Will you please turn to Habakkuk, chapter 3, verse 2?
O Lord, I have heard Thy report, and was afraid:
O Lord, revive Thy work in the midst of the years;
In the midst of the years make it known;
In wrath remember mercy.
Turn also to Revelation, chapter 2, verse 7.
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.
To him that overcometh, to him will I give to eat of the tree of life, which is in the Paradise of God.
And Revelation, chapter 3, verse 12.
He that overcometh, him will I make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall go out thence no more:
And I will write upon him the name of My God, and the name of the city of My God, the new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from My God, and Mine own new name.
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.
Let us pray.
Dear Lord, we want to thank Thee for gathering us together these days. Thou hast been good, faithful, and merciful to us.
Lord, as we come to this last session of Thy Word, we pray that Thou wilt continue to speak to us. Lord, Thou knowest how dull our ears are and how slow is our understanding. Lord, we pray that Thou wilt explain, reveal, and open our understanding. Be patient with us. Speak, and speak again, until we hear—until we really hear.
Lord, Thou art the merciful God. In wrath, remember mercy. Wilt Thou show mercy to us tonight? We pray that Thou wilt not pass anyone by, but show Thyself to us. Speak Thy Word to us, that we may live, that we may be revived, as Thou dost Thy work of reviving.
Lord, we tremble before Thee. Let not those gathered here at this time return home and remain the same. Oh, Lord, have mercy. Do not let us go.
We commit this time into Thy hands and trust Thy Holy Spirit to do Thy work—a work that Thou alone canst do. We want to give Thee all the glory. We ask in the name of our Lord Jesus. Amen.
The Apostle John was exiled to the island of Patmos for the Word of God and for the testimony of Jesus Christ. On the Lord’s Day, he was in the Spirit, and he heard a voice behind him.
He turned to look at the voice, and he saw seven golden lampstands, and One like unto the Son of Man in the midst of the lampstands.
This is the Patmos vision. It is a vision that the Apostle John had never seen before. To him, it was something new.
Seeing that vision, he fell down as one dead. That is his reaction to that vision, brothers and sisters.
It is a vision that God gave to John in order that he might report it to us—a vision that God wants every one of His own to see. But have we seen it?
It is a vision of utmost importance to the church, a vision given especially to the church for the church age, from the first century up to the twentieth century. It is especially given to the church; and if we fail to see this, then, brothers and sisters, I do not know how we can be the church according to God’s original thought.
It is a vision of the risen Lord, now in heaven, as the King-Priest over His own house. This is a vision for us today.
You remember when Abraham came back from that battle against the four kings. A man met him: Melchizedek, king of Salem, priest of the Most High God. And Melchizedek blessed him.
Brothers and sisters, our Lord Jesus is a priest after the order of Melchizedek. He is King, and He is Priest, and He is today ruling over His own house. We need a vision of the Lord as such.
Yes, when we were saved, we were given a revelation. We saw Him as the Christ, the Son of the living God; and because of this, we are blessed. We receive eternal life. We become children of God.
But the vision of our Lord Jesus must continue on. It must increase. And one day God gave this vision to our Lord to give to His own church: the glorious Lord in the midst of His own church.
When John saw that vision, how very different was his reaction. John had seen our Lord Jesus as the Lamb of God, and that drew him to follow the Lord, to be very close to Him, even to lean upon His breast. No one could be closer, more intimate.
But when John saw this vision of the King-Priest over His church, he fell down as dead. Why?
I think this was not only because of himself; it was also because of his ministry. Before such a glorious Lord, such a King and such a Priest, John realized his own spiritual condition. How could he stand before such a glorious King-Priest?
All his works—his faithful works among the churches of Asia—before such a King-Priest, who has such love and care for His own church, could not stand. His beauty turned to corruption. His life and his service could not stand that glory. He fell down as dead.
He had to be touched in order to be brought back, as it were, to life.
Brothers and sisters, every time a heavenly vision is given, every time a vision of our Lord Jesus is given, this is always the first reaction.
When Isaiah entered into the temple and saw the vision of the Lord sitting upon His throne, and His train filled the temple, and the seraphim cried, “Holy, holy, holy,” he was a prophet, God’s spokesman. His lips should have been clean. Yet when he saw that vision, he said, “Woe is me! for I am undone.”
“I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips.” He had to be cleansed by the fire from the altar before his ministry could be renewed and brought onto a higher level.
Daniel, the beloved of God, when he saw the vision of the glorious Lord, also fell down as dead. He said, “There was no more strength in me, no more life in me.” He lay prostrate upon his face until he was touched again and again. Then he was given strength to speak and to listen to the Lord.
The Apostle Paul, when he was Saul the Pharisee, met the risen Lord on the road to Damascus. He fell down, prostrate before that One.
So, brothers and sisters, this is a vision that God has given to His church today. Yet have we seen it?
If you really see that vision, how can you still stand on your feet as usual, go on with yourself, and go on with your ministry and service? We must be stricken, as it were, to death.
I remember the prayer of Hannah in 1 Samuel, chapter 2.
The Lord killeth, and maketh alive:
He bringeth down to Sheol, and bringeth up.
The Lord maketh poor, and maketh rich:
He bringeth low, He also lifteth up.
He raiseth up the poor out of the dust,
He lifteth up the needy from the dunghill,
To make them sit with princes,
And inherit the throne of glory.
Brothers and sisters, in the working of God, this is a principle that you cannot avoid. This is the principle along which God works. Whenever you see God working, first He kills, and then He makes alive. First He brings us low, and then He lifts us up.
This is a principle of God’s work. If God is working and there is no killing, if God is working and there is no bringing low, brothers and sisters, God has not worked.
Why? Because we do not see Him. We can live on, but once we see Him, we are finished. We are brought to our end so that God can gain His work.
Even with John the beloved, the disciple whom Jesus loved, when he saw that glorious vision of Christ and His church—how He stands in the midst of the seven golden lampstands, how He is King-Priest ministering to His own house—John fell down as dead. He had to be raised from the dead onto resurrection ground. That is how God works.
So do not be surprised when we say that God judges first, and then He ministers.
As King, He judges. His judgment is just and righteous. If we see His judgment, we know that the Bible says judgment begins with the house of God.
Now, of course, we know that the judgment of eternal death and life has been passed, because our Lord Jesus was judged by God on Calvary’s cross. He took our place. Therefore, there is no more judgment of the great white throne, of eternal death or eternal life.
But that does not mean there is no judgment. He is King. Judgment begins with the house of God. Our Lord Jesus today is judging His house.
Maybe some people do not like the word judge because we always connect that word with condemnation, punishment, and a bad connotation. As God’s children, of course, He will not punish us; He will not condemn us. But that does not mean He will not chastise us or discipline us.
When we are being disciplined, when we are being chastised, it is because He loves us. He sees something in us that is contradictory to Him, something that has to be removed. When such judgment comes, will it not bring us to death? He kills us; but thank God, it is for the purpose of raising us alive—to real life.
After the hand touched John, he heard a voice:
Fear not; I am the first and the last,
And the Living One;
And I became dead, and behold, I am alive for evermore,
And I have the keys of death and of Hades.
John saw the vision with a tenfold description of the One like unto the Son of Man in the midst of the seven lampstands. Then he heard a word: “I am the first and the last, and the Living One. I became dead, and I am alive for evermore; and I have in My hands the keys of death and Hades.”
Brothers and sisters, these words explain that vision.
You know, it happened in Old Testament times. I mentioned it, but I am afraid people did not catch it. You remember Zechariah, chapter 4, when Zechariah saw the golden lampstand and the two olive trees pouring gold into the lampstand?
When he saw that vision, he heard the voice: “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord.” This is the interpretation of that vision.
How can the lampstand continue to give light? It needs oil. Where does the oil come from? From the two olive trees. They pour gold into the tubes, and the gold turns into oil.
What is the message? The message is for the recovery of the testimony of Jesus. It is not by might, nor by power, but by the Spirit of God. That is the word.
The same thing happened in Revelation, chapter 1. You see the vision of the King-Priest in the midst of the seven golden lampstands. What does it mean? What does He say to us? What is the message to us?
The message is: “I am the first and the last.” You know, the first and the last is the title of God. God is the first and the last, the beginning and the end, the Alpha and the Omega. In other words, the Lord is telling us that He is God.
He is the first, the Originator of everything. Whatever does not begin with Him is something unacceptable. He must be the first. He is first in all things, and He is the last. Everything must end with Him. His glory and His purpose must be fulfilled.
First and last—and all in between—He is all and in all. That is what He is to the church.
The Lord is telling the church that He is the beginning of the church. Everything in the church must begin with Him, not with man; and everything must end up in Him. He is all and in all. That is His message to the church.
He is the Living One. He is life itself. But He became dead in order to fulfill the work of redemption. Death could not hold Him. He robbed death of its power, and He came forth in resurrection life.
The church will go through death, but it comes out in life. He holds the keys of death and Hades.
Upon this rock I will build My church; and the gates of Hades shall not prevail against it.
That is what He is to His church. That is what He is, and that is what the church must be. That is the testimony entrusted to the church to fulfill.
No wonder, when John saw that vision, he fell down as dead. How far short he was—his life and his ministry—of that vision.
So, dear brothers and sisters, let us not neglect this vision. We really need to pray and ask the Lord to remove any scale that may be upon our eyes, that we may really see in our spirit this vision of our Lord Jesus today in relation to His beloved church.
May that give us the reviving work of God.
We mentioned yesterday that our Lord Jesus, as the King-Priest, is ministering to the churches. He walks in the midst of seven golden lampstands, and He holds in His right hand the seven stars. In other words, He holds those who are spiritually responsible to be responsible.
He is tending the lampstands. What does He see? What is He looking for?
We mentioned yesterday morning that He is looking for only one thing: He is looking for Himself. He reveals Himself to the church, and that revelation becomes the testimony entrusted to the church for the church to bear.
So what He is looking for is that light. He is looking for Himself.
While He is looking for Himself, brothers and sisters, when you read Revelation, chapters 2 and 3, the seven churches in Asia do not look very beautiful. Thank God, here and there there may be something that really answers to Him, but most of the situations are contradictory to Him.
Do not think that this was true only during the end of the first century. It is true in every century, every generation. The seven conditions of the seven churches in Asia represent the spiritual condition of the churches of God on earth in every time and every age. You can find these seven conditions.
We mentioned the church in Ephesus and how it had fallen. It was a church noted for its love, its undying love toward the Lord. Because of that love, it was given much revelation.
Sometimes, brothers and sisters, we think that if we want to know more of the Lord, we need a good brain and a good mind. But that is not true, because our Lord Jesus said that these things are hidden from the wise and understanding, but revealed unto babes.
In order to know Him, in order to know more of Him, in order to receive revelation, brothers and sisters, it is not the brain or the mind—it is the heart. It is love.
If you love Him, you know Him, and you are known of Him. The more you depend upon your own brain, the further away you will be from the true knowledge of God.
I do not mean that we should not use our mind. God gave us a mind to be used, but not to begin with. It has to begin with the heart, the seat of love.
Because the church in Ephesus loved the Lord, they were given much revelation—the full counsel of God, the eternal will of God revealed to them. They had a glorious beginning, faithful to the testimony of Jesus.
But as years go on, you know, sometimes you will find in church history that whenever God seems to raise up something for His testimony, within twenty years it has gone down.
All the external things remain. All the knowledge that came from revelation remains, but it remains in the mind, no longer in the heart. They had everything commendable, and yet the Lord said, “I have this against thee.”
They thought they were standing on the Lord’s side, but the Lord said, “No, I am standing on your opposite side.” In spite of all these good things, they were nothing to the Lord. Why? Because they were nothing to the testimony.
The reason for their existence was the testimony of Jesus. If they were filled with many good things, and yet the Lord was not there, what was the purpose of their existence? They had lost the very meaning of their being. So the Lord said, “If thou dost not repent, I will remove thy lampstand.”
Dear brothers and sisters, with the vision comes the calling. You cannot see a vision without receiving a calling. Why? Because if you only see a vision and there is no calling, it means only a mirage—just a dream.
Vision is very practical. Whenever you see a vision, a calling will follow.
Abraham saw the God of glory appear to him in Ur of the Chaldees, and the calling was, “Come out.”
Here you find that to the church in Ephesus, the calling comes: “Repent.”
Repent of what? Repent of all the works, the labor, the endurance, the refusal to allow evil, the testing of false apostles, the endurance, and even the hatred of the works of the Nicolaitans? Repent of all these things? Certainly, we do not think we need to repent of them. But we do.
We often think that repentance is to repent of something bad. How can we repent of something good?
That is the reason why, when John the Baptist came, the Pharisees, scribes, and priests would not receive his message. He said, “Repent ye; for the kingdom of heaven is at hand.” They thought they had nothing to repent of.
They might have felt that they needed some improvement, but certainly not repentance, because repentance is too serious.
Brothers and sisters, the call to repent is not only to the unsaved; it is to the saved. We are called to repent.
Sometimes we do not understand what repentance is, so I always remember a story.
There was once a convention of theologians and Bible scholars coming together to discuss the doctrine of repentance. A number of theologians delivered their dissertations on the theme of repentance. But the more they talked about repentance with their theories, the more confused the people became.
There was an old missionary, a veteran missionary from the foreign field, sitting at the back. He could not stand it anymore, so he raised his hand and said, “Chairman, will you allow me to say a few words?”
Out of respect for his years of service, the chairman gave him a few minutes, thinking that he could not possibly present repentance in such a wonderfully confusing way.
The elderly missionary stood up and began to walk toward the platform. As he walked, he shouted, “I am going to hell! I am going to hell!”
Everybody was surprised. He walked all the way to the platform shouting, “I am going to hell! I am going to hell!”
After he arrived at the platform, he turned around, faced the audience, raised his hand, and said, “I am going to heaven. This is repentance.”
And everybody knew.
Brothers and sisters, repentance is just as thorough as we have just seen. It is a complete turning around, not just turning a little bit.
We feel that we have deviated just a little bit and all we need is a little correction. That is it. No! It must be drastic, thorough, complete.
Here we see the vision of the Lord in the church. We realize how far away we are from Him. We are occupied with many things—good things—but all these good things are the enemy of the best.
We lose Christ by holding on to these things. Do you think we need to repent?
May God give us a spirit of repentance, a continuous repentance. Brothers and sisters, repentance is not just once in a lifetime. Repentance has to be continuous.
The more you see the Lord, the more you repent. Your comeliness will turn into corruption.
The call to repent means that your direction is wrong. You are going the wrong direction. Now return to Christ.
You are occupied with your works, with your labor, with your endurance, with your knowledge. Turn, because these things keep you away from Christ. Turn away and return to Christ.
Love—God is love. Return to first love. First love is Christ.
To the church in Smyrna, because she is faithful, the Lord said, “I know thy tribulation, and thy poverty.” That church went through many tribulations. Because they were persecuted—not only by the world, but even by the religious world, the synagogue of the Jews, which was the synagogue of Satan—their possessions were taken away.
They were deeply in poverty, and yet the Lord said, “I know thy poverty, but thou art rich.” That is what I am. I became poor that you might be rich, and you are following My footsteps.
“I am the first and the last. I know what is going on. I am the Living One. I am your life. Be faithful even unto death. Do not be afraid.”
Brothers and sisters, we see this even today. Do you know that the martyrs in the twentieth century exceeded far more than the martyrs in the early centuries?
I cannot forget this. In 1980, I went back to China for the first time after years of separation. I went to see a dear saint of God. He had been imprisoned for twenty-seven years. I think his name is known now throughout the world: Wang Mingdao.
I went to see him and asked him one question. I said, “Brother, what have you learned during those prison years?”
Do you know what he said to me? He said, “I learned one thing: Do not be afraid. Fear not.”
He said, “I failed because I was afraid—not for myself, but for my family. The Lord taught me the lesson: Do not be afraid.”
The call to the church is to remain faithful even unto death. There is a call.
Brothers and sisters, if you depend upon yourself to go through all the trials, sufferings, and persecutions, you will not be able to get through, no matter how strong you are. But if you see the Lord, He ministers to you.
You know, in China, people whom we considered strong failed. People whom we considered weak stood. Why?
Because if you depend upon yourself, no matter how strong you are, you will fail. But if you depend upon the grace of the Lord, He ministers to you as High Priest.
My grace is sufficient for thee: for My power is made perfect in weakness.
When you boast in your weakness, then the power of God is manifested. Brothers and sisters, it is Christ who finds Himself in His persecuted church.
We live in a land that is affluent, prosperous, and peaceful. Sometimes I wonder if that is the reason why our spiritual condition is such.
To the suffering church, the call is, “Be faithful even unto death.” It will not be long—only ten days, that is, a very short period—and the Lord shall return.
To the church in Pergamum, the Lord said, “I am He that hath the sharp two-edged sword.” He reminded them that this is what He is.
But somehow, you find that they had not responded to the One who has the two-edged sword. In the beginning, they did. The Lord said, “Thou didst not deny My name, and thou didst keep My word.” When His servant Antipas was put to death, they were still faithful. But no longer.
Now, in church history, we cannot find a man named Antipas. So we believe that it means anti—against—and pas—all. Here is a man who is against everything that is against Christ. No wonder the world would not allow him to live.
But after he died, you find that the doctrine of Balaam and the doctrine of the Nicolaitans took over.
The doctrine of Balaam is the mixing of the holy and the unholy—the church and the world, unequally yoked, with no separation.
The doctrine of the Nicolaitans is a wrong separation. We are all priests serving God, and yet the clergy and laity are separated. What needs to be separated is united, and what needs to be united is separated. That is what happened in the church.
Brothers and sisters, does it sound familiar to us? Today you cannot even see the line between the church and the world.
The church is like a ship sailing on the water. But now the water has filled the ship, and where is the ship? In the water.
There is a call for separation. The Word of God is sharp, sharper than a sword. It penetrates, dividing soul and spirit, joints and marrow, and exposes the intents and thoughts of the heart.
A vision of the Lord with a two-edged sword will penetrate and divide spirit and soul. Brothers and sisters, we do not see any division between spirit and soul.
I always remember when I was a boy, we had a missionary who lived with us. We called her Grandma. She was from Virginia. Whenever she was frustrated, she would say, “All my soul and body—where is the spirit?”
Today in the church, we do not see the difference between the soul and the spirit. We do not even see the difference between the world and the church.
So the call is: Be holy. Be separated. God is calling His people to be separated from the world.
Why? Because the Lord said, “Ye are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.” He is not of the world, so how can you be of the world? If you love the world, the love of the Father is not in you.
There must be separation. Set apart for the Lord—that is separation. That is holiness. That is sanctification.
To Thyatira, you find Jezebel, who calls herself a prophetess. She teaches the church the depths of Satan.
Instead of the Lord, as the Son of God, teaching us, Jezebel is teaching. You remember on the Mount of Transfiguration, the voice said, “This is My beloved Son: hear ye Him.”
The church is to hear Him, to hear our Lord. He is the only voice to which we must take heed. But instead of that, Jezebel is teaching.
We know Jezebel in the Old Testament. She was the wife of King Ahab, the daughter of a king of Sidon, and she brought her husband and the whole nation into idolatry. She led the whole nation away from God.
Brothers and sisters, how the teachings of men have substituted for the Word of God. How we have made things so complicated. The call is, “Go back to simplicity.”
You remember Paul said in 2 Corinthians, chapter 11, “I have presented you as a chaste virgin, engaged to one husband, Christ; and I am afraid that you have been enticed away from the simplicity that is toward Christ.”
Dear brothers and sisters, there is a simplicity of Christ, and we are called back to that simplicity. We have become too complex, too complicated. Truth is simple.
There is a simplicity of Christ. When He was on earth, He lived a very simple life. He lived only according to one principle: “My Father’s will.” That is it. Very simple.
Brothers and sisters, are we, as chaste virgins, living with that kind of simplicity for Him? Whatever He says—not what men say, but whatever He says. The call is back to simplicity.
Sardis had a name that it lived, but it was actually dead. Christ is the Living One. What a contradiction. The call is to livingness.
Thank God, there is Philadelphia—brotherly love. They kept the Word of God and did not deny His name, though they had little power. They had been given the crown, and the only call was: “Hold fast.”
Laodicea, brothers and sisters, had a glorious past, but it lived in the past. It was all appearance and no reality. So it was called back to reality.
Here, brothers and sisters, you find our Lord. First He judges His churches as King; then He ministers to His churches as Priest. He first puts us down to the dust, and then He raises us up to the throne upon high. That is grace. That is the work of God.
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.
The letters were written to seven different churches, but what the Spirit says is to all the churches. In other words, we need to listen.
“He that hath an ear.” In the original, it is singular: “He that hath an ear.” One day someone asked, “Why is it one ear and not two ears?” I do not know how to answer.
But you remember in Exodus, after the law was given in chapter 20, chapter 21 speaks concerning statutes and ordinances. The first thing mentioned there is this: if a Hebrew sold himself to another Hebrew, he would serve him six years, and in the seventh year he would be set free.
But if that Hebrew said, “I love my master, I love his house, I will not go out free. I want to serve you for life—not out of obligation, but out of love,” then he was led to the door, and his ear was pierced with an awl against the doorpost.
And I said, “Well, he has an ear.” Now, maybe that is the answer. Ladies, you probably have two ears pierced, but here it is, “an ear.”
Unfortunately, the church has lost the vision. The vision was given, but the church does not have an ear to hear what the Spirit says to the churches.
Why? Because our heart is covered with fat. So our ears become dull and cannot hear.
Today, if you hear His voice, do not harden your heart.
If you are a bondslave of God, you have your ear pierced. You can hear. In other words, you respond to the calling.
There is a principle regarding the recovering work of God. When the church enters into ruin, most hearts are fattened. Our hearts are divided. Our hearts are occupied with many other things—worldly things, religious things.
Because our hearts are hardened, our ears cannot hear the Spirit calling. He is crying in the market, in the city, but many hear and do not hear because their hearts are hard.
But thank God, there are still some who have an ear to hear.
“He that overcometh”—that is to say, whoever hears the calling and responds in repentance—grace will lift them up to Christ, to the vision, to the revelation. They bear the testimony of Jesus in their place and in their time.
“He that overcometh.” In the Old Testament, it is the remnant principle. The children of Israel were taken into Babylonian captivity. But when God, in His mercy, remembered mercy, they were under the judgment of God, but God remembered mercy.
So He moved the heart of Cyrus to proclaim the decree: anyone of the children of Israel could go back to Jerusalem to rebuild the temple, the house of God.
As our brother mentioned already, during the time of captivity, God was addressed as the God of heaven, not the God of heaven and earth, because He had no testimony on earth. The vessel of testimony had failed.
When that decree was proclaimed, you would think that all the children of Israel who were in captivity, slaves for seventy years, would rise up and go back. No.
They had built their houses. They had established their businesses. They had their synagogues in which to worship God. They had everything for themselves. They did not care for the testimony of God.
Why bother? Why brave the dangers? Why go back to a place of ruin? They lived for themselves. Their religion bribed their conscience. They felt comfortable. The testimony of God—who cares?
But there was a remnant—only fifty thousand. They heard. Their spirits were stirred. They rose up, left everything, and returned to a desolate place.
From the ruin, they rebuilt the house of God, that the name of God might be known over the earth. They lived for God, not for themselves. These are the overcomers today.
Dear brothers and sisters, the church has failed terribly in holding the testimony of Jesus Christ. We are in captivity to the world and to the religious world. We live for ourselves. We are comfortable. Our consciences have been bribed into false peace.
Where is the testimony of Jesus? Do we hear the call? Do we repent?
We are no better than anybody else. The overcomers are not better than anybody else—perhaps worse. But they repent.
They are touched by the Spirit of God. They forsake everything and return to Christ. They consider Christ more precious than anything. They are concerned with the testimony of Jesus. They do not live for themselves; they live for Him who loved them and gave Himself for them.
Love drives them back. Love draws us back to Christ.
Who are the overcomers? They are not the elite or the special. They are only normal Christians.
It is grace. It is the High Priest who ministers grace to them. Grace received makes them return and overcome.
They overcome the circumstances, the conditions, and the things around them. They overcome all these, and they return to Christ.
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches.
Oh, the Spirit of God is speaking. He never ceases speaking. Where is the ear? May the Lord give us that ear to hear.
When you hear, what do you do? You repent. That is what you do. You repent in dust and ashes. You cannot boast anymore.
In repentance, you overcome.
To every church, our Lord, the King-Priest, gives a promise.
If you return to first love, you will eat of the fruit of the tree of life. He is the God of life—life more abundant.
If you are faithful even unto death, you will receive the crown of life.
If you are separated, you will have that secret, hidden supply—the hidden manna; that is to say, a deeper, hidden knowledge of the Lord. You will be recognized and given a new name.
If you return to the simplicity that is of Christ, you will be given authority to rule.
If you return to livingness, you will have the robe of righteousness.
If you hold fast, you will be a pillar in the New Jerusalem.
If you return to reality, you will sup with the Lord and sit on His throne, as He sits on His Father’s throne.
The reward. But do not think that you earn that reward. It is grace received that gives you the reward.
So, brothers and sisters, it is all of grace. Our great High Priest is merciful, ready to show grace for seasonable help.
That is the vision for the church. So, brothers and sisters, take courage. He is ministering to the church today, and He is calling for overcomers—those who are dead with Him and those who will be His vessel of testimony for the whole church.
May the Lord bless us. Shall we pray?
Lord, if in Thy mercy Thou open our eyes to see Thee in Thy glory, if in Thy grace Thou open our ears to hear the voice of the Spirit, then, Lord, revive Thy work in us and among us, that the testimony of Jesus may be maintained in the darkest of the night.
How we look forward to the dawn of Thy return. We ask in Thy precious name. Amen.