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. 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, who is the church (John 3:29). In Ephesians 5 Paul says that the church is typified by the wife, and Christ is typified by the husband. Therefore, Christ is the Husband, and the church is the wife. Paul also says that he 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 has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” This wife is the aggregate of all the overcoming saints from the time of 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 ultimate consummation of the divine romance revealed in the Bible is a couple. This couple is the mingling of the processed and dispensed Triune God with the regenerated and transformed tripartite man. Revelation 22:17 reveals that this universal couple, as the ultimate consummation of the divine romance revealed in the Bible, is the mingling of the processed and dispensed Triune God with the regenerated and transformed tripartite man.
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 there is an eternal, universal couple expressing the Triune God for eternity.
In Revelation 22:7 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 as his work is.” Then in verse 17 the Spirit and the bride say, “Come!” “Come!” is the response of the Spirit and the bride to the Lord’s word concerning His coming. Those who love the Lord’s appearing (2 Tim. 4:8) and hear the word concerning His coming, should express a joint desire for the Lord’s coming with a response, by saying, “Come!” The Spirit and the bride speak together and respond to the Lord’s word. The fact that they speak as one indicates that they have become one. At the end of Revelation we are no longer merely the receivers of the divine oracle. We have become one with the divine Speaker and express with Him the desire for the Lord’s coming.
The Spirit and the bride call the thirsty ones to come and drink the water of life—the flow of the processed and dispensing Triune God. “The Spirit and the bride say, Come! And let him who hears say, Come! And let him who is thirsty come; let him who wills take the water of life freely” (Rev 22:17). The word come is found three times in this verse. The first occurrence refers to the coming back of the Lord and is uttered by the Spirit and the bride. Then the one who hears the Spirit and the bride joins in, saying, “Come!” The Spirit and the bride, on the one hand, desire that the Lord Jesus will come and, on the other hand, yearn that the thirsty sinner will also come to take the water of life for his satisfaction. When we have a sincere desire for the Lord’s desire, we also have an earnest expectation for the sinner’s salvation. Therefore, the third come in this verse refers to the coming of the repenting sinners. Hence, this verse covers three matters: the response of the Spirit and the bride; the word of the one who hears the declaration of the Spirit and the bride; and the desire for the thirsty sinner, the unsaved one, to come and drink of the water of life.
If we have a desire for the Lord Jesus to come back, this desire will stir up within us a concern for the salvation of others. As we are saying, “Come, Lord,” a burden will rise up within us for our family, neighbors, friends, and colleagues. We should say to the Lord, “Come,” and then turn to the unbelievers and say, “The Lord Jesus is coming. Will you not come also? Come and be saved. Come to receive your salvation that you may be prepared to meet the coming Savior.” We will sound out a call to the thirsty ones to come to drink the water of life, the flow of the processed and dispensing Triune God, so that they also may have a part in the aggregate of God’s redeemed people and be His bride.