The church is the house of God, the dwelling place of God on earth, the place in which God can have His rest and put His trust. Hence, the church is the dwelling place of God in spirit (Eph. 2:22). In this dwelling place God lives and moves to accomplish His will and satisfy His heart’s desire.
A house is also the best place for one to express himself. The kind of person you are can be best expressed by your house. Hence, look at a person’s house, and you can tell the kind of person he is, because man’s house is man’s expression. The church as the house of God is the place where God expresses Himself on earth. First Timothy 3:16 shows us that the church is God’s manifestation in the flesh. God not only desires to make home in the church and have a resting place, but He also wants to express Himself in the church. He wants to practice His New Testament economy, speak forth His desire, and manifest His glory in the church. All that He is, all that He is doing, and all that He wants to obtain are to be manifested in the church as His house.
Ephesians 2:19 tells us that all the believers, Jewish and Gentile, are fellow-citizens of the kingdom of God and members of the household of God. This shows us that the church is not only the house of God but also the kingdom of God. Both the Lord Jesus’ word in Matthew 16:18-19 and the Apostle Paul’s word in Ephesians 5:5 indicate clearly that the church is the kingdom of God.
When a person is regenerated and born into the house of God, he enters into the kingdom of God (John 3:5). When he lives a life of righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit in the church, he is in the reality of the kingdom of God (Rom. 14:17). When he labors and works for the church according to God’s intention, he labors and works for the kingdom of God (Col. 4:11). Thus, the church is the kingdom of God.
The church as God’s house is a matter of life and enjoyment; the church as God’s kingdom is a matter of right and responsibility, that we may have the exercise in this age lest we lose the reward and suffer the punishment in the coming age (Matt. 24:45-51; 25:14-30; 1 Cor. 3:13-15).
The book of Revelation shows us that the testimony of Jesus (1:2, 9; 19:10) is particular and consummate. The golden lampstands, the churches, in chapter one, the great multitude which no one could number in chapter seven, the bright woman with her man-child in chapter twelve, the harvest with its firstfruit in chapter fourteen, the overcomers on the sea of glass in chapter fifteen, the Bride ready for marriage and the fighting army of Christ in chapter nineteen, and the New Jerusalem in chapters twenty-one and twenty-two are all the testimony of Jesus.
The golden lampstands in Revelation chapter one signify the local churches. Every local church is a golden lampstand (1:20), the testimony of Jesus Christ, having the sevenfold intensified Spirit of God as the lamps and shining forth the testimony of Jesus from its locality.
The lampstands are for shining in the night. The present age is a spiritual dark night. The seven lamps of the lampstand are the seven Spirits before the throne (Rev. 4:5); they are for the church to be the lamps of Christ shining out the light in the dark age today. Furthermore, the lampstands are made of pure gold. Gold signifies God’s divine nature. Thus, the golden lampstands indicate that the churches are shining out with God’s nature in this dark age.
The golden substance of the lampstand signifies God the Father; the specific shape of the lampstand signifies Christ, since Christ is the embodiment of God; and the seven lamps of the lampstand signify the seven Spirits of God (4:5) as the expression of God. Hence, the golden lampstands signify the churches as the embodiment and expression of the Triune God shining forth, with the sevenfold intensified Spirit of God as the lamps, the testimony of Jesus in the dark age of today.