THE BRIDE
[p. 459] THE BRIDE
Revelation 1: 4 - 11; Revelation 22: 16,17; Revelation 21: 2,3
What is particularly in mind, is what the last two scriptures speak of — the bride. The earlier scripture is to be considered as leading up to this day. The responsible assembly in the first chapter is in view under the numeral seven; not simply seven different cities in a designated province, for we must bear in mind that the book is symbolic in most of its language. Although these assemblies existed at the time John wrote, we look at them as representing the whole responsible body from Pentecost until the coming of the Lord Jesus from heaven. We have been reminded today that the letter kills, but the spirit gives life; so we are to consider this chapter — and indeed the whole book — not in the letter, but in the spirit, in its symbolical sense, as treating of responsible believers formed into assemblies.
The saints of God in this book are contemplated as capable of understanding the book and, in order to induce the reading of it, and the understanding of it, a special blessing is offered to those who read and understand. Understanding is of all importance in approaching the Revelation; it is addressed to professing bodies of christians, viewed not as so many christians, but as formed assembly-wise. The assembly is that which is possessed of the highest intelligence; hence the regrettableness of so little understanding of this book, for we are furnished with the means of understanding it, and to this end we are enjoined, as having ears, to hear what the Spirit says to the assemblies. It is not a question of understanding the gospel, but of what the Spirit says to the assemblies. The time had come to direct the assemblies as such — that which was responsible here on earth — to the mind of God as to what was coming: the things that John saw, the things that are, and the [p. 460] things that should be after these. So that we are to be intelligent as to the whole history of the assembly, and what is concurrent: the history of the rulers of this world, the great emperors from Nebuchadnezzar until the end; and also the concurrent history socially, commercially and religiously. So that we should be in no doubt as to anything happening or anything that has happened. The mind of God for us is that we should be intelligent as to all these matters, even as to the beast — “He that has understanding let him count the number of the beast”, Revelation 13: 18. We should not be called upon to count were it not that it is countable; that is to say, that the characters amounting to it are visible and to be understood.
John, as we see in the verses read, addressed himself to the assemblies apart from their failure; and it is a principle with God to view us, in so far as He may, according to conditions, abstractly. Whilst He would reprove us as to our failures and instruct us, He would have us to understand our abstract relations with Him, through the death and resurrection and ascension of Christ. The actual condition of the assemblies is depicted in the next chapter, but the Spirit of God has in mind in this first chapter to call us aside in an abstract way. I mean abstract in the sense of our minds being free from general history to pay attention to what we are as in the mind of God through redemption; and then to go on to what the Spirit has to say to us as to our responsibility. So we understand that we are in the confidence of God as He establishes a link with us on these lines, then He will speak to us as to failures. God, being God, cannot deny Himself, but He is entitled to view us abstractly, that is, according to His work in us, and according to His own thoughts in Christ; yet He cannot deny Himself, and will not fail to point out the failures, whatever they may be. He would have us to be restful in what He says to us in this remarkable address by John, as listening to it:
“[p. 461] Grace be unto you, and peace, from him which is, and which was, and which is to come; and from the seven Spirits which are before his throne; and from Jesus Christ” Revelation 1: 4,5. The Trinity is included in these verses: God in His infinite greatness, “who is, and who was, and who is to come” — we are set up in His presence — and the seven Spirits, alluding to the Holy Spirit symbolically, and then Jesus Christ, according to these well-known titles in verse 5.
So the address would set the mind of the saints moving, and draw our hearts into what is to be said, for it goes on, “To him who loves us, and has washed us from our sins in his blood” Revelation 1: 5. How touching that is! Is there anyone, young or old, who is not affected, as the Spirit of God brings Jesus in thus? — “To him who loves us, and has washed us from our sins in his blood, and made us a kingdom, priests to his God and Father: to him be the glory and the might to the ages of ages. Amen” Revelation 1: 5,6. We are made a kingdom, that is how it should read, implying that we may regard ourselves as impregnable whatever men are doing, not only that we are brought into the kingdom, but we are made one; and as made priests, we have access to God in all the strength of what we are as a kingdom. We are set up according to these facts, and the Holy Spirit proceeds in this book to further fortify us, as He goes on to say, “Behold, he comes with the clouds, and every eye shall see him, and they which have pierced him, and all the tribes of the land shall wail because of him. Yea. Amen. I am the Alpha and the Omega, saith the Lord God, he who is, and who was, and who is to come, the Almighty” Revelation 1: 7,8. It is not only that John says something as representative of God, but God Himself speaks directly to our souls, setting us up before Him as the One who is. John then proceeds to speak of what he saw on the Lord’s day.
All this is to keep our minds on assembly lines; we are addressed as the seven assemblies which are in Asia,
[p. 462] and our minds are to be kept on assembly lines, for this whole book is for us, directly given to us; and John gives us an example of a suitable state of this, in order to reach the end in mind, namely, “I became in the Spirit on the Lord’s day” Revelation 1: 10. John is a brother, as he says, “your brother and fellow-partaker in the tribulation” Revelation 1: 9. Another thought, already referred to today, that belongs to us is tribulation; the great servant Paul spoke of it and wanted the saints to know of his excessive tribulation. It is the order of the day, for what is in mind is the Lamb’s wife, and the Lamb’s wife is a sufferer, if she corresponds with the Lamb. John gives us a lead in this, not restricting the suffering to himself only, but bringing the saints into it, even as Paul did, “your ... fellow-partaker in the tribulation” Revelation 1: 9. This is the ministerial position, and ministers are to be examples, so that John would draw us along with him in connection with what he has to say in this book. He is in the isle that is called Patmos, for the word of God and for the testimony of Jesus — two distinct things, the word of God disclosing His mind in this dark world, and the testimony of Jesus, what He died for, what He lives for, what He is on the right hand of God for, and the power of the Spirit down here to testify: that is our position.
Now, having all this clearly in mind, we can follow the great thought in the passages read at the end, namely, the bride. The thought runs through Scripture, from the second of Genesis onwards and finds its completest concrete expression in this book as a city. This should never be out of our minds, and as it is in our minds we shall understand the epistles: they develop us in relation to light and rule and order and government; and as we keep in our minds clearly that what is dearest to the heart of Christ, and what is before God, is a city, and this city is the bride, we shall pay more attention to the development of the instruction and the discipline which makes it effective in us as to [p. 463] light, government, and testimony generally in this world. God’s testimony implies all these things, and so, in introducing the thought in Genesis 2, the Spirit says that God builded a woman; that is, she is to reflect man, but man was not said to be builded, for Adam was a figure of Christ, of Him that was to come. Ishshah, that is Eve, was to reflect him in government. Rebecca, the second great type of the bride, carries the thought of a woman occupying the place of another — Sarah. All these thoughts were vested in Israel, but when we come to more detail it is Jerusalem. The book of Ezekiel shows how God entered into marital relations with Jerusalem; it was the assembly typically. Paul’s assembly is the idea and Rebecca represents that, but she represents it in the place of another, and what developed in the history of the testimony is that Rebecca, the assembly viewed under Paul’s ministry, eclipsed Sarah. It is the idea right through of what fully answers to God in Christ; that is, all His features in the universe are to be seen in this great vessel. So we find in the Pentecostal assembly, as seen in Revelation 21, the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb, set in the most intrinsic preciousness, and answering to all measurement according to God. These names are set in every precious stone.
I mention all that, so that we may have clearly in mind what is involved in the bride, not only to know in thought, but to understand the idea and how it is to be reflected in the universe in light and order and government. In dwelling on this, I would make prominent Paul’s ministry, which brings out the full thought, for he is said not only to be a new covenant minister, but also minister of the assembly; he received three ministries, including that of reconciliation, and each is distinctive. In order to understand what I am speaking about we have to understand these ministries of the apostle Paul, which he received directly from the Lord to carry out and to fulfil here in the saints. He says of one assembly, “I have espoused you unto one man, to present you a chaste virgin to Christ”, 2 Corinthians 11: 2. It is that the thought of the bride should be in our hearts, so that Christ should be reflected, that He should be known.
Now I want to indicate the idea of the bride as we have it in this book. It is seen formally only at the end. The idea develops in remnant times, for we have to regard the second chapter as involving remnant conditions. The assembly in Ephesus is threatened with the removal of the candlestick, and there is no reference again to the candlestick, but overcomers are contemplated in each assembly, and I believe as we weigh the rewards to the overcomers we shall perceive how this thought of the bride comes into being in remnant times. We are in times of revival; things have been lost and have been recovered; and I believe an examination into the overcomers’ rewards will enable us to perceive how, in our times, we arrive almost instinctively at the thought of the bride. There is the heavenly position in Ephesus, the promise to the overcomer is that he is given to eat of the tree of life which is in the paradise of God; he does not get anything less than what the ministry to Ephesus implied. “To him that overcomes, I will give to him to eat of the tree of life which is in the paradise of God” Revelation 2: 7. The overcomer is lifted out of this world, and he has part of the tree of life which is in the paradise of God. What a suggestion for us, dear brethren!
Then, as suffering, faithful unto death, the overcomer in Smyrna is told that he “shall in no wise be injured of the second death” Revelation 2: 11. There is salvation in this in the time of suffering: suffering, as I said, marks the moment; whether we take it on or not, it is there; “take thy share”, Timothy is told, and as we take our share in it we come into the sense of victory over death. The second death is in mind, for even if the body is killed, we have complete superiority over the second [p. 465] death. There is not time to look into each, I only make the suggestion that by an examination of these rewards to the overcomers we come into the idea of companionship with Christ and the bride. That to the last one, in Laodicea, is to sit with Him in His throne. That is indeed what will mark the bride in a coming day. Then there is the beautiful reward in Philadelphia, which has a direct application at the present time; what is written upon us, not new covenant ministry, but much more. The Lord says, “He that overcomes, him will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more at all out; and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down out of heaven, from my God, and my new name” Revelation 3: 12. Think of this beautiful touch for the overcomers, not simply for Philadelphia itself, but for him that overcomes in it; and it is in all these features, for the reward refers to what we value, as the Lord has made the assembly precious in our eyes, “the temple of my God”, as He calls it, “the city of my God, the new Jerusalem”, and then “my new name”. The Lord has made these things very precious, and is making them more and more precious to us, as we are ready to take them in. Thus we are prepared for the thought of the bride; and as the book proceeds, the Lord directs us to the seven assemblies, “I Jesus have sent mine angel to testify these things to you in the assemblies” (Revelation 22: 16). It is to the saints in the assemblies.
Bear in mind what I have said about the first chapter, the abstract thought, the Lord is thinking of what the saints are to Him; He never loses sight of that, and He will bring us to it — according to our verse, He has done so: “The Spirit and the bride say, Come” Revelation 22: 17. She says it with the Spirit. How has she come to say it? The words are not put into her mouth. She has gathered it up; it is alertness, it is intelligence, it is what she is. So she has come to it, and one would [p. 466] urge the dear brethren to thus gather up what is proceeding, not simply to take the ground of listening and enjoying things, but to gather them up as for ourselves; what the Spirit says to the assemblies thus culminates in our souls. We are to enjoy now our most precious relations with Christ, although they will be enjoyed more fully in the future. Here the bride, the new Jerusalem, is seen coming down out of heaven from God: her identity is clear. We have to dismiss the mere thought of a person in a literal sense, it is a symbolic thought; it is an immense number of persons put together, it is persons formed in intelligence as an organism. The Spirit enables us to grasp the greatness of what is presented and to reflect it — in some little way, at least.
The bride says “Come”, the Spirit does too. The Lord is helping us: the Spirit to some extent has had His place for many years back, one hundred years, and the result is alluded to in this verse; “the Spirit and the bride say, Come” Revelation 22: 17. The Spirit moves along with the saints in their meetings week after week. One loves to think of it — every week bringing its quota of these fellowship gatherings, and God in them would draw us into His thoughts, they belong to His great work in these last days, they are means in His hands of effecting His purpose, so the idea of the bride comes into view, and the Holy Spirit comes in; not only ministering the truth, but also drawing our hearts into it. The Spirit saying “Come” is not simply a note in the ministry, it is the desire of the Spirit with the assembly: “the Spirit and the bride say, Come” Revelation 22: 17.
That is in the main what I had to present to you, and just for a moment I go on to chapter 21 to show how God comes down in the assembly. God is helping us on the line of sonship. How are we able to understand sonship save as it is seen in the Son? That is, in Christ as Man. “God sent forth his Son, come of woman, ... that we might receive sonship”, Galatians 4: 4, 5. As the [p. 467] note in the New Translation shows, Christ’s sonship began in the incarnation, and, through redemption, believers come into it; we receive it, and thus “God has sent out the Spirit of his Son into our hearts, crying, Abba, Father” Galatians 4: 6. Thus we are in holy liberty with God. Galatians treats peculiarly of this subject, and the apostle brings in what he calls “an allegory”, Galatians 4: 24. He refers to Hagar and to Sarah, and says, “these are the two covenants; the one from the mount Sinai, which gendereth to bondage, which is Agar. For this Agar is mount Sinai in Arabia, and answereth to Jerusalem which now is” Galatians 4: 24,25; but he does not take up the other covenant. Was it not enough to develop the liberty that he had in mind? No, he goes on to the heavenly city, saying, “Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all” Galatians 4: 26. You see that is what he has in mind; he goes on to the higher line which is proper christianity. The new covenant has its place surely enough in liberating our souls, but it is the heavenly side, involving sonship, that implies the full liberty with God into which we are brought. It is a question of Jerusalem above being our mother — our liberty, which enters into the heavenly position, for God is bringing many sons to glory.
That is what underlies these relations, of which I have been speaking: the new Jerusalem comes down from God out of heaven. “And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of the heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband”. Revelation 21: 2. John does not barely call her a bride here, he speaks of her as “prepared as a bride”, which is, in a way, more; one might be a bride, but not be prepared as a bride. Later in the chapter, in relation to the millennial state of things, the heavenly city is shown to John by an angel, and she is called “the bride, the Lamb’s wife” Revelation 21: 9, but not here: what is in mind in the early part is what comes down finally and for eternity. She is set up in liberty above, and in intelligence; she knows what to do [p. 468] and how to appear. How we are to appear should have a place with us. Bringing it down to a practical side of the position, we read of Moses and Elijah appearing. How did they appear? In glory; they came out of heaven — that is the idea, we are not only set there, but we are in liberty, and we are in intelligence there; we know what to do. The city comes down, it is her own movement and she is prepared. God looks for an answer to this in assembly service, how we appear in the service. So it is, “coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” Revelation 21: 2. She is now for Christ, which again, as I said, enters into our assembly service. What are we for Christ? How do we appear? In the service it is “from glory to glory”, and so in the power of the Spirit we come to the thought of being “prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” Revelation 21: 2. It is not here a question of rule in the millennium, but of what the assembly will be in eternity, and hence we have the word “tabernacle”, not “city” designating her as in relation with men. She affords a dwelling-place for God, so that He can be with men in the tabernacle. It is said, “he shall tabernacle with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, their God” Revelation 21: 3. So that God is to be all in all. That is what is presented to us; this tabernacle seen “prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” Revelation 21: 2; so congenial to God, so suitable that He can dwell in it and, being there, He can be God to men, regarding them as His people.
I hope the brethren have followed, and will look into this great matter, and see how this thought is developed in this remarkable book: the assembly as a bride adorned for her husband.