Will you please turn to the book of Revelation? Revelation 2:5.
Remember therefore from whence thou art fallen, and repent, and do the first works; or else I come to thee, and will move thy candlestick out of its place, except thou repent.
Now turn to Revelation 21:1-7.
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth are passed away; and the sea is no more.
And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband.
And I heard a great voice out of the throne saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He shall dwell with them, and they shall be His peoples, and God Himself shall be with them, and be their God:
and He shall wipe away every tear from their eyes; and death shall be no more; neither shall there be mourning, nor crying, nor pain, any more: the first things are passed away.
And He that sitteth on the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And He saith, Write: for these words are faithful and true.
And He said unto me, They are come to pass. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely.
He that overcometh shall inherit these things; and I will be his God, and he shall be My son.
May we have another word of prayer?
Dear Lord, as we continue together in Thy presence, our hearts are full of gratitude. How we praise and thank Thee that Thou art the One who saves us, and that this is all for Thy own glory.
We thank Thee for the privilege of having gathered together before Thy table. We thank Thee for bringing us out of ourselves and bringing us completely, totally, to Thyself. Thou art truly the First and the Last.
Dear Lord, if Thou hast still something to say to us, will You please, by Thy Holy Spirit, release Thy word? Thou knowest each and every one of us. Thou art the One who knows us so well.
Will You not, by Thy word, deliver us completely and bring us into the reality of the testimony of Jesus? Dear Lord, our hearts are open to Thee. Speak, Lord; Thy servants hear. In Thy precious name, we pray. Amen.
Dear brothers and sisters, I always feel it is very difficult to speak after the Lord’s table, because we have already reached the climax, when our hearts are taken away from everything else and turned wholly to the Lord. What else do we need?
But it is our brothers’ arrangement, and I have to be obedient to them. At this concluding time of the conference, I would like to re-emphasize one thing: we all say that there is nothing more important than the testimony of Jesus.
This is the very heart of the eternal purpose of God, around which all the words of God found in the Bible are centered. God’s heart is upon His beloved Son. It is His good pleasure to reveal His Son in us—not merely as knowledge, but as life.
The testimony of Jesus is Christ being constituted into our very being. What our Lord Jesus is becomes what we will be. We will be conformed to His very image, and this is what God really desires: that His Son might be the One who sums up all things.
The testimony of Jesus itself is complete and perfect. There is never a time when anything is lacking in the testimony of Jesus itself.
Before the foundation of the world, God the Father, according to His good pleasure, made a will. That will is nothing but the testimony of Jesus. With God there is no difference of time and space; what He purposed is already fulfilled. Thus, the testimony of Jesus, from eternity to eternity, is a reality.
What we are considering at this time is the recovery of the testimony of Christ. This does not mean that the testimony of Christ itself needs to be recovered, because before God it is an eternal fact.
What it really means is simply that the testimony of Jesus needs to be recovered by the church. God has entrusted the testimony of Jesus to His own church, not merely for the sake of testifying to it by words, but that the testimony of Jesus might be constituted and built into the life of the church.
The testimony of Jesus must become the very being of the church. This is something that needs to be recovered. When we speak of recovering the testimony of Christ, let us always remember that the testimony of Jesus never changes. It is not only something purposed; it is something already fulfilled. Recovery speaks only of its relationship to us.
I often wonder: with God, who knows everything, how could it be that He would ever commit the testimony of Jesus to man? He knows what man is. He knows what would happen to man. He knows that if He commits His testimony to us, we will spoil it.
He knows everything beforehand, and yet He is willing to entrust His testimony—indeed, Himself—to His church. To me, that is a great mystery.
The only reason we can give is that God is love. He loves us so much that He wants to give everything to us, and that everything is nothing but His beloved Son.
He wants the testimony of Jesus to become our very being, that we may manifest Christ in everything, and that Christ may be glorified in His church. It is out of that unspeakable love that He committed, as it were, the testimony of Jesus to us.
He has enough faith in Himself. He is faith itself, because His being is love and faith. It is not because He does not know us; it is because He knows us so well. Yet He has faith in Himself. He believes that He is able to do the impossible.
When we speak of recovering the testimony of Christ, let us remember this: no matter what has happened to us, God is the same yesterday, today, and forever. He is the One who makes the impossible possible in the restoration of the testimony of Christ in the church.
We have to remember this fact; otherwise, we will be discouraged. But when we look away from ourselves and look steadfastly upon God, we know that it is possible.
The testimony of Jesus is all that Jesus is, and this has been committed to the church because the church is the body of Christ, the fullness of Him that filleth all in all.
When you look at the church, the Holy Spirit calls it “the Christ.” You remember 1 Corinthians 12:12:
For as the body is one, and hath many members, and all the members of the body, being many, are one body; so also is Christ.
We all know that this means the church. Yet the Holy Spirit says, “So also is Christ,” because in the church, in the body of Christ, there is neither Jew nor Gentile, neither bondman nor free man, neither barbarian nor Scythian. Christ is all, and in all.
This is what is meant by the recovery of the testimony. It is not merely an individual matter. Of course, there is an individual aspect. We find this in Romans 8:29:
For whom He foreknew, He also foreordained to be conformed to the image of His Son.
But there is also a corporate aspect. In the church, you should see nothing but Christ. That means there is the testimony of Jesus, and that is what the church is supposed to testify of.
Sadly, we all know that whenever God entrusts anything to man, man always fails Him. From the very beginning of human history, God created man in His own image according to His likeness, gave man dominion over the birds of the air, the beasts of the field, and the fish of the sea, and commanded man to till the ground and keep the garden. Yet very quickly, man failed.
You can find this throughout the whole Bible. In the Old Testament, God committed His testimony to the nation of Israel, and yet Israel failed. In the same way, God committed the testimony of Jesus to the church, and the church also failed Him.
If the recovery of the testimony of Christ depended entirely upon us, it would be impossible. But thank God, when we come to the matter of recovering the testimony of Jesus, we find that it is always God Himself who takes the initiative.
Look at the Old Testament. When Israel failed in its mission, when the temple was destroyed, and when they were in Babylonian captivity, how did God recover His testimony?
In Jerusalem the temple was destroyed. The name of God had been placed in the temple. Therefore, when the temple was destroyed, during that short period God was no longer called the God of the heavens and the earth; He was addressed only as the God of heaven, because there was no testimony of God upon the earth.
They were in Babylonian captivity for seventy long years. They settled themselves in that exiled land. Who initiated the recovery? We find that it was God Himself.
God stirred the heart of King Cyrus, so that anyone who desired to return to Jerusalem and rebuild the house of God might go. One might think that all the Jewish people in captivity would rise up and return, but to our surprise, only a remnant returned.
The Bible tells us how God stirred the spirits of Zerubbabel, Joshua, and others whose spirits were stirred by God. They were willing to be uprooted, as it were, from their settled place.
They had already established businesses. They had built their own houses. Yet when the Spirit of God stirred their hearts, they rose up and returned to Jerusalem.
Zerubbabel was born in captivity. He had never seen the temple before. Yet God stirred his heart, along with the hearts of others. They were willing to be uprooted and to brave all the dangers in returning to Jerusalem.
Jerusalem at that time was in ruins. Not only had the temple been burned, but the houses had been burned. From a human perspective, there was nothing there. They seemed foolish to leave plenty for nothing.
But their return was for one thing only. They did not return for themselves; they returned only for God. They returned to rebuild the temple, that God might have a name upon the earth.
They returned to proclaim that God was not only the God of heaven; He was also the God of the earth.
In like manner, when we come to the New Testament, our brothers have already told us that the church was in captivity. By captivity we simply mean that it had abandoned the testimony of Jesus. It left the purity and simplicity of Christ and entered into confusion and corruption.
How will God recover the testimony of Christ in His church? The same principle applies: recovery begins with God. In His mercy, His Spirit begins to stir up some people.
When you look into the recovery history of the church, it is very striking. It seems that God has His own timing, and when the time is full, He usually touches one person or a few people.
There is a principle of the one and the many. God lays His hand upon someone, or upon a few, and the Spirit of God comes to them and opens their eyes. They begin to see the vision that has been lost to the church.
The church today has lost its vision. Without vision, the people perish. What is the vision? The vision is the testimony of Jesus.
When we lose the vision, we are in darkness. We do not know where we are. We become content with our present situation. We become like Laodicea: neither cold nor hot. We think that we have everything, yet we do not know that we are blind, naked, and wretched.
Brothers and sisters, it is when the light from God comes to someone, or to a few people, that the Spirit of God begins to work in their lives. They begin to see that they are not in the right place.
How do they know that they are not in the right place? They are shown what is right. They receive the vision of the testimony of Christ, which has long been forgotten.
This happened in Old Testament times. When the whole world had deserted God and become idol worshipers, there was one person to whom the God of glory appeared in Ur of the Chaldees.
Brothers and sisters, without vision we do not know the difference. Everybody is doing it, and we do not realize where we are. But when vision, light, and revelation from God come, we begin to see that we have been in the wrong place.
In this matter of recovery, God has to take the initiative. When He begins, He always begins with revelation or vision. Under that vision, we begin to see that we have departed.
As we mentioned yesterday, what is declension? Declension is departing from the original. That is always the beginning.
When you read Revelation 2, the Lord says, “Remember therefore.” How can we remember? It is only when God begins to stir our hearts and reveals to us the original vision.
He shows us what the testimony of Jesus really is, and only then do we know where we have fallen.
The one or the few who receive that vision go through a time of travail. The Spirit of God works in their lives to show them that they have fallen, and they repent because of where they have fallen.
It always begins in this way. God works in the lives of one or a few. They go through deep travail, and the Lord brings them out. Through their ministry, the recovering work begins to spread.
Thus, it is always from one to many. Not only that, but when you look into the process of recovery, you find that it always begins small.
Human nature is this: if we want to do something, we want to do something big. I remember hearing someone say, “I will not open my mouth and testify. If I open my mouth, three thousand will be saved.” You know, this is human nature.
But when you look into the history of recovery, you find that it always begins small. It is from the small that it becomes great.
You remember in the old days when the remnant returned to Jerusalem and began to lay the foundation of the house. Then they were persecuted, and because of all these problems, the work of rebuilding the temple stopped.
After they had stopped for a number of years—perhaps fifteen years—God used two prophets: Haggai and Zechariah. Haggai was an old man, and he must have seen the temple in Jerusalem before. Zechariah was a young man; he had never seen the temple before.
But God raised up these two prophets, and through their prophesying, Zerubbabel, Joshua, and the others began to work again.
They had laid the foundation and started to build, but while they were at the beginning of building, some people who had seen Solomon’s former temple became disappointed. That temple had been so gorgeous, beautiful, glorious, and costly.
Now the people rebuilding the temple were few in number, and their resources were very limited. Some began to feel that they could not build a temple as glorious as the former one. They asked, “If we cannot do that, why should we spend the time?”
Then these two prophets encouraged them. In Zechariah 4:10, they were told not to despise the day of small things, because this was only the beginning and the whole work would be finished by the Spirit of God.
In Haggai 2:6-7, we find that God will one day shake not only the earth but also the heavens, and the latter glory of the house will be greater than the former glory.
Brothers and sisters, in the recovery process of the testimony of Christ, it always begins small, and gradually it becomes great.
In the history of the recovery of the church, some began to see the matter of baptism. At that time, people were baptized merely by sprinkling, and there was even the wrong teaching of baptismal regeneration.
People tried not to be baptized until they were dying. When they were on their deathbed, they wanted to be baptized because they thought all their sins would then be forgiven and they would go to heaven. Infants were baptized so that they might be holy. There were all kinds of strange teachings and practices.
But among the multitude, there were some people whose hearts the Holy Spirit stirred. They began to see the real meaning of baptism.
People would say, “If you believe in the Lord Jesus, you are saved. Why should you be baptized? It is unnecessary.” But remember what our Lord Jesus said:
Go ye therefore, and make disciples of all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.
In other words, baptism has a very important place in our life with the Lord. Even though our sins are washed away by the blood, not by water, the water saves us in the sense that we are separated from the world.
It is like the children of Israel passing through the Red Sea and the Jordan River. When they were in Egypt, they belonged to Pharaoh. By the blood of the lamb at Passover, they were saved from death. But they had to cross the Red Sea to be saved from Pharaoh and Egypt and to belong to Moses.
In the early centuries, God began to open the eyes of some people. They saw the real meaning of baptism and began to be baptized according to the word of God.
Christianity in those days called them Anabaptists, and they were persecuted. People would say, “If you want to be baptized, fine. I will baptize you.” Then they would put a stone around them and throw them into the water. Many died because of their faith.
But today baptism by immersion—believer’s baptism—is a very common thing among God’s people. In the process of recovery, it always begins with a few, and then it spreads to many. It always begins small, and then it becomes great.
Everything concerning the testimony of Jesus is recovered in this way.
Our brother told us that the church entered into the Dark Ages. What do we mean by the Dark Ages? It means that everything concerning the testimony of Jesus was lost. Salvation by grace through faith was lost. Everything concerning the testimony of Christ was lost in the church.
That is why we say the church became a religion. It was no longer a living faith. But thank God, throughout church history, He began to recover one thing after another, so that the whole vision and revelation of Christ might become the possession of the church.
The same is true with the breaking of bread. Our brothers have already described how it deviated from the vision. But thank God, He touched the hearts of a few.
Oftentimes, the recovery of the testimony of Christ in the church begins with the breaking of bread. During the nineteenth century, a few in Ireland began to see this matter.
In the early days, when you read Acts 2:42, during the days of Pentecost, you find that they persevered in the teaching and fellowship of the apostles, in the breaking of bread, and in prayers.
But the breaking of bread was lost. It became a ritual; there was no longer that living reality in it. Then God raised up some people—again, perhaps only a few in comparison—and restored to them the vision of the breaking of bread.
They began to see that this was remembering the Lord, exhibiting the finished work of Christ to the world, and waiting for the return of the Lord Jesus.
They began to break bread together, not under official ministers, but simply to remember the Lord. Then again, you find that the breaking of bread has spread today. This is the way of recovery.
The Bible tells us, “Remember where you have fallen, and repent.” What is repentance? Repentance is a change of mind.
We cannot change our own mind. It is the Holy Spirit who changes our mind, because He has shown us the right direction. We remember where we have fallen.
Repentance does not mean repenting to the past; we repent to something that is right. Then we do the things that we did at the first.
The church at Ephesus had works. The Lord said, “I know thy works.” To return and do the first works does not necessarily mean that we merely repeat outwardly what we have done before.
Outwardly, it may be the same work; inwardly, there is a difference. The inner spring is different. It is not a matter of outward work. When you do the same work with a different spirit, it is living and real.
In the recovery of the testimony of Jesus, it must begin with the heart. What begins within will then be expressed outwardly. It does not mean that you merely repent and stop there. You repent, you know what is right, and you practice what is right. That becomes a testimony to the world.
There is another thing we notice: the principle of overcomers. In the seven letters to the seven churches, at the end of every letter, you find a call for overcomers:
He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith to the churches. To him that overcometh—
Who are the overcomers? The overcomers are those who respond to the revelation of the testimony of Jesus that is given.
That is why, at the beginning of every letter, there is a revelation of Christ. Overcomers are those who respond to Christ. Whatever Christ has revealed to them, they obey.
There is no rigid standard for overcomers. Sometimes we like to ask, “Who are the overcomers? To what extent must I reach before I become an overcomer?”
Dear brothers and sisters, there is no rigid standard for overcomers. God does not apply the same standard to everybody. The only principle is this: whatever God has revealed of Christ to you, if you fully obey, then you are an overcomer.
For a new believer, the standard of being an overcomer is different from that of one who has believed for sixty years. If you obey the Lord according to what has been revealed to you, then you are an overcomer.
You may be an overcomer for a time, just like the people in Philadelphia. But they may lose their crown, because as the Lord reveals Himself more to them, God wants Christ to be more to them. Yet they may obey only to a certain point and then stop.
When the revelation of Jesus Christ surpasses their obedience, then they are no longer overcomers.
On the one hand, this gives us hope. I find people asking, “How can I be an overcomer? I am afraid I will never be an overcomer. Look at brother or sister so-and-so. I will never reach their standard.”
Brothers and sisters, be comforted. As much as the Lord has revealed Himself to you, if you have obeyed, you are an overcomer.
But on the other hand, do not be proud of yourself, because the Lord may give you more revelation that you have not obeyed. Then you lose your crown.
The overcomer principle is found in the New Testament; in the Old Testament, it is the remnant principle. In the recovery work of the testimony of Christ, because of the weakness of man, instead of the whole body responding to revelation, probably the majority will not respond to Christ.
People love themselves too much. People are so entangled with the things of this world. Therefore, they may follow the Lord to a certain distance and stop.
But because of the failure of man, God’s purpose does not fail. He raises up a few—those who respond to Him absolutely—and through these overcomers God accomplishes His purpose.
Our brother has already said that overcomers do not overcome for themselves; they overcome for the whole body. They are the firstfruits, and when there are firstfruits, the harvest is guaranteed.
Thus, this work of recovery proceeds upon that principle.
I would like to say something that may surprise you. You may not agree, but this is the way the Lord seems to show it to me.
When you read Revelation 12, you find a woman in travail, and then you find the dragon waiting there. The dragon waits there not for the woman, but for the man child who is going to be born of that woman.
Without going into details, we know that the man child represents the overcomers, because when the man child is born, he is immediately caught up to the throne. This is where Christ is.
The man child, immediately after being born, is caught up to the throne, through Satan’s headquarters. This man child is able to pass through Satan’s headquarters and arrive at the throne. They are overcomers.
They overcome because of the blood of the Lamb. They are no different from other people; they have their failures. But they know the preciousness of the blood of our Lord.
They overcome the accuser by the word of their testimony. They have the testimony of Jesus, and because they have the testimony of Jesus, when they speak, there is power.
They do not love their lives even unto death. They are the people who follow the Lamb wherever He goes, and they are the overcomers who are taken to the throne.
I often say that they are the welcoming party for the return of the Lord.
The Lord is coming again, but His parousia, His presence, has two stages: from the throne to the air, and from the air to the earth, where He will be seen by everybody.
There are two signs of His coming. In one sense, He will come as a thief. In another sense, He will come like lightning that shines from east to west.
When a thief comes, you do not know when he is coming. When he comes, he steals your treasure; he does not steal your garbage.
In the first stage of the coming of the Lord, from the throne to the air, He comes for His treasure. From the air, everybody will see Him.
After the man child is caught up to the throne, Michael and his angels fight with Satan and his angels. Satan and his followers are cast down from the air to the earth. Then the air is clear for our Lord Jesus to descend from the throne with the overcomers to the air.
The great tribulation will be upon the earth. Brothers and sisters, though there are different interpretations concerning the Lord’s coming, I think the fact seems clear: the overcomers represent God’s heart for the church, and they will be taken. They are the treasure of the Lord’s heart.
What if we do not overcome? What if we do not obey? Probably we will be left for the great tribulation.
That is the promise to the church in Philadelphia. The Lord promised that when the hour came, they would no longer be there, because they had been taken.
Thank God, even during the great tribulation, the saints—the believers who remain—will have another opportunity. They can become overcomers through the great tribulation.
At the same time, the great tribulation is Jacob’s trouble. “Great tribulation” is the term for Christians; “Jacob’s trouble” is the term for the Jews. Both the remaining Christians and the faithful Jews will go through great trouble.
That is the discipline of the Lord. That is God’s judgment in order to purify us and complete us, that we too may become overcomers.
When the Lord appears, everybody will see Him.
I often feel that many hymns we sing about the Lord’s coming reflect the thought that the whole church will be raptured before the great tribulation. They are waiting for the trumpet to sound, the great voice, and the appearing of the Lord.
I often feel that it is too late. Brothers and sisters, the Lord is coming. He can come at any time.
But when He comes in the first stage, you do not know it. People will be sleeping, and suddenly He comes and takes His treasure. This is what we are waiting for.
Do not think there is more time. All the prophecies concerning the beginning of His coming have been fulfilled. Of course, there are still prophecies to be fulfilled during His coming and after His coming, but the prophecies concerning the beginning of the coming of the Lord have been fulfilled. It can happen at any time.
The matter of recovering the testimony of Jesus is therefore so urgent.
Return to Revelation 21. There you find a great consolation: the testimony of Jesus Christ is fully realized.
It is realized not only among Christians but also among the Jews, because there are twelve gates, twelve pearls, bearing the names of the tribes of Israel; and there are twelve foundations of precious stones bearing the names of the twelve apostles of the Lord.
Everything that God purposed in eternity past is fully realized in eternity to come.
Brothers and sisters, remember one thing. When we speak of the New Jerusalem, unfortunately we still tend to think of ourselves. We think about how we will walk on the golden street, or how we will be by the river of life and drink of it.
You will be surprised: at that time, nobody will think of himself or herself. Everything in that city is the manifestation of Christ.
Nobody will think of himself or herself anymore. We will simply be filled with Christ, and the testimony of Jesus will be fully realized in eternity to come.
We are in the process. By the grace of God, may we be those who are faithful, those who follow the Lamb wherever He goes.
If He goes to the cross, we go to the cross, because the cross is the way to the throne. May the Lord show mercy to us. Let us pray.
Dear Heavenly Father, we do praise and thank Thee because Thou hast shown us what is upon Thy heart.
Thou wantest not merely that we know about the Lord Jesus. Thou wantest us to be filled with Christ Jesus, that it will be all of Christ and less of self.
We do pray, Lord, that our time together will not be in vain, that our hearts will be truly touched, and that the testimony of Christ may be our testimony.
May Thy purpose be fully realized in us, and may it all be for Thy glory. We ask in the name of our dear Lord Jesus. Amen.