Finally, the overcomers in the church will be the bride of Christ in His marriage feast (Rev. 19:7-8). The ultimate consummation of our living in the church will be our becoming the bride, the counterpart of Christ, at His coming back. At the marriage feast of Christ, we will be His bride, receiving the reward to enter into the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens, that is, to enter into the joy of the Lord (Matt. 25:21, 23) and to reign with Him 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 has 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 a bride, the church, for Christ 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. At that time the bride, the overcoming believers, will be ready. Moreover, according to verses 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 overcomers’ maturity in life. Furthermore, the overcomers are not separate individuals but a corporate bride. For this aspect, building is needed. The overcomers not only are mature in life but also are built together as one bride.
The believers who live in the church life should love all the brothers because they have been born of God; they should not only love the Father who has begotten them but also those begotten of Him. The believers who live in the church life should also forgive one another. Only through enjoying Christ as their joy and life supply can the believers be tenderhearted, forgiving one another, even as God in Christ also forgave them.
As the believers corporately experience the dispensing of the Divine Trinity in the church, they are being built in the church. The believers in their localities are being built together in the all-inclusive Christ as their peace, foundation, and cornerstone to become the dwelling place of God in spirit. This kind of building is a great help for the spiritual growth of the believers.
The goal of the believers’ living the church life is the building up of the church. God’s goal is the building; the building work is done directly by all the believers as members of the Body.
The believers can also be overcomers in the church, not mainly in regard to sins, the world, the flesh, the self, and Satan but over the degradation of the church. Today degradation is prevalent; hence, the believers need to counteract the degradation of the church by the sevenfold intensified Spirit of God. The believers also need to recover the normal eating of Christ as the tree of life, the manna, and as a feast to be their food supply so that they might be the overcomers. Also, to be the overcomers the believers need to let Christ be wrought into them by listening to the speaking of the Spirit. Moreover, the believers can be the overcomers either as the man-child or the firstfruits. The man-child is composed of the believers who have died and been resurrected, whereas the firstfruits are the first group of overcomers who are raptured before the great tribulation.
Finally, the overcomers in the church will be the bride of Christ at His marriage feast, receiving the reward to enter into the manifestation of the kingdom of the heavens, that is, to enter into the joy of the Lord and to reign with Him for a thousand years. For this reason, the overcomers not only need to mature in life, but they also need to be built together to become the bride of Christ.