Reading: Exodus 25:31-40 and Revelation 1:12-20.
When we stand back from the symbol, the type, and ask ourselves,
"What does it inclusively represent?" the answer is: the
presence of the Lord in this world in a people. That
explains this lampstand everywhere as we find it in the Bible. The
passages which we have read are only the first and the last
reference to this; there are others. But it is something that
governs or dominates the Scriptures. It is there so early and
comes up again and again; and it is there at the end. And again, I
say, to give the comprehensive explanation of what it means, what
it stands for, is just this: the Lord's presence in this world in
a people. If you think about that, you will, I am sure, find more
and more light upon this symbolic representation.
But then, it goes on to be shown to represent not only the Lord's
presence Himself as here in a people, but the identity of the Lord
and that people. You find that you are not able to divide these
two things - that while it represents the Lord, it also represents
the people. While it sets forth the thought of the Lord, that
thought is embodied in a people, and has no real meaning apart
from the people. The Lord and His people are one, for His purpose
in this world there is an identity of the two. Now, in Exodus, as
we have read, this lampstand represents the introduction of this
divine thought in a symbolic form. There it is brought in at a
point when things are crystallizing, when what has been in the
mind of God all through is now taking definite shape and form,
becoming concrete. The Lord is producing here, in a very real and
definite way, by concrete means, the representation of what has
been in His mind. And there, when He gets that people out to
Himself, He introduces this matter of the lampstand as a part of
much more and it is with this that we are concerned. There, then,
it comes in, not as some casual afterthought of God, but as
expressive of what He has been working towards and seeking to have
up to that time.
You pass to 2 Chronicles 4, where you have it again; you know
that that links it with the temple, and there it represents the
consolidation of the divine thought. There had been movement as in
the wilderness, as in a tent, nothing settled, fixed, but always
mobile, with an end and an object in view. You come into
Chronicles, the end and the object is reached, and now you have
the consolidation of the divine thought. When you pass into the
prophecies of Zechariah 4, there again you have the candlestick
all of gold brought into view, you know that there it is a
question of the recovery of the Lord's thought which had been
lost. The lampstand had been removed out of its place; the
testimony had been lost. The seventy years of exile had passed
over the people. They were neither in their place, nor fulfilling
their vocation. Now it is a matter of recovering - the Lord has
not let it go for good; the Lord has not given up this idea. It
may have suffered some loss for this period, but it is impressive
that, when at last He gets a remnant back into position, He
introduces the lampstand again; it seems to come in very
naturally. Well, this is what it was always intended to be. When
we come to Revelation, and the lampstand arises again in vision,
in presentation, here we find that everything is being brought to
judgment according to the thought embodied in the lampstand. You
know that this book is the book of judgments, and judgment begins
at the House of God. So the first chapters are the judgment of the
church, or the churches; and, right away, the idea of the
lampstand is brought into view, and everything, at the end, is
ultimately judged according to the lampstand.
That is, I am sure, impressive to you; and it is all said with
the object of impressing you with the fact that this is something
about which the Lord is very jealous, which He has never given up,
and which, at the last He brings forward as the standard and basis
of His judgment dealings with His people.
There is a difference, of course, between the Old Testament and the
New Testament representation. In the Old Testament the seven
branches of the lampstand, which is one, is in one place. In the New
Testament the seven are in seven different places. It is not that
just branches are taken off and put in different places; it is seven
in every place - the completeness is there.
Now the focal point of the interrogation here is this: "The
Spirit saith... The Spirit saith to the churches". The
Spirit is speaking, and speaking in relation to the lampstand in
every place; and the challenge and the interrogation is: "He
that hath an ear to hear, let him hear". I do want that to
fasten itself on you before we go further. "The Spirit saith"
- at the end of the dispensation, when the judgment of this whole
world and all that is here is beginning - and who shall say that
we are not on the brink of that - and God cannot judge the world
until He has judged His church. He just cannot; it would be
unrighteous if He were to do so. And so the word is that it must
begin at the House of God. And we may be right on the very
threshold of the judgment of this world, which must be introduced
by the judgment of the church. And if that is true, if there is
anything at all to indicate that, here is the solemn call: "He
that hath an ear"; it is made personal; it is made
individual: "He that hath an ear, let him hear what the
Spirit saith". The challenge, you see, is an individual one,
and it focuses upon the faculty amongst the Lord's people for
hearing, knowing, what is of the Spirit. That is a very deciding
factor in the end, whether we have an ear to know what is of the
Spirit; and when the Spirit speaks, whether we know what it is the
Spirit is saying.
Well, having said all that by way of introduction, let us come to
this representation and that which it represents - the lampstand
all of gold - God's purpose and God's means of testimony and
Self-revelation in this world.
We mentioned just now that in the Old Testament it is in one
place - one lampstand. And while there may be other meanings, the
meaning is this: in the Old Testament, everything points to
Christ; everything is concentrated upon Christ. It is Christ
Himself that is the object towards which everything in the Old
Testament moves and all there points to Him personally. That, of
course, is quite understandable; nothing else can be until He is
revealed and present. But in the New Testament things go further.
He is present; but in the New Testament everything moves through
and from Christ to the church, and then to the world. In the one
it is a concentration on bringing Him personally into view; when
that is done, the next movement of the Spirit is through Him to
the church that the church may take up His ministry, His purpose,
and the church embodying that in the midst of the nations. So we
have in the Old, the One; in the New, the many.
Now we shall examine this, and I do trust that we shall get
through symbolism to the real meaning and message. Whether it is
the One or the many, in constitution, in experience and in
vocation, Christ and His church are identical; they are one.
Look again, in the first place at the nature or the substance of
this vessel, it is said to be "of pure gold". It must be that to
serve the divine purpose. And we understand, in the symbolism of
the Old Testament, and in the New, that gold represents the divine
nature. Of course it has been said that gold symbolises the Deity,
and no doubt there is much truth in that. But I think it would be
more correct to say that it represents the divine nature:- that
which is to reveal God must be like God; that which is to convey
God to the world must partake of the divine nature; it must be
constituted according to the nature of God. That is different from
Deity; I am not saying that the church is to partake of Deity -
that would be wrong. But I do say that that vessel which the Lord
has in mind and in view for His very purpose in this world must
partake of His divine nature. And the essence of the divine nature
is holy love. "He that walketh in the midst of the seven
lampstands has a golden girdle about his breasts". The
symbolism is striking and forceful, that He judges according to
the standard of holy love.
"His hair is as white wool";
the character of His judgment is His Holiness. And He will judge
according to holy love. At the very beginning of the judgment of
the churches: "Thou hast left thy first love"! The "first love"
was the holy love - that is the essence of the divine nature.
Holiness in Love; Love in Holiness. It is a peculiar kind of love;
there really is no love like that holy love. You see, here we are
in the presence of the Light of God - the Light of God with His
people in the world. Jesus, who is the lampstand of testimony of
God, when He was here in this world and its darkness, declared
Himself to be the Light of the world, and the Light and the life
of men supremely revealed in this world - the holy love of God.
His life, His ministry, His works and His death were all governed
by this one thing - the holy love of God. On the one side, a
witness against unholiness; on the other side, a love for
holiness, even unto death. He was here as a testimony against sin,
corruption, uncleanness, defilement - everything evil. He was here
as a testimony against it; the Light exposed and condemned it, and
at last destroyed it in the cross. Here in the Revelation, He is
present as the Living One, the Risen One; as we have said, taking
up the matter of judgment first in the church, and then in the
nations, and then in the kingdom of Satan. And notice again, in
this Book in all the symbolism, judgment against defilement in the
church, corruption in the church, uncleanness in the church,
unholiness in the church, and then in the world, and then in the
unclean kingdom for its destruction. It is judgment against all that is
not holy love; beginning with the loss of that in the church, as
represented by Ephesus. That is "all of gold".
While it is not my desire for one moment to bring any burden upon
you, I have for some time been very deeply and strongly exercised
about this matter of holiness in the church and in the life of the
church. If it is true that the Lord calls His people, and us
amongst them (and for the time being let us focus this upon
ourselves), into that identity with Himself for this purpose of
manifesting Himself here in this world, and being in us, in the
midst of us present as Light in the darkness, this very first
thing about the vessel of such a purpose, the lampstand, says with
such emphasis that it has got to be like the Lord - holy. The eyes
"which are as a flame of fire" - the eyes of His glory,
will search out unholiness. Let there be no doubt about it, in the
end, anything that is unholy and hidden is going to be brought out
to the light; in us personally, in our family life, in our
business life, in every department of our life. He is going to
uncover that which is not holy, and bring it to judgment. I am
sure He is doing that. We must be able - by the grace and mercy of
God, and by all faithfulness to Him and to the Light He has given
us - to stand in the light, and walk in the light. But this is a
matter of what it is that holds the light and gives the light. It
is something of pure gold; that is, it partakes of the nature of
God Himself. And that nature is holy love.
John's final ministry, as you know centres in and circles round
"the testimony of Jesus". And when you look to see what John means
by the phrase which he employs, as distinct from other apostles
and servants of the Lord, you find that in his Gospel, and in his
letters, and in the Revelation, that the testimony of Jesus is
along the line of life, light and love. Life, Light and Love:
those three words comprise his Gospel and his letters, but it is
that now which is the ground of the judgment of the church
universally. Life - "I am the Living One"; Light - "in the midst
of the candlesticks (or, the lampstands)" Love - the very nature
of all.
That should challenge our hearts and our lives. The Lord give us
grace to bear that light.
In the next place, its construction. You see that this
lampstand is in the form of an almond tree, a tree with leaves,
and flowers, and fruit; it is therefore an organic unit. Again and
again you notice in the reading, "of one piece... of one piece".
This is not a composite thing; this is not something externally
put together from the outside, and held together by a framework.
This is not something, in other words, that is constructed, and
constituted, and brought together and held together by creeds,
sacraments, ordinances, by orders or by a set of rules and
regulations; by human control or by legal bonds. It is none of
those. Its unity, its organic wholeness springs out of the very
life that is in it; it is all of the Spirit. It is the Spirit that
constitutes its oneness and maintains it.
Now having said all that, I have touched very deeply into that
which the Lord has many times said, but which has been the vision
of these many years. It is not something set up from the outside,
made by man or men: by committees and with a doctrinal foundation
to hold it together, or a system of regulations or anything of
that kind at all, but something that springs organically and
spontaneously out of the life of the Spirit. And there is a vast
difference between those two things. You have got to take
responsibility for the one to hold it together and maintain it;
but the other is taken by the Holy Spirit as His responsibility.
And there is much more to it than that. What is it the Lord wants
here? We may have failed; it may be a very poor representation,
but we are talking about, we are talking about what the Lord
wants, and what the heart of some of us at least is set upon; that
to which we have given our lives at some little cost. The Lord
wants this organic thing, which springs out of the Spirit of Life
Himself, and grows by its own organic life. That is why we have
refrained from doing many things that are done in Christianity, in
organisation, and the many things we could do, to build up and
form something. We say, "No! Stand back, hands off; let the Spirit
do it". Ours it is to be filled with the Spirit and the rest will
follow. There is no doubt about that at all, that where there is a
Spirit-filled and governed people, the rest will follow. Souls
will be saved and added to the Lord; it will follow as day follows
the night. And other things will follow. But if it is not like
that, then it is a lifelong agony and burden.
Next, the spiritual formation of such a vessel.
"Of beaten work"; one translation says: "hammered out"; that is
vivid, and how true it is! I would go further, and say it is
knocked into shape by many a hard blow. This thing is produced
that way: beaten, hammered and knocked, it goes through a process
of very heavy handling to produce the divine conception. Well,
that is one way of speaking of the suffering, and the discipline
and the chastening that is essential to produce such a vessel and
such a testimony. The Lord finds there preponderances and
excesses, He smites them; He strikes blows at them. The Lord finds
there deficiencies, He works there to make good; it is all
'hammered out' on the anvil of suffering. This may explain a lot.
Let me say it like this: to be an integral part of such a vessel
for the Lord involves you in a lot of difficulty and trouble that
you would never know otherwise; it just does result in a lot of
suffering, unto glory. Let me say this to the younger brothers and
sisters: have no illusions, should that be what the Lord is aiming
at in a company of believers, your touching and association with
it will involve you in a peculiar history of difficulty and
sufferings. If you are not prepared for that, you will not stay;
you will take offence; you will be in confusion. Understand that;
all faithfulness necessitates saying it!
The next, its position. You know the position occupied by
this lampstand in the old dispensation, and it is typical. It was
in a place which symbolically was between heaven and earth; it was
in the intermediary chamber of the tabernacle. On the one side,
the very Presence of God as in heaven; on the other side, this
world; and in between, the lampstand. On the one side, yes the
'earth-touch' broken; on the other side, the 'heaven-touch'
secured and established. That opens the door to very much in the
Word. I see such a comprehensive and detailed embodiment of all
this in John 17. Read that familiar chapter again in the light of
what we are saying. Here is He who is the Light, there with the
Father in prayer, and He has gathered His church, as represented,
with Him there and what is He praying? What is it that is coming
from His lips about Himself and about them? "Mine... they are
not of the world, even as I am not of the world." They are
not of the world even as I am not of the world? "I pray not
that thou shouldst take them out of the world, but that thou
shouldst keep them from the evil one". And yet as to the
world, "that the world may believe..." by what it sees, by
the light which shines upon them - and radiates from them - the
world shall be affected! And yet it is all towards the Father for
the Father's pleasure, for the Father's satisfaction. There is
your 'lampstand', personal and corporate, between heaven and
earth, in the place of intercession. But the emphasis is: "this is
not of the world". It is impressive that it is in John's Gospel
that you have that, in chapter 17.
And then you go over to his letters - and what is it all about?
It is with this tremendous emphasis upon this matter of being
apart from the world, and related to heaven. All those strong
things that John says in his letters about "the world": "the
world lies in the wicked one"; "all that is of the world".
Here is a challenge to us. Of course, in some respects, we may not
need this; and yet I'm not sure that we don't. You may not be of
those who love the world; and in some real ways you have left the
world, and you are not of the world, but do realise that the
enemy's persistent effort in order to neutralize and nullify the
testimony of Jesus is to bring its vessel down on to an
earth-touch in some way. That is so clear and evident in those
letters to the churches in Revelation. It was exactly what had
happened; they had come down, spiritually, and touched the earth,
and the enemy had spoiled their testimony. Even the Lord had to
say: "I can't go on; I must remove your lampstand out of its place
unless this earth-touch is again severed, and you get clear".
There are many ways in which the earth-touch can be brought about.
This speaks of the essential heavenly nature and relationship of
the church if it is going to fulfil its divine vocation. It is so
utterly different from, and a contradiction of, that false
conception of the church, which has its centre in Rome, and has
touched so much of Christianity outside of Rome. It is an
earth-thing, a political thing, a national thing; it is a
historical thing and that is all a denial of the real nature of
the church and the church's testimony. It is a contradiction, it
is not political: "My kingdom is not of this world". "If it
were, My servants would fight!" Any church that touches the
political realm and is associated with it has left its holy place,
and has lost its testimony. It is not historical; it is eternal
- altogether above history, not the many things that the thing that is
called "the church" is the church on this earth. It is between
heaven and earth; it touches the world for testimony, but its link
is with heaven and it is "not of this world" even as its Christ
was "not of this world". That is its position. The Lord keep us
there. Watch carefully against the involvements the enemy will try
to bring about with you and the world. There must be a spiritual
space between us all and the world; that is, where our spirits are
not involved. We walk here, and work here, and do so much here in
this world, and have so much contact with it, but our spirits must
remain clear and free. It is essential to our vocation.
And then finally, its function. The function of this
lampstand, this vessel and instrument is the light of the Spirit.
We know that that oil is symbolic of the Spirit, and the flame of
the oil is the flame of the Spirit's life. And the object of that
is to give light. It is therefore the light of the Spirit. Do you
see what we are here for? Well, it may work out in many
connections and forms, but the inclusive object is the light of
the Spirit in this world. Its function is that light can go forth,
shine, be manifested, and that those who need light can see it and
find it, and find their way. That is what we are here for, or
should be here for.
Do dwell upon these things earnestly and prayerfully. The apostle
Paul, it seems to me, was the instrument for the setting up of the
lampstand, and the setting of the light in every place. These
seven churches were very largely the fruit of his ministry. And he
is the instrument for this dispensation, for bringing the
lampstand in with its light, and what light! What light of the
Spirit was derived from the ministry of that servant of God all
over the world. Yes, but the light has got dim, and John's
ministry is needed; and John comes in with the golden snuffers.
The ministry of his letters and of the Revelation is to get rid of
the dead wick, to get rid of the smoke that has gathered around
the testimony, to revive the life of the Spirit, to say to us: "the
anointing that you have received abides in you, but walk in the
light as He is in the light". The ministry of John at the
end is to revive the testimony of Jesus. In other words, to revive
the light that was committed to the church as the vessel of God in
this world for this dispensation.
I have used many words, I have used much symbolism, I am always
afraid that it might be regarded as teaching, ideas. But may I say
that I feel that the Lord would say this to us at this time as a
part of His very faithful speaking to, and dealing with us, that
we don't fail Him, and that we really do rise to all that He has
sought to show us as to our calling through all these years.
Edited and supplied by the Golden Candlestick Trust.