Will you please turn to the book of Revelation, Chapter 12? We will read from Verse 1 through Verse 12.
And a great sign was seen in heaven: a woman arrayed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars;
and she was with child; and she crieth out, travailing in birth, and in pain to be delivered.And there was seen another sign in heaven: and behold, a great red dragon, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his heads seven diadems.
And his tail draweth the third part of the stars of heaven, and did cast them to the earth: and the dragon standeth before the woman that is about to be delivered, that when she is delivered he may devour her child.And she was delivered of a son, a man child, who is to rule all the nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and unto His throne.
And the woman fled into the wilderness, where she hath a place prepared of God, that there they may nourish her a thousand two hundred and threescore days.And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels going forth to war with the dragon; and the dragon warred and his angels;
and they prevailed not, neither was their place found any more in heaven.
And the great dragon was cast out, that old serpent, he that is called the Devil and Satan, the deceiver of the whole world; he was cast out into the earth, and his angels were cast out with him.And I heard a great voice in heaven, saying, Now is come the salvation, and the power, and the kingdom of our God, and the authority of His Christ: for the accuser of our brethren is cast out, who accuseth them before our God day and night.
And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb, and because of the word of their testimony; and they loved not their life even unto death.
Therefore rejoice, O heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe for the earth and for the sea: because the devil is gone down unto you, having great wrath, knowing that he hath but a short time.
Lord, as we continue in Thy presence, we just bow in worship and adoration. How we do praise and thank Thee that Thou hast sent Thy beloved Son into the world to be the Lamb of God, slain.
We do praise and thank Thee that Thou hast exalted Him far above all, and Thou hast given Him a name that is above every name. At that name every knee shall bow, and every tongue confess that Jesus is Lord.
Oh, how we praise and thank Thee that Thou hast been so gracious to us, that we can come to Thee this morning with a willing heart, bowing our knees and acknowledging Thee as our Lord. Oh, Thou art worthy.
We worship Thee this morning, and we pray that as we read Thy Word, Thy Holy Spirit will breathe again upon Thy Word and make it living and operative in our lives. We pray that Thou wilt open our eyes to see and touch our hearts, that we may be fully in tune with Thyself. We want Thy will to be done on earth as it is in heaven. We ask in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
This is the last full day of this conference, and I do not think I need to remind you of our theme. If you still do not know what the theme is, I do not know where you are.
Press on to fullness. This is the will of God for us. Our God is the God of fullness, and His fullness is located in His beloved Son. We are made full in Him.
We thank God for the accomplished work of our Lord Jesus. We thank God for the operation of the Holy Spirit, that we might enter into that fullness to the glory of God.
My assignment is with the book of Revelation. We have seen, first of all, the fullness of Christ in relation to His church. Then we continued with the fullness of Christ in relation to the world. Now, this morning, we would like to see the fullness of Christ in relation to the overcomers.
We know that the book of Revelation was written approximately in the year 95 or 96 A.D. The revelation was given to the Apostle John, who was exiled to the island of Patmos for the Word of God and for the testimony of Jesus.
This is the last revelation—the full revelation—of the Lord Jesus and of His fullness. This book of Revelation covers the time from the apostolic age, through the whole history of the church age, and reaches further into eternity.
There we find, in the first two chapters of the book of Revelation, seven churches in Asia. These seven churches in Asia were selected by the Lord for a specific reason.
We know that at that time, towards the end of the first century, there were actually more than seven churches in the Roman province of Asia. We know there was the church at Colossae and others. But we find that the Holy Spirit purposely chose these seven churches because they represent the church of God throughout the ages.
On the one hand, they were seven local assemblies in Asia in the time of the Apostle John. But prophetically, they also tell us the whole history of the church, from the end of the apostolic age to the end of the church age.
And then, in these seven letters to the seven churches, they all end with one call:
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.
This call is repeated seven times. I do believe that this is a call that has been going on throughout the whole church age, and this call is ringing out today in our midst:
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.
What is that call? What is the voice of the Spirit? We know that the call is the call to overcome:
He that overcometh.
In order to understand what the call really is, I think first of all we need to know who is the Caller. Who is calling us?
The One who calls us is none other than our Lord Jesus. He is the Overcomer, and that is the reason why He calls us to overcome. He calls us to join with Him as overcomers.
Here we find that our Lord Jesus reveals Himself to His church. He reveals His fullness to His church. And as He reveals His fullness to His church, He also examines His church in relation to His fullness, to see whether they respond to His fullness and correspond to what He is.
After He has revealed Himself and examined the church, then you find the voice of the Holy Spirit. In other words, the Holy Spirit takes up that which our Lord Jesus has given to us and cries out, “He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.”
We have the letters. We have the revelation. We have the examination. And now we shall hear the voice of the Spirit saying, “Overcome.”
Throughout this book of Revelation, we find this call to overcome ringing again and again. We do thank the Lord that there is not only that call to overcome, but throughout the church age there have been, there are, and there will be overcomers.
You know, in Revelation 2 and Revelation 3, in every letter it says, “He that overcometh.” In other words, there is not only the calling to overcome, but there are actually those who overcome by the grace of God. These are the overcomers.
At the end of the apostolic age, at the end of the first century, when you come to Revelation 7, you find a countless number of people standing before the throne. They are all clothed with white garments, and in their hands are palms. They are waving the palms. Now, who are they?
They are the overcomers throughout the ages—that is to say, from the second century to the end time. They are countless. In one sense, we do not know who the overcomers are. In every age, it seems that the overcomers are a minority, a remnant. Yet we do thank God that throughout the ages there have been overcomers in every generation and every age. When they come together, you cannot count them. They are countless.
Then you come to Revelation 12. In Revelation 12, you find the man child. The man child is a collective term. It represents the overcomers at the end time. We are in the end time, and there you find that a man child is going to be born—overcomers at the end time.
Then you find in Revelation 15 those who have overcome the beast and the mark of the beast. They did not worship the beast during that great tribulation time, and there you find them on the sea of glass before God. These are the overcomers through the great tribulation. Even out of the great tribulation, there will be overcomers.
When you come to Revelation 17, you find that when our Lord Jesus comes down to earth for that final battle in the world of this present age, there will be His army following Him. They are the called, the chosen, and the faithful. They are the overcomers of the church.
You come to Revelation 20, and there you find thrones set up. Who are those who sit upon the thrones? They are the overcomers of the ages.
And, of course, when you come to Revelation 21 and Revelation 22, in the New Jerusalem He says:
He that overcometh shall inherit these things; and I will be his God, and he shall be My son.
So, brothers and sisters, you find throughout the book of Revelation that there is the call to overcome. We do thank God that there are overcomers in every generation and in every age.
Our Lord Jesus is the Overcomer. From the time of Adam up to the time of our Lord Jesus, we have not seen even one overcomer in the fullest sense.
We find that Adam and the Adamic race have been, and are, defeated and captured by the enemy. But then, thank God, one day the Son of God came to become a man. As a man, He overcame.
He overcame by His life, and He overcame by His death. In life, He overcame the enemy and all that is of the enemy in a personal way. In other words, He overcame as a person.
When He was tempted, He overcame the tempter. When He was on earth, nothing could put Him under. You find that He was always in charge, always in control. He was always above the circumstances. He was the only One who obeyed the Father even unto death, yea, the death of the cross. He was the Overcomer in life, in a personal way.
But when He went to the cross, there on Calvary’s cross, you find that He again overcame. But He overcame in a corporate way. In other words, He overcame not only for Himself, but He overcame for us. There on the cross, He laid the foundation for us to overcome.
So in life and in death, we find that our Lord Jesus overcame. Because He is the Overcomer, that is the reason why He is calling us to join Him as overcomers.
In 1 John 5:4-5, it says:
For whatsoever is begotten of God overcometh the world: and this is the victory that hath overcome the world, even our faith.
And who is he that overcometh the world, but he that believeth that Jesus is the Son of God?
Here we find who it is that gets the victory over the world: he that has been begotten of God, he that believes that Jesus is the Son of God.
And, dear brothers and sisters, are we not those people? Are we not begotten of God? Do we not believe that Jesus is the Son of God? We do. And because we do, we have gotten the victory over the world, even our faith.
Our Lord Jesus said in John 16:33:
In the world ye have tribulation: but be of good cheer; I have overcome the world.
Again, in Romans 8, we are told that we are more than conquerors through Christ Jesus our Lord. In 2 Corinthians 2, we are told that He has led us in triumph in all things.
So, in other words, our Lord Jesus is the Overcomer, and the church that He has redeemed is an overcoming church.
The church is the church triumphant. The church is not supposed to be a defeated church. The church is called to be an overcoming church. Every brother and sister in the church should be an overcomer. Why? Because we have believed in the Lord Jesus. We have received His overcoming life.
So, in other words, the whole church, as God has ordained her to be, is to be an overcoming church. Thank God for that.
But unfortunately, we find that even at the close of the apostolic age, in the seven letters to the seven churches, our Lord Jesus was walking in the midst of the seven lampstands. When He looked over these seven churches, these seven lampstands, what did He see? What did He find?
He saw many things there—good and bad—but not of Him. He could hardly find Himself in some of these churches.
We find that even in the first century, at the end of the first century, they had lost their first love. The work was going on. The labor was going on. But the inward reality, the inward power, was gone. They had lost their first love.
We find that false teachings began to slip into the church. We find that corrupt manners began to find their way into the church. We find that the church had fallen from what it ought to be.
Instead of being overcomers, the church had fallen and had been defeated. So even at the end of the apostolic age, already you find that the church had failed in her calling. They were not what He was.
Because of that, you find there is a calling to overcome: “He that overcometh.” To every local assembly at that time, we find the Spirit of God calling out to each one personally.
The church as a whole has fallen. Now the calling comes to each one personally: “He that overcometh.”
Now, who is he that overcomes? It is he who responds to the revelation of Christ. In every church, He tells us who He is. That is to say, He reveals Himself to us, and His revelation ought to be our vocation—that we shall respond to what has been revealed to us.
But here you find that many did not respond. Those who respond to Christ, to His fullness, are the overcomers.
The overcomers of the church are not super-Christians. The overcomers of the church are normal Christians. Because Christians have become abnormal, those who respond to the revelation of Jesus Christ and to the fullness of Christ are the normal Christians—and they are the overcomers.
They are those who are to stand for the whole church. They are to do the work of the whole church. They are to bear the testimony of Jesus for the whole church.
Because the testimony of God cannot fail, He will have His testimony in every generation and every century. So here you find a call to overcome, and this call has been going out for two thousand years. We do believe that today this call is upon us.
Dear brothers and sisters, the whole church ought to be an overcoming church. But if the whole has failed, then God is calling for overcomers of the church.
Today we will focus our attention on Revelation 12. The reason why we focus on it is because that chapter tells us of the overcomers at the end time.
Now, brothers and sisters, we all know that we are in the end time—the last days. When we read the Scriptures, what really is the end time? What really are the last days?
The last days, or the end time, is a term that you can even find in the Old Testament. It refers to the time that our Lord Jesus came to this earth. In other words, the last days actually began with the first coming of our Lord Jesus, and they will end with His second coming. So the whole period is the last days.
In the letters of the apostles, you find that they already mentioned, “Now is the last day.” So actually, you find that the last days, or the end time, refer to the time from the first coming of the Lord Jesus to the second coming of the Lord Jesus.
Now, if this is the case, then we are at the end of the end time. We are at the last of the last days. This is a very critical time. We know that the Lord is coming soon. We know that this is the end of the end time, and we are living in a very, very vital and important period.
This is the time in which we are involved, and that is the reason why we should pay special attention to this chapter.
John saw a woman there, in pain. Now, who is that woman? Without going into detailed interpretation, or into many interpretations, we will just mention it very briefly.
You know, in the Scriptures, God often uses a woman to represent the church. We find Eve in the garden of Eden. Adam represents Christ—he is a type of Christ—and Eve is a type of the church. Eve represents the church in God’s original thought.
Then we find Ephesians 5. Christ loved the church and gave Himself for her. He sanctified her, having cleansed her by the washing of water with the Word, that He might present the church to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.
Here again, you find a woman, and that woman represents the church through the church age. Throughout the church age, you find our Lord Jesus nourishing and cherishing His body in order to bring that body to maturity, that she may become His bride.
Then you find in Revelation 12 a woman, and that woman again represents the church. But it is the church at the end time, or at the end of the end time. There she is in travail, in pain for birth.
Of course, when you go to Revelation 21 and Revelation 22, you find the holy city, the New Jerusalem. She is the bride, the Lamb’s wife—another woman. That is the church in eternity. So you find that the woman represents the church.
This woman is in travail. She is in birth pangs. She is going to bring forth a child.
Brothers and sisters, is it not a universal law that if there is no travail, there is no birth? If you are looking for a birth, you have to suffer and travail in pain in order to bring forth. This is true physically, and this is true spiritually.
We think of our Lord Jesus. It is said in Isaiah 53 that He shall see the fruit of the travail of His soul and be satisfied.
Here you find our Lord Jesus and how He travailed in His soul. We see His travail especially in the garden of Gethsemane. Brothers and sisters, it does not mean that He did not travail before that. As a matter of fact, He was the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world. As a matter of fact, His very incarnation was a travail. His whole life on earth was a travail.
But we find especially how He travailed in the garden of Gethsemane. There He said He was sorrowful even unto death. He was deeply distressed, agonizing. He asked His three disciples who were closest to Him to wait with Him.
He went forward and prayed, “Father, if it be possible, let this cup pass from Me; nevertheless, not My will, but Thy will, be done.”
As He travailed in prayer, the Bible says His sweat became as great drops of blood. An angel appeared and strengthened Him. In other words, if the angel had not strengthened Him, He might have died in the garden of Gethsemane.
The conflict was tremendous. Brothers and sisters, we could never understand what transpired in the garden of Gethsemane. There you find our Lord Jesus travailing in prayer. Why? He was to give birth.
And there on the cross, we find Him crying out:
My God, My God, why hast Thou forsaken Me?
What a travail—unbearable.
But then we know that after He died, usually when people were crucified, they did not die in several hours. They might linger for days. You remember the two robbers who were crucified with Him. They were still alive, and they had to have their legs broken to hasten their death.
But when the soldier came to our Lord Jesus, He was already dead. To make sure that He was dead, a soldier thrust a spear through His side. It entered into His very heart, and out of Him came blood and water.
John witnessed it, and he said, “What I saw was true.” He said it very emphatically. Why? Brothers and sisters, out of the side of our Lord Jesus, God took something to build a woman.
The church is built with His blood and with His life. Blood is to atone for our sins. Water represents His life to give us life.
We are the fruit of the travail of His soul. When He sees us, He is satisfied. Just like a woman: when she is in travail, she is in pain, and probably goes through a sense of death. But after a child is born, she forgets all her sorrows. She rejoices.
This is our Lord Jesus. Brothers and sisters, our Lord Jesus rejoices in His church.
Not only with our Lord Jesus, we find that we are called to the fellowship of His sufferings. There you find the Apostle Paul. When you read Galatians 4:19, he says:
My little children, of whom I am again in travail until Christ be formed in you.
Brothers and sisters, those who know the heart of our Lord Jesus, those who love the church as Christ loved the church—oh, how they travail for us, that Christ may be formed in us.
Many brothers and sisters remain as babes and do not grow up. Many brothers and sisters are deformed. Those who know the heart of Christ for the church, who love the church, are available. They travail in prayer. They are consecrated that Christ may be fully formed in us.
Oh, brothers and sisters, that we may be made full, that we may know the fullness of Christ. That is the travail going on.
As a matter of fact, the whole world is groaning. In Romans 8, we are told that the whole creation is groaning together and travailing in pain together. They are waiting for the manifestation of the sons of God, that they might be set free from corruption and vanity.
Brothers and sisters, do you know that it is man who has put the whole creation into bondage, into corruption? The creation is innocent. We are the guilty ones.
But all creation groans. If you have ears to hear, you can hear the groaning of all creation. They are longing for liberty, to be set free from bondage and from emptiness.
When will they be set free? When the sons of God are manifested. When the church becomes full-grown men, unto the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ. It is when the man child is born that the whole creation will be liberated from corruption.
Paul says in Romans 8 that even we, who have the firstfruits of the Spirit, groan within ourselves, waiting for adoption, for the redemption of our body. Brothers and sisters, is it not true that we do groan within ourselves?
Especially when we come to the last time, the pressure increases to a tremendous degree. Brothers and sisters, we as believers today are under great pressure. Probably our forefathers never experienced such pressure as we are in today.
We find that the world is pressing upon us. We find that the enemy is tempting us, deceiving us, attacking us, trying to devour us, trying to kill us. We find that we are pressed from all sides.
We are pressed by the world situation, by the political situation, by the economic situation, by the social situation, and by the moral situation of the world. We are pressed in the family. We are pressed in the work. You find that we are pressed on all sides. The pressure is tremendous today.
The enemy wants to break us. Brothers and sisters, when we are under such pressure, are we groaning? Are we travailing? Do we give ourselves to prayer?
There is not only pressure around us, but we find that the Spirit of God groans within us. The pressure around us is to crush us, but the Holy Spirit groans within us that we may grow, that we may mature, that we may expand, that we may rise above.
In pressure, we are enlarged. This is a growing pain. This is the way that we grow into the fullness of Christ.
Brothers and sisters, if we allow these pressures to crush us, we miss the point. These pressures that come upon us serve as opportunities. The Holy Spirit within us groans for birth and groans for growth.
If we give ourselves to Christ, if we yield ourselves, if we cooperate with the Holy Spirit, we find that all these pressures will only mature us. All these sufferings will only bring us into conformity to the image of Christ.
Do we travail within us? Are we benefited by the travailing?
That woman is in travail, in pain.
But unfortunately, it seems as if that woman herself does not enter into the real meaning of travail. Why? Because you find the red dragon—Satan—standing before that woman.
We know that Satan is opposing Christ. When Christ was on earth, he was trying to kill Him. When He was born, you find Herod trying to kill all the children below two years of age in Bethlehem.
When our Lord Jesus came out to minister in His own city of Nazareth, you find that they pushed Him out of the city, led Him to the brow of the hill, and tried to push Him down and kill Him.
Satan tried to kill our Lord Jesus, and finally he succeeded in killing Him on the cross. But he found that, through death, he himself was defeated.
Throughout the church age, the dragon is there trying to devour the church, to kill the church. He tried to kill the church by taking away the first love. You may continue on outwardly, but there is no reality in it.
When he could not succeed in that, then he would do it outwardly. He would try to persecute and wipe the church out, but he could not do it.
But sadly, you find that at this time the dragon was standing before the woman, but he had no interest in the woman. In other words, you can exist, but you do not count to me. My kingdom will not suffer because of you. You have lost the reality. You have lost the power. You have lost the testimony.
The dragon does not care about that woman. What he cares about is the man child in the womb.
Through the travail, there is a man child growing into maturity within the womb of that woman. The enemy knows that this woman does not count, but that man child will be his end.
So he wants to devour the man child. He is waiting for the man child to come out, and then he will devour that man child.
Brothers and sisters, is that not a picture of today? When we look at the church today, what do we see?
In spite of all the pressure, in spite of all the things that are happening, it seems that the church does not respond to the working of the Spirit within.
It seems as if the church is not groaning. It seems as if the church is like the church in Laodicea. They are boasting, “Look, we have become so big, so influential, so prosperous. We lack nothing.”
Is that not a picture of the church today? If you want to know what the church is, see what the attitude of the red dragon is.
He may stand before that woman and not even be bothered to do anything with her. She does not count. The church today does not count—not even in the sight of God, but even in the sight of the enemy.
The church has fallen. As the Scripture says, there will be a falling away—a general falling away of the church.
But thank God, within the womb of the church, a man child is growing.
They receive the benefit of all the pressures and the movement of the Holy Spirit within. They respond to the voice of the Spirit. They repent. They return. They go back to the source.
They humble themselves. They empty themselves. They deny themselves. They look at the Lord. They receive from Him what He is.
Brothers and sisters, these are the people the enemy is afraid of.
This man child is collective, because we are told that they overcome. They overcome.
Brothers and sisters, in these last days the Spirit of God is calling for overcomers. He does not call you to be a super-Christian. He calls you to be a normal Christian.
He calls you to respond to the revelation of Jesus Christ. He calls you to receive Christ Jesus in all His fullness. He calls you to be faithful to Him. He calls you to bear His testimony in these last days. Will you respond?
When this man child is born, do you think that the enemy can devour him? Actually, in the womb of the woman, he has already defeated the enemy. He has gotten the victory. The Lord has led him in triumph.
So as soon as he is born, he is caught up—raptured—to God and to His throne.
This rapture is the sign of the coming of the Lord—the parousia, the presence of the Lord.
One day, brothers and sisters, when the world says, “Peace, peace,” when the world is sleeping, suddenly you find throughout the whole world a number of the Lord’s children have disappeared. The Lord has taken them. They are taken to the throne.
As they are taken to the throne, they go through the air—the headquarters of Satan. They break through the headquarters of the enemy and arise to the throne.
Because of this, the Bible says there will be war in the air. Michael and his angels will fight with Satan and his angels. Satan shall not prevail, but he shall be defeated, and he will be thrown from the air to the earth with his angels.
Do you know why? Because the air must be cleared for Christ to descend.
Rejoice, ye heavens, and ye that dwell in them. Woe to those who are on earth, because Satan now is on earth. He knows his time is very short.
I will have to borrow a little time.
This man child, these overcomers, are not super-Christians. They do not overcome because of themselves. They overcome because of the blood of the Lamb.
Oh, brothers and sisters, they are not perfect. They are weak. They may even fall. But they know the preciousness of the blood of the Lamb.
Whenever they fall, they repent. They go to the blood of the Lamb, and they have their garments washed.
The enemy is the accuser. Satan is the accuser. Sometimes his accusation has some ground, unfortunately. But many times he exaggerates, and sometimes it is completely false.
But, brothers and sisters, we do thank God that we have the blood of the Lamb. That blood shuts up his mouth.
The nearer you are to the Lord, the more you find the blood precious. Do not think that you can outgrow the blood of the Lamb.
Brothers and sisters, the closer we are to the Lord, the more we know how weak we are, how full of spot, wrinkle, and blemish we are. We need the blood to wash us day by day, hour by hour. Even our tears of repentance need to be washed by the blood.
Thank God for the blood of the Lamb.
Oftentimes, the enemy tries to use darkness to surround us. We do not even know ourselves. Because we do not know ourselves, we may have sinned and yet not know it.
Or we may not have sinned, but in darkness, when we are under accusation, we think we have sinned.
But, brothers and sisters, if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we shall have fellowship one with another, and the blood of Jesus, God’s Son, shall cleanse us from all our sins.
If only we walk in the light—that is the light of life. We have this light of life within us. This life that we have received from the Lord Jesus shines within us. As we walk in that light, as He is in the light, we will have fellowship with Him, and the blood of Jesus will wash us from all our sins.
In other words, there is no need for us to be in darkness. There is no need for us to remain in defilement. There is no need for us to be under accusation. There is no need for our fellowship and communion with God to be interrupted.
These people have uninterrupted communion with God. That is the secret to overcome, and it is based on the blood of the Lamb.
Secondly, they overcome because of the word of their testimony. What is their testimony?
They have a testimony, but as Paul says, “I do not preach myself; I preach Christ.” In other words, our testimony is not ourselves. Our testimony is the testimony of Jesus.
What is the testimony of Jesus? To put it in one word, the testimony of Jesus is this:
I am the first and the last, and the Living One; and I was dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore, and I have the keys of death and of Hades.
This is the testimony of Jesus. In other words, these people know the fullness of Christ. They know that Christ is the first. He has to be first in all things in their lives.
They know that Christ is the last. He has to have the last word in their lives. They know that Christ is the Living One. He is alive. He is not only the One who died for us, but He is our life. They know His life.
They know that Christ has died, but He is resurrected. In other words, they know the cross. The cross is not a theory to them. They know the cross in their lives, and they know resurrection life.
They know that Christ has the keys of death and Hades. In other words, they know the victory of Christ. Brothers and sisters, this is their testimony.
They have the word of testimony—the words they speak out. They say, “Jesus is Lord.” When they say, “Jesus is Lord,” there is power in their word. Why? Because they have a life to back it up.
Sometimes we say it, but there is no power. Why? There is no testimony behind it.
Oh, brothers and sisters, may we know Christ—to know Him, and to know the power of His resurrection; to have fellowship with His sufferings, conformed to His death. This is our testimony, the word of our testimony.
When we say, “Jesus is Lord,” Satan flees.
They loved not their lives even unto death. That is their attitude. The life there is the soul life.
The Lord Jesus says, “If anyone would come after Me, let him deny himself, take up his cross, and follow Me. He who loves his life shall lose it; but he who hates his life and loses his life for My sake and for the gospel’s sake, he shall gain it unto eternity.”
Brothers and sisters, we all have that soul life, that self, in us, as our brothers have mentioned before. Do we deny ourselves, take up the cross, and follow the Lord? Wherever the Lamb goes, we go.
These are the overcomers.
They shall shepherd the nations with an iron rod. They shall reign with Christ for a thousand years.
They are the ones who prepare the way for the return of our Lord Jesus, and they are the ones doing the work for the whole church.
May God have mercy upon us.
Dear Heavenly Father, how we praise and thank Thee that Thou art working out Thy purpose. We pray, Lord, that all the sufferings that go on in this world, to Thy church and to us individually, may not be in vain, but that they will bring forth that which answers to Thy heart.
We pray that by Thy grace we may be among those who overcome—not for ourselves; it is for the church, it is for Thee. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.