The Church as the Bride is a Corporate Army Fighting for God’s Interest on Earth

The church as the bride of Christ must also be a warrior to defeat God’s enemy, and Christ will return for his prepared bride and defeat God’s enemy.

The church is composed of a group of people who are regenerated with the divine life, and they are built up on God’s life to be the building of God, the Body of Christ, and the one new man.

From among the church, however, there is a group of people who answer the Lord’s call and receive God’s mercy to be the overcomers.

These overcome the enemy by fighting him day by day, and they overcome him not because they are strong in themselves but because of the blood of the Lamb, by the word of their testimony, and by not loving their soul life even unto death (Rev. 12:11).

The more we love the Lord and give ourselves to love Him, the more He will transform us inwardly and conform us to His image so that we may match Him, and we will fight the battle in the Body and one with the Lord to defeat His enemy.

Only the overcomers are qualified to be part of the bride, and the Lord will come as the Bridegroom for his bride, to rapture the overcomers and marry them.

On the day of His wedding, Christ will marry those who have been fighting the battle against God’s enemy for years; that is, Christ will marry the overcomers, who have already overcome the evil one (Rev. 19:7-9, 11-16).

Hallelujah, there will be a glorious wedding day, at which time Christ will marry His redeemed ones (vv. 7-9)! We all should aspire to be overcomers, and we should ask the Lord to produce us as His bride, so that we may be taken to Him when He returns to enjoy the wedding feast with him and return with him to defeat his enemy at Armageddon!

After that, for eternity in the new heaven and new earth, the New Jerusalem will be the wife of the Lamb; this is the fulfillment of the divine romance revealed in the Scriptures (Jer. 2:2; Hosea 2:19-20; Rev. 19:7-9; 22:17).

What a destiny we have, to be part of the bride of Christ and live an eternal married life with our beloved Lord Jesus.

May we cooperate with the Lord today, in the age of grace, to let Him court us, woo us, love us, and transform us into His image, so that we may love Him to the uttermost and be produced as His overcomers today, so that we may fight for his interests on earth and be one with Him in what He does today.

Amen, Lord Jesus, make us Your overcomers!

The Church as the Bride is a Corporate Army Fighting for God’s Interest on Earth

The church as the bride of Christ must be a warrior, a corporate army, fighting to defeat God’s enemy (see Eph. 5:25-27; 6:10-18; Rev. 19:7-9, 11-16).

If we think about it logically, we would not put love together with war or romance with battle, but this is what is happening in the spiritual realm. This expresses the two sides of God’s intention when He made man in His image to express Him and gave Him dominion to defeat and destroy the enemy (Gen. 1:26).

As the church, we are both the bride of Christ and the corporate warrior. In Eph. 5 we see the wife of Christ, and in ch. 6 we see the corporate warrior.

When we speak of spiritual warfare, we need to realise that spiritual warfare is a matter of the Body; we are not fighting the enemy in an individual way but corporately.

The armor of the spiritual warrior in Eph. 6 doesn’t belong to an individual; it is too heavy for an individual to wear it. The armor is for the whole Body of Christ, and the church is a corporate army fighting the battle for God’s interest on earth (Rev. 17:14; 19:14; cf. 2 Tim. 2:4).

We should not fight the battle on our own; we are vulnerable and without protection, so we need to remain in the Body and stay in the building up of the Body to be a corporate warrior fighting the battle for God’s interest.

What Eph. 6 reveals is not individual believers fighting the battle but a corporate army fighting the battle. Therefore, it is very dangerous to be isolated from the army; we must remain in the army to have the necessary protection.

Then, after His wedding feast, Christ will come as a fighting General together with His bride, composed of His overcoming believers as His army, to fight against Antichrist and the kings under him with their armies at Armageddon (see Rev. 19:11-21).

General Christ, General Lamb-Christ with His army, will face the Antichrist with his armies; the whole earth will come together in one place to fight directly against Christ with the Bride.

When Christ comes with His army, He will come as the Son of Man (see Matt. 26:64; Rev. 14:14). As the Son of Man, He will need a counterpart to match Him and complete him, and this counterpart will be His bride (John 3:29).

We need to have our wedding garment ready; our wedding garment is Christ lived out of us as our daily righteousness, and this wedding garment qualifies us not only to attend the wedding feast but also to join the army to fight with Christ against Antichrist in the war at Armageddon (Matt. 22:11-12; Rev. 19:7-8, 14).

After gaining and marrying the church as His bride, Christ will come as the smiting stone; He doesn’t come alone as the stone cut without hands, but He will come with His bride, a corporate army.

May we be those who have the wedding garment ready; on one hand we need to have Christ as our righteousness covering us before God, and on the other, we need to have Christ lived out of us as our subjective righteousnesses.

Our wedding garment becomes our fighting uniform; the wedding garment of the bride becomes the fighting uniform of the army.

Today we fight by having Christ as our garment and by staying in the Body for Christ to have the church as the Bride, a corporate army fighting for God’s interest on earth!

Lord Jesus, we give ourselves to You to be the church as the bride of Christ, a corporate army fighting for God’s interest on earth! Amen, Lord, we want to remain in the Body, with the saints, being built up together and fighting as a corporate army for the interests of God on earth. Save us from being isolated from the Body. Keep us in the Body and in the mingled spirit. May Christ be wrought into us and may He be lived out of us as many righteousnesses, our wedding garment and our fighting uniform! Amen, Lord Jesus, we love You!

The Overcoming Lover of Christ is Lovable to God and Terrible as an Army to the Enemy

In Song of Songs, a book on the loving relationship of the Lord with His loving seeker, we see how toward the end the overcoming lover of Christ becomes one with God to be His dwelling place.

As God’s dwelling place, the loving seeker becomes in the eyes of God as beautiful as Tirzah and as lovely as Jerusalem; however, to the enemy she is as terrible as an army with banners (S. S. 6:4, 10).

There are two sides or aspects of Christ’s counterpart – on one hand she is beautiful and lovely to the Lord, and on the other hand, she is terrible and fierce to the enemy.

The church as the bride of Christ needs to be both beautiful to the Lord and terrible to the enemy.

As lovers of Christ, we should be lovable and terrible at the same time; however, many believers have lost their loveliness before the Lord and their terribleness before the enemy.

We need to check with ourselves and check with the Lord, Lord, am I still lovely to the Lord, and am I still terrible to the enemy?

The enemy hates God-lovers; he would do everything to destroy the lovers of Jesus.

The enemy would allow us to do many things, but he will not allow us to love the Lord with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength, because he knows that if we do, we will be an army to the Lord, both lovely to Him and terrible to the enemy.

We need to love the Lord and be transformed by Him until we become His dwelling place; then, we will be beautiful to Him and terrible to the enemy.

To the Lord we will be as beautiful as Tirzah (the city of the king) and as lovely as Jerusalem (the city with the temple, the dwelling place of God).

The lover of Christ is beautiful and comely before the Lord, as solid as the heavenly city and as serene as the sanctuary; at the same time, she displays the glory of her victory before the enemy and the world.

However, to the enemy we will be as terrible as an army with banners; banners indicate the readiness to fight and are also a sign that the victory is won.

Therefore, we cannot love both God and the world at the same time; we are a friend to one and enemy to the other. If we say that we love the Lord and also the world, this is not real love, for when we love the world, we’re at enmity with God.

Eventually, the overcomers will be a bride collectively to marry Christ (Rev. 19:7-9) and, after their wedding, the bride will become an army to fight alongside Christ to defeat Antichrist with all his followers (Rev. 19:11-21).

Dear Lord Jesus, we love You. You are the most lovable One. We follow You because we love You, and we open to You to be transformed by You because we love You. Amen, Lord, make us lovely in Your eyes and terrible to the enemy. Make us beautiful and comely before the Lord, and full of victory before the enemy. Dear Lord Jesus, may we be Your overcoming lover who is one with God to be His dwelling place, and who defeats the enemy and brings in the kingdom of God on earth. Amen, Lord Jesus, gain us to be such ones!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by Minoru Chen for this week, and portions from, The Conclusion of the New Testament, msgs. 425-426 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallisation-Study of Numbers (1), week 4, The Lord’s Jealousy over the Church as His Wife.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # Body, house, new man the Church is, / Bride, and temple, and yet more: / She’s the army too which fighteth / All God’s foe to triumph o’er. / She is clothed with all God’s armor, / In His mighty strength is strong, / Standing in the Lord, resisting, / With all prayers she fighteth on. (Hymns #823)
  # The churches are the Body / Of Christ on earth today. / They are His testimony, / That He may have a way. / They are the golden lampstands / In cities far and wide. / They are His fighting army, / And His beloved Bride. (Hymns #1265)
  # “Thou art fair, my love, as Tirzah, / Comely as Jerusalem.” / O Lord Jesus, Hallelujah, / Thou wilt do it all! Amen! / His beloved — how He loves her, / So attractive, His delight. / He is captivated wholly; / She is comely in His sight. (Hymns #1161)