This month we will reach the final seminar in our series on the book of Revelation. We are reminded that our dear Lord Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega, the First and the Last, the Beginning and the End (Rev. 22:13). Whatever He has begun, He will complete (Phil. 1:6). He is the Author of our salvation and also its Perfecter (Heb. 12:2).

The book of Revelation shows us that He will not only finish His personal work of salvation in each one of us, but, much more, He will fully consummate His eternal purpose. Ephesians 3:9-11 tells us that God’s eternal purpose was hidden in God throughout the ages but has now been revealed to us. Nevertheless, many believers today are still not clear as to what God’s eternal purpose is, and we limit His purpose to our personal experience of salvation. The book of Revelation, however, as the conclusion of the Scriptures, offers us a unique perspective through which to see the consummation of God’s purpose, God’s will, throughout the Scriptures (Rev. 4:11).

In the first chapter of Life-study of Revelation, Brother Witness Lee points out that “as the last book of the Bible, Revelation is the conclusion, completion, and consummation of the entire divine revelation, the whole Bible. The Bible needs such a conclusion…In our travels, we often are not clear about the way, the road, until we have reached our destination. After we have reached our destination and look back upon the way we have taken, we become very clear. In Revelation we arrive at the destination of the whole Bible. Having arrived at this destination, we can understand this divine Book.” (Life-study of Revelation, ch. 1)

So what do we see when we arrive at the conclusion, the ultimate destination, of the Bible? John was taken to a high mountain, to a heavenly place, to see something eternal, something heavenly. From this vantage, he declared:

And I saw the holy city,

New Jerusalem,

coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as

a bride adorned for her husband.

Revelation 21:2

From this eternal view, we look back and trace an unbroken line through the Scriptures: Eve presented to Adam as his counterpart, bone of his bones and flesh of his flesh (Gen. 2:23); Jehovah crying out to Jerusalem that He remembered the kindness of their youth, the love of their bridal days when they followed after Him in the wilderness (Jeremiah 2:2); Solomon telling his love that she is as beautiful as Tirzah and as lovely as Jerusalem (Song of Songs 6:4); and, ultimately, the Lord Jesus loving the church and giving Himself up for her (Eph. 5:25).

Through these vivid examples, the entire Scripture reveals that the Lord’s goal is to gain His loving believers as His bride. The New Jerusalem, therefore, is not a physical city but a sign (Rev. 1:1), revealing to us that God’s great work throughout the ages is to gain a corporate group of people to be His bride for eternity. The awesome, intrinsic reality of the sign of the New Jerusalem in the book of Revelation is marvellously expressed by Brother Lee in the following passage:

The consummation of the church as the counterpart of Christ will be the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and the new earth for eternity. Revelation 21:2 says, ‘And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.’ The New Jerusalem is a living composition of all the saints redeemed by God throughout all generations. It is the bride of Christ as His counterpart. As the bride of Christ, the New Jerusalem comes out of Christ and becomes His counterpart. She is prepared by participating in the riches of the life and nature of Christ. (The Conclusion of the New Testament, ch. 9)

How wondrous this is! We, the believers of Jesus Christ, are destined to be married to Him. Truly our love for the Lord Jesus, as well as our desire for the fulfillment of God’s eternal purpose and our eternal destiny must cause us to echo the final prayer in the Bible, “Come, Lord Jesus!” (Rev. 22:20).