The Bible contains three great matters: God’s creation, God’s redemption, and God’s building. Concerning God’s building, the New Testament contains the ministries of Peter, Paul, and John. The Lord first mentioned the building of the church in Matthew 16:18. When Peter recognized that the Lord was the Christ, the Son of the living God, Jesus immediately said, “I also say to you that you are Peter, and upon this rock I will build My church.” The name Peter means “stone.” From that day on, Peter was deeply impressed with the matter of building, and he became the first person after the Lord Jesus to speak about the building. Soon after the day of Pentecost, Peter preached that Christ was not only the Savior but also the cornerstone for God’s building (Acts 4:11). Christ is the Stone-Savior, the Savior for salvation and the stone for God’s building.
God’s salvation is for God’s building. In Christianity today people preach Christ mainly as the Savior, not as the stone, because most people have seen the matter of salvation but have missed God’s building. In the past centuries, Christians have seen much concerning God’s salvation. From the time of Martin Luther until the present, salvation has been made very clear to God’s people. However, not many know about God’s building. Salvation is not God’s goal; God’s building is His goal, and salvation is the process to accomplish the goal. The New Testament is a book of Christ, and it begins with Christ, but once people come to know Christ, He turns them to the building of the church. When Peter said, “You are the Christ,” the Lord Jesus told him that he was a stone, and that He would build His church.
After the four Gospels is Acts, in which Christ is enlarged to be the builded church, and at the end of the New Testament there is a built-up city. In the first three chapters of Revelation there are the seven golden lampstands, which are the churches, and at the end of Revelation there is a city, New Jerusalem, as the consummation of the churches (Rev. 1:12, 20; 21:2, 10). This is according to the writings of John. In between Peter’s speaking and John’s writings is the ministry of Paul, which is mainly for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ (Eph. 1:22b-23a; 4:12, 16). By this summary we can see that the revelation of the New Testament is a matter of God’s building.
The building of the church began with Peter’s ministry, and it ended with Paul’s. Why then do we need John’s ministry? It is because after Paul’s time the building was damaged. Therefore, we need the mending ministry of John. When John was called by the Lord, he was mending nets (Matt. 4:21). Many years later, his ministry became a mending ministry to mend the divine net. The way he mended the damaged net was with life. John brings us back to the beginning, to life, because according to history, the church was damaged by the religious doctrines, knowledge, and teaching of the Jews and the philosophy of the Greeks. Because both religion and philosophy are matters of knowledge, the mending ministry of John was to bring people back from mere knowledge, doctrines, teachings, and philosophy to life. John 1:1 and 4 say, “In the beginning was the Word...In Him was life.” Knowledge damages and divides; only life mends and unites.
Revelation 1:1 begins, “The revelation of Jesus Christ which God gave to Him to show to His slaves the things that must quickly take place; and He made it known by signs, sending it by His angel to His slave John.” The revelation of Jesus Christ is not merely an objective record revealed by Him; it is a subjective revelation. Objectively speaking, this book is the word of Christ, but subjectively, the entire book is a picture of Jesus Christ. The twenty-two chapters of this book are a single portrait. Verse 5 of chapter 5 says that Jesus is the Lion of the tribe of Judah. A painting of a lion may portray its life, history, and many other supporting characters. However, to speak of all the small characters is to miss the mark of the painting, since the painting as a whole is simply a portrait of the lion. Revelation with its twenty-two chapters is a “painting” of Jesus, portraying and depicting Him. However, if a painting portrays only the main subject without a background or environment, we would think that the artist is not very skillful. A good painter creates a picture full of meaning. Parts of the painting can cause us to weep, and other parts can cause us to rejoice. If a painting causes us to respond in this way, it is the work of the best artist. Revelation is this kind of “painting.” The twenty-two chapters of this book are a good painting of the Lion of the tribe of Judah, but they also show an environment. Besides the Lion, there are beasts with horns and even a dragon (13:1-2, 11; 12:3). When John saw the situation in heaven, he wept, but when the Lion of the tribe of Judah came, there was great rejoicing (5:3-4, 8-14). Eventually, the Lion as the Lamb marries a bride, the bride becomes a square city, and the Lamb sits on the throne with God (19:7; 21:16; 22:1). Then out of this throne flows a river of water of life, bright as crystal, and in the river the tree of life is growing. What a picture this is! This is the revelation of Jesus Christ.
Revelation 1:1 says that God gave this revelation to show to His slaves the things which must quickly take place. If we know the revelation of Christ, we will realize that this is not merely a prophecy of events which will transpire in the future. Rather, these are all matters related to Christ, the divine Lion, and His many doings. Verse 2 says of John, “Who testified the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ, even all that he saw.” Then verse 9 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.” Since I first came to the United States, I have considered speaking about the testimony of Jesus, but the time was not ripe to speak in this way. At this time, though, I am burdened to release this point of the truth. The testimony of Jesus is the enlarged Christ. A testimony of a person is something that gives us a clear picture of him. If someone looks at a picture of me, they will know the kind of person I am; this is my “testimony.” In this universe there is a wonderful, mysterious person by the name of Jesus, but where is He today? He is in our city, but how can people see Him? No doubt, the local church, the church in each locality, is the testimony of Jesus today.
The testimony of Jesus is the practical church, not the church “in the air” or the church to come. A church yet to come cannot show Jesus to people, and a church “in the heavens” may show Jesus to the angels, but it cannot show Jesus to people on the earth. To show Jesus to the people in our locality, there is the need of a church in our locality that testifies who Jesus is. If someone in a locality wants to see Jesus, he must come to the church in that locality. Therefore, we need to consider whether we truly bear the image of Jesus. If we show someone an unclear picture of a person, it will not be a proper testimony of him with his image and appearance. We may see something in the picture, but it will not be the person we claim to show. The church in our locality must bear the image, expression, appearance, and virtues of Christ.