After the four Gospels, there is the fifth book, Acts. Acts 1:8 says, “Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Spirit is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto me....” What is a witness? It is not just a preacher or an evangelist. It is the same word in Greek as martyr. A witness is a person bearing a testimony. The witness is the person; the testimony is the thing testified. On the day of Pentecost Peter and the others were not preachers so much as witnesses bearing the testimony. They were living persons, bearing the testimony of the One who had been incarnated, crucified, resurrected, and then had ascended and descended and who was still moving on this earth through His Body. They bore testimony to this Person. Their testimony was the gospel. It was not like the shallow gospel preached today: “You are a sinner. You deserve to go to hell. But God loves you. He sent His Son to be your Savior. If you believe in Him, His blood will cleanse you from your sins, you will be forgiven, and you will go to heaven.” This is the preaching of a shallow gospel, not the testimony borne by a witness. We are witnesses!
Then in the last book of the Bible, John, who had been there at Pentecost with Peter, said he was exiled “because of the word of God and the testimony of Jesus” (Rev. 1:9). What is this testimony? The testimony of Jesus is just the golden lampstand. John “testified the word of God and the testimony of Jesus Christ” (v. 2). We need to connect verse 2 with verse 12: “And I turned to see the voice that spoke with me; and having turned I saw seven golden lampstands.” These lampstands were the testimony of Jesus. They were the churches (v. 20). Every church must be a golden lampstand, not merely an assembly of Christians meeting together in the name of Jesus. They must live Christ. They must become parts of Christ and have Christ become them. When they are gathered in a locality, they are a shining golden lampstand. This is the preparation of the bride.
Finally, there is Revelation 19:7: “Let us rejoice and exult, and let us give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife has made herself ready.” This is the last step, the ultimate move for God’s desire. It is not just to have good gospel preaching, good Bible teaching, good scriptural meetings. It is rather that we have the reality of the two mysteries, Christ as the mystery of God (Col. 2:2) and the church as the mystery of Christ (Eph. 3:4).
God has surely prepared the United States for this very purpose. He is sovereignly ruling over the world situation. He has brought us to this country and supplied us that we may go out with His Word, spreading His ultimate move, that His eternal intention may be carried out.
Have I made this clear to you? When you meet the Lord, will you have any excuse that you did not understand? The Lord’s recovery is not just a common piece of Christian work. Surely the Lord has shown us something of His ultimate move on this earth. You must bring what you have heard to the Lord and pray. You must fellowship with your wife or husband, with others who are close to you, again and again.
In many aspects Israel is ready for the Lord’s coming back, but the church cannot yet match Israel. The world situation is all prepared, under the control of God’s sovereign hand. He has made the United States the central and most convenient country, and He has placed us here. If you are keeping up-to-date with what is going on today on this earth, you will realize that God is controlling the entire world under the leadership of the United States for the spreading of His recovery.
You should not be here just to make a living! That is too low. Be burdened with God’s ultimate move. Then you will see God’s oneness with you, and there will be no problem with your living. I do not use the Old Testament term, that you will have God’s blessing. I say that you will see God’s oneness with you, because you are one with Him.
The time is short; the end is close. If you know world history and the trend of history, you will realize that it is unlikely God would prepare another country to be a power in this world for Him to take yet another step. I believe that America is the last power God will use for His final move. This fourth step, His final move, is the carrying out of His eternal intention to have a number of His seekers, lovers, live Christ and be the lampstand in their locality, that He may prepare His bride.
Home | First | Prev | Next