We must proceed further to the seven eyes of the stone. We have seen that the seven eyes are the seven Spirits of God sent forth throughout all the earth. These seven eyes, as the seven lamps, are burning before the throne. Undoubtedly, burning is for enlightening, searching, exposing, and judging. While the lamps are for judging, the seven eyes are for transfusing and for infusing. As long as my eyes are upon you, whether I am happy or sad, they will transfuse something of me into you. My eyes are not lamps for burning, but for transfusing. A brother who is a typesetter by trade uses in his business a machine called a phototypesetter. This machine copies characters from a master character disc onto sensitive photopaper. Four burning lamps, which resemble four eyes, transmit intense beams of light through the disc and reflect them off two mirrors onto the photopaper. In this way the exact image of the original characters on the disc is burned into the photopaper. We may say that through this process the image on the disc is transfused into the paper. In like manner, through the seven eyes, something of Christ is transfused into us.
We not only have the seven lamps for burning, searching, exposing, and judging and the seven eyes for transfusing, but also the seven Spirits for the imparting of life. Since the Spirit is the Spirit of life (Rom. 8:2), the seven Spirits are mainly for imparting life. If we only had the seven lamps and not the seven eyes or the seven Spirits, we would be consumed. The seven lamps are not only the seven lamps, but also the seven eyes transfusing and infusing us and the seven Spirits imparting life into us. Praise the Lord that His enlightening, searching, exposing, and judging are for the impartation of life. He is not only the seven lamps, but also the seven Spirits.
Consider your experience. When we came into the church life, we all sensed that there was something shining within, over, and around us. That shining searched, exposed, and judged us. Everyone in the church life has experienced this shining that searched out and judged things that were concealed in the depths of our being. When these hidden things were exposed, we were condemned. But praise the Lord that through this judging, life was imparted into us. Although we might not have had the word infusion, we definitely experienced it. From that time onward, the Lord Jesus became so lovable to us. Due to this infusion, we began to love the Lord more than ever before.
This experience is for the building. There is only one place where we can have this kind of experience—in Bethel. I have the full assurance to say that if your intention is not for God’s building, you will surely be kept from having this experience. When some hear this, they may say, “The Lord is not as narrow as you are.” In some respects, the Lord is even narrower than I am; He is more strict. You cannot experience the things we are describing in this message unless you are in Bethel. Even if we have just the intention to go up to Bethel, we, like Jacob, will experience these things. Only in the local church can we experience the things concerning God’s dwelling place. This experience simply cannot be had anywhere else.
We come again to the matter of the Trinity. According to the traditional teaching of the Trinity, the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are three separate and distinct Persons. In a good and positive sense, I agree with this. I have even used these terms myself. For example, one of my hymns says, “What mystery, the Father, Son, and Spirit, In person three, in substance all are one.” I am familiar with all these things. In the traditional teaching, the Son is the second Person, and the Spirit is the third Person. In the book of Revelation the Holy Spirit has become the seven Spirits. Have you ever realized that these seven Spirits are the seven eyes of the second Person? How, then, can the seven Spirits be a separate Person? Are the second Person and the seven Spirits, the eyes of the second Person, two separate Persons? We simply cannot understand the Trinity by using traditional terms. The more we use these terms, the more entangled we shall become. To say that the seven Spirits are the seven eyes of the second Person is not my definition or interpretation; it is my figuration, my reading of the verses in Revelation. Those at the Nicene Council probably were not clear about the seven Spirits. Since they were not clear, how can we follow their creed? If we follow it, then we must be blind. We do not follow anything blindly. Our opposers say that they believe the creed, but we believe the pure word of the Bible. If the early church Fathers had seen that the Holy Spirit is the seven Spirits, which are the eyes of the second Person, they would have been reluctant to formulate a creed. They would have realized that it was impossible for them to make a creed. Any creed that lacks a sentence found in the Bible is incomplete. For more than fifty years, we have been declaring that we do not want any creed. Our only creed is the Holy Bible with its two testaments. Of course, when we declared this more than fifty years ago, we did not see the seven Spirits. We saw this less than twenty years ago. Gradually, during the past twelve years, this matter has become very clear.
I would like to address a question to our opposers: Do you not believe that the Holy Spirit, who is the third Person, is in the book of Revelation the seven Spirits? But the seven Spirits are the eyes of the second Person. Are They, then, two separate Persons? I am not debating doctrine; rather, I am speaking the reality for God’s building. For us today, the Trinity should not be a doctrinal matter; it must be the experience of the Triune God dispensing Himself into us.
We have seen that, according to the Gospel of John, the eternal Word, who is God, became flesh, and that this flesh was the Lamb of God. In Revelation we see that this Lamb has become the Lion. The Lamb is also the stone with the seven eyes, and these eyes are the seven enlightening, searching, exposing, and judging lamps. The seven lamps are also the seven Spirits of God imparting life into those who have been judged. Furthermore, the seven Spirits are the seven eyes of the Redeemer, transfusing and infusing what He is and what He has accomplished into our being that we may become, in His nature, a stone for God’s building. Do not remain content with traditional teachings and do not stay attached to any doctrinal understandings. We must see that the Triune God is too wonderful. He is the Word, the very God, and He became flesh to be the Lamb of God. In John 14 He indicated that He and the Father are one and that the Spirit is He. This wonderful One is the Lion, the Lamb, and the stone with seven eyes. With these seven eyes He gazes at us and transfuses what He is and what He has accomplished, attained, and obtained into our being to make us the material for God’s building. These seven eyes are the seven Spirits sent by God from His throne throughout all the earth.
We should not have a Trinity in doctrine, but experience the wonderful, mysterious, and excellent riches of our God. All these riches are not only for our redemption and regeneration, but also for our transformation and building up. Oh, how we need the light to see these things! We should not be superficial, and we should never be distracted by today’s Christianity. Rather, we should ignore what the opposers are saying and hold to the Bible, with the pure word and the up-to-date light. We all must see this light. Whenever we attempt to understand the Bible in a “theological” way or come to the Bible seeking theology, we shall be killed. We cannot know the Bible in a so-called “theological” way.