The Vision of the Glorious Christ as the Son of Man Walking in the Midst of the Golden Lampstands

Prophecy note, 27 November 2016
If we
are going to see
the vision
of the glorious Christ
and of the seven churches
in Revelation 1—3,
we must care for
the following things:

We must take
the position of a slave:

Paul says
that he was
a “slave of Christ Jesus” (Rom. 1:1);
his use of this term
indicates that he
was not a self-appointed apostle
or one
hired by the Lord;
rather,
he was one
purchased
to serve God
and minister Christ
to His people,
not in the natural life
but in the regenerated life.

We need to be willing
to serve others
as a servant,
even as a slave,
rather than rule over others.

Christ served us
in the past,
He is still serving us
in the present,
and He is going to serve us
in the future;
if we
are going to serve others
with Christ,
we need to allow Him
to serve us first.

We must exercise
our human spirit
as the organ
for us
to see, realize, and respond to God’s move;
only spirit
can respond to Spirit.

We must have
an ear
to hear
what the Spirit
is speaking
to the churches:

Seeing depends upon
hearing;
John first heard the voice
and then saw the vision;
if our ears
are heavy
and cannot hear,
we cannot see.

The Lord
always wants
to open our ears
to hear His voice
so that we
may see things
according to His economy.

The heavy ears
need to be circumcised.

The sinners’ ears
need to be cleansed
with the redeeming blood
and anointed
with the Spirit.

To serve the Lord
as priests,
we must have
our ears cleansed
with the redeeming blood.

The book of Revelation
is the unique and ultimate revelation
of Jesus Christ:

John was exiled
to the island of Patmos
because he
was faithful to God’s word
and because he
was for the testimony of Jesus;
under such circumstances
the glorious Christ
revealed Himself
to John
and gave him
new revelations.

The earth
had diminished
before John’s eyes,
but heaven
was opened
to him;
this brings to mind
Joseph
who was in prison,
Moses
who was in the wilderness,
David
who was in distress,
and Paul
who was in chains;
they all
received fresh revelations.

John
was going down the path
that they had trodden;
he received visions
that he
had never received before,
and he
came to know
the enthroned Lord
whom he
had never known before;
it is unfortunate
that God’s children
often misunderstand
God’s ordained “Patmos.”

Christ
as the Son of Man
is the High Priest,
“clothed with a garment
reaching to the feet,
and girded about
at the breasts
with a golden girdle” (v. 13),
to cherish the churches
in His humanity
and nourish them
in His divinity:

The Son of Man
is in His humanity,
the golden girdle
signifies His divinity,
and breasts
are a sign of love:

Christ
was girded
at the loins,
strengthened for
the divine work
to produce the churches,
but now He is girded about
at the breasts,
caring for
the churches
that He has produced
by His love.

The golden girdle
signifies Christ’s divinity
as His divine energy,
and the breasts
signify that this golden energy
is exercised and motivated
by and with His love
to nourish the churches.

Christ
takes care of
the churches
in His humanity
as the Son of Man
to cherish them:

He dresses
the lamps of the lampstands
to make them
proper,
cherishing us
that we
may be
happy, pleasant, and comfortable:

The Lord’s presence
provides an atmosphere
of tenderness and warmth
to cherish our being,
giving us
rest, comfort, healing,
cleansing, and encouragement.

We can enjoy
the cherishing atmosphere
of the Lord’s presence
in the church
to receive
the nourishing supply
of life.

He trims
the wicks
of the lamps of the lampstand,
cutting off
all the negative things
that frustrate our shining:

The charred part of the wick,
the snuff,
signifies things
that are
not according to God’s purpose
which need to be cut off,
such as
our flesh, our natural man,
our self, and our old creation.

He trims away
all the differences
among the churches
(the wrongdoings, shortages,
failures, and defects)
so that they
may be the same
in essence, appearance, and expression.

Christ
takes care of the churches
in His divinity
with His divine love,
signified by
the golden girdle
on His breasts,
to nourish the churches:

He nourishes us
with Himself
as the all-inclusive Christ
in His full ministry
of three stages
so that we
may grow and mature
in the divine life
to be His overcomers
to accomplish
His eternal economy.

As the walking Christ,
He gets to know
the condition of each church,
and as the speaking Spirit,
He trims
and fills the lampstands
with fresh oil,
the supply of the Spirit.

To participate in His move
and enjoy His care,
we must be
in the churches.

The heavenly ancientness
of the Lord
is depicted
by His head and hair
being white
as white wool, as snow:

The Lord Jesus
is God;
He
is beyond time,
and He
encompasses time.

White hair
signifies experience, glory, durability,
as well as holiness.

Isaiah mentions
God’s promise
to cleanse man’s sin
until it is
like wool
and as white as snow;
when we consider
how our sins
have been cleansed
and that we
are as white
as the head and hair of the Lord,
we cannot help
but marvel at
the greatness of the Lord’s grace!

The Lord’s seven eyes
are as a flame of fire
for watching, observing,
searching, judging
by enlightening, and infusing:

Christ’s eyes
are for God’s move and operation
on earth,
since seven
is the number for
completion in God’s move.

The Lord’s eyes
being like a flame of fire
is mainly for His judgment.

“Unto the judgment seat of Christ
/ I daily look away;
/ May all my living and my work
/ Abide the fire that day”
(stanza 5
of a hymn
written by Watchman Nee).

The Lord’s feet
are like shining bronze,
as having been fired
in a furnace,
signifying that His perfect and bright walk
qualifies Him
to exercise divine judgment.

The Lord’s voice
is like the sound of many waters,
which is a tumultuous sound,
the sound of the voice
of the Almighty God
in its seriousness and solemnity.

Christ
is the Holder
of the bright messengers
of the churches:

The messengers
are the spiritual ones
in the churches,
the ones
who bear
the responsibility
of the testimony of Jesus.

The messengers,
who are
of the heavenly nature
and in a heavenly position
like stars,
are those
who have
a fresh message
from the Lord
to His people.

The messengers’ hope and happiness
are in the heavens;
they have
intimate fellowship
with Christ;
they also have
the power and authority
of the Lord,
because they
are in the right hand
of the Lord Jesus.

If we are willing
to submit ourselves
totally to the Lord’s hand,
care for
the things of Christ Jesus,
and gladly bear
the responsibility for His sake,
not only
will we receive
the Lord’s reward,
but the Lord
will also use us
to accomplish
His great work.

Out of Christ’s mouth
proceeds
a sharp two-edged sword,
which is
His discerning, judging,
and slaying word
for dealing with
negative persons and things.

Christ’s face
is as the sun
shining in its power
for judging enlightenment
to bring in the kingdom.

Christ is
the First and the Last,
assuring us
that He
will never leave
His work unfinished,
and the living One
for the churches
as the expression of His Body
to be
living, fresh, and strong:

By knowing the Lord
as the God
who lives forever and ever,
we can be assured of
His presence
in our spirit
all the time;
nothing establishes us
more than
the assured presence of the Lord.

The words
I am living forever and ever
should be
our strength and hope;
the living God
whom Abraham
called upon,
whom Daniel
served,
whom Müller
trusted,
and whom Watchman Nee and Witness Lee
knew
is the God
to whom we
also belong
and whom we
also serve;
we should worship Him
and praise His name
with joy!

Christ has
the keys
of death and of Hades:

Death is a collector
and Hades is a keeper,
but Christ
nullified death
on the cross
and overcame Hades
in His resurrection.

As long as we
give the Lord
the ground, the opportunity, and the way
to move and act
among us
by exercising to
deny the self,
take up the cross,
and lose our soul-life,
death and Hades
will be under His control.

Day 5
Rev. 1:15-16
…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…

Dan. 10:6
His body also
was like beryl,
His face
like the appearance of lightning,
His eyes
like torches of fire,
His arms and His feet
like the gleam of polished bronze,
and the sound of His words
like the sound of a multitude.

Feet
signify the walk.
In typology,
bronze
signifies divine judgment.
When Christ was on earth,
His earthly walk and daily walk
were tried and tested.
Because His walk
was tested,
He came out shining.
Now
the feet of Christ
are as shining bronze,
as mentioned also
in Ezekiel 1:7 and Daniel 10:6,
signifying that His perfect and bright walk
qualifies Him
to exercise divine judgment.

In the Bible
bronze
signifies judgment.
…His feet
being like shining bronze
speaks not only of the strength of His move,
but the absolute righteousness
of His move, His ways, and His footsteps.
His feet
are not just like shining bronze
but are like shining bronze
that has been fired
in a furnace.
When bronze
is fired in a furnace,
it emits a fearful whitish glow.
This is
how strong and pure
the Lord’s feet are.
Whatever sin
is judged by His sharp eyes
will be crushed
by His strong feet!
He will judge
whatever is sinful to His eyes.
His walk
is pure.
He is walking
in the midst of the churches
with a fearsome holiness.
Will He not judge
many sins?

In Revelation 1:15
“the sound of many waters,”
a tumultuous sound,
is the sound of the voice
of the Almighty God.
It signifies
the seriousness and solemnity
of His speaking.
Sometimes
the Lord’s voice
is gentle and tender,
but at other times
His voice shocks us
like thunder.
Whenever we
are sloppy or sleepy,
the voice of the Lord
will wake us up.

Revelation 1:16 says,
“He had
in His right hand
seven stars.”
As verse 20
makes clear,
“the seven stars
are the messengers
of the seven churches.”
The messengers
are the spiritual ones
in the churches
bearing the responsibility
of the testimony of Jesus.
Like stars,
they should be
of the heavenly nature
and in a heavenly position.
In the Acts and the Epistles
the elders
were the leading ones
in the operation
of the local churches.
The eldership
is somewhat official,
and, as we have seen,
at the time
that Revelation was written
the offices in the churches
had deteriorated
in the degradation of the church.
In this book
the Lord calls our attention
back to spiritual reality.
Hence,
it emphasizes
the messengers of the churches
rather than the elders.

The Lord
symbolizes the messengers
as stars.
This means
they possess
a heavenly position
and experience
like the stars in the heavens.
They testify for the Lord
and shine for the Lord
like the stars at night.
Their hope and happiness
are in the heavens.
They have
intimate fellowship with Christ.
They also have
the power and authority
of the Lord,
because they are
in the right hand
of the Lord Jesus.
They represent the church,
because they
are the most faithful ones
in the church.
They mind
the things of the church.
They view
the failure and success of the church
as their own.
They bear in their hearts
the responsibility of the church.
Whoever wants to be useful
in the hand of the Lord
must be
on his knees,
with tears,
and with an outpoured soul,
interceding for the church of Christ.
Although the failures of the churches
are not our own,
yet it will be
our failure
if we
are unconcerned about
their failures.
We should have
an enlarged heart
to include all the children of God,
viewing their business
as our business.
…If we
are willing
to submit ourselves totally
to the Lord’s hand
and gladly bear
the responsibility
for His sake,
not only will we
receive the Lord’s reward,
but the Lord
will also use us
to accomplish great work.

Day 3
Rev. 1:12-13
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.

Revelation 1:12-13
shows that Christ
is taking care of the lampstands
by being the Son of Man
with a long garment.
This garment
is the priestly robe,
which shows
that Christ
is our great High Priest.

He is also girded
about at the breasts
with a golden girdle.
…The golden girdle
is one piece of gold
to become a belt.
The Son of Man
is in His humanity,
and the golden girdle
signifies His divinity.
This golden girdle
is on His breasts,
and the breasts
are a sign of love.

The priests in the Old Testament
were girded
at the loins
for their ministry.
In Daniel 10:5
Christ also is girded
at His loins,
with fine gold.
To be girded
at the loins
is to be strengthened
for the work.
Christ has finished
His divine work
in producing the churches.
Now by His love
He is caring for the churches
which He has produced.
This is
why He is girded
at the breasts.
Today
Christ is
our High Priest
taking care of His churches
established by His labor.
But now
He takes care of the churches
with the girdle
not on His loins
but on His breasts,
signifying love.

The golden girdle
is a sign,
signifying Christ’s divinity
becoming His energy.
Christ’s energy
is totally His divinity.
A piece of gold
is now a girdle.
The totality of Christ
in His divinity
has become a girdle.
The golden girdle
signifies Christ’s divinity
becoming His energy,
and the breasts
signify that this golden energy
is exercised and motivated
by His love.
His divine energy
is exercised by and with His love
to nourish the churches.

Christ takes care of
the churches as the lampstands
in His humanity
as “the Son of Man”
to cherish them.
Christ as our High Priest
takes care of the churches
He has established
first in His humanity
to cherish the churches,
to make the churches
happy, pleasant, and comfortable.

He does this
by dressing
the lamps of the lampstand.
The high priest
in the Old Testament
dressed the lamps of the lampstands
every morning.
To dress the lamps
is to make them proper.

Christ cares for the lampstands
by trimming the wicks
of the lamps of the lampstand,
just as the priest
did according to the type
in the Old Testament.
When the wick
was burned out,
it became charred and black,
so the priest
had to come
to cut off
the black part of the wick.
…The charred part of the wick,
the snuff,
signifies things
that are not according to God’s purpose
which need to be cut off,
such as our flesh, our natural man,
our self, and our old creation.
All the lampstands
are organic.
They are
living lampstands.
Since each church
is a living lampstand,
each church
has much feeling.
A church with charred wicks
will not feel comfortable.

Christ, as the High Priest,
takes care of
the churches as the lampstands
in His divinity
with His divine love,
signified by the golden girdle
on His breasts,
to nourish the churches.
…His divinity
as the divine energy
nourishes the churches
in many ways.

On the one hand,
He trims
the wicks of the church lamps,
cutting away
all the wrongdoings, shortages,
failures, and defects
mentioned
in the seven epistles
to the seven churches.
Christ did the best trimming work
in His humanity
to cherish the churches.
On the other hand,
in each of these seven epistles,
we see
Christ’s nourishing.
For example,
in the first epistle
to the church at Ephesus,
Christ says,
“To him who overcomes,
to him I will give
to eat of the tree of life,
which is in the Paradise of God” (2:7).
…If I do not eat Christ
here today,
I will not eat Him
in the kingdom age.

Day 1
Rev. 1:1
The revelation of Jesus Christ
which God gave to Him
to show to His slaves
the things that must quickly take place;
and He made it known
by signs,
sending it
by His angel
to His slave John.

Rev. 1:10
I was in spirit
on the Lord’s Day
and heard
behind me
a loud voice
like a trumpet.

Rev. 2:7
He who has an ear,
let him hear
what the Spirit says
to the churches…

A slave,
according to ancient custom and law,
was one
who was purchased
by his master
and over whom his master
had absolute rights,
even to the extent
of terminating his life.
Paul was
such a slave of Christ.
…Paul’s use of this term [Rom. 1:1]
indicates that he
was not a self-appointed apostle
or one hired by the Lord;
rather,
he was one
purchased to serve God
and minister to His people,
not in the natural life
but in the regenerated life.

The indignation
of the ten disciples
in Matthew 20:24
…afforded the Lord an opportunity
to reveal the way
to live in the kingdom:
to be willing
to serve others
as a servant,
even as a slave,
rather than rule over others.

Three passages
…help us see
how Christ served us
in the past,
still serves us
in the present,
and is going to serve us
in the future.

Mark 10:45 says,
“For even the Son of Man
did not come to be served,
but to serve
and to give His life
as a ransom
for many.”
…The Son of Man
came to serve everybody.
Whoever comes to the Lord,
the Lord always serves them.
The Lord feeds the hungry;
He heals the sick ones.
Without regard to the time and place,
the Lord always serves us.
The highest service of the Lord
was giving His life
as a ransom
for many.
He gave His life
to serve man.

Luke 22:26-27
…concerns Christ
serving His disciples.
“I am in your midst
as the one who serves.”
We should remember
that the Lord is among us
to serve us.
This is grace!
…The meaning of salvation
is that Christ serves us first,
and then we serve Him.

Luke 12:37 says,
“Blessed are those slaves
whom the master,
when he comes,
will find watching.
Truly I tell you
that he will gird himself
and will have them
recline at table,
and he will come to them
and serve them.”
…The Lord said
He will serve us again
in the future.
Once we
were indebted to the Lord
and received His grace freely.
We will forever be indebted ㅁ
to the Lord
and will forever enjoy
His grace.
Revelation
stresses…our human spirit
as the organ
for us
to realize and respond to God’s move.
Only spirit (our spirit)
can respond to Spirit (God’s Spirit).
…John
was in his spirit
when he saw these four [major] visions
[of the book of Revelation] (1:10; 4:2; 17:3; 21:10);
that is,
he received the revelation
of the mystery of Christ
in his spirit,
according to
what is mentioned in Ephesians 3:5.
We too
need to be in our spirit
to see the visions
in this book.
It is a matter
not merely of mental understanding
in our mind
but of spiritual realization
in our spirit.

Although our angle and position
may be right,
we still may not have
the proper ear
to hear.
Revelation 1
emphasizes seeing
and chapters 2 and 3
emphasize hearing.
In spiritual things,
seeing depends on hearing.
The writer of this book
first heard the voice
and then saw the vision.
If our ears
are dull and cannot hear,
then we cannot see.
The Jews
would not hear
the word of the Lord,
so they could not see
what the Lord was doing
according to the new testament.
The Lord
always wants to open our ears
to hear His voice
that we
may see things
according to His economy.
The dull ears
need to be circumcised.
The sinners’ ears
need to be cleansed
with the redeeming blood
and anointed with the Spirit.
To serve the Lord
as priests,
we must have our ears
cleansed with the redeeming blood.
…As the Spirit
is speaking to the churches,
we all need
an opened, circumcised,
cleansed, and anointed ear
to hear
the Spirit’s speaking.