John, the beloved apostle of Christ, was exiled by the cruel emperor Domitian to the island of Patmos. In
his loneliness and discouragement God granted His suffering servant special visions. These visions
revealed the beauty of Christ and the future plan of God regarding the end times. The vision of Christ
encouraged the aged servant and by the commandment of God wrote what he saw. In this study we will
consider the Lord's feet. " And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace" (Rev.1: 15).

In the Bible, gold stands for Deity, silver for redemption and wood for humanity. Brass stands in the
Bible for judgment. Brass also typifies power. It is power to withstand judgment. In Numbers 16 there
was a riot. Korah, Dathan, Abiram and two hundred and fifty princes made an 'improper' sacrifice with
brass censers in hand. The fire of God's judgment fell upon them and consumed them but that which
endured the fire were the brass censers. Later this was used to cover the altar in the Tabernacle.

The 'brass feet' of the Lord speak of the judgment that they went through but survived. The feet of the
Lord in the Gospels were the bruised feet on the Cross. The earliest prophecy of the Saviour in Genesis
3:15 made around 4000 B.C., speaks of the seed of the serpent bruising the 'heel' of the seed of the
woman. The Psalmist spoke of the "pierced feet" in Psalm 22:16. The feet, which bled on the Cross,
turned into the feet of fine brass in Rev.1: 15. In His first advent, the Lord Jesus came as our Saviour, but
in the second advent He will come back to be our Judge.

The holy Scriptures speak of atleast seven judgments. Of these, six concern humanity. Of these, two
belong exclusively to Israel. Of the remaining four, the unbeliever faces two judgments. Firstly, the sins
of every sinner are judged at Calvary. The unrepentant sinner rejects the only Saviour, the only provision
made for his salvation. By despising the blood of the Son of God, the sinner opts for condemnation. The
sinner chooses to pay for all his sins by refusing the blood of Christ.

Having despised the judgment at Calvary, the unforgiven sinner faces the sure and certain white throne
judgment as described in Revelation 20. Here is the solemn passage to which the whole humanity must
pay earnest heed.

"And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled
away; and there was found no place for them. And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before, God;
and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were
judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works. And the sea gave up
the dead, which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were
judged everyman according to their works. And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the
second death. And whosoever was not found written in the book of life was cast into the lake of
fire"(Rev.20: 11-15).

Combined with the above passage there is another in the book of Revelation, which describes the
dreadfulness of that day.

"And the kings of the earth, and the great men, and the rich men, and the chief captains, and the mighty
men, and every bondman, and every free man, hid themselves in the dens and in the rocks of the
mountains; And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth
on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb: For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be
able to stand?" (Rev.6: 15-17).

How dreadful then, must the white throne judgment be! The Bible opens with the book of Genesis where
Adam and Eve tried to hide themselves behind the fig tree after rebelling against the Lord God. The Bible
closes in the book of Revelation where great men, rich men, chief captains, mighty men, bond and free
men hide from the presence of the One Who was about to judge them. As Adam and Eve could not hide
themselves, no sinner would be able to escape from the searching eyes of God.

The Bible tells us plainly that judgment, the day of judgment and the Judge have been appointed by God.
"...it is appointed unto men once to die, but after this the judgment"(Heb.9:27). "...he hath appointed a
day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof
he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead" (Acts 17:31).

The very Saviour Who loved us and gave Himself for us on the cross of Calvary, would be the Judge
appointed. On that day mankind would be forced to accept His Lordship, but, such an acceptance would
not bring deliverance. Today is the day of salvation. Today is the period of grace. Today the doors of
mercy are open to the faintest cry of every lost sinner. The cry of God goes out to every sin -wearyhuman
being, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest" (Matt.11 :28).

YE ARE MY WITNESSES—5
BAKHT SINGH

Some servants of God expect God to work without giving God's word and praying for the people. Rather
than giving God's Word, they give their own word. Because they have not prayed sufficiently, they do not
have God's message. They cannot say, "Well, we don't have a message." So, without a message from God
they stand before the people and go on saying whatever they like. They begin with a story and then they
go on to say many things condemning and rebuking them. Is that a message? They think, rebuking and
condemning people and telling stories is sufficient. They will not confess their own barrenness. They
spend much time in looking after their children and other worldly activities. They do not wait upon God
for a long time for their message and that is why they are dry spiritually. Please ask God to revive you.
Do not be angry with God but humble yourself and cry to Him for your need.

When the disciples prayed, God gave the answer and raised up seven men filled with the Holy Ghost. The
result was, "And the word of God increased; and the number of the disciples multiplied in Jerusalem
greatly; and a great company of the priests were obedient to the faith" (Acts 6:7). Because they obeyed

God, the church was brought into divine order. By obeying God, and by coming into His order, they saw
the result. That does not mean that there will not be any kind of opposition. Again and again the apostles
had to face some opposition or the other from outside. "Then there arose certain of the synagogue, which
is called the synagogue of the Libertines, and Cyrenians and Alexandrians, and of them of Cilicia and of
Asia, disputing with Stephen" (Acts 6:9). All the worldly-wise people began to oppose the work of God.
Throughout the ages we find worldly-wise people who take pride in knowledge, opposing God's servants.
God gave Stephen heavenly wisdom. God takes us through sufferings to give us His own wisdom, as we
see in the case of Job. He had to pay a high price to receive true wisdom. If you also suffer joyfully, you
will be given the same wisdom.

"And they stirred up the people, and the elders, and the scribes, and came upon him, and caught him, and
brought him to the council, And set up false witnesses, which said, This man ceaseth not to speak
blasphemous words against this holy place, and the law: For we have heard him say, that this Jesus of
Nazareth shall destroy this place, and shall change the customs which Moses delivered us. And all that
sat in the council, looking steadfastly on him, saw his face as it had been the face of an angel" (Acts
6:12-15). When they began to accuse Stephen falsely, his face began to shine. He never murmured. He
never retaliated. He never used any bad words or said, "Why are you saying these things against me"? He
bore everything patiently, he praised God for such a privilege and then his face began to shine. That is
how we can defeat the enemy as God's servants. What do you do when you hear someone telling you that
So and So was saying some thing against you? Some God's servants wait till Sunday morning, put all
their energy into the sermon and speak against that particular person. They will not mention the name.
They only look in that person's direction. That is their method. As a result, rather than having a shining
face, their faces become dark. They feel so guilty that after the meeting, they are afraid of facing anyone.
We are given heavenly weapons to defeat the enemy. We cannot defeat the devil by worldly weapons.
We should only desire to honour God, that the Word may have its free course. May the Lord make us true
witnesses and give us grace to obey and not become angry and offended. If God has spoken to you, then
do not go with angry and sorrowful face; go into some corner and pray, "0 God, help me, and forgive all
my past failures and make me a faithful, loyal and a true witness".

Acts 7

Because Abraham saw God's glory he could leave everything behind and obey God fully (v.1). By seeing
God's greatness and glory we can make any sacrifice to obey Him and follow Him. In seeing God's glory
he was able to see the glory of the heavenly city, which has foundations. That is the heavenly church.
"For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God" (Heb. 11: 10). That
refers to the heavenly city.

When Moses wanted to be a leader himself, he failed (v.29). But when he humbled himself, God made
him a ruler. Those who want authority, fail God. But when God distributes authority, you will be filled
with the Spirit day by day. But you have to wait for God's time. Then He can help you and use you.