Our wonderful Christ is Holder of the bright messengers of the churches, has a sharp two-edged sword proceeding out of His mouth (which is His word, His up-to-date speaking), has a face that shines as the sun shines in its power, He is the First and the Last making sure that He will finish His work, and has the key of death and of Hades. Oh, what a wonderful Christ we have!
Amen, Lord, we praise You and we worship You! We come to You to know You, enjoy You, and partake of Your riches today! We give ourselves to You, dear Lord. Infuse us with Yourself. Make us the bright messengers in the churches today! Make us those to whom and through whom You can speak today. Intensify Your organic salvation in us so that we may become Your overcomers, those who cooperate with You to the uttermost to carry out Your economy and end this age! Amen!
This week we have been enjoying in a prayerful way the fact that Christ as the Son of Man is walking in the midst of the golden lampstands. For us to see the vision of such a Christ, we need to be the Lord’s overcoming messengers today.
We need to be in our spirit and remain on the ground of the church as fellow partakers in the tribulation, kingdom, and endurance in Jesus.
Our wonderful Christ today is the Son of Man walking in the midst of the golden lampstands, and we all need to see a vision of who He is and what He does today. He is clothed with a garment reaching to the feet, and He is girded about at the breasts with a golden girdle. Very mysterious.
He is the Son of Man in His humanity and He is strengthened with love in His divinity.
He cherishes the churches in His humanity to make them feel pleasant, happy, and comfortable; He does this by His speaking as the Spirit and by His trimming the wicks of the lamps for them to shine brighter.
Christ is also nourishing the churches in His divinity with His divine love; He nourishes the churches with Himself as the all-inclusive Christ in His full ministry of three stages so that we may grow in life unto maturity and be produced as His overcomers.
If we read Revelation chapter 1 we see that Christ has a heavenly ancientness (depicted by His hair and head being as white as white wool, as snow) and His seven eyes are like a flame of fire for watching, observing, searching, judging, and infusing. Wow, what a Christ!
His feet are like shining bronze, signifying that His perfect and bright walk qualifies Him to exercise divine judgment. His voice is like the sound of many waters, the sound of the voice of the almighty God in its seriousness and solemnity. Wow, what a Christ!
Christ is the Holder of the Bright Messengers of the Churches: We Aspire to be the Lord’s Messengers Today!
In Revelation 1:16 and 20 we see that Christ as the Son of Man, the One who is walking in the midst of the golden lampstands, is the Holder of the bright messengers of the churches. He holds seven stars in His hand; these seven stars are the messengers of the churches.
Strictly speaking, the Lord is not speaking to the entire church, for many of those in the churches do not have an ear to hear what the Spirit is speaking to the churches.
The Lord as the Spirit is speaking to the messengers in the churches; there have to be some bright messengers in the churches, those who have an ear to hear what the Spirit is speaking to the churches.
It is very interesting that it doesn’t say that the Spirit is speaking to the elders in the churches or the serving saints; it is the bright messengers, the stars in the churches, who are the recipients.
Today in the local churches, the Lord has some elders, some leading brothers, and these can and should be the messengers in the churches. It is good for us to aspire to be the Lord’s bright messengers in the churches, those who hear the Lord’s fresh message and cooperate with Him.
The messengers are the spiritual ones in the churches who bear the responsibility of the testimony of Jesus. They are like stars, so they are of the heavenly nature and in a heavenly position.
As we live in the dark night, even the darkest night before the Lord’s coming, and the church is so degraded all around us, there has to be the shining of both the collective churches and the individual messengers.
The churches need to shine as the lampstands, and Christ as the Son of Man is walking in the midst of the lampstands to cherish and nourish the churches to intensify their shining.
The bright messengers in the churches also need to be shining; we all need to be those who bear the responsibility of the testimony of Jesus.
We are of the heavenly nature and in a heavenly position, and we need to bear the responsibility for the Lord’s testimony on earth today, wherever the Lord has placed us.
The leading ones are in the Lord’s right hand, for He holds them as stars; we want to be the shining messengers, the bright messengers, who are in the Lord’s right hand.
May we aspire to be such ones today. May we not have an ambition to be an elder but rather may we have the aspiration to be a shining one, the bright messengers in the churches.
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 (Rev. 2:1).
Because the leading ones are in His right hand, there is no need for them to shrink back; Christ truly takes the responsibility for His testimony. Christ does it in us and through us; we cooperate, and He operates.
Lord Jesus, we praise You for being the Holder of the bright messengers of the churches. We aspire to be such bright messengers today. We open to You. We open to Your speaking. Enlighten us. Shine on us. Expose us. Expose anything that does not match You. Remove from us anything that You disagree with. May we have an ear to hear what the Spirit is speaking to the churches. Amen, Lord, make us the shining ones in Your hand today. May we realise that we are of the heavenly nature and in a heavenly position today. Amen, Lord, even in the dark night of the church’s degradation, may we shine both personally as bright messengers and corporately as the local churches! We aspire to be the Lord’s shining ones, those who receive the Lord’s shining and who allow the Lord to shine through them! Amen, Lord, we desire to be a shining star today! Praise the Lord, Christ holds the bright messengers of the churches in His right hand!
Out of Christ’s Mouth proceeds a Sharp Two-Edged Sword: His Word Discerns, Judges, and Slays anything Negative
In Revelation 1:16, we are told that out of Christ’s mouth proceeds a sharp two-edged sword; according to Hebrews 4:12, this is the word of God.
The word of God is living and operative and sharper than any two-edged sword, and piercing even to the dividing of soul and spirit and of joints and marrow, and able to discern the thoughts and intentions of the heart.
Today the Lord speaks His word to us, and His word is like a two-edged sword. As we read and pray, pray and read, as we take in the word of God by means of all prayer and petition, the word becomes the sword of the Spirit to slay the adversary and kill the enemy.
On the one hand, the Lord’s word is full of grace, and we receive life and life supply from the Lord’s speaking, for His words are spirit and are life (John 6:63). On the other hand, His words are like a sharp two-edged sword for dealing with negative persons and things.
Christ deals with anything negative by His speaking, by the sharp two-edged sword of His word. He deals with anything negative in us through His speaking.
We believers in Christ are under the Lord’s speaking today. We enjoy His supply and encouragement through His word. At the same time, we experience His judgment through His speaking.
We all can testify that sometimes we wander away from the Lord, we make mistakes, and we transgress; when we come back to the Lord and receive His speaking, anything negative in us is judged by the Lord.
The Lord’s word both supplies us and judges anything negative in us. His speaking today is a type of judgment; the more the Lord speaks to us, the more we are exposed and judged, and at the same time, we are supplied and nourished.
The Lord first exposes, judges by enlightening, and cuts off the negative things, and then He supplies.
Every word out of the Lord’s mouth in the churches today is like a sharp knife that judges us. The Lord’s words pierce into our being, and if we open to the Lord, our soul is divided from our spirit.
We live so much in our soul that we think that we’re ok, but actually we’re soulish and even fleshly. We may even have a church life culture, a Christian culture, in which we are settled, but we don’t live Christ. So we need the Lord’s speaking.
We have a lot of opinions, and the more we know this and that, the more opinionated we are. When we come together, instead of ministering Christ to one another, we speak our own opinions and feelings.
But when the Lord shines on us and we hear the Lord’s speaking, when we as the bright messengers of the Lord in the churches open to His speaking, we are pierced, our soul is divided from our spirit, and we will choose our spirit, denying the self and the soul life. How much we need His shining!
How much we need His piercing word, His word that is like a sharp two-edged sword! This is why we need to place ourselves under the hearing of the faith to have His fresh speaking.
We need not only to read the Bible personally but also be in the meetings of the church to touch something of the Lord’s speaking in His Body.
When He speaks to us, His words are sharp, piercing into our being, dividing our soul from our spirit, and discerning the intentions of our heart.
Lord Jesus, we open to You in Your word. May we experience and enjoy You as the One who speaks to us today. May Your word be living and operative in us. Operate in us through Your word. Have a way, Lord, to discern our soul from our spirit in our being. Judge in us anything that is negative. Slay the enemy in us. Deal with anything negative in our being so that we may be in our spirit, no longer living in the soul or according to the flesh. Oh Lord, we come to You in Your word and we say Amen to Your speaking. Make us the bright messengers in the churches today who enjoy Your living speaking. May the words we hear from You pierce into our being to divide our soul from our spirit. May Your word operate in us to discern the intentions of our heart and cause us to be in our spirit, one with You! Oh Lord, slay the enemy in us by Your speaking. Have a way to cut into pieces our opinions and anything of the enemy in us.
Christ’s Face Shines as the Sun, He is the First and the Last, and He has the Keys of Death and of Hades
According to Revelation 1:16, Christ’s face shines as the sun shines in its power (Dan. 10:6). In Song of Songs 5:10 and 13 we are told that Christ’s face appears lovely for His seeker’s appreciation of Him.
In the Epistles, we can behold the Lord’s face and see the glory of God, and we can reflect Him in His glory (2 Cor. 4:6; 3:18).
Oh, it is so good to behold the Lord’s face and be infused with Him, even to have Him imparted into our being today!
But here in Revelation 1 we see that the Lord’s face shines as the sun shines in its power; this is judging enlightenment to bring in the kingdom (Rev. 1:16c; 10:1; Matt. 17:2; cf. Mal. 4:2; Judg. 5:31; Matt. 13:43).
For Him to bring in the kingdom, His face is shining, and He will bring the kingdom on the earth soon! When He was on earth, on the mount of transfiguration, His face shone like the sun; that was the manifestation of the kingdom temporarily in Him.
But in Revelation, His face is shining like the sun to bring in the Lord’s kingdom! Praise the Lord, when Christ comes to take over the earth for the kingdom, His face will be like the sun (Rev. 10:1). Amen!
In Revelation 1:17-18, we see that Christ is the First and the Last; He assures us that He will never leave His work unfinished. He will finish what He has begun.
What He has begun in us, our organic salvation, He will take it to consummation. He is the living One for the churches as the expression of His Body to be living, fresh, and strong.
As we enjoy this living One, He will make us living even as He is living.
Furthermore, Christ has the keys of death and of Hades. Wow! Death is a collector, and Hades is a keeper, but Christ nullified death on the cross and overcame Hades in His resurrection (2 Tim. 1:10; Acts 2:24).
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 (Matt. 16:18, 21-26).
Today in the church life we want to be those who give the Lord the ground in our being in every way.
Lord Jesus, thank You for being the First and the Last. Hallelujah, we are assured that Christ will never leave His work unfinished, for He will take to consummation what He has begun in us. Amen, Lord, thank You for being the living One so that we in the churches may be Your living expression on the earth! Live in us, Lord, and make us living as You are living! Praise the Lord, Christ’s face shines as the sun shines in its power, for He will bring in His kingdom! Amen, Lord, may Your kingdom come and Your will be done! Judge by enlightening anything in us that needs to be judged and bring in Your kingdom in our being and in the church life today. Hallelujah, Christ has the keys of death and of Hades! Amen, Lord, we praise You! You nullified death on the cross. You overcame Hades in Your resurrection. We give You the ground in our being. Move and act among us. Have Your way to overcome any death in our being and in the church life today!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Ed Marks on this topic, and portions from, Life-study of Revelation, pp. 100-103, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Experiencing, Enjoying, and Expressing Christ (4) (2025 December Training), week 39 (msg. 3), Christ as the Son of Man Walking in the Midst of the Golden Lampstands – day 6.
- Hymns on this topic:
– In the age of Revelation, / Out from all denomination, / We are in the local churches, / In spirit one. / Nothing old or religious binds, / Everyone’s a star that shines; / Every church a golden lampstand, / Burning with Christ. / Christ and a burning church, / Christ and a burning church, / Christ and the church with the saints, / all shining stars! / Hallelujah, hallelujah, / Lord, we’ve given our all to Thee / To be burning in the spirit, to be / shining forth with Christ. (Hymns #1264)
– Caring for the churches / Is the Son of Man: / Voice of many waters, / Stars in His right hand; / Eyes aflame; His face is / Shining as the sun; / Churches—fear no trial, / He’s the living One! / What can quench the lampstands? / Who can them defy? / More the opposition— / More they multiply! / Deeper darkness ’round them, / Brighter do they shine. / They are constituted / With the life divine. (Hymns #1259 stanzas 3-4)
– By the cross discern the spirit, / Put the soul to death alway; / Bear the cross, deny the self-life, / Walk in spirit day by day. / By the cross discern the spirit, / Through the living Word of God, / Separating soul from spirit, / That the right path may be trod. (Hymns #748 stanzas 1-2)
