Date: Afternoon, November 3, 1940Place: Unrecorded
The greatest work of God is the rapture of the man-child. Once the man-child is raptured to His throne, there will be war in heaven, and Satan will be cast onto the earth (Rev. 12:5-9). If any Christian today wants to participate in this rapture, he has to be watchful and ready for the rapture by the Lord. If he does, he will have a share in this greatest work of God.
The woman in Revelation 12 represents the Body of Christ. In God's plan the Body spans from eternity to eternity. It includes all the saints between the two eternities. The man-child in God's eternal plan, however, only refers to the overcomers in this period.
The giving of birth to the man-child refers to some who have left the denominations. Of course, not everyone who has left the denominations is part of the man-child. Only those who have left the denominations and who have seen this great work of God and have a part in it are the man-child. The man-child is the body within the Body. The woman is the outward, visible, and larger Body, while the man-child that has been conceived within is something hidden, something that ordinary eyes cannot see.
There is a definite number to those who are raptured. The man-child was born to reign. This is very interesting! When the Lord Jesus was born, He was "born King" (Matt. 2:2). Christ's birth in Bethlehem was a begetting that has to do with man, whereas His resurrection from the dead was a begetting that has to do with God. This is why God said, "You are My Son; today I have begotten You" (Acts 13:33).
I have been on an airplane six times, and I often heard the pilots asking each other, "How high is the ceiling?" This means how high are the clouds. There is the sky above the clouds and the sky under the clouds. When the pilots said that the plane was "above the ceiling" or "below the ceiling," they meant that the plane was above the clouds or below the clouds. Today some Christians are flying "above the ceiling," while others are flying "below the ceiling." There are some spiritual things which I have seen that you may not have seen. Or you may have seen some spiritual things that a third person has not seen or known. The "ceiling" of some Christians today is almost as low as the floor. God is after spiritual giants today. These "giants" are the man-child. God desires to gain some who will be a part of the man-child. May more people be raised up to become the man-child today.
The sanctification of the anointing cannot be separated from the teaching of the anointing. As soon as we have the sanctification of the anointing, we have the teaching of the anointing. Those who are lacking in the teaching of the anointing are surely lacking in the sanctification of the anointing.
For a period of time Brother Austin-Sparks was conducting special conferences every month on Saturdays and Mondays. One brother asked, "If this kind of conference goes on month after month, will your speaking not be exhausted?" Brother Sparks answered, "If a man has the genuine experience of the cross and he knows the cross, he will not need to worry about running out of sermons. He will only need to worry about running out of time."
The anointing within will tell us what we should do and should not do; it will tell us if something is right or wrong. If something is according to the leading of the Holy Spirit, it cannot be ambiguous. The face of the mother, whether she is smiling or frowning, is the indication for her children to know right and wrong.
I believe that the Holy Spirit has been poured out, and that the Holy Spirit is in the believers. The coming of the Spirit leads us to believe in Christ and to know that we are saved. The indwelling of the Spirit causes the believers to know all things. If a believer has a problem with the anointing, it is because he has a problem with the "Holiness to Jehovah" (Zech. 14:20).
The anointing is not only an individual matter, but a corporate matter as well. Every member in the church needs to maintain the proper standing. The word Christian means those who are anointed. Christians are little anointed ones, those who are sanctified by the anointing. This is our position. At the same time, we have to walk according to the teaching of the anointing. Today many people are anointed, yet they do not behave like anointed ones. This is like Saul, who was anointed but who continued to sin and was disciplined by the Lord.
The teaching of the anointing is higher than the condemnation or leading of the conscience. The conscience will either give us a sense of peace or a sense of unrest. This sensation is based on the concept of right and wrong. However, when God's light comes, the inner peace that follows has nothing to do with the sense of rest or unrest in the conscience. The conscience may condemn, while the peace within persists. A brother did something, and his conscience condemned him. He felt sad and wrote a letter to a mature brother, relating the incident to him. After the mature one read the letter, he wrote back and brought light to the first one, who then regained his peace. The conscience can be wrong, but the teaching of the anointing can never be wrong. Every person's conscience has its own standard. We can call this the local conscience. For example, what kind of coat should a person wear? Should he buy vegetables from the market and cook them at home? Can he take some wine? In these minor matters the feeling of the conscience is derived from our own understanding of right and wrong.
The conscience can be wrong, but the sanctification of the anointing and the teaching of the anointing can never be wrong. The garden of Eden can better be known as the age of ignorance rather than the age without sin. In that age there was no sanctification of the anointing or teaching of the anointing. There was only the conscience to enable man to differentiate between right and wrong.
