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It has been nearly two thousand years since the church was established. The seven epistles in Revelation 2 and 3 clearly and accurately prophesy the various stages of the church during these two thousand years as well as in the future. In this lesson we shall see the prophecies concerning the consummation of the church as God’s ultimate purpose.
God’s eternal plan is to obtain for Christ a counterpart—His church—through redemption and the divine life. According to the entire Bible there is a divine romance between the creating and redeeming God, typified by the male, and His redeemed people, typified by 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 for His bride, and this bride is the church (John 3:29). In Ephesians 5 Paul says that the wife is a type of the church, and the husband is a type of Christ. Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her (v. 25). Furthermore, Christ and the church will become one (vv. 31-32). In Revelation 19 the wife is the aggregate of the overcoming saints who will be married to Christ the Lamb and will enjoy the marriage dinner with Him (vv. 7-9). Ultimately, in Revelation 22:17 the New Jerusalem will be the aggregate of the Spirit, the consummated God, and His counterpart, the consummated church, to be the ultimate consummation of the divine romance as revealed in the Bible.
In His creation God first created a man (Gen. 2:7). But the man, Adam, did not find a helper as his counterpart (v. 20). In order to produce such a counterpart, God caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam. Then He took a rib out of Adam and built it into a woman, named Eve (vv. 21-23). Because Eve was the same as Adam in life, nature, and form, she could be his counterpart. This is a wonderful picture depicting Christ and the church, signifying that only the church, which has the same life and nature of Christ, can become Christ’s counterpart for His satisfaction and rest in love.
In Ephesians 5:32 Paul says, “This mystery is great, but I speak with regard to Christ and the church.” Christ and the church as one spirit (1 Cor. 6:17), typified by a husband and wife as one flesh, are 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 of Christ, and is one with Christ.
In John 3:29 John the Baptist said, “He who has the bride is the bridegroom.” This indicates that Christ is the Bridegroom who comes for the bride. This also implies that the church should be a corporate bride prepared for Christ, enjoying Him as the pleasant Bridegroom. Paul in 2 Corinthians 11:2 says, “I am jealous over you with a jealousy of God; for I betrothed you to one husband to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.” The church has been presented as a pure virgin to Christ, the unique Husband. She should belong only to Him, appreciate only Him, and love only Him. 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 gains the bride. All those who believe into Him must follow Him, and all those who follow Him should become His bride to be His increase. As Eve was the increase of Adam, so the church as the bride, the wife, is the increase of Christ the Bridegroom, the Husband.
Ephesians 5:26-27 reveals that today Christ is sanctifying the church, “cleansing her by the washing of the water in the word, that He might present the church to Himself glorious, not having spot or wrinkle or any such things, but that she would be holy and without blemish.” Today Christ as the life-giving Spirit is sanctifying the church through separation, saturation, transformation, growth, and building up; in the future Christ as the Bridegroom will present the church to Himself as His counterpart for His satisfaction. This is the preparation of the bride. In Revelation 19:7 the voice of a great multitude says, “Let us rejoice and exult, and let us give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” This indicates that the marriage of the Lamb is the issue of the completion of God’s New Testament economy. By the continual working of the Holy Spirit throughout the centuries, the bride will be ready at the end of this age, and the marriage of the Lamb will come.
When Christ comes back, He will marry the overcomers who represent all the saints in the church (vv. 7-9). For this reason, the readiness of the bride depends on the overcomers’ maturity in life. Verse 8 says, “It was given to her that she should be clothed in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteousnesses of the saints.” Righteounesses in this verse can also be translated as “righteous acts,” referring to the subjective righteousness of the overcoming saints, who form the wife in verse 7, that enables them to meet the requirement of the overcoming Christ. Hence, fine linen speaks of the overcoming living that is lived out by the believers’ overcoming life, which actually is Christ lived out of them. Fine linen in verse 8 is equivalent to the wedding garment in Matthew 22:11-12. According to the revelation of the Scriptures, the believers need two garments—one for salvation and one for preparation to be the bride. For their salvation, the believers need a robe to cover them. This robe is the robe put on the prodigal son in Luke 15:22, which signifies Christ as our righteousness for us to be justified before God (1 Cor. 1:30). However, the believers also need a second garment, which is the wedding garment in Matthew 22:11-12 and the garment of fine linen in Revelation 19:8, so that they may be qualified to attend the marriage dinner of the Lamb to be His bride. The second garment is the work of the Holy Spirit in the believers. It is the Christ whom they live and express in their daily living.
The Gospel of John reveals that Christ came as the Lamb to take away sin (1:29) and as the Bridegroom that He might have the bride (3:29). The book of Revelation prophesies that Christ is still the Lamb and the Bridegroom. This indicates that the goal of God’s will is for Christ to have the bride. Revelation 19:7-8 speaks of Christ and His counterpart, His bride, getting married at His coming; this is the marriage of the Lamb. Verse 7 says, “Let us rejoice and exult, and let us give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” The bride is the overcoming believers in the millennium (vv. 8-9).
The future position of the overcoming believers is the bride, and the future position of Christ is the Bridegroom. The believers are on earth preparing to become the bride to meet Him, and Christ is on the throne in the third heaven preparing to come as the Bridegroom to meet His overcoming believers. He is coming as the Bridegroom, and the overcoming believers are going as the bride. When He comes back, Christ and His overcoming believers will meet, and that will be the wedding of Christ’s marriage.
Revelation 21:2 says, “I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” This prophecy concerning the church as the counterpart of Christ will consummate in the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth in eternity. The New Jerusalem is a living composition of all the saints redeemed by God throughout the generations. She comes out of Christ and is prepared to be Christ’s counterpart by participating in the riches of the life and nature of Christ.
Revelation 21:9-10 says, “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.” A bride is mainly for the wedding day, while a wife is for the entire life. The New Jerusalem will be the bride in the millennium for one thousand years, which is like one day (2 Pet. 3:8), and will be the wife in the new heaven and new earth for eternity, to the ages of the ages without end. The bride in the millennium consists of the overcoming saints, whereas the bride in the new heaven and new earth is composed of all God’s redeemed and regenerated sons (Rev. 21:7).
Revelation 22:17 says, “The Spirit and the bride say, Come!” Together as a couple, the Spirit and the bride say, “Come.” This shows that at the end of the New Testament the One who has the bride is the Spirit. The Spirit is the all-inclusive life-giving Spirit as the consummation of the processed Triune God, and the bride is the ultimate expression of the transformed tripartite man. The processed Triune God as the Spirit and the transformed tripartite man as the bride will become one and will speak as one person.
The Bible begins and ends with a marriage. The final marriage is the marriage of the processed, consummated, and dispensing Triune God as the Husband with the church as His bride. For eternity this universal couple will be the full manifestation of the Triune God expressed in all His glory. Hence, the consummation of the church will match the processed Triune God to be His complete expression and satisfaction for eternity. This is the conclusion of the New Testament and also of the entire Bible.
God’s eternal plan is to obtain for Christ a counterpart—His church—through redemption and the divine life. Only the church, which has the same life and nature that Christ has, can become Christ’s counterpart for His satisfaction and rest in love. Christ and the church, which comes out of Christ, are one spirit as a husband and wife are one flesh. This is the great mystery. As Eve was the increase of Adam, so the church as the bride, the wife, is the increase of Christ as the Bridegroom, the Husband.
Ephesians 5 reveals that today Christ is sanctifying the church that He might present the church to Himself as His counterpart. This is the preparation of the bride. When Christ comes back, He will marry the overcomers, who represent all the saints in the church. Therefore, the readiness of the bride depends on the overcomers’ maturity in life. Christ and His counterpart, the bride, will be married at His coming; this is the marriage of the Lamb. After the Lamb’s marriage, the church will be Christ’s bride in the millennium.
The church as the bride will consummate in the New Jerusalem and will be the wife of Christ in eternity. This ultimate marriage is the marriage between the processed, consummated, and dispensing Triune God as the Husband and the church as His bride. This universal couple is the full manifestation of the Triune God expressed in all His glory for eternity.
