In Revelation 3:1 the Lord Jesus refers to Himself as “He who has the seven Spirits of God and the seven stars.” This indicates that the stars participate in and enjoy the seven Spirits of God. The seven Spirits are one with the seven stars, and the seven stars are one with the seven Spirits. If we are one with the seven Spirits, we shall eventually become stars, for the seven Spirits make it possible for the believers to be shining stars. This means that the searching, infusing, enlightening sevenfold Spirit is for the shining stars. The Spirit’s searching and enlightening are for the stars’ shining. In other words, the stars’ shining comes from the searching and enlightening of the sevenfold Spirit. During the time of the degradation of the church, the faithful ones need to be filled with the sevenfold Spirit so that they may be shining stars bearing the living testimony of Jesus.
Another symbol of the believers is that of the man-child (Rev. 12:5) brought forth by the universal, bright woman. Revelation 12:1 describes this woman as being “clothed with the sun, and the moon underneath her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars.” In Genesis 37:9 Joseph in his dream saw the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars, signifying his father, his mother, and his eleven brothers. There the sun, the moon, and the eleven stars plus Joseph himself signify the total composition of God’s people on earth. Based upon the principle of that dream, the sun, the moon, and the twelve stars in Revelation 12 must signify the totality of God’s people, which is symbolized here by a woman. Most of her being is clothed with the sun. The sun signifies God’s people in the New Testament age. Before Christ came to the world, it was the dark night of the Old Testament age. When Christ came, it was the sun rising from on high (Luke 1:78), the beginning of the age of the sun. Before that, it was the age of the moon, which signifies God’s people in the Old Testament time. The moon is under the feet of the woman, for the age of the moon was the age of the law, which should not be exalted as the stars. The stars, which signify the patriarchs, God’s people before the law was given, are on her head as a crown. All God’s people in these three ages, who together constitute this woman, are light bearers. Hence, she is the bright woman shining throughout all generations.
The woman who brings forth the man-child is a composition of God’s people in three dispensations: the dispensation of the patriarchs, the dispensation of the law, and the dispensation of grace, which is the dispensation of the church. Therefore, she is a totality, an aggregate, a composition, of all of God’s people throughout all generations. Through the three dispensations of the patriarchs, the law, and grace, God has gained a people who compose the universal bright woman.
The man-child signifies the stronger part of God’s people. Throughout all generations there have been some stronger ones among God’s people. In the Bible these are considered a collective unit-the man-child-fighting the battle for God and bringing God’s kingdom down to earth. In the Bible the woman signifies the weaker one and the man the stronger one (1 Pet. 3:7). Hence, the man-child in Revelation 12:5 signifies the stronger part of God’s people.
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