The Mending Ministry of John, Message 6

My Great Delight in God's Word

The Mending Ministry of John, Message 6

Eight Aspects of the Church as the Testimony of Christ

In the book of Revelation, the Church as the testimony of Christ is gradually revealed in 8 aspects, starting from the lampstands (revelation 1), and ending with the New Jerusalem (Revelation 21-22), which is the consummate expression and testimony of Christ.
This week's message is too complicated for me to cover every point. First, I'm going to give you an overview of all the 8 aspects. Then I will go deeper into detail about what I have learned from the first aspect, the lampstands.

Eight aspects of the testimony of Jesus

1. The seven golden lampstands (Revelation 1:12, 20)

The mystery of the seven stars which you saw in My right hand, and the seven golden lampstands: The seven stars are the angels of the seven churches, and the seven lampstands which you saw are the seven churches. (Revelation 1:20 NKJV)

In Revelation 1, Jesus revealed Himself as the Son of Man who was in the midst of the lampstands, which were also hold in His right hand and explicitly revealed to represent the seven local churches. This is the first obvious aspect of the church as the testimony of Christ, and will be further discussed in the next section.

2. The great multitude serving God in the temple (Revelation 7)

After these things I looked, and behold, a great multitude which no one could number, of all nations, tribes, peoples, and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, with palm branches in their hands (Revelation 7:9 NKJV)
So he said to me, "These are the ones who come out of the great tribulation, and washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb." (Revelation 7:14 NKJV)

Next, the testimony of Jesus is the great multitude from all nations, tribes, peoples and tongues. The multitude consists of those who have victoriously come out of the tribulations, sufferings, persecutions, and afflictions throughout the ages.
How wonderful it is that this multitude as the testimony of Jesus is not limited to Jews only! By the grace of Christ, our great Cornerstone, the Jews and the Gentile are united, and this great opportunity is widely open to all the people in the world. Everyone who trusts in the Lord who has already overcome the world will also overcome all the tribulations. Not only can he enjoy Christ and all of His spiritual blessings in this life, but one day he will also be raptured to the heavens to enjoy His presence forever.

3. The universally great bright woman with her man-child (Revelation 12)

Now a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed with the sun, with the moon under her feet, and on her head a garland of twelve stars. (Revelation 12:1 NKJV)

This heavenly woman represents the Church, and her man-child represents the stronger part, which is the overcomers. Here we can see that the Church is not of the world. It is heavenly in nature. As the story continues, we also see that only the overcomers (the man-child) will be raptured to God's throne to rule with Him, whereas the rest of the believers (the woman) will have to go through the great tribulation before being reaped at the end of the great tribulation.
After being raptured, the overcomers will defeat the great dragon, which represents the Devil and Satan. They will cast him and his angels down to the earth. Interestingly, they do not fight using any high-tech military weapons. They overcome the great dragon by the blood of the Lamb and by the word of their testimony!
Why will God rapture the overcomers? Because He needs the overcomers who will fight against His enemy for Him and cast him down from the heavens. Even though He can easily defeat Satan, He chooses not to do it by Himself. He wants the overcomers to execute Christ's victory over Satan. Would you like to be this man-child who will surely accomplish this job for Him?

4. The firstfruits and the harvest (Revelation 14)

These are the ones who were not defiled with women, for they are virgins. These are the ones who follow the Lamb wherever He goes. These were redeemed from among men, being firstfruits to God and to the Lamb. (Revelation 14:4 NKJV)
And another angel came out of the temple, crying with a loud voice to Him who sat on the cloud, “Thrust in Your sickle and reap, for the time has come for You to reap, for the harvest of the earth is ripe.” (Revelation 14:15 NKJ)

Revelation 14 shows a parallel imagery to the vision of the great women with her man-child. The firstfruits, signifying the overcomers who have received the Lord as the seed of life into their heart and wholly dedicate themselves to the Lord, will ripe and be reaped (raptured) first, while the other believers will be reaped at the end after the great tribulation.

5. The victorious ones standing on the glassy sea (Revelation 15)

And I saw something like a sea of glass mingled with fire, and those who have the victory over the beast, over his image and over his mark and over the number of his name, standing on the sea of glass, having harps of God. (Revelation 15:2 NKJV)

These victorious ones are the late overcomers who will pass through the great tribulation. The sea of glass signifies the process of baptism. Therefore these victorious ones are those who completely separate themselves from the world by daily experience of baptism, meaning a burial, so that they can come out of the world through the water with their new resurrection lives.

6. The bride of Christ (Revelation 19)

Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready. (Revelation 19:7 NKJV)

Ultimately, the overcomers who have made themselves ready for the marriage will not only be the invited guests of the wedding. The wedding is theirs. They will become the bride of Christ, and will reign with Him during the millennium.

7. The bridal army (Revelation 19)

And I saw the beast, the kings of the earth, and their armies, gathered together to make war against Him who sat on the horse and against His army. (Revelation 19:19)

Then the overcomers who has cast Satan and his angels down from heavens will also a part of the Christ's army coming down to fight against Satan on the earth. Eventually, the Antichrist will be completely defeated.

8. The New Jerusalem (Revelation 21-22)

9 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues came to me and talked with me, saying, “Come, I will show you the bride, the Lamb’s wife.”
10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me the great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,
11 having the glory of God. Her light was like a most precious stone, like a jasper stone, clear as crystal. (Revelation 21:9-11)

This passage is so perplexing. The angels said they would show the bride, the Lamb's wife, to the apostle John. But then what they showed him was not a lady, but a great city! They showed him the New Jerusalem, which was descending out of heaven from God! Why? Because the New Jerusalem is not only the place where we will dwell; it actually is the church as the Bride and the consummate testimony of Jesus. It is the mutual abode of the Triune God and all of His people. We will abide is Christ and He in us for eternity!

The seven golden lampstands

In the bible, the lampstands are demonstrated in 3 stages: the lampstand in the tabernacle (exodus 25:31-40), the lampstand in the vision in Zechariah, the lampstands in Revelation 1:12 and 20. More information can be found here.
Exodus 25 describes the appearance of the lampstand like this, with the picture from agodman.com blog (credited to Inspiration Unlimited Facebook page) shown below.

³¹ You shall also make a lampstand of pure gold; the lampstand shall be of hammered work. Its shaft, its branches, its bowls, its ornamental knobs, and flowers shall be of one piece.
³² And six branches shall come out of its sides: three branches of the lampstand out of one side, and three branches of the lampstand out of the other side.
³³ Three bowls shall be made like almond blossoms on one branch, with an ornamental knob and a flower, and three bowls made like almond blossoms on the other branch, with an ornamental knob and a flower—and so for the six branches that come out of the lampstand. (Exodus 25:31-33 NKJV)

According to the revelation of the lampstands, there are some implications concerning the church that are so crucial for the mending ministry of John.

1. The lampstands are divine in nature

The lampstands are made of gold, which signifies God. Therefore the vision reveals that the churches are divine in nature.
According to the bible, a church never refers to a building. It is not an organisation created by man, but an organism built up by God with Christ as its centre and its everything. It is a household of God consisting of all the genuine believers in Christ in whom the triune God dwells. It is not only a group of people gathering together; it is a household of God-men being built up together.
As members of this household, our job is to let Him express Himself through us, so that everyone who see us will see God who lives in us.

2. The lampstands are living and growing

According to Exodus 25, the lampstand has some remarkable characteristics. It is described to have branches, bowls like almond blossoms, knobs and flowers, all of which are components of a living tree. Therefore this lampstand is not only a material thing. It is a living tree that grows, buds and blossoms.
Likewise, as our God is living, the true church of God is also living. God has given Himself into us to be the tree of life within us, and the church basically is the outcome of the tree of life growing within us. All we need to do is let this tree grow up and grow out of us, so that the issues of life will be clearly evident in us.

3. The lampstands are shining in darkness

From the picture above, inasmuch as the lampstand is a branching tree, its blossom is at the flame of light. Therefore it can be said that the blossom of life is light. When a church is full of life, it blossoms and expresses the issues of life. This is the means whereby the church shines.
According to the lampstand in the book of Zechariah, this lampstand is fuelled by the golden oil, representing God the Spirit. Likewise, the church is not burning itself as the fuel, but having God as its divine fuel. This truth teaches us that the shining of the church is not by our own power, but by the Spirit. Consequently, we will never be burned out and stop serving the Lord. If that is the case, it can be implied that we are using a wrong type of fuel. On the contrary, if we serve the Lord using the power of the Spirit, the divine oil, as fuel, we will never retire from serving Him.
Additionally, this shining is not for our own glory. This shining aims to show Christ who is in the midst of the lampstands, so that people will clearly see Him, come to Him and receive Him as their life.

4. The lampstands are identical with one another

Even though the lampstands are seven, they are identical with one another, having the same nature and shape. Likewise, even though there are so many local churches throughout the world, they have the same God, the same Christ and the same Spirit. Substantially, all the local churches are but one.
On the one hand, the local churches are to shine in different localities. On the other hand, they all are collectively shining by universally bearing the same thing, the testimony of Jesus.

Further reading

• The Holy Word for Morning Revival: The Mending Ministry of John, week 6.

Thirayost Nimmanon (Tony)