The Persistent Purpose of God # 21

The Man Upon the Throne Governs Everything (continued)

The Recovery of the Testimony of Jesus

Then you will see the second movement of God. It is so clear in the Book of the Revelation.  It is the movement for the recovery of the testimony of Jesus. John says, "I was in the isle that is called Patmos, for the Word of God and for the testimony of Jesus." And that phrase, the testimony of Jesus, occurs several times in the Book of the Revelation. It is that which is the basis of God's activity.

Now in the churches the one issue is this: "to him that overcometh..." The overcomers represent the recovery of God's testimony. The recovery movement of God is found in the overcomers. The overcomers are those who have put away what is not according to Christ and are now an expression of that Divine Man, so that when we come to the end of the book, both Ezekiel and Revelation, we have the city. We all know that this is not a literal city; it could not possibly be that. You would have to get rid of a great deal in order to have this city on the earth. This city, of course, is a figure. It is a figure of the Church, and now that Church, as the city, answers to the Divine description. Paul put it in this way, "Christ ... loved the Church, and gave Himself up for it ... that He might present the Church to Himself a glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing: (Ephesians 5:25, 27). That fully describes the city at the end of the Book of the Revelation: "The Spirit ... showed me the holy city Jerusalem ... having the glory of God: - a glorious Church - her light was like unto a stone most precious" (Revelation 21:10, 11). Light is always the symbol of purity - "Not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing." "Christ ... loved the Church, and gave Himself up for it" - in the midst of the city is the Throne of the Lamb. You see the symbolism. You see the spiritual meaning - this final state corresponds to the Man in the Throne!

The Book of the Acts is the great beginning. It begins with Christ in the Throne. Before we get to the end of the apostolic age, things have begun to go wrong. We can detect that in the letters of Paul, and especially in his last letters which were to Timothy - things have begun to go wrong. The testimony is being lost. We come then to the Revelation, and God begins judgment at the House of God as seeking to recover that testimony; and in the end of the Revelation, we see it fully recovered.

~T. Austin-Sparks~

(continued with # 22 -"The Energies and Goings of God")