In this lesson we will cover two matters: first, as the bride, the believers becoming one with the Spirit; second, their looking to and waiting for the Lord Jesus’ coming back to usher them into their future. These two matters are the issue of the believers’ enjoying the dispensing of the Divine Trinity in the progressing stage of God’s full salvation.
In the progressing stage of God’s full salvation, the stage of transformation, as we experience and enjoy the dispensing of the Divine Trinity, the first issue is that we, as the bride, become one with the Spirit. The consummation of the divine dispensing of the processed Triune God will be a universal marriage (Rev. 19:7-9; 21:2, 9). The Spirit as the consummation of the processed Triune God will be the Bridegroom, and God’s redeemed people as the consummation of the redeemed, regenerated, and transformed humanity will be the bride. This will be the consummation spoken of by John the Baptist: “He who has the bride is the bridegroom” (John 3:29). The New Testament eventually reveals that the Spirit, as the consummation of the processed Triune God, and the bride, as the consummation of the transformed tripartite man, will be one and will speak as one. Revelation 22:17 says, “The Spirit and the bride say, Come!” This indicates that the church’s experience of the Spirit has progressed to the extent that she has become one with the Spirit, who is the ultimate consummation of the Triune God.
The Spirit is the ultimate consummation of the sovereign Lord who created the universe and all things, that is, the Triune God who has passed through the process of incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension. Having passed through this process, the Triune God is now the consummated Spirit. Hence, the Spirit is now the compound, all-inclusive, life-giving, indwelling, sevenfold intensified, consummated Spirit as the ultimate consummation of the processed Triune God to be the eternal portion of His chosen, redeemed, regenerated, sanctified, transformed, and glorified tripartite people as their life, life supply, and everything.
Therefore, there are two consummations in Revelation 22:17, which speaks of the Spirit becoming one with the bride. First, the Triune God has gone through a process—through incarnation, human living, crucifixion, resurrection, and ascension—to become the Spirit, the totality, the consummation, of the Triune God to be the Bridegroom. Second, the believers also have gone through a process—redemption, regeneration, and transformation—to become the consummation of God’s chosen, redeemed, regenerated, and transformed people to be the bride. The Spirit as the ultimate consummation of the Triune God has been and is being dispensed into us. Eventually, the Spirit becomes one with the bride, the aggregate of all the regenerated and transformed tripartite believers. This means that the Triune God, after being consummated as the Spirit, will “marry” the believers as the bride. The consummation of the processed Triune God and the consummation of God’s chosen, redeemed, regenerated, and transformed people will become one in a universal marriage. Therefore, the processed tripartite man will match the processed Triune God forever for His full expression and satisfaction.