The seven lamps are the seven eyes, the seven eyes are the seven Spirits, and the seven Spirits are the seven lamps. We can keep going in a circle! What, then, do the lamps, the eyes, and the Spirits mean? Furthermore, how can the lamps be the eyes, the eyes be the Spirits, and the Spirits be the lamps? Some may say, “The seven lamps shine, the seven eyes infuse, and the seven Spirits saturate.” This sounds logical, but it is still not complete. We may ask further, “How can the lampstand be Jehovah, Jehovah be the Lamb, and the Lamb be the stone?”
These truths have been buried in the Bible for centuries. Even those in the best theological schools, when reading these things, try to disregard them. They say, “Do not try to take care of so many things. Some portions in the Bible are very difficult to understand, and we should only take care of what we can understand.” Eventually, many only care for John 3:16 and 1 Timothy 1:15. If we ask the theologians and study all their expository books, we cannot find anything that tells us that the lampstand is the Triune God. There is also nothing that tells us that the lampstand in Exodus emphasizes Christ, the lampstand in Zechariah emphasizes the Spirit, and the lampstands in Revelation are the churches. Hence, many Christians today do not highly regard the church because they do not have this light and revelation. We may illustrate this in the following way: I once bought a very good watch, which came in a nice looking box. When one of my children saw the package, he did not care about the watch but asked for the box. He saw that the box was very attractive, and he appreciated the box; that was the extent of his “vision” and “revelation.” Actually, that was his foolish vision and low revelation. I was wise; I kept the watch in my pocket and gave him the box because I had the insight to see what was valuable.
One day after I gave a message in Houston, Texas, a married woman came to me and said, “Brother Lee, your message was very good, but why do you speak only about the church life and not the family life?” I replied, “There are enough people speaking about the family life, so there is no need for me to speak about it. Because no one speaks about the church life, I have to make up the lack and speak specifically about the church life.” I continued, “Seriously speaking, which is more precious, the church life or the family life? Which is high and which is low? Which is weighty and which is light?” I kept speaking and eventually I said, “If you do not have a proper church life, it will be hard for you to have a proper family life.” That woman was separated from her husband, so she was hoping that I would say something about the family life to help them be reconciled. Actually, she did not realize that the reason for their separation was that they did not have the church life. I do not believe that any family who practices the church life will have a separation. We can boast and say that today in the practical church life there is no divorce or separation! After a quarrel, a husband will first blame himself, confess his sins, shed tears, and then go to his wife to say, “I am sorry; please forgive me. The church life compels me to confess and apologize!” Therefore, I said to that woman, “Today you need the church life. I came here because I have been commissioned by the Lord to tell you that you need the church life.”
All these precious truths are in the Bible, but because we are too shallow, we have not seen them or entered into them. The golden lampstand is ultimately not for Christ or for the Spirit but for the church. Where does the church come from? The church comes from Christ with the Spirit. Never forget that Christ with the Spirit is the church.
The name Jesus means Jehovah the Savior, that is, Jehovah as our salvation. Therefore, this Jehovah is the Lamb. John 1:29 says, “Behold, the Lamb of God.” Who is this Lamb? This Lamb is Jehovah the Savior, God who was incarnated to bear our iniquities in His flesh. He is our Jehovah-Lamb. He is the eternal God who came to be our Redeemer. Therefore, the eyes of Jehovah are the eyes of the Lamb. Furthermore, this Lamb not only died on the cross to bear our sins but also resurrected from the dead! In His resurrection He became the stone. How do we know this? It is not easy to explain. For this purpose, we need to read Acts 3 and 4. In Acts 3:15 Peter preached the gospel, saying, “The Author of life you killed, whom God has raised from the dead.” Then in 4:11 he said, “This is the stone which was considered as nothing by you, the builders, which has become the head of the corner.” When did Christ become the head of the corner? It was in resurrection. The Jews considered Jesus the Nazarene as a small stone that did not deserve their attention, so they cast Him aside, even cast Him into the tomb. However, God opened the grave and brought that small stone out of the tomb and made it the first, the head, of the corner. On this stone are seven eyes. This stone is the Lamb, the Lamb is Jehovah, and Jehovah is the golden lampstand. This is not simple.
What does this all mean? This tells us that the eternal God became flesh to be the Lamb who bore our sins and redeemed us by His death, and then He was resurrected to become a stone. The stone is the lampstand, and the lampstand is the stone. We all know that the lampstand is for giving light and for shining and that the stone is for the building of God’s eternal dwelling place. The first time the lampstand is spoken of in the Bible is for the building of the tabernacle. God’s building can never come into being without the lampstand. If there is no lampstand, there is no building of God. The first building of God was the tabernacle, within which was the lampstand, and later in the temple there was also the golden lampstand. Still later, the temple was destroyed, and in the restoration and rebuilding of the temple in Zechariah 4, the lampstand reappeared. Thus, in God’s building there is always the lampstand.
On the one hand, Zechariah 3 and 4 speak of the lampstand, and on the other hand, they speak of the stone. Upon the lampstand are seven lamps, and upon the stone are seven eyes, which are the seven eyes of Jehovah. This proves that the stone is Jehovah. The seven eyes of Jehovah are the seven eyes of the stone. Is not this tantamount to saying that Jehovah is the stone? The resurrected Christ is Jehovah, but now Jehovah is a stone, and this stone is for the building of God’s dwelling place. In Zechariah 4 He is for the restoration, the rebuilding, of the temple, whereas in Revelation 1 He is for the building of the church. Revelation deals with God’s building, which begins with the church and reaches the New Jerusalem as its eternal goal. This building altogether hinges on Christ as the living stone.
Dear brothers and sisters, when we put all these things together, we can see a picture that is better than a thousand words. When we look at these things as a whole, we know what the church is. What is the church? Jehovah became the redeeming Lamb who died and resurrected to become the building stone; this building stone is the lampstand with seven eyes, seven Spirits, and seven lamps to produce the church. This golden lampstand is the church. This lampstand-church, or church-lampstand, is not so simple. In it there is Jehovah, there is the redeeming Lamb, and there is the resurrected stone. The lampstand is here, the seven lamps are here, and the seven Spirits are here; all these items are present.
Now we can see what the church is. It is the church, not Christianity, that must go to bear the testimony in every place. When I speak about this, a fire is ignited within me. I want to stir you up so that you will go out to preach the gospel of the glorious church and bear the testimony of the church. Every city, town, village, and hamlet on the island of Taiwan needs this testimony. I am very happy in my visit at this time because I see that so many young people are burning with love for the Lord and bearing the responsibility for the service in this conference. Today, however, I want to stir you up to go forth! You need to go through the entire island of Taiwan and establish a church in every place. This is not to establish Christianity but to establish the church in the Lord’s recovery.
I want to disturb your “nests” so that from this day on you can no longer have a peaceful life; rather, you need to go out and preach the gospel. “Go therefore and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit” (Matt. 28:19). We say amen! You should go first through the entire island of Taiwan and then to Southeast Asia. This age is yours; you should not preach the low gospel, a gospel merely for people to be forgiven of their sins and for their souls to be saved. Rather, you should preach the gospel of the glorious church. Our Bridegroom will come, but where is the bride? There must be churches raised up in every locality on earth. Only the proper church can be His bride.
Today this is the work which the Lord is doing in the United States, Europe, and South America. This is why nearly the whole of Christianity in Europe and America is opposing us. Today the Lord needs the testimony of the lampstand; He needs the churches as the lampstands in every locality. It does not matter whether our number is big or small; what matters are the brightness of the lamps and the shining of the gold. The hope of such a testimony rests on you who are the young generation. We thank the Lord that from 1948 to this day His testimony has been in Taipei for twenty-nine years. Many of you who are the working young people are the crystallization of this testimony of twenty-nine years. If you do not rise up, this testimony will not have much future or prospect. Therefore, today I hope that your eyes will be opened to see that in the Bible what the Lord desires to have ultimately is the lampstand with Christ, full of the Spirit, with the shining of the lamps and the gold, bearing the testimony for the Lord. Every city, every town, and every village on the whole island of Taiwan must have such a testimony. One place may have thirty people meeting together, another forty, another twenty, and still another fifty. In every locality there must be a lampstand. You have heard enough, eaten enough, and enjoyed enough; today you should accept such a commission.