The testimony of Jesus is the great multitude serving God in the temple who have been raptured to the heavens to enjoy God’s care and the Lamb’s shepherding with all the spiritual blessings in the heavenlies and in Christ that can be enjoyed today; we have been purchased by the Lord’s blood, we pass through tribulation and come out victoriously, and we wash our robes in the blood of the Lamb today! Hallelujah!
In the book of Revelation we see a few types of the church as the testimony of Jesus; the first one is the golden lampstands, which are golden in nature, shining in darkness, and identical with one another. Hallelujah!
First, the golden lampstand symbolises the Triune God who is realised and expressed as the churches, and the churches are the testimony of Jesus. Then, the lampstand is made of gold, which is beaten together; this beating of the gold signifies our experience in Christ’s sufferings.
We go through a lot of things in our environment, and much suffering is allotted to us. As we open to the Lord in all these things, we gain more of Christ, and we are “beaten” into the golden lampstand.
As we coordinate with the saints the Lord put us with, praying and fellowshipping together, we are built up together into the Lord’s shining testimony.
In all our difficulties and trials, may we encounter the Lord as the great light, so that even our sufferings would help us gain more of Christ.
May we see a vision of the glorious Christ as the Son of Man walking in our midst, and may we know Him who walks among the local churches.
He is the One living forever and ever – He always lives to intercede for us. He appears even right now before the face of God for us, and He will never fail us nor forsake us. What a wonderful Christ we have!
If we only look to Him, behold His face, and allow Him to look at us with His seven eyes, we are infused with Him, we are purged from anything that is not of Him, and we remain under His shining.
May we come to the Lord again and again for His mercy, for enlightening rests with the mercy of God. When we touch the Lord, when we touch His mercy, we receive His light, and His appearing is our vision.
We need the Lord’s shining every day; we need to want and accept His shining, open ourselves to the Lord, put a stop to ourselves, not dispute with the light, and continuously live in the light so that we may be under the Lord’s shining and shine Him forth.
The Testimony of Jesus Is the Great Multitude Redeemed from Every Nation and Victorious through Tribulation
In Revelation chapter 7 we see another type of the testimony of Jesus – the great multitude out of every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, clothed in white robes and palm branches in their hands (v. 9).
The testimony of Jesus is the great multitude serving God in the temple; they are the whole body of God’s redeemed, who have been raptured to the heavens to enjoy God’s care and the Lamb’s shepherding with all the spiritual blessings in the heavenlies and in Christ that can be enjoyed today (see Rev. 7:9-17; Eph. 1:3; Gal. 3:14; Gen. 12:2; cf. Rev. 21:3 – 4; 22:3-5; Isa. 49:10).
All these have passed through tribulation; they are coming out of the great tribulation, which does not refer to the period of time of the great tribulation but to the fact that they passed through tribulation. The church has passed through great tribulation in all the ages and even today.
The world persecutes the church (John 16:33), and wherever the church is, there will always be a certain amount of persecution.
In Revelation 7:14, we are told that the great multitude have come out of the great tribulation; verse 9 mentions that they come out in a victorious way, for they hold palm branches. Praise the Lord!
All of God’s forgiven sinners, all of God’s redeemed ones, will eventually be raptured to heaven, and they will enjoy the Lord’s blessing.
The great multitude consists of those who have been purchased with the blood of the Lamb from every nation, tribe, people, and tongue to be the constituents of the church (Rev. 7:9a; 5:9; Rom. 11:25; Acts 15:14, 19; 1 Cor. 6:19-20).
This is us, all the believers in Christ, who have been redeemed by Christ and are now part of the church. We are from every nation, from every tribe, from every people, and from every tongue.
We have been purchased with the blood of the Lamb, and we proclaim Christ.
We pass through tribulation, we come out of the great tribulation, and we wash our robes in the blood of the Lamb to make them white (Rev. 7:14).
We were not only redeemed by the blood of the Lamb; we wash our robes in the blood of the Lamb to come forward to the Lord and partake of all His riches and His blessings!
As we go through tribulations, we experience sufferings, persecutions, and afflictions, and we may have our garments stained.
Our daily living, our behaviour, and our actions and deeds may not be righteous, but we can apply the precious blood of Christ.
We realise that the precious blood of Christ answers before God all the accusations of the devil against us and gives us the victory over him (Rev. 12:11).
When we apply the blood of Christ, on one hand, we are washed and cleansed, and on the other hand, the enemy is defeated!
Because of the redeeming Christ as the open fountain of blood for all our sin and impurity (Zech. 13:1; John 19:34), we can plunge beneath that blood, lose all our guilty stains (Hymns, #1006, stanza 1). Praise the Lord!
We can also rise to walk in God’s own light, even above the world and sin, with a heart that is renewed and white garments, for we have Christ enthroned within (Hymns 1010, stanza 3).
Thank the Lord that He died for us on the cross as the Lamb of God, and now we can plunge beneath that blood and lose all our guilty stains. He washes us, cleanses us, and we go on with Him in newness of life, and the enemy is defeated! Praise the Lord!
To wash our robes is to keep our conduct clean through the washing of the blood of the Lamb. As we do this, we have the right to come forward to God and enjoy Christ as the tree of life and to enter into the city of life as the realm of God’s blessings (1 John 1:7; Rev. 22:14).
The testimony of Jesus is the great multitude of God’s redeemed ones who come out of tribulation, and they are standing before the throne of God and before the Lamb with palm branches in their hands. Palm branches signify our victory over tribulation, which we have undergone for the Lord’s sake (John 12:13; Exo. 15:27).
The fact that they have palm branches in their hands is also a sign of satisfaction through being watered.
On the negative side, we pass through many tribulations; even though we are a people of enjoyment, a people who enjoy the Lord and exercise their spirit to partake of His riches in spirit, on the physical side, we’re a suffering people.
But praise the Lord, one day, we will triumphantly come out of the great tribulation and we will stand before the Lamb with palm branches in our hands! The One who sits on the throne will tabernacle over us, overshadowing us with Himself as the One who is embodied in Christ (John 1:14).
And we will not thirst anymore nor shall we hunger, for the Lamb who is the midst of the throne will shepherd us and guide us to springs of waters of life.
In the Triune God as the temple of God, we will serve Him day and night to enjoy Him as the eternal feast of Tabernacles and to flourish in life like the palm tree (Rev. 7:15a; 3:12; Lev. 23:40; Neh. 8:15; Psa. 92:12-13; John 7:2, 37-39; Rom. 1:9; Col. 2:19). Praise the Lord, what a glorious destiny we have!
Lord Jesus, thank You for making us Your testimony today. Hallelujah, we are the great multitude serving God in the temple! Praise the Lord, even though today we pass through hardships, difficulties, persecutions, and tribulations, one day we will come out of every tribulation and we will stand before the throne of God and of the Lamb with palm branches in our hands! Amen, Lord, we come to You today; we wash our robes in the blood of the Lamb. Cleanse us and wash us afresh today. Thank You for purchasing us with the blood of the Lamb from every nation, tribe, people, and tongue to be the constituents of the church! Amen, Lord, we wash our robes and make them white in the blood of the Lamb today! Praise the Lord, the blood of Jesus washes us, cleanses us, and also answers before God all the accusations of the devil against us, giving us the victory over him! Amen, Lord, we wash our robes, we eat the tree of life, and we enter by the gates into the city to enjoy God’s eternal blessings!
Our Service in Time today is a Preparation for our Service in Eternity: Receiving God, Enjoying God, and Dispensing God is our Service!
What is our real service to God? How can we learn to serve God? For eternity, we will serve God; how are we learning to serve God? Many think that it is by doing many works for God outwardly that we learn to serve God for eternity.
What does it mean for us to serve God? What is our real service to God? We need to realise that today we as believers in Christ are saved by God to serve God.
Serving God, however, does not mean that we have to labour and work really hard for God, putting ourselves aside and doing this and that for the Lord. This is a natural understanding of service.
We serve God today by enjoying God. God gives us things, and we need to be faithful over the things that He has entrusted us (Matt. 25:19-23).
Our service today is a preparation for our service in eternity. God’s only goal in time is to dispense Himself into us day by day (John 7:37-39).
In the Lord’s living on earth, He served God; His main service was not just to do miracles or speak the word of God but to be open to God, receive God, enjoy God, and dispense God.
Our service in time today is a preparation for our service in eternity; our service to God in essence, is receiving God, enjoying God, and dispensing God.
May we open to the Lord to receive spiritual training and education today so that we may learn how to serve God.
We need to serve God today by receiving God, enjoying God, and dispensing God. If we are faithful today to enjoy God, receive God, and also dispense God, we will know how to serve God in eternity. When God comes into us and comes out of us, that is service.
We need to open to the Lord today to enjoy Him. We need to learn to enjoy the Lord and receive Him. So many times we are full, too full for us to enjoy the Lord and receive Him; the Lord, therefore, cannot dispense Himself into us.
May we see that today in time we are learning to open to the Lord and receive His divine dispensing. May we learn to serve God today; may we learn to receive God, enjoy God, and dispense God.
We will serve God day and night; we will serve Him by being open to Him, enjoying Him, receiving Him, and dispensing Him into others.
If we are open vessels to the Lord, receiving and dispensing God, we will be prepared to serve Him in eternity.
As we see in Revelation 22:3, we will serve God in eternity; this is not mainly doing things for God or arranging this or that in the church.
Our real service, even as we take care of many practical matters in the church life and in the family life, is to be open to the Lord, receive His divine dispensing, and learn to minister Him to others.
We need to take care of this and that, we need to help with the children or the young ones, we need to visit the new ones or the backslidden ones, but in all these things, our real service is to let God come into us and come out of us.
When we receive more of God and dispense God into others, that is our real service to God.
And when we continually do this, we are being prepared to serve God in eternity. For eternity. God will dispense Himself into us and also through us into others.
Lord Jesus, we open to Your divine dispensing today. We open to learn to serve You. Save us from merely doing many things outwardly for You without enjoying You. Oh Lord, may we see that our service in time is a preparation for our service in eternity. May we realise that God’s only goal in time is to dispense Himself into us day by day. Amen, Lord, we open to Your divine dispensing. We open to receive more of You into our being. Dispense Yourself into our mind, emotion, and will. We open our inner being to You; dispense Yourself into all the parts of our inner being. May we learn to serve God today by being open vessels to God for His divine dispensing! Hallelujah, when God comes into us and comes out of us, that is service! Amen, Lord, may we learn to serve God today by being open to God’s divine dispensing, enjoying Christ, receiving Christ, and dispensing Christ into others also! May this be the essence of our service! Oh, praise the Lord, for eternity we will serve the Lord!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by brother Minoru Chen on this topic, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1975-1976, vol. 1, “The Testimony of Jesus,” chs. 9-11, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Experiencing, Enjoying, and Expressing Christ (4) (2025 December Training), week 37 (msg. 1), The Faithful Witness of God for the Testimony of Jesus – day 5.
- Hymns on this topic:
– We are washing all our robes the tree of life to eat; / “O Lord, Amen, Hallelujah!”—Jesus is so sweet! / We our spirits exercise, and thus experience Christ. / What a Christ have we! (Hymns #1151 stanza 3)
– There is a fountain filled with blood / Drawn from Immanuel’s veins; / And sinners, plunged beneath that flood, / Lose all their guilty stains: / Lose all their guilty stains, / Lose all their guilty stains; / And sinners, plunged beneath that flood, / Lose all their guilty stains. (Hymns #1006 stanza 1)
– O now I see the cleansing wave! / The fountain deep and wide; / Jesus, my Lord, mighty to save, / Points to His wounded side. / The cleansing stream I see, I see; / I plunge, and O it cleanseth me! / O praise the Lord it cleanseth me! / It cleanseth me, yes, cleanseth me. (Hymns #1010 stanza 1 and chorus)
