Many at Noah’s time may have been saved from eternal perdition, but only eight were rescued from their generation and put into the ark. The church is the place where we can be saved from today’s generation. The New Testament tells us that after the Lord’s resurrection, He showed Himself to five hundred brothers at one time, but on the day of Pentecost only one hundred twenty were meeting together (1 Cor. 15:6; Acts 1:15). In addition to the five hundred brothers, there may have been many more saved ones. Through the Lord’s ministry of three and a half years, many hundreds may have been saved, but on the day of Pentecost only one hundred twenty were present. All the others were saved, but they were not in the “ark.” Only the one hundred twenty were in the ark. No doubt, Nicodemus and Joseph, the ones who buried Jesus, were also saved. They were good, but they were not among the one hundred twenty. They were saved, but they were not in the church practically. They should not have been satisfied in that condition. No one should have said, “As long as I am saved, everything is all right. I still prefer to remain in the temple with the altar, the priesthood, and the burning lamps. I realize that this religion put Jesus to death, but I myself believe in Jesus, I love Him, and I am for Him.” Nevertheless, regardless of how much many people seemed to be for Jesus, they were not in the church life.
Today many Christians are like this. One person recently told me, “I surely appreciate your ministry. It is wonderful. However, I am a Catholic. I love Jesus, yet I also love Catholicism and all the things in it. In the Catholic Church today there is the charismatic movement, and many people there like to read Watchman Nee’s books.” In truth, this is a pitiful stand to take. What God wants today is not millions of saved individuals. What He wants is the church, the ark. He wants to save us from the crooked generation and usher us into God’s kingdom to fulfill His eternal purpose. He does not care for a charismatic movement or for speaking in tongues. God only cares for whether or not we are in the ark, the proper church life. He wants us to be a part of the testimony of His Son, Jesus.
In the ancient time, all the Israelites were God’s people. They worshipped God in the temple, and they read and studied the law of Moses. However, one day Elijah accused them, saying, “The children of Israel have forsaken Your covenant, thrown down Your altars, and slain Your prophets with the sword; and I alone am left, and they seek to take my life.” The Lord replied to him, “I have left Myself seven thousand in Israel, all the knees that have not bowed unto Baal and every mouth that has not kissed him” (1 Kings 19:10, 18). Seven thousand is a good number, but compared with millions of Israelites it is small. Today the situation among Christians is the same. All are God’s people, but almost all have “bowed unto Baal.” Baal was an idol, and the principle of an idol is that it is something besides God that occupies people. The department stores, our improper shopping, our way to spend the money the Lord gives us, long hair, a short skirt, modern fashion, television, and the newspaper may all be idols to which many believers have been bowing and still are bowing. Day by day God’s people may be worshipping cars, houses, clothing, education, fame, position, and promotion. Even a certain reverend, pastor, or denomination may be an idol to someone. Those who have idols do not love the Lord at any cost and give up everything else. Whatever we still hold on to is an idol. Apparently not many today love the Lord absolutely, but in actuality the Lord has reserved a certain number for His church life who are building the ark to be saved from today’s generation, to save others also, and to have the church life.
The book of Revelation is not about our personal salvation. It is about the golden lampstands. Many Christians do not care about the lampstands in Revelation. They may feel that the lampstands and the golden city with twelve gates are too mysterious and that it is more practical to tell people the stories of Jesus from Matthew and John, about how He loved Mary and Lazarus and performed miracles. As we have said before, many Christians have been “drugged,” caring only for their eternal salvation, even though they may have been saved only to a small degree. People may not like to hear that they have been saved only to a small degree, but eventually everyone will face a situation which will expose how much he has been saved. We can fool man, and we can fool the church, but we can never fool God. The book of Revelation contains the highest salvation, which is the golden lampstands, today’s ark, the churches.