The Lampstand: Truth and Love in a True Church

A man is not in true fellowship with God if he does not walk in the light, regardless
whatever else he may know or claim. John (in 1 John 1:9) makes application of this principle to the love that should be displayed among true disciples of Christ. Despite all of their doctrinal precision, for the Ephesians to have lost the love they had at first meant that they had actually slipped into a condition of walking in darkness. The threatened removal of the lampstand not only speaks to a loss of privilege
for the Ephesians (letting their light so shine before men) but also speaks to the removal of the attendance of the Spirit, who is the seven-fold lampstand, and who enables the Ephesians to be a lampstand. Christ said “for where two or three are gathered together IN MY NAME, I am there in the midst of them.” Should the Ephesians refuse to repent of walking in the darkness (knowledge without love)and not return to an assembling under the authority of Christ, they will lose their privilege of reflecting Christ’s light and this will happen when Christ, by His Spirit, is no longer in their midst. This sobering warning with all of its staggering implications shows the zeal that Christ has for the glory of God and for a faithful reflection of that glory in this world by His Bride.