New Jerusalem, the Eternal Lampstand
Revelation 21:23 declares, “the glory of God illumined it [New Jerusalem], and its lamp is the Lamb.” God in Christ is the eternal Lamp and New Jerusalem is the eternal lampstand.
The New Jerusalem is the ultimate consummation of the lampstands in the Scriptures. The lampstand in the tabernacle signifies Christ Himself (Exo. 25:31-37). The lampstand in the temple signifies the enlarged Christ (1 Kings 7:49). The lampstand in Zechariah 4:2 signifies the people of Israel. Finally, the lampstands in Revelation 1 signify the churches (vv. 12-13, 20). Christ in His incarnation was a lampstand, and He was enlarged in His resurrection. The children of Israel as God’s people were also a lampstand, and the churches as God’s chosen people are the lampstands. The one aggregate of all the lampstands will be the New Jerusalem.*
The lampstands hold the lamps so that light can shine. In the physical picture, the lamp in on top of the lampstand. In the spiritual reality, Christ, the real Lamp, is within His people and shines through them.
Christ is “the light of life”and He is our life. When we walk according to His shining in us, we “walk as children of light” and He shines through us. This is to express Him, to “magnify Christ” (Phil. 1:20) in every kind of circumstances both now and in New Jerusalem.
Eventually New Jerusalem as the eternal lampstand will hold God the light in Christ the Lamp for His eternal magnification.
* From chapter 26. Witness Lee, God’s New Testament Economy, published by Living Stream Ministry, © Witness Lee, 1986.
Posted by Don on October 21, 2022
