The Testimony of Jesus is the Great Multitude and the Bright Woman with her Man-child

In the book of Revelation, the last book of the Bible, we see a revelation of Christ (the word of God) and the church (the testimony of Jesus).

Regarding the church as the testimony of Jesus, in Revelation we see eight main aspects: the seven golden lampstands, the great multitude before the throne, the great universal woman with the manchild, the firstfruits of the harvest, the overcomers on the glassy sea, the bride of the Lamb, the bridal army, and the New Jerusalem.

In chapter 7 of Revelation, we see that there’s a great multitude serving God in the temple, who passed through tribulation but now are victorious, enjoying God’s care and the Lamb’s shepherding (Rev. 7:9-17). Today we go through sufferings and tribulations, and in our soul we are suffering. In our spirit, we enjoy Christ, but in our soul, many times we suffer.

But one day the Lord will be our full satisfaction, shield, and comfort, and He will shepherd us. In Revelation 12 we see a bright woman who is about to give birth, and the great dragon is waiting for the delivery of the baby boy so that he may eat him; however, this manchild will defeat the dragon and cast him down (see Rev. 12:1-17).

The church as the testimony of Jesus is the great universal bright woman, and within the church, there’s a stronger part being produced, the overcomers, who will cooperate with the Lord as the stronger part of the woman to defeat God’s enemy. In this blog post we will get into more detail concerning these two aspects of the church as the testimony of Jesus.

The Church as the Testimony of Jesus is the Great Multitude in Rev. 7:9-17

In Rev. 7:9-17 we see that there’s a great multitude before God’s throne: people out of every nation and all tribes and peoples and tongues, clothed in white robes and with palm branches in their hands.

This multitude refers to all the redeemed ones of God throughout the ages who experience tribulations, persecutions, and sufferings. In the world today we exercise our spirit to enjoy the Lord, but the world always afflicts us and persecutes us (John 16:33).

However, all the believers in Christ are an innumerable multitude who will be standing before the throne of God and of the Lamb, with palm branches in their hand – we are victorious over tribulation! This great multitude consists of all those who have been purchased by the blood of the Lamb from every tribe, nation, people, and tongue to be the constituents of the church (see Rev. 7:9a; 5:9; Rom. 11:25; Acts 15:14, 19; 1 Cor. 6:19-20).

We will be shepherded by the Lamb who is in the midst of the throne, who will guide us to springs of the water of life (Rev. 7:17). Under the Lord’s shepherding, we will lack nothing (Psa. 23:1) – we will no longer hunger or thirst, Christ will overshadow us with Himself, and we will be led by Him to springs of water of life.

This is not something that we will enjoy only in the future: even today, we need Christ to shepherd us and feed us all the time, and He as the Lamb of God is feeding us as His lambs with His experience (see Psa. 23:2-6; Rev. 22:1). We can today live the life of a God-man because Christ as the Lamb is our supply, feeding us constantly so that we can go through anything we face.

The Lord didn’t promise us that only in the future we will be satisfied: He says, Come to Me, and I will give you rest (Matt. 11:28), and, Whoever drinks of the water I will give him shall never thirst anymore (John 4:14). Everyone who believes into the Lord will be satisfied and will have a satisfying life.

The world may satisfy us for just a moment, but it cannot satisfy us forever. Only Christ can satisfy, and He gives us living water which satisfies us forever! We don’t need to “wait until we go to heaven” to be satisfied; today the Lord can satisfy our heart as much as He will satisfy it in that day! Just come to Him and drink!

Also, He is our shelter, security, secret place, and helmet of salvation. There are all kinds of heat, bombarding, and tribulation out there, but Christ is our shelter. He is also our shepherd: God leads us into His presence and the Lamb shepherds us! What a restful enjoyment this is!

We need to forget about trying to improve ourselves: just come to the Lord today and let Him shepherd you, satisfy you, and be your shelter.

The Church as the Testimony of Jesus is the Bright Woman with Her Man-child in Rev. 12:1-17

In Revelation 12:1-17 we have the sign of a universal bright woman clothed with the sun, having the moon beneath her feet, and wearing a crown of stars on her head.

With the lampstands there’s night and dark all around, but with this woman there’s no night: she is bright, wonderful, universal, and heavenly!

The church as the testimony of Jesus is typified by this bright universal woman; the church has a heavenly nature, position, and disposition, and it is full of light with nothing of the world or of darkness. Everything about the church is heavenly and bright!

If we still enjoy the things of this earth and are earthly, Satan can feed on us as his food (see Gen. 3:14), but when we set our mind on the things above where Christ is, we become heavenly and we are full of light!

Brother Witness Lee says this to say concerning this woman,

The wonderful, bright woman [in Revelation 12] has no covering, shadow, or darkness. Everything is in the bright open air. This kind of church is a victorious one. In this sense, there is no need for the church to fight against Satan; Satan is already defeated and cast down, and the kingdom of Christ is brought in. This woman is heavenly, bright, frank, and thoroughly crystal clear. It is from such a wonderful church that the man-child is brought forth (v. 5a). (The Testimony of Jesus, pp. 105-106)

Furthermore, there’s the man-child, the stronger part of the woman. The woman is persecuted and chased after by the great dragon (who wants to kill her child), but the manchild will be raptured to the throne of God before the tribulation (Rev. 12:5-6).

Within the church as the woman of Christ (a bright woman yet a weaker vessel) there’s a stronger part, the man-child, the overcomers, which the Lord desires to gain and rapture so that they would fight with Him and cast Satan down to earth. Many members of the Body failed to execute Christ’s victory over the enemy, and so Christ is calling the overcomers, the stronger part of the woman, to accomplish this job.

The people of God who produce the overcomers (the man-child) are full of light, showing that God’s overcoming people are light-bearers, shining through all generations (see Rev. 12:1-5; S. S. 6:10; Prov. 4:18; cf. Gen. 1:16-17). Christ is the light of the world (John 8:12), and by enjoying Him and being filled with Him we also become the light of the world (Matt. 5:14).

The way for us today to be the man-child, the overcomers who cooperate with Christ to fight against His enemy and usher in His kingdom, is by being strengthened into the inner man with power by God through His Spirit (Eph. 3:16) so that we may be empowered to experience the riches of Christ TOGETHER with all the saints (Eph. 3:18).

Also, we need to be made strong by putting on the armour of God (Eph. 6:10-11) and by pray-reading the killing word (Eph. 6:17-18; Rev. 1:16; 19:13-15). Too many of us are in the church life in a general way but connected with no one; we need to be strengthened into our inner man so that we may be full of strength together to be the man-child, the overcomers the Lord desires today!

We overcome the enemy not because of what we are or do in ourselves, but because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of our testimony and by not loving our soul-life even unto death (Rev. 12:11). The church as the testimony of Jesus is the bright universal woman together with her man-child; what a testimony this is to the Lord!

Thank You Lord for redeeming us and making us Your people. We come to You to enjoy You in our spirit today. Lord, You are our only satisfaction, comfort, rest, and Shepherd. Shepherd us to waters of rest, and be our inward satisfaction and peace. Lord, as Your wife-to-be we tell You that we love You. Produce us as Your overcomers, the man-child. Strengthen us into our inner man that we may be full of strength with all the saints! As the Body and on behalf of the Body of Christ we want to put the whole armor of God by pray-reading the word of God that the enemy within would be slain and the adversary without would be defeated!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Dick Taylor’s speaking in the message for this week, and portions from, The Testimony of Jesus (ch. 9), as quoted in, the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Mending Ministry of John, week 5 / msg 5, Christ’s Heavenly Priesthood Ministered to the Churches for the Producing of the Overcomers.
• Recommending the portions in Rev. 7:9-17 and Rev. 12:1-17 with all the footnotes in the Recovery Version (very enlightening).
• Hymns on this topic:
  # I bow my knees unto the Father / That He would grant you / To be strengthened with pow’r through His Spirit / Into the inner man. (New song on, Eph. 3:16-18)
  # Now is come salvation and strength / And the kingdom of our God / And the authority of His Christ: / For the accuser of our brethren is cast down / Which accused them before our God day and night. / And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, / And by the word of their testimony / And they loved not their soul lives unto death. / Therefore rejoice, rejoice, rejoice! (Hymns #1347)
  # 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)