The British Brethren stressed very much that the seven local churches in Asia, spoken of in Revelation 2 and 3, were different, independent, and autonomous. Some even said that there is not only the local church but also the local Body. That would mean that Christ has thousands of Bodies. Based upon the wrong teaching of the Brethren, some dissenting ones said that in Revelation 2 and 3 the seven churches are different, so seven different epistles were written to them respectively. This seems reasonable, but we need to see that in Revelation 2 and 3 the seven churches are different on the negative side. They are different in their failures, mistakes, sinful things, and wrongdoings.

In Revelation 1 the Lord showed us seven lampstands which are the signs of seven churches. These seven lampstands are all identical in nature, in essence, in size, in type, in appearance, in color, and in function. No one could discern which lampstand is which unless you put a label on each one of them. How could you say these seven local churches are different? The Lord rebuked them for all of their differences. Yes, the Lord did write epistles to each of them respectively. But He bound these epistles together to make a total epistle, an aggregate epistle.

In the whole book of Revelation, the Lord showed us that the overcomers are not of different groups. The overcomers always are one unique group. The dead overcomers are signified by the man-child in Revelation 12, and the living overcomers are signified by the firstfruits, the 144,000 standing on Mt. Zion, in Revelation 14. These are not different groups of overcomers but one unique group.

Not only so, eventually, the book of Revelation does have a consummation. In this consummation all the seven lampstands disappear. In the first chapter we see the seven lampstands. But in the last two chapters we see only one city. Eventually, the local churches will be over. Only the Body will remain and remain forever, and this Body of Christ is the unique tabernacle as God’s dwelling place on this earth, the unique Bride of the Lamb (Rev. 21:2-3). We all have to see this.

Therefore, we must pay much more attention to the Body of Christ than to the local churches. This does not mean that I annul the teaching of the local churches. We still need it. As a person we have a physical frame. That is our body. But a body by itself is a carcass. A physical body needs an inner life. Today the church is the same. On the one hand, it does have a frame, a body, but this frame is not the nature, the essence, or the element of the church. Ephesians 4 tells us the church is the Body, and within this church is the Spirit, the Lord, and the Father (vv. 4-6). The Father is the source, the Lord is the element, and the Spirit is the essence of the Body. These four entities are built together.

The Body of Christ is composed first of the redeemed ones who were born by the Spirit to be the children of the Father. They are the God-men, and they are the very Body of Christ, the framework. Built within them are the Spirit, the Lord, and the Father. All three of the Divine Trinity have been built into the redeemed, regenerated believers. So there is such a building, such a structure, constituted with humanity and divinity in the Divine Trinity. Man, the Spirit, the Lord, and the Father are built together. This is not just three-in-one. This is four-in-one. God became a man that we, His redeemed, might become God. With Him there is the Godhead. But regardless of how much divine life and divine nature we have to be the same as God, we do not have the Godhead.
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