“Then I, John, saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” (Revelations 21:2)

-Elder John saw a vision and he saw a new heaven and a new earth. We know that the relationship between Christ and the church is like that of a husband and his bride. When does the church become the bride?

“For I am jealous for you with godly jealousy. For I have betrothed you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.” (2 Corinthians 11:2)

Paul was reprimanding the Corinth church because their behavior was bad. Paul was jealous for them with a godly jealousy. This church had received the gospel from Paul who preached to them, and hence Paul had betrothed them to one husband, that is, Christ. We are betrothed to Christ when we believe and are baptized. When God made Adam, He took a rib from Adam’s body. When a rib is taken from your body, would you bleed? Definitely. But God took a rib from Adam’s body to create Eve, and they became husband and wife. Paul says in Ephesians that how husband and wife become one body is a great mystery, but this is about Christ and the church. Even in creation, God creating husband and wife to become one body was already about the church. When Jesus Christ gave up His last breath on the cross, a soldier pierced His side and water and blood flowed out. This is a great mystery. Usually we would only have blood flow out, but from Jesus’s side, water and blood flowed out. This was to fulfil Zechariah 13:1’s prophecy.

““In that day a fountain shall be opened for the house of David and for the inhabitants of Jerusalem, for sin and for uncleanness.” (Zechariah 13:1)

This is the fountain that Christ has prepared for us to cleanse our sins. Why did it have to flow water and blood, not just blood? This was to fulfill the law in the Old Testament. One who wants his sins to be forgiven had to offer a sin offering and then he had to wash himself. Blood represents life. Water represents cleansing. How we receive the cleansing from Christ’s blood is not by digging at the site of the cross at Mount Golgotha to try and look for His blood there. It is through the Holy Spirit that we can receive cleansing by His blood. That is why the church must have the Holy Spirit, and the Baptist must have the Holy Spirit.

“This is He who came by water and blood—Jesus Christ; not only by water, but by water and blood. And it is the Spirit who bears witness, because the Spirit is truth. … And there are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the water, and the blood; and these three agree as one.” (1 John 5:6, 8)

At baptism, we need the Holy Spirit to witness. At baptism, the water is ordinary water—but it is through the Holy Spirit that it

When the Baptist has the Holy Spirit, it represents that the Holy Spirit is the one who is baptizing us. When we bow our head forward, we are being crucified together with Christ. Did Christ die on the cross? Yes. When we are baptized, do we die? Yes. Only when we die, does sin leave us. That is why Romans 6:7 tells us that “he who has died has been freed from sin.” And we are buried together with Christ; our old man is buried. The Holy Spirit then resurrects us as a new man. Through baptism, we are resurrected as a new man in Christ. And that is when we are worthy to be betrothed to Christ, to be His bride. This is also why the Bible says we were purchased with a great price. The “dowry” so to speak that Christ paid for us is priceless, because Christ gave His life for us to be betrothed to Him. And because we belong to Christ, He takes very good care of us.

“that He might sanctify and cleanse her with the washing of water by the word, that He might present her to Himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle or any such thing, but that she should be holy and without blemish.” (Ephesians 5:26-27)

None of us would hate our own body but to love it. How does Christ love His body? By sanctifying and cleansing her with the washing of water. Christ also washed our feet to tell us that He wants to love us to the end. Through footwashing, Christ leaves His love upon us so that we have a part in His love, and so that we can rely this love to overcome the world. The essence of the gospel is love and by loving, we can fulfill the law. Christ loves us very deeply. Not only did He purchase us with His life, He also gives us His love.

“For none of us lives to himself, and no one dies to himself. For if we live, we live to the Lord; and if we die, we die to the Lord. Therefore, whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s.” (Romans 14:7-8)

Whether we live or die, we are the Lord’s. Think about it: if you are a person’s wife, in your life, what is a very important thing to do? To delight your husband and to win his heart. Paul also says this. He says that whether in life or death, he has one goal, that is, to please the Lord. His whole life is to please the Lord. How do we please the Lord? Where should you place your heart? You are the Lord’s person. You should place your heart on your betrothed—the Lord. Your heart must be focused on the Lord.

“But I fear, lest somehow, as the serpent deceived Eve by his craftiness, so your minds may be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ.” (2 Corinthians 11:3)

Since we are betrothed to the Lord, we cannot be thinking about others. How sad would our betrothed be if we spent our time on others! When Joseph heard that his betrothed Mary was pregnant, he was upset. We have been betrothed to Christ. Our heart towards the Lord must be focused. We must diligently protect our holiness. Our heart cannot deviate to anyone else. We cannot set our hearts on popularity—such as people being our fans—money, or power. If our hearts deviate to anything else, the devil will call us his good friend, and he will try to bring us away. How did the devil tempt Eve? He led Eve to doubt the word of God. The devil said, “You would not surely die.” Judas also took a little bit by a little bit from the money box. His heart deviated from God. This was how the devil deceived Eve, “Who wouldn’t like to be as wise as God?” Once the temptation went in to Eve’s heart, the forbidden fruit began to look more delicious and she began to salivate. Three types of lusts began to enter Eve and she fell.

We must protect our hearts, especially in the end times. The devil works by trying to change our thoughts and desires. Perhaps on the surface we cannot see this, for we may still be attending services. But our hearts may no longer be right. We must be watchful and pray every day. We must ask God to protect our thoughts and desires. When we realise, “Oh, how come I am pursuing power?” We must quickly pray and ask God to forgive us and to chase the devil out.

The notion of concentration or focus is like how Jesus told us that we cannot love both God and mammon. The speaker says that members have told him before that they would like to be the rich man in this life, then in next life to become like Lazarus. The speaker says, instead we need to only worship our God. When the devil tempted Jesus, he said that if Jesus worshiped the devil, the devil would give all these things to Jesus. Would we think we could secretly worship the devil now then later before we die to quickly come back to God? No. Once we are taken away by the devil, it is very difficult to come back.

“O my soul, you have said to the Lord, “You are my Lord, My goodness is nothing apart from You.” … Their sorrows shall be multiplied who hasten after another god; Their drink offerings of blood I will not offer, Nor take up their names on my lips.” (Psalm 16:2, 4)

Psalm 16 is David’s expression of his heart to the Lord. The speaker thinks that this Psalm is very good and should be our heart’s expression to the Lord. This psalm demonstrates that David’s heart to the Lord is singularly focused. “Lord, you are my Lord, because I have been betrothed to you. Only when I have you do I have everything. If anyone wants to give me the treasures of the world in exchange for the love of God, I will despise it.” Song of Solomon 8 says this, no? Our heart must be singularly focused on the Lord. We cannot deviate. From the moment we are baptized to the day we close our eyes, we must have such a will.

We have been betrothed to Christ now. But there is a period of time till Christ comes again. What do we do now? Prepare ourselves. What must we prepare? Your family may prepare for you adornments, for example. You will use this period of time to make sure you look good. Because you hope that when your betrothed lifts the veil on your wedding day, that there will be “electric sparks”! When Adam saw Eve, he said, “Wow, bone of my bones, flesh of my flesh!” We are Christ’s betrothed. We too must prepare ourselves.

“But the end of all things is at hand; therefore be serious and watchful in your prayers. And above all things have fervent love for one another, for “love will cover a multitude of sins.” Be hospitable to one another without grumbling. As each one has received a gift, minister it to one another, as good stewards of the manifold grace of God.” (1 Peter 4:7-10)

If the end of all things is at hand, we wouldn’t be playing and enjoying ourselves. Instead, we need to do three actions. The first is to be serious and watchful in our prayers, for the deception of the end times is great. Secondly, we must have fervent love for one another. Thirdly, we must be good stewards of the manifold grace of God. These correspond to the three things Jesus mentioned in Matthew 25; the parable of the virgins, the parable of the talents, and the Son of Man judging the nations.

In the first parable of the virgins, the virgins fell asleep. This represents the weaknesses of human. What was the difference? Preparation. The wise virgins had preparations. This shows us that every day we need to put in the effort to prepare ourselves so that we can shine. In what ways do we prepare ourselves?

“But also for this very reason, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue, to virtue knowledge, to knowledge self-control, to self-control perseverance, to perseverance godliness, to godliness brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness love.” (2 Peter 1:5-7)

We cannot be self-satisfied. We must continuously improve ourselves. We have faith in God, but this is not enough. To our faith we add virtue, to virtue, we add knowledge. True knowledge from the Holy Spirit is very important! When deception comes, you can immediately discern. Otherwise you may not even know that others are trying to bring you away from Christ. To knowledge, we add self-control. Of the fruit of the Holy Spirit this is the hardest. We must have self-control in good and the bad. The speaker shares that he used to lack self-control in food. Two months ago, his wife asked him to lose weight, and he has lost 10kg since then, for the good of his health. Self-control is difficult. Spiritual self-control is also difficult. We must diligently pray and ask the Lord to help us practice self-control. Why do you think our bodies spoil? Because we lack self-control. Do not think that you are very strong, not sleeping when you need to sleep, for in the future you will realise this. To self-control, perseverance. Jesus says that in the future, many will fall, for we will hate one another. Many false prophets will also rise. Evil will abound, and the love of man will grow cold. This is a huge test for the church. This is also mentioned in Revelations. What should we do? Jesus says this: “He who endures to the end will be saved.” We cannot say that, “Ah, God is no longer in the True Jesus Church! I do not want to believe!” We need perseverance. We must also add godliness. In the end times, godliness is very important. Then brotherly kindness, and to brotherly kindness, love. If we have love, we have fulfilled the law. We would be without blemish, and a well-adorned betrothed of the Lord.

We must also serve God and quickly become a good steward of the manifold grace of God. We do not need to clamour for opportunities to serve the Lord. God will definitely give us opportunities. We must serve the Lord according to the talents that God has given us. If we have five talents, earn five. If we have two talents, earn two. If we have one talent, earn one. This is how we become good stewards of the Lord.

Lastly, God separates his goats and sheep. When the speaker read this he thought it was strange, aren’t all of God’s sheep, sheep? Why are there goats? But when he read the content, he understood. There are many things we must fulfill in our daily lives – for instance, when I was hungry, you gave me food. We must do these. Then God would be in our midst.

None of us have ever seen God. If we love one another God will be in our midst. Because God is love. So do not think that in the True Jesus Church, I must do mighty deeds. You do not need to. What you need to do is to love one another in your daily life. Then we can meet the Lord with peace when the Lord comes again.

What is the last thing we need to do? We must quickly wait. Our hearts must be filled with anticipation to meet our Lord. Those amongst us who have been betrothed, did we not also have the same anticipation for our marriage? The Lord Jesus Christ will definitely come because this is His promise. He would not lie to us. Furthermore, He has said in Ephesians 1:13-14 that the Holy Spirit is a guarantee of our heavenly inheritance. It is like when we want to purchase something and we must give a guarantee to the bank, to show that we will definitely do so. After we have believed in Christ, in Hi, we have obtained an inheritance (Ephesians 1:11-12). We are God’s inheritance! God will definitely come to claim His inheritance. This is how the salvation plan of God will be complete and receive glory.

Before Christ comes again, there are many deceptions. The things in Matthew 25 that will happen in the end times, how can we stand firm? That is why Christ says that for the sake of the elect, He will reduce those days. If you asked me for food and I kick you, would you be able to tolerate this? It would be easy to fall. That is why we must be watchful and prepare ourselves.

“But the day of the Lord will come as a thief in the night, in which the heavens will pass away with a great noise, and the elements will melt with fervent heat; both the earth and the works that are in it will be burned up. Therefore, since all these things will be dissolved, what manner of persons ought you to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God, because of which the heavens will be dissolved, being on fire, and the elements will melt with fervent heat?” (2 Peter 3:10-12)

Here it talks about how Christ will truly come again. Everything will melt with fervent heat. Since this day will come, we ought to be in holy conduct and godliness, looking for and hastening the coming of the day of God. If God doesn’t come again, our faith is merely theory and there is no difference between our faith and that of other religions; a mere comfort in this physical life that cannot save us. When Jesus comes again, that is when we can go to heaven. This is our greatest hope! As His betrothed, we must look for and hasten the coming of the day of God. Then like Revelations says, we will be the bride, awaiting the Lord with an earnest heart. This is also what Song of Songs say in the last verse. The second last verse of Revelations also says this: “Even so, come, Lord Jesus!”