Message Two

The Word of God and the Testimony of Jesus

Scripture Reading: Rev. 1:1-2, 9; 6:9; 12:17;
19:10, 13; 20:4

1. The book of Revelation presents to us the revealed Christ and the testifying church— 1:1-2, 9; 6:9; 12:17; 20:4; 19:13:
   1. Christ as the Word of God is the testimony of God, the Witness of God, the definition, explanation, and expression of the mysterious and invisible God, the One who reveals God to us—John 1:1, 14, 18; Rev. 1:5; cf. Exo. 25:21-22.
   2. The church as the Body of Christ, consummating in the New Jerusalem, is the testimony, the expression, of Christ; as such, the church is the reproduction of the testimony, the expression, of God in Christ—Eph. 1:22-23; Rev. 21:2-3; cf. Exo. 38:21.
   3. Our enjoyment of the revealed Christ as the testimony of God constitutes us into His testimony, which is the present revelation of Jesus Christ— 1 Tim. 3:15-16.
2. Christ as the Word of God is in three forms— the person of Christ Himself, the spoken word, and the written word—John 1:1; 5:39-40; 6:63:
   1. Christ as the testimony of God and the living word of God infuses His substance into His loving seekers, working Himself into them to make them His enlarged and expanded testimony:
      1. Through the Word we can enjoy God’s countenance and the shining of His face so that we can glow with Him for His glory—Exo. 34:28-29; 2 Cor. 3:16, 18; Psa. 27:4, 8; Psa. 119:58, 135.
      2. By pray-reading the Word, we breathe God’s element into us, being infused with what God is to cause us to live Christ and become the living expression of God—2 Tim. 3:16-17; Eph. 6:17-18.
      3. We need to let the word of Christ inhabit us richly, singing His word, so that His word may enlighten us, nourish us, quench our thirst, strengthen us, wash us, build us up, perfect us, edify us, and fill us with joy—Col. 3:16; Psa. 119:54; cf. 1 Kings 6:7; 1 Chron. 6:31-32.
      4. Our life as believers hinges totally upon the Lord’s speaking—His instant, present, living word to sanctify us, preparing us to be His glorious bride—Eph. 5:25-27; cf. S. S. 6:13; 8:13-14.
   2. Christ as the Word of God is the Warrior of God with His bridal army as His testimony to execute God’s judgment upon the man of lawlessness and the armies who follow him by the sharp sword, the almighty word that proceeds out of His mouth—Rev. 19:13, 15:
      1. The sword which proceeds out of the mouth of Christ, who is the Word of God, is the word which will judge the rebellious—vv. 15, 21; John 12:48.
      2. His fighting is the speaking of God’s word; as the Lord fights, He speaks for God and expresses God—Rev. 2:16.
      3. The Lord Jesus as the Word of God will slay the man of lawlessness by the breath of His mouth and bring him to nothing by the manifestation of His coming—2 Thes. 2:3-8; 1 John 3:4.
      4. In this age we need to receive the word as the Spirit, which then becomes a sword to slay the adversary within us, applying Ephesians 6:17-18 in an experiential way:
         1. Without the word as the Spirit to be the killing sword, there is no way for us to be kept in the church life and in the ministry.
         2. The word that we receive in a living way as the Spirit is a spiritual antibiotic that kills the “germs” within us so that the evil forces in the air have no way to take advantage of us.
      5. Christ as the living word infuses us with God’s substance, and Christ as the slaying word kills the adversary within us to make us His overcoming testimony for the accomplishment of His eternal economy, the fulfillment of His original intention—Gen. 1:26.
3. The testimony of Jesus is the spirit—the reality, substance, disposition, and characteristic— of the prophecy of the book of Revelation—Rev. 19:10:
   1. The testimony of Jesus is the seven golden lampstands as the shining churches—divine in nature, shining in darkness, and identical with one another—1:11-20.
   2. The testimony of Jesus is the great multitude serving God in the temple, the whole Body of God’s redeemed, who have been raptured to the heavens to enjoy God’s care and the Lamb’s shepherding—7:9-17.
   3. The testimony of Jesus is the bright woman, representing the whole Body of God’s redeemed, with her man-child, representing the overcomers as the stronger part of God’s people—12:1-17.
   4. The testimony of Jesus is the firstfruits, signifying the overcomers raptured before the great tribulation, and the harvest, signifying the majority of the believers who will be raptured at the end of the great tribulation—14:1-5, 14-16.
   5. The testimony of Jesus is the victorious ones standing on the glassy sea, signifying the late overcomers who will pass through the great tribulation and overcome Antichrist and the worshipping of Antichrist—15:2-4.
   6. The testimony of Jesus is the bride ready for marriage, consisting of the overcoming saints during the millennium—19:7-9.
   7. The testimony of Jesus is the bridal army to fight along with Christ, the embodiment of God, and defeat the Antichrist, the embodiment of Satan, with his armies—vv. 14-19; 17:14.
   8. Ultimately, the testimony of Jesus is the New Jerusalem, the great universal, divine-human incorporation of the processed and consummated Triune God with His regenerated, transformed, and glorified tripartite people (Rev. 21:2-3, 22; cf. Exo. 38:21) and the unique lampstand as the consummation of all the lampstands for the consummate expression of God (Rev. 21:18, 23; 22:5).