Then we become the testimony of Jesus. This is the lampstands as the expression of the Triune God (Rev. 1:9-12, 20). The lampstand is just the embodiment of the Triune God. It is made of pure gold, signifying the nature of God the Father. Its shape or form signifies God the Son as the very embodiment of God the Father. It is not a formless piece of gold, but gold in a certain shape or form. The seven lamps shining signify the seven Spirits of God for expression. So the lampstand is the embodiment of the Triune God, with God the Father’s nature, God the Son’s form, and God the Spirit’s expression.
Every proper local church is composed with God the Father’s nature, God the Son’s form, and God the Spirit’s expression. This is the golden lampstand, God’s embodiment, for God’s expression. What a marvelous word concerning the church! Paul’s words concerning the church were not this high. Paul told us that the church is the Body of Christ (Eph. 1:22-23). The highest expression Paul used concerning the church is that the church is the fullness of Christ (Eph. 4:13) and the fullness of God (Eph. 1:23). But John told us that the church is a golden lampstand as the embodiment and expression of the Triune God. How we need to see that the church is just the embodiment of the Triune God with the Father’s nature, with the Son’s form, and the Spirit’s expression. If we could see such a vision, it would solve many problems.
The church is also a harvest with the firstfruit as the expression of life (Rev. 14:1-5, 15-16). A harvest is just a gathering of all the living produce of the farm. This signifies the maturity of life and the riches of life by life’s dispensing. As the church we should be the golden lampstand, and we should also be the harvest with the firstfruit as the expression of life.
As a golden lampstand and as the harvest with the firstfruit, we also become the Bride of the Lamb as His increase and satisfaction (John 3:29; Rev. 19:7-9). In John 3 Christ is the Bridegroom, and the church is the Bride as His increase. In Revelation 19 the church as the wife, has made herself ready for the marriage of the Lamb for His satisfaction.
Eventually, there will be the ultimate consummation of the dispensing of the Triune God into man. This will be the New Jerusalem, the holy city, the tabernacle of God, the Bride, and the wife of the Lamb as the consummate expression of the Triune God (Rev. 21:2-3, 9). When I come to these points I cannot avoid being excited. Hallelujah! Oh, the New Jerusalem! The holy city! The tabernacle! The Bride! The wife!
Such a corporate entity is built with God the Father’s nature, signified by the gold, by God the Son’s overcoming death and life-imparting resurrection, signified by the pearls, and by God the Spirit’s work of transformation, signified by the precious stones (Rev. 21:11, 18-21).
The New Jerusalem as a consummate expression of the Triune God is supplied and nourished by the Triune God (Rev. 22:1-2, 14, 17). God as the Father is the source, the Spirit as the water of life is the flow, and the Son as the tree of life is the life supply. In Revelation 22 a river of living water flows from the throne of God. Within this river grows the tree of life. This is a clear view of the Triune God in His dispensing. The Father as the source is on the throne with the Lamb because He is the redeeming God, the Lamb-God. There is only one throne, but two are sitting on the one throne. How can two sit on one throne? God the Father as the light is within the Son as the lamp (Rev. 21:23; 22:5). The Father is in the Son, so God is in the Lamb. And the Lamb is the lamp containing God as the light. This is the Lamb-God, the redeeming God. Out of this redeeming God flows the river, signifying the Spirit. In the flow of the river of water of life, the Lamb becomes the tree of life. The Lamb is for redeeming, and the tree is for nourishing. The life-dispensing river circles the entire city as it flows downward from the throne of the Lamb-God in a spiral flowing. This flowing is just the dispensing of the Triune God into His chosen people as life and life supply in fullness for eternity. This is a city built with the Triune God as the materials and supplied and nourished also by the Triune God as the life supply.