Christ takes care of the churches as the High Priest in His heavenly ministry (Heb. 4:14-15). The garment in Revelation 1:13 indicates that here Christ, the Son of Man, is depicted as the High Priest. As such a High Priest, He cares for the churches in love. This requires Him to be “girded about at the breasts with a golden girdle” (Rev. 1:13). The breasts signify love, and the golden girdle signifies the divine strength. Christ, the High Priest in His priestly ministry, cares for the churches in love and with His divine strength.
As the High Priest, Christ trims the lampstands; that is, He deals with the churches (Rev. 2:4, 14, 20; 3:3, 19). He is like the priest in the Old Testament coming to the Holy Place to dress the lamps (Exo. 27:20-21; Lev. 24:1-4). To dress the lamps, the priest first had to snuff the burned out wick and then add fresh oil. The Lord Jesus appears in Revelation as the High Priest walking among the lampstands to snuff the burned out wicks and to add more oil. The burned out wick signifies something that is not according to God’s purpose, and the oil is the sevenfold Spirit. In nearly every epistle to the seven churches, the Lord Jesus snuffed some negative things and added more oil, which means He added more Spirit into the churches. Christ today is trimming the lampstands, dealing with the churches, to make all the golden lampstands pure and shining.
As golden lampstands, the churches shine in the darkness. The word “lampstand” enables us to understand much about the church and its function. The church is not the lamp; it is the lampstand, the stand which holds the lamp. Without the lamp, the lampstand is vain and means nothing. But the lampstand holds the shining lamp. Christ is the lamp (Rev. 21:23), and the church is the lampstand holding the lamp. God is in Christ, and Christ as the lamp is held by the stand to shine out God’s glory. This is the testimony of the church.
The churches as golden lampstands bear the testimony of Jesus. “The testimony of Jesus” (Rev. 1:2, 9; 20:4) is an all-inclusive expression. The testimony of Jesus is the testimony of the Son coming with the Father by the Spirit to live on earth, to die on the cross to clear up the universe, to release the divine life, and to resurrect from the dead to become the life-giving Spirit, who then comes as the Son with the Father compounded with divinity, humanity, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection, including all the divine attributes and the human virtues. Such a compound testimony is the testimony of Jesus. This testimony has a symbol-the golden lampstand. The golden lampstand is the testimony of Jesus.
The lampstands shine in the darkness. If there were no darkness, there would be no need for the shining of the light of the lamp. The shining of the lamp is quite particular. In order for the lamp to shine, it must have oil burning within it. If the oil burns within the lamp, the light will shine out through all the darkness. This is the function of the church. The function of the church is not simply to preach or to teach doctrine. In the dark night of this age, the church must shine out the glory of God.
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