Being Married to Christ as our Husband in the Church as our Home for our Full Rest

The genuine ministers of the New Testament are like Naomi in that they stir up the believers in Christ love Him as their Bridegroom so that they take Him as their Husband; we need to be married to Christ in the church for our rest and satisfaction with Him.

It is so encouraging to see that Ruth, an outsider and a heathen, chose to be with God’s people, and she exercised her right to glean in the field.

God made an ordinance for all those who are poor, widows, orphans, and foreigners, that they are allowed to glean in the field, picking up what is left after the harvest is reaped.

This sounds like the situation in Matt 15 where the Canaanite woman cried out and begged the Lord to hear her daughter, but the Lord told her that it is not good to take the bread from the children and give it to the dogs; to this, the woman said that even the little dogs can eat the crumbs under the table.

It is our right as believers in Christ to eat the Lord; it is our right to eat Jesus. We may have problems, we may be sick, and we may go through many sufferings and trials, but what we really need is that we eat Jesus.

Eating Jesus as our portion is the way; eating Jesus is the best way for us to be a Christian and to do anything.

Jesus Himself has been broken, that is, He was processed and consummated, so that we may enjoy Him. We have been given the right to partake of the gleanings of the harvest of God’s elect, and Christ has become our portion. Hallelujah!

We may ask the Lord to heal us or to give us this or that thing, or we may beg the Lord to change this person or that situation, but what the Lord really wants is to feed us with Himself, for the very element of God getting into us can truly heal us, feed us, supply us, and enable us to live the Christian life.

We have problems in our family life because we don’t eat Jesus; when the wife eats Jesus and the husband eats Jesus, there are no more problems.

When the parents eat Jesus, the children are not a problem or bothersome to them; they simply take Christ as their everything.

May we be those who eat Jesus every day, taking Him as our food and drink, and partaking of Him. If the enemy accuses us and the conscience bothers us, we can simply wash our robes in the blood of Jesus Christ, and we are forgiven and qualified to go on with the Lord to partake of Him. Hallelujah!

Being Married to Christ as our Husband in the Church as our Home for our Rest and Satisfaction

Ruth gleaned after the reapers of Boaz, and she had much grain to bring home for her and Naomi to eat.

However, Naomi knew that this was not enough; she knew that Ruth needed a home, and this means that she needed a husband.

Even more, Naomi knew that Boaz was the right husband for Ruth, so she proposed this and even pushed to gain a home for Ruth.

Chapter 3 of Ruth shows Ruth’s seeking for her rest; on one hand, she gleaned and obtained food, but on the other hand, she needed a home for her rest.

This is similar to our experience; we may enjoy Christ and feed on Christ, but we do not have full rest and satisfaction until we are married to Christ as our Husband in the church as our home.

When we believed into the Lord, we were organically joined to Him; now He is in us, we are in Him, and in this organic union we pursue Him.

As we pursue the Lord, we gain Him, possess Him, experience Him, and enjoy Him – even as Ruth exercised her right to partake of the produce of the good land.

However, even as Ruth had the need for a husband to be at home, so we today need to not only enjoy Christ but be married to Christ as our Husband in the church as our home.

After our gleaning of Christ, after our enjoyment of the rich and all-inclusive Christ, we still need a home – we need to be married to Christ as our Husband.

We all need to not only enjoy the Lord but also love Him; we need to tell Him, Lord Jesus, You are my Husband.

We may have been saved for a long time, and we may love the Lord, but until we take Him as our Husband in and for the church, we do not have real rest and satisfaction.

Especially today with the modern aspect of the world, there are so many distractions from Christ; there is the entertainment, sports, online shopping, and all kinds of things that draw us away from Him as our Husband.

As we spend time pursuing such things, we are unfaithful to our Husband, Christ, and we forsake Him for so many other idols.

Many believers are entangled in so many things of this world, and it seems that they have never been married to Christ, for they don’t take Him as their Husband in actuality.

As a result, they are roaming, wandering from place to place, having no rest.

We may be such ones, and we may swerve just like Elimelech; however, when the Lord visits us, when His light shines on us, we return to the Lord, and we take Him as our Husband in the church.

The place we find our Husband is in our home, the church; we all can testify that, as we meet with the saints and enjoy the Lord together, we love the Lord, we take Him as our Husband, and our love for Him increases.

It is in the church that we can take Christ as our Husband, and in the church we are at home, being married to Christ.

We must be married to Christ in the church as our home for our full rest and satisfaction.

Just as Ruth found full rest and satisfaction not only by gleaning from the field but by marrying Boaz, so we find full rest and satisfaction in the church, our home, as we are married to Christ as our Husband.

We need to not only glean in His field by enjoying the Lord and partaking of Him as our food; we also need to marry Christ as our Husband in the church as our home.

Nothing is more intimate than marriage; our taking Christ as our Husband is very intimate, for when we marry Christ, our life will be changed.

In our organic union and love relationship with the Lord, we need to live, walk, and behave in oneness with Him, checking with Him about everything, and loving Him to the uttermost.

It is so good, so sweet, and so restful with satisfaction for us to remain with the Lord, our Husband, at home, in the church!

If we live in such an organic union with Him, if we not only enjoy the Lord but also marry Him as our Husband in the church as our home, we will truly know the church life in the Lord’s recovery, and we experience rest and satisfaction in and with the Lord in the church.

Lord Jesus, we love You! We take You as our Husband. We want to not only enjoy You and partake of You as our food, our nourishment, for our daily living; we also want to marry You as our Husband. Oh Lord, You have drawn us to Yourself, and we cannot but respond in love to You. We take You as our Husband in the church, our home. Keep us abiding in the organic union with You, taking You as our Husband and loving You in the church, our home! Amen, Lord, loving You as our Husband and being one with You as Your wife makes us so happy, peaceful, and full of satisfaction! We love You, Lord Jesus, our Husband!

The Genuine Ministers of the New Testament Stir up the Believers in Christ to Love Him and Take Him as their Husband

Naomi realized that the proper person to be Ruth’s husband was Boaz; hence, she acted as a “middleman” in order to prod Ruth to get married.

Naomi got excited, for she realized that Boaz – the one in whose field Ruth was gleaning – was one of their kinsmen, and he could redeem her birthright and marry her.

So Naomi acted as a “middleman” to “prod Ruth” to get married.

We shouldn’t take this as a Scriptural basis to be arranging marries in the church life; rather, we should take this in a spiritual sense, realizing that we need to stir up the believers in Christ to love Him and take Him as their Husband.

The genuine New Testament ministers are like Naomi in that they stir up the believers in Christ to love Him as their Bridegroom, so that they may take Him as their Husband (2 Cor. 11:2; Rev. 19:7; 21:9-10).

Paul says in 2 Cor. 11:2 that he betrothed the Corinthian believers to one husband to present them as a pure virgin to Christ.

This is his ministry, and this is our ministry as genuine ministers of the New Testament: to betroth others to Christ, to cause them to love the Lord, and to help them be married to Christ as their Husband in the church as their home. Wonderful!

If we want to know which ministry is the true ministry, the genuine ministry of the New Testament, we shouldn’t only look at the doctrines it teaches or the works it does, but the result – does it cause the believers to marry Christ as their Husband, and does it lead them to the church as their home?

We all can testify that, when we read the ministry when we read the portions in the Holy Word for Morning Revival, and when we read the life-study of the Bible, we are stirred up in our love for the Lord Jesus.

The more we read the Bible and enjoy the Lord in the ministry, the more we love the Lord Jesus, the more we are betrothed to Him as our Husband, and the more we want to build up the church as the Body of Christ, our home.

We just give ourselves to love the Lord every day; from the morning, we tell Him that we love Him, and we just want to enjoy Him with the saints.

The only way for us to have rest is to take Christ as our Husband; we must know Him as our Husband and take Him as our Husband, living in the closest and most intimate contact with Him (1 Cor. 2:9; 16:22).

When we do this, when we are married to Christ as our Husband in the church as our home, we are entrusted with the New Testament ministry, and we bring others also to love the Lord as their Husband.

If we marry Christ, taking Him as our Husband, our life will be changed; we will realize that we must have a wife’s fidelity, and we will learn how to enjoy Christ as our life and person, walking and behaving in oneness with Him (2 Cor. 2:10).

We and Christ, Christ and us, are at home together in the church; Christ as our Husband and the church as our home are a complete unit for us to have proper and adequate rest.

We desire one thing from the Lord, and that will we seek, to dwell in the house of Jehovah all the days of our life, and to behold His beauty and enquire in His temple (Psa. 27:4).

The house of Jehovah is God Himself in Christ (Psa. 90:1; John 1:14; 2:19). The house of God is our spirit and the church.

As we love the Lord and marry Him as our Husband, we exercise our spirit and walk according to the spirit, and we remain the church as our home.

When we are in the church by being in the meetings of the church, we have the feeling that we are at home.

Lord Jesus, we love You and we take You as our Husband in the church as our home. We love to be with You and live in the closest and most intimate contact with You. Amen, Lord, thank You we can have rest by taking You as our Husband in the church as our home. Make us those who bring others also into the enjoyment of Christ so that they would love the Lord and be married to Him! Amen, Lord, we want to be the genuine ministers of the New Testament who stir up the believers in Christ to love Him as their Bridegroom and take Him as their Husband! Yes, Lord, may all believers be brought into and abide in the organic union with the Lord to enjoy true rest and satisfaction as they take Christ as their Husband in the church as their home!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Sources of inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by bro. Ed Marks for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Ruth, msg. 4, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-study of Joshua, Judges, and Ruth (2021 summer training), week 10, Ruth’s Choosing for Her Goal, Exercising Her Right, Seeking for Her Rest, and Receiving a Reward for God’s Economy.
• Hymns on this topic:
  – Our old man has been crucified with Christ; / Yes, all we are in oldness He sufficed / To bring to naught upon the cross that He / Himself as our new Husband fully be / Enjoyed by us. (Hymns #1140)
  – For I am jealous over you / With a jealousy of God; / For I betrothed you / To one husband / To present you / As a pure virgin to Christ. (Scripture song)
  – As virgins we must single be, / No other husband could have we, / That when He comes we’ll then be free / To be His Bride forever. (Hymns #1227)