Chapters 2 and 3 contain the epistles to the seven churches. Verse 1 of chapter 2 says, “To the messenger of the church in Ephesus write: These things says He who holds the seven stars in His right hand, He who walks in the midst of the seven golden lampstands.” No doubt, it is Christ the Lord who is speaking to the church. However, at the end of the epistle verse 7 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, it is the Lord who speaks to a certain church (2:1, 8, 12, 18; 3:1, 7, 14), but at the end of the epistles it is the Spirit who speaks to all the churches (2:7, 11, 17, 29; 3:6, 13, 22). This proves that the Lord is the Spirit (2Cor. 3:17; 1 Cor. 15:45b) and that He speaks in the Spirit, with the Spirit, and through the Spirit.
It also proves that the Lord is speaking as the Spirit not only to a certain church but to all the churches. The Spirit asthe eyes of the Lord looks into the situation of all the churches, and He speaks concerning the whole situation. The Lord as the Spirit speaks to the churches without any limitation of time and space. While the church in a certain locality reads the epistle to Ephesus, the Spirit looks into the church in that locality and speaks to the ones there. The seven Spirits of God are sent forth not only to Ephesus but to Los Angeles, to London, and to the whole earth. The seven epistles in Revelation 2 and 3 are words spoken by the Lord Jesus, but today when we read them, the seven Spirits of God speak these words to us in our spirit for the purpose of God’s administration. This proves that the Spirit is one with the Lord, and the Lord is one with the Spirit. The Lord speaks in the Spirit, through the Spirit, and with the Spirit, because He is the Spirit.
Verse 17 of chapter 22 says, “The Spirit and the bride say, Come!” Chapters 2 and 3 tell us that the Lord speaks with the Spirit, but in this verse the Spirit speaks with the bride. In chapters 2 and 3 the Lord and the Spirit are one, but now at the end of the book the Spirit and the bride are one. When the bride speaks, the Spirit speaks, and when the Spirit speaks, the bride speaks, because these two are one. Perhaps if we were John, we would have said, “The Spirit says, Come! and the bride follows to say, Come!” However, the way John rendered this verse is very meaningful. That the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” means that the Spirit and the bride have become one.
Moreover, this verse does not say, “The Spirit and the church”; rather, it says, “The Spirit and the bride.” This is because the bride is the completed church. There is no doubt that the bride is the church, but the church today may not yet be ready to be the bride. It is when the church truly becomes the bride that it will be one with the Spirit. The church must be completed so that there will be a true oneness between theSpirit and the bride. At that point, the church will be one with the Spirit, who is one with the Lord. In chapters 2 and 3, the Lord speaks in the Spirit and with the Spirit, but in chapter 22 the Spirit speaks in the church and with the church. This Spirit is the seven Spirits of God for God’s administration today. He is waiting for the opportunity to permeate the church so that the church may become one with Him as the bride.
The last part of 19:10 says, “The testimony of Jesus isthe spirit of the prophecy.” The spirit of the prophecy is thereality, substance, disposition, and characteristic of the prophecy, which is the testimony of Jesus for God’s administration. If we do not read this book in the spirit, we will receive only the predictions in it concerning the things to come. We will not have any sense, feeling, or realization of Jesus Himself. However, this book of prophecy is not merely a book of predictions about things to come. This book of prophecy is a book full of the testimony of Jesus. Therefore, in reading it we should fully pay our attention to Christ. In order to realize the testimony of Jesus, we need to be in the spirit as John was (1:10; 4:2; 17:3; 21:10). Then as we are in the spirit, this book will attract us to Jesus.