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In this message we shall cover two matters: first, the believers’ becoming, as the bride, one with the Spirit; second, the believers’ looking to and waiting for the Lord Jesus’ coming back to usher them into their future.
In the progressing stage of God’s full salvation, the stage of transformation, the believers experience and enjoy the processed Triune God in His triune dispensing, they experience God’s redemption continuously, they enjoy the dispensing of the divine Trinity in the divine transformation for the divine conformation, they experience the dispensing of the divine Trinity corporately by entering into the kingdom of God, by living in the church, and by living in the Body of Christ, and they experience the dispensing of the divine Trinity in various other aspects. The issue of this experience and enjoyment of the divine Trinity is that the believers become, as the bride, one with the Spirit.
This oneness is indicated clearly in Revelation 22:17a, “The Spirit and the bride say, Come!” This verse reveals that the Spirit as the totality of the processed Triune God has become one with the believers, who are now fully matured to be the bride. Hence, the Spirit is the ultimate expression of the processed Triune God, and the bride is the ultimate expression of the transformed tripartite man. By the time of Revelation 22:17, the processed Triune God — the Spirit — and the transformed tripartite man — the bride — will be one and speak as one.
The consummation of the divine dispensing of the processed Triune God will be a universal marriage (Rev. 19:7-9; 21:2, 9). The Spirit as the consummation of the processed Triune God dispensed into His redeemed people will be the Bridegroom, and God’s redeemed people as the consummation of the redeemed, regenerated, and transformed humanity will be the bride. In Revelation 22:17 the Spirit and the bride together as a couple say “Come.” This verse does not tell us that the Bridegroom and the bride speak together but that the Spirit and the bride speak together. This is the consummation of what John the Baptist told his disciples in John 3:29: “He who has the bride is the bridegroom.” The end of the New Testament eventually reveals to us that the One who has the bride is the Spirit. This Spirit is the all-inclusive, life-giving Spirit as the consummation of the processed Triune God who, in Revelation 22:17, has become one with the believers as the bride.
The Spirit, as the consummation of the processed and dispensed Triune God, becomes one with the bride, the aggregate of all the regenerated and transformed tripartite men. The Spirit is the consummation of the Triune God. However, this is not the Triune God apart from the process through which He has passed. The Spirit is the Triune God after He has passed through the process of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. Having passed through this process, the Triune God is now this consummate Spirit. Therefore, in giving a full definition of the Spirit, we may say that the Spirit is the processed, compound, all-inclusive, life-giving, indwelling, sevenfold intensified, consummated Spirit as the ultimate consummation of the processed Triune God to be the eternal portion of His chosen, redeemed, regenerated, sanctified, transformed, and glorified tripartite people as their life, life supply, and everything.
The Spirit as the consummation, even the ultimate consummation, of the processed Triune God has been and is being dispensed into us. Eventually, this Spirit becomes one with the bride, the aggregate of all the regenerated and transformed tripartite men. This means that the Triune God, after being consummated as the Spirit, will “marry” the believers as the bride.
In Revelation 22:17 there are two consummations. First, the Triune God has gone through a process — through incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension — to become the Spirit, the totality, the consummation, of the Triune God to be the Bridegroom. Second, the believers also have gone through a process — redemption, regeneration, and transformation — to become the consummation of God’s chosen, redeemed, regenerated, and transformed people to be the bride. The consummation of the processed Triune God and the consummation of God’s chosen, redeemed, regenerated, and transformed people will become one in a universal marriage. Therefore, the processed tripartite man will match the processed Triune God forever for His full expression and satisfaction.
In Revelation 22:17 we have the forming of the universal couple. This couple is the mingling of the processed and dispensed Triune God with the regenerated and transformed tripartite man. This couple is the ultimate consummation of the divine romance revealed in the Bible. According to the entire Bible, there is a divine romance between God the Creator, the Redeemer, who is the male, and His redeemed people who are the female. This is a basic matter revealed in the Scriptures. In the Old Testament God told His redeemed people Israel that He was their Husband and that they were His wife (Isa. 54:5; Jer. 3:14; 31:32; Hosea 2:19). When the Lord Jesus came, John the Baptist told his disciples that Christ was the Bridegroom coming to take the bride, which is the church (John 3:29). In Ephesians 5 Paul tells us that the church is typified by the wife and Christ by the husband. Therefore, Christ is the Husband and the church is the wife. Paul also tells us that he has betrothed us as a virgin to one Husband who is Christ (2 Cor. 11:2). Furthermore, Revelation 19:7 says, “The marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife has made herself ready.” This wife is the aggregate of all the overcoming saints from Abel until the Lord comes back. Finally, the New Jerusalem will be the consummation of God’s counterpart, the aggregate of all His redeemed and perfected people.
The Bible begins and ends with a marriage. The Bible begins with the marriage of Adam and Eve in Genesis and ends with the marriage of the Spirit and God’s redeemed people in Revelation. This final marriage is the marriage of the processed, consummated, and dispensed Triune God as the Husband with His regenerated and transformed people as the bride. For eternity this universal couple will be the full manifestation of the Triune God expressed in all His glory. This is the conclusion of the New Testament and also of the entire Bible. At the conclusion of the Bible is the Spirit, the consummation of the processed Triune God, with the bride as the aggregate and consummation of the redeemed, regenerated, transformed, and glorified tripartite man. Here is an eternal, universal couple expressing the Triune God for eternity.
The Spirit and the bride express the desire for the Lord’s coming as revealed by Him in Revelation 22:7 and 12. In verse 7 the Lord says, “Behold, I come quickly,” and in verse 12 He says, “Behold, I come quickly, and My reward is with Me to render to each one according to his work.” “Come” (v. 17) is the response of the Spirit and the bride to the Lord’s word concerning His coming. It is the desire for the Lord’s coming. Whoever hears this response should also say, “Come,” thus expressing a joint desire for the Lord’s coming. All believers who love the Lord’s appearing (2 Tim. 4:8) should express such a joint desire.
In the verses prior to Revelation 22:17 we have the Lord’s word. Now in verse 17 the Spirit and the bride respond to His word. Their response is the desire of their heart for the Lord’s coming. The word “Come!” spoken by the Spirit and the bride is certainly spoken to the Lord. The fact that the Spirit and the bride speak as one indicate that they have become one. In chapters two and three of Revelation the Spirit is the speaker, and the churches are the receivers of the speaking of the Spirit. But at the end of Revelation the Spirit and the bride, the bride and the Spirit, have become one. The believers are no longer merely the receivers of the divine oracle; they have become one with the divine Speaker and express with Him the desire for the Lord’s coming.
The Spirit and the bride call the thirsty ones to come and drink the water of life — the flow of the processed and dispensing Triune God. This is indicated by the fact that in 22:17 the word “come” is found three times: “The Spirit and the bride say, Come! Let him who hears also say, Come! Let him who is thirsty also come; he who wills, let him take the water of life freely.” The first occurrence of this word refers to the coming back of the Lord Jesus. This is uttered by the Spirit and the bride. However, the one who hears the Spirit and the bride say this joins in saying, “Come!” The Spirit and the bride, on the one hand, desire that the Lord Jesus will come and, on the other hand, yearn that the thirsty sinner will also come to take the water of life for his satisfaction. When we have a sincere desire for the Lord’s desire, we also have an earnest expectation for the sinner’s salvation. Therefore, the third mention of “come” in this verse refers to the coming of the repenting sinners. Whoever is thirsty, let him take the water of life freely. Hence, 22:17 covers three matters: the response of the Spirit and the bride, the word of the one who hears the declaration of the Spirit and the bride, and the desire for the thirsty sinner, the unsaved one, to come and drink of the water of life.
Revelation 22:17 strongly implies that if we have a desire for the Lord’s coming back, we shall be very concerned for others’ salvation. Do you desire the coming back of the Lord Jesus? If you do, this desire will stir up within you a concern for the salvation of others. As you are saying, “Come, Lord Jesus,” a burden may rise up within you for your family, neighbors, friends, and colleagues. We should say to the Lord, “Come,” and then turn to the unbelievers and say, “The Lord Jesus is coming. Will you not come also? Come and be saved. Come to receive your salvation that you may be prepared to meet the coming Savior.” In particular, we shall sound out a call to the thirsty ones to drink the water of life, the flow of the processed and dispensing Triune God, that they also may have a part in the aggregate of God’s redeemed people to be His bride. Our experience testifies that this is the proper understanding of 22:17.
Anyone who would answer the above call and come to drink the water of life will participate in the central goal of God’s economy, that is, to share the dispensing of the processed Triune God and to be a part of the bride of the Lamb for the satisfaction and expression of the processed and dispensing Triune God.
This is to fulfill the eternal purpose of the divine economy of the Triune God, according to His heart’s desire for His pleasure (Eph. 1:9-11; 3:9-11), in eternity to come.
As a result of the progressing stage of God’s full salvation and through the experience and enjoyment of the dispensing of the processed Triune God, the believers look to and wait for the Lord Jesus’ coming back to usher them into their future. Our future is an eternal married life with the Triune God. Now we are waiting for the Lord’s coming back; we are here looking to that glorious day.
Philippians 3:20 says, “Our citizenship is in the heavens, from which also we eagerly await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ.” The Greek word rendered “citizenship” may also be rendered commonwealth or associations of life. Our national life is not in any earthly country; it is in the heavens. Our real citizenship, our true commonwealth, is in the heavens. We need to remember, therefore, that since our citizenship is in the heavens, we are a heavenly people sojourning on earth, awaiting the Savior, who “will transfigure the body of our humiliation, conforming it to the body of His glory, according to the operation of Him who is able even to subject all things to Himself” (v. 21).
First Corinthians 1:7b tells us that, as believers, we are “awaiting the unveiling of our Lord Jesus Christ.” Here “unveiling” refers to the Lord’s appearing, His second coming. To await the appearing of the Lord is a normal sign of true believers.
According to 1 Thessalonians 1:9 and 10, the believers have turned to God from idols to serve a living and true God and “to wait for His Son from the heavens, whom He raised from among the dead — Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath which is coming.” An important characteristic of our Christian life is that we are waiting for God’s Son from the heavens. As Christians, we must live a life that declares to others that our hope is not on this earth or in this age. Instead, our hope is in the coming Lord, and our future is in Him. On this earth we do not have any destiny, destination, or future. Our future, our destiny, and our destination are altogether focused on the Lord who is coming. He will be our hope, our future, and our destination. We are going to the Lord, and our destiny is to meet Him. Worldly people, on the contrary, have the kind of living that gives others the impression that their future is on the earth and that their hope, destiny, and destination are all in the present. Although their future is thoroughly related to this age, ours is not. Because we are waiting for the Son of God from the heavens, our future is focused on Him. As believers in Christ, we declare that we are waiting for the coming of the Son of God from the heavens.
Revelation 22:20 says, “He who testifies these things says, Yes, I come quickly, Amen. Come, Lord Jesus!” The first part of this verse is the Lord’s third warning in chapter twenty-two of Revelation regarding His soon coming. The last part is the Apostle John’s prayer and response to the Lord’s warning. It is also the last prayer in the Bible. After reading the book of Revelation, we also should have such a prayer and response — “Come, Lord Jesus!” This was John’s desire expressed as a prayer. Therefore, the whole Bible concludes with a desire for the Lord’s coming expressed as a prayer.
First Thessalonians 4:17 says, “We who are living, who remain, shall be caught up at the same time together with them in clouds into a meeting of the Lord in the air; and so we shall be always together with the Lord.” According to this verse, both the dead and the living believers will be caught up to the Lord. First the dead will be raised (v. 16), and then together we shall be caught up to a meeting of the Lord in the air. According to the Word of God, when the Lord Jesus descends from heaven, the dead saints will rise up. Their spirit and soul will rise out of Paradise, their body will rise up from the tomb, and their spirit and soul with the body will make them perfect. They will then join the believers who are living, and together we shall be caught up to the Lord.
