The first use of a divine title in the Bible is in Genesis 1:1: “In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth” (lit.) This verse speaks of God. The word God in Hebrew is Elohim. But in the last chapter of the Bible, Revelation 22, we have another divine title. Revelation 22:17 says, “The Spirit and the bride say, Come!” Here we do not have God, Elohim; we have the Spirit. Furthermore, the Spirit and the bride speak together. How can this be, since the Spirit is divine and the bride is not? There is not this kind of utterance in Genesis 1. There is no verse which says, “In the beginning God and the angels created the heavens and the earth.” On the contrary, Genesis 1:1 speaks only of God; it does not say “God and....” But Revelation 22:17 speaks concerning the Spirit and the bride.
We need to notice two important aspects of Revelation 22:17. First, as we have seen, the Spirit is mentioned with the bride; that is, the Spirit is mentioned with something additional. Second, this verse is not a demand; instead, it contains a promise related to the water of life.
When a young brother gets married, he is no longer single, no longer a bachelor, for he gains a wife as an addition. Now instead of a single person, there is a couple. Before he is married, whatever a young brother says, he says by himself alone. But after he gets married, it is possible for him and his wife to speak as one. Then it can be written concerning this couple, “He and his wife say....”
The principle is the same in the Bible regarding the Spirit and the bride. The entire Bible tells us of a universal romance, the romance of a universal couple. This couple consists of God as the Husband and His chosen people as the bride. Therefore, at the end of the Bible we have the revelation of this universal couple.
When the Lord Jesus came, John the Baptist spoke of Him as the Lamb of God. According to John 1:29, John declared when he saw the Lord Jesus coming to him, “Behold, the Lamb of God Who takes away the sin of the world!” According to the third chapter of the Gospel of John, John the Baptist later spoke of the Lord Jesus as the Bridegroom. Some of John’s disciples were jealous because of the fact that so many were coming to the Lord Jesus and following Him. They said to John, “Rabbi, He Who was with you across the Jordan, of Whom you testified, behold, He is baptizing and all are coming to Him” (John 3:26). As part of his reply, John said, “He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices with joy because of the bridegroom’s voice” (v. 29). By this we see that the Lord Jesus is not only the Lamb of God, but He is also the Bridegroom who deserves to have the bride.
The concept of a universal couple is found not only in the New Testament, but in the Old Testament as well. Even in the Old Testament we see that God desires to have a married life with His chosen people. For example, Isaiah 54:5 says, “For thy Maker is thine husband: The Lord of hosts is his name.” God loves His people as a bridegroom loves his bride. Thus, God’s desire is to marry His people, to have them as His addition.
The provision of Eve to be a counterpart for Adam also illustrates that marriage involves a man gaining a wife to be his addition. According to Genesis 2, Adam was created first. According to Genesis 2:18, the Lord God said, “It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him a help meet for him.” God did not want Adam to remain single, that is, to remain a bachelor. Therefore, He caused a deep sleep to fall upon Adam, took one of his ribs, and fashioned it into a woman. Before the woman was made and presented to him, Adam could not find anything to match him. Genesis 2:20 says, “Adam gave names to all cattle, and to the fowl of the air, and to every beast of the field; but for Adam there was not found a help meet for him.” But when God brought the woman to him, Adam said, “This is now bone of my bones, and flesh of my flesh; she shall be called Woman, because she was taken out of man” (v. 23). Eve was Adam’s increase, his addition. This illustrates the principle that marriage means addition.
We may also compare a husband and his wife to the two halves of a melon. The husband is the first half of the melon, and his wife is the second half. Only when the two halves are put together is there a whole, complete melon.
Just as it was not good for Adam to be alone, single, so it is not good for God to be alone, to be a “bachelor.” Without His chosen people as His bride, God is “single.” He is only half of the universal couple. I realize that this thought is frightening to the doctrinal or theological mind. When they hear this, some may say, “Are you teaching that God in Himself is not complete? How can you compare God to a bachelor or to one half of a melon? This is heresy! No one should follow such a false teaching! God is almighty, perfect, and complete. As the great One, the King, the Ruler in the heavens, He is the object of worship. We have been created by Him, and we must prostrate ourselves before Him in worship.” Of course, God in Himself is complete. However, many who use the truth of God’s completeness to argue against the revelation in the Bible concerning the universal couple see only the outward appearance of the Word. They know only the feathers and the skin. If we grasp the inward reality of the Word, we shall realize that God will never be satisfied with mere outward worship from His creatures. We shall know that, deep in His heart, He wants a bride.
A friend may do many things for a brother. Nevertheless, deep within, that brother may not be satisfied. Rather, he may say, “I’m not happy with any of these things. I only care for a wife. What I want is not my friends to buy things for me or do things for me. My unique desire is to enjoy a loving wife.” If we truly know the Bible, we shall realize that the Lord’s unique desire is for a bride. For this reason, one day, according to Revelation 19, there will be a proclamation: “The marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife has made herself ready” (Rev. 19:7). Ultimately, in Revelation 21 and 22, the Lord will have His bride for eternity. He will then be satisfied, and the Spirit and the bride together will say, “Come!”
In China it was the custom for announcements or invitations to be signed only by the husband. However, it is the custom in the West for both the husband and the wife to sign an invitation. This western practice illustrates the revelation in the Bible concerning the Spirit and the bride. In Revelation 22:17 we see that God is no longer single; He is coupled with His wife. For this reason, the Spirit and the bride say come. This means that God has a wife.