Spiritual things cannot be thoroughly explained even with a thousand words. In these chapters, we have seen the golden lampstand. The golden lampstand is Jehovah, Jehovah is the Lamb, the Lamb is the stone, and the stone is God. I believe that we all now know these new terms. Nevertheless, if we speak them to people, they will think that we are crazy because they do not understand what we are talking about. To be sure, even some of the professors of the Bible in the seminaries do not understand this. Even though they have the Bible in their hands, they do not know these things. However, today we know them by the Lord’s mercy. We know that the golden lampstand is Jehovah, and Jehovah, the God who has a relationship with us, is our Lamb. We also know that this Lamb is the stone which was engraved by God, and that in one day this engraving removed all the iniquity of God’s people. This stone, eventually, is just God. These things could not be more clear even if we listened to ten thousand more words. What is the church? The church is the golden lampstand, the golden lampstand is Jehovah, Jehovah is the Lamb, the Lamb is the stone, and the stone is God.
We cannot use human words to explain the church. It is too mysterious, but we can state it in this way: The church is the reproduction of the Spirit with Christ. Today if we ask those in the seminary what it means that the church is the reproduction of the Spirit with Christ, they may say, “We do not have such a thing in our systematic theology. We only have the church. We do not say that the church is the reproduction of the Spirit with Christ. We don’t understand this.” However, we all can understand. Even the youngest among us can understand. What is the church? The church is the reproduction, the manifestation, of the Spirit with Christ.
The golden lampstand is first a matter of the enlightening of the seven lamps and then of the burning of the lamps of fire. The burning is for the move, and with the move is the judgment. Whenever God moves, He judges. God never does a dragging, hesitant work. He never carries any “grass bags”; He is always clear-cut. Whatever is according to His will, He receives; whatever is not, He rejects. Judges 7 tells us that when God wanted Gideon to smite the Midianites, Gideon had over thirty thousand men with him. God came into this situation in order to move, and His moving was His judging. God told Gideon, “The people are still too many. Bring them down to the water, and I will test them for you there” (v. 4). The test of drinking the water was a judgment. When they drank the water, they were tested. Only three hundred could follow Gideon in his action, and the rest had to return home. God’s move is His burning, and His burning is the judgment for His move.
After the seven lamps of fire burn in us, they become seven eyes. It is wonderful that the shining lamps become the lamps of fire, and the lamps of fire become the eyes. We all know that the eyes are the most lovely part of a person. If a person closes his eyes, we cannot see what is lovely in him. A person’s loveliness is in his eyes. Thank the Lord that the shining and burning lamps eventually become the lovely eyes. I can testify that anyone who has gone through God’s burning, judging, and purifying, and whose “grass bags” have been burned away by God, can say, “O God! I thank You that the burning lamps of fire are the lovely eyes.” These seven lamps are the seven eyes of God.
Perhaps some may say that the seven eyes are fearful, because angry eyes are frightening. The seven lamps are the seven Spirits of God, the seven eyes of God. Are these seven eyes fearful or lovely? One may say that they are sometimes fearful and sometimes lovely, but whether the eyes are fearful or lovely depends not on Him but on us. If we behave as the proper children of God, His eyes are lovely, but if we are naughty, His eyes are fearful. Nevertheless, whether they are fearful or lovely, at least they are not just lamps of fire. We thank and praise Him that they are still His eyes. I can testify, and I believe that many can also testify, that these seven are the seven eyes to us and not only the seven lamps of fire.
Eyes are not only for seeing but also for transfusing. What does transfusing mean? It is to transmit a person’s inner being into the one he is looking at. When a brother whom I delight in comes to me and I look at him, the joy and sweetness within me is transfused into him through my eyes. However, if I see a brother who is very naughty and say within my heart, “Oh! It’s him,” these thoughts within me are likewise transfused into him. To transfuse is to infuse. Whether the transfusion is of love or of fear, God has been transfused into us.