I.　The testimony of Jesus is the seven golden lampstands—golden (divine) in nature, shining in darkness, and identical with one another—Rev. 1:1-2, 9-20:

A.　The golden lampstand symbolizes the Triune God—the Father as the substance is embodied in the Son, the Son as the embodiment is expressed through the Spirit, the Spirit is fully realized and expressed as the churches, and the churches are the testimony of Jesus—Exo. 25:31-40; Zech. 4:2-10; Rev. 1:9-12.

B.　In the divine thought, the golden lampstand is actually a living and growing tree with calyxes and almond blossoms; thus, the lampstand portrays the Triune God embodied in Christ as a living, golden tree of resurrection—growing, branching, budding, and blossoming in us, with us, by us, and out of us as the fruit of the light, which is good in nature, righteous in procedure, and real in expression, that God may be expressed as reality in our daily walk—Exo. 25:31-35; Eph. 5:8-9.

C.　To experience the golden lampstands as the testimony of Jesus, the corporate expression of Jesus (Acts 9:4-5; 1 Cor. 12:12), we must be filled with the Spirit of Jesus (Acts 16:7) by calling on the name of the Lord Jesus continually (1 Cor. 12:13; Rom. 10:12-13; Lam. 3:55-56) to bear the brands of Jesus (Gal. 6:17) as brothers and fellow partakers in the tribulation, kingdom, and endur-ance in Jesus (Rev. 1:9-10).

D.　The beating of the gold to form a stand signifies the believers' participation in Christ's sufferings; everything that goes on in our environment is for the pro-ducing of the beaten lampstand—Exo. 25:31; Col. 1:24:

1.　If we set our mind on knowing God, submitting to the inward working of the Spirit and to the outward environment, every circumstance will become an opportunity for us to know Him—Hosea 6:1-3; Phil. 3:10a; Eph. 6:20; Gen. 41:42.

2.　If a man does not know God in his lifetime, he has wasted his whole life; may the Lord make us willing to accept His dealings in our circumstances so that we may know Him more—2 Cor. 4:16-18; 12:7-9; cf. Isa. 7:14-15; 2 Cor. 5:14-15.

3.　The crux of the matter is whether or not one encounters the Lord as the great light in the midst of difficulties and trials; suffering can make us understand what we otherwise could not understand—1:8-9; cf. Eph. 1:17; Luke 1:78-79.

E.　The shining of the golden lampstands is so that people may see the vision of the glorious Christ as the Son of Man walking in their midst; by knowing the Lord in the midst of the churches as the One who is living forever and ever, we can be assured of His presence in our spirit all the time; He lives always to intercede for us, He appears now before the face of God for us, and He will never fail or forsake us—Rev. 1:12-18; 2:1; 2 Tim. 4:22; Heb. 7:25; 9:24; Num. 6:22-27; Deut. 31:6.

F.　The shining of the seven lamps of the seven golden lampstands, the Lord Jesus walking in their midst with His seven eyes like a flame of fire, His feet like shining bronze, and the shining of His face as the sun indicate that we need more and more of the Lord's shining day by day in our daily life and church life for more and more of His shepherding—His saving, restoring, reviving, and deifying—Rev. 1:14b-15a, 16b; 4:5; 5:6; Luke 1:78-79; 2 Cor. 4:6-7; Mal. 4:2; Prov. 4:18; Psa. 22, title; 80:1, 3, 7, 14-19:

1.　Light is in the word of God—not the written word of the Bible but the word that the Spirit speaks to us from within, revealing anew the word of the Bible to us—Rev. 2:7a; Psa. 119:105, 130; John 6:63; Eph. 5:26-27; S. S. 8:13-14; Isa. 66:2, 5.

2.　Enlightening rests with the mercy of God; whenever God comes and bestows His mercy, the light of His countenance is our light, His appearing is our vision, and His presence is our gain—Rom. 9:15; Acts 9:3-4; Isa. 50:10-11; Num. 6:25-26.

3.　In order to be enlightened, we must want and accept the Lord's shining, setting our heart to be single in seeking the Lord alone with all our desire— Psa. 139:23-24; Phil. 2:12-16; 2 Chron. 12:14; 16:12; 34:1-3; Psa. 27:8; 73:25; Luke 11:33-36.

4.　In order to be enlightened, we must open ourselves to the Lord, turn our hearts to Him, and place ourselves before Him without any reservation or holding back; those who close themselves to the Lord are experts in judging and criticizing others—2 Cor. 3:16; Prov. 20:27; Matt. 7:1-5; Luke 6:36-37, 41-42.

5.　In order to be enlightened, we must put a stop to ourselves; this means to put a stop to our views, our ways of looking at things, our feelings, our ideas, and our opinions; when a person who is completely stopped comes before the Lord, he can be exceedingly single and simple in receiving the word of the Lord—10:38-42; John 11:21-28; Isa. 40:31; Matt. 5:3; Luke 18:15-17; Isa. 66:1-2.

6.　In order to be enlightened, we must not dispute with the light of the Spirit who speaks within us or dispute with the light of the ministers of the Spirit who speak without—Acts 22:10; S. S. 5:4-6; 2 Cor. 10:3-5; 11:2-3; Num. 16:1-7, 33-39; 17:1-8; cf. Exo. 33:11, 14.

7.　In order to be enlightened, we must continuously live in the light—Isa. 2:5; 1 John 1:7; Heb. 9:14; 10:22; Matt. 5:3, 8, 14; Psa. 119:105; Rev. 1:20; Psa. 36:8-9.

II.　The testimony of Jesus is the great multitude serving God in the temple, the whole Body of God's redeemed, who have been raptured to the heavens to enjoy God's care and the Lamb's shepherding with all the spiritual blessings in the heavenlies and in Christ that can be enjoyed today—Rev. 7:9-17; 21:22; 3:12; Eph. 1:3; Gal. 3:14; Gen. 12:2; cf. Rev. 21:3-4; 22:3-5; Isa. 49:10:

A.　The great multitude consists of those who have been purchased with the blood of the Lamb from every nation, tribe, people, and tongue to be the constituents of the church—Rev. 7:9a; 5:9; Rom. 11:25; Acts 15:14, 19; 1 Cor. 6:19-20.

B.　"These are those who come out of the great tribulation, and they have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb"—Rev. 7:14:

1.　The great tribulation here refers to the tribulations, persecutions, and afflic-tions experienced by God's redeemed people throughout the ages—John 16:33.

2.　The blood of the Lamb answers all the accusations of the devil against us and gives us the victory over him (Rev. 12:11); because of the redeeming Christ as the opened fountain of blood for all our sin and impurity (Zech. 13:1; John 19:34), we can plunge beneath that flood, lose all our guilty stains (Hymns, #1006, stanza 1), and "rise to walk in God's own light / Above the world and sin, / With heart renewed and garments white / And Christ enthroned within" (Hymns, #1010, stanza 3).

3.　To wash our robes is to keep our conduct clean through the washing of the blood of the Lamb; this gives us the right to enjoy the tree of life and to enter into the city of life as the realm of God's eternal blessings—1 John 1:7; Rev. 22:14.

C.　The great multitude consists of those who are standing before the throne and before the Lamb with palm branches in their hands—7:9b:

1.　Palm branches signify our victory over tribulation, which we have under-gone for the Lord's sake; they are also a sign of satisfaction gained through being watered—v. 14; cf. John 12:13; Exo. 15:27.

2.　In the Triune God as the temple of God, we will serve Him day and night to enjoy Him as the eternal Feast of Tabernacles and to flourish like the palm tree—Rev. 7:15a; 3:12; Lev. 23:40; Neh. 8:15; Psa. 92:12-13; John 7:2; 37-38; Rom. 1:9; Col. 2:19.

3.　Our service in time today is a preparation for our service in eternity; God's only goal in time is to dispense Himself into us day by day; when God comes into us and comes out of us, that is service—Matt. 25:19-23; John 7:37-39.

D.　We will not hunger or thirst any more—Rev. 7:16a:

1.　To hunger and thirst are to have a hope that is not yet satisfied; Christ promises that everyone who believes into Him will be satisfied and receive Him as their satisfying life— John 6:35.

2.　To contact God the Spirit in our spirit is to drink of the living water, and to drink of the living water is to render real worship to God—4:13-14, 23-24.

E.　The beating sun and the scorching heat will not strike us—Rev. 7:16b:

1.　The Lamb-God sitting upon the throne will tabernacle over us, over-shadowing us with Himself—v. 15b; 2 Cor. 12:9.

2.　There is one kind of life that is under God's overshadowing—it is a life that is hidden in God—Psa. 36:7-9; Eph. 6:17; Psa. 91:1; 17:8; 57:1; Ruth 2:12; Col. 3:3.

3.　Christ as Jehovah and also as man is the King who is supplying, caring for, and covering God's people; He is the King for ruling and a man who is like a refuge from the wind and a covering from the tempest, like streams of water in a dry place, and like the shadow of a massive rock in a wasted land—Isa. 32:1-2.

F.　The Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd us and guide us to springs of waters of life—Rev. 7:17a:

1.　Shepherding includes feeding; under the shepherding of Christ, "I will lack nothing"—Psa. 23:1.

2.　We can never improve ourselves, and we need a shepherd to feed us all the time; He feeds the lambs with His experience as the Lamb of God, who is on the throne of God in and for the house of God—vv. 2-6; Rev. 22:1.

G.　God will wipe away every tear from our eyes—7:17b:

1.　Tears are unavoidable in this age, but our tears are put into God's bottle and recorded in His book—Heb. 5:7; Acts 20:19, 31; Psa. 56:8; cf. Mal. 3:16.

2.　Because the Lamb supplies us with waters of life for our satisfaction, the water of tears is wiped away—Jer. 9:1; 2:13; cf. 15:16; Lam. 3:21-25, 55-56.

3.　Thank God that the days of sorrow and the things of sorrow will not last; the world is passing away, and we are blessed to drink of the flowing Triune God until we become the totality of eternal life, the New Jerusalem—John 4:14b.