Morning Nourishment - The Man-child, the War in Heaven, and the Overcoming Saints
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Day 6
Verses: Rev. 3:21 He who overcomes, to him I will give to sit with Me on My throne, as I also overcame and sat with My Father on His throne. 2:26-27…He who overcomes and he who keeps My works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations; and he will shepherd them with an iron rod… We need to be those who dine, who feast, with the Lord in this age so that we can sit on the throne with the Lord in the kingdom age. To sit with the Lord on His throne will be a prize to the overcomer that he may participate in the Lord’s authority in the coming millennial kingdom. This means that the overcomers will be co-kings with Christ ruling over the whole earth. Christ is on the throne, and they also will be on the throne. He has the authority, and they also will have the same authority to rule over the nations. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 4217-4218)
God’s intention is to work on man in order that man can be on the throne…His desire is to make us people of the throne. God’s kingdom cannot come in full until we are on the throne…God’s enemy will not be subdued until we are on the throne. God desires to bring us to the throne because of the rebellion of Satan against God’s throne (Isa. 14). If we read the Bible carefully, we will see that the greatest diffiiculty God faces in the universe is that His throne has been opposed and attacked by rebel forces. Through His crucifiixion, resurrection, and ascension, the Lord Jesus was brought to the throne.
A real man whose name is Jesus is on the throne. This is why we declare, “Jesus is Lord,” and this is why we call, “O Lord Jesus.” God has always been the Lord, but now a man is on the throne as the Lord. Through His resurrection and in His ascension, “God has made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus” (Acts 2:36). God has made Jesus, a Nazarene, the Lord, and now today the Lord of heaven and of earth is a man. It is not easy for us to realize that a man who could be crucifiied and buried could be the Lord of the universe.
When Judas and the multitude came to arrest Him, He did not run away. He willingly made Himself weak and allowed Himself to be arrested and crucifiied. In the words of 2 Corinthians 13:4, "He was crucifiied out of weakness." But after He was crucifiied and buried, God resurrected Him and set Him at His right hand, making Him the Lord of all the universe. Today the Lord of the universe is a man. We need to see that the Lord Jesus led the way to the throne. He was the Pioneer, the Forerunner (Heb. 6:20), cutting the path to the throne (2:10)…
He was the first one to the throne, and we will come after Him. Now we are marching to the throne, for God intends to bring us into glory and to set us on the throne. When we overcome, we will sit with Christ on His throne and have authority to reign with the Lord and rule over the nations. God’s mind is on man (v. 6), and He wants man to express Him and to exercise His authority. Man has God’s image and God’s dominion with His authority. God desires to manifest Himself through man, and He desires to reign, to administrate, through man.
God’s intention is to cast Satan down and to redeem many of those taken captive by Satan and bring them to His throne. God cannot receive the full glory until we are brought to the throne. One day we will be brought to the throne, and then God will be able to boast to Satan. He will triumphantly declare that His chosen ones, who had been taken captive by Satan, have been brought to the throne. However, we need to realize that in our present condition we may not be qualifiied to be on the throne—We have been called to be sons of God, and we are destined to be kings, but we need God to work in us and on us to qualify us for kingship. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 4218- 4220)
Day 1
Verses: Rev. 12:5 And she brought forth a son, a man-child, who is to shepherd all the nations with an iron rod; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne. 2:26-27 And he who overcomes and he who keeps My works until the end, to him I will give authority over the nations;…as I also have received from My Father. Revelation 12:2 says that the woman was with child, and verse 5 says that “she brought forth a son, a man-child.” ” The child here, being a man-child, signifies the stronger part of God's people—Man-child here does not indicate a baby. Rather, it indicates the stronger part within the woman. The woman represents the totality of God's people. But throughout all generations there have been some stronger ones among God's people. These are considered in the Bible as a collective unit fiighting the battle for God and bringing God's kingdom down to earth. (Life-study of Revelation, pp. 399-400)
History proves that not everyone among God's people is a strong one— This was true during the time of the patriarchs—I believe that God had hundreds of people. Noah, however, was a strong one. During the time of Israel, there were hundreds of thousands who belonged to God, but only a few of them were strong. For example, Elijah and Jeremiah were strong ones. Undoubtedly, the majority of God's people were genuine, but they were not strong. We find the same thing in the New Testament. Although there were thousands of Christians in the early days, not that many were truly strong. Even at present there are thousands, even millions, of Christians, but not many are strong. I encourage you all to be strong. We should not only be part of the woman but also part of the man-child— The man-child consists of the resurrected overcomers.
That the man-child "is to shepherd all the nations with an iron rod" (Rev. 12:5) indicates that the man-child consists of the overcomers as mentioned in 2:26-27. These overcomers are those who have already died. Revelation 12:5 says that the woman “brought forth” the man-child. Brought forth here signifies resurrection, as in Acts 13:33-34. The man-child is composed of the overcoming saints who have died and who have been resurrected. This is proved by the words unto death in Revelation 12:11. The Lord Jesus was brought forth in resurrection to be the firstborn Son of God.
To Him that was a birth. Acts 13:33 and 34, a quotation of Psalm 2:7, reveal that when He was resurrected, He was begotten as the firstborn Son of God. Prior to that, He was the only begotten Son of God with divinity, but through His resurrection He was begotten as the firstborn Son of God with both divinity and humanity. All the overcomers who die will be part of the man-child. By resurrection the man-child will come into full existence—If you are an overcomer today and live until the Lord comes back, you will not be a part of the man-child. Instead, you may be among the firstfruits mentioned in Revelation 14. But if you are an overcomer and die before the Lord comes back, you will be resurrected to be part of the man-child. Revelation 12:5 also says that the man-child "was caught up to God and to His throne."
To be caught up is to be raptured. The rapture of the man-child differs from that of the majority of the believers, which is mentioned in 1 Thessalonians 4:17. There, the majority of the believers are raptured to the air and at the last trumpet (1 Cor. 15:52; 1 Thes. 4:16), which is the seventh trumpet (Rev. 11:15). But here, the man-child is raptured to the throne of God and before the one thousand two hundred and sixty days, which is the time of the great tribulation of three and a half years (forty-two months, 12:14; 13:5; 11:2), beginning from the sixth seal, before the fiifth trumpet (9:1). (Life-study of Revelation, pp. 400, 405-406, 412-413)
Day 2
Verses: Rev. 12:7-9 And there was war in heaven: Michael and his angels went to war with the dragon. And the dragon warred and his angels. And they did not prevail, neither was their place found any longer in heaven. And the great dragon was cast down, the ancient serpent, he who is called the Devil and Satan, he who deceives the whole inhabited earth; he was cast to the earth… Immediately after the man-child is raptured to heaven, a war commences with Michael and his angels against Satan Rev. 12:7. This indicates that the man-child, the stronger part of God's people, is always engaged in fiighting God's enemy, Satan. The overcomers have been fiighting Satan continually, even unto death, and have defeated him on earth. But heaven is still waiting for them to arrive there so that a war may be waged to cast Satan out of heaven. (Life-study of Revelation, p. 430)
The Lord has shown us the most effective way to defeat the enemy. What we need to do is to take the covenant, the word of God, and preach to Satan regarding what the Lord has accomplished for us—When our temper is aroused, we should forget it and preach to Satan. Go to the source of the problem—Satan—and preach to him, saying, "Satan, you have been crucifiied on the cross." The more you preach to Satan, the more you will be released. When the man-child is delivered and is raptured to the throne, he will say, "Satan, you were defeated by me on earth. Are you still here hiding in the heavens"—Then the man-child will say, "Satan, you should no longer be here Get out"
As soon as this word is uttered by the man-child, Michael the archangel will lead all his angels to war against the dragon—God is waiting in the heavens for this executor. Who will be the executor? We, the man-child, will be the executor. Let us go there to preach to Satan. Before we can do this, however, we must first defeat him on earth. After defeating Satan on earth, we will fiight upward to heaven, and eventually, we will fiight downward to earth. Now as we confront Satan, we must give him many messages. Later, we will go to the heavens, meet him there, and preach to him again.
Then after he has been cast down to earth to damage it, we will descend and say to him, "Satan, are you still here Let me give you another sermon. Now is the time for you to go to the abyss.” Then after the millennium there will be the fourth sermon given to Satan. At that time Satan will instigate mankind to rebel against God. But we will say, "Satan, listen to us. This is our last sermon. Now you must go to your destination—the lake of fiire." If you would be qualifiied to participate in this, you must fiight now. Do not be indifferent. I hope—you will give a strong word to the enemy, saying, "Satan, you have deceived me for years—My eyes have been opened, and I see that I must no longer be indifferent.
Satan, you are not only God's enemy— you are also my enemy. From now on, I will be absolute for my Lord, and I will never listen to you."—If you preach to Satan like this, you will become another person and will probably soon be included in the stronger part of the woman. Begin now to be qualifiied, equipped, and perfected to be among those who will be raptured to heaven to execute judgment upon Satan. We must tell the enemy, "Satan, I will preach to you on earth today. Later, I will also give you a message in the heavens. After that, I will see you on earth and preach to you once more.
Finally, I will give you one more message, and then you will be cast into the lake of fiire." The rapture is not for our happiness; it is for God's purpose. Our God is waiting for the overcomers, the man-child, to go to heaven to execute His judgment upon the enemy. What a privilege it is to share in this The angels are not positioned to share this privilege, but we are. Now we have the ground to say, "Praise the Lord that I am in the position to be an overcomer" (Life-study of Revelation, pp. 430-431)
Day 3
Verses: John 12:31 Now is the judgment of this world; now shall the ruler of this world be cast out. Rev. 12:10 And I heard a loud voice in heaven, saying, Now has come the salvation and the power and the kingdom of our God and the authority of His Christ, for the accuser of our brothers has been cast down, who accuses them before our God day and night. As soon as the man-child is raptured to heaven, the war begins. When I was young, I sought to understand why this war will start immediately after the man-child is raptured to the throne. I also wanted to know why the man- child did not actually fiight but that the fiighting was done by Michael and his angels. The reason is that the man-child is the executor, and the executor does not need to fiight. Rather, he simply gives the word. After we, the executor, give the word, the angels who serve us will fiight for us—When we say, "Satan, go away," Michael will take the lead to fiight against him—Are you willing to be in the stronger part of the woman If you are, then you must learn to preach to Satan. Satan has constantly been troubling you, but after you decide to preach to him, he may run away, for he knows what you intend to do. Thus, you need to say, "Satan, don't go yet. You are not allowed to leave until I command you to do so. Stay here until I am through speaking to you." (Life-study of Revelation, pp. 431-432)
The angels are ready to war against the dragon. Michael might even be saying, "Man-child, come up here and give us the word. We'll carry it out." But if we would be qualifiied to be there in the heavens to execute judgment upon Satan, we must begin to execute the judgment upon him now on earth. Say, "Satan, I will not let you go. I will bind and defeat you." There will be war in heaven because of the man-child's rapture to heaven—The rapture is not only for us; it is for God's economy and for God's strategy. God's enemy is still in the heavens. This enemy has been judged, and his sentence has been pronounced, but during the past nineteen centuries God has not had those who could execute His sentence upon the enemy.
Satan, the enemy of God, was judged by the Lord Jesus on the cross (John 12:31; 16:11)—The war waged by the overcoming believers against Satan is actually the executing of the Lord's judgment upon him. Eventually, through their fiighting, he is cast out of heaven (Rev. 12:9).
Who will go to heaven to execute God's judgment and command the condemned, judged, and sentenced enemy to depart—The angels lack the position to do this because, being angels, they are on the same level as Satan who formerly was among them. God needs a man to accomplish this. This man has a Head—the man Jesus. He is the Head of the man-child, the Pioneer of all the overcomers. God needs such a man to execute His sentence upon Satan. God has been waiting a long time for this man.
We must be raptured to the heavens to fulfiill God's need—Religion is for human happiness, for having a good life in a merry land after we die. This thought is devilish. But, alas, this concept has infiiltrated all of Christianity— We need to be raptured to heaven not for our happiness but for the fulfiilling of God's purpose.
We must go there to execute God's judgment upon His enemy. God is waiting for this. After the man-child has been resurrected and raptured to heaven, he will not tolerate to see Satan in the heavens. Even today we should not tolerate to see Satan in the church but should fiight against him. If you fiight against Satan today, you will be qualifiied to fiight against him in the heavens.
After we have been raptured to the throne of God, we will see Satan, and he will be terrifiied of us. When we see him, we will not tolerate his presence there, and we will say, "Satan, are you still in our God's sanctuary This is not your place. Satan, you must go." (Life-study of Revelation, pp. 432, 428-429, 434)
Day 4
Verses: Rev. 12:11 And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony, and they loved not their soul-life even unto death. 1 John 1:7 …The blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from every sin. Any apparent condemnation that does not stop after we have confessed and applied the blood must be of the devil. Once we realize this, we should tell Satan, "Stop I will not confess anymore—This is not God's enlightenment—it is your accusation. I am not perfect, but you must realize that I am under the blood of the Lamb, and the blood is my perfection—I am one of the brothers who overcome you not because of my perfections but by the blood of my Redeemer.” None of us knows how much the blood implies. Only God knows this. The devil also knows more of what the blood implies than we do—Through experience we have come to see the power and authority of the blood of the Lamb. We must always apply the blood, telling the devil that although we are not perfect, we are under the perfect blood—Whether or not we know all that the blood implies, as long as we apply it, we will have all that it implies. (Life- study of Revelation, pp. 408-409)
How can we overcome the accusations of Satan The voice from heaven tells us, “They overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb.” The blood is the basis of victory, and it is the instrument to overcome Satan. He may accuse us, but we can answer that the blood of Jesus Christ, God's Son, cleanses us from every sin (1 John 1:7). "Every sin" means any sin, whether it is great or small. The blood of God's Son cleanses us from all of them. Satan may tell us that we are wrong, but we have the blood of the Lord Jesus. The blood of the Lord Jesus can cleanse us of our many sins. This is the Word of God.
We must not only reject the accusations which are without cause, but we must also reject all the accusations which have cause. When God's children have done something wrong, we need only the blood of Jesus, His Son, not the accusations of Satan—God's Word never speaks of the need for accusation after we have sinned—If we have confessed, then what more can be said If we have sinned and do not confess, then we deserve to be accused. But where there is no sin, there is no cause for accusation. We admit that we have sin. We do not say that we are without sin. But regardless of this, we do not accept the accusations of Satan. Before God we are clean because we have the precious blood. We should not believe in the accusations more than we believe in the precious blood—We must learn to trust in the blood of the Lamb.
"They overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb" Rev. 12:11. How precious are these words The brothers overcame him not because of their merit, their advancement, or their experience. They overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb. Whenever accusations come from Satan, we need to deal with them by the blood. Once we accept the blood, Satan's power will be nullifiied. All that we are depends on the blood, and we need the blood every day. Just as we depended upon the blood and trusted in the blood on the day we were saved, we must continue to depend upon the blood and trust in the blood from that day forward. The blood is our only foundation—We must never feel that we are being humble by receiving accusations day after day.
We must learn to overcome these accusations—The overcomers must know the value of the blood. Although we do not know the immense value of the blood, we can still say to the Lord, "O Lord, apply the blood on my behalf according to Your evaluation of it." We should deal with the power of Satan according to God's valuation of the blood, not according to our valuation of the blood. (CWWN, vol. 34, "The Glorious Church," pp. 86-87, 90)
Day 5
Verses: Rev. 12:11 And they overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb and because of the word of their testimony… 1 John 3:8 …For this purpose the Son of God was manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil. They also overcame the enemy by "the word of their testimony" Rev. 12:11. This is their word testifying that the devil has been judged by the Lord. Whenever we sense the devil's accusation, we should verbally testify how the Lord has already dealt with him—We need to testify not only to men but also to the demons, saying, "Demons, you must be reminded that Satan, your king, has been defeated by my Lord Jesus Christ. You should not be here troubling me." Along with testifying to the demons, you need to preach to Satan, saying, "Satan, don't you know that you have been crucifiied on the cross You have been judged, and your destination is the lake of fiire." This is the testimony of your verbal word. Do not simply keep these thoughts in your mind—you must utter them to Satan—I have preached to the demons and to Satan. That preaching was not for their repentance; it was a repellent—The demons are not afraid of what I am, but they are afraid of what the blood is. We need to apply the blood. (Life-study of Revelation, pp. 409-410)
The second thing is that the brothers overcame him “because of the word of their testimony.” When our conscience is without offense, then our mouth can give testimony. When there is an accusation in our conscience, we can utter nothing. It seems that the more we speak, the lower our voice becomes. The meaning of testimony here is to testify to others, not to one's self. When you have the blood before God, you will have boldness before God, and you will have a testimony before man. Not only will you testify that sinners can be forgiven and man can be accepted because of Christ, but you will further testify of God's kingdom. "Testimony" means to tell others what there is in Christ, and the word of testimony is something which must be spoken forth. The overcomers must frequently proclaim the victory of Christ. Satan fears the most when this fact is repeated again and again.
It is a fact that the kingdom of heaven will come; it is a fact that the Lord is King; it is a fact that Christ is victorious and forever victorious; it is a fact that Satan is defeated; it is a fact that the strong man has been bound and legally condemned; it is a fact that Christ has destroyed all the work of Satan on the cross. When we declare all of these facts, we have the testimony. It is the word of testimony that gives Satan the greatest fear—Satan does not fear when we talk theology or when we expound the Scriptures, but he does fear when we declare the spiritual facts. "Jesus is Lord" is a spiritual fact—When someone declares in faith that Jesus is Lord, Satan fears. He does not fear our preaching or theology, but the word of our testimony. It is a spiritual fact that the name of Jesus is above every other name.
We must declare it in faith, not only to men, but also to Satan. We often speak for Satan to hear; we purposely speak for him to hear. We call this the word of testimony. Even when we are alone in our room we can proclaim aloud, "Jesus is Lord." We can say, "The Lord Jesus is stronger than the strong man," or, "The Son of God has already bound Satan," etc.
This is the word of our testimony. We proclaim that Jesus is Lord, that the Lord is victorious, that Satan has been trodden under His feet. We further proclaim that the Lord has given us authority to tread upon serpents and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy—The word of testimony causes Satan to lose his ground. When we give the word of testimony, we give Satan a blow. The work of the Lord has not only given us the blood to protect us, but also the word of testimony by which we can defeat Satan. (CWWN, vol. 34, "The Glorious Church," pp. 90-91, 93-94)