In Revelation 22:17 we have the forming of the universal couple. This couple is the mingling of the processed and dispensed Triune God with the regenerated and transformed tripartite man. This couple is the ultimate consummation of the divine romance 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. This is a basic matter revealed in the Scriptures. 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, which is the church (John 3:29). In Ephesians 5 Paul tells us that the church is typified by the wife and Christ by the husband. Therefore, Christ is the Husband and the church is the wife. Paul also tells us that he has 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 is come, and His wife has made herself ready.” This wife is the aggregate of all the overcoming saints from 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 Bible begins and ends with a marriage. 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 is the Spirit, the consummation of the processed Triune God, with the bride as the aggregate and consummation of the redeemed, regenerated, transformed, and glorified tripartite man. Here is an eternal, universal couple expressing the Triune God for eternity.
The Spirit and the bride express the desire for the Lord’s coming as revealed by Him in Revelation 22:7 and 12. In verse 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 according to his work.” “Come” (v. 17) is the response of the Spirit and the bride to the Lord’s word concerning His coming. It is the desire for the Lord’s coming. Whoever hears this response should also say, “Come,” thus expressing a joint desire for the Lord’s coming. All believers who love the Lord’s appearing (2 Tim. 4:8) should express such a joint desire.
In the verses prior to Revelation 22:17 we have the Lord’s word. Now in verse 17 the Spirit and the bride respond to His word. Their response is the desire of their heart for the Lord’s coming. The word “Come!” spoken by the Spirit and the bride is certainly spoken to the Lord. The fact that the Spirit and the bride speak as one indicate that they have become one. In chapters two and three of Revelation the Spirit is the speaker, and the churches are the receivers of the speaking of the Spirit. But at the end of Revelation the Spirit and the bride, the bride and the Spirit, have become one. The believers are no longer merely the receivers of the divine oracle; they have become one with the divine Speaker and express with Him the desire for the Lord’s coming.
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