I.　Ephesians 4:4-6 is the most mysterious and excellent portion in the Bible that speaks forth the heart's desire of the Triune God and the highest purpose that He desires to attain:

A.　Based upon this portion of the Word we say that the building up of the Body of Christ is the constitution of the processed and consummated Triune God with the tripartite men whom He has redeemed, regenerated, sanctified, renewed, transformed, and conformed to His image—v. 16; Rom. 8:16, 29; 12:4-5.

B.　Based upon Ephesians 4:4-6 we say that the Body of Christ is the union and mingling of God and His redeemed people.

II.　The oneness of the Body of Christ is actually the triune, organic, living God Himself—vv. 4-6:

A.　The issue of the one God and Father, the one Lord, and the one Spirit is one organism—the Body of Christ—1:3-23.

B.　The oneness of the Body of Christ is unique because it is a oneness in the uniqueness of the Triune God—John 17:6, 11, 14-23:

1.　God the Father is the source as our nature and life, God the Son is the ele-ment of this nature and life, and God the Spirit is the essence of the element— Eph. 4:4-6.

2.　Because we have the Triune God within us as the source, the element, and the essence, we are one.

3.　In this oneness with the Triune God, we have oneness with one another; this is the oneness of the Body of Christ—v. 3.

C.　Because the Body of Christ is the mingling of the Triune God with His redeemed and transformed people, the Body itself is the oneness—vv. 4-6.

III.　According to Ephesians 4:4-6, the Body of Christ, the church, is four-in-one: the Father, the Son, the Spirit, and the Body:

A.　Ultimately, the church, the Body, is a group of redeemed and regenerated people who are in union with the Triune God and mingled with the Triune God—3:16-21.

B.　Ephesians 4:4-6 reveals four persons—one Body, one Spirit, one Lord, and one God and Father—mingled together as one entity to be the organic Body of Christ:

1.　The Father is the origin, the Son is the element, and the Spirit is the essence; these three are mingled with the Body.

2.　The Father is embodied in the Son, the Son is realized as the Spirit, and They are all in us; therefore, we are "four-in-one," a divine and human consti-tution—John 14:10-11, 16-17, 20; Eph. 3:16-21.

3.　Because the Father, the Son, and the Spirit are all one with the Body of Christ, we may say that the Triune God is now "the four-in-one God"; these four are the Father, the Son, the Spirit, and the Body—4:4-6.

IV.　The four-in-one organic entity in Ephesians 4:4-6 corresponds to the golden lampstands in Revelation 1:20:

A.　In figure, the golden lampstand signifies the church as the embodiment and expression of the Triune God—vv. 11-12.

B.　The more we experience the detailed aspects of the Triune God depicted in the lampstand, the more we will become in reality the golden lampstand as the embodiment and expression of the Triune God—vv. 12, 20:

1.　The lampstand is of pure gold, signifying the divine, eternal, incorruptible nature of God the Father—Exo. 25:31; 2 Pet. 1:4; Rev. 3:18:

a.　The substance, the element, of the lampstand signifies the divine nature; the golden lampstand exists in the nature of God the Father.

b.　We need to experience the golden element of the lampstand, receiving God as the golden element into the depths of our being—2 Pet. 1:4.

c.　How much of the divine nature has been wrought into us determines to what extent we are the church in actuality—Rev. 1:20.

2.　The solid form, the shape, of the lampstand signifies God the Son as the embodiment of God the Father—Exo. 25:31:

a.　Christ has been regenerated into our being, He is being formed in us, and we are being transformed into His being—John 1:12-13; Gal. 4:19; 2 Cor. 3:18.

b.　Through God's organic salvation, we are being saved from self-likeness (the expression of the self) and are being conformed to the image of Christ as the firstborn Son of God—Rom. 5:10; 8:29.

3.　The seven lamps signify God the Spirit as the seven Spirits—Rev. 4:5; 5:6:

a.　Within us we have two lamps—the sevenfold intensified Spirit of God within our regenerated spirit—shining and enlightening our inward parts—4:5; Prov. 20:27; 1 Cor. 6:17; 2:11-12.

b.　If we would be transformed, we need to open to the Lord and allow the two lamps to search all the chambers of our soul, enlightening our inward parts to supply them with life—Prov. 20:27; Luke 11:36.

4.　In this way the church is the Triune God mingled with His redeemed people to become the lampstand to express God—Rev. 1:20.

C.　For the lampstand, all the gold must be brought together as one unit, one entity; this is a matter of building—Exo. 25:31, 36; Matt. 16:18; Eph. 2:21-22; 4:16:

1.　God does not desire hundreds of individual units of gold; He wants all the gold put together and beaten to form the lampstand.

2.　If we have seen the building, we will not be individualistic; rather, we will realize that whatever we gain of the divine element is for the building and that our gold must be put together and built up as one entity.

D.　The symbol of the golden lampstand indicates that the Triune God is a living tree, growing, budding, and blossoming, and the description of the lampstand conveys the idea of growth—John 14:6; 15:1a, 5a; Exo. 25:31-32; Eph. 4:14-16.

E.　If we would be the golden lampstand in reality, we need to practice being one spirit with the Lord, walking according to the spirit, and exercising our spirit unto godliness, unto the corporate manifestation of God in the flesh—1 Cor. 6:17; Rom. 8:4; Eph. 2:21-22; 4:23; 1 Tim. 4:7; 3:15-16a.

F.　As the multiplied embodiment and expression of the processed Triune God, the golden lampstands are identical—Rev. 1:12, 20:

1.　The sign of the golden lampstands reveals that the churches should be one in essence, appearance, and expression.

2.　Jesus has one testimony, the embodiment and expression of the Triune God; thus, all the local churches in all the cities of all the nations should be exactly the same—2:1; Col. 3:10-11; John 17:22; Rev. 21:10-11.

G.　The churches as golden lampstands will be consummated in the New Jeru-salem, the totality of all the lampstands—1:20; 21:18b, 23:

1.　Revelation begins with the lampstands and ends with the lampstand— 1:20; 21:18b, 23.

2.　The New Jerusalem, a mountain of gold, is the universal golden lampstand holding the Lamb as the lamp shining out God as the light—vv. 18b, 23; 22:1, 5.

3.　The New Jerusalem, the aggregate of today's lampstands, is a consummate, universal golden lampstand to shine forth God's glory in the new heaven and new earth for eternity—21:24.