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The Daily Word of Righteousness
Perfecting the Church, #6
These are they which were not defiled with women [with involvement in other relationships, things, or circumstances]; for they are virgins [their spirits are pure before the Lord]. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb. (Revelation 14:4)
No doubt the Lord's faithful ones will follow him closely throughout eternity just as David's mighty men remained close to him. The point is, all Israel profits from the victories won by the Lord and those who have been chosen to be close to Him. The conquerors are not a select group of saints who no longer are an integral part of Israel.
Although there are several portrayals in the Old Testament of the "firstfruits" of the Church of Christ, let us commence with the presenting of the Bride in the New Testament. The Bride is presented twice in the Book of Revelation: once at the beginning of the thousand-year Kingdom Age and once at the end of the thousand-year Kingdom Age.
But what an extraordinary change has taken place during the thousand years (such change being, no doubt, the purpose for the thousand-year Kingdom Age)!
Let us see how the Bride (or as we teach, the firstfruits of the Bride) appears at the beginning of the thousand-year Kingdom Age:
And to her was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen, clean and white: for the fine linen is the righteousness of saints. (Revelation 19:8)
And then at the end of the Kingdom Age:
. . . Come hither, I will shew thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal; (Revelation 21:9-11)
There indeed is a contrast presented here. First the Bride is shown arrayed in fine linen, which is the righteous deeds of the saints. Then we see her as the most exalted of all cities, filled with the Divine Glory of God and the Lamb, surrounded by a wall of impregnable strength and spectacular beauty.
It is our point of view that the Bride at the beginning is the firstfruits of the Bride, while the Bride at the end of the thousand years is the finished Tabernacle of God, the entire company of the elect.
This transformation of the Bride reminds us of a portion of the Song of Solomon:
If she [the little sister] be a wall, we will build upon her a palace of silver: and if she be a door, we will inclose her with boards of cedar. (Song of Solomon 8:9)
"We will build on her"; "we will enclose her."
Who are the "we"?
It is the writer's opinion that the "we" are the Lord's firstfruits. They are charged with "building" and "inclosing" the "little sisters," whom we hold to be the less fruitful, weaker members of God's elect.
To be continued.