Local churches as lampstands bear the testimony of Jesus Christ in separate cities (Rev. 1:20b, 9b). The churches, signified by the golden lampstands, are the testimony of Jesus in the divine nature, shining in the dark night locally yet collectively. Every local church is a golden lampstand, the testimony of Jesus Christ, having the sevenfold intensified Spirit of God as the lamps and shining the testimony of Jesus from its locality. Lampstands are for shining in the night. The present age is a spiritual dark night. The seven lamps of the lampstand are the seven Spirits before the throne (Rev. 4:5); they are for the church to be the lamps of Christ shining out the light in the dark age of today. Furthermore, the lampstands are made of pure gold, which signifies the divine nature. Thus, the golden lampstands indicate that the churches are shining out with God’s nature in this dark age.
The golden substance of the lampstand signifies God the Father; the specific shape of the lampstand signifies Christ, since Christ is the embodiment of God; and the seven lamps of the lampstand signify the seven Spirits of God as the expression of God. Hence, the golden lampstands signify the churches as the embodiment and expression of the Triune God shining forth, with the sevenfold intensified Spirit of God as the lamps, the testimony of Jesus in the dark age of today.
All the local churches are the one unique Body of Christ in the universe (Eph. 4:4). Every local church is a part of this universal Body, a local expression of this unique Body. This one universal church, the one Body, comprises all the local churches. There may be thousands of local churches, but together they constitute one universal church. The universal church is the unique Body of Christ, and all the local churches are simply the local expressions of this one Body.
We need to be impressed with the fact that the local churches are the local expressions of the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 12:27; Eph. 2:22). There is only one Body, but there are many expressions. Universally, all the churches are one Body, and locally, every local church is a local expression of that universal Body. Therefore, a local church is not the Body but only a part of the Body, an expression of the Body.
In the New Testament we see many local churches, and together these local churches are considered one universal church, for they constitute the one Body of Christ. In Matthew 16:18 the Lord said, “I will build My church.” Here the church is in the singular number, indicating that it must be the universal church. But in Acts and the Epistles there are many references to “the churches”-the churches in Syria, the churches in Asia, the churches in Macedonia, the churches in Galatia. The Bible first refers to one church and then to many churches because the one church, the universal church, is the totality of all the churches, and all the churches are local constituents of the one universal church, the unique Body of Christ.
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