Scripture Reading: Rev. 12:1-6, 10-11; 14:1-5
Ⅰ
The believers may be overcomers either as the man-child (the dead overcomers) or as the firstfruits (the living overcomers)—Heb. 11:33, 39-40; Rev. 12:5-6, 14; 14:1-5; Matt. 24:39-42; Rev. 3:10; Luke 21:36.
Ⅱ
Those who constitute the man-child within the woman overcome the devil (the ac-cuser, the slanderer), who is Satan, the adversary of God—Rev. 12:1-6, 10-11:
A
They overcome him because of the blood of the Lamb:
１
Satan 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.
２
Any apparent condemnation that does not stop after we have confessed and applied the blood is not God's enlightenment but Satan's accusation—v. 9.
３
We must not only reject the accusations that are without cause, but we must also reject all the accusations that have cause.
４
When we commit sin, we do not glorify God, but when we do not trust the precious blood, we dishonor Him all the more—Matt. 26:28; cf. Heb. 10:29.
５
We must always apply the blood, telling the devil that although we are not perfect, we are under the perfect blood—1 Pet. 1:18-19; Acts 20:28.
B
They overcome him because of the word of their testimony:
１
Testimony means to speak forth the divine facts that are in Christ; the word of our testimony is something that must be spoken forth—cf. John 14:30.
２
The overcomers must frequently proclaim the victory of Christ, testifying that the devil has been judged by the Lord—1 John 3:8; Heb. 2:14.
３
Satan does not fear when we try to reason with him, but he does fear when we pro-claim the spiritual facts of Christ's victory—cf. 2 Chron. 20:20-22:
ａ
That the name of Jesus is above every name is a spiritual fact that we must declare in faith, not only to men but also to Satan—Phil. 2:9-11; 1 Cor. 12:3b.
ｂ
We must proclaim to Satan and his demons that Jesus is Lord, that the Lord is vic-torious, and that Satan has been crushed under His feet—Gen. 3:15; John 14:30b; Rom. 16:20.
４
The word of our testimony causes Satan to lose his ground—James 4:7.
C
They love not their soul-life even unto death:
１
Due to Adam's fall, Satan has joined himself to man's soul-life, man's self; to overcome him we should not love our soul-life but rather hate it and deny it—Matt. 16:23-24; Luke 14:26; 9:23; Job 42:5-6:
ａ
Satan wants us to act in our own strength and move in ourselves with the power of our soul, our natural ability.
ｂ
Natural ability is the ability that we originally had and that has never been dealt with by the operation of the cross.
ｃ
The failure of the church is due to man's bringing in his natural ability.
ｄ
The purpose of the cross is to deal with our natural strength and ability so that we will not dare to move by ourselves, as seen in the cases of Moses and Peter— Acts 7:23-30; Luke 22:32-34; 1 Pet. 5:5-6.
ｅ
We should have the attitude that we will not live by our self in any way; we will not value our own ability or have any self-confidence—1 Cor. 2:2-4; Phil. 3:3; Isa. 11:2.
２
We must be self-sacrificing persons, a drink offering, allowing Christ as the heavenly wine to fill us and cause us to become wine to God—Phil. 2:17; 2 Tim. 4:6; Judg. 9:13.
Ⅲ
The Lord needs the man-child to fight against God's enemy, but He needs the first-fruits of God's harvest on the earth even more for His satisfaction—Rev. 14:1, 4b:
A
The meaning of rapture is to be taken into the Lord's presence; in order to be taken into the Lord's presence, we must be in His presence today—Luke 21:36; 2 Cor. 2:10.
B
The firstfruits are raptured to the house of God in Zion as the fresh enjoyment to God; this is for God's satisfaction—Exo. 23:19a; Lev. 23:10; cf. John 20:17a.
C
The firstfruits are the earliest among God's crop to reach maturity—Heb. 5:14—6:1; 1 Cor. 2:6; Eph. 4:13; Phil. 3:15:
１
To be transformed is to be changed in our natural life; to be matured is to be filled with the divine life that changes us—Rom. 12:2; Eph. 3:19b.
２
For God's expression there is the need of maturity; only a mature life can bear God's image and exercise His dominion—Gen. 1:26; Rom. 5:17, 21.
D
Enoch, as the first person to be raptured, is the representative of all the overcomers who will be raptured while they are living—Matt. 24:37-51; Rev. 14:1; Luke 21:34-36:
１
The way to escape death and obtain the testimony of being well pleasing to God is to walk with God—Gen. 5:22-24; Heb. 11:5-6.
２
To walk with God is not to override God, not to be presumptuous, not to do things according to our own concept and desire, not to do things according to the current of the age, and not to do anything without God—cf. Psa. 19:12-13; Josh. 9:14b; Luke 24:15.
３
To walk with God is to take Him as our center and everything, to live and do things according to God and with God, according to His revelation and leading, and to do everything with Him—Rom. 8:4, 13-14; Gal. 2:2a; 2 Cor. 5:14-15.
４
To walk with God means that we do not live by what we are or can do but by the immortal life, which is Christ Himself—vv. 4, 9.
５
To walk with God is to have habitual fellowship with God, to be in constant touch with the Lord, and to be under His constant infusion—1 John 1:3; Phil. 4:6; 2 Cor. 3:16, 18.
６
To walk with God is to continually exercise our spirit of faith to enjoy the Blessed Trinity—4:13; Jude 19-21.
７
To walk with God implies the denying of our self and everything that is of our self so that we may be one with Him; it implies that we have given ourselves to Him and that we will give in to Him and let Him take the lead—Matt. 16:24-25; 2 Cor. 2:13-14.
８
To walk with God is to walk by faith—5:7; Heb. 11:5-6:
ａ
Faith means that we believe that God is—vv. 1-2, 6; 2 Cor. 4:13, 18.
ｂ
Without faith it is impossible to please God, to make God happy—Heb. 11:6a.
ｃ
To believe that God is, is to believe that He is everything to us and that we are nothing—John 8:58; Eccl. 1:2.
ｄ
To believe that God is implies that we are not; He must be the only One, the unique One, in everything, and we must be nothing in everything—Gen. 5:24; Heb. 11:5.
ｅ
To believe that God is, is to deny our self; in the whole universe He is, and all of us are nothing—Luke 9:23; Mark 9:7-8.
ｆ
I should not be anything; I should not exist; only He should exist—"It is no longer I who live, but it is Christ"—Gal. 2:20.
ｇ
At his conversion the Lord told Saul of Tarsus, "I am Jesus"—Acts 9:5:
⑴
The Lord was saying, "I am the great I Am. I am the One that is. You must believe that I am and you are not."
⑵
Eventually, Saul was over, and Paul came up—13:9.
９
This is faith—"O the joy of having nothing and being nothing, seeing nothing but a living Christ in glory, and being careful for nothing but His interests down here"— J. N. Darby:
ａ
Faith means that we believe that God is a rewarder of those who diligently seek Him—Heb. 11:6; Gen. 15:1; Phil. 3:8, 14.
ｂ
Enoch's reward was the highest degree of life—escape from death—Heb. 11:5a; 2 Cor. 5:4; Rom. 8:6, 10-11; 5:17.
ｃ
The Lord is a rewarder, and we need to be His seekers—Psa. 27:4, 8; 42:1-2; 43:4; 73:25; 119:2, 10.
10
Faith means that we believe in God's word—2 Cor. 4:13; Luke 1:38; Rom. 10:17:
ａ
When Enoch had lived sixty-five years, he had a son and gave him the name Methuselah (Gen. 5:21); this name has a prophetic significance, meaning "when he is dead, it will be sent."
ｂ
By naming his son Methuselah, Enoch prophesied of the coming judgment of the flood in the year that Methuselah died, which was Noah's six hundredth year— 7:6; 5:25-29a:
⑴
Methuselah begot Lamech at the age of one hundred eighty-seven (v. 25), Lamech begot Noah when he was one hundred eighty-two (v. 28), and when Noah was six hundred, the deluge was sent (7:11).
⑵
If we add these three figures together, we arrive at a total of nine hundred sixty-nine years, the age at which Methuselah died—5:27.
ｃ
Enoch's prophecy was uttered when he was sixty-five, at which time he must have received God's revelation, was inspired with the divine will, and learned of the coming judgment upon the ungodly generation of mankind—Jude 14-15.
ｄ
Thereafter, Enoch was expecting the fulfillment of that prophecy, and this ex-pectation motivated him not to follow the current of the age but to walk upward with God day and night for three centuries, becoming closer to God and more one with God each day until "he was not, for God took him"—Gen. 5:24; Phil. 3:14; cf. S. S. 8:5a.