THE ASSEMBLY VIEWED AS THE BRIDE
[p. 308] THE ASSEMBLY VIEWED AS THE BRIDE
Revelation 19:1 - 10; Revelation 21:9 - 27
JT It is thought that a fitting close to the series of meetings we have had recently would be to consider the assembly from the standpoint of the bride of Christ, and especially in the light of the nearness of the coming of the Lord, which is prominent in this book. It may be remarked that in order to get immediate profit, it is needful to dismiss from our minds the imagery that enters into the book of Revelation, the symbolic character of the whole book, to seek to get at what is really meant. There is a premium in connection with the reading of the book in the first chapter, and although individual reading is of prime importance, yet collective readings, or what we might call class readings, are the most resultful; that is, the Spirit of God has scope in them and furnishes what we may need at any moment. Whatever is needed at the moment in a locality would be in the mind of the Spirit, especially when it is what we may call a city occasion, and the Spirit would take us on, and use what is present in the sense of gift, and in the sense of experience, and in the sense of interest generally, so that we may all profit.
What is in mind, in addition to what has been said, is that the ground is cleared in chapter 19 for the introduction of the assembly as the bride. She is seen earlier in the book, from the very outset, especially in chapter 1, where she is seen before the Lord Himself is seen. The seven golden lamps are seen, and then He is seen in the midst of them. That is the present time, the present actual position of the assembly in responsibility. But then as we remarked, the way was to be cleared for the assembly, not in the sense of responsibility, but in the sense of [p. 309] the bride; so these scriptures have been suggested. The clearing process has in mind the entire destruction, everlasting destruction, of the imitation or false assembly who never claims widowhood or being bereft of protection; she sits a queen and is no widow and has no sorrow, and in these chapters, up to the end of chapter 18, God shows how He can deal with her; He has judged her, and He has judged our judgment upon her too, that is to say, the judgment of the saints, so that we are with Him in the judgment. Then chapter 19 is a summary, leading up to the end of the whole matter, the end of the book of Revelation; and the assembly is presented to us in verse 6, “I heard as a voice of a great crowd, and as a voice of many waters, and as a voice of strong thunders, saying, Hallelujah, for the Lord our God the Almighty has taken to himself kingly power. Let us rejoice and exult, and give him glory; for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife has made herself ready”.
Now it is thought that our first consideration should be to think of the idea of the wife, and of her making herself ready, and then in the second scripture read, Revelation 21, to see her coming down from God out of heaven. The point to be before us first is how she makes herself ready, and whether it has not a direct reference to the present time, that it is the time of getting ready. Here we are told that “his wife has made herself ready”. The last chapter of Proverbs presents her as taking care of His interests, and it is so here; the Lord’s interests are being cared for in the idea of the wife. But then it is said, “the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife has made herself ready”, meaning that she has taken account of herself in regard of what is needed for the great moment. In chapter 21, she is seen as a bride adorned for her husband, but here she is not viewed as already adorned, she has made herself ready, she [p. 310] is in the character of the wife. Then there are certain things granted to her, which point to the present time, “And it was given to her that she should be clothed in fine linen, bright and pure; for the fine linen is the righteousnesses of the saints”, that is to say, they are of herself.
AHS Do you mean that the righteousnesses are coming into evidence now, or do you mean that it is given to her now to be clothed in fine linen?
JT It is what she has herself, because, viewed from the standpoint of the assembly, the saints are it. Therefore, she has her own resources in that sense, but she is granted to use them, they are fit for use on such a wonderful occasion. They are the righteousnesses of the saints. They are not imputed righteousnesses, but actually accomplished righteousnesses. They are now regarded as fine linen, clean and bright.
GPP Would those righteousnesses be really all that she had taken on of the interests of Christ in caring for them?
JT I would say that in general, although whatever they are in detail, they are righteousnesses of the saints, and how essential it is that we should bring them forward. In order now to apply the thing immediately, they refer to ourselves, because we need not speak of them objectively as of others than ourselves; we are the saints. When I say we, I mean those who have the Holy Spirit. The righteousnesses of all such are included here in the clothing, the fine linen, “It was given to her that she should be clothed in fine linen, bright and pure”, and then it adds, “for the fine linen is the righteousnesses of the saints”. Whilst they are viewed as clothing for her now, yet they are of essential value to God in testimony, in view of the wickedness that is current abroad in the world.
AM The reference is not [p. 311] to imputed righteousness,
but to what we speak of as practical righteousness.
JT That is what I understand.
AM It says in 2 Timothy 2:22, “pursue righteousness, faith, love, peace”.
JT And then in the epistle to the Romans, the great thought is righteousness, and so when we come to chapter 8, it is said “that the righteous requirement of the law should be fulfilled in us, who do not walk according to flesh but according to Spirit Romans 8:4”. It is not without significance that the great system called the great harlot is no less than the Romish system, the Romish church; not that we are here to bring up names, but we have to deal with the truth, and the epistle to the Romans deals with what was at Rome in the early days after the truth of the assembly was introduced. The truth as carried to Rome, and the great epistle to the Romans contains the truth that was delivered to the saints at that time. It is, therefore, very suggestive that the righteousnesses of the saints should be worked out in our minds from that great epistle which was written to Rome, and yet Rome [p. 312] is in mind in what is said in the body of the book of Revelation up to the end of chapter 18. Many of us perhaps are not aware that we are actually dealing with the system that is all around us, not only the system called the church of Rome, but all religious systems that derive their character and principles from her, for she has daughters.
EAK Would what you are saying bring out that “If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great the darkness!” (Matthew 6:23)?
JT Just so. It is a very apt comment, “how great the darkness!” There is hardly any darkness that can be spoken of as greater than this system, and so there are the judgments meted out to her in chapters 18 and 19.
ACSP Is the contrast seen in what is said of the woman of worth that “she doeth him good, and not evil, all the days of her life” (Proverbs 31:12)?
JT Very good. And what is to be added to that is that Solomon, who is the writer of the Proverbs, says in Ecclesiastes that he has found one man among a thousand, but a woman he has not found; therefore, the last chapter of Proverbs is an ideal; that is how we have to take it. The woman is presented as an ideal by the Spirit of God, “Her husband is known in the gates”; (Proverbs 31:23) the very opposite to this system of which we have been speaking.
JM Is it interesting that Proverbs 31 begins with a man who is a king, and finishes with the woman of worth?
JT Just so. The late chapters of Proverbs all lead up to that, especially the man who is spoken of as not knowing anything, but he knew best of all. How interesting that we should have a woman described in this chapter, one said to be a “woman of worth”. Who can find her? The paragraph is written in acrostic form so as to bring out the truth.
JM Would the paragraph in question suggest something of the scope of these righteousnesses?
JT Very good. They are selected by the Spirit of God. They are His own description of a woman of worth, but the query is, who can find her? But she is to be found, and she is found in the book of Revelation in various settings.
DJM “She seeketh wool and flax, and worketh willingly with her hands”, (Proverbs 31:13). Is that how she makes herself ready?
JT Quite so. “Worketh willingly with her hands”, not just like Tabitha, the woman who made garments, reported in the book of the Acts. This woman makes better garments than Tabitha. What applies to the bride is the question of righteousness; and it is in the plural. It is “the righteousnesses of the saints”, without saying whether they attach to men or women or children.
JNG Would that connect with what is said of the Thessalonians by Paul, “remembering unceasingly your work of faith, and labour of love, and enduring constancy of hope”, 1 Thessalonians 1:3?
JT Quite so. You might say all the epistles work out the righteousnesses of the saints, but they are to be worked out as over against the awful thing in this book that is called the harlot, which is entirely destroyed; the smoke of it goes up for ever and ever, and then the ground is cleared for the assembly to be seen first as the wife, and then in the clothing. But in chapter 21, she is seen coming down out of heaven, first as a bride, “the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of the heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband Revelation 21:2”. In verse 1 and what follows, she is seen in that way up to the end of verse 8. But then from the beginning of verse 9, she is seen in her millennial functions and glories, which is the next thing to be considered. Firstly, there is the thought of what is current now in the preparation, but secondly what comes down from God out of heaven; that is to say, she is seen in her heavenly character.
JM Would you say a word as to why she is called the Lamb’s wife?
JT Well, it is a term that I would say suggests suffering; it is not the idea of a ram, it is more passive. At the same time, the power for war is there; although in the second part of chapter 19, the warfare is by Him as King of kings, and “his name is called The Word of God Revelation 19:13”. I think the Lamb suggests passiveness, littleness and humility, for He suffers, and she is His wife. It would suggest that she is His wife in suffering; suffering is the order of the day in her sojourn on earth.
CD Would Psalm 45 correspond with this where [p. 314] we have him riding in kingly power because of truth and meekness and righteousness? Is the thought of the Lamb suggested there, and then later on, the woman brought to Him, clothing of wrought gold being mentioned, and so on?
JT Quite so. It is the full thought. There are daughters in that psalm, but the full thought is the king and a woman, the king and the queen, the full thought of God. We have a similar thought in Nehemiah where the queen was also there. In Nehemiah’s request for help, in view of the state of Jerusalem, the queen was also sitting by, she was modifying; she is a modifying thought as to the king. The idea of what is modifying is always included in the thought of the woman in Scripture.
AED Is the element of preparation somewhat seen in Esther, and the righteousness of the saints in Mordecai?
JT I would say that. Remarkable instrumentality in the days of Israel’s rejection, because there was the question of God hiding His face from the house of Jacob, and yet what God can do in such circumstances! So Esther comes into view. Mordecai, however, is the king in principle, and he was speaking peace to all his seed, so that he and Esther really become the controllers and influencers of the empire at the time, showing what can be done in a day of small things.
CHG Is the thought of the assembly as the bride a future thought, or has it a present bearing upon the assembly as here now?
JT Well, it is a question of how light affects us. Even the light of the coming glories of the assembly is intended to affect us now. But what is said in chapter 19, I am sure, is a direct reference to the present time, the time of getting ready for the presentation, for the marriage.
DJM Is it a time of refinement? It is [p. 315] not the raw material here, but the fine linen bright and pure.
JT Just so. Bright and pure, a beautiful sheen on it, which linen only can furnish.
RHG When does the marriage actually take place?
JT I am not prepared to say. “The marriage of the Lamb is come”. As to when the thing actually takes place, I suppose, is left for the choice of the Lord. We are learning to have part in it in the assembly services, I would think, on the first day of the week. There is very little said really of what is called the eternal state of things, just enough to give us inklings of it as though we are to get our minds and hearts fitted for it, and be ready for it when it comes, because “Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit; for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God”, (1 Corinthians 2:9,10). It is a question of our searching, searching the depths of things, finding them out.
WGB As we take on the thought of the bride, would it help us in our administrative activities in the assembly?
JT That is the intent of it, I would say, to stimulate us. This is what we are going to be, but in truth we are these things, these things are so. What the Holy Spirit is effecting now, must correspond with what is in heaven; it is a question, therefore, of what is current now. The full result will be seen in due time, but it is going on, and the Spirit is working day and night in it, and He is bringing us into it. So Proverbs 31 is to show the energy and resourcefulness of this feminine person in her employment in view of her husband.
Ques Does she answer the question in chapter 30,
“[p. 316] What is his name, and what is his son’s name? Proverbs 30:4”
JT Quite so. That matter has often been debated, and has brought results, too. Indeed the closing chapters of Proverbs are leading up to this result; hence the importance of Colossians, where we read of the Son of the Father’s love; it is worked out in Proverbs.
JM Would the wife more particularly apply to the present moment, and is it a militant idea?
JT Well, just so. That is what I was saying, it is the present time, whereas chapter 21:1 - 8 brings in the future, that is the eternal state of things, and then verse 9 begins with the millennial state of things in which she is to shine.
JM Would the bride link with the side of affection, something that is known in secret?
JT Well, she is a bride, of course, when she comes down in the beginning of chapter 21, she is not seen simply in secret but she is prepared as a bride adorned for her husband, for his eye.
JM I meant secret in the way that there is an understanding between the bride and the one who is her husband.
JT Well, just so.
CHG In the response that the Lord secures from the assembly in the service of God, is she viewed as the wife?
JT The wife is a question of confidence. The word confidante is the best word to use as to wifely estate. She is his confidante, that is to say, absolute confidence is the principle of the relations between Christ and the assembly.
PL Would it work out in relation to Rebecca gracing Sarah’s tent in the light of union with Isaac?
JT Well, yes. The question is as to how long she stayed there, how long Sarah’s tent was in evidence,
because it was Sarah’s tent at the outset, but how long was Rebecca satisfied with Sarah’s tent? I mean, if we apply the thing in detail, because that is really the way to get at it, to visualise what is really meant, what understanding do we get as to it by the Spirit of God? It is said, “The Lord will give thee understanding in all things” (2 Timothy 2:7), so that we know the antitype of things, which is greater than the type. It says that Isaac loved Rebecca and brought her into his mother’s tent, but how long did that thought remain, how long will she be content with Sarah’s tent? I am not sure that I got your full thought, but I shall be glad to hear what you have to say.
PL It was just the thought that she is his confidante in trustworthiness, in the consciousness of her union with him.
JT Just so, what is the outcome? There is much in Genesis 24 as to Rebecca and Isaac, but then when we come down to the antitype, that is to say, Christ and the assembly, we must get into a wider sphere than Sarah’s tent. So the epistles to the Colossians and Ephesians must be understood. Then see what the bearing of all is in the book of Revelation, because we are still in Revelation, a book of figures and symbols. We do not have the actual facts at all, but it is a question of what is figurative and symbolic. But we must get into the facts of the thing, and the book of Revelation gives us hints as we draw near to the end of it, as to what is in mind; hence the Lord says at the end, after we have so much in type and figure, “I am the root and offspring of David, the bright and morning star”, Revelation 22:16 and then the Spirit says ‘Come’ to Him, and the bride says ‘Come’ to Him. So that we might say we have reached the consummation. It is a question of the Spirit of God Himself and the bride, the bride, of course, being the assembly, what she is capable of,
[p. 318] what intelligence she has, and all this is current now for us to go in for.
AED Does the matter of being shown enter a good deal into this?
JT Just so, only that for us, it is the Spirit of God that shows.
AJD Is your thought that there is a widening out in our minds into an eternal setting, not limited to time, rather than what Sarah’s tent represents? I wondered whether the eternal thought is not making way more in our minds than it used to.
JT And we have to wait. It is a question of waiting, seeing what will be disclosed when the time comes. The Spirit of God will open things up to us, but the translation to heaven is not by the Spirit; the translation to heaven is by the Lord Himself, and it is a question of what will be disclosed to us when all this has happened.
RMY Do you feel that there is room for it now in the service of God as we speak of it, a response as the bride?
JT There is, and it is well to take account of the character of the meetings that are being arranged for the help of the brethren in recent times. There are large numbers, of course, but they are not too large for God, or for the Spirit; we do get numbers in the book of Acts, but the Spirit of God does not continue to give us numbers, but the thoughts come at the end of the dispensation in large numbers coming together. Then the next thing is whether we are learning, and whether we are adding the element of holiness in our gatherings, and prepared for what is open to us, and for what the Spirit is doing and saying to us to prepare us, because it is a question of the preparation of the assembly.
EAK Referring to the Spirit and the bride saying “Come”, do you mean to indicate that at the [p. 319] close of the dispensation, the Spirit comes into His own distinctive place as a divine Person?
JT Just so. And the Spirit says “Come”. He is the only Person who could adequately say the word “Come”, but then the bride is able to say “Come”, but it is in unison with the Spirit; “the Spirit and the bride say, Come (Revelation 22:17)”. So that she is aided, I would say, by the power of the Spirit, but still the Spirit is viewed as by Himself, and she is viewed by herself. In regard of the bride, of course, it is creature condition; we cannot say she can ever be beyond a creature; the assembly is never more than a creature, but the Spirit is more, the Spirit is God; nevertheless, they say the same thing. We may say that it is due to Christ that there should be response to Himself as to the idea of His coming.
EAK Is that properly the consummation of the distinctive ministry of the apostle Paul, and does that indicate that Rebecca in Sarah’s tent was provisional?
JT Quite so. That provisional state was only of short duration literally, and if we apply it to the assembly, we shall see that the gentiles came into the position almost immediately. Paul said, “Lo, we turn to the Gentiles”, (Acts 13:46) that is not Sarah’s tent. It is among the gentiles that the real material for the assembly is taken on.
JM Would you say that the time of preparation is now?
JT I think it is, and it shows how intent we should be, when the Lord is opening up things for us, that each of these general meetings, whether here or elsewhere, should be attended in a holy way, and not merely for enjoyment, but for learning, for preparation.
RRT Is the thought that what is being wrought out now in the bride will come out later in the millennium in display? Is that why he says, “Come [p. 320] here, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife”, and then we get much as to the features of display during the millennium?
JT That is what I thought. Our second point now is just that, beginning with verse 9, running on to the end, and the Spirit would help us. Of course, there is no time now to open up all this, it would take three-day meetings to do so, but it is a question as to the administrative numbers that enter into the chapter. There are more administrative numbers in these few verses than you get anywhere else in Scripture, as far as I know.
EW What would correspond with being “set ... on a great and high mountain”? In chapter 17 in connection with the harlot, it is a desert.
JT “And he carried me away in the Spirit, and set me on a great and high mountain, and shewed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of the heaven from God”, Revelation 21:10. It would be to remind us, I suppose, of the Lord’s own position in the gospels when He was transfigured. Now the Spirit of God is taking John, and giving him a view. Then in Revelation 17:3 we have a contrast, “And he carried me away in spirit to a desert; and I saw a woman sitting upon a scarlet beast”, and so forth. That is Rome, the false church. There are no springs of God in the desert, but chapter 21 is, “He carried me away in the Spirit, and set me on a great and high mountain”, not a desert. A desert would allude to the utter barrenness of the whole system that is indicated in the harlot, the utter scarcity of anything that is of God, whereas here it is where things can be seen, it is a question of altitude. It says, first of all, “having the glory of God”, that is to say, the assembly has it, the assembly in its millennial relation has the glory of God, and it is like a precious stone, a crystal jasper stone, having twelve gates, and so forth. Then verse 15,
“[p. 321] And he that spoke with me had a golden, reed as a measure”, and all these scriptures running on to the end of the book are descriptive of this wonderful system of things called the heavenly city. The bride, the Lamb’s wife, in the early part of the chapter is said to be the holy city, new Jerusalem, but now it is the holy city in relation to the millennial day in which God will bring out what He can do with man as he is, and woman as she is.
JNG Does the numeral twelve bring in the administrative thought in love?
JT That is the point of it, it is a question of what is administered in love, and then the solidity, the substantial character of the city described by a cube. That is substantial, it is not mere show as with the tinsel of this world, it is substantial in all these qualities.
JWH Does what is seen in Ephesians 3 in relation to the measurements there have a bearing upon this in the light of what is eternal?
JT Well, I think in the main the measurements are finite when we come to the assembly, we cannot get outside of what is finite; whereas if we come to Christ, if we are dealing with the Lord Jesus, “the root and offspring of David”, (Revelation 22:16) that is infinite. The assembly can never be more than finite, and all these measurements are finite measurements, and so in Ephesians 3:18,19, “that ye may be fully able to apprehend with all the saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height”, that is finite, but then “and to know the love of the Christ”, that is infinite, and be “filled even to all the fulness of God”, that is further infinitude. So that in relation to the assembly, or ourselves as of it, we are never more than what is finite.
JM Is this the final result of what is seen in the upper room that we had before us yesterday? Is [p. 322] there a link between the great and high mountain and the upper room?
JT I would say that. There is much to inquire into on those lines. We may put into the upper room the numeral ‘three’. Paul speaks of “the third heaven”, but when we come to Christ, He has gone beyond all heavens, that is infinitude, even the third heaven is not infinite.
EAK Does what you are saying necessitate the mediatorial service of Christ eternally?
JT Quite so.
AJW Do we have to understand these things to go up into the high mountain?
JT I think the allusion would he to the Lord in the gospels as transfigured. He was transfigured before them; that is, it is a question of what the brethren could see, it is for them.
PL So that heavenly vision enters into all administration, does it?
JT The first vision we get, as far as I know, is Abraham’s in Genesis 15; it is a vision, but it is the word of God allied with a vision, and so in Revelation, where there is so much that is vision, the Lord comes out eventually as The Word of God, His name is called The Word of God. It is the mind of God in Him, not in the wife, but in Him, “The Word of God Revelation 19:13”. Therefore, the gospel of John instructs us as to who the Person is, the Word of God. The Word of God is God Himself.
CHG It says here of the assembly, “having the glory of God”. Would you be free to enlarge upon that a little?
JT There is not much time now, but what you say is of the utmost interest. It is a question of the Spirit. You get the thought of glory worked out in the second letter to the Corinthians, “from glory to glory”, 2 Corinthians 3:18 it is by the Lord the Spirit. It stands related to the Lord’s supper and all that enters into that,
[p. 323] leading up to the service of God as it is now constituted, showing how glory enters into it; “from glory to glory”. Therefore, we have the Father as “the Father of glory”, (Ephesians 1:17) and God is “the God of glory”, (Acts 7:2) and the Spirit is “the Spirit of glory”, (1 Peter 4:14) and Christ is “the Lord of glory (1 Corinthians 2:8)”. So that we have what these wonderful titles involve in order to open up glory to us, and all in the assembly, because what is in the assembly is greater really than the assembly itself. I mean to say that the Spirit of God is in the assembly, and we may even say the Spirit of God is in any believer according to Corinthians. Our bodies are called the “temple of the Holy Spirit 1 Corinthians 6:19”. How marvellous it is! But it is a question of how the thing is used, and how we conduct ourselves in regard of it, so that the Spirit of God can dwell in us.