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Scripture Reading: Rev. 1:11-13, 20; 7:9-17; 12:1-2, 5-6, 9-11; 14:1-5, 14-16; 15:2-4; 19:7-10, 14-20; 17:14; 21:11, 18-19; 4:3a; 14:8; 17:1-5; 18:2a, 4; 19:1-6
The book of Revelation reveals eight aspects of the church as the testimony of Jesus. The first aspect, in chapters 1 through 3, is the seven golden lampstands. The lampstands themselves have three main significances. First, the lampstands shine in the dark night. Second, the lampstands are golden. In typology, gold signifies the divine nature. Everything in the church as the testimony of Jesus must be in the divine nature. Third, the shining of the golden lampstands is so that people may see Christ as the Son of Man walking in their midst. If anyone says, “You talk so much about Jesus, but where is He?” we can boldly point them to the churches. We can answer, “Come and see Jesus in the churches.” Today Jesus is walking, acting, moving, living, working, and saving people in the local churches. The present age is the “nighttime,” and in every corner and avenue of human society there is nothing but darkness. However, every local church is a shining lampstand, illuminating people so that they may see Christ. When people see Christ in the churches, they can realize that the churches are not low, mean, earthly, sinful, or mixed. Rather, everything in them is golden and divine. This is the first aspect that Revelation reveals to us concerning the churches as the testimony of Jesus.
All the golden lampstands are identical to one another. Many Christians, having taken in a mistaken concept, desire to be different from other Christians. When I came to this country fourteen years ago, I met some dear Christians who were troubled because the local churches were all the same. They told me that they preferred to be different. This is not right. We may compare the identical nature of the lampstands to the similarities of our physical bodies. Since everyone is created with the same organs, it would be foolish for anyone to say that he wants a different number of organs in order to not be the same as others. Those who claim that every local church should be unique base their concept upon the differences among the seven churches in Revelation 2 and 3. When I was young, I was influenced by this concept, and I taught the same thing. However, one day the light dawned upon me, and I saw that all the differences in the local churches in Revelation 2 and 3 are negative, not positive. Ephesus lost her first love (2:4), Pergamos is worldly (v. 13), Thyatira is demonic (vv. 20, 24), and Laodicea is lukewarm (3:15); all these are negative matters. On the positive side, however, all the local churches are identical, because they all are golden. If we were to place the seven lampstands before us, we would not be able to tell them apart. All the seven lampstands are the same.
Nevertheless, some people in this country have boldly declared that they will never be like the other churches. However, many of these voices have now faded away, and the peculiar concepts they advocated have failed. It is not that we must all follow one certain church. Rather, it is that we all must have the same “number of organs,” that is, the same nature and appearance. On the positive side, all the local churches must be identical, but on the negative side, they are different. If one church begins to worship idols, we must refuse to follow that church. In matters such as this, we must be “different.” However, it is wrong to say that the local churches should not be the same in the positive matters. We should not try to make ourselves peculiar or different; this is to be proud. The four sides of the New Jerusalem are all built with the same material—jasper (21:12-14, 18). It is not that one side is built with jasper, and another side with a different material. Because we are all one church universally, the local churches throughout the earth should be identical, not in every practical matter but in nature and appearance. Locally, we are the churches; universally, we are the church. This is the testimony of Jesus.
In 7:9-17 we see the testimony of Jesus as a great multitude, those who have been redeemed “out of every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues” throughout all the generations. Verse 14 says, “These are those who come out of the great tribulation.” This refers to the tribulations, sufferings, persecutions, and afflictions experienced by God’s redeemed people throughout the ages. Because the world always afflicts the church (John 16:33), wherever the church is, there will always be a certain amount of persecution. This great multitude has come out of tribulation in a victorious way, for they all hold palm branches, which signify their victory over tribulation. Revelation 7:15 says, “He who sits upon the throne will tabernacle over them.” Eventually, in eternity God will overshadow them with Himself as their tabernacle (21:3; cf. John 1:14). This is the destiny of God’s redeemed ones. How wonderful this is! Furthermore, the Lamb will also shepherd them and guide them to springs of waters of life for eternity (Rev. 7:17).
Verses 9 through 17 do not portray any particular group of believers. Rather, they present a general record of the whole of God’s redeemed ones and their state in eternity. In eternity their state will be that of enjoying God’s overshadowing and Christ’s shepherding. This is our destiny. This portion of the Word reveals that while Christ is executing God’s judgment upon mankind, He will take care of God’s redeemed ones. All God’s redeemed ones eventually will be raptured to the throne of God and will stand there enjoying God’s overshadowing and the Lamb’s shepherding.
Following this, chapter 12 reveals the third aspect of the testimony of Jesus. Here the figure is not a lampstand but a wonderful, universal, heavenly woman (vv. 1-2, 5-6). Whereas the lampstands are in the dark night, the woman is full of light. With her there is no distinction between day and night, because she is clothed with the sun, the moon is underneath her feet, and on her head is a crown of stars. There is no need for the woman to shine in the darkness, as the lampstands do, because she is always fully in the light. When we come to the lampstands, we are under the shining, and when we come to the woman, we are under the sun, the moon, and the stars.
The sun, the moon, and the stars are all heavenly (Gen. 1:16-17). Thus, the woman indicates the heavenly nature, position, and disposition of the church as the testimony of Jesus. With her there is nothing earthly, such as casinos, department stores, television, sports, synagogues, cathedrals, or chapels. Everything about this woman is heavenly. Some gatherings of Christians can be compared to a dark cell deep in the earth, having no openings for the light and being full of dirt. When they meet together, they talk about fashions, department stores, and worldly places. The local churches, however, are in the heavens. There is no earth but only the sun, the moon, and the stars. The earthly dirt is under our feet.
Christians today sometimes speak about fighting Satan. However, as long as someone is in that dark “cell” of the world, he can never fight against the devil. He is good only to be Satan’s food. When God cursed Satan as the serpent, He condemned him to eat dust (3:14). As long as we are earthly, we are qualified to be food for Satan. However, there is no serpent on the sun, the moon, or the stars. The position of the church in the spiritual warfare is not on the earth but in the heavenlies (Eph. 2:6; 6:12). When the church is in the heavenlies, Satan is under her feet. Eventually, Satan is cast down and defeated by the man-child of the wonderful heavenly woman (Rev. 12:10-11). In earthly Christian meetings, people are good for Satan’s food, but in the proper church life, which is the main part of the heavenly woman, Satan is already defeated. The best way to defeat Satan in the local churches is to minister the heavenly things to the saints so that the church may remain heavenly. Then there will be the victory, and Satan will be cast down.
According to our observation, the weakest point with the sisters is gossiping. Many young sisters like to gossip about their mothers-in-law, and many older sisters like to gossip about their daughters and daughters-in-law, about who is engaged, married, or pregnant, when the baby will come, and whether it will be a boy or a girl. Such gossip belongs in worldly places, not in the local churches. Gossiping causes the church to be dark and opaque. Whenever the long gossiping tongue is “cut off,” the church is in the heavens. Many times the love that some of the saints have is a fleshly love, not the love in the spirit that is as clear as crystal. This kind of ugly, fleshly love causes many Christian meetings to be darkened. In the eyes of the Lord, it may be worse than hatred and fighting. It is the love of “turtles” and “serpents,” and it should be buried and burned. Likewise, the more people are humble in a natural way, the more they sink into darkness. Again, in the Lord’s eyes, soulish humility may be worse than pride. A sister may say, “I dare not speak. I am just a little sister. What can I say? I am not worthy,” but this is only a soulish humility. Because the church is heavenly and crystal clear, we should all be frank in a heavenly way, taking no excuse or cloak, but being what we are in the Lord and in the Body. To cloak ourselves is to pretend to be something that we are not. The heavenly woman wears no cloak. The church is crystal clear and frank, having no pretense, excuse, cloak, or covering. With her, everything is in the open.
Nice words are often a cloak. Many times, certain dear saints came to me to speak nice words. Right away my spirit told me, “This is a falsehood, and these nice words are a cheating.” We should not deal in this way with the church life. Nothing exposes people as much as the church. The church life is the strongest “x-ray.” Someone may come to us speaking good things, but if we are in the spirit, the “x-ray” within may see the workings of their mind and that those words are a cheating. Several times I told someone, “Please do not come to cheat me. I hear your words, but my spirit sees what is in your heart.” If the church is heavenly, everything will be in the open. The wonderful, bright woman has no covering, shadow, or darkness. Everything is in the bright open air. This kind of church is a victorious one. In this sense, there is no need for the church to fight against Satan; Satan is already defeated and cast down, and the kingdom of Christ is brought in. This woman is heavenly, bright, frank, and thoroughly crystal clear. It is from such a wonderful church that the man-child is brought forth (v. 5a). This woman is the third aspect of the church as the testimony of Jesus.
The man-child is the stronger part of the people of God. Among the people of God, even among those in the Lord’s recovery today, there is the stronger part. The woman will be left on earth to pass through the great tribulation, but the stronger part, the man-child, will be raptured to the throne of God before the tribulation (vv. 5b-6). The man-child will be raptured prior to the tribulation because God needs the man-child to fight against Satan in the heavens and cast him down to the earth (v. 9). Although God has many angels who will fight against Satan, the final victory over the enemy will be gained not because of angels but because of the man-child. God needs the man-child. God will shame Satan by using the man he corrupted to defeat him. God may say, “Satan, you have corrupted the man I created, but I have produced a man-child out of this corrupted man to defeat you not only on the earth but also in heaven.” The man-child will fight up to the throne to cast Satan down from the heavens to the earth. Although Jesus has defeated Satan on the cross, there is still the need for the church to execute His victory over the enemy. Because many members of the Body have failed in this matter, only the stronger part of the Body, the man-child, will execute Christ’s victory over Satan. The man-child will be raptured to the heavens to accomplish this job.
The rapture is not mainly for our own blessing. We should not merely say, “How good it is for me to be raptured to the heavens!” We must realize that God has a need for us to be raptured; we must be raptured to heaven to fight against the enemy. If someone hears this and says, “I don’t want to go to the heavens and be involved in a war,” this means that he is not qualified to be raptured before the tribulation. If anyone does not go to heaven to meet Satan and cast him down, Satan will come down to the earth to meet and overcome him. We must be the man-child. I earnestly desire to be a part of the man-child. I am not satisfied simply to be a part of the woman. I want to be included in that stronger part. This also is an aspect of the testimony of Jesus.
The fourth aspect of the church as the testimony of Jesus is that it is God’s farm to grow the divine crop. This crop is first the one hundred forty-four thousand firstfruits, a small number, and then the harvest, the majority (14:1-5, 14-16). This tells us that in the church life we all need to grow. Verse 4 shows the way to grow. This verse says concerning the firstfruits, “These are they who have not been defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are they who follow the Lamb wherever He may go.” In order to grow, we need to stay away from any kind of defilement. Daniel and his three friends were offered the best food by the royal palace in Babylon, but Daniel purposed in his heart not to defile himself by eating food that had been offered to idols. In this way, these young men kept themselves from being defiled (Dan. 1:5-6, 8). Everywhere on the earth today there is defilement. Young people especially must be careful not to be defiled, and they must also follow Jesus wherever He goes. If the young people will follow Christ, they will not go to casinos, because Jesus never goes there. If the young people will do this and separate themselves to the Lord, they will grow every day, and they will be the firstfruits produced by the church life.
When I was in Christianity, I did not observe much growth there. People can sit in Christian meetings for many years and still remain the same. This is because Christianity is not a farm but an “iceberg” on which nothing can grow. The Sunday morning service is a time mainly for people to relax in the pews. In speaking this I am defaming no one; I am simply speaking the truth. If we mean business in the church life, we will grow week after week. Recently, a certain brother was captured by the Lord after visiting the homes of the saints. At that time, he had a long beard, but we said nothing to him about it. However, after a short time in the church, he received some transformation, and he shaved his beard. Another young brother with his wife were among us, continually enjoying the Lord, but for over a year he also had a beard. In the church we do not have any ordinances. Our only “ordinance” is that we should not regulate anyone. Because of this, we stopped ourselves from saying anything to him about his beard. Recently, though, I saw that he had shaved his beard. His wife said, “I have a ‘new’ husband.” I told him, “To be sure, you are another person.” Later, he testified that he had kept his beard because he thought that to deal with it was too religious. Nevertheless, the anointing within him bothered him and required him to shave it off. We can tell many stories like this. In the local church the crop is growing.
If we simply come to the church meetings and follow the flow to say, “O Lord, Amen, Hallelujah!” we can be assured that we are growing and that we will not remain the same. We thank the Lord that we are especially seeing the young people growing in the church life. It is not adequate to say that we are the church. What kind of church are we? If we do not see the young people in the church growing, this indicates that the church in our locality is not fertile soil. The church must be fertile, and we must all be growing in life.
Revelation 15:2-5 reveals the fifth aspect of the testimony of Jesus—the overcomers standing on a glassy sea mingled with fire before God’s heavenly temple. A number of the saints are on the shore of this sea, singing the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb. This is a picture signifying further spiritual matters concerning the testimony of Jesus. The church as the testimony of Jesus is composed of a group of saints who have been saved through water, just as Noah was saved from his evil generation through the water that flooded the earth (Gen. 6:11-14a) and as the Israelites were saved through the water of the Red Sea not only from God’s judgment but also from the evil power of Pharaoh (Exo. 14:22, 29). The final chorus of Hymns, #438 says, “I’ve crossed the Red Sea of His death, / And left the world behind me.” The flood for Noah and the Red Sea for the Israelites were both a baptism (1 Pet. 3:20-21; 1 Cor. 10:1-2). Today we, the New Testament believers, are also baptized. The real meaning of baptism is that it is a burial (Rom. 6:4). A certain man may be a millionaire with banks, corporations, and many friends and relatives. It will certainly be hard for such a man to break all these ties, but on the day he is buried, he will finally come out of the world. Nothing separates us from all the worldly ties as thoroughly as burial. Anyone who means business with the Lord must see that he has come out of the world by passing through water. The water of the Red Sea will never allow us to return to Egypt.
Moreover, in front of the tabernacle there was the laver (Exo. 30:17-21). The laver did not wash away sins; it was the altar that did this. However, even after passing through the altar, people still could not come into the presence of the Lord without passing through the laver to wash away the dirt of worldliness. This also signifies baptism. After the Israelites entered into the good land, they built the temple. In front of the temple was a bronze sea with ten bronze lavers (1 Kings 7:23-40a), the fullest type of baptism. The first event that transpired in the New Testament was baptism. John the Baptist called people to repent, and he baptized those who came to him (Mark 1:4; Matt. 3:5-6). This was to terminate people, bury them, and take them out of this world. All the believers must pass through a genuine baptism. In principle, the glassy sea before the throne of God signifies the operation of baptism. Eventually, in Revelation 15 the overcomers are standing on the shore of “baptism,” rejoicing and singing just as Israel sang the song of Moses on the shore of the Red Sea.
Revelation 15:2 tells us that the glassy sea is mingled with fire. This sea is not of water but of fire. God’s judgment over His fallen creation was first with water, but after the flood God told Noah that He would not judge the earth again with water (Gen. 9:15). Instead, from that time onward, God’s judgment has always been with fire (19:24; Rev. 14:10; 18:8; 19:20; 20:9-10; 21:8). Therefore, the glassy sea mingled with fire signifies both kinds of judgment by God, that by water and that by fire. This glassy sea eventually issues in the lake of fire. In front of the tabernacle was the laver, in front of the temple was the bronze sea with ten lavers, and in front of the heavenly temple there is the glassy sea. Eventually, outside the New Jerusalem there will be the lake of fire where all the things we buried in our baptism will go. This is our experience in the church. We must put all the dirt of the earth into the “sea” and bury it there.
The Israelites were baptized in the Red Sea, but because they had become old and fleshly in the wilderness, they needed to be baptized again in the Jordan. Likewise, we may have been baptized ten years ago, but today we may be full of dirt and old things. We must not bear these things in the church life. In the church there is a glassy sea into which we can jump and be washed. Today the baptistery is an entry for the negative things to go into the lake of fire. We need to let the dirt, the world, and all the negative things pass through that entrance and go into the lake of fire. If we are wearing the modern fashions from the department store, we need the experience of entering into the baptistery to be washed and allow those fashions to go to the lake of fire. Then we will be in the New Jerusalem in our experience. We must not despise the baptistery. It is the best place to send our earthly dirt on the way to the lake of fire. We may also compare the baptistery to the post office. If we feel that we still have some earthly dirt, we should go to the baptistery and “mail” it to the lake of fire. We need to be cleansed, through the entrance to the lake of fire. We must not keep the dirt on ourselves. We must be cleansed in the church.
I do not care for doctrine; I care for real experiences. I have seen many who went into baptism come out rejoicing, like those who will rejoice on the shore of the glassy sea. What a joy it is when all our dirt goes into the baptistery! I am not passing on an official teaching of rebaptism. I do not care for formal teachings. Rather, in principle, I would like to see many saints on the shore of the glassy sea. We wish to see some declaring that the modern fashions they purchased from the department store, that occupied them for many years, are now all gone. This is much better than mere doctrine. This is the principle of the overcomers in Revelation 15. In principle, we too can stand, rejoice, and sing on the shore of the glassy sea today. However, those who have not yet “jumped into that sea” are not able to rejoice. Only when we come out from that sea can we have such joy. This is the fifth aspect of the church as the testimony of Jesus in Revelation. The book of Revelation is truly a wonderful book, and today it is open and crystal clear to us.
The sixth aspect is in chapter 19, where we see the bride prepared for a wedding by being clothed with fine linen, bright and clean (vv. 7-8). The outer court of the tabernacle was also covered with fine linen (Exo. 26:1). Linen signifies the expression of Christ in the righteousnesses of the saints. Today as the testimony of Jesus the church must be clothed with fine linen, being righteous, bright, pure, clean, clear, and without mixture, spot, or any such thing (Eph. 5:26-27).
The bride will be the church in the millennium, the thousand-year kingdom. Not all Christians will be a part of this bride. Rather, only those who are truly in the church expressing Christ as the fine linen will be there. We should not say that as long as we are in the local churches we will be there. We must be the local churches, but we also must express Christ as our fine linen. Then we will be prepared and qualified to be the bride on the wedding day of Christ. The thousand years will be a wedding day, since with the Lord, one day is like a thousand years (2 Pet. 3:8). On her wedding day, a woman is a bride, but on the next day she becomes a wife. In the thousand years all the overcoming saints will be the bride and will enjoy the wedding feast. However, those who do not express Christ as the fine linen will not be ready, and they will have no share in the wedding feast. Do not ask, “Are they not saved?” Yes, they are saved, but because they have no share in expressing Christ, they will also have no share in that wedding day.
The seventh aspect of the testimony of Jesus is the overcoming army to fight against Antichrist. The stronger part of the church, the man-child who fights against Satan in the heavens, will also be a part of the army that fights with Christ against Satan on the earth (Rev. 19:14-19). Christ’s heavenly army will be composed of all the overcomers—those who are called, chosen, and faithful (17:14). After all the raptured saints are judged at the judgment seat of Christ (2 Cor. 5:10), the overcomers will return to the earth with Christ as His heavenly army to fight against Antichrist with his earthly armies. The false Christ will be so bold as to fight against the true Christ, but the true Christ will war against the false one. Eventually, at the end of this war, Christ will defeat Antichrist (Rev. 19:20).
The eighth aspect of the testimony of Jesus is the New Jerusalem. The wall of the New Jerusalem is built with jasper (21:11, 18-19). When we look at the bride, we see fine linen as the expression of Christ, and when we look at the holy city, we see jasper. The appearance of God on the throne is like jasper (4:3a). Therefore, jasper signifies the precious and divine appearance, likeness, expression, and image of God. That the New Jerusalem has the appearance of jasper signifies that it is the fulfillment of Genesis 1:26. Man was made in God’s image to express God, and in the New Jerusalem this purpose will be fulfilled. The entire redeemed human race will express God. The appearance of God is like jasper, and the New Jerusalem will appear the same. Because the New Jerusalem is the expression of God, it will be His consummate, corporate testimony.
In this chapter we have seen the church in the eight aspects of the testimony of Jesus. Besides this, Revelation also shows another woman, the great harlot, Babylon, that is full of abominations and fornication (17:1-5; 18:2a, 4). Babylon signifies religion plus the world, the present generation, with its politics, diplomacy, and worldly affairs. The church is seen in the lampstands, the great multitude of the redeemed, the shining woman, the growing farm, the overcomers on the glassy sea, the bride clothed with Christ, the overcoming army, and the New Jerusalem with the appearance of God. As such, the church protests against the present generation. Opposite to the church, there is religion—including Judaism, Catholicism, and Protestantism—and the world with its politics and worldly affairs. On one side is the church, and on the other side is the present generation. In order to be on the side of the church, we must be golden and heavenly, we need to grow, and we need to stand on the shore singing and rejoicing that we have been rescued from the other shore. We were on the other shore, but we have been baptized onto this shore; we were in Egypt, but we have been baptized through the Red Sea. Now we are singing the song of Moses and the song of the Lamb. On this side we are expressing Christ as our fine linen, and eventually we will be the New Jerusalem. Moreover, on this side we are protesting against religion, politics, and worldly affairs. On which side are we? Hallelujah, we are on the side of the church as the testimony of Jesus!
This is not something from our own mentality. It is from the book of Revelation. We need a vision to see what is in this book. Revelation has been here for hundreds of years, but people have not seen what is in it. They have not had the vision, but today in the church we have a “skylight,” a heavenly opening for the light (Gen. 6:16a). I myself never before saw some of the points covered in this chapter. Only while I was speaking did I become clear about them, and the more I speak, the more I have something further to speak. To be sure, our eyes and ears have been much blessed. Hallelujah, for the Lord’s present, up-to-date revelation concerning the church as the testimony of Jesus! Now we all need to follow this vision.
