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In this message we shall begin to consider the church as the counterpart of Christ.
In his exhortation in Ephesians 5:22-33, Paul presents the church as the counterpart of Christ. This reveals that the church is actually a part of Christ, for the church comes out of Christ and is unto Christ, just as Eve came out of Adam and was unto Adam (Gen. 2:21-23).
The first couple in the Bible, Adam and Eve, is a picture of Christ and the church. In His creation, God did not create a man and woman at the same time. He first created a man, and then from the man He created a counterpart to help him (Gen. 2:18). When the fowl, the beasts, and the cattle were brought before Adam, Adam named them one by one. But for Adam “there was not found a help meet for him” (Gen. 2:20). Adam desired to have a counterpart, to have someone to match him. However, among the fowl, the beasts, and the cattle, he could not find his counterpart. In order to produce such a counterpart, God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam (Gen. 2:21), and He took a rib out of Adam and built a woman with the rib (Gen. 2:22). The name of the woman was Eve. Eve was the same as Adam in life, nature, and form. Therefore, she could be his counterpart. When God brought Eve to Adam, Adam exclaimed, “This time it is bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh” (Gen. 2:23, Heb.). At last, Adam had found one who could be his counterpart.
Genesis 2:24 indicates that a man and his wife are one flesh. The husband and the wife are two halves of a whole person. This is a marvelous picture of Christ and the church. Eve had the same life and nature that Adam had. This signifies that the church has the same life and nature that Christ has. Furthermore, Eve had virtually the same image and nearly the same stature as Adam. This indicates that the church bears the same image and has the same stature as Christ.
The church as the counterpart of Christ implies satisfaction and rest in love. Every husband needs satisfaction and rest, which are found in love. The brothers who are husbands can testify that our satisfaction and rest can only be in our wives. If we say that we are the church, then we must ask if Christ has His rest among us. This is a serious matter. A group of Christians should not be so quick to claim that they are the church. To be the church is to render to Christ the adequate satisfaction and rest in love. Christ needs such a counterpart. The church is not merely a gathering of God’s called ones. The church, as Christ’s counterpart, is a satisfaction and rest to Christ in love.
In Colossians 2:2 Paul speaks of the mystery of God, which is Christ, and in Ephesians 3:4, of the mystery of Christ, which is the church. In Ephesians 5:32 Paul says, “This mystery is great, but I speak with regard to Christ and the church.” The fact that Christ and the church are one spirit (1 Cor. 6:17), as typified by the husband and wife being one flesh, is the great mystery. It surely is a great mystery that the church as Christ’s counterpart comes out of Christ, has the same life and nature as Christ, and is one with Christ.
The church is the bride, the wife, of Christ, who is the Bridegroom, the Husband. The word of John the Baptist in John 3:29 indicates that Christ is the Bridegroom. “He who has the bride is the bridegroom.” The bridegroom is a most pleasant person, who comes for the bride. The church should be a corporate bride prepared for Christ. To us He should be the attraction, the pleasure, and the satisfaction. As those who constitute the counterpart of Christ, we should enjoy Him as such a pleasant Bridegroom.
In 2 Corinthians 11:2 Paul speaks concerning Christ as the Husband. “I am jealous over you with a jealousy of God; for I betrothed you to one Husband, to present a pure virgin to Christ.” Here we see that Christ is the believers’ Husband, the unique Husband for us to love. We should belong only to Him, and we should appreciate Him and love Him. As our Husband, Christ has attracted us, and we have been presented as a pure virgin to Him. Now we should care only for Him, allowing nothing to replace Him in our hearts. Our love for Him should be pure, and our whole being should be focused on Him.
As Eve was Adam’s increase, so the church as the bride, the wife, of Christ as the Bridegroom, the Husband, is Christ’s increase. After John the Baptist referred to Christ as the Bridegroom, he went on to say, “He must increase, but I must decrease” (John 3:30). The increase in verse 30 is the bride in verse 29. For the Lord to increase means that He must have the bride. All the following must go to Him. All those who believe in Him should follow Him to be His bride as His increase.
In Revelation 19:7 and 8 we see that Christ and His counterpart, His bride, will be married at His coming back. Verse 7 says, “Let us rejoice and exult, and let us give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife has made herself ready.” The marriage of the Lamb is the issue of the completion of God’s New Testament economy. God’s economy in the New Testament is to obtain for Christ a bride, the church, through His redemption and divine life. By the continual working of the Holy Spirit through all the centuries, this goal will be attained at the end of this age. Then the bride will be ready.
The words “His wife” in Revelation 19:7 refer to the church (Eph. 5:24-25, 31-32), the bride of Christ. However, according to Revelation 19:8 and 9, the wife, the bride of Christ, here consists only of the overcoming believers during the millennium, whereas the bride, the wife, in Revelation 21:2 is composed of all the saved saints after the millennium for eternity.
As the Lamb, Christ needs a wedding. The Gospel of John reveals that Christ is the Lamb who came to take away sin (1:29) and also the Bridegroom who came that He might have the bride. Christ’s goal is not to remove sin; His goal is to have the bride. In the book of Revelation we see that Christ is the Lamb and the coming Bridegroom. As the Bridegroom, He must have a wedding.
We need to emphasize the marriage of Christ and His bride so that we may know that our position is that of the bride and the position of the coming Christ is that of the Bridegroom. We are on earth preparing to become the bride to meet Him, and He is on the throne in the third heaven prepared to come as the Bridegroom to meet us. Therefore, He is coming as the Bridegroom, and we are going as the bride. When we meet Him at His coming back, we shall have a wedding.
Revelation 19:7b says, “His wife has made herself ready.” The readiness of the bride depends on the maturity in life of the overcomers. Furthermore, the overcomers are not separate individuals but a corporate bride. For this, building is needed. The overcomers are not only mature in life but are also built together as one bride.
Revelation 19:8 says, “It was given to her that she should be clothed in fine linen, bright and pure; for the fine linen is the righteousnesses of the saints.” “Pure” refers to the nature, whereas “bright” refers to the expression. The Greek word translated “righteousnesses” may also be rendered “righteous acts.” These righteousnesses do not refer to the righteousness (which is Christ) we received for our salvation (1 Cor. 1:30). The righteousness we received for our salvation is objective so that we may meet the requirement of the righteous God. The righteousnesses of the overcoming believers who compose the bride in Revelation 19:8 are subjective so that they may meet the requirements of the overcoming Christ. Hence, the fine linen indicates our overcoming life, our overcoming living. It is actually the Christ whom we live out of our being.
The fine linen with which the bride in Revelation 19 is clothed is equal to the marriage garment in Matthew 22:11 and 12. According to the revelation of the Scriptures, the believers need two garments — one for our salvation and another for us to be prepared as the bride. For our salvation we need a robe to cover us. This is the robe that was put on the prodigal son in Luke 15:22. Such a robe signifies Christ as our righteousness, and it is for us to be justified by God in His presence. All believers in Christ have this robe, the first robe, Christ as our righteousness, our justification, which enables us to stand before the righteous God. However, we also need the second garment, which is the wedding garment in Matthew 22:11 and 12 and the fine linen in Revelation 19:8. Whereas the first garment qualifies us to meet God for His salvation, the second garment qualifies us to attend the marriage feast of the Lamb as His bride. The second garment is the work of the Holy Spirit within us. It is the very Christ whom we live and who is expressed through us in our daily living. This is the righteousnesses of the saints in Revelation 19:8.
The consummation of the church as the counterpart of Christ will be the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and the new earth for eternity. Revelation 21:2 says, “And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” The New Jerusalem is a living composition of all the saints redeemed by God throughout all generations. It is the bride of Christ as His counterpart. As the bride of Christ, the New Jerusalem comes out of Christ and becomes His counterpart. She is prepared by participating in the riches of the life and nature of Christ.
Revelation 21:9b and 10 say, “Come here, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb. And he carried me away in spirit onto a great and high mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.” Whereas the bride is mainly for the wedding day, the wife is for the entire life. The New Jerusalem will be the bride in the millennium for one thousand years as one day (2 Pet. 3:8) and then the wife in the new heaven and new earth for eternity. The bride in the millennium will include only the overcoming saints, but the wife in the new heaven and new earth will include all the redeemed and regenerated sons of God (Rev. 21:7).
Revelation 22:17a says, “The Spirit and the bride say, Come.” This verse reveals that Christ and the church as His counterpart will be a couple in eternity. The Spirit, who is the totality of the processed Triune God, becomes one with the believers, who are now fully matured to be the bride. Therefore, 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.
In Revelation 22:17 the Spirit and the bride together as a couple say “Come.” It is significant that this verse does not say that the Bridegroom and the bride speak together but that the Spirit and the bride speak together. This means that 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 bride.
In Revelation 22:17 there are two consummations: the Spirit as the consummation of the processed and dispensed Triune God and the bride as the consummation and the aggregate of God’s regenerated and transformed tripartite people. First, the Triune God went through a process — incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension — to become the Spirit, the totality, the consummation, of the processed Triune God to be the Bridegroom. Second, the believers, who compose the bride, 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. Therefore, 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 and will be a couple in eternity.
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). In the New Testament Christ is revealed as the Bridegroom coming to take the bride, which is the church. 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. In Revelation 19:7 this wife is the aggregate of the overcoming saints. Ultimately, 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 the bride 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. Therefore, the transformed tripartite man will match the processed Triune God forever for His full expression and satisfaction. This is the conclusion of the New Testament and also of the entire Bible.
At the conclusion of the Bible there is a couple — the Spirit as 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.
