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In this chapter we want to see the remaining items that are consummated in the book of Revelation, which is itself a book of consummation. We must remember that only the items that are related either indirectly or directly to Christ, the Spirit, life, and the church are consummated in this book.
In chapter 12 is the universal woman with her man-child (vv. 1-2). Concerning this universal woman, it is necessary to study the positive females in the Old Testament beginning from Eve. Females such as Sarah and Rebekah should be included in your study. Also, even in the Old Testament God considered His chosen people as a female and furthermore as His counterpart, His wife (Isa. 54:5; 62:5; Jer. 2:2; 3:1, 14; 31:32; Ezek. 16:8; 23:5; Hosea 2:7, 19). This universal woman in Revelation 12 is a universal composition of all God’s redeemed people, who have been portrayed as females. Isaiah 7:14 is another Old Testament passage alluding to this universal woman: “Therefore the Lord Himself will give you a sign: Behold, the virgin will conceive and will bear a son, and she will call his name Immanuel.” In the New Testament, of course, the church is considered as a female, as the wife of Christ (Eph. 5:23-25), as a pure virgin to Christ (2 Cor. 11:2), and even the believers themselves are considered as virgins (Rev. 14:4 S. S. 1:3). All this needs our study. Then you have a consummation in this universal woman. The seed of this woman, the man-child, also needs our study. The seed of the woman in Genesis 3:15, the seed of Abraham (Gal. 3:16), the seed of David (Rom. 1:3), and the seed of the virgin Mary are items that need to be included in our study. This man-child in Revelation 12 represents the stronger part of God’s chosen people. This is a consummation.
The great red dragon is the consummation of the old serpent (vv. 3, 9). In Genesis 3 Satan was a serpent, a smaller creature. Here in Revelation 12 he has become a dragon, much greater than a serpent. Hence, he is called “a great red dragon.” Red here signifies the shedding of blood caused by Satan’s murders (John 8:44).
In Revelation 13:1-2 is the coming beast “out of the sea,” signifying the coming Caesar of the coming Roman Empire. This is the consummation of the four beasts in Daniel 7. This last beast in Revelation 13 is the ultimate one, the greatest one. Also, in Revelation 13 is another beast “coming up out of the earth” who “had two horns like a lamb, and he spoke like a dragon” (v. 11). This is the false prophet, who is the consummation of all the false prophets.
In Revelation 14:4 are the firstfruits, signifying the living overcomers among God’s living people, and in 14:15 is the harvest, signifying God’s living people. To fully understand this consummation it is necessary to study Leviticus 23:9-14, a record of the Feast of Firstfruits. The harvest is also recorded in Leviticus 23:15-22. Pentecost was the fulfillment of the Feast of Weeks (Deut. 16:10), which was also called the Feast of the Harvest (Exo. 23:16), counting from the day of offering a sheaf of the firstfruits of the harvest until the day after the seventh Sabbath (Lev. 23:10-11, 15-16). This harvest afforded God’s people the way to have the Feast of Tabernacles (vv. 33-44).
In Revelation 15:2 is the glassy sea, which is a consummation of all the different baptisms in the Old and New Testaments. This includes the types of baptism in the Old Testament, such as the flood that Noah passed through (1 Pet. 3:20-21) and the Red Sea as a baptism to the children of Israel (1 Cor. 10:1-2). Then with the tabernacle is the laver (Exo. 30:18). In the temple in 1 Kings 7 this laver became a great molten sea standing upon twelve oxen and accompanied with some small lavers (vv. 23-25, 38, 43-44). Then in the New Testament is the baptism of John, the baptism of Jesus and His disciples, and the baptism into the Triune God, into Christ, into the death of Christ, and into the Body of Christ. The glassy sea is a consummation of all the washings through the baptisms. We must realize that the ultimate consummation of all the baptisms will be the glassy sea in Revelation 15. Inside this glassy sea is not water but fire. Eventually, this glassy sea will be restricted into a lake, the lake of fire (20:14-15). In the ultimate consummation the glassy sea was not enlarged but restricted. The sea will become a lake, which is smaller than a sea in its limitation. This shows God’s mercy. In Revelation there is such an ultimate consummation of a negative item. All of this is quite meaningful.
In Revelation 17:5 is Babylon the Great, signifying the Roman Catholic Church. To understand this consummation you must study Babel in Genesis 11:1-9, and you must study the history of Babylon in the Old Testament. Babylon sent its army to destroy the holy city and was an opponent to Jerusalem (Jer. 39:1-3).
After the great Babylon with its religious aspect in Revelation 17 and its material aspect in chapter 18 is the wife of the Lamb, the bride, in Revelation 19:7, signifying all the overcomers among God’s redeemed people. This is also a consummation, as well as the wedding in 19:7-9. This wedding is a consummation of all the positive marriages in the Old and New Testaments.
After the wedding this wife will become an army (v. 14). This army is also mentioned in Revelation 17:14. The heavenly army is an ultimate consummation of all the people who have been fighting for God’s interests through the generations.
Then in Revelation 20:4-6 is the millennial kingdom. In the millennial kingdom the saints in the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens will be the kings. This is the heavenly part of the millennium. The earthly part of the millennium includes the kingdom of the Messiah (2 Sam. 7:13), the tabernacle of David (Acts 15:16), the kingdom of the Son of Man (Matt. 13:41; Rev. 11:15). This is the consummation of the kingdom of God.
The greatest consummation is the New Jerusalem. The New Jerusalem is an ultimate and all-inclusive consummation of nearly all the positive things both in the Old Testament and in the New Testament. In this ultimate consummation is the tree of life, which was mentioned in Genesis 2:9. In this city we also see pearls, which are the consummation of the bdellium in Genesis 2:12 and of the pearl in Matthew 13:45-46. Many items in the New Jerusalem can be traced throughout the entire Bible. Also, many items in this consummation are consummations of items in the Gospel of John. In the Gospel of John is the tree of life typified by the vine tree in John 15. There are also rivers of living water mentioned in John 7:38. There is the light of life in John 8:12. John 1:4 says, “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men.” What is mentioned or revealed in the Gospel of John will consummate in the New Jerusalem.
In the New Jerusalem we also see the all-inclusive and practical consummation of the Divine Trinity. I have mentioned already that John 14 through 17 is the greatest section on the Trinity in the Bible. The Divine Trinity is revealed in these chapters not in a doctrinal way but in a way of being wrought into the believers in Christ. This dispensing of the Divine Trinity into the believers in Christ will consummate in the New Jerusalem.
Finally, Revelation 22:17 says, “The Spirit and the bride say...” This verse does not tell us that the Bridegroom and the bride speak together but that the Spirit and the bride speak together. This is the consummation of what John the Baptist told his disciples in John 3:29: “He who has the bride is the bridegroom.” The end of the New Testament eventually reveals to us that it is not Christ as the Bridegroom to have the bride but the Spirit — “The Spirit and the bride say...” This very Spirit is the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit as the consummation of the processed Triune God. This Spirit is the very Bridegroom who is Christ in the Gospel of John and who is also the Husband in Revelation 21 (vv. 2, 9). In Revelation 22 the Bridegroom is the Spirit, who in chapters 2 and 3 was the Spirit speaking to the churches.
We must see all these things because we have been covered, veiled, leavened, distracted, held back, misled, delayed, and frustrated. Without a clear vision we cannot be rescued. We need such a strong vision to take away the veil, to purge out the leaven, and to bring us back to the central lane. Such a vision will control us, preserve us, and keep us in the proper, genuine oneness. It will also direct us, lead us, and bring us on the right lane to the right goal. If we do not have a clear vision concerning the house in John 14 and especially a clear vision concerning the city in Revelation 21 and 22, I do not believe we could be fully kept in the proper line of life. It would be impossible to unify the many teachings among us in order to keep the oneness. No one can control what others teach. Everybody has the liberty and right to teach what they want. No one can control us. If you were not allowed to teach a certain way, you could go somewhere else. Let us suppose that you did not go away but that we all stayed together. Although we are together, let us suppose that you teach what you teach, I teach what I teach, and another teaches what he teaches. If this were the case, this would not be oneness. At the very least it is a scattering. Eventually, this scattering would become a dividing. Therefore, the only thing that can preserve us and keep us in the genuine, not human-made, oneness is to see this vision.
I must testify that by the Lord’s mercy I have been preserved over more than fifty years, not by anyone controlling me but by seeing this vision. I cannot teach anything else. This vision has spoiled me concerning the teaching of other doctrines. I possibly could have made a name for myself in teaching typology, prophecy, and dispensation. I studied these things for seven and a half years. These were the best years of my entire life, from the age of twenty to the age of twenty-eight. These years are the top years for a young person to learn things. These things that I have learned are still useful. In my interpretation of the types in Exodus, I did not spend much time to write the outlines for the messages, since I had received the basic help in interpreting these types when I was in the golden time of my life. I dropped all these things many years ago, but when the need arose, I still could interpret these types. If I had not been “distracted” by the New Testament ministry and if I had continued preaching typology, prophecy, and dispensation, I could have been an expert in these areas, especially in China. Instead, I dropped these things. No one told me to drop them. I was controlled by this heavenly vision. I believe that even the angels can testify that I was thoroughly, fully, and absolutely one with Brother Watchman Nee’s ministry. What caused me to be one with his ministry? Nothing but this vision. Some people are now spoiling Brother Nee’s name. I do not care what they did or what they are doing. I can never deny that Brother Nee took the lead to take this ministry toward this way, and I saw it and followed him one hundred percent. We all have been preserved.
We must learn by His mercy to seek after this seeing of the vision. We must see this. Then we all will be like the early apostles who did not minister anything but this one, unique, New Testament economy. Of course, they covered a lot of items. Paul taught something concerning head covering (1 Cor. 11:2-16), but he did it in the scope of the dispensing of the Triune God. Even head covering was taught by the apostle under this view and in this scope. Paul did not teach anything apart from the New Testament economy, which is the dispensing of the Divine Trinity into all of God’s chosen, redeemed, and regenerated people. We must see this. We should not teach anything with the motive of attracting a crowd by stirring up people’s interest. Our ministry is not to get a crowd; it is not to get a market for our work; it is not to stir up people’s interest. Our ministry is to minister the Triune God according to His eternal economy and by His New Testament ministry.
We cannot deny that the Lord has shown us something over this past half century. You all can testify that once you touch the publication of the Lord’s New Testament ministry, you can sense a particular flavor. It is something particular in its divine nature of the New Testament ministry. Brothers, if you learn anything of this ministry, you must learn this.
You must dive into all the things that the Lord has put out in His recovery. If you would dive into these matters, you would get educated and built up. To get thoroughly educated, humanly speaking, we must pass through six years of elementary school, six years of junior high and high school, and four years of college. After this study you are qualified to do research. In like manner, I hope that all of you would spend some time to dive into the holy Word by the help that the Lord has given us throughout the past sixty years. I have discovered that nearly all the things that we have published have remained on your bookshelf. You did not get into all the crucial points. You still have not gotten into many of the books of the Bible. This shows that you are still in the old things.
I would like to take Hymns, #1348 as an example again. Actually, this hymn was written by someone who is not among us. Then it was brought in and used by us for a few years. It was finally edited and put into the final edition of our hymnal. We all have sung this hymn for some years, but no one realized that it was a foreign thing to us. We were singing a hymn for the unbelievers. Although we did not realize it, our singing of this hymn carries with it the concept that we have never been regenerated, that we will never be in the city but always outside the city, that we have no right to eat of the tree of life but could only enjoy the leaves of the tree, and that we will still have tears. Even though this is fully revealed in Revelation 21 and has clear subtitles in the Recovery Version, no one had this kind of realization. We were in the training on the book of Revelation and had a review of that training, but everyone forgot. This is just one illustration. I could probably pick up fifty other points from the footnotes of the Recovery Version to check with you on other items of the truth, and probably not one of you would be able to answer me. The diamonds and the treasures are all here, yet we go to other sources to get something “precious,” to get something different, strange, and new to catch people and to stir up people’s interest. This is not the New Testament ministry. This is to teach differently, which is mentioned in 1 Timothy 1:3. Paul says in this verse that he left Timothy in Ephesus in order that he might charge certain ones not to teach differently. Paul also instructed him in verse 4 to charge these ones to take care of God’s economy. Today we must be on the alert, not for others but for ourselves. Speaking for myself, I would not be unconsciously utilized and usurped by God’s enemy to minister something such as “copper,” which looks like gold but actually is not gold. God does not want copper. Copper must be judged. God wants gold to express Himself. Eventually, in the New Jerusalem there will be no copper; there will be only gold. We all must see such a thing.
I do not like to control anyone, I would never control anyone, and I have never been controlled by anyone. Even Brother Nee never controlled me. No one can control anything. However, in the Lord’s recovery we all must see what the New Testament ministry is. Some people have said, “Brother Lee forces every church to study his Life-studies.” Probably if they were me, they would do this, but I would never do it. I would not force you to use the Life-studies; rather, if I came to know that you held this kind of concept, I would have the ministry office stop mailing any of my writings to you. However, as one brother who is a little older than you are and who is respected by you as your helper, I would say an honest word to you — if you miss the Lord’s ministry in His recovery, you miss a lot. You suffer the loss, but for you alone to suffer the loss is a small thing. You and I personally mean nothing, but if we miss the Lord’s ministry, we delay the Lord’s recovery. This is a great thing.
You may say that you have never been negative toward the ministry. Many of you have never been negative, but your indifferent attitude without a sharp discernment of the truth and your lukewarmness did and still are bothering me. You need to be absolute. You need to be burning. You need to go on. Do not think that just because you have been under this training for years that you have gotten to know everything. I believe that in these recent days the Lord has shown us that we do not know that much. The New Testament ministry is a big field for us to explore and a big mine for us to dig in. We should not stop here.
The prayer meeting this morning (see chapter 10) was a strong illustration to me that we have not made much progress in the Lord’s recovery. We have still remained very old. According to the burden in my spirit, this morning we should have come together to cry out to the Lord to rescue us from the traditional things, to have mercy upon us, and to give us grace so that we might be brought into His New Testament ministry in a full way. Also, we should have prayed for the churches and for every saint in the recovery to be brought into such a full realization of the New Testament ministry. In our prayer it was not necessary for us to repeat all the things that we had heard to give others a sermon. That was not our burden in coming together to pray. We need to come together to pour out our being, to cry to the Lord with weeping, “Lord, have mercy upon us. I have been in the recovery for years, and I have never seen the things. Have mercy upon me. Have mercy upon all the churches. Have mercy upon all the Christians, Lord. Use us to enlighten them. Use us to present God’s economy to them.” We need to pray in this way. We do not need to pray doctrinally. My heart has been broken again and again by this kind of situation. I hope that you would weep with me. Many of us who are here need to weep for a few days. When I called a gathering last night for us to pray for half an hour, I meant that we should pray in this way. I did not mean for you all to come here to waste your time for thirty minutes. Again, this is a strong proof that we have not been brought into the real realization of the New Testament ministry.
