Scripture Reading: Num. 5:11-31; Rev. 19:7-9, 11-16; 2 Cor. 11:2-3

DAY 1 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 2 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 3 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 4 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 5 Outline　MorningRevival

DAY 6 Outline　MorningRevival

«　WEEK 4　DAY 1　»

　　Isa. 54:5-6 For your Maker is your Husband; Jehovah of hosts is His name. And the Holy One of Israel is your Redeemer; He is called the God of all the earth. For Jehovah has called you, like a wife who has been forsaken and is grieved in spirit, even like a wife of one's youth when she has been rejected, says your God.

　　The Bible is a romance. Have you ever heard this before? It may sound secular and unreligious. However, if you have entered into the deep thought of the Bible, you will realize that the Bible is a romance, in the most pure and the most holy sense, of a universal couple.

　　The male of this couple is God Himself. Although He is a divine person, He desires to be the male of this universal couple. This very God, after a long process, has resulted in Christ as the Bridegroom.

　　The female of this couple is a corporate human being, God's redeemed people, including all the saints of the Old Testament and the New Testament. After a long process this corporate person results in the New Jerusalem as the bride.

　　This holy romance is repeatedly revealed throughout the Old Testament. (Life-study of Romans, pp. 1-2)

　　Because of the Lord's enlightening through His word, I have the confidence to say that the entire Bible is a book of engagement. In the Scriptures we have a record of how God courts His chosen people and eventually marries them. For eternity, the Triune God as the Husband will enjoy a sweet married life with His wife, His chosen and redeemed people. New Jerusalem will even be called the wife of the Lamb (Rev. 21:9). The conclusion of the Bible is the marriage of God and His people. Since the Bible ends in this way, it can truly be called a book of engagement. The main subject of the Scriptures is God's engagement to His people. If this were not the main subject of the Bible, the Bible would not conclude with a word concerning the universal marriage of God and His redeemed ones. (Life-study of Exodus, pp. 636-637)

　　In order for God and His people to be one, there must be a mutual love between them (John 14:21, 23). The love between God and His people unfolded in the Bible is primarily like the affectionate love between a man and a woman (Jer. 2:2; 31:3). As God's people love God and spend time to fellowship with Him in His word, God infuses them with His divine element, making them one with Him as His spouse, the same as He is in life, nature, and expression (Gen. 2:18-25 and footnotes).

　　The entire Bible is a divine romance, a record of how God courts His chosen people and eventually marries them (Gen. 2:21-24; S.S. 1:2-4;...Rev. 19:7; 21:2, 9-10; 22:17). When we as God's people enter into a love relationship with God, we receive His life, just as Eve received the life of Adam (Gen. 2:21-22). It is this life that enables us to become one with God and makes Him one with us. We keep the law not by exercising our mind and will (cf. Rom. 7:18-25) but by loving the Lord as our Husband and thereby partaking of His life and nature to become one with Him as His enlargement and expression. (Exo. 20:6, footnote 2)

　　The Old Testament indicates clearly that God came in to choose Israel to be His spouse. In Jeremiah 31:3 Jehovah said, "Indeed I have loved you with an eternal love, / Therefore I have drawn you with lovingkindness." When God appeared to His people, He "dated" them and later even courted them. According to Ezekiel 16, God loved Israel when He saw her in the wilderness. Verse 8 describes this love: "Then I passed by you and saw you; and then was your time a time of love. And I spread My skirt over you and covered your nakedness; indeed I swore unto you and entered into a covenant with you, declares the Lord Jehovah, and you became Mine." By entering into a covenant with Israel, God betrothed her to Himself. (Life-study of Exodus, pp. 645-646)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Romans, msg. 1; Truth Lessons—Level Four, vol. 1, lsn. 17

«　WEEK 4　DAY 2　»

　　S.S. 1:2 Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth! For your love is better than wine.

　　John 3:29 He who has the bride is the bridegroom; but the friend of the bridegroom, who stands and hears him, rejoices with joy because of the bridegroom's voice. This joy of mine therefore is made full.

　　Concerning the church as the counterpart of Christ, we have seen that Christ and the church are a great mystery, that the church is the bride and that Christ is the Bridegroom, that Christ and His counterpart will be married at His coming back, that the counterpart of Christ will be consummated in the New Jerusalem, and that Christ and His counterpart will be a couple in eternity. We have also seen that, as the counterpart of Christ, the church is typified by Eve as the counterpart of Adam, being a part of Adam, having come out of Adam, having returned to Adam, being one with Adam, possessing the life and nature of Adam, having the image and form of Adam, and becoming Adam's counterpart as his complement. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 2291)

　　Rebekah as a type of the church has an altogether different focus than Eve. As a type of the church, Eve depicts the producing of the church and the nature of the church. As a type of the church, Rebekah depicts the church being chosen out of the world. This type includes the choosing of the Father and the calling and leading of the Holy Spirit.

　　In the Old Testament Boaz is yet another type of Christ. Boaz married a special woman who occupies a particular place in the Bible. Her name was Ruth. She typifies the aspect of the church being redeemed. The entire book of Ruth can be considered a story of redemption. Rebekah portrays the church as the called one, Zipporah portrays the church in the wilderness, and Ruth portrays the church in redemption. (Three Aspects of the Church, Book 1: The Meaning of the Church, pp. 84, 100)

　　The entire Bible is a divine romance. This means that the Bible is a very romantic book. This is true in particular of Song of Songs....When I was young, I also wondered why such a book is in the Bible, a book concerned with a romance between a man and a woman. This book is a portrait of the love relationship between us and Christ. According to Song of Songs, our relationship with the Lord should be very romantic. If there is no romance between us and the Lord Jesus, then we are religious Christians, not romantic Christians. If you wish to know what I mean by romance, I would encourage you to read and pray-read Song of Songs. Pray-reading this book of romance will cause you to become romantic with the Lord. You will be beside yourself with love for Him. The Bible is a divine romance, and our relationship with the Lord should become more and more romantic. (Life-study of Exodus, pp. 648-649)

　　The poem, as a type, in this poetic book as the story of the love between a king and a country girl is a marvelous and vivid portrait, as the fulfillment, of the bridal love between Christ as the Bridegroom and His lovers as His bride in their mutual enjoyment in the mingling of His divine attributes with the human virtues of His lovers. (Life-study of Song of Songs, pp. 68-69)

　　When the Lord Jesus came, He came as the Bridegroom for the bride. Many Christians are familiar with John the Baptist's declaration: "Behold, the Lamb of God" (John 1:29). However, not so many realize that John also referred to the Lord Jesus as the Bridegroom. In John 3:29 he says, "He who has the bride is the bridegroom." This word is included in a chapter on regeneration (John 3:3-6). The goal of regeneration is to produce and prepare the bride for the Bridegroom. Since Christ is the One who will have the bride, He is the Bridegroom. As God incarnate, Christ came not only to be our Redeemer and Savior; He also came to be our Bridegroom.

　　In Matthew 9:15 the Lord Jesus referred to Himself as the Bridegroom. (Life-study of Exodus, p. 647)

　　Further Reading: Three Aspects of the Church, Book 1: The Meaning of the Church, chs. 7-8

«　WEEK 4　DAY 3　»

　　Rev. 19:7-8 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. And it was given to her that she should be clothed in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteousnesses of the saints.

　　The Lord Jesus regenerates the church so that the church may be His bride (John 3:3, 5, 29-30). The Lord is the Bridegroom with the divine life and the divine nature. If we would become His bride, we must also have the divine life and the divine nature. For this, regeneration is necessary. Apart from possessing this life and nature, we could never become Christ's counterpart. In John 3 we see that regeneration qualifies us to be Christ's bride. Only after we have been regenerated with the divine life and have thereby received the divine nature can we, sinners, be taken by Christ to be His love....Through regeneration we receive another life, the divine life. In this life and by this life we are qualified to become Christ's counterpart and to match Him. (Life-study of Exodus, pp. 647-648)

　　On the day of His wedding, Christ will marry the one who has been fighting the battle against God's enemy for years. This means that Christ will marry the overcomers, who have already overcome the evil one, the devil (Rev. 12:11). As the God-cut stone, Christ with His overcomers—the corporate Christ—will strike the ten kings with Antichrist (19:11-21), signified by the ten toes of the great human image. In so doing, the corporate Christ will crush the great image from the toes to the head (Dan. 2:35); that is, the corporate Christ—Christ with His newly-married bride composed of the overcomers—will come as a stone cut without hands and smite the human government into pieces. In this way, Christ with His bride will annihilate human government. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, p. 4346)

　　At the end of this age, Christ will come to marry His redeemed and to take her as His wife (Rev. 19:7). The present age is an age of "dating," courtship, and engagement between God and His people. At the end of this dispensation, there will be a glorious wedding day, at which time Christ will marry His redeemed ones. This revelation of the marriage between Christ and His redeemed ones is a major revelation in the Bible.

　　At the very end of the Bible we see that God will enjoy a married life with His people in eternity and for eternity. For eternity in the new heaven and new earth, the New Jerusalem will be the wife of the Lamb (Rev. 21:9). This is the fulfillment of God's romance revealed in the Scriptures. (Life-study of Exodus, p. 648)

　　[In Ephesians 6] the church is not the Body, the building, the family, the kingdom, the new man, or the bride. Here the church is God's warrior. The church should be not only the Body to express Christ, the dwelling place for God's habitation, and the new man for the fulfillment of God's economy; the church must also be a warrior, a soldier, to defeat God's enemy.

　　According to Revelation 19, the church is both the bride who is presented to Christ and the warrior who fights with Him against God's enemy. At His coming again, the Lord Jesus firstly will meet His bride. After receiving the bride, Christ and the overcomers will enter into battle against the enemy.

　　In Revelation 19:7 and 8 we see that the bride is clothed in "fine linen, bright and clean." Then in verse 14 we see that the armies which follow the Lord into battle are "dressed in fine linen, white and clean." These verses indicate that the bride's wedding garment will also be the uniform she wears as God's army to fight against His enemy. Therefore, to have the wedding garment is also to have the uniform.

　　As the bride, we must be beautiful, without spot or wrinkle, and be clothed in fine linen. As the warrior, we must be equipped to fight against God's enemy. (Life-study of Ephesians, pp. 814-815)

　　Further Reading: Three Aspects of the Church, Book 1: The Meaning of the Church, ch. 9; Truth Lessons—Level Four, vol. 3, lsn. 50

«　WEEK 4　DAY 4　»

　　2 Tim. 2:4 No one serving as a soldier entangles himself with the affairs of this life, that he may please the one who enlisted him.

　　S.S. 6:4 You are as beautiful, my love, as Tirzah, as lovely as Jerusalem, as terrible as an army with banners.

　　As the church, we are the bride and the warrior. In God's economy there is one army constituted of a corporate warrior. This means that the warrior in Ephesians 6 is a corporate entity. Only as a corporate entity, the Body, can we put on the whole armor of God. This is contrary to the concept held by many Christians that an individual believer is able to wear the entire armor. The armor in Ephesians 6 is not for Christians as individuals; it is for the church corporately as the Body. What this chapter reveals is not the believers fighting as individuals but a corporate army fighting the battle for God's interests on earth.

　　Spiritual warfare is not an individual matter; it is a matter of the Body, a corporate entity to fight the battle against God's enemy....God's strategy is to use the church as His army to fight against the enemy. Therefore, it is very dangerous to be isolated from the army. Only by remaining in the army will we have the necessary protection. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 4340-4341)

　　After His wedding feast, Christ will come as a fighting General with His bride, the overcoming believers who are His army, to fight Antichrist, the kings under him, and their armies at Armageddon.

　　Christ, the embodiment of God, will come with His bride to crush the human government.

　　When Christ comes as the smiting stone, He will not come alone. Rather, He will come with His bride. This is because when Christ comes to fight against Antichrist and his army, He will come as the Son of Man. As the Son of Man, He will need a counterpart to match Him and complete Him. This counterpart will be His bride. After gaining and marrying the church as His bride, Christ will come as the smiting stone. If Christ did not have a bride, He would have to fight alone against Antichrist and his army. However, Christ will have an army, and this army will be His bride.

　　The overcoming saints have two garments, one for salvation and the other for reward. The fine linen in Revelation 19:8 is the second garment. This second garment of the overcomers qualifies them both to attend the marriage dinner of the Lamb (v. 9) and to fight with the Lord against His enemy. Thus, the wedding garment becomes the fighting garment....The bride's wedding garment will be the uniform that she wears as God's army to fight against His enemy. As we have seen, this garment is Christ lived out of us to be our daily righteousness. Even today, we are fighting by Christ as our garment. Ephesians 6 indicates that the whole armor of God is Christ. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 4333, 4346, 4340)

　　When the overcoming lover of Christ becomes one with God to be God's dwelling place, in the eyes of God she is as beautiful as Tirzah and as lovely as Jerusalem. However, to the enemy she is as terrible as an army with banners. Banners indicate a readiness to fight and also are a sign that the victory is won....Eventually, the overcomers will be a bride collectively to marry Christ (Rev. 19:7-9). After their wedding, this bride will become an army to fight alongside Christ, her Husband, to defeat Antichrist with all his followers (Rev. 19:11-21). (S.S. 6:4, footnote 2)

　　Song of Songs 6:4 indicates that the maiden 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. (CWWN, vol. 23, "The Song of Songs," p. 97)

　　Further Reading: The Conclusion of the New Testament, msgs. 425-426

«　WEEK 4　DAY 5　»

　　Eph. 6:11 Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the stratagems of the devil.

　　Matt. 6:10 Your kingdom come; Your will be done, as in heaven, so also on earth.

　　God has no intention for His believers to possess only the heavenly beauty without possessing a warring nature. The heavenly warfare is never abated before the Lord.

　　Believers ought to be lovable and terrible at the same time. Believers today have lost their loveliness before the Lord, and they have lost their terribleness before the enemy and the world....The Bible often mentions the terribleness of the Lord; He is terrible because He is holy. If we maintain our holiness and victory, we will see the enemy retreating and the world standing back.

　　Not only does [the bride] have a future that is full of hope, and a life that is absolutely heavenly, but she is a victor who constantly triumphs in her victory. She is "terrible as an army with banners." She goes from victory to victory. (CWWN, vol. 23, pp. 97, 101)

　　When she becomes Tirzah and Jerusalem, something is built up to show God's beauty and God's loveliness. At that time God's enemy trembles because this little country girl has become an army with banners. A terrible army signifies that these overcomers of the Lord terrify God's enemy, Satan, and become terrible in the eyes of God's people. An army fights the battle for God's kingdom in the degradation of God's people to be the overcomers answering the Lord's call. (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 3, "Crystallization-study of Song of Songs," p. 347)

　　Not only is the church the Body, the new man, the bride, the family, the kingdom, and the dwelling place; the church is also the warrior to fight against God's enemy. God's enemy, Satan, is terrified of such a church. Satan is not afraid of individualistic Christians, not even if they number in the thousands. But whenever the believers come together as the church in the aspect of the Body and in these other aspects, Satan trembles. By the church in these seven aspects Christ is expressed, the Father has rest, and the enemy is defeated. May we all see the vision that the church is not a matter of individual holiness or spirituality. On the contrary, it is a matter of being built up together....As such a church, we defeat the enemy and prepare the way for the Lord Jesus to come back. (Life-study of Ephesians, p. 627)

　　David typifies the warring Christ in the midst of sufferings; thus, his wife Abigail typifies the warring church in the midst of sufferings. From 1 Samuel 25 onward, Abigail was always at the side of David the warrior and followed him in his wars. Hence, she typifies the warring church, fighting for God's kingdom in the midst of sufferings. (Three Aspects of the Church, Book 1: The Meaning of the Church, p. 106)

　　In the universe there are three wills: the divine will, the satanic will, and the human will. If we would know how the church can be God's warrior to engage in spiritual warfare, we must know these three wills, these three intentions. God's will, being self-existing, is eternal, uncreated. As created beings, the angels also have a will. One of these angels, an archangel, was appointed by God to rule the universe that existed before the creation of Adam. Because of his high position and his beauty, this archangel became proud. This pride gave rise to an evil intention, which became the satanic will. Therefore, in addition to God's intention, God's will, there is a second intention, a second will, for now the satanic will is set against God's will.

　　Not only must God's eternal purpose be fulfilled and the desire of Christ's heart be satisfied, but God's enemy must be defeated. For this, the church must be a warrior. Even in the Song of Songs we see that as the seeking one enjoys the Lord's presence, the fighting is going on. Therefore, we walk according to truth and by grace, we live in love and light, and we fight to subdue the satanic will. (Life-study of Ephesians, pp. 527, 529-530)

　　Further Reading: The Conclusion of the New Testament, msgs. 213-215, 218

«　WEEK 4　DAY 6　»

　　S.S. 8:6 Set me as a seal on your heart, as a seal on your arm; for love is as strong as death, jealousy is as cruel as Sheol...

　　2 Cor. 11:2 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.

　　The dealing with a wife over whom her husband was jealous typifies Christ's jealousy over His believers and His church....We may not be rebellious (leprous), we may be quite self-controlled and restrained (not discharging), and our behavior may be altogether right with both God and man, but as a wife to Christ, are we chaste?...If a wife appreciates any other man, she is on the verge of losing her chastity.

　　In Revelation, Christ's fighting army is composed of His overcomers, who are a fighting wife to match Christ (Rev. 19:7-9, 11-14). In order to be a part of the Lord's fighting army, we must be chaste. The dealings in the book of Numbers show that the requirement for God's people to be formed into an army is very high. (Life-study of Numbers, pp. 50-51)

　　The church and all the believers should have only Christ as their love (2 Cor. 11:2-3). If the church or any of the believers seeks and pursues anything other than Christ, that is spiritual adultery in the eyes of God. Those who commit spiritual fornication will be judged and cursed by God (1 Cor. 16:22) and will not be able to fight for God and serve God. (Life-study of Numbers, p. 51)

　　Jealousy is usually regarded as a negative thing, but it is one of God's attributes. The most jealous one in the universe is God. He is jealous whenever we love anything or anyone in place of Him. He wants us to love Him uniquely, singly, wholly.

　　The jealousy of God is like the jealousy of a husband over his wife. No husband could tolerate his wife's loving another man besides him. Likewise, God is jealous over us. Jealousy, therefore, is one of His attributes.

　　Knowing that our God is jealous, we should let His jealousy be ours that we would care only for Him, love Him, and allow no one and nothing to replace Him in our hearts. Furthermore, our love for Him should be pure, our mind should be single, and our entire being should be focused on Him. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 109-110)

　　In her prayer [in Song of Songs 8:6], the seeking one says that the love of the Lord is as strong as death....There is nothing that describes the strength of the Lord's love as death does. Death is the strongest power in the universe, outside of God. When death visits a person, nothing can reject it....[Similarly, the Lord's] love will simply capture us! All the seekers of the Lord Jesus have been captured by His love. It is as strong as death.

　　Then the prayer of the seeking one continues in this way: "Jealousy is as cruel as Sheol; / Its flashes are the flashes of fire, / A flame of Jehovah" (S.S. 8:6). With this love and with this jealousy is a flashing fire. We have already seen that God is not only a jealous God but also a consuming God. "Jehovah your God is a consuming fire" [Deut. 4:24]. These two go together: the consuming God and the jealous God, the consuming fire and the jealousy. (CWWL, 1972, vol. 1, "Life and Building as Portrayed in the Song of Songs," pp. 342-343)

　　"[Lord], Your eyes cannot stand to see those who are Yours being defiled by the world or usurped by other loves. You are jealous; from the beginning of time You have been a jealous God (Exo. 20:5). Have not Your apostles told us about the jealousy of God (2 Cor. 11:2)? If You are jealous, who can withstand Your jealousy? What can withstand Your jealousy? You will destroy all Your enemies. You will remove all hindrances until You become the unique Lord, the God of all, and the unchallenged King. In this way, I will be protected, and my chastity will be preserved until I see Your face." (CWWN, vol. 23, "The Song of Songs," p. 120)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Numbers, msg. 7; The Conclusion of the New Testament, msg. 428