WOW! Have you ever heard such a statement? There is actually a book by brother Witness Lee called, The Church – The Reprint of The Spirit, and this morning I enjoyed some portions from this book (as quoted in the morning revival on, The Need for a Fresh Vision of the Lord’s Recovery).
How can we say that “the Church is the Reproduction of Christ” and “The Church is the Reprint of the Spirit” and prove it from the Bible? There are at least three portions in the Bible that help us understand and enjoy this fact, and all these portions relate to the type of the Golden Lampstand.
- In Exodus 25:31-37 we see that God commanded Moses to make a lampstand of pure gold, of beaten work, and this lampstand looked very much like “a tree” – with buds, calyxes, branches, etc. What does the lampstand here typify? In Exodus, the golden lampstand typifies Christ Himself.
- In Zechariah 4 the golden lampstand is mentioned again, in a book on the recovery of the destroyed temple. In Zechariah 4 the lampstand typifies the Spirit, as seen in v. 6 – “not by might nor by power, but by My Spirit, says Jehovah of hosts”.
- In Revelation 1:11-12 we see not one but seven golden lampstands – and these golden lampstands are identical! In Rev. 1 the golden lampstands typify the local churches, which are simply identical with Christ as the unique golden lampstand!
I enjoyed this picture very much because we see that nothing in the Bible is spoken of “randomly” or accidentally; rather, in Exodus we see the seed of the truth of the golden lampstand, in Zechariah we see the development of the golden lampstand, and in Revelation we see the harvest of the golden lampstands.
The seed is one golden lampstand and the harvest, which usually is larger in number, is seven golden lampstands! Christ is the golden lampstand – He is filled with the divine nature (the gold) and He shines out God through His speaking and His living! He embodies the entire Triune God and He expresses the Triune God in the universe – this One is the reality of all the positive things in the universe and He is the light!
Also, this Christ went through a process and He was “developed” / He became the life-giving Spirit – as the development of Christ. The seed is Christ, and the growth is the Spirit; now the Spirit is not apart from Christ, but whatever Christ is, the Spirit communicates to us. The Spirit is simply Christ in another form, a development of Christ – the consummation of the processed Triune God!
In the same way, today the golden lampstand is not only Christ and not only the Spirit, but now the local churches are the golden lampstands! The local churches in their respective localities are the reproduction of Christ!
The lampstand in Genesis was one, and now the lampstands in Revelation are seven – the church is the reproduction of Christ, the duplication of Christ, and the multiplication of Christ! The seven golden lampstands are identical in life, nature, shape, and function with the one unique golden lampstand – Christ!
The first lampstand, Christ is the “model” and the “pattern”, and the seven golden lampstands are the exact reproduction of this model. The church is the exact reproduction of Christ, and the church is also the reprint of the Spirit! Whatever Christ is, the church expresses in an “intensified and corporate” way; whatever the Spirit is, the church is identical!
The church is an exact reproduction of what Christ is – Christ was the unique lampstand, and all the churches are the lampstands in the same nature, essence, model, shape, and function! This is the “ultimate definition of the church” – the church is the reproduction of Christ and the reprint of the Spirit!
Hallelujah, thank You Lord – whatever You are, we are the same! You are working Yourself in Your divine life and nature into us to make us Your reproduction! We are Your duplication, Your exact reproduction on the earth today! Thank You for this wonderful fact! God is now with us, and Christ is now living in us – we are the many golden lampstands in the many local churches all over the earth! Lord, intensify Your work in us to purify us and to strengthen our shining! Make us more in reality the exact duplication of what You are, an identical copy of Your very person!
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