Overcome by the Blood of the Lamb, the Word of our Testimony, and Not Loving our Soul-life

Hallelujah, we can overcome by the blood of the Lamb, by the word of our testimony, and by not loving our soul-life even unto death!

The man-child consists of the overcomers who stand on behalf of the church, taking the position that the whole church should take, and do the work of the church; the man-child in Rev. 12 is the stronger part, a collective unit fighting the battle for God and bringing God’s kingdom down to earth.

When the Lord Jesus died on the cross, judgment was pronounced on Satan, and Christ destroyed him on the cross.

However, the carrying out of this judgment is by the church; unfortunately, as seen throughout church history, the church as a whole has failed God and has become degraded.

In Rev. 2-3, we see how the Lord speaks to the seven churches in Asia; at the end of each epistle, He calls the overcomers. Toward the end of the age of the church, what the Lord is looking for is the overcomers, the components of the man-child, those who see God’s purpose, are joined to God, and do the work of the church on behalf of the church.

In Rev. 12 we see that the great bright universal woman was in travail to deliver a man-child; the great woman signifies the totality of God’s people throughout the ages, and the man-child signifies the overcomers, the stronger part of the woman.

The great dragon, Satan, is waiting for the woman to deliver the man-child to eat it; this signifies that Satan wants to destroy the overcomers.

But as soon as the man-child is born, he is taken to heaven to the throne of God, and there’s war in heaven; the result is that the dragon and his armies are cast to the earth, and soon the kingdom is brought in.

The event that causes all these is the producing, the bringing forth of the man-child; once the man-child comes into being and is raptured, the enemy is defeated and the kingdom is brought in.

We need to be part of the stronger ones, those who overcome in this age, so that we may be not only in the church in a general way, part of the people of God, but part of the overcoming ones who return with the Lord to deal with the enemy and bring in the kingdom of God.

For us to be part of the man-child, we need to enjoy the Lord more, read the Word more, have many dealings with the Lord, and be serious regarding the Lord and His kingdom. We need to love the Lord and His economy, and we need to live in the Body, keeping every principle of the Body.

Our daily living should be in contact with the Lord, touching Him, enjoying Him, and even living Him.

May we live in spirit, by the spirit, through the Spirit in our spirit, always being on guard against the enemy’s attacks, and may we live in the Body, fighting the battle in the Body and for the Body.

The Overcomers Stand on Behalf of the Church and do the Work of the Church to Fulfill God’s Economy

The man-child consists of the overcomers who stand on behalf of the church, taking the position that the whole church should take; they do the work of the church on behalf of the church (Rev. 2:7b, 11b, 17b, 26-28; 3:5, 12, 21; 12:5, 11).

God’s desire is that the entire church would do a particular work, which is to deal with the enemy and bring in the kingdom of God, but the church as a whole has failed God and has degraded; therefore, God calls the overcomers.

In each of the seven churches in Rev. 2-3, the Lord calls for the overcomers. It is one thing to be in the church and enjoy the church life, but it is another thing to be an overcomer in the church; it is not guaranteed that, if you are in the church life you will be an overcomer, but the church life gives you the best opportunity to become an overcomer.

We need to see not only the meaning of the human life but the central meaning of being a believer, that is, to be an overcomer living in the principle of the man-child.

An overcomer is not a super-Christian but a normal Christian who loves the Lord. Again and again, the Lord calls for His overcomers.

All of God’s people should have a part in His eternal purpose, but not all of them assume their rightful responsibility; therefore, God chooses a group from among them – the man-child brought forth by the woman.

In a sense, overcoming is individual, for we cannot overcome for others – we can only overcome for ourselves and be an overcomer ourselves.

However, overcoming is corporate, for the Lord is gaining a corporate group of overcomers, the man-child; we need to overcome in the Body and for the Body, realizing that our overcoming is not for ourselves to be a better Christian but for the building up of the church as the Body of Christ.

In the Bible, the stronger ones among God’s people are considered a collective unit fighting the battle for God and bringing in God’s kingdom down to earth (Rev. 12:5, 10-11).

This is what God wants: a collective unit, the group of overcomers who are the constituents of Christ’s overcoming bride, those who live in the reality of the Body of Christ today.

They do everything in the Body, for the Body, and through the Body, keeping every principle of the Body. God will use the man-child to fulfill His economy and to accomplish His purpose (1 Tim. 1:4; 2 Tim. 1:9; Eph. 1:9, 11; 3:11); the church should have done this, but the church as a whole has failed God, so the man-child does this on behalf of the church and for the church. T

oday God needs to gain the man-child to defeat His enemy and to bring in His kingdom so that His eternal purpose might be accomplished. In the Lord’s recovery, we have the practicality of God’s economy today, and His economy can be carried out only by the man-child (Rev. 12:10).

Before we came into the church life in the Lord’s recovery, we may have been born again for a long time, but we didn’t know about God’s economy; once we come into the church life, we realize that God has a need, He has an economy, and we are here not for our needs to be met but for God’s need to be met and for His economy to be carried out.

We do need God to meet our need, otherwise, we can’t meet His need; however, the focus is not our need but rather, His need!

This is why the Lord needs the man-child; when the man-child is brought forth and raptured, there’s a transaction that causes Satan to have no more position in heaven (Rev. 12:5, 7-10).

May we be those who live in the principle of the man-child today so that we may be raptured together to fulfill God’s need by executing His judgment upon His enemy! Amen!

Yes, God did pronounce His judgment on the enemy in Gen. 3:15, and Christ accomplished it on the cross, but the carrying out of God’s judgment has to be done by the man-child.

After a judge sentences the criminal, he doesn’t carry out the execution himself but others do it; similarly, the Lord pronounced the judgment, but the carrying out of the execution is done by the man-child.

God wants His created beings – man – to deal with His created being – Satan and the fallen angels. May we live in the principle of the man-child today so that we may be able to cooperate with God to deal with His enemy and bring in His kingdom!

Lord Jesus, make us those who see God’s purpose and His need, are joined to Him in His desire, and stand on behalf of the church, taking the position that the whole church should take, and do the work of the church. Amen, Lord, may we be those who live in the principle of the man-child today; may we be the overcoming ones answering Your call in the churches. We love You, Lord Jesus, and we love Your economy. Gain us as part of Your collective unit fighting the battle for God and bringing God’s kingdom down to earth. Amen, Lord, it is Your need to gain the man-child to defeat Your enemy and to bring in Your kingdom – do it in us and with us, Lord! We give ourselves to You!

We Overcome because of the Blood of Christ, the Word of our Testimony, and by Not loving our Soul-Life

According to Rev. 12:10-11, those who constitute the man-child overcome the devil because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they love not their soul-life even unto death.

The enemy is the devil, the accuser, the slanderer; he is Satan, the adversary of God, always accusing us before God, and he also accuses God before us and he accuses others to us.

This is his full-time job; he accuses us before our God day and night. He accused Adam and Eve, he accused God before them, and his job is to accuse others and lie about God and about others.

He may even tell us that it is too late for us, that we can’t be an overcomer. But praise the Lord, we can overcome the accuser by the blood of the Lamb!

We can overcome the enemy not because we are a perfect brother or sister but by employing the perfect blood of Christ!

This blood is perfect, and every day we can apply the cleansing blood of Christ.

And this blood not only cleanses us and washes us from our sin, but it is also the blood of the covenant – it brings us into the enjoyment of all that God is!

When we confess our sins, He is faithful and righteous to forgive us of our sins and cleanse us from all unrighteousness (1 John 1:7-9).

The blood of Christ cleanses us and also ushers us into the Holy of Holies, to enter into our spirit where God dwells; here we can enjoy God and have God infused into us.

The ultimate purpose and application of the blood of Christ are for us to enter into God so that we may be infused with God; the result is that we are united, mingled, and incorporated with God for His glory, His corporate expression in the universe.

We can overcome the accuser by the word of our testimony; this means that we should declare the divine facts.

We need to read the Bible every day, pray over the word of God, make the word of God ours by means of prayer, petitions, and careful consideration.

We should declare the divine facts in the word; we shouldn’t stand with what we feel, what we perceive as being our condition, or what we see around us or in us – we should simply speak the word of God.

God is rich, immensely rich, and He has bequeathed to us all that He is, all He has done, and all that He has accomplished – it’s all in the word of God for us to enjoy, eat, partake of, stand on, and declare!

No matter how we feel, we can declare in faith that we were raised together with Christ, we are seated with Him in the heavenlies, and we share in His ascension and enthronement! Hallelujah!

When we come to the meeting we may not feel that happy but may be quite tired or even down; however, as we call on the Lord’s name, pray over His word, sing, and praise the Lord, we are infused with the riches of Christ, we declare the word of our testimony, and we overcome the enemy!

The top word of our testimony is to declare that Jesus Christ is Lord! When we call on His name, Lord Jesus, we declare that He is Lord and that He is our Lord! Amen!

We also overcome the enemy by not loving our soul-life even unto death; our soul-life is our natural life, the life of the soul apart from the life of God. We should love the Lord more than we love our soul, even more than we love our own person.

May the Lord have mercy on us to shine and expose the life of the soul so that we may not love it but deny it, loving the Lord much more.

We may want to do a particular matter but the Lord shines on us that it is the soul-life being expressed, and we just love the Lord and we drop that matter.

This is to be willing to be martyred, suffering martyrdom in our soul for the Lord’s sake. In our coordination meetings with the saints, we need to be willing to put down our feelings and ideas, and just go along with others to gain Christ and keep the oneness. Amen!

May we learn to be those who overcome the enemy by the blood of the Lamb, by the word of our testimony, and by not loving our soul-life even unto death!

The entire being of the man-child is saturated and permeated with the element of Christ; the overcomers are daily strengthened into their inner man so that Christ may build Himself into their hearts, and they are nourished with the unsearchable riches of Christ, putting on Christ as the whole armor of God (Eph. 3:16-18, 8; 6:10-11). Amen!

May we pray to be daily strengthened into the inner man so that we may allow Christ to make His home in our heart through faith, with the result that we corporately are filled unto all the fullness of God, for Him to gain the glory in the church!

Glory is God expressed; for God to be expressed in the church we need to start by being strengthened into our spirit every day.

May we stay in the Body, enjoy the riches of Christ in the Body, be nourished with Christ in the Body, and put on Christ as the whole armor of God in the Body!

Praise the Lord, we can overcome the devil because of the blood of the Lamb, because of the word of our testimony, and by not loving our soul-life even unto death! Amen, Lord, we take Your blood – cleanse us and wash us from all unrighteousness, and bring us fully into the enjoyment of Your riches according to the new covenant. We come to Your word, Lord, and we stand on Your promises; we do not believe in our feelings – we declare the word of God, the spiritual facts, the word of our testimony! Amen, Lord Jesus, we love You more than we love our soul-life; we are willing to put aside our soul-life so that we may gain You, enjoy You, experience You, and defeat Your enemy! Strengthen us, Lord, into our inner man so that Christ may build Himself into our hearts, we may be nourished with the unsearchable riches of Christ, and we would put Christ as the whole armor of God!

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, Collected Works of Watchman Nee, vol. 34, “The Glorious Church,” ch. 4, 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.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – By the blood of Christ the Victor / Overcome the enemy; / By its virtue and its power / You will win the victory. (Hymns #889)
  – Eating gives the manchild birth, / Eating brings the Lord to earth; / Eat Him now midst all the dearth— / Overcome! / Be the manchild Christ requires, / Thus the church that He desires, / Then the Bride that He admires— / Overcome! (Hymns #1273)
  – The vict’ry’s won! We’ve overcome the enemy. / The Word of God we boldly testify. / God speaks His Word—in it there’s life and liberty— / And by the Word the devil we defy. (Hymns #1289)