I… WILL REMOVE THY CANDLESTICK OUT OF HIS PLACE

The word ‘candlestick’ is better rendered using our word ‘lampstand’, thus depicting a light produced and sustained by a supply of oil. The symbol becomes more significant when this is understood, since the leading thought is that it can be ‘removed out of his place’. We must ask ourselves as to what this really means?

We have before us the symbolism of seven independent local churches all in specific locations and all placed so as to be witnesses to the Lord Jesus who is in the midst of them.

To be ‘removed’ would imply that the Lord could no longer accept their witness of Him as true. In practical terms, this meant He rejected it continuing to Him. In a physical or spiri­tual way, it could no longer be a lamp. Physically, it might still be in place but it was not recognized by the Lord, so in every sense He had removed it. Some assemblies could often be kept going by human will-power but not by divine working.

We are on sombre ground here. Over the past three decades we have witnessed many assemblies closing down and their testimony is no more. It is the Lord’s own work and we must take care before making assumptions that the Lord has dealt judicially, as in the case here. The closure of any testimony should be to us a matter of deep concern and prayerful watchfulness and lead us to an examination of our own spiritual condition.

In the case of this church, despite their orthodoxy and activity, it is on account of their desertion of their ‘first love’ as the motive of service that the Lord threatens removal! They had become mechanical and it was not enough for Him. It had become a matter of duty and faithfulness alone, lacking the driving force of love for Him. He was no longer the central source of their inspiration and so they served in a set, cold and automated manner.

Removal, then, was a sad possibility, but thankfully repen­tance could provide a step on the road to restoration. Praise Him!