Seven Golden Lampstands

 

Revelation 1:12:  “I saw seven golden candlesticks.”

 

            This passage shows how the symbols of the book of Revelation are to be understood.  The symbolism of the stars is no mere literary device but is an integral part of the purpose and message of the book.  The starry heavens are interpreted as the Heavenly Pattern of earthly realities, both of which agree as witnesses of a higher spiritual truth.  Many Scriptures may serve as referents to show that heaven and earth are witnesses to God.[1]  The seven-starred constellation of Ursa Major is here used as a visual analogy of the seven golden lampstands.

 

Zeugma: Hebrew Tsabah:

            The “Hosts of Heaven” and the “Hosts on Earth” are united in Hebrew by the word tsabah.  This unity is expressed by the use of ‘zeugma’.  Zeugma is the use of a word to modify or govern two or more words, usually in a manner that it applies to each in a different sense or makes sense with only one.  (Literally, it means ‘joining, to join’, as for example, ‘a yoke’.)

            The usage of zeugma applies in Biblical Hebrew to the relationship of the heavenly hosts and the inhabitants or whatever fills the earth, even the plants being included. The concept of ‘zeugma’ may help to clarify the particular type of analogy used in the book of Revelation, but which is also well attested in Old Testament Scriptures.  The following discussion follows Gesinius’ Lexicon p. 699.

            Genesis 2:1: “Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.” 

            This zeugma of the yoke between the hosts of heaven and the hosts of earth is resolved in Nehemiah 9:6 where the two are separated and each is described separately:

Thou, even thou, art Lord alone; thou hast made heaven, the heaven of heavens, with all their host, the earth, and all things that are therein, the seas, and all that is therein, and thou preservest them all; and the host of heaven worshippeth thee.

            The word translated ‘host’ is tsabah, meaning: (1), an army, or host and is used equally of the sacred host of Levites, Numbers 4:23, 35, 39, 43; for these were instituted specifically according to the pattern of the heavens as Moses was commanded to do.  They served in rotating order or courses, as did the circling constellations of stars in the heavens, and the “order” was changed every month, as were the constellations of the heavens.

            The word also means: “…specially …the host of heaven.”:  “(a) the angels round the throne of God, 1 Kings 22:19; I1 Chronicles 18:18; Psalms 148:2; compare also Psalm 103:21; and Joshua 5:15, 15; (b) Used of the sun, moon, and stars.  Isaiah 34:4; 40:26; 45:12; Jeremiah 33:22; Daniel 8:10; also used when the worship of the stars is mentioned. Deuteronomy 4:19; 17:3; 2 Kings 17:6; 21:3, 5; Zephaniah 1:5.

            The word is used also more comprehensively as including all the heavenly bodies, sometimes seeming to indicate the “deities” [?] of the heavenlies, Daniel 4:32; compare Job 38:7, where angels and stars are mentioned together, and Isaiah 24:21, where the host of heaven is in opposition to the kings of the earth.

            Jehovah is very often called “Lord God of Hosts”, and “Jehovah God of the heavenly Hosts”.  This is most frequent in the prophetic books: Isaiah, Jeremiah, Zechariah, and Malachi, but is not found in the Pentateuch, Joshua, Judges, Ezekiel, Job, or Solomon.

            In Joshua 5:15 we see the “Captain (or Prince) of the host of the Lord” appearing to Joshua.  He was shâr, (Prince), of all the hosts of the Lord whereas each of the shâr of Daniel 10:13, 20 represented only a particular nation.  This passage sets a precedent for referring to the hoped for Messiah as the Prince Who is the Leader or Head of all God’s hosts in heaven and in earth.  It is appropriate, therefore, to make His symbol that star around which the apparent marching of all heaven and earth revolve, the polar star.  That star is the apparent great Bond between heaven and earth and by it all earth can be mapped in reference to the heavens.

 

Faithful Witness in the Heavens:

            The promises to David were of a cosmic and ideal nature.  The ideal model is forever established in heaven regardless of the corruption suffered by the earthly images.  The Revelation of Jesus Christ deals with this ideal model.  That dominion is described in Psalm 89:27: “And I will make my firstborn, (Light), higher than the kings of the earth” (also vv. 35-37):

Once have I sworn by my holiness that I will not lie to David.  His seed shall endure forever and his throne as the sun before me.  It shall be established as the moon, and as a faithful witness in heaven.  Selah.

            These promises clearly indicate their cosmic nature.  To find a suitable heavenly symbol for this promised ‘throne’ and ‘witness’ which is as conspicuous in its own way as the sun or moon, we need only consider the pole star.  No other heavenly body has served so well as a “faithful witness” for orientation for it is forever “established” and “unmovable” from its place.

Psalm 89:2-6:  Thy faithfulness shalt thou establish in the very heavens.  I have made a covenant with my chosen.  I have sworn unto David my servant, ‘Thy seed will I establish for ever and build up thy throne to all generations.  Selah.  And the heavens shall praise Thy wonders, O Lord: Thy faithfulness also in the congregation of the saints…For who in the heavens can be compared unto the Lord?  Who among the sons of the mighty can be likened unto the Lord?

 

            Verses 11:12 (Psalm 89) show the value of the heavens for orientation north and south:

The heavens are thine, the earth also is thine; as for the world and the fullness thereof, thou hast founded them.  The north and the south thou hast created them: Tabor and Hermon, (the north and south mountains) shall rejoice in thy name.

 

Christ Amidst the Lampstands

            Note that Christ appears in Revelation 1:12-13, (RSV), in the midst of the “seven golden lampstands (or candlesticks),” and “in his right hand he held seven stars” (vs. 16). In these passages the “seven” should be understood to mean “seven-fold.”[2]  Just as the Mənôrâh or Candelabra in the Temple was one and had seven branches, so these candlesticks are joined as one.  These same “seven” are the seven spirits (or Seven-fold Spirit) of God, [3] Revelation 4:5.  These seven spirits are the seven eyes (or the Seven-fold Eye)[4] of the Lamb, Revelation 5:6.

            Note that there is a distinction between the lampstands and the stars:

The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches and the seven lampstands are the seven churches, (or the Seven-fold, covenant Church). (vs.20).

The “seven golden lampstands” are the Seven-fold Covenant Church of which the seven churches of Asia are the earthly representation, Revelation 1:20.

            In Revelation 1:20 the seven stars are the fire upon the top of the lampstands, (as the light of a candle is on top of the candle itself); these are the seven angels of the churches.  These angels are ministering spirits, Psalm 104:4 and Hebrews 1:7, 14. 

And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and [there were] seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which are the seven Spirits of God. (Revelation 4:5)

Therefore, in the book of Revelation, these are all analogous and interchangeable to some degree: Lampstands, Churches, Spirits, Eyes of the Lamb, Angels and Stars.

            It must be noted that there is a natural reality that corresponds to, or is analogous to, the spiritual reality.  For example, the “Angels” of the seven churches of Asia are ministering spirits, spiritual entities, which inhabit the natural pastors or leaders of the earthly churches.  However, the earthly churches mirror the heavenly reality, the Eyes of the Lamb and the Seven-fold Spirit of God. 

            As in all use of analogy, the analogy only holds for certain parts of the entities represented.  There is not a total correspondence; the two figures are not identical in every respect.

            For the pictorial representation of this analogy, we must look to the visible starry heavens.  Christ is portrayed as at the polar point of the heavens, the cynosure around which the entire universe seems to revolve in its apparent motion.  This places Christ, (instead of Jerusalem, as the Rabbis taught), at the center of the universe.  “And he is before all things, and by him all things consist.” (Col. 1:17).  [5]As the earthly counterpart of the Pole Star, the Temple was considered to be the center of the world,[6] just as the Pole Star was the apparent center of the heavens.  The Pole Star has been the guiding star for location and navigation in the entire northern hemisphere since the dawn of history.  The spiritual reality is: “God is our guide.” 

He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.  He is the head of the body, the church; he is the beginning, the first-born from the dead, that in everything he might be pre-eminent.  For in him all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell, and through him to reconcile to himself all things, whether on earth or in heaven, making peace by the blood of his cross.  (Col. 1:17-20).

            By picturing Christ at the pole star position, the Revelator is showing Him in His role as the Unifying Factor of the universe, the nucleus that holds and upholds all else in its proper order as well as the polokrator, the power that turns the universe.

            The writer of Hebrews says “Consider Christ,” (Hebrews 3:1).  The word ‘consider’ is from the Latin root ‘sider‘ which means ‘star, constellation’.  From this come our English words relating to time-telling: ‘Sidereal’ means ‘relating to stars or constellations: astral or expressed in relation to the heavens above’; for example, ‘sidereal’ day, hour, minute, month, or year.  As Andrew Murray says: “…(the word ‘consider’) suggests the idea of the astronomer, and the quiet, patient, persevering, concentrated gaze with which he seeks to discover all that can be possibly known of the stars which the object of his study are.”[7]

            In the pictorial representation, the seven lampstands, portraying the seven churches of Asia, are represented in the starry heavens by the constellation that Americans commonly call the ‘Big Dipper,’ but in other modern cultures is called ‘The Great Bear’.  In ancient cultures it was also variously known as the ‘Greater Sheepfold’, the ‘Seed Sower’, ‘The Threshing Wain’, the ‘Tree of Life’, or sometimes the ‘Menorah’.[8]