In Revelation 1:13-18 Christ is presented as the Son of Man. Christ as the Son of Man, in all that He is and does, is for our experience and enjoyment. In Revelation, Christ—the all-inclusive, excellent, marvelous, mysterious, and wonderful One—is unveiled as the Son of Man in chapter 1 and the Son of God in chapter 2. In Revelation 1:13 Christ not only is depicted here as the High Priest, as shown by His garment, but also is unveiled as being like the Son of Man. He is both divine and human. As our High Priest, He is caring for the churches in His humanity.
Christ as the Son of Man is not only for the accomplishing of redemption but also for the church life, because the church is composed of human beings. That the Lord is still the Son of Man after His ascension indicates that He has not put off His human nature after resurrection. His dealings here with the churches are based on His humanity. In His humanity He was altogether victorious and successful in bearing the testimony of God. The churches also, being in humanity, surely can be victorious and successful in bearing the testimony of God.
Throughout the centuries some so-called Christians have taught that Christ was not the Son of God. Even today there are some so-called Christians who do not believe that Christ is the Son of God. To deny that Christ is the Son of God is heretical. Such a teaching is devilish and comes from Hades, and we must uncompromisingly stand against it. Some Christians, on the contrary, do not believe that Christ today is still the Son of Man. According to their view, Christ became a man by incarnation, but in His resurrection He put off His humanity. They think that Christ is no longer the Son of Man but only the Son of God. We believe, however, that according to the pure Word, today our Christ is both the Son of God with divinity and the Son of Man with humanity. He has two natures, divinity and humanity, and in Him we have true divinity and proper humanity.
According to verse 13, “One like the Son of Man” is “in the midst of the lampstands,” which signify the churches (v. 20). In the Bible the lampstand is always related to God’s building. The first time the lampstand was mentioned was in Exodus 25:31-40, when the tabernacle was built. The second instance was in regard to the building of the temple in 1 Kings 7:49. The third instance was closely related to the rebuilding of God’s temple in Zechariah 4:2-10. In Revelation the lampstand is related to the building of the churches. In Exodus 25 the emphasis is on Christ being the lampstand as the divine light, shining as seven lamps with the Spirit (the oil). In Zechariah 4 the emphasis is on the Spirit (v. 6) as seven lamps shining, these seven lamps being the seven eyes of God (vv. 2, 10). The seven eyes of God are the seven Spirits of God (Rev. 5:6) for God’s intensified move. This indicates that the lampstand in Zechariah is the reality of the lampstand in Exodus, and that the lampstands in Revelation are the reproduction of the lampstand in Zechariah. Christ is realized as the Spirit, and the Spirit is expressed as the churches. The shining Spirit is the reality of the shining Christ, and the shining churches are the reproduction and expression of the shining Spirit to accomplish God’s eternal purpose that the New Jerusalem as the shining city may be consummated. Christ, the Spirit, and the churches are all of the same divine nature.
The churches, signified by the seven golden lampstands, are the testimony of Jesus (1:2, 9) in the divine nature, shining in the dark night locally yet collectively. The churches should be of the divine nature—golden. They should be the stands, even the lampstands, that bear the lamp with the oil (Christ as the life-giving Spirit) and shine in the darkness individually and collectively. They are individual lampstands locally, yet at the same time they are a group, a collection, of lampstands universally. They not only are shining locally but also are bearing universally the same testimony both to the localities and to the universe. They are of the same nature and in the same shape. They bear the same lamp for the same purpose and are fully identified with one another, not having any individual distinctiveness. The differences among the seven churches recorded in chapters 2 and 3 are all of a negative nature, not a positive one. Negatively, in their failures, the churches are different and separate from one another; but positively, in their nature, shape, and purpose, they are absolutely identical and are connected to one another.
Christ as the Son of Man today is “in the midst of” the lampstands, the churches. On the one hand, as the High Priest, He is interceding in the heavens for the churches (Heb. 9:24; 7:25-26; Rom. 8:34), and on the other hand, He is moving in the churches to care for them. The churches with Christ as their one center are the focus in the divine administration for the accomplishing of God’s eternal purpose. If we would participate in His move and enjoy His care, we must be in the churches.
Revelation 4 and 5 unveil the Christ in heaven, whereas the first three chapters of Revelation unveil the Christ in the midst of the churches. The Christ in the midst of the churches is the Christ in heaven. Today the Christ on the earth is in the midst of His churches. Therefore, on the one hand, Christ is in heaven, and on the other hand, Christ is on earth, walking among His churches.
Today Christ is the glorious man walking in the midst of the golden lampstands, the local churches. If we want Him to walk in our midst, we must be in the local churches. If we are in the denominations, we are still in captivity. It is not a small thing to be in the local churches. Where the local churches are, there Christ is walking in the midst. To have Christ as the glorified man walking in our midst is the greatest reward for us in the local churches. To have Christ walking in our midst is inexpressibly glorious.
That Christ is walking in the midst of the lampstands (1:13; 2:1) is a sign, indicating that the place in which Christ can walk is the churches. If there were no churches on the earth, there would be no place for Christ to walk. Walking implies appearing to people. The place where John saw Jesus was in the midst of the churches. Many of us can testify that before we came into the churches, we knew of Jesus, but we did not see much of Him. In the churches we not only know of Jesus or hear of Him but also see Him and meet with Him. What the Lord truly desires to gain is the local churches.
When Christ comes to deal with us in the churches, He does so not only in His divinity but also in His humanity. When we are defeated, we may excuse ourselves, thinking that we are merely pitiful sons of man but that the Lord is quite capable and can overcome because He is the Son of God. When He comes to us as the Son of Man, however, we have no such excuse. He also was a man and overcame as a man, not only as the Son of God. We should not make any excuses for ourselves. If we are defeated and fail in the church life, we should not sympathize with ourselves, saying that our defeat is excusable because we are only human beings. Human beings are the right material for the church life. Thus, in the midst of the churches, Christ is walking as the Son of Man. In Daniel 3 we are told that the Son of God was walking in the fire (v. 25), but in Revelation 1 we see that the Son of Man is walking in the midst of the churches.
We must worship the Lord as the Son of Man. Because He is both human and divine, He is such a wonderful One. Because He is both divine and human, He knows God and man, heaven and earth. In Him we have divinity and humanity, and in Him we are both in the heavens and on the earth. Today the Lord is both in the heavens and on the earth, walking in His humanity in the midst of the local churches.
The Lord is with the church, but we cannot substantiate this with our eyes or our hands. In Matthew 28 the Lord clearly promised that even though He would ascend to heaven, He would still be with the disciples (v. 20). He promised that He would be with them not only temporarily but for all the days until the consummation of the age, until the time that He comes back. Therefore, the Lord’s being with His disciples after His ascension is from the time of His ascension until His second coming. He will surely fulfill the promise that He personally gave to the disciples at His ascension. The situation of the church over the past two thousand years testifies that the ascended Lord has never left the church. He has been with the church the entire time.
If we spend time to enjoy Christ in His humanity, all the local churches will be bright and shining. In Revelation 1, Christ is unveiled as the Son of Man. This indicates that the Son of Man is for the local churches. All the local churches need the humanity of Jesus. We must take Him as our food, enjoy Him, and even eat Him in His humanity (John 6:57). We need to be nourished with His humanity, and this nourishing will swallow up all our weaknesses. The humanity of Jesus will make us spiritually healthy.
We need to see the difference between Hebrews chapter 1 and chapter 2. Chapter 1 unveils that Christ is the Son of God; it indicates that He is even God Himself (v. 8). Chapter 1 reveals His divinity, whereas chapter 2 reveals His humanity. It is at the end of chapter 2 that we find the succor, aid, support, help, and supply (v. 18). This comes not so much from Jesus as the Son of God but from the humanity of Jesus. The man Jesus is the succoring One, the aiding One, the supporting One, and the supplying One. Our help and support come mainly from His humanity. In order to succor and supply us, He must have His humanity. If we would enjoy His succoring, we must feed upon His humanity.
John 19:5 records Pilate’s words regarding the Lord Jesus, “Behold, the man!” When Pilate spoke these words, Christ was crowned with thorns, but today He is crowned with glory (Heb. 2:7). He wore a purple garment, but now He wears a priestly garment (John 19:5; Rev. 1:13). He is crowned with glory and clothed with the priestly garment to care for all the local churches. We all need to see this man, for this man is our aid, our help, our support, our supply, and our all. This man is our food for the priesthood.