To be the genuine testimony of Jesus will cost us everything. Can we say that we are the testimony of Jesus? If we were the testimony of Jesus, we would not be able to be worldly, and we would not be able to argue much with our husband or wife. To not quarrel, in itself, does not constitute us to be the testimony of Jesus, but anyone who is a part of the testimony of Jesus cannot remain in a quarrel with his wife. Likewise, a brother in the testimony of Jesus will not be able to have improperly long hair (1 Cor. 11:7, 14). As long as a brother still has improperly long hair, he is not practically a part of the testimony of Jesus. If he loves all of the saints and behaves himself in a humble, nice, and kind way, we may consider him to be a good brother. However, the fact that his hair is too long is a sign that he is still holding on to his taste, which means that he cannot be built together with the saints. To cut our hair is a small thing in itself. What is crucial is that whoever holds on to his own taste needs to be crucified with Christ. It must be “no longer I” with my tastes (Gal. 2:20). We must not hold on to anything. The “I” with our concepts and tastes must be over. If this is the case, it will be easy to be built with all the saints.
Someone may seem like a good brother in the church, but in what way is he good? Is he simply gracious, a good husband, and one who comes to all the meetings? Instead, a brother must be “good” in being built up with others. We have learned a lesson from observing “good” brothers. Sometimes the nicest ones are the strongest ones to dissent. The nicer someone is, the more difficult he may be to deal with. This is because many good ones are natural and hold on to their concepts and tastes. They love the Lord and the church, but they never lose their individual identity to be built up with others. Different pieces of gold may be round, square, or rectangular, but when they are beaten together into one golden lampstand, they lose their identity. In the building up of the church, we all need to lose our identity. Otherwise, we may still be pieces of gold, but we are not the golden lampstand.
We must all see that what the Lord desires today is not wonderful pieces of gold, even the best pieces. Someone may be a wonderful piece of gold, but in a sense, this is his problem. Simply because he is so wonderful, he would not be built up with others. We need to say, “Lord, have mercy upon me. I do not want to be ‘wonderful.’ I do not want to be the best one, and I do not want to be anything special. I want only to be built up in the church. Lord, I wish to lose my identity to be a part of the lampstand.” To be the lampstands as the testimony of Jesus is the goal of God’s eternal purpose, and this is our destiny. As long as we are in the golden lampstands, we surely are saved, and it is here also that we become holy, spiritual, heavenly, and divine.
To be a part of the testimony of Jesus costs us our everything, but in actuality all that we are and have are nothing. We are nothing, and we have nothing. To be the testimony of Jesus requires us to be lost and nullified. What God wants today is the testimony of Jesus, which is the local church. Every local church is a lampstand, bearing Christ as the lamp shining for God. Someone may come to the meetings, but he still may not be built in. I have seen certain good saints who were in the church, but later they stayed away from the church. Revelation 3:12 says that the pillars in the temple “shall by no means go out anymore.” Once we are built into the temple as a pillar, we can never get out. If we could pull ourselves out of the church, it means we have never been built into it. The only way to take out a part of a building is to tear down the whole building. If we mean business with the Lord to have the local church, we can never get out of the building.
Revelation 2:1-7 speaks concerning the church in Ephesus. This church had good behavior, strong faith, and many works for the Lord. However, it was rebuked for not enjoying the Lord adequately. The church in Ephesus had lost the enjoyment of the Lord. We know this from verse 7, in which the Lord says, “To him who overcomes, to him I will give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God.” To eat of the tree of life is to enjoy the Lord. The peril and danger today is that we may have good behavior, strong faith, and many good works for the Lord, but we may not enjoy Him very much. The Lord does not care how much we do for Him. He cares for how much we eat Him and enjoy Him daily. He is the tree of life for us to eat.
In the past, I heard many messages charging me to have good behavior, strong faith, and do many works for the Lord, but I never heard a message telling me that I need to eat the Lord Jesus. We may have done many works for the Lord, but how is our enjoyment of Him? Do we enjoy the Lord Jesus day by day? Every morning the first thing we should do is eat the Lord Jesus and enjoy Him. We all need to forget about what we do for Him. Instead, we need to enjoy Him. Nothing pleases Him as much as our eating Him. The more we eat Him, the happier He is.
Verses 8 through 11 speak of the church in Smyrna. Because the church there suffered persecution, the Lord spoke nothing against them. In this epistle is the first mention of the synagogue of Satan (v. 9). A synagogue is a place where the Jews worship God, but the synagogue has become something of Satan. This indicates that Judaism had become something satanic, the synagogue of Satan. In this same principle, the cathedrals, chapels, and sanctuaries of Christianity today are also not truly something of God. The third church is the church in Pergamos (vv. 12-17). Here is the place where Satan’s throne is (v. 13). The place of Satan’s throne is the place where Satan is the king, ruling and reigning over the world. In other words, in the church in Pergamos there is the world. Pergamos signifies the worldly church, the church that is married to the world. It is difficult to discern many of today’s Christians, since they appear the same as the unbelievers. In their shopping, housing, and dress they are the same as the people in the world. Many Christians are worldly, dwelling in the place where Satan’s throne is, the place where he dwells. Judaism is satanic, and worldliness also is satanic.
In the fourth church, the church in Thyatira, there is the woman Jezebel (vv. 18-29), signifying the Roman Catholic Church. Just as Judaism is satanic, the Catholic Church today is demonic. The Jews do not worship idols in their synagogues, but the Catholic cathedrals are full of idols. I spent much time to study the situation in Catholicism. When I was in Manila, I visited a Catholic cathedral there. I was surprised to see all the idols. Under one idol, an image of a certain saint, was a note, saying that if someone prays to her several times a day, the sufferings of a relative in purgatory would be relieved. What a superstition this is! It is demonic. Frequently in these places there is also the idol of the “holy mother.” Can we say that those Catholic cathedrals are something of God? They are not only satanic but also demonic. Verse 20 says that Jezebel teaches and leads the Lord’s slaves astray to commit fornication and to eat idol sacrifices. Fornication is an evil “sister” of idolatry. Where there is idolatry, there is always fornication.
The second through fourth epistles in Revelation 2 speak of Judaism, worldliness, and Catholicism. In chapter 3 we come to Protestantism. Verse 1 says that although the church in Sardis has a name that it is living, it is dead. The characteristic of Protestantism is deadness. Furthermore, verse 20 says, “Behold, I stand at the door and knock.” This is not the door of individual persons; it is the door of the church in lukewarmness, which we also see in today’s Protestantism. We need to realize that the Lord is not in Protestantism; He is outside the door. Therefore, Judaism is satanic, Catholicism is demonic, and Protestantism is filled with deadness and is without Christ. It preaches and teaches Christ in name, but it does not have Christ in actuality.