Now we see the victorious saints as the firstfruits of the Bride of the Lamb. This is the sixth of the eight appearances we are describing.

Why do we say firstfruits? Because there is a fuller appearance of the Bride at the end of the thousand-year Kingdom Age.

And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. (Revelation 21:2)

The two different portrayals of the Bride of the Lamb, one at the beginning of the thousand- year Kingdom Age and one after the thousand-year Kingdom Age suggest that the purpose of the thousand years is to move the Bride from the first stage to the second stage.

There are several major types in the Old Testament that point toward a temporary division of the Church into a militant firstfruits and then a complete Church. Not the least of these types is the temporary separation of the Ark of the Covenant from the Tabernacle of the Congregation. We have discussed these types more at length in other writings.

The first appearance of the Bride points toward her clothing of "fine linen," while the second appearance shows the Bride as the holy city, the new Jerusalem.

The first appearance of the Bride emphasizes that she has "made herself ready."

The second appearance of the Bride speaks of her being "prepared" or "made ready," suggesting perhaps that others have prepared her for the wedding. This follows the eighth chapter of the Song of Solomon where the younger sisters of the Bride are made ready by others.

The first appearance of the Bride is followed by her descent behind the Lord as His army.

The second appearance of the Bride is followed by the eternal rule of the new Jerusalem over the saved nations of the earth.

One very important aspect of the first appearance has to do with the "fine linen." The King James defines the fine linen as "the righteousness of saints." When we speak of the righteousness of saints in the Evangelical circles of today we mean only one kind of righteousness that which is ascribed to us upon our receiving Christ. We are heavily biased in this direction.

The Greek noun used in Revelation 19:8 will not support this interpretation. It can be translated only as righteousnesses or righteous deeds.

Of course the righteous deeds do not come from our adamic nature but from the new man who has been born within us. All eternal righteousness comes from Christ, either in its imputed form or its inwrought form. The most important righteousness by far, in fact the only enduring Kingdom righteousness, is that which is inwrought. Ascribed righteousness is a temporary device to get us started. It is a bypass while the highway is under construction.

To not understand this is to be ignorant of the true nature of the new covenant. Those who would carry imputed righteousness past its appointed limits, or use imputed righteousness to replace inwrought righteousness of character, are destroying the testimony of the Church.

The fruit of the righteous is a tree of life and he who wins souls is wise. Souls will never be won from our imputed righteousness, but only as they are drawn to God by the fruit of righteousness that Christ has wrought in us.

The victorious saints do not march alone into the Kingdom of God!

To be continued.