As the testimony of Jesus, the golden lampstands are the embodiment of the Triune God. In the golden lampstand there are three main factors: the substance, the shape or form, and the expression. The substance, the material, of the lampstand is gold, which signifies the Father’s divine essence.
There was no dross in the lampstand, for it was made of pure gold. In typology, dross signifies something other than God brought in to cause a mixture. The fact that the church is a golden lampstand indicates that we should not bring anything other than God into the church life. Even good things such as ethics, culture, education, and proper religion are dross, because they are not God Himself. Only God, the divine Being, is the gold which is the substance of the lampstand. No doubt Paul had this realization when he told us in 1 Corinthians 3 that upon Christ, the unique foundation of the church, we should build not with wood, hay, or stubble but with gold, silver, and precious stones.
As the local churches, the lampstands are golden in nature. In typology, gold signifies divinity, the divine nature of God. All the local churches are divine in nature; they are constituted of the divine essence. These stands are not built of clay, wood, or any inferior substance; they are constructed out of pure gold. This means that all the local churches must be divine. Without divinity, there can be no church. Although the church is composed of humanity with divinity, humanity should not be the basic nature of the local churches. The basic nature of the local churches must be divinity.
The golden lampstand is not a lump of gold but gold in a definite form and purposeful shape. The form, the shape, of the lampstand signifies the Son’s human form. Christ, the Son, is the embodiment of the Godhead, the embodiment of the Father’s nature (Col. 2:9). Therefore, the church should have not only the Father’s divine essence but also the Son’s human form.
The fact that the form of the lampstand signifies the Son as the embodiment of the Godhead indicates that the church should not be vague but should have a definite shape. In chapters two and three of Revelation the Lord Jesus, as the embodiment of the invisible God, was clearly standing as He spoke to the churches. All the churches should also stand, having the Son’s shape.
Furthermore, the golden lampstands as the testimony of Jesus have the Spirit’s expression. The seven lamps of the lampstand shine for God’s expression. These seven lamps are the seven Spirits of God. Thus, with the lampstand are the Father’s essence, the Son’s human form, and the Spirit’s expression. Since the golden lampstand has these three aspects, we can say that the golden lampstand signifies the embodiment of the Triune God, with the Father as the substance, the Son as the form, and the Spirit as the expression.
To say that the church is the embodiment of the Triune God is not to make the church a part of deity or an object of worship. We mean that the church is an entity born of God (John 1:12-13), possessing God’s life (1 John 5:11-12) and enjoying God’s nature (2 Pet. 1:4). The church has the divine substance, bears the likeness of Christ, and expresses God. Because we have been born of God, we have God’s life and possess His nature. Now we may enjoy this life and nature day by day and learn to live not by our natural life but by the divine life and nature. As we live this way and are transformed, there will be the fullness, the expression, the form, the appearance of Christ. Furthermore, we shall shine by the sevenfold, intensified Spirit.
As symbolized by the golden lampstand, the church is the embodiment of the Triune God to express Him. As members of Christ, we are sons of God born of Him, having His life and possessing His nature. Now we are learning to live by this life and nature that we may be filled and saturated with the processed Triune God to become His corporate expression through the sevenfold, intensified Spirit.
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