Quote:
Originally Posted by aron
Evangelical said that I don't understand the lampstands, which is probably true at some level. But I haven't been expounding on them; rather critiquing the crude, simplistic, myopic and self-centered exposition of Mssrs Lee & Co.
Here's why I find it so unsatisfactory. The Apocalypse is as subjective and idiosyncratic as its author, John. This was the Revelation of Jesus Christ given to John, not Paul or James etc. The author, like his Mentor, liked to speak (write) in parables. Jesus would teach in pictures, then leave the puzzled crowds with, "He who has ears to hear, let them hear." The disciples privately would hear the explanation.
Notice that the epistles to the 7 Asian churches end similarly: "He who has ears to hear, let them hear. ."
Meaning, John's disciples would hear private exposition. Now the exposition was orally transmitted, and is not extant, but we have supporting inter-testamental documents and most importantly we have the Fathers who within the scope of at least some of the oral tradition. But the post-Calvinist "me and my Bible" world of 19th and early 20th century Protestant fundamentalism (Nee and Lee) would have none of that. What it meant to Nee and Lee was sufficient. We had their texts, their logic, their unmet needs read onto the situation and that equalled God's speaking for today. Or so we were told. In this context was the local-church-centric lampstand exposition come forth.
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I just hope to clear up your confusion about what the lampstand is and how many lampstands there actually are.
The bible tells us simply and plainly that:
Revelation 1:20 ..."the seven lampstands are the seven churches".
It doesn't get much harder than that. Lampstand = church. When Jesus said "I will take away your lampstand" he meant "I will take away your church" (Revelation 2:5). This actually happened I believe in history - the church at Ephesus was disbanded or destroyed, by the invading Goths I believe (or someone like that).
Conversely, if there is a church in a locality, then they must have a lamp stand. What else can we learn from verse 20? How many churches in each city? One. How many lampstands per city? One. How many churches in each city have a lampstand? Only one.
Once we understand there can only be one lampstand in each city, the next question is which church is qualified to be that one lampstand? Is it the Catholic, Orthodox, us, others? We all make the claim to be that one lampstand in the city. So do the Catholic, Orthodox, Lutheran, Baptist and LRC each have a lampstand? No, only one in each city can have a lampstand. Maybe it is the Orthodox which has the lampstand - InChristAlone must believe this.
What is the biblical pattern? The genuine lampstand must be the one that matches the pattern of the bible - the church which is named only by the locality in which it dwells.
Now for a really easy quiz, which of the following are the odd one out?
a)Church in Ephesus
b)Church in Corinth
c) Church in London
d)Roman Catholic Church in London
Answer is d) I think. a),b),c) must have lampstands, because they exist. If these churches do not exist then there is no lampstand.