Seven Golden Lampstands; One Eternal Lampstand
God created man in His own image so that man could receive the divine life and express God. Because God is one, He desires one expression, not many separate expressions. This corporate expression is through the church today, as in Ephesians 3:10, and through New Jerusalem for 
eternity.
New Jerusalem, as the expression of God, may be viewed in one sense as a golden lampstand. The city is constituted of gold (Rev. 21:18) and it is high to uphold the Lamp. This Lamp is Christ Himself; “the glory of God illumined it [the city], and its lamp is the Lamb” (21:23). God, in Christ as “the image of the invisible God” (Col. 1:15), shines out through New Jerusalem.
Prior to seeing New Jerusalem, John “saw seven golden lampstands” (Rev. 1:12). These lampstands “are the seven churches” (1:20) addressed in Revelation 2–3. These seven lampstands all express the unique God in Christ. They are separated by location but they all express the same Christ who is the Head and Life for each of them.
These golden lampstands, and New Jerusalem, are portrayed by Matthew 5:14, “You are the light of the world. It is impossible for a city situated upon a mountain to be hidden” and by the lampstand in verse 5:15.
Both the city and the lampstand are “the light of the world” because they have Jesus Christ, “the light of the world” (John 8:12, 9:5), as their living light. May we shine with experiences of Him today on our path to New Jerusalem!
See also: A City Upon a Mountain: New Jerusalem
Posted by Don on November 26, 2021
