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Eph. 2:10, 2:15; 4:22-24; Col. 3:10-11; Gen. 1:26-27; Eph. 6:12; 5:22-33; Gen. 2:21-24; John 3:29-30; 2 Cor. 11:2; Rev. 19:7-8; 21:2, 7-9, 17
I. God’s masterpiece
II. The new man
А. Created by Christ on the cross
B. Bearing God’s image to express Him
C. Fighting as a warrior
III. The counterpart of Christ
А. The church as the bride, the wife, of Christ as the Bridegroom, the Husband
B. To be married at Christ’s coming back
C. To be consummated in the New Jerusalem for eternity
D. To be a couple in eternity
[Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are His workmanship.’’ The Greek word for workmanship, poiema, can also be translated masterpiece or poem. It conveys the thought of a piece of work that expresses its maker or author. The church is a poem! In the whole universe the church stands out as an expression of God’s wisdom; its design cannot be improved upon. It is like pleasant music or a lovely poem. What a matchless display of divine wisdom! Who can improve on this supreme handiwork of God!
When it comes to the way a building is designed, there can always be changes and improvements. An architect often modifies his designs, as he becomes aware of their shortcomings. But what God designs has no room for improvement. Man cannot imitate it. Any adjustment would be for the worse. Consider the way the human body was designed. What a work of art the facial pattern alone is! The placement of our two eyes, our two ears, our nose, and our lips makes a beautiful appearance. Our body with two shoulders, two lovely hands, and so forth, is worthy of admiration. The church is a far greater, more magnificent design than the human body! The church is a poem declaring and demonstrating God’s wisdom and design.]
[God has made many things, but none of them is as dear, precious, valuable, and desirable as the church. The church is God’s masterpiece. Writers, composers, and artists often attempt to achieve a masterpiece, an outstanding work. God created the heavens and the earth, but neither the heavens nor the earth is God’s masterpiece. Likewise, God created man, but not even man is God’s masterpiece. Only one item of God’s work in this universe is His masterpiece, and this masterpiece is the church. As God’s masterpiece, the church is the Body of Christ, the fullness of the One who fills all in all. What could be a greater work than this? Furthermore, the church as God’s masterpiece is the corporate and universal new man (2:15). Because we see things from the side of the messed-up “kitchen’’ of the church life, we may not realize that the church is such a masterpiece.]
[The church is also the new man (Eph. 2:15; 4:24; Col. 3:10). There is a sense in which the whole human race is just one corporate man. All the different peoples on earth comprise this one man, who in the Scripture is called the old man or Adam. God at the beginning did not create two men, but only Adam. This one man was mankind. In Genesis 1:26-27 the whole human race was created. But on the cross, through Christ and in Him, God created another man, a new man! This man is also corporate; we are included in him. Adam was the old man; Christ with the church is the new man. This new man is not only Christ, but also the church. Christ is the Head of this universal man; the church is His Body.
As the body exists for the expression of the head, so the church as the Body of Christ is Christ’s expression. As man exists for the expression of God, so the church as the new man is God’s expression. The whole church is a corporate yet single man. There are many local churches all over] the earth, [yet altogether they are only one man. Throughout the earth today, this one universal man expresses God. As the Body, the church expresses Christ. As the new man, the church expresses God.]
[Ephesians 2:15 says that Christ through the cross “abolished in His flesh the law of the commandments in ordinances, that He might create the two in Himself into one new man.’’ Then in Ephesians 4:22-24 we are told to put off the old man and to put on the new man. This new man is the Body of Christ. To put on the new man means to live a life by the Body. Before our salvation we were living in the old man, in the old society, but now we are members of Christ, living in His Body. We should put off the old man with the old social life, and we should put on the new man, the church.]
As the church people, we have left the old man through baptism into the new man; however, we may still think, act, talk, and look like people from the old society. We have left the old man through baptism; therefore, we should walk in newness of life (Rom. 6:3-4). We must spend more time in prayer, in reading of the word, in the gospel, and in the meetings to be transformed by the renewing of the mind and to live in the practical church life. If we remain in the old way of life, we cannot be renewed and we have little participation in the new man church life.
[In this new man there is nothing natural, nothing Jewish, nothing Greek, nothing of social rank; everyone is full of Christ, so Christ is everyone and Christ is in everyone (Col. 3:10-11). There is nothing but Christ in the new man. Our life is Christ, our living is Christ, our intention is Christ, our ambition is Christ, our will is Christ, our love is Christ, and everything else about us is Christ. He saturates our entire being.]
[Ephesians 2:15 reveals that the church as the new man was created by Christ. Christ created the one new man with God’s nature wrought into humanity. This action was something new. In the old creation God did not work His nature into any of His creatures, not even into man. In the creation of the one new man, however, God’s nature has been wrought into man to make His nature one entity with humanity.
The new creation, like the old creation, is not something individual but something corporate. In the old creation God did not create millions of men; on the contrary, He created one man Adam, who includes all men. The principle is the same with God’s new creation. In the new creation we are all parts of the new man, the church, composed of the many sons of God.
There is a basic difference between the new creation and the old creation. God’s life and nature are not wrought into the old creation, but the new creation does possess the divine life and the divine nature. Although the old creation came into being through the work of the mighty God, He Himself does not reside in it. Hence, the first creation has no divine content. The divine nature does not dwell in the old creation, and that is why it has become old. Adam did not have the life of God or the nature of God. We can receive the divine life and the divine nature only by believing in the Lord Jesus Christ and being regenerated by the Spirit. When we believed in Christ, God’s life and nature were imparted to us and made us a new creation.
Second Corinthians 5:17 says, “If anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation; the old things have passed away; behold, they have become new.’’ Anyone who is in Christ is a new creation. The old things of the flesh have passed away through the death of Christ, and all has become new in Christ’s resurrection. To be in Christ is to be one with Him in life and in nature. This is of God through our faith in Christ (1 Cor. 1:30; Gal. 3:26-28).
The words, “Behold, they have become new,’’ are a call to watch the marvelous change of the new creation. The word “they’’ refers to the old things. The old creation does not have the divine life and nature; however, the new creation, composed of the believers born again of God, does have the divine life and nature (John 1:13; 3:15; 2 Pet. 1:4). Hence, the believers are a new creation, not according to the old nature of the flesh but according to the new nature of the divine life.
The new creation is actually the old creation transformed by the divine life, by the processed Triune God. The old creation was old because God was not part of it; the new creation is new because God is in it. We who have been regenerated by the Spirit of God are still God’s creation, but we are now His new creation. However, this is real only when we live and walk by the Spirit. Whenever we live and walk by the flesh, we are in the old creation, not in the new creation. Anything in our daily life that does not have God in it is the old creation, but what has God in it is part of the new creation.
If we would be in the new creation, we must enter into an organic union with the Triune God. Apart from such a union we shall remain in the old creation. But now, by the organic union with the Triune God, we are in the new creation. As believers in Christ, we are the new creation through an organic union with the Triune God.
In Adam we were born into the old creation, but in Christ we were regenerated into the new creation. Here in the new creation we are not only God’s assembly, God’s house, and God’s kingdom and not only Christ’s Body and counterpart — we are also the new man. God’s intention is to have a corporate, universal man. God wants such a man for the fulfillment of His eternal purpose. On the one hand, we were created in God’s old creation and became the old man; on the other hand, we have been re-created in God’s new creation and have become the new man.]
[The new man was created by Christ in Himself in a particular way. This particular way was Christ’s death, for Christ created the new man when He was on the cross. While Christ was being put to death, He was working to create the one new man. In His death He created the different peoples into the new man. His death, therefore, was a tool used to work out the new creation.]
[God’s creation of man in Genesis 1 is a picture of the new man in God’s new creation. This means that the old creation is a figure, a type, of the new creation. In God’s old creation the central character is man. It is the same in God’s new creation. Therefore, in both the old creation and the new creation man is the center.
God created man in His own image (Gen. 1:26) and then gave man His dominion. Image is for expression. God wants man to be His expression. Dominion, however, is a matter not of expression but of representation. God wants man to represent Him in His authority for His dominion. In the old creation man was created to have God’s image to express Him and also to have His dominion to represent Him.
The image refers to God’s positive intention, and dominion to God’s negative intention. God’s positive intention is that man would express Him, whereas God’s negative intention is that man would deal with God’s enemy, Satan, the Devil. In the universe God has a problem, the problem of dealing with His enemy. Since God’s enemy, the Devil, is a creature, God will not deal with him directly Himself; instead, He will deal with him by man, a creature of His creation. God deals with His enemy through man. Hence, in God’s creation of man there were two intentions. The positive intention is that man would bear God’s image for His expression; the negative intention is that man would have God’s dominion to represent Him to deal with His enemy.]
[The new man has the obligation of fighting against God’s enemy. Therefore, the church as the new man is a warrior fighting against God’s enemy, for the new man is now fulfilling God’s purpose to express God and to fight against God’s enemy for God’s dominion, God’s kingdom.
In Ephesians 6:12 Paul says, “Our wrestling is not against blood and flesh, but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenlies.’’ “Blood and flesh’’ refers to human beings. Behind men of blood and flesh are the evil forces of the Devil, fighting against God’s purpose. Hence, our wrestling, our fighting, must not be against men but against the evil spiritual forces in the heavenlies. The principalities, the authorities, and the world-rulers of this darkness are the rebellious angels who followed Satan in his rebellion against God and who now rule in the heavenlies over the nations of the world. “This darkness’’ refers to today’s world, which is fully under the dark ruling of the Devil through his evil angels. “The world-rulers of this darkness’’ are the princes Satan has set up to rule the various nations. Because of the working of Satan, who is the authority of darkness, the earth and its atmosphere have become “this darkness.’’ “The spiritual forces of evil in the heavenlies’’ are Satan and his spiritual forces of evil in the air. The warfare between the church and Satan is a battle between us who love the Lord and who are in His church and the evil powers in the heavenlies. We must fight against these spiritual forces.]
[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.]
[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.]
[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.]
[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.]
