6.3 The Marriage of the Lamb

Revelation 22:17 also reveals the intimacy between the Spirit of God and His bride, the church. Notice that both God and His bride issue the invitation:

1 Revelation 22:17

17 The Spirit and the bride say, "Come!" He who hears, let him say, "Come!" He who is thirsty, let him come. He who desires, let him take the water of life freely.

It's not just that the church is empowered to do greater things than he has done. It's about entering the marriage of the Lamb. Revelation 19:6-8 provides a beautiful picture of this marriage:

3 Revelation 19:6-8

6 I heard something like the voice of a great multitude, and like the voice of many waters, and like the voice of mighty thunders, saying, "Hallelujah! For the Lord our God, the Almighty, reigns!

7 Let's rejoice and be exceedingly glad, and let's give the glory to him. For the wedding of the Lamb has come, and his wife has made herself ready."

8 It was given to her that she would array herself in bright, pure, fine linen: for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.

This is why holiness and purity are so important. They are integral to the marriage feast: the dynamic flow of the Holy Spirit moving in each believer's life. There is no sweeter communion on earth than to be filled with the Spirit and to experience His presence. The fine linen is more than passively being the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. It is a dynamic righteousness that is accompanied by action. It is extending the invitation. It gets right back to God's love for the lost, as described in John 3:16:

1 John 3:16

16 For God so loved the world, that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him should not perish, but have eternal life.

Ephesians 5:23-32 teaches marriage principles for men and women on earth that parallel the church's ongoing relationship with Christ as His bride:

10 Ephesians 5:23-32

23 For the husband is the head of the wife, as Christ also is the head of the assembly, being himself the savior of the body.

24 But as the assembly is subject to Christ, so let the wives also be to their own husbands in everything.

25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the assembly, and gave himself up for it;

26 that he might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of water with the word,

27 that he might present the assembly to himself gloriously, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without defect.

28 Even so husbands also ought to love their own wives as their own bodies. He who loves his own wife loves himself.

29 For no man ever hated his own flesh; but nourishes and cherishes it, even as the Lord also does the assembly;

30 because we are members of his body, of his flesh and bones.

31 "For this cause a man will leave his father and mother, and will be joined to his wife. Then the two will become one flesh."

32 This mystery is great, but I speak concerning Christ and of the assembly.