstand sown in Exodus as a seed. It was not until 1975 that I saw the relationship between the three categories of lampstands: the lampstand for God’s building of the tabernacle and the temple; the lampstand for the rebuilding of God’s temple; and the lampstands for the building of the church.
I first saw that in Zechariah the lampstand is presented mainly to signify the need of the Spirit for God’s building and especially for God’s rebuilding. In a sense, the building of the church today in the Lord’s recovery is a kind of rebuilding. That is why we need a recovery. In church history something got lost that needs to be recovered. When I saw that the lampstand in Zechariah signifies the need of the Spirit for the Lord’s rebuilding of His temple, I went back to see the lampstand in Exodus, and I went forward to see the lampstands in Revelation. Then I saw that the lampstand in Exodus signifying Christ became the lampstand in Zechariah signifying the Spirit. Eventually, the lampstands in Revelation are the reprint, the reproduction, of this Spirit-Christ.
Years ago I discovered that the lampstand in Exodus 25 was a type of Christ and that Christ bore the lamps shining with oil. I also found out that the oil signifies the Spirit (Isa. 61:1; Heb. 1:9). As the lampstand, Christ has the oil, which means that He has the Spirit. Later I realized that eventually this Christ who was the lampstand, became a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). Exodus 25 shows us, on the one hand, that the lampstand signifies Christ as the embodiment of God. Zechariah 4, on the other hand, shows us that the lampstand signifies the life-giving Spirit as the reality of Christ. God is embodied in Christ, and Christ is realized as the Spirit. Both this Christ, who is the embodiment of God, and this Spirit, who is the reality of Christ, signify the lampstand. Eventually and ultimately in the Bible, the churches are brought forth into existence, or produced, and every church is a lampstand.
We need to look at this picture. By looking at this picture we can understand that every local church is a reprint of the Spirit, who is the reality of Christ, who is the embodiment of God. God is embodied in Christ, Christ is realized as the Spirit, and the Spirit is reprinted in the church. Thus, the church is the reprint of the Spirit, who is the reality of Christ, who is the embodiment of God.
The way that this vision can be experienced is by regeneration and transformation. We need to be clear about the real significance of regeneration. Regeneration is for human beings to be born of God, to be born of the divine life with the divine nature (John 1:12-13; 1 John 5:11-12; 2 Pet. 1:4). Thus, the sons of men become the sons of God. We who have been born of God can say, “On the one hand, I am a son of man, and on the other hand, I am a son of God!” We have been born of God with His life and His nature. The basic element for us to be the church is the divine life with the divine nature. If we did not have the divine life with the divine nature, we could never be the church. The divine life, of which we have been born again, is nothing less than God Himself in Christ to be our life (John 1:4; 14:6). At the time we were reborn, God came into us, and we now have God in Christ within us as our life and as our nature. Because we have the divine life with the divine nature, we can be the church. The church is a living composition of the divine life with the divine nature.
With our physical body, there should be no foreign element. If some foreign element comes into our body, this will result in sickness. Our physical body will not receive any substance that is foreign to its life and nature. In like manner, the Body of Christ, the church, will not take any foreign substance. Anything that is not born of the divine life with the divine nature is foreign to the Body of Christ, and the Body of Christ will not take it. This tells us that our natural man is not good for the Body of Christ. Our natural will, our natural emotion, our natural mind, and anything of ours that is natural is not good for the church, and the church as the Body of Christ will not take it. Our natural mind, our natural thinking, our natural love, our natural attributes, and our natural ability are altogether not acceptable to the Body of Christ. The Body of Christ is a living composition of the divine life with the divine nature.
Among all the furniture in the tabernacle, the lamp-stand was unique. Nearly every piece of furniture in the tabernacle had wood, except for the laver, which was made of brass. The altar, the showbread table, the incense altar, and the ark were all made of acacia wood overlaid with brass or gold. But the lampstand had no wood. It was altogether one piece of pure gold. Although the laver had no wood, it also had no gold since it was made of brass. The lampstand was a pure piece of gold, and the church is the reprint of the lampstand. Thus, the wood has to be eliminated. The wood has to be reduced. When the church is seen as the testimony of Jesus in Revelation, all the churches are pure golden lampstands because every local church is a reproduction of Christ, and Christ today is the life-giving Spirit.
If our eyes are opened by the Lord, and we see this vision concerning the church, this vision will be better than a thousand messages concerning the church. If you have really seen this vision, you will not exercise your mind to argue with the brothers in your locality. When the sisters are exercising their emotions to do something, this vision will terminate them. Even at the dining table this vision will be shining to govern us. We need a governing vision that terminates, kills, and annuls everything of our natural man. When a brother is about to exchange words with his wife, this vision will terminate him. When you are about to vindicate yourself, the Lord may say, “What’s that?—natural!” If this vision is shining so brightly within us, the Lord will have a way to speak to us in our daily life to terminate our natural man. He will be able to say: “What’s that?—natural love! What’s that?—natural thinking! What’s that?—your natural man! What’s that?—natural, natural, natural!” Everything that is natural has to go. Otherwise, we actually are not in the church. Although you were put into the church nineteen and a half centuries ago, actually today you may not be in the church. Where are you? You may be in the natural life. We have to rise up to testify that the church is the reprint of the Spirit. We need to testify, “From now on, my natural being has no share in the church, no part in the church, because I have seen that the church is the reprint of the Spirit!” The church as the lampstand is pure and without mixture. The church is the embodiment of Christ and the reprint of the Spirit.
There is no comparison between the church and the denominations. The church is built with gold, pearls, and precious stones (Rev. 21:18-21). The church has nothing to do with the materials of wood, hay, and stubble produced by us in the natural man and the flesh (1 Cor. 3:12). We need to be warned in this matter. We should not insult the church by behaving and acting by our natural life. If we are in the church and still behave, act, and move by our natural being, by our natural life, this is an insult to the church life. The “good manners” for the church life is our reborn, indwelt spirit (John 3:6; Rom. 8:16; 2 Tim. 4:22). In our spirit, we have the reprint of the divine Spirit, which is the church in practicality. May the Lord open our eyes to see what the church is!