Search
Scripture Reading: Gen. 2:18-23; John 3:6b, 29-30; 12:24; 19:34; Matt. 13:3, 24; 1 Cor. 3:6, 9b; Rev. 19:7; 21:2, 9b
In Genesis 2:21-23 Eve was presented to Adam as a bride; in John 3:29 the believers are a bride to Christ as the Bridegroom; and in the book of Revelation, at the conclusion of the Bible, the bride is mentioned again (21:2, 9; 22:17). In this chapter we will see how the bride is prepared.
The Bible is very consistent in how it begins and how it ends. It begins and ends with the tree of life (Gen. 2:9; Rev. 2:7; 22:2, 14, 19), and it begins and ends with a flowing river (Gen. 2:10; Rev. 22:1). It begins with three kinds of precious materials — gold, bdellium, precious stones — and it ends with gold, pearl, and precious stones (Gen. 2:11-12; Rev. 21:18-21). It begins with a garden (Gen. 2:8), and it ends with a city (Rev. 21:2). In this way, the two ends of the Bible mirror one another.
At the beginning and end of the Bible, there is also a bride. The difference between the two is that the bride in the beginning is only a type, a prefigure, a foreshadowing, of the coming bride. This may be compared to a person who sends her photograph before she comes to visit you. Her picture gives you a general idea of who she is, but when the person herself comes, you know her more definitely. In the beginning of the Bible there is a picture of the bride. At the end of the Bible comes the bride herself, who is now ready.
In the New Testament the bride is the church, the counterpart of Christ who is the man in the universe (Eph. 5:25-32). In Genesis 2:18 God said, “It is not good for the man to be alone.” This refers to Christ (Rom. 5:14). It is not good for Christ to be alone without the church. Christ needs the church. As a young Christian I was told that there are many mansions in the heavens, waiting to be filled with saved sinners. However, in the Bible there is something much more meaningful than mansions in heaven. It is that the glorious Christ, the universal man, needs a bride. God said it is not good for Christ to be alone. Christ needs a bride.
In what way does God prepare the bride for Christ? We must look at the type. The types are pictures. Little children in kindergarten like books with pictures. If you tell children about a dog, they may still wonder what a dog is, but if you show them a picture of a dog, immediately they get the idea.
Genesis 2 gives us a picture of how the bride comes into existence. After Adam was created, God looked at him and said, “It is not good for the man to be alone; I will make him a helper as his counterpart” (v. 18). God then brought all the cattle, beasts, and birds before Adam to see what he would name them. When Adam saw the dog, he may have said, “No. This is not my counterpart. This is a dog.” When God brought the cat to Adam, he might have looked at himself and said, “I have two legs, but this creature has four legs. This is not my counterpart. This is a cat.” In this way he named each of the living creatures. However, Adam did not find anything that matched him. This must have been a disappointment to Adam.
After this, God caused Adam to sleep, opened his side, took a rib, and with the rib built a woman (vv. 21-23). God then brought the woman to Adam. When Adam saw the woman, he seemed to say, “This is my counterpart. I am a man, and she is a woman.” Adam and Eve were a couple. Eve, the bride, was produced from something coming out of Adam to be his increase. When a young man is single, he has no increase, but when he is married, he has an increase. In the same way, Eve was the increase of Adam. The bride is the increase of the man, the increase of the bridegroom.
Adam was a type of Christ, the man, and Eve was a type of the church as the bride to Christ (Eph. 5:25-32). In Christianity we heard many messages telling us that we were sinful and that Christ died on the cross for our sins. This is true, but these messages never told us that Christ died on the cross to produce the church. Adam was a type of Christ, and Adam’s sleep was a type of the death of Christ on the cross. In God’s economy Christ had to die; He had to “sleep.” God caused Christ to sleep on the cross.
In one sense, Christ died on the cross for our sins, but in another sense, He slept on the cross. While He was sleeping, His side was pierced, and out came blood and water (John 19:34). The blood is for the cleansing of our sins (1:29; Heb. 9:22); the water is for imparting life (John 12:24; 3:14-15). With Eve in Genesis 2 there was no sin, so there was no need of the blood; the rib alone was needed. However, since at the time Jesus died on the cross, man had become involved with sin; there was the need not only for water to impart life but for the blood to cleanse us of our sins.
The Gospel of John presents these two aspects concerning the death of Christ. Verse 29 of chapter 1 says, “Behold, the Lamb of God, who takes away the sin of the world!” This is the first aspect of Christ’s death, to deal with sins. Then 12:24 says, “Unless the grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it abides alone; but if it dies, it bears much fruit.” This aspect of the death of Christ has nothing to do with sin. This aspect of His death is for producing many grains to form one loaf. This loaf is the church (1 Cor. 10:17).
The church was produced by the life-imparting water. What is this water? First Corinthians 10:4 indicates that this water is the Spirit. Christ is typified by the rock that was cleft, out of which came living water. That living water signifies the life-giving Spirit (15:45b). When Jesus died on the cross, He was cleft, and the life-water, the life-giving Spirit, issued forth.
By what means is the church produced? The church is produced by the life-giving Spirit. John 3:6 says, “That which is born of the Spirit is spirit.” The same chapter also says, “He who has the bride is the bridegroom...He must increase, but I must decrease” (vv. 29-30). Few Christians realize that regeneration is not only for our salvation but also for the producing of the church. Regeneration is not only for us to be born again. It is also for the purpose of producing the bride.
The church is not Americans, British, Germans, Japanese, Chinese, and Puerto Ricans coming together. The church is the increase of Christ. That the church is the increase of Christ means that the church is Christ. Colossians 3:10-11 says, “Have put on the new man, which is being renewed unto full knowledge according to the image of Him who created him, where there cannot be Greek and Jew, circumcision and uncircumcision, barbarian, Scythian, slave, free man, but Christ is all and in all.” In the new man, which is the church, Christ is all and in all. Therefore, the church is the increase of Christ. In the church there is no black or white; there is only Christ as all in all.
The church is the increase of Christ; therefore, it is a part of Christ. Only the life-giving Spirit with the life of Christ can make people a part of Christ to produce His counterpart, His increase. This is not a matter of teachings or gifts. It is absolutely a matter of life. No teaching or gift of any kind can produce the increase of Christ. I am not against any proper doctrine, nor am I against any genuine gift. All the proper doctrines and every genuine gift have their place. For the producing of the church, however, our unique need is the growth in life.
Ephesians, a book on the church, does not say anything about teachings or gifts for the producing of the church. Instead, Ephesians says that we all have to grow into Christ the Head in all things (4:15). In this sense, the book of Ephesians helps us to be delivered from teachings (v. 14). For the church to be the increase of Christ, we do not need the knowledge collected from teachings or the manifested gifts. We need growth.
The growth in life is revealed in Matthew 13. In this chapter the Lord Jesus told us that He came not as a teacher but as a sower to sow Himself as the seed of life into us (vv. 3-8). This is very meaningful. We must drop the concept that we can be wonderful, spiritual Christians by collecting knowledge. We must be revolutionized in our concept. The Lord came as a sower, and He sowed Himself into us as the seed of life. According to Matthew 13, after this sowing, we all need to grow.
The first parable in Matthew 13 reveals the sower (vv. 3-8). In the second parable the seed sown grows up into wheat (vv. 24-30). Then the fourth parable refers to fine flour (vv. 33-35). Fine flour comes from the grains of wheat. These grains are good for making a loaf, and this loaf signifies the Body of Christ (1 Cor. 10:17). We are many members yet one Body, one bread.
In the fifth and sixth parables a treasure is hidden in a field, and a merchant finds a pearl of great value (Matt. 13:44-46). In principle, the treasure hidden in the field must be composed of gold and precious stones, items which are transformed substances. These transformed items are the materials for building the house of God (1 Cor. 3:12). This is very meaningful. For the producing of the church, we need growth and transformation. Then we can have the building. The growth is for transformation, and transformation is for building.
Many in Christianity hold the wrong concept that teachings are needed for growth in life. Christianity cares too much for teachings. Satan is very subtle. In fundamental Christianity he has used dead teachings to cover people’s eyes. Teachings upon teachings are like layers upon layers covering people’s eyes. The more they study theology, commentaries, and expositions, the more they are blinded, covered, and veiled. More than thirty years ago I had many layers of veils over my eyes. It took more than fifteen years for all the veils to be removed. To grow in life we need feeding. Regardless of how much we teach others to grow, no growth will take place. Teaching does not help the growth, but feeding does. We must help the brothers and sisters to eat and drink.
Ephesians 4:14 says, “Tossed by waves and carried about by every wind of teaching.” It does not say by the “wind of heresy” but by the “wind of teaching.” This teaching is not false doctrine but good, sound, scriptural, and fundamental doctrine. It is doctrine as wind that carries people away from the Body, from the church, and from the Head, Christ. In the Lord’s recovery He has released us and freed us to come back to Himself and to His Body. Now in the church I am so happy. Forty years ago I was distracted by knowledge, but praise the Lord, now I am liberated and recovered! I do not care for mere doctrine. I only care for Christ and the church, for the Head and the Body.
The exercise of the gifts does not help our growth in life. Some people consider that we need gifts such as divine healing, but for a person to receive divine healing will not help him to grow in life. Some using 1 Corinthians 14:4 say that tongue-speaking edifies people. However, if we check into the tongue-speaking practiced today, much of it is not genuine. Some people lay hands on others, telling them to say, “Praise Jesus,” quickly over and over or to speak nonsensical syllables. To be honest, this kind of speaking in tongues does not help people to grow.
Pentecostal Christianity, reacting to the deadness of fundamental Christianity, cares mainly for the gifts, especially tongue-speaking. I spoke in tongues more than thirty-five years ago, but after carefully studying the Bible concerning this matter, I dropped this practice. By looking into the Bible with a Greek-English interlinear text, I discovered that the word tongue is two words in Greek. It is either glossa, referring to the speaking organ or a dialect, or dialektos, meaning “dialect.” Tongues and dialect are used interchangeably in Acts 2:4, 6, 8, and 11. However, some people speak in tongues by uttering nonsensical syllables or by repeating the same syllables over and over. Since they realize that these sounds are not a real dialect, they say that the tongue they are speaking is an unknown dialect or an angelic dialect. However, even the most simple dialect is composed of more than a few sounds.
In 1936 I became very involved with tongue-speaking, but as a student of the Bible I could not get through in my understanding of this matter. At that time I spoke with a certain leading one in the Assembly of God, who came to China from the West Coast of the United States. He was over sixty years old and was supposed to be a scholar in Greek and in knowing the Bible. In our conversation he told me that glossa does not necessarily mean a dialect. I then opened to Acts 2 and showed him that tongues and dialect are used interchangeably. I asked him to reconcile his teaching for me, but he could not. Eventually, he put his hands on my head and said, “Your head is too big.” With that he ended our conversation. That was also the end of my tongue-speaking.
In 1963 a new movement of tongue-speaking was very prevailing along the West Coast of the United States under the leadership of a certain Episcopalian priest. This movement published a paper in Los Angeles called Trinity. In an editorial on the first page of one issue, the writer said that he had contacted two hundred tongue-speakers. Without exception, all two hundred doubted that their speaking in tongues was genuine. Still, because the writer was one hundred percent for tongue-speaking, he encouraged everyone to speak in tongues and not to doubt. Do you believe that Peter and the others doubted their experience of speaking in tongues on the day of Pentecost?
We must see through the subtlety of the enemy. If we ask a linguist to analyze a recording of man-made speaking in tongues, he will verify that it is false. Moreover, after someone speaks in tongues, someone else may interpret it, saying, “My people, time is short; I am coming quickly.” However, in the evening the same tongue may be spoken and interpreted as, “Be on the alert; there will be an earthquake.” The children of God should not be so foolish.
In 1963 I was invited to San Diego by a group of people who spoke in tongues. While I was there, one of the leaders turned to another Chinese brother and me and said, “Praise the Lord, God has given me the grace to speak Chinese!” He tried to speak something in Chinese, and then he turned to me to see whether or not I understood it. I said, “Brother, I’m sorry. I did not understand one word you spoke.” Then he began to speak again, uttering some sounds in a different way. Again, he turned to me, and I said, “I still do not understand anything.” He tried a third time, but the other brother and I still could not understand what he uttered. I told him, “I speak Mandarin, and this brother speaks Cantonese. Between the two of us, we know the main dialects of Chinese. We cannot speak many of them, but we still can recognize them. However, we cannot understand one word of your speaking.” His was a man-made tongue.
Later, in one of the meetings of that congregation, an American woman in her fifties stood up and spoke a short sentence in a so-called tongue. Then a young American-born Chinese of about twenty years of age stood and interpreted her short tongue-speaking with a long interpretation. After the meeting, as a guest in the leader’s home, I asked him if he thought that the interpretation by the young Chinese man was genuine. He said, “No, I do not believe that it was genuine.” Two years later in Waco, Texas, I met the young Chinese man who did the interpretation in San Diego. When I asked him about his interpretation of the tongue-speaking, he admitted that it was not a real interpretation. I can tell you many stories like this. I am not speaking something that I do not know. I have passed through these things, and I realize the real situation.
I do believe that there are genuine tongues today, but many so-called tongues spoken today are only human-manufactured tongues. In 1964 I was invited to dinner at the home of a brother who held a doctorate in physics. He shared with me his testimony about how he began to speak in tongues. He said that he spoke in tongues by exercising his jaw and turning his tongue a certain way. Then I responded by saying, “Brother, do you believe that on the day of Pentecost Peter turned his jaw a certain way?” After listening to his testimony, I realized that under the Lord’s mercy what I had experienced was much better than this. Because this brother was trained in a certain way by his denomination, he exercised his jaw and turned his tongue to make a strange sound, which he called a tongue. However, there is no need to do this. Without doing this, we can enjoy the Lord’s grace much more than he did.
In this century, perhaps no one has been used by the Lord as much as Watchman Nee. I was his co-worker for twenty years. When I was speaking in tongues in 1936 in north China, he sent me a cable, saying, “Do all speak in tongues?” He had the position to send such a cable to me because he was senior to me, and I was his junior. He advised me to be careful concerning tongue-speaking. Brother Nee never spoke in tongues. Some have said that speaking in tongues is the unique manifestation of the gifts, but he strongly disagreed with this. Many spiritual giants never spoke in tongues. We should not be fooled. Some fundamental teachers, however, following the teaching of J. N. Darby, say that speaking in tongues and other manifestations of the gifts are dispensationally over. We do not agree with this; it is too extreme. We cannot say that the gifts are over. They are still here, but they need to be genuine.
At certain times in the Lord’s recovery, and according to the need, the Lord has given us knowledge and teaching, and He also has given us certain gifts. In the past, we have had healings, but the Lord has made it very clear to us that the primary need in His recovery is not teachings or gifts but life. Life is Christ Himself as the all-inclusive Spirit. In the Lord’s recovery we need the growth in life. Therefore, if you speak in tongues, I do not oppose you, and I do not want to bother you; however, I advise you not to become addicted to it.
If we read and pray-read the New Testament again and again, we will see that our primary need is Jesus Christ, who became the life-giving Spirit as our life and life supply. At a certain point, for a certain need, the Lord may allow us to have certain teachings, and He may also allow us to have certain gifts as a kind of help. These, however, are not the normal things. The normal Christian life is a life of living by Christ. “He who eats Me, he also shall live because of Me” (John 6:57b). It is by this that the members of Christ are produced, it is by this that the Body of Christ is built up, and it is by this that the bride will be prepared for the Bridegroom.
In Genesis the bride is mentioned in type. In the Gospel of John and the book of Revelation, however, the bride is mentioned in fulfillment. In his writings, John never touched anything of the gifts or of mere teachings. John had a ministry of life. He wrote, “That which is born of the Spirit is spirit”; this refers to regeneration, which is for the increase of Christ to prepare the bride for the Bridegroom (John 3:6, 29). John also tells us that Christ is the unique grain of wheat who fell into the ground, died, and produced many grains (12:24). We are these many grains. We are the reproduction, continuation, spread, growth, and increase of Christ, not by teachings or gifts but by Christ Himself as the life and life supply.
In the book of Revelation we do not find mere teachings or gifts; rather, we find life. Revelation 2:7 says, “To him who overcomes, to him I will give to eat of the tree of life,” and 2:17 says, “To him who overcomes, to him I will give of the hidden manna.” Then 3:20 says, “If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, then I will come in to him and dine with him and he with Me.” Moreover, there are no teachings or gifts in the New Jerusalem. There is only the flow of the living water, and on either side of the river of life grows the tree of life, producing twelve fruits (22:1-2). The river and the tree become the full supply to the entire city. This is the clear picture in the Bible.
We all have to be preserved in the proper realization of the church life. The Lord’s recovery of the church life is absolutely by Himself as our life and life supply. We must never be distracted by any teaching or gift from Christ as our life and life supply. It is by Him as our life and life supply that we can be the members of His Body, and it is by Him as our life and life supply that the bride can be prepared for His coming back. May the Lord be merciful to us. I pray that we all will see a clear vision and not merely have an understanding of certain teachings or doctrines. The church as the Body of Christ is the increase of Christ. We have to take Him, we have to eat Him, and we have to live by Him. Then we will be prepared as the bride for His coming back.
