However, the testimony of Jesus is not simply one piece of gold. Instead, it is the lampstands. One person is not a lampstand. Only the church is a lampstand. If we remove a piece of gold from the golden lampstand, the piece is still golden. In nature and element it is the same as the lampstand, but it is not the lampstand. Only the lampstands are the testimony of Jesus. Today many Christians consider that as long as they are spiritual, holy, and for the Lord, everything is all right. However, it is not all right. What God wants today is not separate pieces of gold. What He wants is the corporate lampstands. We must all become the lampstands.
Our burden is to see the Lord’s present revelation and what He wants us to be. The Lord’s present revelation is concerning the recovery of the proper church life. Wherever we are, we must be in the church. If we are not in the church, we are not the testimony of Jesus, regardless of how golden we are. The testimony of Jesus that the Lord desires today is not only golden but is the golden lampstands. We are not qualified by ourselves to be the testimony of Jesus. We do need to be golden, spiritual, and up to God’s standard, but we also must be built into the church. The testimony of Jesus is not a single piece of gold. It is the built-up corporate lampstands.
I am very burdened about this because I have heard much criticism concerning the church for the past forty to fifty years, even up to the present time. Nevertheless, we must not miss this vision. I do not care about the criticisms, because I know by the pure revelation of the Word that nothing but the church is the testimony of Jesus today. Someone may be more golden than others, but if he is not in the proper church life as a built-in part of the church, he is not in the testimony of Jesus. In the book of Revelation, the testimony of Jesus is not individual Christians. The testimony of Jesus is the local churches. If there is no proper church where we are, we should spend every penny and even our own being to be in a place where there is a church. Likewise, if we are in a place where there is a genuine church, we must never stay away from it. If we stay away from the church, we will miss the mark of the Lord’s testimony. If anyone does not believe this today, one day he will admit that this is true, but it may be too late. We would not like to see this. We would like to see that each person is in the testimony of Jesus.
We are golden, but we are not merely pieces of gold. Rather, we must all be able to say firmly, strongly, and positively that we are the golden lampstands. As long as we cannot say this, we are through. We may love the Lord, be for the Lord, be spiritual, and know the Bible more than others, but if we are not the golden lampstands, we are not the testimony of Jesus. What the Lord desires today is the testimony of Jesus. Those who love the Lord Jesus may have had many experiences according to the Gospels and the Epistles, but they should go on from there to the book of Revelation. According to the last book of the Bible, what the Lord wants is the testimony of Jesus.
Without entering into Revelation, we have no goal. In this case, we may be good Christians, but we are wandering Christians. The proper goal is the church. To say that the goal of our salvation is for us to go to heaven is according to a shallow concept of the New Testament. Rather, we are saved for the church, we love the Lord for the church, we preach the gospel and win souls for the church, and we seek spirituality for the church. There is nothing wrong with seeking spirituality, but spirituality that is not for the church means nothing. Everything must be for the church. What the Lord wants today is not all these other things but that we would be the church.
Many people have attacked me and said that I am too much for the church, even addicted to the church, but we can never be too much for the church. We need to see the vision of the church. Once we are caught by the vision, we would not change. For over forty years I have never changed my tone concerning the church. Those who have listened to me again and again for all these years can testify to this. I cannot say that I have not seen the vision. I have seen the testimony of Jesus, and I came to this country with a vision. What the Lord Jesus wants today is the testimony of Jesus, which is the local churches as the pure golden lampstands, the proper, recovered church life.