«　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