Gradually Growing unto Maturity and being Built Together to be the Bride of Christ

We believers in Christ are in the gradual process of being prepared as the bride of Christ through God’s organic salvation, by growing in life unto maturity, and by being built up together to be the corporate bride for whom the Lord Jesus will return! Amen!

Today the Lord is both in heaven and in our spirit; in heaven, He is carrying out His heavenly ministry, and He wants to close this age and return.

He wants to get married, so He is preparing His bride. The bride of Christ is not composed of ALL the believers in Christ; rather, only the overcoming believers will be part of the bride of Christ.

Simply being a Christian, someone who believes in the Lord Jesus, does not guarantee that you are part of the bride of Christ.

Actually, only the Lord Jesus knows who are the overcoming ones, and we ourselves may have a sense, once we reach maturity, that we are overcoming; most times, however, we realise we’re still in the process.

The apostle Paul testified throughout his life and ministry that he did not yet arrive but rather, he pursued Christ, forgetting the things which are behind and stretching forward to gain Christ.

He wanted to be found in Christ. He wanted to gain Christ. He wanted to experience Christ and know Christ and His resurrection, even to be conformed to His death by the power of His resurrection.

He aspired to arrive at the out-resurrection from the dead, that is, to be an overcoming one.

Only toward the end of his life, in some of his latest epistles, did he have the assurance that he would be rewarded by the Lord with the crown of righteousness, which He will give not only to him but to all those who love His appearing.

We cannot be presumptuous and assume or presume that we are overcomers; we can only remain in the gradual process of being produced as the Lord’s overcoming believers today, seeking Him, allowing Him to grow in us unto maturity, being built up together, and dealing with anything that He exposes in our being.

We may think we know where we are and what we are going through, but only the Lord really knows, and also the Body knows.

We need to open to the Lord and to the Body of Christ, being in fellowship with the Lord and remaining in the fellowship of the Body so that we may realise where we are, be brought on to maturity, and advance in the process of being prepared as the bride of Christ.

We’re in the Gradual Process of Growing unto Maturity and Being Built up to be Prepared as the Bride of Christ

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! What a glorious day that is, when we hear such a cry!

We are not there yet, but we yearn to be there, even to be part of the prepared bride of Christ!

On the one hand, the marriage of the Lamb is coming; on the other hand and at the same time, His wife has made herself ready. What does it mean for the wife to make herself ready? The wife here is the bride of Christ, composed of the overcoming believers.

In Matthew 25:1-13 we see the parable of the ten virgins; the prudent virgins took oil in their vessels, not just in their lamps, and they were qualified to go in with the bridegroom to the wedding feast.

We need to be such ones, the overcoming believers who have an extra portion of the Spirit in our vessel so that we may enter into the enjoyment of the marriage dinner of the Lamb at His coming back (v. 10).

Throughout the generations, God works to gain a bride for Himself, a group of people who are prepared as the bride of Christ who will enter the wedding feast with the Lord.

He is building Himself into man. He is mingling Himself with man.

He constitutes the divine nature into the human nature, and He brings the element of heaven into the people of God.

We today need to let Him work Himself into us and build us into Himself.

The more we allow the Lord to work Himself into us, the more we have the element of God in our being, and we have the Lord’s presence, having the taste of heaven within us.

Day by day we need to grow and be brought on to maturity by allowing God to build Himself into us.

The fact that the bride made herself ready means that the church has been completely built up and has grown to maturity.

Verse 10 in Matthew 25 says that those who are ready go into the wedding feast with the Lamb.

This means that the bride is making herself ready today, for God is building Himself into man and man into God, and we believers in Christ are growing unto maturity in the Lord’s life.

Growth in life unto maturity and building up go together; they are the same thing. As we grow in life unto maturity, we are built up, for God builds Himself into us and He is also building up together.

As we live Christ in the church life today, we enjoy a miniature of the New Jerusalem; as we grow in life unto maturity and are built up together, we taste the glorious New Jerusalem. Praise the Lord!

How do we grow in life? It is by opening to the Lord and allowing Him to grow in us and build Himself into us.

Our growing is actually God’s building, for we grow with the growth of God in us, and our growth is the building up of the Body of Christ (Eph. 4:12-13). Amen!

The Lord wants to fulfil Revelation 19, and He will completely fulfil it – there’s no doubt about it.

However, this takes a long process; so far it has been almost two thousand years, and the preparation of the bride of Christ is still taking place.

On the one hand, He is doing a work personally in each and every believer in Christ, even intensifying His organic salvation in each one of us so that we may be produced as overcoming believers. On the other hand, He is doing a building work, even a work of a corporate building, for He is building up the overcomers in His life in the Body of Christ.

This is what the Lord is doing today, for He desires to return and marry His bride. The bride of Christ will be prepared in full by Him for His wedding as His pleasure and satisfaction.

Christ has accomplished the work of redemption, He is now carrying out His organic salvation in each one of us, and He is intensifying the work of His organic salvation in us to produce us as the overcoming believers, the bride of Christ.

May we open to the Lord daily and allow Him to build Himself into us for the preparation of the bride. May we cooperate with the Lord’s work of intensifying His organic salvation so that we may become His overcoming believers today.

The Lord is doing a work of preparing the bride so that His wife may be ready and the marriage of the Lamb will take place.

He is calling His overcomers today, those who overcome in the Lord and for the Lord. We have been betrothed to Christ as our Husband; we are like a pure virgin being betrothed to Christ (2 Cor. 11:2).

We are the wife of Christ, the church, and we are in the process of being prepared to be the bride of Christ.

This is a gradual process of growth in life unto maturity, being saved in the life of Christ, overcoming in our daily situations, being built up together in the Body, and experiencing the sevenfold intensified organic salvation of Christ to be produced as His overcoming ones.

May we be the overcoming ones produced by the Lord in this age who will bring Him back and who are ready and prepared to enter the marriage dinner of the Lamb!

Lord Jesus, we aspire to be part of Your bride to enter the marriage dinner of the Lamb when You return! Amen, Lord, keep us in the gradual process of being prepared as the bride of Christ. We want to gain more of You today. May You work Yourself in our soul so that we may gain more of the Spirit in our vessel. Build Yourself into us. We allow You, Lord, to work Yourself into our being. We submit to the Holy Spirit and we allow God to work Himself into us. Keep us in Your presence today. Bring us on to maturity. We do not want to remain the same; grow in us and bring us on to maturity today! Amen, Lord, may today be a day of growth in life unto maturity for the preparation of the bride of Christ! Build us up together, dear Lord, into Your Body for the readiness of the bride! Intensify Your organic salvation in us. We give ourselves to You, dear Lord, to grow in life unto maturity and be built up together for the preparation of the bride!

Being Mature in Life and Built Together as the Bride of Christ to Enter the Wedding Feast

The goal of the Lord’s recovery is the preparation of the bride of Christ (Rev. 19:7-9). We are not here only to enjoy the Lord and have a wonderful church life, nor are we here only to see the high peak truths and blend with the saints.

The intrinsic work we do today in the Lord’s recovery and our living today has a goal: the preparation of the bride of Christ. What Christ is after today is the overcoming believers, the components of the bride of Christ.

On the one hand, we are the wife of Christ, the church (Eph. 5:24-25, 31-32); on the other hand, we aspire to be the bride of Christ (Rev. 19:7-9).

The bride of Christ consists only of the overcoming believers during the millennium, whereas the wife in Revelation 21:2 is composed of all the saved saints after the millennium for eternity.

We need to make a decision today and every day: when do we want to become the bride of Christ, now or during the millennium? When will we be prepared as the bride: in this age or in the next age?

We may think that it is too hard to become the bride of Christ today, for there are so many things that hold us down, so many problems around us, and so many weaknesses in our being.

It is true that it is impossible to be prepared as the bride of Christ in and of ourselves, but we can come to the Lord and ask Him to do it in us. We admit we cannot do it; we want to be prepared as the bride, but we can’t do it, so we open to the Lord to do it in us.

The Lord is shining on us and showing us that we can’t do anything, we don’t have anything, and we even are nothing; when we see this, we will come to Him and enjoy Him as the all-inclusive Christ as our everything.

The readiness of the bride depends on the maturity in life of the overcomers (Rev. 19:7; Heb. 6:1; Phil. 3:12-15; Eph. 4:13).

We should not be intimidated by this word, maturity, thinking that only the older saints can reach maturity, and we can’t.

We need to realise that, humanly speaking, even in our twenties, we are a little mature, for we’re no longer children – we are young men and women.

If we give the Lord our cooperation today, He will intensify His organic salvation in us and He will produce us as His overcomers. If we only open and cooperate with Him, He has a way to intensify what He is doing in us.

His goal is to gain the bride, and He needs some who cooperate with Him for this.

We need to adorn and consummate the New Jerusalem as the bride of Christ with God the Father as the gold, God the Son as the pearl, and God the Spirit as the precious stones (Rev. 21:2, 19a; 1 Cor. 3:12; Song of Songs 1:10-11).

We can do this by coming to the Lord and allowing Him to build Himself in us and build us into Himself.

The overcomers are not separate individuals but a corporate bride; on the one hand, we overcome in our situation where the Lord placed us, but we’re not separate or individualistic, but a corporate bride! We are members of the Body, and we remain in the Body.

The overcomers are not only mature in life but also are built together as one bride. This is an organic building, not anything outward or organisational. We are open to the Lord to be built with whomever He chooses to put us with.

The Lord in His recovery has one primary work: to prepare the bride. He is calling out a remnant of those who love Him and who are faithful to Him.

He is sounding out a call for the overcomers, those who overcome the degradation of Christianity, so that a number of those who seek Him may be prepared as His bride.

We should not look at others in this regard but rather, live before the Lord, grow in life unto maturity until we’re mature in life and are built together to be the bride of Christ.

Lord Jesus, we want to be part of Your bride: grow in us unto maturity and build us up together! Amen, Lord, we want to cooperate with Your bride-preparing work today. We want to answer Your call for overcomers today. Make us the remnant of those who love You and are faithful to You. May we overcome the degradation of Christianity and be prepared as Your bride today. Work Yourself into us more today. Build Yourself into our being and build us into God. May we grow in life unto maturity for the preparation of the bride. May we be mature in life and built up together as one bride for You to gain what You are after, the bride who made herself ready. Oh Lord, we give ourselves with all we are and have and do to You. May our living today be in the divine romance, one with You and in You. May our daily activities and all we speak and do be in the organic union with You. Bring us on to maturity and build us up together to be Your bride! We love You, Lord Jesus!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brother Ron Kangas in this conference, and portions from, The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 424 by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Preparation of the Bride (2025 Memorial Day Blending Conference), week 1, The Bride—the Goal of the Lord’s Recovery – day 4.
• Similar articles on this topic:
  – What is the Bride of Christ? More via, The Hearing of Faith.
  – Preparing Christ’s Bride – The Living of His Overcomers, via, Holding to Truth in Love.
  – The church being the bride of Christ, a portion from, Five Great Mysteries in the Bible, Chapter 5, by Witness Lee.
  – New Jerusalem is the Bride, the Wife of the Lamb, via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – The Matured Bride Who Loves the Lord’s Appearing, via, Affirmation and Critique.
  – Christ producing His bride in the new creation by growth and transformation, a portion from, Life-Study of Daniel, Chapter 13, by Witness Lee.
  – The Bride in the Millennium, the Wife in Eternity, via, New Jerusalem blog.
  – The Readiness of the Bride, a portion from, Life-Study of Revelation, Chapter 54.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Praise God, in this age we’re living, / Age of God’s recovery. / We are in the local churches, / Where the Bride prepared may be. / Unreservedly we’re giving / All, that He be satisfied; / For the life and for the building / Of His holy, chosen Bride. (Hymns #1320 stanzas 2-3)
  – We see how this age is so dark, / We know that blest hour is near. / Our Lord may return anytime— / Lord, strike in us this holy fear, / That we may each moment redeem / By taking Thy Word in by prayer, / By learning each lesson You give, / And thus for that hour prepare. / Lord Jesus, how blest to be those / Who bring in Thy kingdom to earth, / Affording Thee rule over all / And showing to all Thy great worth! / How blest to be those at the feast, / Where Thou wilt be one with Thy Bride! / Lord, make us wise virgins for Thee, / Who e’er in Thy presence abide. (Hymns #1303 stanzas 4-5)
  – Now behold the greatest wonder—New Jerusalem descend! / She’s the building of the Triune God with man—a perfect blend! / She’s the Bride, prepared, adorned for Christ—of all God’s work, the end! / The victory is won! (Hymns #1101 stanza 11)