Let us forget about the theologians and come back to the Bible. The Bible says that this lampstand is Jehovah, Jehovah is the Lamb, the Lamb is the stone, and the stone is God. Dear brothers and sisters, we must see these matters clearly if we want to know the church. We should not forget that the lampstand is the Triune God. How, then, is the lampstand Jehovah? We need to be clear that in the Bible the title Jehovah is used specifically concerning God in His contact with man, His relationship with man. In Genesis 1, a chapter on God’s creation, Jehovah is not used even once, but God is used repeatedly. God is the Creator. It is not until chapter two, concerning God’s relationship with man, that the title Jehovah is introduced. In the name Jesus, Je- refers to Jehovah, and -sus denotes the Savior or salvation. The name Jesus means Jehovah being our Savior and becoming our salvation. Therefore, the name Jehovah denotes the Triune God in His contact and relationship with man. It is true that the golden lampstand is the Triune God, but this Triune God is not without a relationship with man. The Triune God has become the golden lampstand so that He may contact man and have a relationship with man. Therefore, this Triune God—the golden lampstand, Jehovah—desires to contact man and have a relationship with him.
How can God have a relationship with man? How can He contact man? Man is sinful, but God is sinless; man is evil, but God is holy. It is not possible for that which is sinless to have a relationship with that which is sinful, and it is not permissible for that which is holy to contact that which is common. In other words, there is no possibility for the Triune God to have a relationship with sinful man unless there is the shedding of blood by the Lamb, for without the shedding of blood there is no forgiveness of sins. Therefore, it is not enough to have only Jehovah; Jehovah had to become Jesus as the Lamb.
Here we see a progression. For the Triune God to have contact with man, He must be Jehovah; for Jehovah to have contact with man, He must be the Lamb to take away our sins. However, His being the Lamb is not the goal; it is the procedure. The taking away of man’s sins is the procedure, but the goal is the building of God’s eternal dwelling place. Therefore, after the Lamb there is the stone, and this stone is related to the Lamb. The Lamb takes away man’s sins, and the stone has been engraved (Zech. 3:9). Because He has been engraved, the iniquities of God’s people are removed in one day. At what point did God engrave the stone? It was on the cross. The Lord’s death on the cross, that is, His suffering on the cross, was God’s engraving. On the cross God engraved the Lord Jesus, referring to the death, the slaying, the shedding of blood, of the Lamb, and that engraving removed the iniquities of the world and of God’s people in one day. Thus, the Lamb and the stone are connected. The Lamb is for redemption and the stone is for building; thus, redemption is joined to building. The result of this progression—the lampstand, Jehovah, the Lamb, and the stone—is God Himself.
I hope these matters are clear. Here, we will give more time not to the lampstand, Jehovah, or the Lamb, but to the stone. I do not believe that among today’s Christians there are many messages given concerning the stone. Zechariah 3 says that Jehovah set a stone before Joshua the high priest, and upon that stone were seven eyes. Then chapter four says that Zerubbabel would bring forth a stone as the topstone of the temple. Joshua was the priest, and Zerubbabel as a descendant of David represents the royal family, the royal authority. The priesthood and the kingship joined together to bring forth the stone. The stone in 3:9 is the stone in 4:7. The stone in 3:9 has seven eyes, and the stone in 4:7 is a topstone.
The Jews built their houses mainly with three kinds of stones: the foundation stone, the cornerstone, and the topstone as the covering of the house. The housetop was flat, and on the flat surface was a topstone. First there was the foundation stone, then there was the cornerstone to join the walls together, and then there was the topstone above. When the topstone was placed on the housetop, the building of the house was completed. The Bible tells us that the Lord Jesus is the foundation stone, the cornerstone, and the topstone of God’s building. When the topstone is set, God’s building will be completed. Upon the topstone are seven eyes, just as on the golden lampstand the seven lamps are not at its base or at its midsection but on its top part. This means that the Lord Jesus as the material for God’s building has seven eyes upon Him, not as the foundation stone or the cornerstone but as the topstone.