Will you please turn to Revelation, the last chapter, Revelation 22:20?
He who testifieth these things saith, Yea: I come quickly. Amen: come, Lord Jesus.
And in the same book, Revelation 12:11:
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.
Dear Lord, we want to thank Thee for gathering us together this morning. We have given this time back to Thee, and pray that Thou wilt use this time to reveal Thy heart to us.
We pray that our hearts may respond to Thy heart, that Thy Word will enter into us and become alive, and that the testimony of Jesus may be maintained and proclaimed till Thy coming.
We commit this time into Thy loving hand and ask Thee to break the bread of life to each and every one of us. To Thee be the glory. In Thy precious name, Lord Jesus. Amen.
Our Lord had come into this world and had accomplished His work of salvation on Calvary’s cross. Now He was going to leave the world to return to His heavenly Father.
During the Last Supper, He was with His own disciples. When He told them He was leaving them, they were sad because He was their Comforter, One who came alongside them and took care of them throughout those years as they followed Him.
So our Lord tried to comfort the hearts of these disciples. He said, “Do not be grieved because I am leaving, but I am coming back.”
In My Father’s house are many abiding places;
if it were not so, I would have told you;
for I go to prepare a place for you.
And if I go and prepare a place for you,
I come again, and will receive you unto Myself;
that where I am, there ye may be also.
When our Lord Jesus mentioned mansions, He did not mean that there are many separate houses by themselves. What He meant was that there is only one house, the house of God; but within that house there are many mansions, or shall we say, apartments.
After we have been completed, He will receive us back to Himself, to dwell with Him.
When I think of a mansion, I think of the time when I was born and raised up. I was born in a mansion, a big house.
My grandfather was a builder, and he wanted his whole family always to be with him. So he built a mansion, a huge house, to accommodate the families of his four sons and even his two daughters, whether married or unmarried. He wanted all of us to live together.
Every single family had an apartment. Even for his married daughter, he built a small house beside the big house, and his married daughter and her family lived in that small house. In other words, he wanted us to be together.
Four generations lived together in a big house. That was my childhood.
Probably you will think that that would be a very good idea. Of course, it was a good idea, but there were also many problems.
My grandfather provided everything. He even provided all the grandchildren’s education. My grandmother provided food for all the members of the family.
In a sense, the ladies had nothing to do. Everything was provided, and every family at that time had a servant. When dinner time came, the servant would come and call everybody to the dining room.
Nothing to do, but much gossiping. And that was the life of that earthly, huge family that I grew up with.
Brothers and sisters, there is only one house of God. But within the house, our Lord has provided for each and every one of us to have his or her mansion.
He returned to heaven after He had accomplished His redemptive work. Then He sent the Holy Spirit down to dwell in each and every one of us, to complete the work of redemption in every one of us. That is what the Lord was doing.
And at the same time, He told His disciples, “I will come back to receive you to Myself, that you may be with Me forever.”
So when we come to the last page of the last book of the Bible, Revelation, He declared, “Behold, I come quickly.”
In other words, the Lord was anxious to come back to receive His own.
With that kind of promise, I believe the saints in the first century were looking for the return of our Lord. It was not a wrong concept. It was real. Why? Because the Lord could have come back at that time.
But unfortunately, He did not return—not that He did not want to return, but because His bride was not ready.
In my lifetime, I have officiated many marriages. But at all these marriages, I noticed one thing: the bridegroom is very early at the hall, waiting for the coming of his bride. But somehow, the bride always delays her coming.
I believe it is not purposeful, but somehow this was always the case. The bridegroom is always waiting for the bride.
From what I understand, there was only one case in which the bride was waiting for the bridegroom. It was in the case of Hudson Taylor’s great-grandfather.
Hudson Taylor’s great-grandfather was a believer, and the lady whom he was to marry was also a believer. But as young people, they loved the world. They loved dancing. They loved all the things of this world.
But on the day of his marriage, when he woke up in the morning, he suddenly realized that this was the day of his marriage. He realized that it was a big thing in his life, so he went to the field to pray.
He kept on praying and praying. He forgot the time. So when he finished praying, he suddenly realized it was already the time of his marriage. People were waiting in the church building, wondering what had happened to the bridegroom.
So he hurriedly went to the church building and went through the marriage ceremony. But in the evening, before they went to bed, he told his newlywed wife, “We have to pray.”
He wanted his newly married wife to kneel down with him. It was such a surprise to the bride, because he was not like that before. He was a young man who loved the world—saved, but barely saved.
However, he urged his newlywed wife to kneel down, and he prayed. That changed the atmosphere of the new house.
He served the Lord with his family, and for four generations before the birth of Hudson Taylor, generation after generation, they served the Lord.
And we all know that Hudson Taylor served the Lord in China. After Hudson Taylor, another four generations continued to serve the Lord.
I met the third generation back in Chungking during the wartime. I saw him walking through the streets of Chungking, shouting, “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved.”
Generation after generation served the Lord. What a beautiful picture it is.
Brothers and sisters, we thank God for Hudson Taylor because he was the one who brought the gospel to inland China. How these early missionaries suffered for the gospel’s sake. We are forever thankful.
But the problem is that we are already in the twenty-first century, and the Lord seems to have delayed.
So my question this morning is: Does the delay rest upon us or upon our Lord?
I think the answer is very clear. So far as the Lord is concerned, He is ever ready to come back for His bride. But it is the bride—we—who have delayed His return.
Because of His longsuffering, He does not want anyone to perish. He wants us to be saved, and saved to the uttermost. This is the love of God.
We mentioned yesterday that during the first century, the last of the original twelve apostles, John, in his old age, was exiled to the island of Patmos. Why? For the Word of God and for the testimony of Jesus.
And there he was shown what the testimony of Jesus is. Briefly, this is what the Lord told him on that island:
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.
That refers to His deity. He was the First and He was the Last, and life itself. But He died. He came to this world and died for our sake.
He is now living forever, holding the keys of death and Hades. In other words, He has conquered the enemy. He is the victorious One.
And because He is the victorious One, we who have faith, who believe in Him, are also victorious. Because faith is the secret of victory.
As we read the last book, the book of Revelation, we find that the condition of the church generally, speaking of the first century through its end, can be seen in the seven churches in Asia Minor.
In these seven churches, we find that the risen Lord is walking in the midst of them. He was there looking for something. Now, what is that something?
We find that in Revelation 1, He gave us a full description of Himself. Then, at the beginning of each letter, He gives a part of His own description as He looks into that church.
So it is evident that He is not just looking for the general condition of the church, whether they have something good or whether they have something bad. He sees it all, but that is not what He is after.
To every church, He was looking for Himself.
We find that, at the beginning of each letter to the churches, there is a declaration of Himself. It is not a full declaration; it is a part of that declaration of Himself in Revelation 1.
Why is it? Because no local church can contain or testify to the full revelation of Jesus Christ. However, to each church God has given a part of the revelation of Jesus Christ, and this is what He is looking for.
I remember a story written by A. J. Gordon. A. J. Gordon was a pastor of a church in Boston. He loved the Lord, he preached the gospel, and he was faithful to the Lord.
One day he dreamed a dream. Before the Sunday meeting, he was sitting on the platform, ready to give his message. Then he saw the ushers bring in a strange person and find a place for that person to sit.
Somehow, that strange person attracted all the attention of A. J. Gordon. He wondered, “Who can that person be?”
While he was preaching, unconsciously he looked at that person to see how that person reacted. He wondered whether that person approved his sermon or disapproved.
So he decided in his heart that, after the meeting was over, he had to meet that strange person. The custom was that, after the sermon, the pastor would go to the gate and greet everyone coming out.
So he tried to get to the gate so that he could meet the stranger. But unfortunately, when he got there, the stranger was gone. So he asked the usher, “Who is that strange person?”
And the usher said, “Don’t you know Him? He is Jesus.”
In other words, Jesus came to that church. And there A. J. Gordon started thinking, “Did He approve my sermon? Did He approve the wonderful choir we have? Did He approve the pipe organ we had?”
And you know, that dream changed A. J. Gordon. A. J. Gordon later became one greatly used by God.
Brothers and sisters, do you know? Do you believe that as we are meeting here this morning, there is a stranger here?
He is not a stranger. He is our Lord. The Lord is here, because He said:
Where two or three are gathered together in My name,
there am I in the midst of them.
Do we gather together in His name? Yes. Then is not His presence with us? Let that change our whole outlook, brothers and sisters.
Do you sense the presence of the Lord when God’s people come together? Has He not said, “Where two or three are gathered together in My name, there am I in the midst of them”?
He is true to His own Word. So we sincerely believe that, as we gather here this morning, our Lord Jesus is here.
And what is He looking for among us? He is not looking for a beautiful sermon. He is not looking for anything else, except that He is looking for Himself.
He has revealed Himself to us to a certain extent. And how do we respond to Him? Do we respond to Him wholeheartedly, or do we respond to Him only halfheartedly?
He knows exactly where we are. So in the seven churches in Asia, you find that He gave His judgment to each and every one: “You have something good. You have something bad.” But that is not the point. The point is: Do you have Me?
People in the first century who believed in Him were waiting for the coming of the Lord, just as we are. Were they mistaken? No, because the Lord could return at any time.
When the bride is ready, He will return. But unfortunately, during the first century, even though there were some who were really waiting for Him, looking for Him, and suffering for Him, the church as a whole was not ready.
And this happened century after century.
When you read the book of Revelation, you find that in Revelation 7, the first part refers to the Jews. Before the coming of the Lord, the Jews will return to their native place, and God will put His seal upon some of them. He will keep them through the great tribulation.
Then, beginning with Revelation 7:9, it tells us that there will be a great multitude. Let us return to Revelation 7 and read it.
After these things I saw, and behold, a great multitude,
which no man could number,
out of every nation and of all tribes and peoples and tongues,
standing before the throne and before the Lamb,
arrayed in white robes, and palms in their hands;
and they cry with a great voice, saying,
Salvation unto our God who sitteth on the throne,
and unto the Lamb.And all the angels were standing round about the throne,
and about the elders and the four living creatures;
and they fell before the throne on their faces, and worshipped God, saying,
Amen: Blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving,
and honor, and power, and might,
be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen.
We find in that vision numberless people, clothed in white robes and with palm branches in their hands. Palm branches always represent victory.
And who are these numberless people? Actually, this is a revelation of the overcomers throughout the centuries.
We find that the Lord did not come back in the first century. Then you have century after century. In spite of the failure of the church in general, thank God, in every century God has His overcomers. He has those who were faithful to Him.
So, in Revelation 7:14:
These are they that come out of the great tribulation,
and they washed their robes,
and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.
Now, the great tribulation here does not refer to the seven-year great tribulation, or the three-and-a-half-year period of the great tribulation. The great tribulation here refers to the fact that in every age, every century, God’s people have gone through great tribulations.
In other words, these are the overcomers of the ages, from the second century onward until our time.
In spite of the failure of the church, God still has His overcomers. So these are the people in verse 14. They were not perfect, but they were people who trusted in the blood of the Lamb.
Whenever the Holy Spirit reminded them of their sins or their faults, they would repent, and they would claim the washing of the blood of the Lamb.
And Revelation 7:15 says:
Therefore are they before the throne of God;
and they serve Him day and night in His temple:
and He that sitteth on the throne
shall spread His tabernacle over them.
They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more;
neither shall the sun strike upon them,
nor any scorching heat:
for the Lamb that is in the midst of the throne
shall be their shepherd,
and shall guide them unto fountains of waters of life:
and God shall wipe away every tear from their eyes.
In other words, for the sake of the Lord, they did hunger in their lifetime. They went through many trials and tribulations for the sake of Christ.
Brothers and sisters, the tears that were shed for the sake of the gospel, for the sake of Christ, God will wipe them all away. These are the overcomers of the ages.
You know, when we read church history, what is our reaction? When you read church history, you find how the church had failed again and again during the centuries.
But thank God, man may fail, but God cannot fail. So here you find that through all these centuries, in spite of the condition of the church at that time, God had His overcomers, those who were faithful to the Lord.
True, those who were faithful to the Lord had to suffer for the Lord, but they willingly bore the cross and followed the Lord. And these are the overcomers of the ages.
Then you turn to Revelation 12. In Revelation 12, you can see the overcomers at the time of the coming of the Lord. And, brothers and sisters, we are living in this hour.
John was given a vision. He saw the vision of a woman, and the woman was clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars.
That woman represents the church at the coming of the Lord. She was glorious, clothed with the sun. In other words, she belonged to God.
The moon under her feet represents the law. The law was under her feet. And the crown of twelve stars represents the patriarchal age. In other words, she was the woman of the ages. She represents the church.
At the last stage, at the coming of the Lord, she was in travail. The Lord said there would be wars and rumors of wars, famine, pestilence, and earthquakes, but these are the beginning of birth pains.
In other words, the church has gone through all these troubles throughout the ages. But this is looking at it negatively. If you look at it positively, you find that this is birth pain. Through all these tribulations, the church was going to give birth to a man-child.
Then you have another vision, the vision of a dragon. And we know that the dragon represents Satan.
Strangely, the dragon was before that woman, but he was not interested in the woman. Why? Because the woman, representing the church in the last age, had lost her testimony.
So Satan was not interested in her. But Satan was interested in the womb, because he knew that what would really affect him was what came out of the womb of that woman.
So he was waiting there for the child to be born, and he was going to swallow him up.
Now, some people think this refers to Christ. In other words, the woman was to give birth to Christ. There are different interpretations.
But here is one interpretation that I feel probably is the best: it is not Christ, because when Christ was born, He did not ascend to heaven right away.
He was on earth for thirty-three years, and He was crucified. He was raised from the dead. He spent forty days after He was raised, and then He went back to heaven. So this cannot be Christ.
Now, who is this man-child that the enemy of God tries to swallow?
This man-child, after he was born, was immediately raptured. Where? To the throne.
Brothers and sisters, we have some songs concerning the coming of the Lord. But unfortunately, in these songs they always refer to the trumpet sounding, the angels shouting, the dead in Christ being raised, and those who remain alive being changed.
They will all be taken into the air to meet the Lord. Now, that is what we find in all those second-coming hymns. But strictly speaking, when I say this, I always say it is too late.
Why? Because this refers to 1 Thessalonians 4. But even before that, there is a coming of the Lord in silence.
You know, when our Lord returned to heaven, His feet began to rise from the Mount of Olives, and the disciples watched Him going up. They could see Him going up.
Then the Bible says that a cloud received Him. He was still going up, but the cloud had taken Him, and they could not see the Lord.
But how do we know that He arrived in heaven, at the throne? Very easy: because, at Pentecost, the Holy Spirit came down.
When our Lord ascended to heaven, He was crowned and anointed by His Father. God made Him Lord and Christ.
And as we find in Psalm 133, the ointment fell upon His head, went to His beard, and came down to the skirt.
Brothers and sisters, when our Lord ascended to the throne, He was crowned by God as Lord and Christ. And on the day of Pentecost, the ointment that was anointed on His head flowed down to the beard and came down to the very skirt of the garment.
So, brothers and sisters, we find that the ascension of the Lord is in two stages:
So we have two parables about it. Our Lord’s coming is like a thief.
And, brothers and sisters, has any thief come into your house with a horn blowing and saying, “I am coming”? That would be absurd.
He always knows when you are not careful, not watching, and he will suddenly come, take your treasure, and leave your trash. Then he is gone before you know it.
So we find that Scripture says He is coming like a thief. The first stage of His coming is like a thief. Suddenly, throughout the whole world, some Christians disappear.
Brothers and sisters, the Bible says that two women were grinding in the morning: one was taken and one was left. Two men were working in the field: one was taken and one was left. Two were sleeping on the bed: one was taken and one was left.
That is a sign of parousia. That is a sign of His presence.
Brothers and sisters, it can happen at any time. It could come now, tonight, tomorrow, or sometime afterward.
There is no sign before that. All the signs concerning the coming of the Lord have been fulfilled. There are still some signs that will happen at the coming of the Lord and after the coming of the Lord that need to be fulfilled.
But, brothers and sisters, remember: all the signs preceding the coming of the Lord have been fulfilled. There is no more sign for which we should be looking. We should be looking for the coming of the Lord alone.
Suddenly, because the earth is round, some are sleeping, some are working, and some are in the morning. But it shall happen throughout the world, and those who are ready for the Lord will be taken.
This is the man-child. They will be taken to the throne to be the welcoming party for the coming of the Lord.
And because they went through the air to the throne, the air, the headquarters of the enemy of God, shows that they have overcome the enemy.
Because of this, after they arrive at the throne, there will be war in the air. The air will be cleared of the enemy. He will be thrown upon this earth.
Why? Because the air has to be cleared for the coming of the Lord from the throne to the air. And when this happens, on the earth you will have the great tribulation.
What is the great tribulation? Because the trio of evil will be all on this earth.
But thank God, even this is God’s mercy and grace, because He gives those who were not raptured before the great tribulation an opportunity to be overcomers during the great tribulation. They can still be faithful to the Lord.
And that we find in Revelation 15:1-3. They overcome the beast, and they are now on the crystal sea, singing the song of Moses and of the Lamb.
Brothers and sisters, then after that, you have Revelation 19, the marriage of the Lamb.
You know, if you read the Bible, you will find that at the end of the Bible there will be two marriages. Revelation 19 is the first one; Revelation 21 and 22 are the second one. What is the difference?
In Revelation 19, it is the marriage of the Lamb before the millennium. It begins the millennium with a marriage.
And the bride there, as you read carefully, consists of the overcomers of the church, not the whole church.
Because those who are not ready will be cast into outer darkness, and there they will repent. If you do not repent today, one day you have to repent, because the Lord wants to save you to the utmost.
Then, after the millennium, the last rebellion, and the last judgment, you will find all those who are the Lord’s, whether in Old Testament times or New Testament times, gathered together as the eternal bride of the Lamb. And that is eternity.
So, brothers and sisters, here we find in the book of Revelation that God has revealed to us what is going to happen on this earth.
We are living at the verge of His coming. It is a thrilling time, but, brothers and sisters, it is an important time. We cannot afford to be careless anymore.
We need to be encouraged. We need to press on toward the goal. We need to overcome the enemy by the blood of the Lamb.
We are not perfect, but thank God, we have the blood of the Lamb. And they overcome the enemy by the word of their testimony.
In other words, because they have the testimony of Jesus in their lives, their word is powerful. And they loved not their life even unto death.
The life here is soul life. They loved not their soul life even unto death. They are willing to lay down themselves so that the life of Christ may fill them.
Brothers and sisters, that is the secret of overcoming.
So here we are, brothers and sisters. We are living in a most thrilling time. The Lord can come at any moment. Are you ready?
What if you are not ready? But thank God, He who saves saves to the uttermost. We thank God for that.
Dear Lord, we want to thank Thee for giving us a view of what Thou hast been doing throughout the ages.
We thank Thee that, in spite of the failure of the church, Thou canst not fail. We thank Thee for the overcomers whom Thou hast called and made throughout the ages as an encouragement to us.
May we who live in this last age press on toward the goal and be ready for Thee at any moment.
O dear Lord, it is the prayer of our hearts that Thou shalt come, and come quickly. We ask in Thy name. Amen.