We need to Plant Church Trees as Golden Lampstands for God’s Corporate Expression

Our ultimate responsibility is to spread the testimony of Jesus by establishing local churches as golden lampstands; for us to spread the church as the testimony of Jesus, we need to plant church trees as golden lampstands for God’s corporate expression.

What God desires to obtain is a corporate expression of Himself; He wants to be reproduced in many sons who are matured and being built up to be His corporate expression – the Body of Christ expressed in the local churches as the golden lampstands.

How can we express the Triune God if we still live in ourselves and express ourselves? We need to have a change of inward constitution and disposition. We need to eat Jesus, drink Jesus, be filled with Him, and let Him saturate our inner being, so that we may be inwardly transformed into His image and outwardly express Him.

It is good to ask the Lord in our prayer with Him that He would transform us for His Body, from glory to glory. Our destiny is to be a part of the millions of the glorified sons of God built up as the New Jerusalem to express the Triune God corporately for eternity.

Therefore, today we need to be the photographs of Christ – His reproduction, His expression, as the church – the testimony of God.

As witnesses of Christ, we need to speak the gospel and disciple the nations with the view of establishing local churches as “church trees”, that is, golden lampstands that shine in this dark world.

Our ultimate responsibility before the Lord in His ultimate move is that we spread the testimony of Jesus by establishing local churches as golden lampstands (see Rev. 1:11-12, 20).

We need to consider it our responsibility that we are one with the Lord and in fellowship with the saints to spread the Lord’s recovery on earth, and in particular in Europe, for the Lord’s ultimate move on earth.

We need to abide in the Lord, enjoy Him as grace, and let Him supply us inwardly for us to cooperate with Him in His move on earth. This is not a movement outwardly initiated by man who was “inspired by God” but a move of the Lord, something that He initiated, He carries out, and He gets all the glory.

We need to Plant Church Trees as Golden Lampstands for God’s Corporate Expression

For the universal spreading of the church as the testimony of Jesus, we need to cooperate with the Lord to plant “church trees” as golden lampstands for the corporate expression of the Triune God (1 Cor. 1:2; Rev. 1:11-12, 20).

We cannot form a church; only Christ is qualified to form the church, and He did it in His resurrection based on His all-inclusive death. Christ formed the church, and He put together both the Jewish and the Gentile believers, regenerating them and baptizing them in the Holy Spirit once and for all; now we need to establish the church in locality after locality.

The way to spread the church as the testimony of Jesus is to bring it to a certain locality and plant it; the church is an organic entity, and we all have the responsibility to plant “church trees” as golden lampstands for the testimony of Jesus.

Only God forms a tree, but we can plant a tree; only Christ formed the church, but the Apostle Paul planted it and Apollos watered it – and God gives the growth (1 Cor. 3:6-7).

Assuming that we can form a church is abominable in the sight of God, for it is presuming that we can do something that only God can do; however, we all have the position, the right, the opportunity, and even the commission to go to the uttermost parts of the earth to establish local churches (Acts 1:8; 13:1-3; Gal. 1:2; Rev. 1:11; 1 Cor. 1:1-2; 1 Thes. 1:1).

We need to take the Lord’s commission and go to every city, town, and village and plant a church there. It is very interesting that the planting of the church in a locality is likened to planting a tree, and this tree grows to be a golden lampstand – which are actually living, golden trees.

If we read the record in Exodus concerning the golden lampstand we have the impression that it is like a tree, with calyxes and blossoms and branches, and the “fruit” or expression is the seven lamps.

What the Lord wants in Europe is that many cooperate with Him to plant church trees in many localities, and these church trees would grow to be golden lampstands shining for the testimony of Jesus.

We shouldn’t be interested in doing a great work that in any way resembles the activities in Christianity, but we should focus on the organic work of planting.

In John 12:24 the Lord said that, unless the grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit. After that, He called us to follow Him, that is, not try to do a great work for God but fall into the ground in Europe and die, so that God would gain in resurrection many seeds, His reproduction.

We don’t want to stir up a lot of excitement and “march to Europe” in the way of a movement, thinking that we will do something outwardly for God that is breathtaking….what we want to do is go in the flow of life, in the Body, and do our part.

We need to deny our soul life in this age and follow the Lord to fall into the ground to die so that church trees may be raised up and planted in all the major cities in Europe.

The married couples need to be like Prisca and Aquilla who planted a church tree wherever they went, and many times the church met in their house. We all need to have the desire to establish churches by planting church trees as golden lampstands for the spreading of the testimony of Jesus!

Lord Jesus, we want to cooperate with You to spread the church as the testimony of Jesus by planting “church trees” as golden lampstands for the corporate expression of the Triune God! We admit we can’t form the church – only You can, but we have the position, the right, the opportunity, and event he commission to go to the uttermost part of the earth to establish local churches by planting church trees! Amen, Lord, we simply give ourselves to You to spread Your testimony on the earth by being in the Body, one with the Head, to plant church trees – establish local churches – in the cities in Europe!

The Golden Lampstand Signifies the Church as the Embodiment and Expression of the Triune God

The golden lampstand was something designed by God in Exo. 25, and it had seven lamps. The element of gold in the lampstand signifies God the Father with His divine nature, the stand and shape of the lampstand signifies Christ, God the Son, as the embodiment and expression of God, and the seven lamps signify God the Spirit.

The lamps were seven: in Rev. 4:5, 5:6 the seven lamps signify the seven Spirits of God for His expression. The lampstand is something physical which the people of Israel treasure and even identify with, but in the spiritual realm, it is an expression of the Triune God.

In Rev. 1:12 when John turned to see the voice that spoke with him, he saw seven golden lampstands and Christ as the Son of Man – the High Priest – walking among them. These seven golden lampstands signify the local churches, the local expression of the one unique organic Body of Christ.

The lampstand signifies not only the expression of the Triune God but also the church, the local church; therefore, the church is the expression of the Triune God, even God manifested in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:15).

In the church we see the Father’s divine nature as the saints exercise their spirit to live by the divine life and not by the human life. In the church we see Christ being enjoyed, experienced, and expressed by all the saints in oneness.

In the church we see the Spirit being intensified sevenfold to produce the overcomers and build up the church as the Body of Christ. The golden lampstand signifies the church as the embodiment and the expression of the Triune God.

A lampstand is for the shining of the light; we need to plant church trees in all the major cities in Europe for the divine light to shine in the darkness.

The lampstand is small – it is not a lighthouse but a small lampstand; this means that the Lord wants a solid expression of Himself in every city, and this may not be that big (not as big as the big tree in Matt. 13, which is abominable in God’s eyes).

The lampstand is like a tree, full of light and life, and bears the fruit of light; this means that the church as the expression of the Triune God should be a place full of life and light, and there must be much light in our meetings as we all prophesy to speak for God and speak God forth.

It is our ultimate responsibility today that we establish local churches by planting church trees, golden lampstands, for the corporate expression of the Triune God (Rom. 16:16; Gal. 1:2; 1 Thes. 1:1; 2:14).

Lord Jesus, gain what You are after in Europe: gain many golden lampstands shining with Your testimony for Your corporate expression in all the major cities in Europe! May many cities in Europe see a light shining in the darkness and the darkness cannot overcome it! We give ourselves to You, Lord, to be one with You and one with the saints in the Body to establish local churches by planting church trees, golden lampstands! Amen, Lord, gain Your corporate expression in Europe!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ron K. for this week, and portions from, The Conclusion of the New Testament, msgs. 11, 31, 197, 432 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Special Fellowship concerning the World Situation and the Lord’s Move, msg. 4 (week 4), Bearing the Ultimate Responsibility in God’s Ultimate Move.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # We give ourselves the flock’s steps to follow / Knowing the Shepherd’s care. / Now in the churches Jesus is leading / And He is speaking there. / We give ourselves to Thee, O Lord Jesus, / Never to turn aside; / Where’er the Lamb goes, there we would follow, / Follow whate’er betide. (Hymns #1246)
  # The Church the lampstand is to Christ, / Christ is the lamp with God as light; / The light divine from Christ doth shine, / The Church upholds its glory bright. (Hymns #822)
  # Lampstands, gold living trees, incarnate God, / With God’s nature, show forth resurrection; / Planting new church trees, to all earth spreading; / Sprouting, growing and blooming, bearing fruit; / The seven lampstands: one form, one nature; / Testimony, expression are but one; / Fellowship and move all are in one flow; / Just one ministry, and one Body. (Song on the church as a lampstand to Christ)