THE BRIDE, THE WIFE OF THE LAMB
The ultimate consummation is the bride, the wife of the Lamb (21:2, 9). The entire holy city is a bride. In John’s Gospel, at a time when the disciples of John were jealous of Jesus, John said, "He who has the bride is the bridegroom" (John 3:26-29). As the friend of the Bridegroom, John was glad for his followers to leave him and go to Jesus, because He was the Bridegroom. Regeneration in John 3 is for the producing of the bride.
Consummately, we will be a corporate female for eternity (Rev. 21:2). The unique male for eternity is our God. our Redeemer, our Lord. We will be a corporate female to match Him. Eventually, then, what comes out through the twofold work of God—creation and building—is a couple. God is married to man, and man is married to God. At the conclusion of the sixty-six books of the Bible is Revelation 22:17, which says, "The Spirit and the bride say..." The conclusion of the Bible is that a couple says.
This bride who matches the Spirit is the ultimate consummation of all the redeemed, regenerated, transformed, and glorified tripartite men. The Spirit is the all-inclusive Spirit as the ultimate consummation of the Triune God. The Spirit is the Triune God reaching us, so this reaching One is the consummation. He has passed through the processes of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension.
Today our God is a processed God. In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God, and this Word became flesh. Incarnation is a process. This very incarnated One lived on earth in a poor carpenter’s home. After thirty-three and a half years He was led like a lamb to the slaughter, and He was slaughtered on the cross. This was also a process. He went into Hades (Acts 2:27; Eph. 4:9), and He entered into resurrection. These also were processes. Surely all these steps are processes He went through. Today our God cannot be the same as He was before the incarnation.
Do you believe God is the same as He was before the incarnation? Hebrews 13:8 says, "Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, and today, and forever." If you say that since His resurrection He is the same yesterday, and today, and forever, I agree with you; but if you say this verse is true of Jesus before the incarnation, I do not agree. He did not have flesh before His incarnation. Through all these processes God became our Redeemer, our Savior, and our life. He has even become the rich. bountiful, life-giving Spirit within us today.
Thus, at the conclusion of the Bible is the consummation of the processed Triune God, while the wife is the aggregate and consummation of all the redeemed, regenerated, transformed, and glorified tripartite men. Hallelujah! The Triune God marries the tripartite man. Here is an eternal couple expressing the Triune God for eternity. The tripartite man in eternity will be enjoying this rich Triune God.
We were chosen and predestinated. and we have been called, saved, and regenerated. Now we are being transformed to be precious materials so that we may be built up to be a spiritual house to serve God and to be the Body of Christ to express Him. This is our goal. We are the children of God, being transformed that we may be built up as a house to serve God and as the Body to express Christ.
(The Basic Revelation in the Holy Scriptures, Chapter 8, by Witness Lee)
