Outline
Ⅱ
The man-child signifies the overcomers who cooperate with Christ to fight against His enemy and to usher in God's kingdom—Rev. 12:1-11:
A
The way to become the man-child is for us to be strengthened into the inner man, to be empowered to experience the riches of Christ, and to be strong through putting on the armor of God by pray-reading the killing word—Eph. 3:16, 18; 6:10-11, 17-18; Rev. 1:16; 19:13-15.
B
"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"—12:11:
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"The blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from every sin"—1 John 1:7.
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The word of our testimony is the proclamation and declaration of the divine facts of the victory of Christ to others—1 Cor. 12:3b; 2 Cor. 4:13.
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Not loving our soul-life even unto death means that we choose to love the Lord supremely and not live by our self in any way—Col. 1:17, 18b.
Morning Nourishment
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.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.
Another symbol of the believers is that of the man-child (Rev. 12:5) brought forth by the universal, bright woman. Throughout all generations there have been some stronger ones among God’s people. In the Bible these are considered a collective unit—the man-child—fighting the battle for God and bringing God’s kingdom down to earth. In the Bible the woman signifies the weaker one and the man the stronger one (1 Pet. 3:7). Hence, the man-child in Revelation 12:5 signifies the stronger part of God’s people. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 1223-1224)
Today’s Reading
The key to becoming the stronger part within the woman is being strengthened into our inner man [Eph. 3:16], [which is our regenerated spirit indwelt by the Holy Spirit]. In verse 18 Paul continues to pray that we would “be full of strength to apprehend with all the saints what the breadth and length and height and depth are.” We must be empowered to know the dimensions of the riches of our Christ. In order to be the man-child, we must be not only strengthened into our inner man but also nourished with all the riches of Christ.The way to become the stronger part within the woman is to be strengthened into our inner man, to be empowered to experience the riches of Christ, and to be strong through putting on the all-inclusive Christ as our armor [vv. 16, 18; 6:10-11].
The way to fight is to take the word of God by means of all prayer…The most effective way to war against the enemy is to pray-read the Word, and the best portion of the Word to pray-read is the book of Ephesians…Instead of trying to understand the book of Ephesians, you should pray-read it, even covering the whole book in two weeks. If you do this, you will be able to testify that you are becoming the stronger part within the woman.
The word in Ephesians 6 is a sword…This sword does not kill you—it slays the enemy and all the negative things within you. If we would fight against the rulers and authorities in the heavenlies, we must first kill all the “bugs” within us.
The brothers who constitute the man-child fight Satan and eventually overcome him. They overcome Satan by three things: by the blood of the Lamb, by the word of their testimony, and by loving not their soul-life even unto death.
The blood of the Lamb, which is for our redemption, answers before God all the accusations of the devil against us and gives us the victory over him. We need to apply this blood whenever we sense the accusation 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 must declare the Lord’s victory over him with the uttered word…You need to preach to Satan, saying, “Satan, don’t you know that you have been crucified on the cross? You have been judged, and your destination is the lake of fire.” This is the testimony of your verbal word.
The brothers also overcame the enemy by not loving their soul-life. Because of Adam’s fall, Satan has joined himself to man’s soul-life, man’s self (Matt. 16:23-24). Hence, to overcome him we must not love our soul-life but rather hate it and deny it (Luke 14:26; 9:23). The overcoming believers who constitute the man-child do not love their soul-life even unto death. Those who do not love their soul-life are willing to be martyred. We must hate our self. (Life-study of Revelation, pp. 499-501, 407, 409-412)
Further Reading: Life-study of Revelation, msgs. 29—30, 35—36, 45—46, 48