I.　There are three stages of Christ's ministry, and the work of the ministry to build up the Body of Christ is a threefold work—Eph. 4:11-12:

A.　The stage of incarnation is the stage of Christ in the flesh; the work in this stage produces redeemed people—John 1:14, 29; Rom. 3:24-25.

B.　The stage of inclusion is the stage of Christ as the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit; the work in this stage produced the church and produces the churches—1 Cor. 15:45b; John 20:22; Phil. 1:19; Exo. 30:22-30; Heb. 2:12; Acts 8:1; 13:1; 14:23; 20:28.

C.　The stage of intensification is the stage of Christ as the sevenfold intensified life-giving Spirit; the work in this stage produces the overcomers to deal with the degradation of the church and to produce the Body of Christ to consummate the New Jerusalem—Rev. 1:4; 3:1; 4:5; 5:6; 2:7, 17; 3:12, 20.

D.　We need to carry out the threefold work of the ministry to produce redeemed ones, to establish churches, and to build up the Body consummating the New Jerusalem; the foundation is the work in the stage of incarnation, the building up is the work in the stage of inclusion, and the completion of the building is the work in the stage of intensification.

II.　Christ's heavenly ministry is carried out in the divine and mystical realm of the consummated, life-giving, sevenfold intensified Spirit; in His heavenly ministry in the stage of intensification, He saves us from the degradation of the church—2 Tim. 1:15; 2:17-18; 4:10, 14-16; 2 Pet. 2:1, 15; 3:3-4, 15-16; 1 John 2:18, 22; 4:1-2, 6; 2 John 7, 9-11; 3 John 9-10:

A.　He saves the believers in the church in Ephesus from the formal church life, which has lost the first love to the Lord, the shining capacity of the lampstand, and the enjoyment of Christ as life, to become overcomers so that they will be rewarded to eat of the tree of life in the Paradise of God—the New Jerusalem in the kingdom age—Rev. 2:1-7.

B.　He strengthens the suffering believers in the church in Smyrna to overcome the persecution by being martyred so that they will be rewarded not to be hurt of the second death during the kingdom age—vv. 8-11.

C.　He sanctifies the believers in the church in Pergamos from the union with the world and from the teachings of Balaam and the Nicolaitans to be the overcomers so that they may be rewarded to eat the hidden manna and to have a white stone upon which a new name will be written in the kingdom age—vv. 12-17.

D.　He rescues the believers in the church in Thyatira from idol worship, fornication, demonic teachings, and the deep things of Satan to be the overcomers so that they may be rewarded with the authority over the nations in the kingdom age— vv. 18-29.

E.　He revives the believers in the church in Sardis from their dead and dying condition to be the overcomers so that they may be rewarded with walking with the Lord in white and with not having their names erased out of the book of life but confessed by the Lord before the Father and His angels in the kingdom age—3:1-6.

F.　He encourages the believers in the church in Philadelphia to hold fast what they have that no one take their crown to be the overcomers so that they may be rewarded to be a pillar in the temple of God and to have the name of God and the name of the New Jerusalem and the new name of the Lord written upon them in the kingdom age—vv. 7-13.

G.　He awakens the believers in the church in Laodicea from their lukewarm and Christless condition, exhorting them to pay the price for the refined gold, white garments, and eyesalve and to open their door to the knocking Lord to be the overcomers to sit on the throne of the Lord in the kingdom age—vv. 14-22.

III.　Christ saves us from the degradation of the church through His sevenfold intensified heavenly ministry by His up-to-date speaking and by our living in our spirit all the time:

A.　The speaking of the unlimited, life-releasing, sevenfold intensified, pneumatic Christ to the seven churches at the beginning of each epistle respectively becomes the speaking of the sevenfold intensified, all-inclusive life-giving Spirit to all the churches at the end of each epistle universally—2:1, 7-8, 11-12, 17-18, 29; 3:1, 6-7, 13-14, 22.

B.　The overcoming of the church's degradation is by the participation of the overcoming saints who are living in their spirit—1:10; 4:2; 17:3; 21:10.

IV.　By Christ's sevenfold intensified heavenly ministry, He prepares His bride for His wedding and forms His bridal army to defeat and destroy His top enemies in humanity, the Antichrist and the false prophet—19:7-9, 11-21; 17:14:

A.　The overcomers, who are prepared to be Christ's bride, are raptured before the great tribulation for the purpose of defeating the enemy and satisfying God; God has a need for us to be raptured so that we can be the firstfruits for His satisfaction and the man-child to fight against His enemy—12:5, 7-11; 14:1, 4b; 19:7:

1.　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 and learn to have nearness and dearness in our contact with the Lord, having a heart that loves and treasures the Lord for His purpose—2 Cor. 2:10; 4:6-7.

2.　Rapture is not mainly for our enjoyment but for God's enjoyment; we need to make ourselves ready to be raptured, not for our happiness but for the fulfillment of God's purpose—Rev. 19:7.

3.　The rapture of the saints is the consummating step of God's organic salvation through Christ's sevenfold intensified heavenly ministry; by His sevenfold intensified organic salvation, we and the Lord become the same in appearance and expression—4:3; 21:11.

B.　The final outcome of Christ's sevenfold intensified heavenly ministry is that the Bridegroom, as the consummated Spirit, and the bride, as the aggregate of all the overcomers, are united, mingled, and incorporated together to be one great God-man unto the praise of the glory of God's grace, with which He graced us in the Beloved—Eph. 1:6; Rev. 22:17a, 21.