Moreover, the believers overcome by hearing the Spirit’s speaking (Rev. 2:7a, 11 a, 17a, 29; 3:6, 13, 22). Revelation 2:7a says, “He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches.” At the beginning of each of the seven epistles in chapters two and three, it is the Lord who speaks (2:1, 8, 12, 18; 3:1, 7, 14). But at the end of all seven epistles it is the Spirit speaking to the churches. This not only indicates that the Spirit is the Lord and the Lord is the Spirit; it also emphasizes the vital importance of the Spirit in the darkness of the church’s degradation as indicated by the sevenfold intensified Spirit in 1:4.
In Revelation 2 and 3 Christ is the speaking Spirit. If the speaker here were only Christ without being the Spirit, He could not speak words into our spirit, and His speaking would not be very subjective and touching. However, the speaker here is not the objective Christ but the subjective Spirit. If, as we read these epistles, we are open in our spirit to Him, the Spirit will immediately speak something of Christ into us. Once we hear His speaking, something indelible will be wrought into us, and nothing will be able to take it away. Christ today is the speaking Spirit, and we may be overcomers by hearing the Spirit’s speaking.
In the church life we may be overcomers either as the man-child (Rev. 12:5) or as the firstfruit (Rev. 14:1-4). Revelation 12:5 says, “She brought forth a son, a man-child, who was about to shepherd all the nations with an iron rod; and her child was caught up to God and to His throne.” In the Bible, woman (v. 1) signifies the weaker one and man the stronger one (1 Pet. 3:7). Hence, the man-child in 12:5 signifies the stronger part of God’s people. The fact that the man-child “was about to shepherd all the nations with an iron rod” indicates that the man-child consists of the overcomers, as mentioned in 2:26-27. Furthermore, “brought forth” in 12:5 signifies resurrection, as in Acts 13:33 and 34. The man-child is composed of the dead overcoming saints resurrected. This is proved by the words “unto death” in Revelation 12:11. The man-child brought forth in verse 5 is composed of the brothers in verse 10 who have been opposed and accused by Satan, the enemy of God. They overcame him by the blood of the Lamb, by the word of their testimony, and by not loving their soul life even unto death (v. 11).
Whereas the man-child in Revelation 12 is composed of the dead overcomers resurrected, the firstfruit in Revelation 14 consists of the living overcomers, those who live until the Lord’s coming and are raptured to the throne of God in the third heaven before the great tribulation. Revelation 14:1 says, “I saw, and behold, the Lamb standing on mount Zion, and with Him a hundred and forty-four thousand, having His name and the name of His Father written on their foreheads.” Verse 4b explains, “These were purchased from among men as firstfruit to God and to the Lamb.” These living overcomers will be the first ripe ones in God’s field. Hence, they will be reaped before the harvest as firstfruit to God and to the Lamb. The harvest will be reaped later (vv. 14-16). This indicates that the firstfruit will be raptured to the heavens before the harvest, just as the firstfruits of the good land were reaped and brought into the temple of God before the harvest (Lev. 23:10-11; Exo. 23:19). The first overcomers as the firstfruit will be raptured before the great tribulation, and the harvest, which comprises the majority of believers, will be raptured toward the end of the great tribulation.
Eventually, the overcomers in the church will be the bride of Christ at His wedding (Rev. 19:7-8). The ultimate consummation of our living in the church will be that we become the bride, the counterpart of Christ, at His coming back. As the bride of Christ at His wedding, we shall receive the reward of entering into the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens, that is, to enter into the Lord’s joy (Matt. 25:21, 23) and to reign with Him as His co-kings for a thousand years.
Revelation 19:7 says, “Let us rejoice and exult, and let us give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife has made herself ready.” The marriage of the Lamb is the issue of the completion of God’s New Testament economy. God’s economy in the New Testament is to obtain for Christ a bride, the church, through His redemption and divine life. By the continual working of the Holy Spirit through all the centuries, this goal will be attained at the end of this age. Then the bride with the overcoming believers will be ready.
“His wife” in 19:7 refers to the church (Eph. 5:24-25, 31-32), the bride of Christ (John 3:29). However, according to Revelation 19:8 and 9, the wife, the bride of Christ, in verse 7 consists only of the overcoming believers during the millennium, whereas the bride, the wife, in 21:2 is composed of all the saved saints after the millennium for eternity. The readiness of the bride depends on the maturity in life of the overcomers. Furthermore, the overcomers are not separate individuals but a corporate bride. Therefore, building is needed. The overcomers are not only mature in life but are built together as one bride.
Home | First | Prev | Next