The man-child spoken of in Rev. 12 is not only Christ as the First Overcomer but Christ with His overcomers, for He is the Head, the life, center, and nature of the man-child, and the overcoming believers are part of the overcoming man-child.
What the Lord is after today is the overcomers, for the church as a whole has become degraded; He wants to gain a group of people who accomplish His purpose and carry out His economy; these ones are not “special” in the sense of being super-Christians, but they are special in the sense that they cooperate with God to do a special work to end this age.
We have to admit that we live in the most privileged time in which we can do the most for God; if we just open to Him, come to Him in His Word, and allow Him to infuse us with His heart’s desire, we will be joined to Him, and in oneness with Him, we can be the overcomers that He desires to obtain.
May we not think we know this, we have enjoyed this, we have so much, and we are rich; rather, may we come to the Lord, pay the price to gain the Triune God every day, and be the overcomers which He desires to gain.
God is about to do the greatest dispensational move, a move that will close the age of the church and will bring in the age of the kingdom; all outward signs and situations point to this, and the Lord only needs the cooperation of His people to do it.
Even though our God is almighty, great, and can do whatever He wants, in the matter of His work in this age and the work among men, He has limited Himself to the cooperation of His people; if His people cooperate with Him, He will do what He wants to do, but if they do not pray, He is delayed.
If the overcomers are not prepared in these days if the Lord doesn’t gain the overcomers with and among us, He will be delayed from changing the age.
In Rev. 12 we see how the man-child was brought forth, was raptured to heaven, and immediately Satan was cast to the earth, and there was a declaration in heaven that the kingdom has come.
Hallelujah, once God gains the man-child, it is raptured to God, and things happen in heaven and on earth to end this age, deal with the enemy, and bring in the kingdom of God.
Satan started as a serpent in Gen. 3, but by Rev. 12 he has become a great dragon, for he has been eating dust, the flesh of men throughout the ages.
The people of God are being consummated in a great, universal, bright woman, who is in birth pangs, for there’s a man-child about to be born.
On the cross, Christ has created the new man, but this new man is still being brought forth, and much pain and travail are involved until Christ is formed in the saints so that the new man would be real on earth.
From the Totality of God’s People comes the Seed of the Woman, the Man-child, to Carry out God’s Judgment and Bring in the Kingdom Age
Due to the fact that the church has not attained to God’s purpose, God is looking for a group of overcomers who will attain to His purpose and fulfill His demand; this is the principle of the man-child (Rev. 12:1-11; 2:7, 11, 17, 26-28; 3:5, 12, 20-21).
We want to live in the principle of the manchild, being part of the group of overcomers constituting the Lord’s overcoming bride.
The enemy lies to us, telling us that we can’t be an overcomer; he tells us to look at ourselves, at our condition, and at our situation, because he knows that if he deceives us in this way, we may be discouraged.
But we should not take the lie from Satan; we should not believe what he says, for the Lord calls His overcomers, and we are all qualified to be His overcomers if we cooperate with the Lord.
Again and again, in Rev. 2-3, we see that the Lord calls His overcomers in the churches.
The book of Revelation is concerning the overcomers, from ch. 1 to ch. 20, and chs. 21-22 shows that we all become the New Jerusalem as the wife of the Lamb – by that time everyone has become an overcomer, even those who did not overcome and did not enter the marriage feast of the Lamb.
After the fall of man in Gen. 2, God came in to pronounce the judgment over Satan, the serpent, and He also made a promise: the seed of the woman will bruise him on the head, and the serpent will bruise him on the heel (Gen. 3:15).
The seed of the woman, ultimately, is included in the universal bright woman in Rev. 12:1-11); the seed of the woman is enlarged to include the overcoming believers, the stronger part of God’s people, signified by the man-child.
The universal bright woman in Rev. 12 represents the totality of God’s people; the man-child who is about to be brought forth is the enlargement of the seed of the woman in Gen. 3:15.
On one hand, the seed of the woman is Christ, for the Lord came as One born not of a man but of a woman, and He destroyed Satan on the cross, bruising his head.
The incarnated Christ was the seed of the woman; when He entered into resurrection, He was transfigured to be the life-giving Spirit to be dispensed into us and make us His reproduction and duplication.
By believing into the Lord Jesus, we received the life-giving Spirit in our spirit, and we become part of the corporate seed of the woman to destroy the enemy and bring in the kingdom of God.
The resurrected Christ as the life-giving Spirit is the transfigured descendant of the woman, the seed of the woman; as such a One, He is being dispensed into us to bruise the serpent’s head in us and to also make us the corporate seed of the woman! Hallelujah!
Christ as the seed of the woman is being dispensed into us to bruise in us the serpent’s head and also to make us the overcoming man-child, the corporate seed of the woman, so that we may carry out God’s judgment on the ancient serpent and to be God’s dispensational instrument to change the age and usher in the manifestation of the kingdom.
May we cooperate with the Lord to be produced as the overcoming ones, those who are one with Him as the seed of the woman to be the stronger part of the woman, the man-child, to defeat the enemy and bring in the age of the kingdom.
The entire body of God’s people is typified by the great bright woman in Rev. 12; from among them there’s a stronger part – woman signifies the weaker part, and man signifies the stronger part – the overcomers, the man-child.
Since the woman is a corporate entity, the man-child is also corporate; on one hand, Christ is the Overcomer, and on the other hand, He is dispensing Himself into His believers to produce them as the overcomers.
May we be those who cooperate with the Lord to be His overcomers today, those living in the principle of the man-child!
Hallelujah, the resurrected Christ as the life-giving Spirit is the transfigured descendant of the woman, the seed of the woman! Amen, Lord, dispense Yourself into us to bruise the serpent’s head in us and make us the corporate seed of the woman, the overcoming man-child! We open to You, dear Lord, and we allow You work Yourself into us to produce us as the overcomers. Gain what You are after in us. Make us the stronger part of the woman, the overcoming man-child, the corporate entity You are after who will carry out God’s judgment on Satan and who will be God’s dispensational instrument to change the age and usher in the manifestation of God’s kingdom! Amen, Lord, do this in us! Gain the overcoming man-child!
Christ the Head is the Leading Overcomer and the Overcoming Man-child is the Body of the Overcoming Christ
When the Bible speaks of Christ being the Overcomer, of the overcoming believers, and of the man-child, some specific matters are being mentioned, and it is quite amazing to see that these matters are quite similar.
Psa. 2:8-9 prophesies that the Lord Jesus, God’s Anointed One, will rule the nations with a rod of iron.
In Rev. 2:26-27, we see that the overcomers in the churches will rule over the nations with a rod of iron.
Furthermore, Rev. 12:5 says that the man-child will rule all the nations with a rod of iron. So both the Lord Jesus, His overcomers, and the man-child will rule with a rod of iron.
The man-child in Rev. 12:5 includes both the Lord Jesus and the overcomers in the churches.
We can say that Christ Himself as the Head of the Body is the leading overcomer, and the overcoming man-child (composed of all the overcomers) is the Body of this overcoming Christ.
In Rev. 20:4 we are told that Christ and the resurrected overcomers will reign as kings for a thousand years.
Hallelujah, Christ as the Head, the foremost Overcomer (Rev. 3:21), the leading Overcomer, and we are being produced to be His many overcomers, the overcoming man-child!
Christ as the leading overcomer is the Head, the center, the life, the reality, and the nature of the overcomers, and He is being dispensed into us to make us His overcoming ones, part of the overcoming man-child.
The man-child, the development of the seed of the woman prophesied in Gen. 3:15, includes not only the Lord Jesus as the foremost Overcomer, but also all the overcomers.
On one hand, we as believers in Christ are part of the great bright woman, the totality of God’s people.
On the other hand, we want to be part of the seed of the woman, the overcoming man-child, taking God as our source and trusting in God.
As we trust in God, we can become source; only the seed of the source trusting in God can be strong – strong not in themselves but in God.
The Lord Jesus took the lead to be such a person; He is the Head of the man-child, and He is also the life, center, reality, and nature of the man-child.
And we are being produced to be the overcoming man-child, the overcomers today who cooperate with God for His purpose. He wants to execute God’s judgment on the serpent (who has now become the great dragon and fights against God’s people, especially against the overcomers) and He wants to bring in the kingdom of God, the age of the kingdom.
The man-child is a corporate entity that will both defeat God’s enemy and be the dispensational instrument to end this age and bring the age of the kingdom.
Hallelujah, Christ as the Overcomer is in our spirit; He is not only perfecting us outwardly through all kinds of situations, environments, and things, but He lives in our spirit!
Whenever we turn to the Lord to contact Him, we contact the unique, leading Overcomer!
Just as He overcame and was given to sit on the throne of God (Rev. 3:21), so He wants us to overcome and sit with Him on the throne.
He is the transfigured seed of the woman in our spirit; as we contact Him, open to Him, and love Him, He saturates us and He prepares us to be the man-child, those who live in the principle of the man-child, to be part of the Lord’s overcoming bride!
Hallelujah, the Overcomer is in our spirit, and every time we contact Him, He dispenses Himself into us and perfects us to be part of the overcoming man-child to fulfill His purpose! Amen, Lord, we open to You; You are the transfigured seed of the woman who has already overcome and is sitting on the throne! Make us Your overcomers! Make us part of the overcoming bride who brings You back, defeats the enemy, and brings in the age of the kingdom! Bruise in us the serpent’s head and produce us as Your overcomers who will rule the nations with an iron rod. Amen, Lord, make us the Body of the overcoming Christ! We want to live in the principle of the man-child today so that You may have a way to destroy Your enemy and end this age to bring in the age of the kingdom!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Ed Marks for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Genesis, msgs. 19-20 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Christian Life, the Church Life, the Consummation of the Age, and the Coming of the Lord (2020 fall ITERO), week 8, Having Dispensational Value to God in the Last Days to Turn the Age.
- Further reading: recommending the article, The Principle of the Man-child, via Affirmation and Critique.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Be the manchild Christ requires, / Thus the church that He desires, / Then the Bride that He admires— / Overcome! (Hymns #1273)
– Come, Desire of nations, come! / Fix in us Thy humble home: / Rise, the woman’s conqu’ring seed, / Bruise in us the serpent’s head; / Adam’s likeness now efface, / Stamp Thine image in its place: / Final Adam from above, / Reinstate us in Thy love. (Hymns #84)
– Lord, Thou art the “Seed of woman,” / Born to bruise the enemy; / Thou didst take the human nature, / Die to win the victory. / As the very God incarnate, / Flesh and blood Thou didst partake; / Thou thru death hast crushed the devil / And his pow’r of death didst break. (Hymns #191)
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