The nineteenth chapter of the book of Revelation is one of the most significant. It ends a three-chapter portrait of two mystical, symbolical women. The seventeenth and eighteenth chapters deal with Mystery Babylon, the great harlot. The nineteenth chapter deals with the Bride of Christ—pure, virtuous, made righteous by the precious blood of Jesus Christ. These actually represent the pictures of Christianity today. We have great Babylon the harlot, mother of harlots: the great systems of religion built in the name of Christ, which commit fornication with the kings of the earth and try to control kings and governments and seasons. The nineteenth chapter talks about another aspect of Christianity completely: the real picture; the true, virtuous Church. The book of Revelation in the nineteenth chapter begins to move toward the culmination of things.
The book of Revelation is a great mystery. Don’t you like to read the last chapter of a mystery? Then you have the mystery solved and you can go back and read in peace, but you are quite anxious before you know who the culprit really is and how it is going to turn out.
So it is with us in this day. We may see many things that seem to be false and look as if they are such ominous portents on the horizon, yet God is so with us that we know how it will all end. It will come out right because He is King of kings and Lord of lords. He will rule and reign and win to Himself the reward of His sufferings—the Bride of Jesus Christ, to rule and reign with Him throughout all the Kingdom to come. John shows the culmination of things in the nineteenth, twentieth, and twenty-first chapters of the book of Revelation, and in the twenty-second chapter there is that reaching on into eternity, presenting a beautiful picture.
Here we see what is happening as the picture of the true Bride is presented. And I heard as it were the voice of a great multitude, and as the voice of many waters, and as the voice of mighty thunders, saying, Hallelujah: for the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigneth. Let us rejoice and be exceeding glad, and let us give the glory unto him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready. And it was given unto her that she should array herself in fine linen, bright and pure: for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints. And he saith unto me, Write, Blessed are they that are bidden to the marriage supper of the Lamb. And he saith unto me, These are true words of God. Revelation 19:6–9.
Verse 10 is our text: And I fell down before his feet to worship him. And he saith unto me, See thou do it not: I am a fellow-servant with thee and with thy brethren that hold the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.
Immediately he said, And I saw the heaven opened; and behold, a white horse, and he that sat thereon called Faithful and True; and in righteousness he doth judge and make war. And his eyes are a flame of fire, and upon his head are many diadems; and he hath a name written which no one knoweth but he himself. And he is arrayed in a garment sprinkled with blood: and his name is called the Word of God. And the armies which are in heaven followed him upon white horses, clothed in fine linen, white and pure. And out of his mouth proceedeth a sharp sword, that with it he should smite the nations: and he shall rule them with a rod of iron: and he treadeth the winepress of the fierceness of the wrath of God, the Almighty. And he hath on his garment and on his thigh a name written, KING OF KINGS, AND LORD OF LORDS. Revelation 19:11–16.
The book of Revelation ends in the same way that the gospel of John begins: a portrayal of Jesus Christ, our Lord, as the Word of God. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. John 1:1. Again it says, And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us (and we beheld his glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father), full of grace and truth. John 1:14. This is Jesus Christ, our Lord.
He is called the Word of God because the word that the Father had given had such a complete place in Him. He was so identified with it, so one with it, and it was His very life. Therefore He is called the Word of God. Whatever God had to say to the world, He had said in Jesus Christ. Whenever men wanted to read a book that explained what God was like, they could look in the face of Jesus Christ. They could listen to His word; He was the expression of God; He was the Word of God, just as we are the epistles of Christ, read and known of all men (II Corinthians 3:2, 3). We become the expression of Christ in the earth, those who speak what God has to say. We speak as oracles of God to declare to the whole world what God has to say.
I do not think that John the apostle was ignorant when it came to the voice of God. I think it was rather difficult to mystify him or to deceive him on anything. Even the slightest of deviations he would be able to discern. But John has a moment here when something very unusual happens. He falls down and worships his brother, and the man says, See thou do it not: I am a fellow-servant with thee and with thy brethren. “With thy brethren”—this man in the book of Revelation, in this vision that came to John, was one of the saints, one of those who had gone on to be with the Lord. He was on the other side of the veil. When he spoke, “These are the true words of God,” John, who had leaned on the bosom of Jesus and listened to Him and called himself “that disciple whom Jesus loved,” fell down to worship.
In the first place, what we see in a vision does not necessarily identify the situation. Even in the Old Testament there are passages in which the angel of the Lord, very evidently from the text, was the Lord Jesus Christ, Himself, who came before His incarnation as the angel of the Lord. There are a number of amazing visions and revelations and what we call theophanies: ways in which God comes and manifests Himself or represents Himself to us, so that our understanding might at least perceive a small part of what He has to reveal of Himself. John saw this too. John knew that this man was speaking the words of Christ, so he fell down. He knew the words of his Master; he had heard them before, and he began to worship. The man said, “Don’t do it. I’m just one of your fellow brethren: one of the brethren who hold the testimony of Jesus, for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy” (Revelation 19:10).
I wish we really understood what the testimony of Jesus means. The word “testimony” has come to mean many things to many people. In years past Christians used to have testimony meetings. Several people would stand up and give testimonies of their experiences with the Lord.
But when the Bible speaks about “the testimony,” it means the utterance. The testimony of Jesus was what He had to say, what He had to bear witness of and to speak forth. The man said, “I am of your brethren; I have the testimony of Jesus. I am speaking forth the utterances of Christ. I am His oracle; I’m His mouthpiece. I have the testimony of Jesus.” In other words, “Jesus is still talking to people, but He is talking to them through my mouth. I have the utterances of the Lord to proclaim.” And he said, “Remember, the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.”
When the spirit of prophecy comes upon a man, he begins to speak forth, and what Christ has to say comes out. No wonder John fell down at the man’s feet; he knew the voice of Jesus. It was Jesus speaking through that man, and John was ready to worship him. He said, “No, don’t worship me; I just have the testimony of Jesus. It is the spirit of prophecy that is on me, and I am speaking forth in the name of the Lord.” Many have never thought of that before. Perhaps you have read that and never realized what it was really talking about.
John goes on to describe the Lord, saving he saw the heaven opened and the One coming called the Word of God. Oh, how we need to love the Lord Jesus Christ with all our heart! Tile judgments of God are coming, and we are not losers. We will not be harassed and beaten down. We are in the battle, but we are destined to rule and reign with Jesus Christ. That is the way it will all turn out. We are destined to rule and reign with Him. We are also destined to have the testimony of Jesus—the spirit of prophecy to be upon us.
When we speak, what will happen? Refer back to the story of what is to happen to Babylon. When you realize that the true Church of Jesus Christ is going to triumph, what will happen to this great system of Babylon? this Christianity in its apostate form? the church that Satan wants to make his church?
First, I want to call your attention to the fact that the worship of Satan in some so-called “churches” is mostly a theatrical thing. Most of it does not even have any power. A devil of any magnitude, will be behind the pulpit of an orthodox church. He will come as an angel of light (II Corinthians 11:14). He is not coming with horns, a tail, and split hoofs; that is not the way Satan comes. He comes as an angel of light, and his ministers are transformed as ministers of righteousness (II Corinthians 11:14, 15). Forget much of the satanism that you see in these days, for it is just a blind stall. The real devil power is found parading as the most sanctimonious, spiritual saints and leaders of the world. That is where the devil is. A lot of this other can simply be discounted. It gives many saints something to get all stirred up about, and it does not amount to much. Any of that demonic activity is of such a lower order that it is hardly worth consideration.
The real power that has come down through the years is Mystery Babylon, the mother of harlots. Babylon has become a hold of every foul spirit. In Revelation 18:2, the angel cries: Fallen, fallen is Babylon the great, and is become a habitation of demons, and a hold of every unclean spirit, and a hold of every unclean and hateful bird. That is the true picture of where the devil is. That is where he is centered; that is where he is focused now.
Let’s see what will happen to him and this degeneration of Christianity who have made themselves a receptacle for satanic powers and demon possession. For God did put in their hearts to do his mind, and to come to one mind, and to give their kingdom unto the beast, until the words of God should be accomplished. Revelation 17:17. That is the phrase that sticks in my mind: the words of God will be accomplished. Everything God has to say about Babylon is going to happen.
Rejoice over her, thou heaven, and ye saints, and ye apostles, and ye prophets; for God hath judged your judgment on her. Revelation 18:20. Why do we say, “Prophesy against Babylon”? Because this is what the Spirit is saying: “Rise and pronounce judgments on Babylon, prophesy judgments, because it pleased God to judge your judgments upon her.” That is the way it will happen. What a glorious task is ours to do. How wonderful to come forth in this day when Jesus will bring down Babylon and the power of the devil. Jesus will be doing it, but the symbolic picture is our Lord upon a white horse, and it shows all the armies of heaven on white horses following. He is the One who speaks the word and brings it, but the testimony of Jesus, that word which is spoken, will come through our lips. These are the days in which God has proclaimed that we will speak the word of the Lord, the word that will bring the earth into the travail of judgments, the word that will bring down many things that have exalted themselves against Christ. Babylon, you are coming down!
No matter how big the system is, it shall come down, and we ought to start prophesying about it. Some may say, “We’re few in number.” It is not a matter of our power or our number; it is a matter of the word of Christ in our mouths. This level will be so much different. All the diatribes, all the awful innuendos, all the assault of persecution that the enemy can bring are still just utterance of man, voiced perhaps occasionally with the force of witchcraft, a psychic concentration with demon powers trying to assist in bringing it to pass, but that is a low level, like going after God’s army with peashooters, and it will not do the job. We are moving with that which can totally disintegrate every device of Satan, everything he brings against us. We come to speak the word of the Lord and speak the words of judgment.
It is no longer a matter of who we are or how intellectual we are, or of our talents or abilities; it is the fact that Christ is pleased in this generation to come forth and put His testimony, His utterance, His word, within the mouth of His saints. It pleases God to bruise Satan under your feet shortly (Romans 16:20). This is His pleasure; it is under your feet. You are the channels; you are the ones who throw the switch. It is not the size of the man who throws the switch to the electric chair; it is the power that goes through that switch when it is thrown. He may not have much strength, but when he throws the switch, the one sitting in that chair will be as dead as if the man who had pulled it were a giant. And that is the way the victory of Jesus is coming forth through even the weakest of the saints. The utterances of Christ coming forth are what are important: we must contend to speak the words of the Lord.
Everything is building up to that: to speak the words of the Lord. You may say, “I don’t yet know how to do it; it sounds so marvelous.” We will struggle up from one level to another—the level of prophecy being more and more yielded, more and more surrendered to the Lord, more and more receptive to assimilate the word that He speaks to us. The word will begin to boil up and erupt again as it comes forth from us: fountains of living water going out to the thirsty world to meet the famine. We are in an amazing day. The level of prophetic services will be higher and higher, and we will sometimes find that it will not come fluently at all but it will be faltering, stumbling utterances. But God is speaking. God is proclaiming it. The testimony of Jesus will come forth! Give attention to the power and the revelation that is coming forth in the prophecies, and a little less attention to the flow. Let the flow be fluent, but do not try to create such a fast, furious flow that you are not concentrating on the word that God is saying and that which God is doing as He brings down Babylon.
God will judge your judgments on her. You will find Babylon coming down. Everytime you see the confusion of Babylon, prophesy against it in the name of the Lord. Believe that the Lord is going to speak. Recall the admonition in the book of Hebrews: Remember them that had the rule over you, men that spake unto you the word of God; and considering the issue of their life, imitate their faith. Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today, yea, and forever. Hebrews 13:7–8. “Remember those who spoke the word of God to you.” That was what Paul said to the early Church, and you will say the same thing. You will remember your brothers who are over you in the Lord and have spoken to you the word of God; it comes forth as the one tremendous issue of their life, for Jesus Christ is the same yesterday and today and forever.
Jesus is moving today. Once He dwelt in the flesh of one man called “the Nazarene,” but now He is coming forth in the flesh of a many-membered Body. Once He spoke and they said, “Never a man spake as this man spake” (John 7:46), but He will speak again through many voices that will bring the testimony of Jesus which is the spirit of prophecy. God is speaking. Christ is still speaking; He will still be moving; He will still be working; but now in a many-membered Body.
It is my conviction that Christ ministered for three and a half years and then was crucified, rose from the grave, and inaugurated the Church. And at the close of this great Church period, as we have known it, will come three and a half more years of the ministry of Jesus Christ: This time not just the ministry of one man, but once again three and a half years of signs and wonders and the greater works that Jesus said we would do. Three and a half years of Jesus speaking, moving, and performing signs and wonders. The last three and a half years will be greater than the former. Read the book of Revelation carefully; constantly it speaks about a time, and times, and half a time, forty and two months, etc. It refers to the fact that there will be another three and a half years for Jesus to speak to the world, but this time speaking through this remnant that He is raising up. He will be speaking through you: not simply a ministry of mercy to those who were called, but the ministry of judgment to those who have hardened their hearts.
It is the time of the culmination of an age. How glorious that God is speaking, and He is speaking through us!