THE TRIUNE GOD EMBODIED AND EXPRESSED
We have seen that the lampstand implies the significance of the Triune God; it symbolizes the Triune God embodied and expressed. God the Father as the divine gold is embodied in Christ the Son and then is fully expressed through the Spirit. The expression differs from the embodiment. The embodiment must be uniquely one because our God is uniquely one. Thus, the embodiment must be one stand. The expression, however, must be complete, and complete in God’s move. Recall that seven is the number for completion in God’s move. Throughout the centuries, God has been expressed in His move. This is the reason that the seven lamps signify the intensified Spirit as the expression of Christ in God’s complete move. This is the practical understanding of the Trinity.
The Trinity is for the dispensing of God into humanity. God, the divine Being, is firstly embodied in Christ and then expressed through the sevenfold, intensified Spirit. Now we have not only the Triune God; in the lampstand we have the Triune God substantially and solidly embodied and expressed. The gold has been formed into the solid stand. It once was just gold, but now it is the stand. The gold has been formed into a stand for the fulfillment of God’s purpose. Without the stand, there is no way for God’s purpose to be fulfilled. As we have seen, this stand, which is a type of Christ, is expressed through the seven lamps signifying the seven Spirits of God. The seven Spirits of God are not separate from God; they are the seven eyes of God and of the Lamb, the Redeemer. They are also the seven eyes of the building stone (Zech. 3:9). Hence, they are the seven eyes with the redemption of Christ for God’s building. Whenever these eyes look at people, people are redeemed and built into God’s house.
THE REPRODUCTION OF CHRIST AND THE SPIRIT
In Exodus 25 the emphasis is on the stand, in Zechariah 4 the emphasis is on the lamps, and in Revelation 1 the emphasis is on the reproduction. In both Exodus and Zechariah the lampstand is one, but in Revelation it has been reproduced and has become seven. Firstly, in Exodus the emphasis is on the stand—on Christ. Secondly, in Zechariah the emphasis is on the lamps—on the Spirit. Eventually, in Revelation both the stand and lamps, that is, both Christ and the Spirit, are reproduced as the churches. In Exodus and Zechariah there are just seven lamps, but here in Revelation there are forty-nine lamps, for every lampstand has seven lamps. Hence, the one lampstand has become seven and the seven lamps have become forty-nine. The lampstands with their lamps in Revelation are the reproduction of Christ and the Spirit. When Christ is realized, He is the Spirit, and when the Spirit is realized, we have the churches as the reproduction.
(The Genuine Ground of Oneness, Chapter 10, by Witness Lee)
