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In this lesson we will cover two matters: first, as the bride, the believers becoming one with the Spirit; second, their looking to and waiting for the Lord Jesus’ coming back to usher them into their future. These two matters are the issue of the believers’ enjoying the dispensing of the Divine Trinity in the progressing stage of God’s full salvation.
In the progressing stage of God’s full salvation, the stage of transformation, as we experience and enjoy the dispensing of the Divine Trinity, the first issue is that we, as the bride, become one with the Spirit. 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 will be the Bridegroom, and God’s redeemed people as the consummation of the redeemed, regenerated, and transformed humanity will be the bride. This will be the consummation spoken of by John the Baptist: “He who has the bride is the bridegroom” (John 3:29). The New Testament eventually reveals that the Spirit, as the consummation of the processed Triune God, and the bride, as the consummation of the transformed tripartite man, will be one and will speak as one. Revelation 22:17 says, “The Spirit and the bride say, Come!” This indicates that the church’s experience of the Spirit has progressed to the extent that she has become one with the Spirit, who is the ultimate consummation of the Triune God.
The Spirit is the ultimate consummation of the sovereign Lord who created the universe and all things, that is, the Triune God who has passed through the process of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. Having passed through this process, the Triune God is now the consummated Spirit. Hence, the Spirit is now the 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.
Therefore, there are two consummations in Revelation 22:17, which speaks of the Spirit becoming one with the bride. 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 Spirit as the ultimate consummation of the Triune God has been and is being dispensed into us. Eventually, the Spirit becomes one with the bride, the aggregate of all the regenerated and transformed tripartite believers. This means that the Triune God, after being consummated as the Spirit, will “marry” the believers as 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.
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. 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, who is the church (John 3:29). In Ephesians 5 Paul says that the church is typified by the wife, and Christ is typified by the husband. Therefore, Christ is the Husband, and the church is the wife. Paul also says that he 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 has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” This wife is the aggregate of all the overcoming saints from the time of 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 ultimate consummation of the divine romance revealed in the Bible is a couple. This couple is the mingling of the processed and dispensed Triune God with the regenerated and transformed tripartite man. Revelation 22:17 reveals that this universal couple, as the ultimate consummation of the divine romance revealed in the Bible, is the mingling of the processed and dispensed Triune God with the regenerated and transformed tripartite man.
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 there is an eternal, universal couple expressing the Triune God for eternity.
In Revelation 22:7 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 as his work is.” Then in verse 17 the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” “Come!” is the response of the Spirit and the bride to the Lord’s word concerning His coming. Those who love the Lord’s appearing (2 Tim. 4:8) and hear the word concerning His coming, should express a joint desire for the Lord’s coming with a response, by saying, “Come!” The Spirit and the bride speak together and respond to the Lord’s word. The fact that they speak as one indicates that they have become one. At the end of Revelation we are no longer merely the receivers of the divine oracle. We 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. “The Spirit and the bride say, Come! And let him who hears say, Come! And let him who is thirsty come; let him who wills take the water of life freely” (Rev 22:17). The word come is found three times in this verse. The first occurrence refers to the coming back of the Lord and is uttered by the Spirit and the bride. Then the one who hears the Spirit and the bride 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 come in this verse refers to the coming of the repenting sinners. Hence, this verse 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.
If we have a desire for the Lord Jesus to come back, this desire will stir up within us a concern for the salvation of others. As we are saying, “Come, Lord,” a burden will rise up within us for our 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.” We will sound out a call to the thirsty ones to come to drink the water of life, the flow of the processed and dispensing Triune God, so that they also may have a part in the aggregate of God’s redeemed people and be His bride.
Anyone who answers the call to come and drink of the water of life will participate in the central goal of God’s economy. This means that he will share in the dispensing of the processed Triune God and 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 future.
In the progressing stage of God’s full salvation, the believers’ experience and enjoyment of the dispensing of the processed Triune God will also issue in their looking to and waiting 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 looking to that glorious day. We are waiting for the Lord’s coming back.
The living of worldly people gives the impression that their future is on the earth and that their hope, destiny, and destination are thoroughly related to the present age. But this is not our situation. We are waiting for the Son of God to come from the heavens; hence, our future is focused on Him. To await the appearing of the Lord is a normal sign of true believers. According to 1 Thessalonians 1:9 and 10, we have turned to God from idols not only “to serve a living and true God” but also to “await His Son from the heavens, whom He raised from the dead, Jesus, who delivers us from the wrath which is coming.” First Corinthians 1:7 says that we are “eagerly awaiting the revelation of our Lord Jesus Christ.” These two portions of the Word indicate an important characteristic of our Christian life: awaiting the Lord’s coming.
As Christians, we must live a life of awaiting God’s Son from the heavens, a life that declares to others that our hope is not on this earth or in this age. Rather, 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 is our hope, our future, and our destination. “Our commonwealth exists in the heavens, from which also we eagerly await a Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ” (Phil. 3:20). Our national life is not in any earthly country; it is in the heavens. Our real citizenship, our true commonwealth or associations of life, is not on this earth; it is in the heavens. We need to remember, therefore, that we are a heavenly people sojourning on earth, awaiting the Savior, “who will transfigure the body of our humiliation to be conformed to the body of His glory, according to His operation by which He is able even to subject all things to Himself” (v. 21).
While experiencing the stage of transformation in God’s full salvation by the dispensing of the processed Triune God and after reading various portions of the Scriptures regarding the Lord’s coming, we should, like John, express the desire from our deepest part as a prayer to hasten the Lord’s coming. Our prayer should be “Come, Lord Jesus!” which is also the last prayer in the Bible (Rev. 22:20).
In the progressing stage of God’s full salvation, our enjoyment of the dispensing of the Divine Trinity issues in our becoming, as the bride, one with the Spirit and also in our looking to and waiting for the Lord Jesus’ coming back to usher us into our future. The consummation of the divine dispensing of the processed Triune God will be a universal marriage. The Spirit with the bride become one to form a universal couple. This couple is the mingling of the processed Triune God with the regenerated and transformed tripartite man and is the ultimate consummation of the divine romance as 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. 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. At the end of the Bible, 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. We also should sound out a call to the thirsty ones to drink the water of life, the flow of the processed and dispensing Triune God, so that thirsty sinners also may have a part in the aggregate of God’s redeemed people to be His bride. Anyone who would answer this call will participate in God’s central goal for the fulfilling of the eternal purpose of the divine economy of the Triune God.
In the progressing stage of God’s full salvation, our experience and enjoyment of the dispensing of the processed Triune God will also issue in our looking to and waiting for the Lord’s coming back to usher us into our future. We are looking to that glorious day; we are waiting for the Lord’s coming. This is an important characteristic of our Christian life. As Christians, we must live a life that declares to others that our hope is not on this earth or in this age. Our hope is in the coming Lord. Our national life, our real citizenship, is not on this earth; it is in the heavens. While experiencing the stage of transformation in God’s full salvation by the dispensing of the processed Triune God and after reading various portions of the Scriptures regarding the Lord’s coming, we should, like John, express the desire from our deepest part as a prayer to hasten the Lord’s coming. Our prayer should be “Come, Lord Jesus!”
