In the last epistle, the one to Laodicea, there is lukewarmness (Rev. 3:15-16). “I know your works, that you are neither cold nor hot; I wish you were cold or hot. So because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I am about to vomit you out of My mouth.” Lukewarmness also must be trimmed away.
A number of you may be lukewarm. You are somewhat indifferent, yet still you come to the meetings. You may even be proud that you are moderate, and think, “I’m a middle-of-the-road person. It’s good not to be too wild or too committed. I’m not cold, but I’m not hot either. Too much heat burns people; I don’t think that’s good.”
In 1948 an elderly sister came to me in Shanghai and said, “What you people are doing is good, but it is too hot.” She meant that we were overly zealous. She may not have liked it, but our heavenly High Priest likes us to be hot. She went on to say, “If you serve people hot water, they will get burned. It would be better to make the water neither too hot nor too cold.”
Many Christian meetings are in this category. The service is neither too hot nor too cold. It is just right for the indifferent audience who attends. But we have to be hot! We need to burn others!
Sometimes I have been advised to tone down my messages. “Brother Lee, you are too strong. It’s better to be a little milder. You don’t need to make such extreme statements. What is the benefit of saying Judaism is satanic, Catholicism is demonic, and Protestantism is Christless?” To take such advice would be to compromise. I am not a politician, telling you what you want to hear.
Lukewarmness must be trimmed away, along with religion, worldliness, and the evils of Jezebel. Morning by morning the priests did this trimming work.
They also filled the lamps with oil. What is this infilling?
The Lord Jesus said to the church in Ephesus, “To him who overcomes, to him I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the paradise of God” (Rev. 2:7). To eat of the tree of life is the best infilling! This oil surpasses the oil found in the Arab countries!
Then in Revelation 2:17 He promises the one who overcomes in Pergamos, “To him I will give of the hidden manna.” To eat of the hidden manna is to be filled and supplied.
To the church in Laodicea He says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock; if anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him and he with Me” (3:20). By feasting with the Lord, the infilling takes place.
To eat of the tree of life, to eat of the hidden manna, to feast with the Lord: these are all the infilling.
Even as you hear this message, the speaking trims and infills or refills. This is Christ’s high priestly service. By it all the dark, black things of religion, worldliness, evil, and lukewarmness are trimmed away. Also by it the heavenly, divine element of the tree of life, the hidden manna, and the heavenly feast is ministered to you.
The effect of this heavenly ministry is a metabolic transformation. The old things will be discharged and replaced with something new, heavenly, and divine. You will be transformed into precious stones for the building of God’s dwelling place. Even while you listen, this transformation is going on because this ministry is under the heavenly priesthood of Christ. It seeks to trim the churches and supply them with the infilling that all the saints in the churches might be metabolically and organically transformed.
Since I last visited the church here, I can see a change especially in you young ones. There has been some transformation in you. This is not cause for you to be proud. You have probably been unaware that such a thing was going on in you. Nonetheless, you have been at least partially transformed. How has this come about? It has not been by teaching. It has been because your High Priest in the heavens is doing His priestly service, walking among you, speaking to you, and interceding for you. I believe your names have been frequently mentioned by Him in the heavens. Otherwise, none of you would still be here. For you young people to be here is a great matter. Surely it is the heavenly High Priest who has kept you! Day and night He has been taking care of everything that concerns you.
All His service and care has the aim of making you an overcomer. Religion, worldliness, evil things, and lukewarmness are not part of the golden lampstand. But when you eat of the tree of life, when you partake of the hidden manna, and when you enjoy the heavenly feast, this nourishment will become the divine element of which the lampstand is composed.
Thus every local church will be a lampstand, and in every local church will be overcomers. These overcomers will make up the lampstand. With them religion, worldliness, evil, and lukewarmness will have been trimmed away. The heavenly element will have been supplied to you as the tree of life, the hidden manna, and the heavenly feast. What you will have is the Triune God Himself. He will become your constituent. With such a golden constitution there will be the lampstand. A lampstand eventually is the overcomers in a local church.
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