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Scripture Reading: Rev. 2:1-7, 8-11, 12-17, 18-20, 24; 3:9, 12, 17-18, 20; Acts 2:40; Gal. 1:4; Phil. 2:12-13, 15
God’s goal in His creation of man was to have a corporate expression of Himself. According to this goal, man was made in the image of God in order to be His testimony (Gen. 1:26). This means that man was destined to be the expression of God. Because Adam failed God in this respect, Jesus came as the second man (1 Cor. 15:47b) to take the position and function of Adam. Thus, the living person of Jesus is the expression, image, and testimony of God (Col. 1:15). In the same way, the church today is the testimony of Jesus, that is, His expression. In the first chapter of the Bible, man is in the image of God to express God, and in the last two chapters of the Bible, there is a building, the New Jerusalem, to express God. According to the book of Revelation, God on His throne has the appearance of jasper, and the New Jerusalem also has the appearance of jasper (4:2-3; 21:11, 18). This means that the entire city is God’s expression in His image. By this we can see the consistency of the Bible from the beginning to the end.
No doubt, there is the matter of our personal salvation in the Bible. We were all lost, and we must believe in the Lord Jesus to be saved. To a certain extent, we also need to seek the Lord to improve our living and conduct. However, this is not God’s consistent goal. God’s consistent goal is to have a unique expression of Himself. Neither the sun by day nor the moon by night can express God. Even the myriads of angels are not qualified or destined to express God; they are simply His servants (Heb. 1:13-14). In the whole universe only man has the destiny to express God. The meaning of man is that he is to be the expression of God. Man was created not merely to be saved, to go to heaven, or to be a good person with good behavior. Simply to be saved and to have a certain behavior are far off from God’s consistent goal. We were all created in the image of God with the destiny of expressing God.
Moreover, the expression of God according to His consistent goal is not individualistic but corporate and collective. We may claim to be expressing God, but it may be in an individual way, not in a corporate way. From the first page to the last, the Bible reveals that what God desires as His expression is corporate. God commanded the Israelites to build only one tabernacle. At that time over a million people were traveling in the wilderness, and that small tabernacle was only thirty cubits long and ten cubits wide, smaller than a common meeting hall (Exo. 26:15-16, 18, 20, 22-23). Nevertheless, that small tabernacle was the unique center for the worship of God. As such, it was the unique expression of God. Since God is one, He did not want to have more than one tabernacle among His people. God is omnipresent, but He does not desire to be omnipresent in that way. We can never divide God’s expression. God is uniquely one, so His expression must also be uniquely one. Similarly, there was only one temple of God in the ancient times. Since there were twelve tribes, it seems logical that each tribe should have had one temple, just as in modern times the United States has fifty states, each with its own legislature. However, our modern wisdom is not superior to God’s wisdom. All the twelve tribes had only one temple, because God’s expression is unique.
Likewise in the New Testament, there is only one church, because there is only one Christ. In the Old Testament there were three unique things: one God, one tabernacle, and one temple. In the New Testament there are also three unique things: one Christ, one church, and one holy city, the New Jerusalem. When I was in Jerusalem in 1958, I went to see the spot where, according to tradition, Jesus was buried and resurrected. Upon this site is a building, and at various corners of it are sections belonging to different major denominations. This is a picture of the division among Christians. Nevertheless, there is one God, one tabernacle, one temple, one Christ, one church, and one New Jerusalem.
God’s intention is to have a corporate expression. Before I was saved, I was a fourth-generation Christian in name and by tradition. As a child I was indoctrinated, drugged, and befuddled with every kind of concept from Christianity. Apparently these concepts were according to the Bible, but in actuality they were not. For many years I heard the preaching of pastors, ministers, and missionaries, but no one ever told me that we must be the corporate expression of Christ on the earth today. God desires an expression in this universe, and wherever this expression is, in each locality, it must be uniquely one.
John says, “I John, your brother and fellow partaker in the tribulation and kingdom and endurance in Jesus, was on the island called Patmos because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus” (Rev. 1:9). Almost all Christians today would say that they are for the word of God, but very few will say that they are for the testimony of Jesus. We are here not only for the word of God but also for the testimony of Jesus. Immediately after John declared this, he saw a vision of the seven lampstands, signifying the seven local churches (vv. 10-12, 20). The central concept of the first three chapters of Revelation is the seven lampstands as the seven local churches to be God’s expression. We must not think that God has changed His mind today. From the first page through the last, the Bible as the Word of God is always consistent concerning the one God, one tabernacle, one temple, one Christ, one church, one local church in each locality, and one New Jerusalem.
Many Christians desire to be heavenly and spiritual. However, the angels are the most heavenly and spiritual beings, having neither the flesh nor troublesome minds to bother them, but they are not the testimony of God as His expression. They are only His servants to minister to those who are to inherit salvation (Heb. 1:13-14). The testimony of Jesus is the church. According to most of the teachings in Christianity, the church is simply the gathering of the many saved ones who are ready to go to heaven. This definition is poor and is according to a fallen concept. A number of years ago in Taiwan, certain leading ones in Christianity rebuked me, saying, “You should not say that today’s Christianity is fallen.” I responded, “If today’s Christianity is not fallen, then what is? As long as any of us are not up to God’s standard, we are fallen.” Christianity impresses people mainly with personal salvation, at best. It does not convey any revelation concerning the testimony of Jesus. If we are in the testimony of Jesus, we do not need to focus on our personal salvation. Our salvation is secured by being in the testimony of Jesus.
The testimony of Jesus today is the church. This is not merely our own concept. If we read through all the sixty-six books of the Bible, we will come to the last book, Revelation. This book does not speak concerning personal salvation and personal behavior. The crucial matter in this book is the testimony of Jesus. We need not worry about our salvation. As long as we are a part of the testimony of Jesus, we are saved. Likewise, we should not worry about our holiness, spirituality, or any other matter. If we are a part of the testimony of Jesus, we will have everything.
To be the genuine testimony of Jesus will cost us everything. Can we say that we are the testimony of Jesus? If we were the testimony of Jesus, we would not be able to be worldly, and we would not be able to argue much with our husband or wife. To not quarrel, in itself, does not constitute us to be the testimony of Jesus, but anyone who is a part of the testimony of Jesus cannot remain in a quarrel with his wife. Likewise, a brother in the testimony of Jesus will not be able to have improperly long hair (1 Cor. 11:7, 14). As long as a brother still has improperly long hair, he is not practically a part of the testimony of Jesus. If he loves all the saints and behaves himself in a humble, nice, and kind way, we may consider him to be a good brother. However, the fact that his hair is too long is a sign that he is still holding on to his taste, which means that he cannot be built together with the saints. To cut our hair is a small thing in itself. What is crucial is that whoever holds on to his own taste needs to be crucified with Christ. It must be “no longer I” with my tastes (Gal. 2:20). We must not hold on to anything. The “I” with our concepts and tastes must be over. If this is the case, it will be easy to be built with all the saints.
Someone may seem like a good brother in the church, but in what way is he good? Is he simply gracious, a good husband, and one who comes to all the meetings? Instead, a brother must be “good” in being built up with others. We have learned a lesson from observing “good” brothers. Sometimes the nicest ones are the strongest ones to dissent. The nicer someone is, the more difficult he may be to deal with. This is because many good ones are natural and hold on to their concepts and tastes. They love the Lord and the church, but they never lose their individual identity to be built up with others. Different pieces of gold may be round, square, or rectangular, but when they are beaten together into one golden lampstand, they lose their identity. In the building up of the church, we all need to lose our identity. Otherwise, we may still be pieces of gold, but we are not the golden lampstand.
We must all see that what the Lord desires today is not wonderful pieces of gold, even the best pieces. Someone may be a wonderful piece of gold, but in a sense, this is his problem. Simply because he is so wonderful, he would not be built up with others. We need to say, “Lord, have mercy upon me. I do not want to be ‘wonderful.’ I do not want to be the best one, and I do not want to be anything special. I want only to be built up in the church. Lord, I wish to lose my identity to be a part of the lampstand.” To be the lampstands as the testimony of Jesus is the goal of God’s eternal purpose, and this is our destiny. As long as we are in the golden lampstands, we surely are saved, and it is here also that we become holy, spiritual, heavenly, and divine.
To be a part of the testimony of Jesus costs us our everything, but in actuality all that we are and have are nothing. We are nothing, and we have nothing. To be the testimony of Jesus requires us to be lost and nullified. What God wants today is the testimony of Jesus, which is the local church. Every local church is a lampstand, bearing Christ as the lamp shining for God. Someone may come to the meetings, but he still may not be built in. I have seen certain good saints who were in the church, but later they stayed away from the church. Revelation 3:12 says that the pillars in the temple “shall by no means go out anymore.” Once we are built into the temple as a pillar, we can never get out. If we can pull ourselves out of the church, then we have never been built into it. The only way to take out a part of a building is to tear down the whole building. If we mean business with the Lord to have the local church, we can never get out of the building.
Revelation 2:1-7 speaks concerning the church in Ephesus. This church had good behavior, strong faith, and many works for the Lord. However, it was rebuked for not enjoying the Lord adequately. The church in Ephesus had lost the enjoyment of the Lord. We know this from verse 7, in which the Lord says, “To him who overcomes, to him I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God.” To eat of the tree of life is to enjoy the Lord. The peril and danger today is that we may have good behavior, strong faith, and many good works for the Lord, but we may not enjoy Him very much. The Lord does not care how much we do for Him. He cares for how much we eat Him and enjoy Him daily. He is the tree of life for us to eat.
In the past, I heard many messages charging me to have good behavior, to have strong faith, and to do many works for the Lord, but I never heard a message telling me that I needed to eat the Lord Jesus. We may have done many works for the Lord, but how is our enjoyment of Him? Do we enjoy the Lord Jesus day by day? Every morning the first thing we should do is eat the Lord Jesus and enjoy Him. We all need to forget about what we do for Him. Instead, we need to enjoy Him. Nothing pleases Him as much as our eating Him. The more we eat Him, the happier He is.
Verses 8 through 11 speak of the church in Smyrna. Because the church there suffered persecution, the Lord spoke nothing against them. In this epistle is the first mention of the synagogue of Satan (v. 9). A synagogue is a place where the Jews worship God, but the synagogue has become something of Satan. This indicates that Judaism had become something satanic, the synagogue of Satan. In this same principle, the cathedrals, chapels, and sanctuaries of Christianity today are also not truly something of God. The third church is the church in Pergamos (vv. 12-17). Here is the place where Satan’s throne is (v. 13). The place of Satan’s throne is the place where Satan is the king, ruling and reigning over the world. In other words, in the church in Pergamos there is the world. Pergamos signifies the worldly church, the church that is married to the world. It is difficult to discern many of today’s Christians, since they appear the same as the unbelievers. In their shopping, housing, and dress they are the same as the people in the world. Many Christians are worldly, dwelling in the place where Satan’s throne is, the place where he dwells. Judaism is satanic, and worldliness also is satanic.
In the fourth church, the church in Thyatira, there is the woman Jezebel (vv. 18-29), signifying the Roman Catholic Church. Just as Judaism is satanic, the Catholic Church today is demonic. The Jews do not worship idols in their synagogues, but the Catholic cathedrals are full of idols. I spent much time to study the situation in Catholicism. When I was in Manila, I visited a Catholic cathedral there. I was surprised to see all the idols. Under one idol, an image of a certain saint, was a note saying that if someone prays to her several times a day, the sufferings of a relative in purgatory would be relieved. What a superstition this is! It is demonic. Frequently in these places there is also the idol of the “holy mother.” Can we say that those Catholic cathedrals are something of God? They are not only satanic but also demonic. Verse 20 says that Jezebel teaches and leads the Lord’s slaves astray to commit fornication and to eat idol sacrifices. Fornication is an evil “sister” of idolatry. Where there is idolatry, there is always fornication.
The second through fourth epistles in Revelation 2 speak of Judaism, worldliness, and Catholicism. In chapter 3 we come to Protestantism. Verse 1 says that although the church in Sardis has a name that it is living, it is dead. The characteristic of Protestantism is deadness. Furthermore, verse 20 says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock.” This is not the door of individual persons; it is the door of the church in lukewarmness, which we also see in today’s Protestantism. We need to realize that the Lord is not in Protestantism; He is outside the door. Therefore, Judaism is satanic, Catholicism is demonic, and Protestantism is filled with deadness and is without Christ. It preaches and teaches Christ in name, but it does not have Christ in actuality.
We must all realize that on the earth today there are four negative items: Judaism, Catholicism, Protestantism, and worldliness. The first three are in the category of religion. Today’s generation, particularly in the United States, is filled, composed, and constituted with worldliness plus Judaism, Catholicism, and Protestantism. A capable, young man in America may love his car, education, house, job, wife, and family. Moreover, he may attend a synagogue of Satan, a cathedral of demons, or a Protestant church that is dead. Such a person needs to take the word that Peter spoke on the day of Pentecost: “Be saved from this crooked generation” (Acts 2:40). According to the context of Acts 2, it was the Jewish religion with its leaders, priests, and elders that crucified the Lord Jesus (vv. 22-23, 36). This was the crooked generation that they were a part of. Now they needed to save themselves out of this generation. This simply means that they should give up their religion and come to Christ and the church. As Peter was standing there speaking to the people, the glorious church was there, and the Jewish religion as the crooked generation also was there. Those people needed to make a decision concerning their destiny, whether they would remain in the crooked, religious generation or come to the straight, glorious church life.
Paul also told the churches in Galatia that Christ died on the cross for their sins not to bring them into heaven but to rescue them out of the present evil age (Gal. 1:4). What bothered and frustrated the churches in Galatia at that time was the evil age composed with two elements, the Gentile world and the Jewish religion. Today the principle is the same. The evil age in the United States is composed of four elements: worldliness, Judaism, Catholicism, and Protestantism. Even many of the free groups today are a damage to the building up of God’s testimony. Thus, they also are a part of today’s crooked generation, from which we need to be saved.
Today there are only two things on the earth: the crooked generation and the testimony of Jesus. When Peter stood up on the day of Pentecost, the crooked generation was the Jewish religion, and the testimony of Jesus was the church. Likewise, when Paul wrote the letter to the Galatian churches, the present evil age was the Gentile world plus the Jewish religion, and the testimony of Jesus was the church. Today the crooked generation is modern worldliness plus Judaism, Catholicism, and Protestantism, and the testimony of Jesus is still the church. Whoever is not in the church as the testimony of Jesus today is in the crooked generation. Whether someone goes to the casinos in Las Vegas, a Jewish synagogue, a Catholic cathedral, a Protestant chapel, or a meeting place for a free group, as long as he is not built up in the church, he is in the crooked generation.
We look to the Lord that He would grant us a full revelation of the testimony of Jesus. We must never be drugged by worldliness, Judaism, Catholicism, and Protestantism. The satanic, demonic, devilish generation today is composed not only with the casinos in Las Vegas but also with the cathedrals, sanctuaries, chapels, and meeting places of many divisive, dissenting groups. As long as someone is not in the church, he is not in the testimony of Jesus. Rather, he is in the generation of today’s crooked world. May all the veils be taken away from us, and may we have a clear sky concerning the testimony of Jesus.
Satan and the demons are very subtle, so we must be careful. We have seen some dear ones seduced and deceived by Satan to speak critically of the church. We must be warned. For over forty years I have never seen anyone who opposed or criticized the church receive God’s blessing. If the recovery of the churches is something of the Lord in His governmental way, we must be careful about touching it. It is not a small thing to touch the church. If this is my work, your work, or the work of a movement called “the local churches,” we can reject it without opposing the Lord Jesus, but if this is the Lord’s governmental move, His economical administration, we must be careful. Some have condemned us, saying that we are heretical. If they were right, they should have received the blessing from God. However, they did not receive the blessing. Time will vindicate who is under God’s blessing and who is not. We must be saved from today’s crooked and perverse generation—from modern worldliness and from Judaism, Catholicism, and Protestantism. Then we must come to the church as the testimony of Jesus today. Hallelujah, we are here for the testimony of Jesus! This is not a gospel-preaching work, a mission work, a Bible-teaching work, or a work merely to edify Christians. This is the testimony of Jesus. May the Lord open our eyes, and may the heavens be open to us in these days.
