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Scripture Reading: Rev. 2:7, 17; 3:12-13, 20-22; 12:1-5, 10-11, 17; Phil. 2:12-13, 15-16a
The church as the testimony of Jesus is a testimony against this evil generation. God’s eternal purpose is to have a corporate expression of Himself. For this purpose He created man in His own image (Gen. 1:26). However, man failed God in this matter, but the Lord Jesus came as the second man (1 Cor. 15:45, 47), who was successful in expressing God. Therefore, Jesus is the testimony of God, signified by the golden lampstand in Exodus 25:31-40. Now Jesus as the unique lampstand is spreading Himself, branching out, as signified by the six branches of the lampstand. The one lampstand has become seven lampstands (Rev. 1:12, 20). The one testimony has become a sevenfold corporate testimony and expression of God Himself.
Satan always comes in to damage what God does. God created man in order to have a corporate testimony of Himself. This was something wonderful, but Satan, the serpent, quickly came in to damage man, and the man whom God created to be His testimony fell again and again. By the time of Noah, mankind had fallen to such an extent that it became a crooked generation contrary to God. The Lord Jesus likened the present age to the days of Noah (Matt. 24:37-39). In the New Testament this present age is called a crooked and perverted generation (Phil. 2:15), and when Peter stood up on the day of Pentecost, he told the people, “Be saved from this crooked generation” (Acts 2:40). When man’s nature was changed into that of a crooked and perverted generation, God’s judgment came in. Under this judgment God revealed to Noah the way for him to be saved out of that perverted generation, instructing him to build an ark, which would save him through water not only from God’s judgment on the earth but also out of that perverted generation (Gen. 6:11-14; 1 Pet. 3:20). The water of the flood executed God’s judgment upon the entire world, and it also separated Noah from the crooked and perverted generation. Moreover, the ark ushered Noah and his descendants into a new age on a new earth, where they began a new generation. Noah and his family living on the new earth was a type, a shadow, of the church life today.
Not long after that, however, Noah’s descendants were divided into the nations, from which Babel was raised up (Gen. 10:32; 11:9). This forced God to call Abraham out of that situation (12:1-2). However, even Abraham’s descendants fell into Egypt, where there was another perverted generation. Therefore, God came in again to call Abraham’s descendants and bring them out of Egypt (Exo. 1:1, 13; 3:8). This exodus was not only out from God’s judgment but, even more, out from the Egyptian generation. The water of the Red Sea executed God’s judgment on Pharaoh and all his army, and the water also saved Israel out of Egypt and the evil power of Pharaoh (14:27-30). Noah was saved through water out of his generation, and Israel was also saved out of Egypt through the water of the Red Sea.
After the Israelites were delivered out of the Egyptian generation, God charged them to build a tabernacle, which was the testimony of God against the present evil generation in Egypt (25:8-9). Then after they fought to enter into the good land, they built a temple as the testimony of God against the nations, who were the crooked and perverted generation at that time (2 Sam. 7:12-13; 1 Kings 6:1). Among this crooked and perverted generation there was the temple as God’s testimony on the earth. Nevertheless, Satan came in to also damage that testimony, not only by outward destruction but also by inward corruption. The Babylonian army came to destroy the temple outwardly, and after the Jews returned from Babylon and rebuilt the temple, Satan corrupted the divine worship inwardly, changing the testimony of God into the system of Judaism. Therefore, even Judaism became a crooked and perverted generation.
Eventually, the Lord Jesus came as the testimony of God, not only against the Roman Empire but also against the present generation of the Jews, Judaism with the temple. The temple was built to be God’s testimony against the Gentile nations, but that temple was inwardly corrupted by Satan and changed into a corrupted system that became a sinful, evil generation. The Lord Jesus came to be the living testimony of God, testifying mainly against that system. When the Lord Jesus came, the very God whom the Jewish religion worshipped came. However, He was opposed and persecuted by Judaism, which claimed to worship God. One day this God, who was Jesus Himself, went into a small house at Bethany to talk with Mary and Lazarus and be served by Martha (John 12:1-3). Jesus, as God Himself, was happy there. While He was talking, fellowshipping, drinking, eating, and rejoicing with those dear ones, the priests with all the Jews were worshipping God in a very orderly and seemingly scriptural way. However, at that time God was not in the temple; He was in that small house at Bethany. This did not seem to be according to the Scriptures. The Old Testament did not seem to tell people that God would be in a small “cottage.” Nevertheless, this is what Jesus did.
Today it is easy to know the history of the Gospels, but at that time if we had been seeking after God, we probably would have gone to the temple, not that small house. However, if we had gone to the temple, we would have missed the mark. God was not there. We would have needed to go to that small house in Bethany to worship God in a simple way, not with an altar, rituals, or a priest in priest’s robes. Eventually, it was the chief priests, elders, and scribes who condemned to death Jesus, who was God. They stirred up the people to shout, “Crucify Him” (Mark 15:11-13), and in this way they killed the very Savior who was their God.
On the day of Pentecost Peter condemned the Jews, saying, “This man, delivered up by the determined counsel and foreknowledge of God, you, through the hand of lawless men, nailed to a cross and killed; whom God has raised up...Let all the house of Israel know assuredly that God has made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom you have crucified.” This word pricked their heart, and they asked, “What should we do, brothers?” (Acts 2:23-24a, 36-37). Peter did not tell them to be saved from hell to go to heaven. The gospel he preached was, “Be saved from this crooked generation” (v. 40), which was the Jewish religion that had killed Jesus. As a result, three thousand were saved, not only from hell but also from that evil generation. Then all these saved ones remained together, loving one another, and they became the church, the testimony of Jesus against the crooked generation.
The church is the testimony of Jesus protesting against the crooked, evil, perverted generation. However, even the church as the testimony of Jesus became corrupted. Satan corrupted the testimony of God in the Old Testament time and changed it into the system of Judaism. Then in principle, he did the same thing with the church. Eventually, out of the church as the testimony of Jesus, Satan created Catholicism, another crooked and perverted generation. Later, at the time of Martin Luther, God raised up the Reformation to separate His people out of the Catholic Church, calling His people out of the perverted generation of that day (Rev. 18:4). Once again, the ones whom God saved became the testimony of Jesus. Again, though, various doctrines came in to divide Christians first into the state churches, such as the Church of England and the Church of Denmark, and then into the private churches, such as the Lutheran, Baptist, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, and Methodist Churches. Today we also have the charismatic movement, with the Lutheran charismatics and the Catholic charismatics. This confusion and division has become another “ism”—Protestantism. Today people often ask what kind of Christians we are, whether we are Catholic, Episcopalian, Presbyterian, Methodist, Lutheran, or something else. This question indicates that Christianity has become a crooked and perverted generation.
The generation today is composed of four things: worldliness, Judaism, Catholicism, and Protestantism. Therefore, the Lord says, “Come out of her, My people” (v. 4). We are standing here as the testimony of Jesus against this present crooked and perverted generation composed of these four items. We are no longer Lutherans, Presbyterians, Episcopalians, or Methodists. We are the local churches outside of worldliness, Judaism, Catholicism, and Protestantism. We are standing on the ground of the church, testifying against this crooked generation. Based on the history of Christianity, some may be concerned that one day even the local churches will be corrupted by Satan. However, I believe that the Lord will come back before Satan can corrupt the local churches. This old age will be terminated, and we will usher in the kingdom age. We are bold to say this, because according to the Bible, the recovery of the local churches as the testimony of Jesus is the final recovery in this age. The local churches are precious, dear, and prevailing. This is not man’s work. This is the Lord’s recovery of His testimony today on the earth. Whoever does not take the way of the churches will miss the mark of God’s work.
The world situation today indicates that the time for the Lord’s coming is near. The re-formation of the nation of Israel has been accomplished, and Jerusalem has been returned to the Jews. Only one thing, according to the prophecy of the Bible, remains to be accomplished outwardly, which is the building of the temple on the proper site in Jerusalem. The nation of Israel today is waiting for this, and we are praying for it. The situation in the Middle East is setting the stage for the war at Armageddon (16:12-16; 19:11-21). This will be the time for the Lord Jesus to come to tread the great winepress of the fury of God (14:19) and terminate this age.
In the seven epistles in Revelation 2 and 3 we can see worldliness (Pergamos, 2:13), Judaism (the synagogue of Satan, v. 9), Catholicism (Jezebel, v. 20), and Protestantism (Sardis, 3:1). Under these circumstances, Christ calls us to overcome. We must overcome worldliness, Judaism, Catholicism, and Protestantism by eating Jesus. Verse 7 of chapter 2 says, “To him who overcomes, to him I will give to eat of the tree of life.” Eating Jesus is the way. We need to forsake all the Jewish rituals, Catholic ordinances, Protestant practices, and worldliness. The only thing we need to do is to eat Jesus. We should say, “O Lord Jesus, I do not care for all those other matters. I only care for eating You.” We are no longer under the Jewish rituals, the Catholic ordinances, the Protestant practices, or the influence of the Christian free groups. Rather, day by day we are feeding on Jesus. We have no rituals, ordinances, or practices that we insist upon. Strictly speaking, we are not shouting Christians or silent Christians. We are simply eaters of Jesus.
Certain persons oppose us mainly on three points. They do not agree that Christ is the life-giving Spirit, that we need to exercise our spirit by calling on the name of the Lord, or that we are mingled with God by eating Jesus. This is because they do not have these experiences. They have rituals, ordinances, and practices. They may even have speaking in tongues and the manifestations of the so-called gifts. However, they do not know Christ as the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b; 2 Cor. 3:17), they do not know that Christ is now with our spirit (Gal. 6:18; 2 Tim. 4:22), and they do not know how to turn to their spirit and exercise their spirit to contact the Lord and enjoy Him by saying, “O Lord Jesus” (Rom. 10:12-13; 1 Cor. 12:3). Because these things are foreign to them, they condemn us, calling us mystics, which was the name given to some in earlier centuries who sought the inner life.
A certain brother once told me, “Christian teachers in America tell people to look to the Lord in the heavens, but since you have been in this country, you have always told people to turn to their spirit. Your teaching is different from ours.” He even suggested that this teaching is “Oriental.” This is altogether not logical. Our teaching does not come from the Orient; it comes from the New Jerusalem in the heavens. Romans 8:34 tells us that Christ is in the heavens at the right hand of God. However, in the same chapter, verse 10 says that the very Christ who is in the heavens is also in us. Christ is both in the heavens and in us. We may illustrate this with electricity. The same electricity is both in the power plant and in the room we are in. In order to apply the electricity, we do not need to call the power plant far away, pleading, “Please send me electricity.” Rather, because the electricity has been installed in our home, we simply need to turn on the switch. When we turn on the switch, we get the electricity. I am a small man sent to tell you, “Do not look to the power plant; simply turn on the switch.” Christ as the heavenly “electricity” is in the heavens, and He has also been “installed” in us. Christ is in you, and Christ is in me. We care for the Christ who is in us. When we need Him, it is not necessary to pray to Him as if He were far away in the heavens. This is foolish. The apostle Paul says, “The Lord be with your spirit” (2 Tim. 4:22). Therefore, we all need to turn to our spirit. When we turn to our spirit, calling, “O Lord Jesus,” we are in the third heaven. This is the true enjoyment of Jesus.
Christianity has missed the mark of the indwelling Christ. Some even oppose this teaching. Catholicism teaches people to listen to the pope, worship idols, and burn candles, and Protestantism teaches people to keep the traditional, doctrinal teachings. They do not tell people to enjoy the indwelling Christ, who is the life-giving Spirit. In fact, many who oppose us do not even agree that Christ today is the life-giving Spirit. I always point them to 1 Corinthians 15:45b, which says, “The last Adam became a life-giving Spirit,” and 2 Corinthians 3:17, which says, “The Lord is the Spirit.” If Christ were not the Spirit, how could He be in us? We are not for mere doctrinal teachings, which mean little; we are for the experience of Christ. We have been fighting the battle for the enjoyment of Christ as the Spirit for over twenty years. The reason we are so much for Christ as the Spirit is that in order to experience Him, we must realize who He is and where He is. We know where Christ is and how to experience Him. He is the life-giving Spirit, and He is now in our spirit.
The objective “fundamentalists” mainly care for doctrines in a traditional way. In the church life, though, we are not for the traditional way. We are for the fresh and living experiences of Christ. We must check everything against the subjective experience of Christ. Some say that the Triune God—the Father, the Son, and the Spirit—are three separate persons. However, we cannot say that there are three persons within us. According to our experience, the Triune God within us is one. Whether we call on Him, saying, “O Lord” or “O Father,” He is the same One. When I was young, I was taught that I should address my prayer to the Father, not to the Son or to the Spirit, because the Holy Spirit is only the “working power,” and the Son is the means through whom we pray to the Father. Sometimes, though, I became confused. As I prayed to the heavenly Father, I sometimes said, “O Lord.” Then I would repent, ask for forgiveness, and begin again to pray to the Father in heaven. Eventually, I realized that this is unnecessary. Our experience tells us that the Father is the Lord, and the Lord is the Father (Isa. 9:6; John 14:9-10). We do not need to differentiate the Father from the Lord in our prayer and experience. Many in Christianity simply fight, oppose, and argue according to their traditional teachings without knowing the experience of Christ. Their experience is poor, and their traditional teachings keep others in poverty.
We only know to eat Jesus, and we have the assurance that the way to eat Jesus is to call on Him, saying, “O Lord Jesus, Amen, Hallelujah!” If we repeat this three times early in the morning, we will be watered. We have seen that Revelation 2:7 speaks of eating the tree of life. Verse 17 says, “To him who overcomes, to him I will give of the hidden manna, and to him I will give a white stone, and upon the stone a new name written, which no one knows except him who receives it.” This indicates that if we eat Jesus, we will be transformed. Then verse 12 of chapter 3 says, “He who overcomes, him I will make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall by no means go out anymore, and I will write upon him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which descends out of heaven from My God, and My new name.” If we are the overcomers who eat Jesus, we will be transformed into white stones, and we will be built into the temple. According to Revelation 21:22, the temple will be the city of New Jerusalem itself. There will be no temple in the New Jerusalem, because the temple will be enlarged to be the city itself. Eating Jesus, being transformed, and being built up is our experience in the local churches, and this is the testimony of Jesus against the nations, the denominations, and the crooked, perverted generation.
The entire book of Revelation unveils the revelation of Christ and the testimony of Jesus, and the testimony of Jesus is simply the local churches. In the first three chapters of this book, the local churches as the testimony of Jesus stand against the present crooked and perverted generation composed of the world, Judaism, Catholicism, and Protestantism. As the testimony of Jesus, we are protesting against these things. Then Revelation 4 through 11 unveils the world situation. We are not in the world, like the church in Pergamos, where Satan’s throne is (2:13). After this, chapter 12 unveils a wonderful woman—pure, genuine, bright, and heavenly, shining with the light-bearers, the luminaries, in the universe—the sun, the moon, and the stars. This woman is the totality of God’s people, composed especially of the church. In the book of Revelation there are two lines, or categories, of women, each with its own consummation. The first is Jezebel, signifying the Catholic Church, issuing in the great harlot, Babylon the Great (2:20; 17:1-5). The other line is that of the pure woman, who is first the bright, wonderful woman in chapter 12 and eventually the bride of Christ, the New Jerusalem (19:7; 21:2).
Which line are we on? We may be on the line of the bright woman, but some of the old traditions of the old religion may still remain in us. I was on the line of the old religion for many years. I was taught according to the traditional teachings of Christianity, and it took me many years to drop all the wrong things that I learned. In Christianity I learned to speak for the Lord in a formal way. Gradually, though, I realized that this is simply according to the old traditions and ordinances of religion. Today when I speak, I may say, “Praise the Lord, I have something wonderful to tell you!” When David brought the Ark to Jerusalem, he rejoiced and danced before Jehovah (2 Sam. 6:12-15). David’s wife despised him for that, but her condemnation of him caused her to lose her fruitfulness and be barren (vv. 16, 23). Today we rejoice before the Lord, proclaiming that He is good for food as the tree of life and the hidden manna. If we all eat the Lord Jesus in a joyful way, we will bear much fruit. We are not bound by any ordinances or practices. Today we may be silent, but tomorrow we may come together as the living testimony of Jesus to shout, “Hallelujah, praise the Lord, Amen!” before all the demons on the earth and angels in the air. We care only for eating Jesus. We are not under Catholicism, Judaism, or Protestantism, and we are not in worldliness. We are the heavenly woman.
The woman in Revelation 12 is in the heavenlies, being clothed with the sun and having the moon underneath her feet and a crown of stars on her head (v. 1). We must be bright, having no darkness or hidden motives. Everything must be in the light. We must not be political or two-faced. Some Christians may say one thing to people’s face, another thing behind their back, and yet something else on another occasion. We must not do this. The shining woman is sincere, thorough, frank, honest, bright, and pure as crystal. We are not Jezebel; we are a part of the heavenly woman full of light, with the shining sun, moon, and stars. When many of us were in the denominations, everything was opaque to us, but when we came into the church, we came into a clear sky. All around us everything is crystal clear. We can even see clearly into the lake of fire, where John saw Satan and the beast (19:20; 20:10). We were never before as clear as we are now in the church. Many of us can testify that since we came to the church, the light has been shining. This is because the church is the greater part of the shining woman as the testimony of Jesus, testifying against the crooked, evil generation.
By our shining we testify against the hierarchy, division, and confusions in the denominations. Because of this, opposition has come to us. This opposition is not merely against one person; it is against the testimony of Jesus as the bright woman with the shining sun, moon, and stars. The ministry in the Lord’s recovery was sent to this country with the Lord’s commission, His burden, the pure Word, the shining light, the reality of life, and the newness of the spirit. The opposition cannot prevail against these things. This shining woman will prevail as the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth. Moreover, this shining woman will bring forth the man-child, the stronger ones, the overcomers, who defeat the enemy because of the prevailing blood of the Lamb and the word of their testimony (12:5, 11). Then through the overcomers the kingdom of God and authority of Christ will come. Today we are in this wonderful woman as the testimony of Jesus.
