The Golden Lampstand

Scripture Reading:

Exo. 25:31-40: And you shall make a lampstand of pure gold. The lampstand with its base and its shaft shall be made of beaten work; its cups, its calyxes, and its blossom buds shall be of one piece with it. And there shall be six branches going out of its sides; three branches of the lampstand out of one of its sides, and three branches of the lampstand out of its other side; Three cups made like almond blossoms in one branch, a calyx and a blossom bud; and three cups made like almond blossoms in the other branch, a calyx and a blossom bud — so for the six branches going out of the lampstand. And there shall be on the lampstand four cups made like almond blossoms, its calyxes and its blossom buds; and a calyx under two branches of one piece with it, and a calyx under two branches of one piece with it, and a calyx under two branches of one piece with it, for the six branches going out of the lampstand. Their calyxes and their branches shall be of one piece with it; all of it one beaten work of pure gold. And you shall make its lamps, seven; and set up its lamps to give light to the area in front of it. And its tongs and its firepans shall be of pure gold. It shall be made of a talent of pure gold, with all these utensils. And see that you make them according to their pattern, which was shown to you in the mountain.

37:17 And he made the lampstand of pure gold. He made the lampstand with its base and its shaft of beaten work; its cups, its calyxes, and its blossom buds were of one piece with it.

Zech. 4:1-6 Then the angel who spoke with me returned and roused me as a man is roused from his sleep. And he said to me, What do you see? And I said, I see that there is a lampstand all of gold, with its bowl on top of it and its seven lamps upon it, with seven pipes for each of the lamps on top of it; and there are two olive trees beside it, one to the right of the bowl and one to the left. And I answered and spoke to the angel who spoke with me, saying, What are these, sir? And the angel who spoke with me answered and said to me, Do you not know what these are? And I said, No, sir. And he answered and spoke to me, saying, This is the word of Jehovah to Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says Jehovah of hosts.

Rev. 1:12-20 And I turned to see the voice that spoke with me; and when I turned, I saw seven golden lampstands, and in the midst of the lampstands One like the Son of Man, clothed with a garment reaching to the feet, and girded about at the breasts with a golden girdle. And His head and hair were as white as white wool, as snow; and His eyes were like a flame of fire; and His feet were like shining bronze, as having been fired in a furnace; and His voice was like the sound of many waters. And He had in His right hand seven stars; and out of His mouth proceeded a sharp two-edged sword; and His face shone as the sun shines in its power, and when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as dead; and He placed His right hand on me, saying, Do not fear; I am the First and the Last. And the living One; and I became dead, and behold, I am living forever and ever; and I have the keys of death and of Hades. Write therefore the things which you have seen and the things which are and the things which are about to take place after these things. The mystery of the seven stars which you saw upon My right hand and the seven golden lampstands: The seven stars are the messengers of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands are the seven churches.

We believe that among God’s children there is a growing sense of the need for a new spiritual position. This feeling may not be common, but it is true in many of the people we meet. This has been the principle by which God deals with His people throughout the history of His people—constantly creating a sense of the need to achieve new positions never achieved, or to restore previously lost positions. Everything in which the Spirit of God moves in and works upon us drives us to seek a new position. No matter what, we will gain a new spiritual status. This, we believe, resonates with many hearts. It will do us no good if we are content with our present spiritual condition. We need a deep feeling that will lead us deeper to the Lord, correct our mistakes and falsehoods, clarify everything about us, and help us shed many vain things and gain those important things. This golden lampstand can concretely see the purpose of God’s call to us, creating and deepening our sense of the need for a new spiritual position. We will consider this golden lampstand from four aspects.

A. The Function of the Lampstand

Let me first talk about the function of the lampstand. Simply speaking, the function of the lampstand is to supply light. A lampstand is not an ornament, a work of art for people to appreciate, an incomprehensible symbol, or an inconceivable hint. The lampstand is for the supply of light. Light is the reason for the existence of the lampstand. According to the Bible, in God’s mind, this is the function of the lampstand. When the apostle John began to record the vision he saw, he said, “And I turned to see the voice that spoke with me; and when I turned, I saw seven golden lampstands, And in the midst of the lampstands One like the Son of Man”. When the Lord speaks to and through His servant, what is the focus? That is, the existence of each church depends entirely on the function of its lampstand. Although the Lord also mentioned many other things, the most significant thing is light. The Lord made it very clear that if the church loses the function of the lampstand, it cannot continue to exist. He said, ” I am coming to you and will remove your lampstand out of its place.” When will it be removed? It is when there is only the lampstand left and it no longer supplies light, when the vessel is there yet the function is no longer there. Under such circumstances, it is better to remove the lampstand. The Lord also stated clearly that He would remove the lampstand. Brothers and sisters, we must pay attention here that the church is called to be a golden lampstand to supply light.

Concerning light, two points should be mentioned here:

1. Light Being an Impact

First, this light is an impact. God’s people are redeemed into this power. Real light has an impact. Anything that does not match its nature cannot coexist with it and will be washed away by it. We all know that light has a power, and when we come suddenly into the sun from darkness, we cannot bear its brightness, and we have to shade our eyes. This kind of impact is really great. This is the impact of light. This means that the testimony of the lampstand is not just to convey a lot of information, it is not just to state some cold facts, and it is not just a matter of doctrines and teachings. How easy it is, as the years go by, the light that initially contained impact will gradually fade into letters. A bunch of letters, the thoughts of which are scriptural and can be considered spiritual, but unfortunately they are just thoughts. How easily the lampstand degenerates to such an extent that, though the vessel remains, somehow the great impact is no longer there! So that you can no longer affect the people around you! Some churches, they still have their orthodox teachings and beliefs, they are willing to sacrifice everything for this truth or that truth, they hate false teachings, but their impact is gone! It seems that the surroundings don’t feel their existence! Perhaps we all understand this situation, but it is not enough for us to understand it, and this situation should make us deeply rebuked.

2. What Being Illuminated by the Light

Another point is what is illuminated by the light and what is revealed by its impact. Here we can see concretely what impact is.

a. God’s Holy Power

What is illuminated by the pure gold lampstand, here we mention three points. The first point is to manifest the power of God’s eternal holiness. The eternal holiness of God was brought into the Church through the Son of Man. When the book of Revelation begins with the description of the Son of Man walking in the midst of the lampstands, it says,” And His head and hair were as white as white wool, as snow.” When we go back to the book of Daniel, we see that this is used to describe “the Ancient of Days—the hair of His head was like pure wool.” (Dan. 7:9) From this we can see that the hair like pure wool represents eternity—beyond time, yet encompasses time—and perfectly holy, absolutely holy. When you see everything being brought to be judged before the “Son of Man”, “The Ancient of Days”, and “Eternal Father”, you will understand how everything must first be challenged and dealt with by His eternal holiness. The lampstand is to manifest the impact of this light. Holiness must become an impact, impacting all unholy things, and it cannot allow the unholy things to continue to exist. Oh, holiness is not a term that everyone loves, but a very terrible term, which we should know in our life of spiritual fellowship. If the eyes of the flame saw in the lampstand something inconsistent with His head and hair, the impact of this testimony would be diminished or even lost, and the lampstand would have no way to remain. This is a serious word, but how true, amazingly true! We may preserve first-class doctrines and spiritual thoughts, and may stand on high teachings, but at the same time, in our private life, there are many unholy and impure things cannot withstand the presence of holy light.

Of course, in order to “make” a golden lampstand, the unholy ones must be dealt with properly before God. This is something everyone should “do”. We must remember that the influence we can exert on our surroundings is not due to our teaching, not our reasoning, not our thinking, but because there is something in us, which is deeper than words. It is more tangible than biblical words, it is a practical power, and it will surround us with a power that is due to our being. However, if the powers of darkness have advanced in us, we cannot manifest this power. The power of darkness lies in unholiness. If they can secretly put uncleanness in people, they will attack us. They will laugh at our teachings and ridicule our testimonies. They are not at all afraid that we have any profound truths. We are unclean, and they gain power. We can see from the Bible that as long as one person in a group lives an unholy life, it is enough to hinder the progress of the whole group. One Akan can set back all Israel (Jos. 7:1), and a little leaven leavens the whole lump. (1 Cor. 5:6). To “make” a golden lampstand, we must deal with this unholiness. This is your business, this is my business, and this is something each of us must pay much more attention to. God’s eternal holy light is a great power. Oh, how we long to feel we can’t stay when sin creeps in. The things that need to be dealt with are exposed not because of what people say, but because of God’s holiness with us. Holiness is a great power, and this holy light must be manifested so that people would have a sense of it.

b. The Light of God’s Ardent Love

The Bible says that the Son of Man in the midst of the lampstand was ” girded about at the breasts with a golden girdle,” which is another sign. ” Girdle ” speaks of power, the power of movement; “Breast” speaks of love. “Girded about at the breasts with a golden girdle,” speaks of His great and divine love. The Son of Man in the midst of the lampstand has that great and divine love; the lampstand, which is the testimony, should also be like this. This impact of light is the power of divine love. Oh, here we have to confess our failure and prostrate ourselves before the Lord to confess our sins. We know so many truths, so many teachings, so much knowledge, and so many spiritual instructions, but how much impact of love can people encounter from us? The intensity of God’s love cannot be resisted by Satan. Brothers and sisters, do you feel that a new position is needed here? Have you ever pondered this question of love over and over again? We have no room for a lampstand which is merely an ornament. The value of a lampstand is judged by its function. Its function is to display the effulgence of God’s glory manifested in the face of Jesus Christ, and to show people the strong love of God, the breasts girdle of love.

Listen, to “make” a golden lampstand, here we need to “make.” We wait for love to pour into our hearts, and we ask the Lord to fill us with love. Although this is true, there is another aspect, you have to “do it!” You have to do something! We also have our portion in this matter. This is a great spiritual warfare. Because of the great value of this testimony, the enemy Satan will suffer a great loss. Against all the jealousy, doubts, and disputes among believers, that is, all kinds of work of enmity done by Satan, only God’s strong love can overcome all these. To think carefully, we should do something. If we want to be this lampstand, we can only do it by the grace of God. If we set our mind on these things, we will do them. If we face these things, we will do them. Our heart will always be dealt with before the Lord.

c. God’s Righteous Light

Another thing about the Son of Man in the midst of the lampstand is that His “feet were like shining bronze, as having been fired in a furnace.” “Bronze” often signifies strength, and it can also signify justice. The feet are like shining bronze, which means that His actions, His ways, and His steps are all righteous and absolutely righteous. It’s also about our move. According to the Bible, the righteous works of the saints refer to those things that oppose Satan’s dark work. In the Word of God, unrighteousness or sin always refers to those things related to Satan. Satan’s only purpose is to rob God of His due rights. To rob the rights of another is the root and characteristic of unrighteousness.

If we search for the source of unrighteousness, we will find that unrighteousness is our self usurping the Lord’s position. Brothers and sisters, you have to think carefully, investigate all kinds of unrighteous behaviors, and search for their source. Every time you have to see that behind the unrighteousness, there is always self-motivation. Here is a Son of Man, who came back from the cross, who became dead and lived again. He is in the midst of the lampstand, He is the embodiment of absolute selflessness, that is, perfect righteousness. In Him, God has obtained all the rights. There is no doubt, no dispute, and no cost at all. Only God is everything. He seems to be saying to these churches, “Look at my feet,” and there’s an absolutely selfless impact here. Not just absolutely for God, but also totally God.

Brothers and sisters, do you find these words too irksome? You must know that the Lord has brought us to a new position, this kind of position. Let’s set this to heart. Teachings, and meetings, are nothing unless the impactful Light is the source and the result of them all, without mixture, without contradiction, and falsehood. Therefore, concerning our teaching, the first thing is not to hear, but to see. If our meeting and our teaching benefit us at all, it is because we have seen something. “I turned to see the voice that spoke with me”. John not only heard the voice, but John turned to see. See what? See the light—the light of holiness, the light of love, the light of righteousness; the light with impact.

B. The Substance of the Golden Lampstand

The lampstand was made of pure gold. In God’s word, gold typifies everything that belongs to God. This lampstand belongs to God. Man has no room here. Its nature is entirely of God.

This gold is pure gold, gold that has been refined in fire. Yes, gold typifies everything that is of God. But when it is related to us, when it is related to the church, that is, God’s people, we see that there is a particular factor that needs to be added, that is, this gold has been purged by fire, and it is the product of suffering and difficulty.

We should have the knowledge of the sufferings of Christ. There are two aspects to the sufferings of Christ: there is the painful aspect of His redemption, which is unique to him, and no one can share in it. There is also the aspect of His representative work, that is, He leads the sons of God into glory for the destruction of the satanic power. Of course, Satan had nothing in Him, and He is sinless. At the same time, however, He stood in the position of a man to be tested to see whether He exercised His free will to satisfy His own interests outside of God. This does not mean that there is a wrong will in Him, but that it will be shown to whom the sinless will is inclined. The exercise of His holy gifts, the responsibility of selection, were severely tested, tried in a fiery fire, in various afflictions. The end of every suffering is to show whether he chooses something outside the will of God in order to avoid suffering and live an easier life. This is the suffering of the representative, and this is the suffering of the representatives of His followers. He also has been tempted in all respects like us, and though He was sinless inwardly, He was like us in this, that in the flames of suffering He had but to take His will out of the hand of the Father, but hand it over to Satan, and He will be free from all sufferings immediately. But do you think He is willing to do this?

Speaking of which, the issue of testimony comes in. Here we shall see that testimony has become something deeper than words, doctrines, and teachings. It becomes a power, efficacy, impact. Because it is produced by fire. If we can get hold of this, we will be greatly helped. Most Christians think that the Lord calls us to serve Him and that the work He wants us to do is a lot of outward activities, such as preaching the gospel to the unsaved, or fulfilling the ministry of teachers, and doing all kinds of things. We admit that these are included in His calling, and we must not neglect these responsibilities; yet at the same time, we must see clearly that no matter how fervently and diligently we serve the Lord in these outward activities, we can never escape the deep inner suffering because of this. Some people may think that if you are willing to do the work of the Lord, accept the sending of the Lord, and do what the Lord wants you to do, there will be no separation between you and the Lord, and your heart will be open to the Lord, and you will always be dealt with by the Lord so that no offense will be left. In this way, the Lord will definitely use His power to complete your mission in all aspects, control the environment, and let no hindrance come, no confrontation, no pain, and no setbacks along the way. However, we know that is not the case and will not be the case.

In reading the New Testament and looking at the experiences of the apostles. How heavy is their responsibility. They are the forerunners of the age, and they also laid the foundation of the gospel. What work they have done. Of course, the Lord loves the Gospel to be preached to every part of the earth. Of course, He wants churches to be established everywhere. There is no doubt about this, and we can also see how completely these people surrendered to the Lord, how their lives were joined with the Lord, and that there was nothing that could offend the Lord. They are truly poured out for God. However, they also mentioned Satan’s hindrance (1 Thessalonians 2:18), and they also spoke of being seriously ill. (Philippians 2:25-27.) The Lord’s servants were imprisoned, lying on sickbeds, and encountered all kinds of tribulations. All these seem to tell us that what God wants to do will encounter various hindrances, limitations, and frustrations, what a contradiction! Is this a strange thing? No! This is the experience of those who serve the Lord. They didn’t run away from suffering—all kinds of suffering.

Also, although there are not many churches mentioned in the New Testament, almost all of them mention their sufferings at the same time. What afflictions these churches endured were related to the will of the Lord. They stood on the will of God, they testified to God, and they were absolutely for God, but God did not spare them from suffering. God did not rebuke Satan, saying, “That is my pleasure, do not touch my anointed one.” They actually suffered, and the Lord instructed them that they would suffer. Suffering is indispensable.

Finally, let us look at the history of the universal church. What kind of history is this? The holy thing, treasure, costly pearls, the wife of the Lamb, writes a history of suffering, suffering unto death! During the time of Nero (an emperor of the Roman Empire in the first century), thousands of Christians were torn apart by beasts. What a story! The Lord did not send an angel to stop it. They all passed through the fire!

What does it mean? This shows that the Lord pays more attention to testimony than work. When you look at it from the ground of work, there are many things confuse you. Actually, it is not the work that the Lord pays attention to first. This does not mean that you should not work for the Lord, but that the first thing the Lord pays attention to is not the work, but the testimony, the light, and the living flame. A testimony is more practical than a set of doctrines and teachings. Do not be in a hurry to convey a term, idea, or truth to others. Don’t be in a hurry to ask people whether they have seen this truth or that truth; for in your opinion, the truth may be only a teaching, an idea. If you notice the impact of a living life before you speak, then people will see that you have something that they don’t have, and people will see that you have one thing that they need, this is a testimony. This testimony is produced through the refining of fire.

“Because to you it has been graciously granted on behalf of Christ not only to believe into Him but also to suffer on His behalf.” (Philippians 1:29) This is the Lord’s gift to you. Will you enthusiastically stretch out your hand for it? “Suffer on His behalf,” this is the Lord’s grace to you. This is how the testimony came.

We need to know that it is at the beginning of these trials that man gains real effectiveness. When Adam fell, this has become a law of the universe—all the abundance in life comes from hardships and is the result of the fiery ordeal. In the spiritual realm, the true effectiveness of testimony comes from being refined by fire. Here, you have to see that the Lord has gained something more real than outward activities. These things He has obtained are beyond human description, and cannot be expressed as doctrines. These things cannot be found by merely looking for them in outward activities. These things are wrought out from the soul, have undergone difficult labor, and are capable of satisfying God. Only in this can God gain something.

Such is the nature of the testimony—it is wrought out of the fire, it is the result of many fiery trials—to which the Holy Spirit gladly commits Himself. Notice the fourth chapter of Zechariah, where the prophet reports what he saw—the golden lampstand and the olive tree, and the oil that flowed from the olive tree into the lampstand to keep the flame burning, and then he says, “Declare the Lord Jehovah of hosts, Not in might, Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says Jehovah of hosts.” To what does the Holy Spirit commit Himself? We stop and ask ourselves, what can we do without the Holy Spirit? Without Him, what are we all worth? If the Holy Spirit does not work with us, we might as well give up our work. We are wholly dependent on Him; apart from Him, we can do nothing. But to whom is the Holy Spirit willing to commit Himself? Entrusted to such a lampstand, forged from the fire and hammered.

The fact is that God wants a work that has been tried by fire and smitten. It is through many smiting that God actually gains something in our life or removes something from us. Any vessel that has not been passed through to fire and beaten is just a lampstand without light, for decoration only, because the Holy Spirit is only willing to commit Himself to a vessel that passed through the refining of fire. A lampstand can be a beautiful ornament, but God does not want this.

C. The Form of the Lampstand

Now look at the form of the lampstand. In Exodus 25, there is a detailed record of the form of the lampstand. Here it is said that it has six branches connected to the central stalk. It can be said that this is a corporate thing, a unity of many. In the book of Revelation, although the form of the lampstand has changed (there are seven instead of one), the principle remains the same. Here it is said that there are seven golden lampstands, but in the midst of the lampstands One like the Son of Man, who holds everything in His hands, and who Himself makes the seven lampstands one—the oneness of the Body of Christ. This is the oneness of the new man. What we will consider here is that the testimony of God is not completed through scattered individuals or divisions, but is fully achieved through the unity that has been refined by fire. Oh, when God brings His children together through trials, you have something that is especially precious to the Lord. We have gone through the fire together, and we have gone through tribulations and afflictions together for many years. Through this, God has worked on us and made us into one—not a unity arranged or agreed upon outside. Here is something very precious, please notice—Satan often tries to scatter us with afflictions and distresses, but Satan cannot use these to divide us and scatter us. When you suffer from this, your first inclination is to separate yourself, to run away, or to blame others, and that is the work of Satan. When God brings two or more companions through the fire, it is His purpose to sweep away all that is personal, to sweep away what separates us, and to identify us as one. If you’ve never been through trouble with someone, you don’t know what true oneness is. Those who have shared tribulations have reached maturity, which is extremely valuable. This is deeper than the blood relationship.

As it is among the Lamb and the bride, so it is among the members of the Body. This oneness must be refined by fire. Therefore, God allows His children to suffer. The church has gone through many trials together, and when it comes out of trials, it has a deep unity that can represent the testimony of God. This is very cherished to God. So when it is written about the Son of Man in the midst of the lampstand, the first thing to notice is that He was “clothed with a garment reaching to the feet.” Before you examine all aspects of Him carefully, you first touch the garment that reaches to the feet, enveloping all the members and making them one. In the power of resurrection, He has overcome all things that oppose oneness, all divisions, and all factious and strife. He passed through death and came out of death, and in His death, He destroyed them all. Therefore, we must pass through the cross. We need to know the fiery trial that can cross out the self, destroy all separation, and produce a kind of unity through the fire so that the Lord can be satisfied.

We must be concerned with the issue of effectiveness, which is the so-called impact, spiritual influence; not letters, teachings, forms, and empty frames, but a kind of flame, deeper than words, that makes people feel the fire of light. This is what the Lord wants. We must commit ourselves to this. It helps us understand the meaning of trials. May the Lord grant grace to enable us to do what is difficult for our natural man, that is, to give a new interpretation to trials. A trial is a savings, a trust. Trials are closely linked with the truth we seek. People who have experience in the Lord tell us that when people sincerely seek for greater power, a richer life, deeper blessings, and more inheritance from the Lord, and to gain something, they will soon enter into the test of interest. This is the Lord’s way of answering their prayers. They did not ask for suffering, and if they had known they would, they would not have dared to ask for what they asked. But this is the wondrous and untraceable principle of the Lord. We must see that what the Lord wants is real and substantial value. For those whom He loves most, He does not promise them out of the hour of trial, and He considers only precious materials worthy of His refining fire.

D. The Testimony of the Lampstand

In the book of Exodus, we see how the Lord appointed His testimony at the beginning and for the first time, the Lord presented this matter before man. Zechariah, like the other prophetic ministries, is a work of recovery at a time when the testimony has been more or less lost. The golden lampstand was God’s whole heart at the beginning. Whenever its fullness has been lost among God’s people, then it needs to be restored. God has been doing the work of recovery until the original intention revealed by Him is fully fulfilled. Over the years, the Lord’s hand has been on some people, leading them to have a ministry to be a part of His vessel. It is for the sake of recovery that the Lord will once again show people practically what His will is concerning this testimony on earth. Therefore, the basis of this ministry is the “golden lampstand.”

Concerning the testimony of this lampstand, we should pay special attention to three points: first, the fullness of Christ, second, the church is a vessel of testimony, and third, the relationship between the cross and testimony. Tracing back to our spiritual history, what we see last is first in the sight of the Lord. The Lord leads us through, not starting from the beginning, but leading us back. We proceed from the latter two points while arriving at the first point. Now let us briefly mention the most basic and main point, which is the fullness of Christ.

1. The Fullness of Christ

We have already mentioned that the lampstand is of pure gold, signifying that everything is out of God. When we meditate on Christ as this lampstand, the first thing that caught our attention is how Christ is wholly of God. God is everything to Him. From here we see the fullness—the fullness of God.

The lampstand has two main numbers, three and seven. This shows the fullness of God and the spiritual fullness. There are three branches on each side of the central stalk, making a total of seven branches. This is the fullness of God and spiritual fullness. The life of the Lord Jesus is to show us this. He dwelt among men in the flesh and served as the lampstand of God, manifesting all the meanings of God with living light. We know that the lampstand is also in its own light. “Giving light to the area in front of it,” (Exo. 25:37), illuminating other objects and at the same time illuminating itself. It is standing in its own light, and its light illuminates itself. The Lord Jesus often said something like this. We see the testimony in Him, and that testimony is for Him. He walked in the light of God all the time, without any veil and shadow covering Him. His testimony is true because everything in Him is of God. This can be proved in numerous incidents. We should read His inward and outward life carefully, noticing how God is His everything and how He rejects everything in order to allow God to be His everything.

What is the testimony of Jesus? Oh, let us get away from all wrong thoughts that testimony is a special set of teachings. No. The testimony of Jesus, which is what God wants in His family, is first of all that there is something here, which is completely and thoroughly delivered from all affections, interests, purposes, and ambitions apart from God. There is no center other than God. We must be able to say, “This is of God, it is absolutely of God, and it is the Lord Himself.”

The fire produced this gold. Oh, what a job it is, the fire to burn away all the alloy and dross, and finally be able to say, “This is all of God, and there’s nothing human element in it.” If we can see this, we can understand all the principles of God. What is God doing? It is to create a testimony that all the strength, wisdom, endurance, and continuation in Him are not of man, but of God. Yes, God is everything. This is the fullness of Christ.

O crippled thoughts we have of the fullness of Christ! We cry out for the fullness of Christ. But the fullness does not come without a thorough emptying first. If God wants to come to fill, everything else must come out, otherwise, it would not be “everything”. The fullness of Christ requires a full position. The problem here is that the fullness of Christ needs to be entered into and experienced. How fulness it is! We sing, ‘ Give up the world, Christ to obtain, He is your heart’s every need… He is so rich, He is so full, He can fulfill all your needs!…” Are you really like this? Is it emotions, poems, songs, or do you actually know that these are true? Oh, we face the test – what else is there apart from Him? We really don’t understand our own heart. In any case, the true testimony is that “God is everything.” This is indeed the case with the Lord Jesus.

Do we understand what a testimony is? Do we understand the fullness of Christ? You say, ‘Well, what’s so special about this? Is not the whole of Christianity a vessel of this kind of testimony? The center of Christianity is of course, Christ. It bears the testimony that Christ is all, will be all, and meets all needs.” Yes, the words are true, and so are the creeds. However, in reality, Christianity has many things except Christ. Many can say with certainty that Christ is everything to them. But they really don’t know what their hearts are like. As soon as the Lord’s hand touches our own precious things, and immediately a dispute arises, it is not so easy to say that Christ is more precious than these. This experience is very practical. Only the fire of God will reveal how much is added in each of us and in Christianity. Oh, look at the so-called Christianity. We cannot but admit how many of those called Christianity is except Christ, and many are extraneous. Here the work of separating the pure gold from the dross is lacking. What God wants is the testimony of pure gold that has passed through the fire, and only God’s wise eyes know what needs to be tried by the fire. There is a great difference between what is commonly called a testimony and a true spiritual testimony. We really dare not say that in this life we can reach the extent where we are fully Christ without any mixtures. But no matter what, God always works toward this goal—everything is out of God, everything is spiritual and heavenly, and there is nothing fleshly or earthly in it. When you touch the lampstand, you touch something deeper than the lampstand itself, which is its spiritual and heavenly nature. To put it simply, you have not met a thing, but you have met the Lord. That thing, that organization, that group of people, that place is nothing. What you feel is the Lord Himself. “The Lord is here” – this is the testimony of Jesus. Do you long for this? During our travels (each person can only go once), if anyone says of us that we have the presence of the Lord on us, we have the fragrance of Christ on us, and when we get close to others, we will remind others of the Lord, this is the highest honor we can receive on earth. Isn’t this what we desire in our hearts? When we gather together, someone comes among us, contacts us, and can say, “What I met there was not a group of people, or some letters, or a particular kind of teaching, but somehow I met the Lord.” Do we have a greater desire than this? To obtain this, the Lord must use a strong flame. Such a testimony is the golden lampstand, which is the Lord Jesus. May the Lord grant us the grace to seek this. May our existence bring in His presence.

2. The Church as a Vessel of Testimony

We have seen that the fullness of Christ is God’s main and basic thoughts, and at the same time, it is the ultimate significance and nature of testimony. Now let’s look at the church as God’s chosen vessel. God entrusted the testimony of the Lord Jesus to the church so that the church could be His testimony on earth. God’s work in the church is also towards the fullness of Christ.

The church follows in the footsteps of the Lord Jesus, and the vessel of testimony follows in the footsteps of the Lord. The Lord said to His disciples, the kernel of the church, “Follow Me.” Soon they discovered that following the Lord was more than just running around with Him. “Follow me,” has a deeper meaning. Oh, what a significance! The spiritual history of the church is a deeper following of Christ, taking every step of the way He walked.

The first is His birth. He was born of the Holy Spirit. A vessel to be a testimony of Jesus must also be born of the Holy Spirit. It is not something that man himself can assemble, nor can he organize and arrange. It has to be born, it has to be born of the Spirit, and it has to come directly from God. If you take away the element of supernatural miracles from the life of the Lord Jesus and make the life of the Lord the same as that of ordinary people, you will immediately destroy God’s basic concept of the heavenly testimony. In the same way, if you imitate its shape and make something out of it, you cannot guarantee that there must be a flame from heaven. This vessel must be born, you cannot imitate it. Let us remember that in any work of God, it is not allowed to reproduce the original. Copyright belongs to God, not to man. Everything that is of God must be born of God, not of man’s will, not of lust, but of God. Being born is just the first step, but it is an extremely important first step. Don’t say, “We’re going to set up something like this in our place too.” You must never think that you can reproduce what you think is good. If God does not do it, but you insist on doing it, the result will surely hurt your heart.

After being born of the Holy Spirit, it enters into testing, and testing leads to perfection. There was nothing sinful about the trials of the Lord Jesus. It is plainly stated that He was made perfect through sufferings. (Hebrews 2:10.) “Even though He was a Son, learned obedience from the things which He suffered.” (Hebrews 5.8.) These verses have absolutely no sinful denotations, but only say that He was placed in the position of human beings, representatively passing through what we have to experience. (There is no sin in Him, but there is in us.) So here is a question of principle, that is, a test of the will. “Not as I will, but as You will”. Hades has exhausted its cunning, the old serpent has exhausted its conspiracy to attack the Lord’s will, trying to tempt Him to deviate a little from the Father’s will. He was tested by attraction, temptation, bribery, suffering, attack, deceitful and various methods, but He remained faithful and unwavering to the Father. This is the principle by which He was tested. We too must undergo the same testing. The Church must follow the way of perfection through testing, and be as faithful and unwavering as He was.

God gave man a free will to choose and decide freely. God takes this free will very seriously. He wants man to make good use of this free will. Man’s destiny is determined by how to use this will, and God entrusts man with this, making man have moral responsibilities. We who belong to the Lord cannot sit back and wait for the Lord to decide everything for us without using our will at all. God will not go against Himself, give us free will, and act alone regardless of our will. Of course, this does not mean that God will not do this in extraordinary times; but at least this is not an ordinary act of God. In ordinary times, God always seeks our will to cooperate with His will. According to this principle, the Lord proved that He was perfect after passing through various tests. Here, we need to follow in the footsteps of the Lord. The church must take this way, that is, willing to agree with God with one accord. Sometimes it requires a deep self-sacrifice, and sometimes it requires strenuously choosing God’s will. This is not a negative thing, but a positive action.

After testing, there is confirmation. We believe that the baptism of the Lord Jesus was an expression of complete surrender to the will of God, which is a reflection of the cross, which includes death, burial, and resurrection. When the Lord Jesus came up from the water, God’s confirmation came one after another: “This is My Son, the Beloved, in whom I have found My delight.” The baptism of the Lord signifies the period from His consecration to His death, so the seal of God is based on His obedience unto death. To die to oneself, to all death apart from God, and to completely and absolutely obey God’s will. Confirmation is the result of tests and expresses approval. The important point is here: God only draws people’s attention to everything that is out of Himself, God never wants people to pay attention to people or work, even if it belongs to His people, or for His work, God does not want us to pay attention, God only wants man to pay attention to Himself. But concerning His Son, He repeatedly called attention to it, saying, “Look!” So it should be with every vessel of the testimony of Jesus, whether individual or corporate; and God went on and on until He can point to that vessel and say, ‘Here am I, and this is what I want. Behold, here you can find me.” It is not to exalt people, but to draw people’s attention to God Himself. One thing is absolutely certain, God will never build anything other than Him in the church. Whenever the church is filled with the Holy Spirit and Christ reigns in it, God causes the church to grow. This is the principle of church growth and the secret of church revival. God first had to find a vessel with the element of His Son in it so that God could say, “This, I will bless, I will confirm, I will increase, I will build up.”

In Luke 13:32 the Lord said, “On the third day I am perfected.” The Lord Jesus was perfected through suffering. Having been perfected, He was raptured into glory. What is not perfect cannot enter into glory. Do not think that glory is just a place; it may be a place, but at the same time it is a condition, a state of glory. Having been tested and confirmed, Jesus was glorified. It is also for the sake of perfection that the church enters into glory. Perfection means nothing else. It means that everything that does not belong to the Lord goes out, and everything that remains is the Lord Himself. This is called the Lord is glorified among the saints. It is His glory, not ours.

This is very simple, but this is the basic nature of the church. This vessel of testimony—the golden lampstand—must turn its back on everything contrary to God, that is to say, it must turn its back completely on the world within us as believers. Maybe we think the world is outside, but it is inside of us. We covet a certain position and are content to glorify ourselves, this is the spirit of the world. This is the exact opposite of God. Jesus did not seek His own glory, but the glory of Him who sent Him. He said, ” I do not seek My glory” (John 8:50). According to the context, this sentence reflects how the Jews at that time sought their own glory, position, and fame. Since Christ is absolutely opposed to the spirit of the world, His church, the lampstand of this testimony, must also contain this quality, as opposed to the spirit of the world. The spirit of the church is to give rather than to receive, to glorify Christ rather than exalt oneself.

The vessel of testimony against all satanic work. If we were to use one word to sum up Satan’s work, that word would be “self.” If you go back to the records about Satan in the Bible, you will see that the reason why he became the enemy of God is because he has self-seeking. He caused the tragedy of the fall of Adam and Eve, that is, he planted the same spirit of self in them—”You will…” (Gen. 3:5) The self, self-centered, this kind of disposition is innate in human beings, this disposition is seen in the suckling babe, who delights with all attention. This spirit is in each of us, and whenever it makes us make people or groups the center of things, we lose the testimony of Jesus. Oh, Satan has destroyed countless things that God can cherish by using this method. It is trying to make man the center of everything, and everything revolves around this man, or to attract man’s attention to that vessel, so that man unconsciously forgot about the Lord. The “self” can be very deceitfully manifested in God’s work, but many works fail when man’s self is too exposed. Seeking fame, position, and honor for oneself at work creeps in unknowingly and veils the Lord Jesus. How easily people are attracted by people, things, and work!

Let’s talk about divisions. One of the chief works of Satan is to instigate reasoning and cause God’s children to form factions and be contentious. Oh, Satan is in the habit of dividing God’s people, and won’t stop until they are separated. He even does not allow two people to have real spiritual fellowship. Therefore, the fight for spiritual unity is a very real warfare against Satan and all his armies. This lampstand is one beaten work, not many pieces put together, there is no trace of welding, and there is no place where you can point to and say, “If you want to take it apart, you can start here.” You can’t find a single crack, it’s a whole piece that has been refined by fire. This is the exact opposite of Satan’s work of separation. Let’s be clear: separation is the work of Satan; the testimony of Jesus is against separation and unity in the love of God. From this, we can see how dangerous and harmful all isolated decisions, ways, and lives are.

It is a sad thing that many times God’s work is hindered or destroyed by those who do it. It’s pretty scary to mention this, but it’s a solid fact. The problem is not with the work, but with the workers. They cannot get along, cannot work together, and must separate East and West. What is the reason for this? You say that this is of course because the work of the cross is not deep enough in them. Yes, but there is another reason, that is, they put work above testimony, and even substitute work for testimony. They came out for work, not for testimony. If they argued, they would stop, discuss it together, and pray together, saying, “Pay attention, this is contrary to the testimony of Jesus.” What are we here for? Do we leave everything and sacrifice everything to work for this? Where is the testimony of the Lord? We have done these works, but we ourselves have turned our backs on the Lord.” In this way, they will re-energize and say, ‘Testimony is higher than work. Work must be the result of testimony. Work cannot be separated from testimony. We must stand on testimony together to glorify God. What are we Christians on earth for? For work, or testimony? Many people care more about the Lord’s work than about the testimony of the Lord. According to them, they also care about the testimony of the Lord, but they are the most difficult to get along with. We often come across situations where you have to say, “Well, they pay attention to the Lord’s work, but they really don’t know where their testimony is!” 』

Let’s face the facts frankly. We should be very concerned about the testimony of the Lord. The testimony of Jesus is absolutely selfless and against all self-centered activities. The testimony of Jesus does not lie in how much work we do or how much we preach, but in how we express Christ. Do we often quarrel at home? Are others easy to get along with us? Are we constantly embarrassing others, getting into arguments, or creating tense situations? Those are the works of the devil to keep us from witnessing. Christians are on earth for testimony, and testimony is manifested in our ease of getting along with others. Except for those who are self-centered, everyone finds the Lord easy to get along with. Let us not change the true meaning of ” testimony “. The testimony is the Lord manifested in us. We do not want people to know doctrines, but we want people to know the Lord.

Many times, what we think of as Christianity has degenerated into a false appearance organization. If I feel that I have been called to do the work of the Lord, and I say, ‘How shall I prepare to do the work? Then I went to a seminary, trained for a period of time, and when I finished, I thought, “Okay, now I’m ready.” May I ask, “What exactly does ‘ready’ mean? Does it mean that we are ready intellectually and theologically? Oh, I’m afraid these things won’t keep me going very far. When I am truly ready, only the Lord knows. It would be better for me to go back to my occupation and quietly wait for the Lord to confirm my calling and say, “Well, you are the one I want, and now I am sending you where I want you to go.” I can boldly believe in the Lord. If He chooses me to work, although I have to wait for a while in my job, sooner or later the Lord’s confirmation will come to me. After the disciples were called, they continued to do their old jobs until the Lord came to confirm His calling. Saul of Tarsus was called on the road of Damascus, but he waited in Antioch until the Lord came and confirmed His call, saying, “Set apart for Me now Barnabas and Saul for the work to which I have called them.” the work they did.” (Acts 13.2.) What the Lord meant was that Paul is now ready, the Lord has obtained what He wants, and now the time has come.

Believers who are called to work, are you afraid of waiting? Can you trust the Lord? Remember, what the Lord wants is a testimony, and cultivate that testimony where you least expect it. You may think that if you can devote your full time to the Lord’s work, you will be able to witness more. However, a person who has been working for the Lord for a long time told us that among the many opportunities and needs of spiritual work, the most difficult thing is how to maintain a balance between testimony and needs. We have to admit that many times, we fail. The testimony we are talking about here is not our ministry, our teaching, our work, our writings, or our sermons. These are not testimonies. If behind them there is something that God approves of, they are nothing. God wants our testimony more than our ministry. Although Moses was called by God Himself, God wanted to kill Moses on the way. God sent Moses, but “[Moses] at the lodging place on the way, Jehovah came upon him and sought to put him to death.” (Exodus 4:24.) Because Moses lacked one thing here, and this thing is indispensable. It’s that thing behind you called testimony. Only the Lord knows if He has this, when and where He can use us. If we are going to be used by the Lord, we ourselves must first become something the Lord wants to have. The Holy Spirit knows where there is need and where there is supply, and brings the two together. There was a need in Antioch, and Barnabas, being a man full of the Holy Spirit, knew who could supply the need, so he went to Tarsus and brought Saul to Antioch. (Acts 11:24-26.) The Lord knows how trivial and monotonous, or how busy and heavy your current affairs are. The Lord fully understands your situation. But this is where you are arranged to be tested. When the Lord thinks it is all right, He will say, “Come, you are my chosen one, and I have another commission for you. Come up!” May your work be like this.

In conclusion, The Lord wants more testimony than work. If we substitute work for testimony, confusion will ensue. We are here to testify, so God’s servants, no matter how big or small, will inevitably experience new discipline and new trials. This seems to be contradictory. Doesn’t work need that person? However, because of trials and tribulations, people are unable to work. What a contradiction! But what the Lord pays attention to is the spiritual measure of the vessel, not the amount of work accomplished.

May the Lord have mercy on us and give us the grace to receive these words. We must remember that what the Lord wants is a lampstand of pure gold for a testimony, not a decoration! The purpose is to testify to the Lord, not to draw attention to oneself.

3. The Relationship between the Cross and Testimony

We have already covered two things about the testimony of the golden lampstand—the fullness of Christ and the church as a vessel of testimony. Now we should pay attention to the third point, which is the relationship between the cross and testimony.

The lampstands are different from the candles. The light of a candle comes from its own burning, but the book of Zechariah shows us that the light of the lampstand comes from two living olive trees, from which oil flows out for its burning, which is inexhaustible. This is much better than candles. We don’t need to provide our own fuel for our testimony, and God never asks us to. The Holy Spirit of God is the fuel needed for a testimony. When we come to the questions of endurance, durability, utility, etc., we see how different all our candles are from the lamps provided by God. The longest candle in the world will burn out sooner or later. Only the living fountain—the Spirit of God—is inexhaustible.

The structure of the whole lampstand shows that it is based on the principle of Christ’s death and resurrection. Try to approach the lampstand, close your eyes, and slowly move your hand up the central stalk of the lampstand. When you touch a place called “knob”, your hand encounters obstacles here and cannot go up smoothly. On our spiritual path, we may encounter something or something that blocks our progress. This hindrance is placed in the way to challenge us and refresh our spirits. After crossing the knob, I met another thing in the shape of a “blossoming bud ” with its leaves stretched out. If you continue to trace back, you will find that this “blossoming bud” is actually a “cup”, a vessel, a vessel for holding things. Touching up again, nothing happened for a while, and everything went well. But then they met the knob, the blossoming bud, and the cup again. Then touch the branches on both sides, from the bottom to the top, and you will also encounter the knobs, the blossoming buds, and cups. Here it is worth our attention. We may think that it is enough to touch the bottom of the lampstand once, and everything will sail smoothly in the future. But this is not the case, and you will encounter it many times along the way. This vessel of testimony is filled with these three things.

What does “knob” typify? The knob is holding you back and you are blocked. Doesn’t it mean that now you have to stay for a while. Note that this refers to the death of the Lord Jesus, the death of the cross. You can’t just jump over it, you have to think about it, you can’t ignore the significance of the cross, and you can’t just skip over it. When the Lord puts the cross in your way, you should think over and over again to understand what the death of the Lord Jesus means.

But thank God, there are blossoming buds on it, almond blossoms. Almond blossoms show new life, new hope, and new progress. Almond blossom is a symbol of resurrection. (Num. 17:8.) The blossoming of the almond tree signifies the beginning of a new season, because almond blossoms are flowers that bloom early in the spring. It seems to tell people here that the resurrection has come, the new year has come, the earth will rejuvenate, vivacious and abundant, here you can see death and resurrection.

Then came the “cup”. The cup is a vessel, and it undoubtedly refers to the result of death and resurrection, the Spirit of life. Through death and resurrection, “there is now then no condemnation to those who are in Christ Jesus. For the law of the Spirit of life has freed me in Christ Jesus from the law of sin and of death.” (Rom. 8:1-2.) This vessel is full of death, resurrection, and the new spirit of life.

The lamp on the lampstand continuously sends out the light of the testimony, illuminating this death, resurrection, and life in the spirit, so that they can be manifested before man forever. Therefore, in the light of heaven, you will see that the testimony of Jesus includes three aspects: to deal with a situation with “death” – that is, “no”; to accept another situation with “resurrection” – that is, “yes”; And through the power of “new life”, live in the realm that pleases God.

Look at Revelation again. The beginning of Revelation shows us that in the midst of the lampstand there is “One like the Son of Man”, who Himself said, “I am… and the living One; and I became dead, and behold, I am living forever and ever.” We see the seven golden lampstands and the living One in the midst of the lampstands. This is the testimony of Jesus in the middle of the lampstands. This testimony is that the death and resurrection of Jesus are deeply organized in each lampstand. Those craftsmen beat and engraved vigorously with various tools, and made repeated symbols on the pure gold. Oh, if we want to be the vessels of the testimony of God, the testimony of Jesus, we must be beaten and engraved inwardly. The death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus must be deeply carved in us.

This is probably the Lord’s challenge to the seven churches in Asia. The Lord spoke about the wrongs and rights of the churches in order to lead them back to their original testimony. When the church began, as we see in the first few chapters of Acts, the apostles’ message centered on the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus. They preached about the crucified Jesus whom God had raised from the dead. Wherever they go, they tell of it, and all things are built upon it, and all things are built up because of this. This is a basic matter—the crucifixion and resurrection of Christ. In proclaiming this message, they encountered many difficulties. For no one has ever heard such a thing, that a man crucified, without human hands, nor any psychic process, should rise from the dead, and live forever and ever–only because God raised Him up. God’s doing this shows that the resurrected Lord is completely after God’s heart. (God is never united to a mind that is only partially toward him.) He exercises the power of resurrection because Jesus Christ is perfectly after His heart. Everything about the Lord is of God. This testimony raises many difficulties. Yes, the troubles on earth are because of the troubles in Hades.

We can say that at the end of this age, the ascended Lord came to the church to lead the church back to the beginning. He seemed to say, “You have many works, you have many advantages, and you have some disadvantages. But the main issue is whether you have the impact of my death and resurrection in you. I am the living one, and I became dead, and I am living forever and ever. Do you testify of this among the peoples, not with words, but with power?” This is the question the Lord is asking the churches, and we cannot escape it.

This one testimony is the foundation of everything. The church, or every child of God, must be brought back to this foundation by the Lord. If you stray from the cross, you cannot progress. The history of the church is filled with both aspects of the cross—death and resurrection. You cannot go beyond the cross, as if to say that you no longer need the cross, that you have reached something deeper than the cross. No, this thing will never be possible! A genuine spiritual experience is when you encounter the cross many times, and the cross has a new meaning and application each time. You have met the knob, and unless you let the cross touch your old creation again, you cannot enter into the resurrection life and enjoy the overflowing cup. This experience comes again and again, and spiritual history is and must be.

After passing the knob, we have to go up. Note that this is an upward movement. The upward movement is the heavenly movement. You approach the heavenly fullness, the richness of glory more and more, to the fullness of light, testimony, and glory, signified by the overhead lamps. We must remember that the purpose of the cross of Jesus, whether it is a basic work or dealing with multiple ways in the future, is always for greater fullness. Oh, never misunderstand the aspect of the death of the cross. Many people are so focused on death and how to die that they extinguish their spiritual life. You cannot see spiritual life in them, because they are always thinking about how to die together with Christ. The aspect of death is certainly necessary, but it is just a way to lead you into fullness. It is an upward movement, a resurrection movement, for spiritual fullness.

God wants to get a group of people who not only preach the facts and doctrines of the death and resurrection of the Lord Jesus in words, but also want them to become a consuming fire in the Holy Spirit, expressing the true significance of death and resurrection vividly and powerfully. God wants to manifest today that He is an omnipotent God, a God who performs miracles, and a God who transcends nature. How did He prove Himself? The best way is, on the one hand, it leads us to know the death of the Lord Jesus and how to end our old life, power, provision, self-content, etc., until we die completely. At that time we have to say, “I can’t go on, I’m powerless, I’m at the end of my rope!” And that’s when we discovered another aspect of God as the God of new beginnings, wonderful beginnings, and resurrection. This testimony says, “If it were not for God, we would have perished long ago. This is the work of the Lord, this is the resurrection power of God, this is God Himself, and there is no one else besides Him.” This is called the testimony of Jesus.

We will accept these words as truth, or we will preach them, but are we ready to allow the cross to kill us all, and lead us again and again to the point of exhaustion, where all strength and hope are lost, As Paul said, “So that we despaired even of living… that we should not base our confidence on ourselves but on God, who raises the dead.” (2 Cor. 1:9.) Are we willing to accept this as the principle of our life? This is truly a glorious foundation. This is the testimony. It is impossible to accept this only by accepting doctrines. Here is the danger— some accept this doctrine, but do not enter into this life and power.

We should silently fall before the Lord and make a covenant with the Lord. We must not only believe in this testimony in words, doctrines, teachings, and knowledge, but also let His death and resurrection work in us, so that we can truly live in the power of the Holy Spirit to keep the testimony of Jesus. —T. A. Sparks