Scripture Reading: Rev. 19:7-9, 11-21; 21:2

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 6　DAY 1　»

　　Rev. 19:7 Let us rejoice and exult, and let us give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come…

　　9 … Blessed are they who are called to the marriage dinner of the Lamb.

　　And he said to me, These are the true words of God.

　　In Revelation 19:6 the voice of the great multitude proclaims, “Hallelujah! For the Lord our God the Almighty reigns!” The reign of God, the kingdom, is related to the marriage of the Lamb, and the marriage of the Lamb is the issue of the completion of God’s New Testament economy. God’s economy in the New Testament is to obtain for Christ the bride, the church, through His redemption and divine life. By the continual working of the Holy Spirit through all the centuries, this goal will be attained at the end of this age. Then the bride with the overcoming believers will be ready. Simultaneously, the kingdom of God will come.

　　The wedding will bring in the reign of the Lord, the kingdom, because all the guests invited to the wedding will be both the corporate bride and the co-kings of the Groom. The Bridegroom, who will take the whole earth as His kingdom, certainly needs many sub-kings to be His co-kings. All His co-kings will be His corporate bride.

　　Although you may be saved, you must become an overcomer in order to receive the kingdom as your reward. For the overcomers, reigning with Christ in His kingdom will be the wedding feast. (Life-study of Revelation, pp. 629- 630)

　　There is no doubt that Revelation 19 will be completely fulfilled. Furthermore, we believe that the process of fulfillment is taking place today. Since Jerusalem has been restored to the nation of Israel, the coming back of the Lord Jesus should not be far off. The bride, however, cannot be prepared quickly. This preparation is a gradual work that takes place over a period of time. Certainly the Lord must be doing a work on earth to prepare His bride…. Some may say that the work of preparing the bride is among the spiritual ones in Catholicism, the denominations, and the independent groups. According to this view, Christ will gather together all these spiritual ones and form them into His bride at the time of His coming. However, this is not the Lord’s way. He is not coming to collect those who will constitute the bride; He is coming to present to Himself the bride who has already been prepared. This preparation, I believe, involves the work of building corporately. Those who make up the bride must not only be mature in life; they must also be built together as the one bride. Therefore, I firmly believe that the Lord is preparing His bride among those in His recovery.

　　I am burdened that we would all realize that the Lord’s recovery is not another Christian movement or an ordinary Christian work. The work in the recovery is the Lord’s genuine work to prepare His bride. I believe that in the years to come, more of those who seek the Lord faithfully will turn to the way of His recovery. They will realize that nowhere else do they have the inward confirmation. When we turned to the way of the Lord's recovery, we had the sense deep within that the Lord had put His seal on the way we are taking. The primary work of the Lord in His recovery is not to preach the gospel throughout the earth; it is to prepare His bride.

　　The Lord’s intention is not to revive Christianity as a whole. In His recovery, He is calling out a remnant of those who love Him and who are faithful to Him. He is sending out the call to overcome the degradation of Christianity so that a number of those who seek Him may be prepared as His bride. In this matter, the Lord is moving on, and we are going on with Him. What a privilege to be alive in this age! (Life-study of Ephesians, pp. 802-803)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Revelation, msg. 54; CWWL, 1973-1974, vol. 2, "The Wonderful Christ in the Canon of the New Testament," chs. 7-8

«　WEEK 6　DAY 2　»

　　Heb. 6:1 Therefore leaving the word of the beginning of Christ, let us be brought on to maturity…

　　Eph. 4:13 Until we all arrive at the oneness of the faith and of the full knowledge of the Son of God, at a full-grown man, at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

　　Rev. 19:7 …His wife has made herself ready.

　　[In Revelation 19:7] His wife refers to the church (Eph. 5:24-25, 31-32), the bride of Christ (John 3:29). However, according to Revelation 19:8-9, the wife, the bride of Christ, consists only of the overcoming believers during the millennium, whereas the bride in 21:2 is composed of all the saved saints after the millennium for eternity. The wife of the Lamb in Revelation 19 is the aggregate of all the overcoming saints from Abel until the Lord’s return. The aggregate of all the Old Testament and New Testament overcomers is the wife in Revelation 19:7 who will be ready for Christ's wedding. The readiness of the bride depends on the maturity in life of the overcomers. Furthermore, the overcomers are not separate individuals but a corporate bride. For this aspect, building is needed. The overcomers are not only mature in life but also built together as one bride. Christ will not marry each believer individually; instead, He will marry His corporate bride composed of His overcoming believers. When we have been fully saturated with the Triune God so that He flows out of us, we will be completely built and fitted together to become the glorious church, the beloved bride of the Lord Jesus. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 4320-4321)

　　If we would be qualified to be the Lord's bride, we must grow and pass through many things. Being the bride involves more than being the church. For example, a little girl is not qualified to be a bride. Before she can be a bride, she must grow to maturity. She must also attend school and learn many things. Then a man will choose her for his bride.

　　Different men may have different standards concerning whom they will consider for a wife. For example, someone with a doctoral degree may want a bride with a high education. He would regard anyone with less than a master’s degree as unqualified to be his bride. Likewise, the Spirit has very high requirements for His bride. Will the Spirit take a bride who is immature? Surely, the answer is no. The Lord will not come for His bride until she is mature and fully prepared for Him. Do not think that as long as we are the church, we are qualified to be the bride. This is similar to saying that any female, regardless of age or maturity, is qualified to be married. No, certain requirements must be fulfilled in order for us to be the bride. It is easy for Christians to say that we are all the church. But when the Lord Jesus comes as the Bridegroom, will we be qualified to be His bride? The Lord may tell us at that time that we are not yet qualified, that we need further growth and maturity.

　　Do you have the assurance that you will be included as part of the bride?… I do not believe that anyone who is merely a Sunday-goer can be part of the Lord's bride. When the time comes for the Lord to take His bride, will you be ready? Will you be qualified and matured?…We all need to grow and mature so that we may be qualified at the Lord's coming to be included as part of His bride. (Life-study of 2 Corinthians, pp. 191-192)

　　The bride signifies the church in its ultimate state. According to Matthew 25, when the Lord comes back, those who are ready will sit with Him at the wedding feast. To be ready here means that the bride has made herself ready, that God has completed His building work in man, and that we have grown and matured in the Lord’s life. These three matters—God’s building in us, our growth in the Lord’s life, and our getting ready before the Lord—are all linked together. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 4323-4324)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of 2 Corinthians, msg. 21

«　WEEK 6　DAY 3　»

　　Rev. 19:8 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.

　　Phil. 3:9 And be found in Him, not having my own righteousness which is out of the law, but that which is through faith in Christ, the righteousness which is out of God and based on faith.

　　[In Revelation 19:8 the] word clean (or, pure) refers to the nature; whereas bright refers to the expression. The Greek word translated “righteousnesses” may also be rendered “righteous acts.” The righteousnesses do not refer to the righteousness (which is Christ) we receive for our salvation (1 Cor. 1:30). The righteousness we receive for our salvation is objective, that we may meet the requirement of the righteous God; whereas the righteousnesses of the overcoming saints here are subjective (Phil. 3:9), that they may meet the requirement of the overcoming Christ. Hence, the fine linen indicates our overcoming life, our overcoming living. It is the very Christ whom we live out of our being. (Life-study of Revelation, p. 626)

　　According to the revelation of the whole Bible, we, the saved ones, need two garments—one for our salvation and one for our reward. For our salvation we need a robe to cover us. This robe is the robe put on the prodigal son in Luke 15. Upon his return, the prodigal son…thought himself unworthy to be in the presence of the father (Luke 15:21). But the father said to his servants, “Bring out quickly the best robe and put it on him” (Luke 15:22). This robe is Christ as our righteousness. It is for us to be justified by God in His presence.

　　However, we also need the second garment, which is the wedding garment in Matthew 22:11 and 12. This garment is not for our salvation; rather, it is for our reward, qualifying us to attend the wedding feast of the Son of God. The first garment qualifies us to meet God for our salvation. The second garment qualifies us to meet Christ for our reward. The second garment is the work of the Holy Spirit within us. It is actually the very Christ by whom we live and whom we live out. It is the Christ expressed through us in our daily living. This is the righteousnesses of the saints in Revelation 19:8.

　　The second garment is also the righteousness spoken of in Matthew 5:20. In this verse the Lord Jesus said, "For I say to you that unless your righteousness surpasses that of the scribes and Pharisees, you shall by no means enter into the kingdom of the heavens.”…This verse clearly indicates that we must have a righteousness that surpasses the righteousness of the Pharisees. This righteousness is not the objective Christ we receive as our robe for our justification. Rather, it is the subjective Christ whom we live out as our daily living. It is not the justifying robe; it is the garment that qualifies us to receive the reward.

　　The wedding garment in Matthew 22:11 and 12 illustrates this. In this parable the Lord speaks of a man who comes into the wedding feast without a wedding garment. When the king sees him, the king says, "Friend, how did you come in here without a wedding garment?" [v. 12]. The guest is speechless. Then the king says to his servants, “Bind his feet and hands, and cast him out into the outer darkness….There will be the weeping and the gnashing of teeth” (Matt. 22:13). The wedding garment is not the justifying garment; it is a very special garment. According to the custom of the ancient Jews, no one could attend a wedding feast without a special wedding garment. If we would be in the wedding feast of the Lamb, we must be clothed with such a garment. If you would be qualified to attend the wedding feast of Christ, you need to live by Christ and to live Him out in your daily living. This Christ, the subjective Christ, will be the wedding garment to qualify you to be admitted into the wedding feast. Therefore, we need both the justifying garment and the wedding garment. (Life-study of Revelation, pp. 626-628)

　　Further Reading: CWWN, vol. 34, "The Glorious Church," ch. 3

«　WEEK 6　DAY 4　»

　　Eph. 5:27 That He might present the church to Himself glorious, not having spot or wrinkle or any such things, but that she would be holy and without blemish.

　　3:17 That Christ may make His home in your hearts through faith, that you, being rooted and grounded in love.

　　Any bride would want to have a healthy, radiant complexion on her wedding day. If she is concerned about blemishes, she should begin long beforehand to prepare herself for her wedding by eating nutritious foods that will give her a healthy complexion. In the same principle, today we must prepare ourselves to be the bride by taking in the element of Christ’s riches as our nourishment. Christ is the food for the church. Therefore, as she prepares herself to be presented to Christ, the church must eat Christ…. By eating Him we become a beautiful and even glorious bride. (Life-study of Ephesians, pp. 799-800)

　　The time is coming when He will present the bride to Himself. Surely at the time of her presentation to Christ, the bride will not have any wrinkles or spots. In His bride Christ will behold nothing but beauty. This beauty will be the reflection of what He is. Do you know where the beauty of the bride comes from? It comes from the very Christ who is wrought into the church and who is then expressed through the church. Our beauty is not our behavior. Our only beauty is the reflection of Christ, the shining out of Christ from within us. What Christ appreciates in us is the expression of Himself in us.

　　First, Christ must come into us and then be assimilated by us. Then He will be able to shine out of us. This shining is the glory of the bride, the manifestation of divinity through humanity. Real beauty is the expression of the divine attributes through humanity. Nothing in the universe is as beautiful as this expression. Therefore, the beauty of the bride is Christ shining out of us….Through our humanity there is an expression of the divine color, the divine appearance, the divine flavor, the divine nature, and the divine character. Hallelujah for such a beauty!

　　On the day of his wedding, a bridegroom cares much more for the beauty of his bride than for her ability. In like manner, in the church life our beauty will eventually be much more important to the Lord than our function. At the beginning of the church life, we may emphasize ability and function. But eventually we shall place more emphasis on beauty…. Do not pay that much attention to becoming capable, qualified, and gifted in function. At first, this may count for something in the church life. But eventually the Lord will show us that what He cares for is not our ability; He cares for the beauty of Himself expressed through our humanity. Christ does not intend to present a capable church to Himself. The church that will be presented to Him will be glorious and beautiful, a church without spot, wrinkle, or any such thing. If our blemishes and imperfections are to be removed, we need to take in more and more of Christ. He should not simply energize us for our function but also beautify us that we may be His bride.

　　In the church as the one new man there is strength and ability, but with the church as the bride there is beauty and glory. We should learn somewhat to depreciate our ability and strength, for as part of the bride, we shall be not male, but female. At the time of the wedding, what the church will need is beauty, not strength. Oh, the church is being beautified by partaking of Christ, by digesting Christ, and by assimilating Christ! The more we experience the indwelling Christ in this way, the more He will replace our spots and wrinkles with His element, and the more His riches with the divine attributes will become our beauty. Then we shall be prepared to be presented to Christ as His lovely bride. (Life-study of Ephesians, pp. 800-801)

　　Further Reading: Life-study of Ephesians, msgs. 95, 97

«　WEEK 6　DAY 5　»

　　Eph. 6:10 Finally, be empowered in the Lord and in the might of His strength.

　　Rev. 19:14 And the armies which are in heaven followed Him on white horses, dressed in fine linen, white and clean.

　　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. The armies in Revelation 19:14 are the called and chosen believers in 17:14. They are also both the bride and the guests called to the marriage dinner of the Lamb (19:7-9). The guests invited to the wedding feast and the bride are the same. The bride consists of the invited guests, and the invited guests make up the bride. After the wedding, all the guests will become the army.

　　In Revelation 19:14 we see that the overcomers, as the armies which are in heaven and the ones who followed Him on white horses, are “dressed in fine linen, white and clean." The fine linen here is the clothing of the bride. The wedding garment of "fine linen, bright and clean" [v. 8] will be the armor for fighting. The overcomers who are the heavenly armies are those who constitute the bride of Christ. In other words, it will be the bride of Christ who will follow Him as His army to fight and destroy Antichrist and his army. Those who have overcome every obstacle will be Christ's co-fighters in the final battle against Antichrist. These are His bride. They have become His co-fighters by His ministering the rich life supply to them. Surely the expectation is that His overcomers will be such co-fighters. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 4339-4340)

　　The overcoming saints have two garments, one for salvation and the other or reward. The fine linen here is the second garment. This second garment of the overcomers qualifies them both to attend the marriage dinner of the Lamb (Rev. 19:8-9) and to fight with the Lord against His enemy. Thus, the wedding garment becomes the fighting garment. The second garment qualifies us not only to attend the wedding but also to join the army. The bride’s wedding garment will be the uniform that she wears as God's army to fight against His enemy….Even today, we are fighting by Christ as our garment. Ephesians 6 indicates that the whole armor of God is Christ.

　　At His coming again, … after receiving the bride, Christ and the overcomers will enter into battle against the enemy. Just as in Ephesians 5 and 6 we see the church as the bride and as the warrior, in Revelation 19 we also have these two aspects of the church. 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, …a corporate army.

　　According to verses 17 and 18, we receive the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit by means of all prayer and petition…. Among the various items of the armor, only the sword is for offensive warfare; that is, it is the only item of God’s armor used for attacking the enemy…. Satan is not only the enemy outside of us; he is also the adversary within us…. Because the enemy’s elements are within us, we need the killing power of the word to be applied to our being subjectively.

　　Pray-reading the Word of God is the way to kill the adversary within us. Every day and in every kind of situation, we should pray-read. Whenever we are troubled by something negative within us, we should take the Word of God by means of prayer in spirit. As we do this, the negative element will be killed. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 4340-4342)

　　Further Reading: The Conclusion of the New Testament, msgs. 185, 215, 343, 424-426

«　WEEK 6　DAY 6　»

　　Rev. 19:13 And He is clothed with a garment dipped in blood; and His name is called the Word of God.

　　15 And out of His mouth proceeds a sharp sword, that with it He might smite the nations…

　　In Revelation 19, as the Word of God, Christ speaks for God by executing God's judgment upon the rebellious people….The fighting of Christ is the speaking of the Word of God. God is righteous and sovereign. He is also a God of order, and as such He cannot tolerate disorder and rebellion. As Christ fights against the enemy, He will speak that God is sovereign, righteous, and orderly. He will declare that God is the God over everyone and that He does not tolerate rebellion against His authority. Hence, the Warrior is the Word. His fighting is the speaking of God's Word. The Lord's fighting in the war at Armageddon will be a powerful speaking. It will tell Satan, Antichrist, the false prophet, and the entire universe that God is sovereign and that no one can rebel against Him. God is not a God of confusion; He is the sovereign God, a God of order who does not tolerate rebellion. The God of order will sweep away all rebellion. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, pp. 4337-4338)

　　In Revelation 19 the Lord Jesus who comes down out of heaven appears as a General fighting a battle. He is riding on a white horse, and His name is called "the Word of God" (vv. 11, 13). The word of God that we speak today is the Lord Jesus. Eventually, as we continue to speak, our speaking will cause the Lord Jesus to come forth.

　　Daniel 2:34 says that “a stone…cut out without hands” struck “the image at its feet” and “crushed them.” Verse 35 continues, “Then the iron, the clay, the bronze, the silver, and the gold were crushed all at once, and they became like chaff from the summer threshing floors; and the wind carried them away so that no trace of them was found." Here the great human image signifies the aggregate of human government, and the smiting stone signifies not merely the individual Christ but also the corporate Christ. Apparently, the parts that were of gold, silver, bronze, and iron were not a problem to God. But with the ten toes there is a great problem, for when human government reaches the stage of the ten toes—the stage of Antichrist and his ten kings—it will fight against God directly. Thus, human government not only rebels against God, exalts man, and worships idols but also fights against God directly. However, 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. 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, pp. 4338, 4345-4346)

　　Further Reading: Truth Lessons—Level Four, vol. 1, lsn. 17