Following this, chapter 12 reveals the third aspect of the testimony of Jesus. Here the figure is not a lampstand but a wonderful, universal, heavenly woman (vv. 1-2, 5-6). Whereas the lampstands are in the dark night, the woman is full of light. With her there is no distinction between day and night, because she is clothed with the sun, the moon is underneath her feet, and on her head is a crown of stars. There is no need for the woman to shine in the darkness, as the lampstands do, because she is always fully in the light. When we come to the lampstands, we are under the shining, and when we come to the woman, we are under the sun, the moon, and the stars.
The sun, the moon, and the stars are all heavenly (Gen. 1:16-17). Thus, the woman indicates the heavenly nature, position, and disposition of the church as the testimony of Jesus. With her there is nothing earthly, such as casinos, department stores, television, sports, synagogues, cathedrals, or chapels. Everything about this woman is heavenly. Some gatherings of Christians can be compared to a dark cell deep in the earth, having no openings for the light and being full of dirt. When they meet together, they talk about fashions, department stores, and worldly places. The local churches, however, are in the heavens. There is no earth but only the sun, the moon, and the stars. The earthly dirt is under our feet.
Christians today sometimes speak about fighting Satan. However, as long as someone is in that dark “cell” of the world, he can never fight against the devil. He is good only to be Satan’s food. When God cursed Satan as the serpent, He condemned him to eat dust (3:14). As long as we are earthly, we are qualified to be food for Satan. However, there is no serpent on the sun, the moon, or the stars. The position of the church in the spiritual warfare is not on the earth but in the heavenlies (Eph. 2:6; 6:12). When the church is in the heavenlies, Satan is under her feet. Eventually, Satan is cast down and defeated by the man-child of the wonderful heavenly woman (Rev. 12:10-11). In earthly Christian meetings, people are good for Satan’s food, but in the proper church life, which is the main part of the heavenly woman, Satan is already defeated. The best way to defeat Satan in the local churches is to minister the heavenly things to the saints so that the church may remain heavenly. Then there will be the victory, and Satan will be cast down.
According to our observation, the weakest point with the sisters is gossiping. Many young sisters like to gossip about their mothers-in-law, and many older sisters like to gossip about their daughters and daughters-in-law, about who is engaged, married, or pregnant, when the baby will come, and whether it will be a boy or a girl. Such gossip belongs in worldly places, not in the local churches. Gossiping causes the church to be dark and opaque. Whenever the long gossiping tongue is “cut off,” the church is in the heavens. Many times the love that some of the saints have is a fleshly love, not the love in the spirit that is as clear as crystal. This kind of ugly, fleshly love causes many Christian meetings to be darkened. In the eyes of the Lord, it may be worse than hatred and fighting. It is the love of “turtles” and “serpents,” and it should be buried and burned. Likewise, the more people are humble in a natural way, the more they sink into darkness. Again, in the Lord’s eyes, soulish humility may be worse than pride. A sister may say, “I dare not speak. I am just a little sister. What can I say? I am not worthy,” but this is only a soulish humility. Because the church is heavenly and crystal clear, we should all be frank in a heavenly way, taking no excuse or cloak, but being what we are in the Lord and in the Body. To cloak ourselves is to pretend to be something that we are not. The heavenly woman wears no cloak. The church is crystal clear and frank, having no pretense, excuse, cloak, or covering. With her, everything is in the open.
Nice words are often a cloak. Many times, certain dear saints came to me to speak nice words. Right away my spirit told me, “This is a falsehood, and these nice words are a cheating.” We should not deal in this way with the church life. Nothing exposes people as much as the church. The church life is the strongest “x-ray.” Someone may come to us speaking good things, but if we are in the spirit, the “x-ray” within may see the workings of their mind and that those words are a cheating. Several times I told someone, “Please do not come to cheat me. I hear your words, but my spirit sees what is in your heart.” If the church is heavenly, everything will be in the open. The wonderful, bright woman has no covering, shadow, or darkness. Everything is in the bright open air. This kind of church is a victorious one. In this sense, there is no need for the church to fight against Satan; Satan is already defeated and cast down, and the kingdom of Christ is brought in. This woman is heavenly, bright, frank, and thoroughly crystal clear. It is from such a wonderful church that the man-child is brought forth (v. 5a). This woman is the third aspect of the church as the testimony of Jesus.
The man-child is the stronger part of the people of God. Among the people of God, even among those in the Lord’s recovery today, there is the stronger part. The woman will be left on earth to pass through the great tribulation, but the stronger part, the man-child, will be raptured to the throne of God before the tribulation (vv. 5b-6). The man-child will be raptured prior to the tribulation because God needs the man-child to fight against Satan in the heavens and cast him down to the earth (v. 9). Although God has many angels who will fight against Satan, the final victory over the enemy will be gained not because of the angels but because of the man-child. God needs the man-child. God will shame Satan by using the very man Satan corrupted to defeat him. God may say, “Satan, you have corrupted the man I created, but I have produced a man-child out of this corrupted man to defeat you, not only on the earth but also in heaven.” The man-child will fight up to the throne to cast Satan down from the heavens to the earth. Although Jesus has defeated Satan on the cross, there is still the need for the church to execute His victory over the enemy. Because many members of the Body have failed in this matter, only the stronger part of the Body, the man-child, will execute Christ’s victory over Satan. The man-child will be raptured to the heavens to accomplish this job.
The rapture is not mainly for our own blessing. We should not merely say, “How good it is for me to be raptured to the heavens!” We must realize that God has a need for us to be raptured; we must be raptured to heaven to fight against the enemy. If someone hears this and says, “I don’t want to go to the heavens and be involved in a war,” this means that he is not qualified to be raptured before the tribulation. If anyone does not go to heaven to meet Satan and cast him down, Satan will come down to the earth to meet and overcome him. We must be the man-child. I earnestly desire to be a part of the man-child. I am not satisfied simply to be a part of the woman. I want to be included in that stronger part. This also is an aspect of the testimony of Jesus.