Crystallization-Study Outlines

ZECHARIAH

Message Nine

The Vision of the Golden Lampstand

and the Two Olive Trees

Scripture Reading: Zech. 4

I.       We need to have a spirit of wisdom and revelation to see a vision of the golden lampstand, which was designed by God Himself and portrays the goal of His eternal economy—Eph. 1:17; Zech. 4:1-5; Rev. 1:2, 9-12:

A.     The golden lampstand signifies the Triune God:

1.      The pure gold substance signifies God the Father in His divine nature—Exo. 25:31.

2.      The stand signifies God the Son as the image and embodiment of God the Father—2 Cor. 4:4b; Col. 1:15; 2:9.

3.      The lamps signify God the Spirit as the seven Spirits of God for the expression of the Father in the Son—Exo. 25:37; Rev. 4:5.

B.     The lampstand in Exodus, the lampstand in Zechariah, and the lampstands in Revelation are three stages of the truth concerning the lampstand:

1.      The lampstand in the tabernacle in Exodus 25:31-40 signifies Christ Himself as the embodiment of the Triune God, the lampstand in Zechariah 4:2-10 signifies the sevenfold intensified life-giving Spirit as the reality of Christ, and the lampstands in Revelation 1:12 and 20 signify the churches as the reproduction of Christ and the reprint of the Spirit.

2.      Thus, the church is the reprint of the Spirit, who is the reality of Christ, who is the embodiment of God.

II.     Zechariah 4 tells us that when Zechariah saw the lampstand, he asked the angel what this was; then the angel answered, “This is the word of Jehovah to Zerubbabel, saying, Not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says Jehovah of hosts”—v. 6:

A.     The Lord told Zechariah that the lampstand was His Spirit; thus, the lampstand first signifies Christ, then the Spirit, and ultimately the church; this indicates that the very Christ is the Spirit and that the Spirit with the very Christ produces the churches.

B.     The ultimate definition of the church is that the church is the reproduction of Christ and the reprint of the Spirit.

C.     When we say that we are the church, we must realize that we have to be fully in the Spirit; if we all are in the Spirit, we are the church in reality—Eph. 4:4; Gal. 5:16, 22-23, 25; 1 Cor. 12:7; Eph. 5:18; Zech. 4:6.

D.     Since we are standing as the church in our locality, we must be in the Spirit, because the church is the reproduction of Christ and the reprint of the Spirit.

E.      Christ has been regenerated into our being (John 1:12-13; 3:6b), and we are being fully transformed into His being (2 Cor. 3:18); as the Spirit, He is the lampstand, and the church is also the lampstand; we have to see what the church is to such an extent; if we see this vision of the church, we will be afraid to exercise our flesh—Gal. 5:16.

F.      The Spirit is the ultimate consummation of the processed Triune God, and the church is the reprint of the Spirit, the corporate expression of the Triune God; based on this we may say, “No Spirit, no church. More Spirit, more church.”

G.     Our natural being has no share in the church, no part in the church, because the church is the reprint of the Spirit; the church as the lampstand is pure and without mixture.

H.     We need a governing vision that terminates, kills, and annuls everything of our natural man; if this vision is shining so brightly within us, the Lord will have a way to speak to us in our daily life to terminate our natural man—cf. 2:20.

I.       The “good manners” for the church life are our reborn, indwelt spirit (John 3:6b; Rom. 8:16; 2 Tim. 4:22; 1 Cor. 6:17); in our spirit we have the reprint of the divine Spirit, which is the church in practicality.

III.    The seven lamps of the lampstand (Zech. 4:2; Rev. 4:5) are the seven Spirits of God, the sevenfold intensified Spirit (1:4), as the seven eyes of Jehovah (Zech. 4:10), the seven eyes of the redeeming Lamb (Rev. 5:6), and the seven eyes of the building stone (Zech. 3:9) for the full expression of the Triune God:

A.     The sevenfold intensified Spirit is the eyes of Christ as the redeeming Lamb and the building stone to observe and search us and to infuse and transfuse us with Christ’s essence, riches, and burden for God’s building—v. 9; 4:7; Rev. 1:14; 5:6.

B.     The seven eyes of the Lamb infuse us with Christ as the judicial Redeemer, and the seven eyes of the stone infuse us with Christ as the organic Savior for God’s economical move on earth through His judicial redemption and by His organic salvation for the goal of His building—John 1:29; Acts 4:11-12; Rom. 5:10; 1 Cor. 3:12.

C.     Within us we have two lamps—the sevenfold intensified Spirit of God within our spirit—Prov. 20:27; Rev. 4:5; 1 Cor. 6:17:

1.      In order to be transformed, we must fully open to the Lord in prayer to allow the lamp of the Lord with the seven lamps of fire to search all the chambers of our soul, shining on and enlightening our inward parts to supply them with life—2:11a; Eph. 6:18.

2.      The one who experiences the greatest amount of transformation is the one who is fully open to the Lord.

D.     In His resurrection Christ, as the last Adam, became the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b; John 6:63a; 2 Cor. 3:6b), who is also the sevenfold intensified Spirit; this Spirit is the Spirit of life (Rom. 8:2); hence, the function of the seven Spirits is to impart the divine life into God’s people for the building up of God’s eternal habitation, the New Jerusalem.

E.      The seven Spirits are burning before the throne to carry out God’s administration, to execute God’s economy in the universe, by directing the world situation.

F.      The sevenfold intensified Spirit is the seven lamps of fire to burn, enlighten, expose, judge, purify, and refine us to produce the golden lampstands for the fulfillment of God’s New Testament economy—Rev. 4:5.

G.     The seven Spirits, who are the lamps of fire in this age executing God’s New Testament economy, will become the river of water saturating the holy city of God, the New Jerusalem—22:1-2.

H.     By the operation of the sevenfold intensified Spirit within Christ’s seeking believers, they are intensified to become the overcomers to build up the Body of Christ, which consummates the New Jerusalem.

IV.    We need to see the vision of the two olive trees on the two sides of the lampstand—Zech. 4:11-14:

A.     The two olive trees signify Joshua the high priest and Zerubbabel the governor at the time, who were the two sons of oil, filled with the Spirit of Jehovah for the rebuilding of God’s temple—vv. 3-6, 12-14:

1.      The building up of God’s dwelling place is a noble work to be done by all God’s people (1 Cor. 3:10; Eph. 4:12, 16); however, the wisdom, understanding, knowledge, and skill for this work must be God Himself as the Spirit to us (Exo. 31:2-6; cf. Col. 1:28-29).

2.      Only the Spirit of God can build His own dwelling place through us—Zech. 4:6; Eph. 2:21-22; 1 Cor. 3:16-17; 6:19.

3.      To bring forth the topstone is to complete the building; the shouts of “Grace, grace to it” indicate that the topstone itself is grace; the topstone typifies Christ, who is the grace from God to us to be the covering of God’s building—Zech. 4:7; 1 Cor. 15:10; 2 Cor. 1:12; 12:7-9.

4.      Christ is the foundation stone to uphold God’s building (Isa. 28:16; 1 Cor. 3:11), the cornerstone to join together the Gentile and Jewish members of His Body (Eph. 2:20; 1 Pet. 2:6), and the topstone to consummate God’s building.

B.     The two sons of oil also typify the two witnesses, Moses and Elijah, in the last three and a half years of the present age, who will be witnesses of God in the great tribulation for the strengthening of God’s peoples—the Israelites and the believers in Christ—Rev. 11:3-12; 12:17.

C.     In principle, all the believers in Christ should be sons of fresh oil, those who are filled with the Spirit as the oil to flow out the Spirit into the lampstand for its shining testimony, the testimony of Jesus—cf. 1:2, 9; Psa. 92:10:

1.      The church as the lampstand is the solid embodiment of the Triune God with the sevenfold intensified Spirit as the oil of God in His divine nature.

2.      The oil itself is gold (Zech. 4:12), which means that the gold flows as oil; when more oil is added into the lampstand, that means more gold is added.

3.      We need to pay the price to gain more gold, more of God in His divine nature—2 Pet. 1:4; Rev. 3:18; Zech. 4:12-14; Matt. 25:8-9.

4.      As we apply this matter to our experience today, we see that the Spirit who flows out of us is God, and God is gold; thus, when we minister Christ to others, supplying them with oil, we are actually supplying them with God; God is flowing out from us into them.

5.      We all should be olive trees emptying God from ourselves into others; in this way oil will be provided to the needy by those who are olive trees out of which God is flowing—Rom. 11:17; Luke 10:34; cf. John 7:37-39.