The Vision of the Glorious Christ Walking Among the Churches as the High Priest

For the genuine church life, we need to see a vision of the glorious Christ as the Son of Man walking in the midst of the local churches as the High Priest to cherish them and nourish them.

What a wonderful, glorious, and amazing Christ we have!

He is not only our God, our Savior, our Redeemer, and our very life; He is also the victorious and glorious Christ, and when we see a vision of what He is, we can enjoy and experience Him for the genuine church life.

When we see Christ, when we really see who He is and what He is, we will deny ourselves and we will give Him the preeminence.

The reason it is still us who live and we still are on the throne in our being is that we did not see a vision of the glorious Christ.

May the Lord have mercy on us and unveil us that we may see Him even as Isaiah, Daniel, and John saw Him.

When our eyes are enlightened and our spirit is exercised and we see the Lord in His glory, when we see a vision of the glorious Christ, we will enthrone Him in our being, we will give Him the first place, and we will want nothing else but Him.

We believers in Christ have been chosen by God to be His people for Christ to have the preeminence.

Day by day, the Lord is working in our environment and in our being for this one thing, that Christ would have the first place in everything.

And this happens as a result of our seeing a vision of the glorious Christ.

When we see Him, we will abhor ourselves, we will put ourselves aside, and we will focus solely on Him, for He is the glorious and wonderful Christ to be our life and our everything.

May this Christ be revealed to us; may it please God to reveal His Son in us until Christ becomes our centre and our everything.

In God’s economy and to God, Christ is the center and is everything; but to us, He is not yet the center, and He is not yet everything to us.

May we see Christ more; may we come to His word with an unveiled face day by day so that we may behold His beauty, be infused with Him, and reflect Him.

May Christ have the first place, the preeminence, in all things in our life and in our personal universe.

May Christ be the first and everything to us in our church life, our family life, and our daily life.

When Christ becomes our centre and our everything, when He is the centrality and universality of our being, life, and work, we are headed up in Christ so that through us the whole universe would be headed up in Him.

Amen, may the vision of the glorious Christ be seen by us day by day so that He may gain in us what He is after and He would fulfil His purpose!

See the Vision of the Glorious Christ Walking among the Churches as the High Priest

In the New Testament, the apostle John saw a vision of the glorious Christ walking in the midst of the golden lampstands as the High Priest (Rev. 1:9-2:1).

He was called by the Lord to come, and he was in spirit; in spirit, he saw Christ as the Son of Man walking in the midst of the local churches as the High Priest.

Christ today is the Son of Man clothed with a garment reaching to the feet, and girded about at the breasts with a golden girdle (Rev. 1:13; 4:2; 17:3; 21:10).

In the vision given to Daniel, Christ was girded about at the loins for work; He had much to do, and He was girded at the loins.

However, in the book of Revelation chapter 1, we see a vision of the glorious Christ walking among the churches being girded about at the breast with a golden girdle.

This means that all the work is done; He produced the churches, He accomplished a wonderful and marvellous salvation, and now He is the High Priest.

The Son of Man is Christ in His humanity, and the golden girdle signifies His divinity. Furthermore, the breasts are a sign of love.

In Dan. 10 Christ is girded at the loins to be strengthened for the divine work (Exo. 28:4; Dan. 10:5) to produce the churches.

In Rev. 1, Christ is girded about at the breasts, caring for the churches that He has produced by His love.

Christ has already produced the churches by His love, and now He is the High Priest to care for the churches in His humanity and in His divinity.

The golden girdle signifies Christ’s divinity as His divine energy, and the breasts signify that this golden energy is exercised and motivated by and with His love to nourish the churches.

Christ has an energy belt, which is His divinity; His golden energy belt is exercised and motivated by and with His love to nourish the churches.

May we see the vision of the glorious Christ walking among the churches as the High Priest to care for them, cherishing them and nourishing them.

May we be those who exercise our spirit to turn and see who and what Christ is today.

On one hand, Christ is in the heavens, on the throne, ruling and reigning, arranging all things for the carrying out of God’s purpose and the accomplishing of His economy.

On the other hand, He is walking among the churches as the High Priest to care for them. He is energized by His divinity not to work but to care for the churches in love.

We all can testify that we can feel the Lord’s loving care in the local churches.

May we open to His loving care toward us in the churches.

May we allow Him to deal with anything that needs to be dealt with, and may we let Him add the oil so that the church may shine brighter as His testimony on the earth.

Amen, may we see a vision of the glorious Christ in His heavenly ministry walking among the local churches to care for them, being motivated by His love and strengthened by His divinity, so that the local churches may shine as the testimony of Jesus, the golden lampstands.

May we be one with Him to enjoy the golden girdle as our divine energy, which we can exercise and be motivated by in love to nourish the saints and the churches.

Oh, what a Christ we have! What a vision of the glorious Christ we see in Rev. 1!

Lord Jesus, grant us to see the vision of the glorious Christ walking among the churches as the High Priest. We exercise our spirit to come to You. We turn our heart to You, dear Lord, and we come out of ourselves to where You are. May we see the vision of the glorious Christ who is the High Priest in His humanity to care for the churches in love. Amen, Lord, thank You for producing the churches in love. Thank You for being the Son of Man to be the High Priest caring for the churches in love, strengthened by Your divinity. Hallelujah for our Christ, the High Priest, who is full of energy and love to cherish and nourish the churches so that they would be the shining golden lampstands, the testimony of Jesus!

Christ takes Care of the Churches in His Humanity as the Son of Man to Cherish them

When we see a vision of the glorious Christ walking among the churches as the High Priest, we will realize that He is the Son of Man cherishing the churches in His humanity (Rev. 1:13).

He is not only God but also man; He is the Son of Man, being touched with the feeling of our weaknesses, sympathizing with us, and caring for us in love.

In the Old Testament, the priests had to dress the lamps of the lampstand every morning, so that they would make them proper (Exo. 30:7).

Christ as the High Priest in His humanity first established the churches, and then He comes in and walks among the churches to cherish them.

To cherish is to make people happy, pleasant, and comfortable.

Christ as the Son of Man, the High Priest, is walking among the churches today to cherish the churches and make them happy, pleasant, and comfortable.

And He does this mainly by dressing the lamps of the lampstand.

He trims the wicks of the lampstand, just as the priests did in the Old Testament, and He adds the oil.

Many times the wick is burned out, becoming charred and black, so the priest has to come and cut off the black part of the wick.

This is to snuff the wick so that the lamp may shine brighter.

This charred part of the wick, the charred snuff, signifies the things that are not according to God’s purpose and which need to be cut off.

Things such as our flesh, our natural man, our self, and our old creation, are the charred part of the wick.

When we speak, serve, and do things in our natural man, our self, and our flesh, there is no light shining – there is only smoke, which brings in an unpleasant feeling.

When saints gossip or say things in their flesh, smoke issues out of them, and this causes others and the church to not feel comfortable.

Thank the Lord that in the church life we can experience Christ as the Son of Man coming in as the High Priest to snuff the charred wicks of the lamps.

Many times by His speaking both personally and corporately the Lord trims the charred parts of the lamps so that the church may shine brighter.

On one hand, He trims the charred wicks, eliminating anything that is of the natural man, the self, and the flesh.

On the other hand, He adds the rich supply of oil, the Holy Spirit, for us to be filled in spirit and be burning brightly.

He is the Son of Man, being touched with the feeling of our weaknesses (Heb. 4:15).

He is not up there in the heavens, cutting and trimming away things that don’t match His holy nature; He is here with us and among us, being easily touched with the feeling of our weaknesses.

Christ sympathizes with our weaknesses in His humanity.

And when He sees the expression of the natural man, the self, and the flesh, He exposes it and cuts it off, so that the shining would be bright and any smoke and unpleasant feeling may be eliminated.

The Lord’s presence provides an atmosphere of tenderness and warmth to cherish our being, giving us rest, comfort, healing, cleansing, and encouragement.

May we enjoy the cherishing atmosphere of the Lord’s presence in the church to receive the nourishing supply of life day by day (Eph. 5:29; 1 Tim. 4:6; Eph. 4:11).

May we let Him trim the wicks of the lamps of the lampstand by cutting off all the negative things that irritate and hinder the shining. His trimming cherishes us; He feels with us in our weakness, and He trims away anything that causes smoke to rise instead of light to shine.

May we see the vision of Christ in glory walking among the churches to cherish them in His humanity as the High Priest.

May we see that He trims away all the differences among the church so that they may be the same in essence, appearance, and expression (1 Cor. 1:10; 2 Cor. 12:18; Phil. 2:2).

The wrongdoings, shortages, failures, and defects among the local churches are all being trimmed away by the Lord as the High Priest so that the lampstands would be identical and one in the divine nature, shining brightly for the testimony of the Lord.

We see this happening in His speaking to the seven local churches in Rev. 2-3, where He both added the oil and trimmed away the charred parts of the wicks of the lamps so that the local churches as the golden lampstands would shine brightly.

May we let Him do this in us and among us in the local churches today so that we may shine brightly as His testimony on the earth today!

Lord Jesus, we open to You as the Son of Man coming to be the High Priest to take care of the churches in Your humanity to cherish them. We open to Your cherishing today. Your presence provides an atmosphere of tenderness and warmth to cherish our being. We love to contact You and be filled with rest, comfort, healing, cleansing, and encouragement. Oh Lord, may we all enjoy the cherishing atmosphere of Your presence in the church so that we may receive the nourishing supply of life. May we allow You to trim away anything of the natural man, the old man, the flesh, and the self so that the church would shine brightly as the golden lampstand. Have a way to cut off all the negative things that irritate and hinder the shining. Amen, Lord, gain the golden lampstands the same in essence, appearance, and expression, shining as the testimony of Jesus on the earth!

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 the brothers in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1994-1997, vol. 5, “The Vital Groups,” chs. 10-11, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Knowing, Experiencing, and Living the All-inclusive Christ for the Genuine Church Life (2023 spring ITERO), week 8, entitled, The Vision, Experience, and Enjoyment of the Glorious and Excellent Christ as the Supreme Preciousness of God for the Genuine Church Life.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – Receiving the economical revelation of the Triune God as the word of God to become the economical manifestation of the Triune God as the testimony of Jesus, article by John Pester in, Affirmation and Critique.
  – The lampstand in the Bible, article at, Living to Him.
  – Up the Mountain to See the Vision, via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – Genesis 2, 1 Corinthians 3 and Revelation 21-22—Enjoying God to Build with Precious Materials, via, Holding to Truth in Love.
  – The Vision of the Glorious Christ as the Son of Man Walking in the Midst of the Golden Lampstands, article via, The Body Life.
  – The Vision of the Glorious Christ as the Son of Man Walking in the Midst of the Golden Lampstands, a portion via, The Church in Regina.
  – The Vision of the Glorious Christ, a portion via, the Church in Montreal, Canada.
  – PSRP and prophesying on, The Vision, Experience, and Enjoyment of the Glorious and Excellent Christ as the Supreme Preciousness of God for the Genuine Church Life, via, The church in Chennai. – The intrinsic significance, subjective experience, and organic mantenance of the golden lampstand for a new revival, article by Ed Marks in, Affirmation and Critique.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – In spirit hear His trumpet voice; / We must be turned to see His choice— / The seven lampstands golden fair; / The Son of Man is walking there. / The great high priestly robe He wears, / For every church He fully cares: / He trims the lamp, the oil supplies; / He makes them burn, flames in His eyes. / A golden girdle on His breast— / His work is done, and from His rest / He unto all the churches pours / Himself in love, the treasure store. (Hymns #1184 stanzas 2-4)
  – His appearance, lo, how different / From the One John knew before. / Now He’s girt in golden raiment, / Not the robe which then He wore. / Girt about the breasts and serving, / He the priesthood fully bears; / Cherishing the lampstands dearly, / He for all the churches cares. (Hymns #1183 stanza 3)
  – There are seven golden lampstands in the nature all divine— / Nothing natural does the Body life allow. / When we’re one and share God’s nature, / how the lampstand then does shine— / Hallelujah, it is brightly shining now! / Hallelujah for the Body! / For the lampstands of the Body! / For the golden, shining Body! / Hallelujah, it is brightly shining now! (Hymns #1226 stanza 3 and chorus)