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Scripture Reading: Rev. 1:11-13, 20; 7:9-17; 12:1-5, 17; 14:1-5, 14-16; 15:2-4; 19:7-10, 14-20; 21:1-3, 9-11, 18-19
In the previous chapter we saw that Judaism is satanic, Catholicism is demonic, Protestantism is dead and Christless, and the world is devilish. After hearing this, some may consider that this word is hard and without mercy. This is the reason that I have not released such a message in the United States for over twelve years. If I had spoken such a message ten years ago, even some among us would not have been able to receive it. However, now is the time to release this word. We are not the first ones to speak in this way, apparently without mercy. It was the Lord Jesus who pointed out these diabolic matters in His seven epistles to the churches in Revelation 2 and 3, and we are simply His small followers. In these seven epistles, the Lord Jesus used the term synagogue of Satan twice (2:9; 3:9). Then in speaking to the church in Thyatira, He mentioned Jezebel. Jezebel was an evil woman in the Old Testament during the time of the kings, but now the church in Thyatira tolerates that evil woman (2:20). According to church history, Thyatira symbolizes the Roman Catholic Church. In the eyes of the Lord, the Roman Catholic Church has become Jezebel, the evil woman who teaches God’s people to commit fornication and to worship idols. Thus, in the fourth epistle the Lord used the words Jezebel, fornication, and idol sacrifices, and He also mentioned the “deep things of Satan” (v. 24), the mysteries of Satan taught not only in the idol temples but also in the cathedrals and sanctuaries of the Catholic Church. Therefore, no one should say that we are merciless. The Lord Jesus Himself pointed out the diabolic things in Catholicism.
The Lord told the church in Sardis, “You have a name that you are living, and yet you are dead” (3:1). According to church history again, Sardis signifies the Protestant church, which in the eyes of the Lord is dead and lifeless. Finally, to the last church, the church in Laodicea, the Lord said, “Because you are lukewarm and neither hot nor cold, I am about to spew you out of My mouth.” Moreover, He is standing outside the door of the church (vv. 16, 20). This is not our own word. It is the word of the faithful and true Witness (1:5; 3:14). This Witness of God pointed out all these negative matters in the churches. By the Lord’s simple and clear word, we can see the real situation in the typical religions, even in the so-called Christian churches. There are the synagogue of Satan, Jezebel, idols, fornication, and the deep things of Satan. Even Protestantism is dead, lifeless, and Christless. Christ has given it up, and He is outside of it. This is the word spoken by the Lord in the Bible.
In addition, the third church, the church in Pergamos, dwelled where Satan’s throne and dwelling place are (2:13). The church was not in the place of God’s ruling but where Satan’s throne is. This place is the world. Today’s Christianity is not only devilish but also worldly. Today certain Christian churches even use rock music, drama performances, and dancing as entertainment to draw crowds. This is worldly and is altogether abominable in the eyes of God. Nevertheless, many good Christians justify these things. Almost no one stands up to protest against them. Some have told me, “Brother Lee, you are too old. You are not up to date. You need to know the trend of the world. If we are so straight and old, the young people will not come. We need to fit into the young people’s trend.” Some even proposed to me that we should form a “hippie church,” saying that this would be the best way to follow the tide of the age. This is worldly and diabolic. Christianity today has drugged people with things such as music and dancing. Regrettably, these “drugs” have damaged many Christians in their sober mind that was created by God. Their mental sky is altogether cloudy, and they cannot discern right from wrong. Therefore, when we stand up to protest against these things, they say that we are merciless and unkind, that we should love people and not condemn them. The Lord Jesus loves everyone, but He does not love the things of Satan, such as devilish entertainment.
Satan is subtle. He not only uses these “drugs” to damage the understanding of God’s people, but he also uses good things, which we may compare to dessert and candy. Even in fundamental Christianity, we can hear good, sound, fundamental, and scriptural messages, but many of them are merely “sweets” to comfort people and show love to them. Those who are considered to be the best ministers and speakers in today’s Christianity are the ones who soothe, comfort, and give rest to their listeners. If anyone is faithful to stand up and tell people that they need the experience of the cross, the listeners will reject him and cut off his financial supply. If we could check with the heart and conscience of certain fundamental preachers, we would find that they do know what the Lord’s will is, yet they dare not to preach it. Rather, they pick up many good messages along the line of Streams in the Desert. As we said in a previous chapter, many things in this devotional book are like a “British biscuit” or an “American dessert” that can damage the appetite for proper, solid, and nourishing meat.
Over twenty-five years ago, when I came out of mainland China, I received the burden to preach concerning the New Jerusalem. The Lord had shown me that the New Jerusalem is not the “heavenly mansion” of the so-called heaven but a living composition of all God’s redeemed ones. I preached this, and I taught it strongly. Then a certain preacher in Hong Kong rose up to tell people, “Brother Lee is taking away the heavenly mansions from the believers.” He asked me, “If you take away the heavenly mansions from the believers, what will we tell them when their relatives die?” I told him, “You are deceiving people with your superstition, telling them that their parents are in the heavenly mansions where you say we will all go one day. Do you really believe this? Do you not know that this is the superstition of Buddhism that was adopted by Catholicism? Have you not read in Revelation 21:2 that the New Jerusalem will come down out of heaven? The mutual abode of God and man for eternity will not be heaven but the New Jerusalem on the new earth. The teaching that you use to comfort people is a superstition, even a lie.” However, most people prefer to listen to the lie. They do not like to listen to the truth. The New Testament is full of solid food (Heb. 5:13-14; 1 Cor. 3:2), but in the Catholic Church and also in the Protestant churches, no one dares to touch this solid truth for fear of not being accepted even by the real, fundamental Christians.
Those in the charismatic movement emphasize nothing but the gifts, and by gifts they mainly mean speaking in tongues. However, 1 Corinthians 12:8-10 mentions nine gifts. The two chief items of the manifestation of the gifts are the word of wisdom and the word of knowledge, and the last two are speaking in tongues and interpretation of tongues. To emphasize speaking in tongues is to make the tail into the head. We would rather keep the head as the head. In every meeting we have many words of wisdom and of knowledge. According to the context of 1 Corinthians, the word of wisdom is the word concerning Christ as the deeper things of God, predestined by God to be our portion (1:24, 30; 2:6-10), and the word of knowledge is the word that imparts a general knowledge of things concerning God and the Lord (8:1-7). The word of wisdom is mainly out of our spirit through revelation; the word of knowledge is mainly out of our understanding through teaching. Both of these, not speaking in tongues or any other miraculous gift, are listed as the first gifts and the topmost manifestation of the Spirit because both are the most profitable ministries, or services, for the edification of the saints and the building up of the church to carry out God’s operation. According to history, the Christian churches have almost never had so much of the word of wisdom and of knowledge as we have today week after week and meeting after meeting. However, the charismatic movement cares mainly for the “tail.” Of course, it is good to keep the tail, but we must not make the tail into the head.
Some have also practiced prophesying by saying, “Thus saith the Lord,” but what they predicted was never fulfilled. Twice in 1963 and 1964 some prophesied that Los Angeles would fall into the ocean, and this was even published in a major newspaper. However, it never happened. Those who practiced in this way were all “drugged.” They never saw the fulfillment of their grand prophecies, but they still clung to the gifts. This is a kind of addiction. It is difficult for anyone today to rise up and speak something according to the solid truth, but in the United States today there is a people among whom the solid truth can be released. We thank the Lord for this. I have no intention to condemn anyone. Rather, our burden is to see what the Lord desires to have today. We must go on more and more in a positive way. We should not remain in satanic Judaism, in degraded Christianity—including demonic Catholicism and lifeless and Christless Protestantism—or in devilish worldliness. Whoever wants to remain there, let them remain. We need to go on from all these negative things to the one positive item, the testimony of Jesus.
As we have seen, the testimony of Jesus is the church as the expression, testimony, and revelation of Jesus in a corporate way. In order to see Jesus, we must see Him in the church, because Jesus is expressed and revealed in the proper church life. As we have also seen, because the book of Revelation unveils Christ, in this sense it also is the testimony of Jesus (1:1-2; 19:10). In no other book is Jesus revealed as much in His corporate expression. This book presents eight aspects concerning the testimony of Jesus, in chapters 1, 7, 12, 14, 15, 19, and 21. We should all remember these seven chapters. Chapter 1 unveils the seven golden lampstands (vv. 11-13, 20) shining in the dark night, and chapter 7 shows us the multitude of the redeemed saints in eternity (vv. 9-17). Chapter 12 reveals a wonderful, universal woman with a man-child (vv. 1-5, 17), and chapter 14 reveals the firstfruits and the harvest (vv. 1-5, 14-16), which are grown on God’s field, His farm. In chapter 15 we see a group of overcomers standing on the glassy sea rejoicing, praising, and singing the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb (vv. 2-4). In chapter 19 there is the bride on the wedding day (vv. 7-8) and the army of Christ to defeat Antichrist (vv. 14-21), and in chapter 21 there is the New Jerusalem as the wife in eternity (vv. 1-3, 9-11, 18-19). In brief, these seven chapters reveal the lampstands, the great multitude, the woman with the man-child, the firstfruits and the harvest, the overcomers, the bride, the army, and the New Jerusalem. We should bring these eight signs to the Lord and pray-read all the related verses.
Because of the wrong concept in Christianity, most Christians consider that Revelation is too difficult for anyone to understand. For their entire life, many Christians do not get into the book of Revelation. If we still hold on to this concept, we have been drugged. May the Lord cause us to be sober. The book of Revelation is not too difficult. It simply presents the testimony of Jesus, which is the church as the corporate expression of Christ. We all know what a lampstand is. It is something that shines over us when we are in darkness. The great multitude of the redeemed in chapter 7 serve God in the heavenly temple and enjoy God’s care and the Lamb’s shepherding. The wonderful woman in chapter 12, clothed with the sun, the moon underneath her feet, and a crown of twelve stars upon her head, is the totality of God’s people on earth. The church is also God’s farm to grow Christ (1 Cor. 3:9). On this farm those who ripen earlier are considered the firstfruits, and the rest are the harvest. The overcomers on the glassy sea in Revelation 15 are those who overcome the beast and all the negative things. Then in chapter 19 the church is not a harlot but a pure and bright bride, and it is the overcoming army to fight with Christ against Antichrist and his armies. Eventually, we have the New Jerusalem in chapter 21. The New Jerusalem is altogether wonderful, so we need much understanding concerning it. In brief, the church as the testimony of Jesus is the lampstands, the multitude of the redeemed, the wonderful woman with the man-child, the farm to grow the firstfruits and the harvest, the overcomers, the bride, the army, and the New Jerusalem. In this testimony Jesus is fully expressed and revealed. Therefore, in order to know Jesus and see such a Christ, we must come to the church.
This brief summary covers the entire book of Revelation. Some may say, “These are only seven chapters. What about the others?” The other chapters simply speak of horses, locusts, scorpions, frogs, beasts, a dragon, a serpent, and a great harlot. The great Babylon is in the category of the frogs, locusts, serpent, and dragon, but the New Jerusalem is in the category of the lampstands, the wonderful woman, the farm to grow Christ, and the overcomers. All the smaller items are the background and environment of the main picture, which is Christ as the Lion of the tribe of Judah (5:5). Nothing can defeat this Lion, neither the serpent, nor the frogs, nor the locusts. To us, the Lion is the redeeming Lamb, but to the enemy, the Lamb is the overcoming Lion. Moreover, He is fully expressed in the lampstands, the multitude of the redeemed, the woman with the man-child, the farm, the overcomers, the bride, the army, and the New Jerusalem. Through this summary, the entire book of Revelation should be open to all of us.
The lampstands are golden, not wooden or muddy. In typology, gold signifies the divine nature of God. The church must have the divine nature of God. We have all been born of God, and we have His life and nature (John 3:15; 2 Pet. 1:4). Therefore, we do have some amount of gold within us. Now we need to forsake our muddy and wooden nature and go along with the golden nature. We only need to listen to the God who lives, works, moves, and operates in us. If we would care for the divine nature, we will be golden. Other metals rust, but gold never rusts. It always remains the same. Likewise, the divine nature does not change; it remains forever the same. We do have this divine nature within us. Therefore, we should not develop our natural talents or natural being. Rather, we should cast them away and develop the divine nature within us to have the golden lampstands.
Moreover, the church is a stand, not something flat. The church is not low; it rises up and stands. The church must rise up higher than everything else. Those who are defeated and dead lie down, but as the church we must stand as the golden lampstand. We stand not by our nature, natural being, or natural talent but by God’s divine nature. Many of our co-workers in mainland China, faithful ones with whom I worked for many years, were martyred. Recently, a co-worker who was learning under me since 1936 was martyred. The Communists demanded that people not talk about Jesus, but he protested in print that he must speak about Him. Because of this, the Communists killed him. To be sure, all these co-workers were standing as the testimony of Jesus.
We do not need a lampstand in the daytime. It is in the night that we need the lampstand to shine. The church must be golden, standing, and shining. Some people argue, “Are you the only church? Are we not the church?” Those who argue should simply check whether they are shining or darkened. When we come into a certain Christian meeting, do we see light there, or is that meeting in darkness? The church shines; it is the shining lampstand. If we have been wrong with our wife, for example, when we come into the proper church, the light will shine on us. We will be exposed, our conscience will be enlightened and touched, and we will have the deep conviction that we should not be wrong in this way. If this is our experience, we can be assured that the place we are in is the church. On the other hand, if we come here again and again with no conviction that we are wrong with our wife, we are still in darkness, and the place in which we are is not the genuine church. The church is shining. Therefore, do not be careless in the church. Nothing exposes people as much as the church does. There is no need for anyone to speak frankly to us. When we simply come to the church, the light is there. The light comes from all around and embraces us, and we cannot escape it. If we try to run away, the light follows us and brings us back. Even if we do not like being exposed, we come back to be exposed again. Then we receive mercy, and grace follows. This is the experience of the church. The church is golden, the church is standing, and the church is shining. It is the golden lampstand.
In some places that claim to be the church, even the elders fight with one another. On the one hand, they say that they meet in the Lord’s name and that they are the church, but on the other hand, they fight. This is not the church; it is a place of darkness. The church is a place where not only do we not fight, but even as we are about to lose our temper, we say, “O Lord, forgive me. Lord, I am so wrong.” The church is the most exposing place. No man controls us here, but there is a King in the church. The Lord Jesus, not any of the elders, is the King. Many times the elders are very kind. They go along with us and say that everything is fine. However, even if the elders say, “Fine,” Jesus may say, “No.” The elders may let us go, but Jesus would not let us go. He is the light, and He shines over us. If there is not this kind of light where we are, we should go elsewhere. We should not stay in a place where there is no light. Sometimes I have not spoken kindly with the elders, but I could go only so far in my speaking. I dared not go further, because the light shined within me. When I was about to speak too strongly, the light came, and I said, “O Lord Jesus! Cleanse me. Lord, I apply Your blood.” Likewise, if we still can fight with our husband or wife for an extended time, we are not in the church in a practical way. I do not say that no one among us fights. It is just that after fighting for only a few minutes, King Jesus shines over us and within us to cause us to repent and confess. Because of this, we can say that we are in the church as the shining golden lampstand.
The great multitude in Revelation 7:9-17 consists of the redeemed ones from the nations throughout all generations, who are innumerable and who constitute the church. Their standing before the throne indicates that they have been raptured to the heavens, to the presence of God. Thus, the record in these verses describes in a general way the scene from the time of the rapture of the believers to their enjoyment in eternity.
Verse 14 says, “These are those who come out of the great tribulation.” The great tribulation here is different from the great tribulation mentioned in Matthew 24:21. The great tribulation here is tribulation in a general sense. All of God’s redeemed people have passed through certain tribulations, sufferings, persecutions, and afflictions. No Christian can avoid these things. In our spirit, we Christians are a people of enjoyment, but on the physical side, we are a suffering people. However, one day we shall come triumphantly out of the great tribulation and stand before the Lamb. The palm branches in the hands of the saints signify their victory over tribulation, which they have undergone for the Lord’s sake, and they are also a sign of satisfaction gained through being watered (Exo. 15:27). In eternity the One who sits on the throne will tabernacle over them, overshadowing them with Himself as the One who is embodied in Christ (John 1:14). Moreover, they will not hunger or thirst anymore, for the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne will shepherd them and guide them to springs of waters of life.
As we have seen, Revelation 12 speaks of a wonderful woman who delivers a man-child. She is universal and full of light. A lampstand needs to shine, but this woman has no need of shining; she is altogether in the light. Every kind of light-bearer—the sun, the moon, and the stars—is around her. She is clothed with the sun, the moon is underneath her feet, and on her head is a crown of twelve stars. With her there is no day and night, because both the light-bearer of the day and the light-bearers of the night are with her, just as in the New Jerusalem there is no day or night because God’s glory constantly shines within it (21:23). With this woman there is not one bit of darkness. I have seen the church in this kind of condition. The church is the shining lampstand, but in some places the church eventually becomes like this wonderful woman. How we thank the Lord that in these days the church is shining in this way.
If we have the spiritual eyes, we can see the situation of the church today. The church is a wonderful “woman” in our locality who will deliver a man-child to bring in the kingdom age and rule over all the nations. This picture is better than a thousand words. If we see this wonderful woman, we can understand where the church is and what the church is. This woman is universal. Likewise, we are in our locality, but we are universal. We are practical in order to be real in our city, but our nature is not of our city. Therefore, we do not use rock music, dramas, dancing, or anything else of this evil age. We use only that which is universal, bright, and full of light. This is the nature of the church as the testimony of Jesus today. The church is not only a shining lampstand. It also has the shining of the sun, the moon, and the stars. If we need light, we can come to the church. Many of us can testify that when we came to the church, it was as if the stars were over us, the moon was underneath our feet, and we were clothed, wrapped up, with the sun. Therefore, we could not escape. In this aspect, the church is not merely a lampstand, a light-bearer; it is clothed with the universal light-bearers. The light is concentrated in the church; outside the church there is no light.
For this reason, this is the place that the dragon hates. Before this universal woman is the great dragon ready to devour the man-child she brings forth (12:3-4). This indicates a spiritual battle. A dragon is greater than a serpent. This shows that Satan hates this woman with her man-child and will do everything he can to damage, swallow, and devour them. However, he cannot do it. Instead, he is cast down from the heaven to the earth by the very man-child who is delivered by the woman. We have the assurance that the man-child will be produced in the proper churches. We cannot expect Catholicism or the denominations to produce the man-child. Only a wonderful woman in light can deliver the man-child who will cast Satan down from the heavens to the earth. Eventually, the kingdom, the authority, of Christ will be ushered in by the man-child delivered by this bright woman. This is the testimony of Jesus.
The church is also a farm to grow Christ (1 Cor. 3:9). I was in Christianity for many years, but I had no growth there, because I had no life. A person can sit in the pews of certain denominations for many years, but year after year he will remain the same. However, if we attend the church meetings for only a few weeks, something within us will begin to grow and sprout. If we were all here according to our condition in the past, we would be a room full of locusts, scorpions, frogs, snakes, and beasts, but instead, many are here today as glowing and shining persons. It is the life within us that makes us this way. Something within us is growing, because the church is God’s farm. Some on this farm will be the firstfruits. They will ripen first because they are growing more quickly. They are not defiled, and they follow the Lamb wherever He goes (Rev. 14:4). The condition for growing quickly is to follow the Lamb. Wherever He goes, we follow Him, and by following Him we grow more quickly. Then we will be the firstfruits. Nevertheless, even those who grow more slowly will still ripen to be the harvest.
The function of a farm is to produce food. The church is the place that God needs to produce food. When many of us were in the denominations, we received no food. In the church, however, there is much food. In the local churches today there is no dearth or famine. Rather, every local church is full of food. Recently, in a certain locality the sisters fed some of us up to five meals a day. Every meal was full of the riches of America, and I was fully nourished. The churches today are like this. Because message after message is one “dish” after another, we all need a large capacity and a strong digestion. This illustrates the aspect of the church as the farm to produce every kind of proper food.
In Revelation 15 the overcomers are standing on the glassy sea. Recently, we have had many baptisms. The place of baptism may be considered as an entry to send all the negative things to the lake of fire. A sea should be of water, but the glassy sea is mingled with fire (v. 2). Water and fire together signify God’s judgment throughout the entire Bible. God first judged His rebellious creatures with a flood of water. He judged the preadamic age with water, and He judged the age of Noah also with water (Gen. 1:2; 7:11-12, 21-23). After the flood, God told Noah that never again would there be a flood to destroy the earth (9:15). Nevertheless, the Bible tells us that God continued His judgment with fire. The glassy sea is a final symbol of God’s judgment by water and fire.
The flood at Noah’s time may be considered a kind of baptism (1 Pet. 3:20-21). The crossing of the Red Sea (Exo. 14:16-31), the laver in the tabernacle (30:17-21), and the bronze sea with the ten bronze lavers in the temple (1 Kings 7:23-40a) were also types of baptism. In the New Testament, John the Baptist told people to be buried in water (Mark 1:4; Matt. 3:5-6), and throughout the entire Christian era, many Christians have been baptized. Worldly things, sinful things, the flesh, and everything else negative goes into the water and eventually into the lake of fire (Rev. 20:14-15). Therefore, in front of God there is a sea of glass mingled with fire, and the overcomers are on the seashore, just as the Israelites stood on the shore, dancing, rejoicing, and singing after passing through the Red Sea. This signifies that in the church life we do not keep anything negative; everything negative must go.
After being buried in baptism and getting rid of all the negative things, many believers, in principle, dance and sing the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb. All the negative things are under their feet, and they are on the seashore. Today we are on the shore of the glassy sea, where all the negative things go on their way to the lake of fire. We are cleansed and pure, and every negative thing is gone. Therefore, we are the overcomers, and the world is under our feet. The world, the modern fashion, and the department stores are all in the glassy sea. We say to all the negative things, “Go to that sea. Get away from me and my home.” We are the cleansed people, the baptized people, those who rise up from the judging waters and are now on the seashore.
Whenever we come together, we should have the sensation that we are on the shore of the glassy sea. The worldly attraction of the department stores and the worldly entertainment of television are in the glassy sea on the way to the lake of fire, but we are on the shore dancing, rejoicing, and singing. We are baptized, released, and resurrected. We are meeting not under the sea but on the seashore. When we were in the denominations, we were “under the sea.” We could not shout, rejoice, or sing. The proper church life, however, is on the seashore. Those who meet in the proper church are able to stand on the glassy sea. This is the experience of the church.
The bride in Revelation 19 is what the church will be in the millennium, the thousand-year kingdom. A thousand years to God are like one day (2 Pet. 3:8). Therefore, the millennium will be a wedding day. On the wedding day the female is the bride; following this, the bride becomes the wife. The church in the millennium will be the bride, and the entire thousand years will be the wedding day with the wedding feast. An American wedding feast may last only half an hour, but a Chinese wedding feast may last much longer. The Chinese truly know how to enjoy a wedding feast by eating, drinking, talking, and rejoicing for four or five hours. However, this is still too short. The bride will have a wedding feast that will last one thousand years.
The bride is clothed in fine linen, bright and clean (Rev. 19:8). In the Bible, linen typifies Christ as our righteousness. Christ is righteousness to us in two aspects. First, we receive Him as our objective righteousness for our salvation. Then after this, we need to live Him out as our subjective righteousness. This second aspect of righteousness is not for our salvation but for our prize in the millennial kingdom (Phil. 3:9, 14; 1 Cor. 9:24). The linen that the bride wears is not the Christ whom we receive initially but the Christ whom we live out. Not all Christians will be the bride in the thousand years. Only those who live out Christ as their subjective righteousness will be the bride.
The armies in Revelation 19:14 are the called and chosen believers in 17:14 and those who are called to the marriage dinner of the Lamb in 19:9, that is, those who constitute the bride of Christ. After the marriage dinner of the Lamb, the bride will become the army. Verse 14 says that the armies are dressed in fine linen, white and clean. The overcoming saints have two garments. The first garment is Christ as our objective righteousness for our justification (Luke 15:22; Psa. 45:13), and the second is Christ lived out of us to be our daily, subjective righteousness (Matt. 22:11-12; 5:20; Psa. 45:14; Rev. 3:4-5, 18). The first garment is for our salvation, but the second is for our reward. The fine linen in Revelation 19:8 and 14 is the second garment, which qualifies the overcomers both to attend the marriage dinner of the Lamb and to fight with the Lord against His enemy. Thus, the wedding garment becomes the fighting garment.
In Revelation 19 the enemies of Christ are Antichrist, the kings of the earth, and their armies. The war in verses 19 through 21 will take place at Armageddon, at the valley of Jehoshaphat (Joel 3:9-16; Zech. 14:2-3, 12-15), which is very close to Jerusalem, and it will be the treading of the great winepress of the fury of God (Rev. 14:17-20). As the result of this war, Christ will defeat Antichrist, who, with the false prophet, will be cast alive into the lake of fire. Then the rest of Antichrist’s armies will be killed with the sword that proceeds out of the mouth of Christ, who is the King of kings and Lord of lords (19:16).
After the millennial kingdom the New Jerusalem as the totality of all God’s chosen and redeemed people will appear. In the thousand years the bride wears fine linen, but in eternity the New Jerusalem will be built with jasper (21:18-19). In the Old Testament the tabernacle was covered with white linen. However, this was something temporary, not eternal. After the tabernacle there was the temple, which was built no longer with linen but with precious stones. In the millennium the overcomers as the bride will express Christ as their linen. They will have no mixture, spot, or anything dirty, but everything will be bright, clean, and pure. That is a picture of the Christ whom we live out. However, this also will be a temporary situation. Eventually, we will all come to the final aspect of the testimony of Jesus. We will be the New Jerusalem in eternity, expressing God no longer only as linen but as precious, glowing, shining jasper.
Step after step and aspect after aspect, the testimony of Jesus begins with the lampstands, passes through the great multitude, the universal, bright woman, the firstfruits and harvest, the overcomers on the glassy sea, the bride, and the army, and finally comes to the New Jerusalem, where Christ is fully expressed and testified. The New Jerusalem will be the testimony of Jesus in the fullest, ultimate way. God is expressed in Christ, Christ is expressed in the New Jerusalem, and the New Jerusalem is the ultimate consummation of the church. This is the revelation of Christ, and this is the testimony of Jesus.
All the above fellowship should help us to see what the church is. It is not satanic Judaism, demonic Catholicism, lifeless and Christless Protestantism, or devilish worldliness, with the locusts, scorpions, frogs, beasts, serpent, dragon, and Babylon the Great, which will fall and be cast into the lake of fire. Rather, it is the corporate testimony of Jesus. Therefore, to practice the church life is not simply to meet in the name of the Lord on the proper ground of the church. We must also have the reality of the testimony of Jesus as the shining lampstand, the multitude serving God in the heavenly temple, the wonderful woman to produce the man-child, the field that grows the firstfruits and harvest, the overcomers on the glassy sea, the bride expressing Christ as the linen, the overcoming army to defeat Antichrist, and the New Jerusalem as the full expression and testimony of Jesus. This is the genuine church life. May we all see this vision.
