Will you please turn to the book of Revelation?
Revelation 1, the first two verses:
The Revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave Him to show unto His servants, even the things which must shortly come to pass: and He sent and signified it by His angel unto His servant John;
who bare witness of the word of God, and of the testimony of Jesus Christ, even of all things that he saw.
And then Revelation 1:9:
I John, your brother and partaker with you in the tribulation and kingdom and patience which are in Jesus, was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God and the testimony of Jesus.
And finally, in the same chapter, Revelation 1:17-18:
And when I saw Him, I fell at His feet as one dead.
And He laid His right hand upon me, saying, Fear not; 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.
Maybe we will have a word of prayer.
Dear Lord, we want to thank Thee again for inviting us to Thy table. We have tasted Thy love, and we have received Thy life. Lord, may we all live henceforth for Thyself.
We thank Thee for gathering us together here this morning. Prepare our hearts. Remove any hindrance that may be in us, any resistance.
Lord, we pray that Thou wilt, by Thy Spirit, speak to each and every one of us here. Do not let us go our way, but pray that we may allow Thee to work out a full salvation, to the praise of Thy glory. We ask in Thy name. Amen.
Last Lord’s Day, we shared on the vision. We remember the word of God which says, “Where there is no vision, the people disintegrate.” The people scatter, the people throw off restraint, and the people perish.
There is the vision that God has given to His people. In Old Testament times, the vision is the law, and it is the law that joins God’s people together and allows them to be a testimony to the world.
But in New Testament times, the vision is Christ. It is that vision of Christ that really unites God’s people together.
Not only does it unite us; it gives us restraint. Otherwise, we will each go our own way. That is the result of sin. At the very beginning, after Adam and Eve sinned, what happened? When God inquired of Adam, Adam put the blame on Eve. When God inquired of Eve, she put the blame on the serpent.
In other words, without the vision, people disintegrate. Everyone is thinking of himself or herself. It is the vision that unites us and enables us to press on together. So it is the vision of Christ that really unites us together.
Now, we do know that in the Bible there is “vision” and there are “visions” in the plural. You remember Paul in 2 Corinthians 12. He said, “Now I am going to speak of visions and revelations.” Yet whatever visions there may be, they all center upon Christ. So Christ Jesus is the vision.
We must be occupied with Christ instead of being occupied with other things. He will really join us together and enable us to press on toward the goal.
Now this morning, we would like to share on the testimony of Jesus. I think you must have heard that term, “the testimony of Jesus,” because the testimony of Jesus is entrusted to the church.
The church is the vessel of that testimony. That is to say, the church is to contain Christ. Everything about the church is Christ Himself.
Christ is so incorporated into the life of God’s people that everything speaks of Christ. You remember in 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 the Christ.
Now, of course, according to our understanding, when we think of the body, we know it refers to the church. Yet it has many members, because in the church there are many members. But even though there are many members, it is one body.
From the beginning to the very end, from the first Christian to the last Christian, there is only one body. But it contains many members. We cannot count the number, because from the first century until today, we do not know how many Christians form that body. It is an immense body; however, there is only one body.
So we all know it speaks of the church. But strangely, the Holy Spirit ends by saying, “So also is the Christ.”
In other words, you do not find in the body anything or anybody other than Christ Himself.
I remember at one conference in the early sixties, Brother Sparks, Brother Frank, and myself were the speakers. At one time, I was going to use a formula. But I knew Brother Sparks was deadly against formulas, because he felt anything that becomes a formula is dead.
So I asked his permission for me to use an illustration of a formula. I said, “What is the church?”
Suppose there were only three Christians in the world, and you picked the best Christians. I would pick James, John, and Peter. What is the church? Is the church John and James and Peter? There you have the church? Everybody shook their heads.
Then I said, “What is the church? The church is Christ in James, plus Christ in John, plus Christ in Peter, equal to the church.” Many loved that and said, “That’s it, that’s it. That’s what the church is.”
Now, if that is the case, no wonder the church is in such trouble. Why? Because John and James and Peter all wanted to be the leader. Peter wanted to be the first one.
Of course, the two brothers were not far behind him. You remember how, at the last possible time, when Christ was going to Jerusalem for the last time, the disciples thought Christ was going to be crowned. So this was the last chance.
James and John got their mother involved. Their mother was an aunt to our Lord Jesus, humanly speaking. They asked the Lord for something. She knew what she was asking was not something that could be discussed publicly, so she simply said, “I want to ask You to give me something.”
She did not mention what that something was. In other words, “Here is a blank check. Sign it, and I will fill in what it is for.” But our Lord Jesus never signed a blank check. So He asked, “What do you really want?”
And she had to say it. She said, “Let my two sons, one sit on Your right hand and one on Your left.”
Now, when the other ten disciples heard about it, the Bible says they were indignant. They were so angry because they thought these two brothers had gotten ahead of them. Everybody wanted to be the head, the chief.
So if Christ in John, plus Christ in James, plus Christ in Peter, does not equal the church, why not? Because as long as there is Peter in the human nature, and John and James in their natural man, there is trouble.
So finally I said, “Well, what is the church? It is Christ in James, minus James, plus Christ in John, minus John, plus Christ in Peter, minus Peter, equal to the church.” Then everybody said, “That’s right.”
So, brothers and sisters, even in the church, outwardly you may see all these people. But before God, He does not see every one of us; He only sees Christ in each and every one of us. The church is the Christ.
The church is to contain nothing but Christ. The church is not supposed to be represented by anyone or by any group of people. The church is to be represented by Christ Himself. It is the Christ.
Not only is the church the vessel of Christ; it is also the testimony of Christ. From the early days until now, until the coming of the Lord, what is the mission of the church? What is the nature of the church?
The nature of the church is Christ, and the mission of the church is to bear the testimony of Jesus. So that is what the church is.
Now we find in the word of God that John was on Patmos. Of the twelve apostles, John was the last one still living at that time. It was toward the end of the first century.
In his old age, he ministered to the churches in Asia Minor. But while he was ministering there, he was exiled by the Roman emperor Domitian to the island of Patmos.
Patmos was a small island in the Aegean Sea. John was exiled for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus.
On the Lord’s Day, evidently he had some leisure. So probably he was sitting on a rock, facing the Aegean Sea. On a clear day, he could see the coastline of Asia Minor, where the churches to which he had ministered before he was exiled were located.
He must have been sitting there, looking across the sea, thinking of the churches to which he had ministered. His heart was occupied with them, because he really had a pastor’s heart.
As he was doing that, he saw a vision—the vision of the risen Lord.
Now John was most familiar with the Lord Jesus while He was on earth. We can put it this way: among the disciples, he was closest to the Lord. He lay upon the bosom of our Lord and asked Him questions. He was very close to the Lord. He knew the Lord more than anybody else, probably.
But here he saw a vision of the Lord in heaven. That was something new to him.
He heard a voice, and when he turned, he saw a vision. He saw seven golden lampstands, and the lampstands are interpreted to us as the churches. Every church is a golden lampstand.
It is golden, with nothing else. Of all the furnishings in the tabernacle, the lampstand is the one that is purely gold—no wood, nothing else but gold.
Gold speaks of the nature of God. In other words, the church is made up of what is of God, and nothing else—nothing of man. Every church before God is a golden lampstand.
Now, a lampstand is not something for itself. A lampstand is for a purpose, and that is to uplift light. The light is Christ.
So this vessel that uplifts Christ is all golden—that is, all of God and none of itself—and it uplifts Christ as the light. It has the testimony of Jesus. So what is the church? The church is the vessel for the testimony of Jesus.
The church is not to speak of any person. The church is only to speak of Christ.
John saw Christ as the great High Priest, walking in the midst of the seven golden lampstands. In other words, what is the ministry of Christ in heaven?
We know what His ministry was when He was on earth. He was the Apostle of God. He was sent by God with a mission, and the mission was to provide redemption for the world. He accomplished it on the cross. Before He died, He said, “It is finished. It is accomplished.”
But what is Christ doing in heaven? I remember a story of an old lady who was asking to be baptized. During that time, it was customary for the elders to question her concerning her faith.
One of the questions she was asked was, “What is Christ doing in heaven?” This elderly lady thought for a while and said, “Christ in heaven is looking downward toward me, trying to find fault in me.” Of course, she did not pass.
Now, what is Christ doing in heaven? We know what He did on earth. He was our Savior; He provided redemption for us. But what is He doing in heaven? He is not dozing there. He is as diligent as He was on earth.
In heaven, He is our heavenly High Priest. He is ministering to His church. He is ministering to every one of us, and we who come by Him, He can save to the uttermost. That is what Christ is doing in heaven.
You find that He is ministering to the churches on earth. He not only ministers to each one of us individually, but corporately He is ministering to the churches.
Therefore, you find that He wrote seven letters to the seven churches. To every church, He begins with a revelation of Himself.
In Revelation 1, you find the full revelation of Christ. But in every letter, He begins with a partial revelation of Himself. In other words, our Christ is so immense that not only can no one person contain Him, but not even one church can contain Him. It takes all the Christians; it takes all the churches to contain Christ.
Each church has a special commitment, or revelation. To every church there is a special revelation of Christ. That is to say, this is the testimony of Jesus committed to that church.
He is ministering to the church to see whether this testimony is being maintained. Or, to put it another way, can He find Himself in that church?
Oh, He may find many things in that church, but He cannot find Himself. That is what the vision in Revelation 1 is for.
When John saw that vision, what happened to him? What was his reaction? He fell as one dead.
He who knew Christ so well, and he who served Christ so well, when he saw that vision of Christ in heaven as a Minister ministering to His church, fell as one dead. In other words, he realized what a poor ministry he had rendered to the churches.
Brothers and sisters, what is the testimony of Jesus?
When Christ was on earth, the heavens opened, and a voice came from God: “This is My beloved Son, in whom I have found My delight.” It happened three times: at His baptism, on the Mount of Transfiguration—“Hear Him”—and another time in John 12.
When our Lord Jesus said, “Father, glorify Thy name,” the Father said, “I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.” The Father testified concerning His Son:
This is My beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; hear ye Him.
That is the testimony of the Father. And you find that the whole Bible testifies of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In John 5, the Lord Jesus said:
Ye search the Scriptures, because ye think that in them ye have eternal life; and these are they which bear witness of Me.
In other words, the whole Old Testament bears the testimony of Jesus.
You also remember, after He was resurrected, in Luke 24, how He met two disciples leaving Jerusalem for Emmaus. They were so disappointed because Christ was crucified. They had heard the women say Christ had risen, but they could not believe it.
So they left Jerusalem and went to Emmaus. Our Lord Jesus walked with them and explained to them how the Old Testament bore witness of Him. As He did that, the Bible says their hearts burned within them through the word.
Again, He came to the disciples, shut within a house because of fear. The Lord appeared to them and explained, from Moses, through the prophets, and the Psalms, how the Scriptures spoke concerning Him.
So what is the Bible? The Bible is the testimony of Jesus. As we read the Bible, we see Jesus.
Our Lord Jesus Himself testified concerning Himself. Here in Revelation 1:17-18, He told John, “Fear not; I am the first and the last, and the Living One.” This refers to His divinity. He is God.
“I am the first, and I am the last, and the Living One.” Brothers and sisters, when He says, “I am the first,” what does it mean to us? Is He the first in our life?
“I am the last.” What does it mean? Is He the last to us? He is the goal after which we run. And He is the Living One. Is He our life?
He is all to us. And He said, “I became dead.” That speaks of His humanity, when He came into this world and died in our stead.
“And behold, I am alive for evermore.” That is His resurrection. He lives forever. Not only that, He said, “I have the keys of death and of Hades.” He has overcome. He has the keys now.
So, brothers and sisters, this is what Christ is to us. This is the testimony of Jesus to us. What do we testify? We testify that He is the first, He is the last, and He is the Living One; that He has died, but behold, He is living forever and has the keys of death and Hades.
Now that is our testimony. To put it very briefly, what is the testimony of Jesus? It testifies to us that He is God and He is man. He is our God, He is our Savior, He is our life, and He is our victory.
In other words, that is what the church is to bear testimony of. This is the testimony of Jesus.
Because this is the testimony of Jesus, you find that it is severely contested by God’s enemy.
There is, as it were, a conflict between God and Satan, and the church is the target in the middle. But the church, of course, stands for Christ, and that is the reason why the church is persecuted.
John, for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus, was exiled to that island. Throughout the centuries, brothers and sisters, as you read the history of the church, you find how the church has been persecuted and contested by the enemy of God.
During the second and third centuries, the Roman Empire persecuted the church ten times. But thank God, it was because of persecution that the church was revived.
I believe you must have heard of the testimonies from the second and third centuries. Foxe’s Book of Martyrs records many martyr stories.
Notably, during the second century, there was Polycarp, the bishop of Smyrna. He was an old man, faithful to the Lord.
Through the advice of some brothers and sisters, they asked him to go to a village to avoid the attack of the Roman Empire. He went there, but then he was discovered by Roman soldiers, and they came to take him.
He opened the door and invited them in. He prepared a table for them to eat and asked permission for an hour in which he might pray. He went to his room to pray, and he prayed for two hours.
After he finished praying, he allowed them to take him. When they brought him to the proconsul, the proconsul knew that he was an old man and tried to persuade him. He said, “Just burn incense to Caesar, and you will be free.”
Polycarp said, “I have served the Lord eighty-six years, and He has been good. How can I deny Him?”
So he was to be burned. When they put the fire to him, strangely, it could not touch him. Finally, a soldier thrust his spear into him, and he died.
I believe you have also heard of a sister in the third century. She had a baby, and actually she had not been baptized yet, but she trusted the Lord. She was taken into prison and baptized while she was in prison.
Her elderly father begged her to deny the Lord. But she stood firm and finally was killed by the animals and by the spear and sword of the gladiators.
We have heard these stories, and such things have happened all over the world throughout the centuries, even in my time. It happened in China.
One day, over a thousand brothers and sisters all over China were taken into custody. Those in Shanghai, where I was before, my fellow workers and elders, were taken and put in a meeting hall.
You see the subtlety of the enemy. They told them, “You will be released if you will say one thing: that Watchman Nee has faults.”
Now, who does not have faults? Of course our brother had faults, just as we do. But they used this to divide God’s people. Because once you say, “So-and-so has faults,” in other words, your faith begins to waver.
One of my fellow workers, who was also an elder there, was a medical doctor. He was physically weak, and his family came and begged him. They said, “Say that Watchman Nee has faults. That is true. You are not lying. Why not say it, and then you can come home?”
You know what he said? He said, “I know Watchman Nee has faults, but God has not asked me to say it.” So he refused. He was put in prison, and very soon he died.
Our brother Watchman Nee was put in prison for twenty years. He was sentenced to fifteen years, but after fifteen years, because he would not deny his faith, five more years were added.
So he was in labor camp for twenty years. When he was supposed to be free, he died for his faith.
Brothers and sisters, there is a conflict going on in this world. It is a conflict between God and Satan, and the church is the target. But thank God, oftentimes God uses persecution to revive His church.
More and more brothers and sisters in this country begin to realize that if we want to be true to the Lord, it will be difficult. We have to suffer.
But thank God, oftentimes it is through persecution that the church is revived.
Now, brothers and sisters, in the past many have borne witness to the testimony of Jesus. Because of their faithfulness in witnessing, they suffered for their testimony.
Now we are living toward the end of this age. Brothers and sisters, we need to be prepared for it.
It seems strange that the church needs persecution to be purified. Why cannot it be purified without persecution?
So I want to ask myself and you, brothers and sisters, this question: Where are we with regard to the testimony of Jesus?
If we are faithful, we will be persecuted. But if we are not faithful, no wonder the world will welcome us.
Finally, I would like to tell you a story. It is a dream of A. J. Gordon. A. J. Gordon was a great servant of the Lord in the New England states.
He was a little before my time. Actually, when Brother Sparks came to this country, that was one of the places he wanted to visit. A. J. Gordon was the pastor of a large church in Boston.
One day he dreamed a dream. He saw that the church was in session. He was sitting on the platform, waiting to preach. The place was almost filled.
Then he saw the usher bring in a man and seat him at the front. Somehow, his attention was attracted by that man.
While he was preaching, his eyes were upon that man, and he was wondering, “Who is that man? Will he approve of my preaching? What does he think of our pipe organ? What will he think about our choir?”
Before he finished preaching, he decided, “I have to see him.” It was customary for the pastor, after he finished teaching, to go to the door and greet the people as they were leaving.
So after he finished preaching, he tried to get to the door as fast as he could. But that man was already gone.
He asked the usher, “Who is that man?” The usher said, “Don’t you know Him? He is Jesus.”
And you know what happened. The pipe organ was gone. The choir was gone. Everything began to change.
And he was used greatly by the Lord.
Brothers and sisters, if Jesus should visit us—I should not say “visit”; He should be here. If He is not here, woe to us.
If He is here this morning, what will happen to us? Can we continue in our way? Will there be a great change in our life and in our life together?
Brothers and sisters, it is not a supposition.
When we gather around the table to remember the Lord, do you think that the Lord is not here? If He is here, can we come to the Lord’s table in the way we are doing today? What will He think of us?
I believe there will be a great change. But this is reality. This is spiritual reality. This is not a supposition.
The Lord is supposed to be here. If He is not here, why do we gather?
We come here to worship Him. We come here to express our appreciation to Him. We come here to honor Him. We come here to exalt Him. We do not gather together for our own sake. It is not a social gathering. It is a fellowship.
So, dear brothers and sisters, I believe there is much that we need to think about. The Lord is coming soon. We do not know how many times we have left.
So let us be real before Him.
Shall we pray?
Dear Lord, we praise and thank Thee, because to honor Thee, Thy testimony is real.
It is Thy pleasure to be with Thy people, and it is Thy pleasure to see that Thy people reflect Thee and nothing else. O Lord, make it so.
We commit ourselves to this and cry to Thee, Lord, that the testimony of Jesus may be maintained here in Richmond for Thy glory. In Thy name. Amen.