Morning Nourishment - The Bridegroom, the Maturity of the Bride, and Being a Warrior to Defeat God’s Enemy
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Day 1
Verses: Matt. 9:14-15 Then the disciples of John came to Him, saying, Why do we and the Pharisees fast much, but Your disciples do not fast? And Jesus said to them, The sons of the bridechamber cannot mourn as long as the bridegroom is with them, can they? But days will come when the bridegroom will be taken away from them, and then they will fast. [In Matthew 9:14-15, Jesus] answered [John’s disciples] not with a doctrine but with a person. He referred to Himself as the Bridegroom! A bridegroom is the most pleasant person in the entire universe. You say that you fear God, you want to please God, and you like to serve the Lord—that is good, but it is rather religious…In the presence of the Bridegroom, fear is nonexistent. He is so lovely; He is so pleasant; we need not fear such a One. Hallelujah, we have the Bridegroom! (CWWL, 1970, vol. 2, “Christ versus Religion,” p. 7)
The Lord Jesus is…the Lamb who bears away our sins and accomplishes redemption in a full way, and He is also the One with the dove who imparts life into us and baptizes us with the Spirit. But besides all these, He is the Bridegroom. Eventually, at the end of the Bible, we have such a term, the wife of the Lamb (Rev. 21:9). This is a matter that is to some extent contrary to religion and religious thoughts. The Lamb is the Redeemer, but the Lamb who took away our sins on the cross is also our Bridegroom. Have you ever prayed in this way: “O Lord Jesus, You are so lovely; You are my Bridegroom. Lord, I love You; I love You just as one who loves her bridegroom”?…The Bridegroom is with us—we have His presence! We not only have the presence of the almighty God but the presence of the Bridegroom, the most pleasant person. He is so precious and so lovely. The Bible not only tells us that the Lord Jesus is our Bridegroom, but that as such a person to us we are four kinds of people to Him. Matthew and Luke tell us that He is the Bridegroom, and we are the sons of the bridechamber… We love the Bridegroom…His presence is so good and pleasant to us…We are companions of the Bridegroom in the bridechamber. Second, we are the guests invited by God to the wedding feast of His Son (Matt. 22:1-10; Rev. 19:9). God the Father is now preparing a wedding feast for His Son and inviting many to attend it…We are feasting now…Whenever we come into His presence, we realize that we have come to a feast. Whenever we come together in a meeting, we must realize that we have come to a wedding feast. The church meeting must not be just a meal but a feast, and not an ordinary feast but a wedding feast. Third, we are the virgins going forth to meet the Bridegroom (Matt. 25:1- 13)…In one sense we are with Him and we are enjoying Him, but in another sense we are waiting for Him, and we wait for Him in the way of going forth to meet Him. We all must be virgins and have nothing to do with this earth. Our goal is His coming; our goal is Christ; we are aiming at Him. As such, He is our real enjoyment. In the first sense we are the sons of the bridechamber, in the second we are the guests, in the third we are the virgins, and in the fourth we are the bride. These four aspects are all for our enjoyment of Christ as our Bridegroom. In the first sense we are the companions in the bridechamber enjoying the Bridegroom. In the second sense we are the guests enjoying Him as our feast. In the third sense we are the virgins enjoying the coming of the Bridegroom. Eventually, we will all be the bride to enjoy the Bridegroom to the uttermost. Thus, to enjoy Christ as the Bridegroom we must be four kinds of persons to Him. By all these four ways we enjoy Christ so richly and sweetly. May the Lord impress us deeply with all these four aspects and bring us into the full enjoyment of Christ. (CWWL, 1970, vol. 2, “Christ versus Religion,” pp. 7-11) Further Reading: CWWL, 1970, vol. 2, “Christ versus Religion,” chs. 1—3;
Day 2
Verses: 2 Cor. 3:18 But we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit. Heb. 6:1 Therefore leaving the word of the beginning of Christ, let us be brought on to maturity… To be transformed is to be changed in our natural life, whereas to be matured is to be filled with the divine life that changes us. We may be transformed in our natural life yet not be filled with the divine life. Genesis 37 through 45 are a record of the process of Jacob’s maturity…In these chapters we have the dealings in the last stage of Jacob’s life. The sufferings he underwent here deeply touched his personal feelings. After these chapters Jacob had no further dealings. Rather, he was fully matured, he was filled with the divine life, and he had the expression of God and the dominion of God. (Life-study of Genesis, pp. 1176-1177)
Regarding the coming of the Bridegroom and our awaiting His return, the first requirement is life…Christ’s coming is life because Christ’s life makes us His bride. Without having Christ as our life, we can never be a part of His bride as His counterpart and His increase. What we need in order to meet Christ as the Bridegroom is not the doctrine of Christ’s second coming but the life of Christ. We need Christ as our life, and we need this life to grow in us all the time. All genuine believers have Christ as their life (Col. 3:4), but many have Him only in the initial stage. This life needs to increase in us, and the increase of this life is the growth in life. The Song of Songs portrays the gradual growth in life of the Lord’s lovers and their transformation in life. The seeker in Song of Songs is transformed stage by stage by the growth in life from a mare among Pharaoh’s chariots to a lily, a dove, pillars of smoke, a couch, a palanquin, a crown, and a garden that produces Christ in all His rich aspects (1:9; 2:1, 14; 3:6-7, 9, 11; 4:12; 5:1). The garden becomes a city as God’s dwelling place, which is beautiful toward God yet terrible as an army with banners toward the enemy. Eventually, the city becomes the heavenly bodies full of light and the Shulammite (6:4, 10, 13). The word Shulammite is the feminine form of Solomon, derived from the root meaning “peace.” In this book Solomon is a type of Christ. The use of the name Shulammite indicates that in the maturity of Christ’s life the lover of Christ becomes His duplication, His counterpart, the same as He is in life, nature, expression, and function (but not in the Godhead) to match Him for their marriage (2 Cor. 3:18; Rom. 8:29). Christ as life grows in the seeker and transforms her from a wild horse that pulls Pharaoh’s chariot to the wonderful Shulammite. Such a transformation can be accomplished not by doctrine but only by the growth and increase of Christ as life. This shows that life with its growth and increase is for the Lord’s return. To know Christ as the Bridegroom is more intimate and personal than to know Him as the King or the Judge. Christ as the Bridegroom is our Lover who comes not to judge us but to love us. Christ will return as the Bridegroom to obtain His bride…As the Shulammite, the mature seeker is the increase of Christ…We all need to be transformed into the Shulammite as the increase of Christ, His reproduction. Transformation is not an instantaneous occurrence but a gradual process. Thus, even though we may not be the Shulammite today, as long as we remain under the Spirit’s work of transformation, we will become the corporate Shulammite. In order to be qualified to wait for the Lord’s return, we need life, including the growth in life, the transformation by life, and the maturity of life. As believers, we have life; however, this life needs to increase within us all the time. (CWWL, 1972, vol. 1, “Preparing for the Lord’s Return,” pp. 401-402) Further Reading: CWWL, 1972, vol. 1, “Preparing for the Lord’s Return,”
Day 3
Verses: James 5:7 Therefore be long-suffering, brothers, until the coming of the Lord. Behold, the farmer eagerly awaits the precious fruit of the earth, exercising long-suffering over it until it receives the early and late rain. Gal. 4:19 My children, with whom I travail again in birth until Christ is formed in you. The Lord Jesus is actually the real Farmer, the unique Farmer. As we are awaiting His coming, He, as the real Farmer, is awaiting our maturity. We may pray, “Lord, come back quickly.” However, He may say, “My children, mature quicker. While you are awaiting My coming back, I am awaiting your maturity…Only your maturity can hasten My coming back. You exercise your long-suffering, and I exercise My long-suffering.” (Life-study of James, pp. 92-93)
It is a great help for us to realize that if we are serious about awaiting the Lord’s coming back, we need to grow in life. Most Christians today view the Lord’s coming in an altogether objective way, in a way that has nothing to do with our spiritual condition or spiritual growth. Their expectation is that one day the Lord will suddenly come and that His coming will have nothing to do with their maturity. The illustration of the farmer in James 5:7 implies that the farmer is waiting for the crop growing in the field to ripen. According to Revelation 14, the Lord is also waiting for the harvest to be ripe…This harvest will be the issue, the outcome, of the Lord’s sowing of Himself as a seed. This was accomplished during the Lord’s first coming, and it is described in Matthew 13. We need to realize that it is the ripening of the harvest that will hasten the Lord’s coming back. When we are persecuted, we need long-suffering. Therefore, long- suffering is an expression of our patience toward people. The prophets were persecuted, but they were long-suffering toward their persecutors. Endurance, on the contrary, is an expression of our patience toward the things that afflict us. Therefore, when Job suffered affliction, he displayed endurance. In his writing, James uses the Greek words for long-suffering and endurance. While we are awaiting the Lord’s coming back, we need both long- suffering and endurance because we face suffering from two sources. These sources are persons who persecute us and the environment that afflicts us. For the Lord’s coming back, we need long-suffering, endurance, and the growth in life. As we are exercising long-suffering toward those who persecute us and endurance toward afflictions, we need to grow in life. Then we will be able to say, “O Lord Jesus, come back sooner. Lord, can’t You see that I am growing in life? Today I am growing faster than yesterday. Because I am growing, Lord, I ask You to speed up Your coming back.” If we fulfill the condition of growing in life, the Lord will fulfill the condition of coming back sooner. Therefore, we need to grow in life, and as we are growing, to exercise long-suffering and endurance. This is the proper way to await the Lord’s coming back. (Life-study of James, pp. 93-94) We all know that the purpose of God’s salvation is to work in us so that we may have His image (Rom. 8:29)…To be mature is to have the Lord fully formed in us. It also means that we, those who have been saved, have been fully transformed into the Lord’s image…Through the salvation of the Lord, the Lord has added Himself into us. Since the time of our regeneration and salvation, the Lord has been adding Himself into us, causing us to have His life and nature. In other words, from the time of our salvation, the Lord has been working in us so that we may have His image. When the Lord has fully worked His image into us and is fully expressed out from within us, then we will be mature in life. (CWWL, 1955, vol. 3, “The Way for a Christian to Mature in Life,” pp. 295-296) Further Reading: Life-study of James, msg. 11; The Conclusion of the New
Day 4
Verses: 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… 14 And the armies which are in heaven followed Him on white horses, dressed in fine linen, white and clean. 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 [cf. Eph. 1:22-23]; the church must also be a warrior, a soldier, to defeat God’s enemy [6:11-13]. 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 will first meet His bride. After receiving the bride, Christ and the overcomers will enter into battle against the enemy…The Lord will ride on a white horse, and the armies which are in heaven will follow Him on white horses, dressed in fine linen, white and clean (vv. 11, 14)…The bride’s wedding garment will also be the uniform she wears as God’s army to fight against His enemy [cf. vv. 7-8, 14]. Therefore, to have the wedding garment is also to have the uniform. (Life-study of Ephesians, p. 792)
In Ephesians 5 and 6 we see the church as the bride and as the warrior… As the church, we are not only the Body, the dwelling place of God, the kingdom of God, the family of God, and the new man; we are also the bride and the warrior. 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. 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…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. No soldier in a modern army would enter into battle by himself. Rather, he would fight as part of a well-trained and fully equipped army. After we have been formed corporately into an army, we will be able to fight 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. Years ago, the Lord’s people regarded spiritual warfare as an individual matter. But through the years we have seen that it is altogether a matter of the church as God’s corporate army. If you separate yourself from the church, you will be defeated. Satan’s strategy is simply to isolate you from the church as God’s army. It is crucial for us to realize that spiritual warfare is a Body matter. If we realize this and stay with the church, we will be victorious. The battle is not for us as individual believers; it is for the church as God’s army. When we are in the Body, we actually do not carry on the spiritual warfare; we simply enjoy it. Instead of struggling in the battle, the battle becomes an enjoyment. Because we pray in spirit to apply all the aspects of Christ as the armor, spiritual fighting becomes an enjoyment…Psalm 23:5 says, “You spread a table before me / In the presence of my adversaries.” This indicates that the battlefield is a place of feasting. We feast in the presence of the enemy, enjoying Christ as reality, righteousness, peace, faith, salvation, and the living word of God. We enjoy Him and apply Him by praying in spirit. (Life-study of Ephesians, pp. 793-794, 796) Further Reading: Life-study of Ephesians, msgs. 63, 74, 97
Day 5
Verses: S. S. 6:4 You are as beautiful, my love, as Tirzah, as lovely as Jerusalem, as terrible as an army with banners. Eph. 6:12-13 …Our wrestling is not against blood and flesh but against the rulers, against the authorities, against the world-rulers of this darkness, against the spiritual forces of evil in the heavenlies. Therefore take up the whole armor of God… Ultimately, the lover becomes a terrible army with banners and the Shulammite (S. S. 6:4b, 10b, 13). When we become one with God to be God’s dwelling place, we are as beautiful as Tirzah and as lovely as Jerusalem in the eyes of God. However, to the enemy this lover, this overcomer, is as terrible as an army with banners. Banners indicate a readiness to fight and also mean that the victory is won… When she becomes as beautiful as the moon and as clear as the sun, she is also as terrible as an army with banners (v. 10). When she becomes the garden, she is nothing more than a garden, but 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 (Rev. 2:7, 11, 17, 26; 3:5, 12, 21). (CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 3, “Crystallization-study of Song of Songs,” pp. 346-347)
[In Song of Songs 6:4] the Lord is viewing the believers from heaven, from within the sanctuary. Hence, this is something which happens within the veil. Tirzah is where the palace is (1 Kings 14:17). Jerusalem is the city of the great King. Tirzah signifies the heavenly sanctuary, the dwelling of God. Jerusalem signifies the heavenly Jerusalem. The Lord is examining our heavenly nature and life within the sanctuary. In that Jerusalem everything is comely, and in that Tirzah everything is beautiful, because both are God’s new creation. Today believers are already displaying the beauty and comeliness of the coming sanctuary. Weapons are the most important thing to an army in battle, whereas the banner is the most important thing in victory…An unfurled banner signifies the glory of victory. This verse 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. A life within the veil is not just a life before the Lord, but a life before the enemy, because the heaven in which the saints dwell is the very heaven which the enemy assails. 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. But believers today have sacrificed their terribleness, and neither men nor demons are afraid of them any longer. “Terrible as an army with banners.” Not only does she 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. Do you know such a one? Have you seen her? (CWWN, vol. 23, “The Song of Songs,” pp. 96-97, 101) Further Reading: CWWL, 1994-1997, vol. 3, “Crystallization-study of Song
Day 6
Verses: Eph. 6:10-11 Finally, be empowered in the Lord and in the might of His strength. Put on the whole armor of God that you may be able to stand against the stratagems of the devil. Rev. 11:15 …The kingdom of the world has become the kingdom of our Lord and of His Christ, and He will reign forever and ever. On the positive side, in the first five chapters [of Ephesians] the church is portrayed in many ways for the fulfilling of God’s eternal purpose. On the negative side, the church is seen in chapter 6 as a warrior for the defeating of God’s enemy, the devil. To do this, the church must put on the whole armor of God. In 1928 Brother Nee held his first overcomer conference on spiritual warfare. In that conference Satan, the evil one, was exposed to the uttermost. Brother Nee pointed out that in the universe there are three wills: the divine will, the satanic will, and the human will…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. All warfare has its source in this conflict of wills. (Life-study of Ephesians, p. 515)
We do not know how much time elapsed between the rebellion of Satan and the creation of Adam. We simply know that at a particular time, God created man and endowed him with a human will that was free. It is because of God’s greatness that He gave man a free will…By giving man a free will, God was indicating that He would not force man to obey Him. In Genesis 2 we see that man was free to exercise his will to eat either of the tree of life or of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil. These two trees represent the divine will and the satanic will, respectively. Hence, in the garden there was a triangular situation, with the tree of life representing the divine will, the tree of knowledge representing the satanic will, and Adam representing the human will. Actually, the tree of life denotes God Himself, and the tree of knowledge denotes Satan. Therefore, there were three persons—God, Satan, and man—each one with a will. Through repentance man can turn from the satanic will to the divine will, from Satan’s side to God’s side…Any sinner who desires to be saved must obey these three commandments: he must repent to God, believe in the Lord Jesus, and be baptized in water. To repent is to have a turn from the satanic will to the divine will. From the day we were saved, our Christian life has been a life of warfare. The same was true of the children of Israel after they made their exodus from Egypt…They were saved in an atmosphere of warfare. As soon as they came out of Egypt, the fighting began. Pharaoh and his chariots pursued the children of Israel, but God came in to fight for them. After the children of Israel had passed through the Red Sea and Pharaoh’s army had been overthrown, God’s people triumphantly praised Him for His victory over the enemy. The Israelites proceeded to fight their way through the wilderness, and they continued fighting in the good land. Their history thus reveals that the life of a saved one is a life of warfare. As the new man the church should walk according to reality and by grace and…as the bride the church should live in love and in light. However, 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. (Life-study of Ephesians, pp. 515-517) Further Reading: CWWL, 1983, vol. 2, “The Divine Dispensing of the