I have noticed that all who have spoken have said how grateful they are, and I too have been very grateful to have spent these days here. I am very appreciative of the words of our fellow workers, for we are partners in this house together. What we can do for one another, do that, because it is appreciated. Revelations 12, “And there appeared a great wonder in heaven, a woman clothed with the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head a crown of twelve stars. And she, being with child cried, trammeling in birth, and pained to be delivered.” We all read the Bible in various ways, one verse will sometimes take us to other passages, or we will read a story, a parable, and get the point of that story. Sometimes, we will take a book or a letter and we understand that it is telling one story in the letter. We read the entire Gospel and walk back and look at the whole story and say, “That is God’s way.” We are insofar that it is possible only understanding in a limited measure. The human brain is not able to take in everything, but one day, all will be very clear. What we know now we will drop it, because when we are face to face our vision will then be complete. We only know in part now but one day, face to face.
Reading Revelation our knowledge is very limited. John the Apostle was raised above the level of the earth by the divine spirit, and was able to see the way of God from the beginning to the end. Our little day will soon be over, this life is only a little part of it. Do we understand that this world will not keep on as always? It is a great pity for those who govern, that they do not have the knowledge God’s children have. They have intellectual brilliance, but they do not have the knowledge that things will not continue as always. One day, there will be no more earth, each day moves us a little closer. We are not projecting any day that the Lord will return, because the Bible says that only the Father knows and we don’t dare go beyond that. Jesus taught that when certain things happen the time is getting nearer. In our present day, there is not a thing happening that is not in the Book, we are concerned but we are not worried, because all is in the hands of the Almighty. The world is so drunken, it goes to the right hand and to the left hand, it staggers along like a drunken man. God is working and as each day closes we are approaching the time when the Son of God is coming back. “I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending,” there is no other, there was never another truth, only one truth.
The first thing John saw was the temple open in heaven, the first thing seen was the Ark of the Covenant that Moses had, the Ark of Truth, the everlasting covenant. Today every denomination is seeking to bring their doctrine up to date, religion is trying to hold people with one movement and another. In America at the moment, there is a movement that is gaining momentum. It is called yoga. There are nuns and priests trying it out, this tomfoolery stuff. One time, one of our servants was having a mission and next door, they were having this yoga, they were dreamy people all dressed in white, lying down on a mat, making different types of exercises, a stupid people. The world will do anything but turn to this Book and believe in God, they are so stupid, they make a spectacle of themselves. They will do anything but follow the Son of God, the more foolish it is the more converts that they have.
In this book, we have everything that we need. Jesus is set up and there is none other, such a great foundation under our feet. This is God’s eternal truth, it cannot be argued with, it is not a plausible story, but this is true. When we surrender to Him, we have already received a down-payment of His Spirit, a foretaste of Heaven, the peace of God. In the first two and three chapters of this book there were messages given to the seven churches. It is my strong opinion that this is a symbol of God’s people in every land, their condition before God is the condition of God’s people today. There were two churches that had no complaint, what they were doing before God was right, no fault to be found, and I believe that there are men and women in this meeting today, and before God you do not have one bit of fault, God does not want to thrash you but the Lord is only saying, “Keep on the way you’re living, keep on.” Not a fault to find. It does not mean that we are perfect, I do not mean that, but there is a perfect submission to the Lord of Heaven, a perfect will to do what is in the heart of God.
Some churches were in great tribulation by doing the will of God. When we have trouble, do we shrivel up; when we are frowned upon, do we shrink? There was a wife who professed, and her husband was not exactly against her, but he resented the fact that she went to meetings, and that he was left alone in the house, he did not like that. The big boob, he broke down and wept like a big baby, he thought this would stop her perhaps. When he saw it didn’t stop her, he thought he would change his tactics, so the next time she went to the meeting, he put his hands on either side of the door and said, “You are not going to the meeting today.” I don’t know what size she was or what size he was, but as she was getting into the car and he was picking himself up from the dust, he said, “Suppose I drop dead, I suppose you would still go to the meeting.” She replied, “Just make sure you don’t die when I’m going to the meeting.” She was not afraid of her own shadow, don’t let anyone get you to shrivel up, fight it out, because all Heaven is on your side.
Then there was the church that was so sure of themselves, they felt secure but were yet so wrong, they were so proud, so important, so confident, so rich naturally, yet they were poor and blind. They were going to the meetings every day, but they had the wrong thing, they were filled with self-importance. Like the man who was a merchant of a large store, who was going away for a journey, he left his son and put his son in charge. There was a man who was representing a firm and he said to the boy, “Do you need anything today?” The son said, “My father is away, and I am the whole cheese.” This man said to him, “Just give your father a message when he returns, tell him that he is a bit short on cheese.” We do not need to take importance to ourselves, make ourselves too high, because what is important is what we are in God’s standpoint. We realise that we who are here today are here because of the Lord, because of the mercy of God. We are here before the mercy seat, we understand our frailty.
One church, the Lord said, “I know your works, and you’re not fulfilling them,” meaning that I want to do so and so, and I don’t carry it out, it grieves the Lord. That man Lot, had a weakness, he had excellent desires, he did not want to go to Sodom, but he was there. He was not happy, but grieved with his surroundings; but he was not fighting through. There was a young woman who gave her testimony at a convention I was at and impressed me. She said that last year she had heard something at the convention and her purpose was that she was going to pursue that and have it in her life. She said, “I have done that.” In that person, there has been quite an improvement in her life, there has been growth there. She set a goal for herself, and day after day, she was following that, she was living it.
Now in this 12th chapter of Revelation, it gives us a greater look at the entire scene, the church, the woman is the church. In Genesis, it speaks of two women; in Proverbs, it speaks of two women; in Revelation, it speaks of two women. One is the false and one is the true, the true is God’s people who are united with the Heavenly bridegroom. This is our ideal, to live with the Son of God. There will not always be an Australia, there will not always be a U.S.A., these kingdoms are coming down.
Chapter 11:15, “The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ, and He shall reign for ever and ever.” This is the Lord taking great power to reign, this is not a myth or a theory. We have powers of nations, spiritual kingdoms, spiritual wickedness – they will all be brought down. The spirit kingdoms of this world are Babylon, false religion, it includes all so-called Christianity, it embraces all confusion. One clergyman spoke to us, “I’ll have to confess that our own denomination is torn in one hundred different ways.” They do not know Jesus and what is right, how else could it end?
Chapter 17:18, “And the woman which thou sawest is that great city, which reigneth over the kings of the earth.” This woman that was riding upon a beast, this is the false woman, “dressed in fine linen and purple, and scarlet, and decked with gold, and precious stones, and pearls. For in one hour so great riches is come to naught.” Babylon is going to fall, a brief time now they are in power with spiritual wickedness, but our day is coming. One day on earth, there will be no other doctrine spoken, but the doctrine of Jesus. The false prophets and the beast shall fall, we are scorned and belittled now, we are small now but someday, this will be the only way on the earth, if we only wait in sincerity and in truth.
In the 12th chapter, we read of the woman clothed with the sun. This sun is Jesus, and the moon at her feet. The moon means the false way, no life in it, all the glow in the moon is borrowed from the sun. The sun has power to make white, to cleanse, having the moon under her feet, what a picture, what a knowledge God has given His people. Verse 5, “And she brought forth a man child, who was to rule all nations with a rod of iron: and her child was caught up unto God, and to His throne.” This man child to be born was Jesus and the dragon was there to destroy, all the way with Jesus to destroy Him. The devil is the deceiver of the whole world, it is sometimes difficult to understand the enormous deception that the deceiver of this world has. There are millions of Buddhists in the world, all people are being deceived. The devil is the deceiver of the whole world, he has it. Every possible thought or desire that you have, the lust of the flesh, all are deceived. These poor mortals, giving themselves over to the devil. In America, we have baseball, we have people glued to the television, every day a game. When you’ve seen one ball game, you’ve seen them all, and people are deceived and day after day, they watch the game, paying excellent money. Whatever you desire, it is there, all the lust of the flesh, poor mortals. This is a different day that we are in, there are so many trends in the world, college men and women wearing outlandish clothes that are foreign to conservative people. They are supposed to be intelligent and have such long and bushy hair that you don’t know whether they are men or women. This is Satan selling a bill of goods. He is the deceiver of the whole world. When the Christ child is born in lives, the dragon is there to destroy, but the Lord caught it and preserved it. The woman was persecuted but it says in verse 6, “She fled into the wilderness where she had a place prepared of God, that they should feed her there a thousand two hundred and threescore days.” The woman was persecuted but she was able to go to the wilderness prepared for her, a place of refuge. Times when we have been up against it and wondering if we could go on and have found there is a place of refuge.
Verse 14, “And to the woman were given two wings of a great eagle, that she might fly into the wilderness, into her place, where she is nourished for a time, and times, and half a time, from the face of the serpent.” There have been times when we have been given the wings of an eagle to fly over the difficulties, we have a fortress, a high tower, a sanctuary that we can go to no matter what the storm is, there is a refuge.
Verse 11, “And they overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, and by the word of their testimony; and they loved not their lives unto the death.” They overcame him by the blood of Jesus, it is so important – the blood of Jesus. You have a testimony and I don’t know anything nicer than having a testimony, how the Lord stopped us in our tracks and moved us and caused us to surrender to Him, this was our beginning, then going on what the Lord is to us today, we have a testimony, and we can sing of overcoming by the blood of Jesus, sheltering by the Son of God who offered His life in our stead. Satan was cast out of Heaven and his angels, too; the devil knows he only has a short time. This is our state today, we are in a war, it is not a playground, we cannot afford to rest on our oars today. I had a letter from a worker in France who is 80 years of age, he wrote, “I’m still tugging on an oar.” He was still pulling with all his might, although he was aged, he was still pulling in the right direction. There is an old proverb that says, “Help thy brother’s boat to cross, behold your own will have reached the shore.” Like the man who was intoxicated and his home was on the other side of the river, he got into his little boat and rowed all night and never reached the other shore because he forgot to untie the rope. People are tied to all manner of lusts, get free and make some progress. The dragon was going to make war with the remnant of her seed. It is important to fight a good fight, not just be in the truth but have the truth in us.
Chapter 13:1, “And I stood on the sand of the sea, and saw a beast rise up out of the sea, having seven heads and ten horns, and upon his horns ten crowns, and upon his heads the name of blasphemy.” This beast, this spirit, this creature is rising out of the sea, the sea in the Bible is referring to the world. There is a spirit of blasphemy to God’s people. Young people today have it more difficult. One boy was asked in the class to make a certain review about a T.V. program. He said, “My mother and father don’t have a T.V.” The teacher said, “The radio will do.” He said, “We don’t have a radio.” So the teacher said, “What kind of parents have you got?” He answered, “That’s a long story, let’s not go into that.” That was an intelligent answer. We have always had the world against the people of God. Verse 11, “And I beheld another beast coming up out of the earth; and he had two horns like a lamb, and he spake as a dragon.” Verse 14, “And deceiveth them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles which he had power to do in the sight of the beast; saying to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and did live.”
Verse 16, “And he causeth all, both small and great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads. And no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark, or the name of the beast, or the number of his name.” This beast did not come out of the sea but came out of the earth. This is corresponding to our present day. What is from the earth is what we are humanly, the mind of man, it is not from religion but from the human. We are living in a day of unbelief, human beings taking it into their own hands to say that we know better. Wherever we go, the Bible is discounted. This is a spirit out of the earth, from intellectual men. The last war that Israel fought, they said when they were parading the glory of victory, “We have done this ourselves, this is not of God.” The people of Israel have a lot of coming down yet, complete disregard for God. This is the trend in the world today. Do we understand where we are standing in all this today? We are unmoved by this kind of thinking. The mark in our foreheads is this: unless you think the way they do, you are out, you are discounted, you are not with it, unless you think as they think. We read in the book of having the seal of the living God in the forehead of God’s people, this is the mind of the divine one that will help us to follow in the path of God, having the seal of God in our foreheads.
Chapter 19:7, “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready. And to Her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white, for the fine linen is the righteousness of the saints.” These are the true saying of God, blessed is he who is called, wearing the garments of Heaven. Is it worth it, is it worth all the struggle and effort? These are the true sayings of God. Suffering must precede the glory. Glory in walking the way of God, not afraid, because it is the way the Lord has planned. The Lord will provide the means for us to overcome. Blessed are they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb. There is a finish to these things, there is a finish to all men and women, and we want that kind of a finish and we are prepared to fight for it with all our heart.