The testimony of God is that He enters into man to be man’s life and even his disposition. God in us is our life, while we outwardly are God’s living.
Because spiritual matters like this are abstract, the Bible uses symbols to portray them. The lampstand in the tabernacle symbolizes the testimony of God. Exodus 25:31-37 gives us a description of how it was to be made. Only one lampstand was to be made, and it was to be entirely of gold. This one lampstand, however, was to have seven lamps. Looked at from the bottom, the lampstand is one. From the top, however, it appears to be seven because of the seven lamps.
The meaning of this lampstand is rich and profound. It symbolizes the very Triune God.
Gold typifies the divine nature. The substance of this lampstand remains constant and unchanged, for gold does not rust or tarnish. The pure gold of the lampstand, then, typifies God’s nature, which is simply God Himself.
This pure gold is not shapeless. It has a form, which denotes its function. A table, for example, has a form which speaks of its use; we can use it to write on or to eat from. If it had a different shape, it would not serve the same purpose. In what form is this lampstand? This form is the second Person of the Godhead, the Son. “No one has ever seen God; the only begotten Son, Who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him” (John 1:18). The Son is the form or manifestation of the Father.
How can this lampstand represent the form of God, who is invisible and has no form? Second Corinthians 4:4 tells us clearly that Christ is the image of God. God created man in His own image (Gen. 1:27). Colossians 1:15 describes Christ as “the image of the invisible God.” It is certainly true to say, then, that God has His image.
The seven lamps of the lampstand signify the seven Spirits of God (Rev. 4:5). This is a reference to the Third of the Trinity, for the seven Spirits are simply the Spirit of God. The shining of the Spirit is God expressed.
The lampstand, then, portrays God in His substance (the Father), embodiment (the Son), and expression (the Spirit).
This lampstand, representing the Triune God, is His testimony. Because the church is His testimony, it also is the golden lampstand (Rev. 1:20). It is common to think of the church as a religious gathering, but this is a most inadequate way to regard it. To consider the church as a group of sinners, saved and cleansed by the blood, and then meeting together, is also too low a concept. Yes, we are an assembly in the sense that we do come together for meetings. But in reality the church is a lampstand.
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