It is so strange that the intensified Spirit is not only the seven lamps but also the seven eyes of the Lord. “I saw in the midst of the throne and of the four living creatures and in the midst of the elders a Lamb standing as having just been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth” (5:6). When the Lord was on earth, He had only two eyes, and I believe His eyes were always so mild and gentle. They would never cause one to be afraid of Him. But now He has seven eyes, just as the burning lamps. What kind of Jesus is this? We need such a Jesus today with seven eyes as the seven burning lamps. Then when He sees us, He will set us on fire. If His eyes look at us, we will be burnt. This is all we need today.
Yet we must keep in mind that this burning, sevenfold Spirit is not for any individual or for the so-called universal church. It is definitely for the local churches. If we would be burnt and burning, we must be in the local churches. The book of Revelation is not written to any individual saint or to the universal church in the heavens. It is a book written to the local churches on the earth. “What you see write in a scroll and send it to the seven churches” (1:11). If we are going to listen, understand, and receive blessing from this book, we must be in the local churches. To receive anything, we must be in the proper position. The Lord will not change His position; we must change ours. The right position is to be in the local churches, for the Lord sent this book to the local churches. If we are not in the local churches, we lose our position, and if we miss the position, how can we understand? It is impossible. We must be in the local churches. This is not a small thing, for Revelation tells us clearly that the sevenfold Spirit is for the seven local churches.
There is something more that we must see about the intensified Spirit. In the beginning of each of the seven epistles in Revelation, the Lord told John to write what He said (2:1, 8, 12, 18; 3:1, 7, 14). But at the end of each epistle, the Lord said that we must hear what the Spirit says to the churches (2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22). At the beginning it is the Lord who speaks, but at the end it is the Spirit. We can read today what the Lord has put into writing, but simply reading the word of the Lord is not enough. We must also hear what the Spirit says. Only to have the written word is not adequate. We all need to hear the speaking Spirit.
The Old Testament always says, “Thus says Jehovah.” But in Revelation it is, “The Spirit says.” We all must realize that the age has been changed. Today is the age of the Spirit. What the Lord says in the Word is not enough; we must listen to what the Spirit says.
We have both the Bible and the Spirit. The Bible is a book which is already written, but what the Spirit says is something which is spoken instantly. Today’s dead Christianity only takes care of the written Bible. They argue that they are fundamental and scriptural. But they are fundamentally dead and scripturally cold. They only have the beginning of the seven epistles; they do not have the ending. They do not have the speaking Spirit.
At the end of each epistle, the Lord Jesus tells us that we must hear what the Spirit says to all the churches. Today we must listen to what the sevenfold Spirit speaks to us. We must not only read the written book but also listen to the speaking Spirit.
When I was young, I was taught that a Christian must keep the word of the Bible and do everything according to the Bible. I was never taught that I must listen to the speaking of the living Spirit. Even today many so-called Christian churches and teachers emphasize that we must understand the Bible, walk according to the Bible, and do everything according to the Bible. But the Lord Jesus tells us that this is not enough. I do not mean that we should drop the Bible. But beside the Bible, we need the speaking of the living Spirit. To only have the written Bible is not sufficient. We also need the speaking Spirit. We need the Spirit to speak to us through the Bible. We need the Spirit to make the Bible a living book to us. Praise the Lord, we have the written word in our hands, and we have the living Spirit in our spirit. We must have both. We need the Bible, and we need the Spirit—and even more, the intensified Spirit.
It is necessary that we read the written word. But it is more necessary to listen to the Spirit. We must hear what the Spirit says to the churches. It is not to the saints, or to the church, but to the churches. It is not to the church in the heavens but to the local churches on earth. This is why in this book of the Bible it does not say that the Lord says, or the apostle John says, but the Spirit says. In the Old Testament it is “Jehovah says.” In the Gospels it is “Jesus says.” In the Epistles it is always “the apostles say.” But in this book it is “the Spirit says.” This is because the age has been changed to the Spirit.
Eventually, in the book of Revelation, the Spirit and the church are one. “The Spirit and the bride say, Come!” (22:17). At the beginning the Spirit was speaking to the churches. But at the end the Spirit and the bride (composed of all the churches) speak together. The Spirit and the church have become one. This is the fulfillment of Matthew 28. The church has been baptized into the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit. Now the Spirit and the church are one.
We must learn to have our daily Christian walk according to the Spirit. I have mentioned already that I was taught when I was young that we must walk according to the Bible. But eventually, I found in the Bible that we must walk according to the Spirit. “That the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to the flesh but according to the spirit” (Rom. 8:4). Galatians 5:16 and 25 say the same thing.
Some today would argue concerning whether we are right or wrong. But we would rather be livingly wrong than dead right. Whether we are wrong or not is questionable, but one thing is sure: those who argue about right and wrong are really dead. As long as you are dead, what is the value of being right? Sometimes I have said that the most right persons are those who are buried in the cemeteries. They can never do anything wrong. From the first day of the year to the last, they are always so dead right.
We must take care of whether we are living or dead more than whether we are right or wrong. We must walk livingly according to the Spirit. It is not a matter of whether we are right, but of whether we are living. It is not a matter of how to do this or how to do that; it is a matter of listening to and following the sevenfold Spirit.
The age is changed to the Spirit, so we all need a turn. So many people speak much about the church, but they have never been turned. To see the local churches with the intensified Spirit, we need a turn. John said that after he turned, he saw. I do believe that John at that time was quite disappointed. He knew the churches were deteriorating, and he was in exile from all the saints on the island of Patmos. In his disappointment he heard a voice, and when he turned to see the voice, he saw seven golden lampstands. He turned and he saw.
Oh, how we need to turn today! We need to turn from doctrines to the sevenfold Spirit. We need to turn from teachings to the sevenfold Spirit. We need to turn from religion to the sevenfold Spirit. We need to turn from Christian traditions to the sevenfold Spirit. We need to turn from what we know to the sevenfold Spirit. It is only when we turn from our mind to the Spirit that we will see that the sevenfold intensified Spirit is for the local churches.