The beauty of the bride of Christ comes from the very Christ who is wrought into the church and shining out from the church to be expressed through the church; we need to behold the Lord’s beauty continually to be transformed into His image and become His beautiful bride. Amen!
We believers in Christ are in the process of becoming the bride of Christ by the process of God’s organic salvation.
This process is not only leading us to maturity to be the mature bride of Christ but even more, we are being beautified to be the beautiful bride of Christ!
Christ loved the church and gave Himself up for her. He just loved the church, and He considered no price too high for Him to gain the church; so He gave Himself up for the church.
On the one hand, indeed, Christ died on the cross for our redemption, and also He terminated all negative things through His death on the cross. He is our Redeemer.
On the other hand, however, He came not only to redeem us but even more, He as the Bridegroom, came to love us, court us, and gain us; He gave Himself up for the church. He died to gain the church. Amen! This is in the past.
Now, in the present, Christ is the life-giving Spirit to dispositionally sanctify us, the church, to make us the same as He is, even to make us His counterpart.
Today Christ as the life-giving Spirit is both in our spirit and in the word of God, and He is sanctifying us in our very disposition in order to make us His bride.
As we remain open to the Lord, turning our heart to Him and exercising our spirit to call on His name and enjoy Him in the Word, we are cleansed, washed, and sanctified, and we are saturated with His element in order to become the bride of Christ.
This is a lifelong process into which we entered by regeneration.
And, praise the Lord, one day Christ will return as our dear Bridegroom to receive His bride and present His bride to Himself glorious, having no spot or wrinkle or any such thing!
Christ will return as the Bridegroom to present the church to Himself as His counterpart for His satisfaction. Today, He’s in the process of removing any oldness, any impurity, any natural element, and anything that does not match His holy, glorious, and righteous nature.
At the same time, He is adding His element to make us the same as He is for us to match Him as His bride.
May we open to Him without reservation today so that He may operate in us, work Himself into us, and sanctify us today to prepare us as His bride!
The beauty of the Bride of Christ comes from the Christ Wrought into the Church and Shining out from the Church
When we speak of the beauty of the church as the bride of Christ, we refer to the beauty of Christ being wrought into the church. Christ is the most beautiful One. He is beauty itself, and apart from Him, there’s no beauty in this universe.
The beauty of the bride of Christ comes from the very Christ who is wrought into the church and shining out from the church to be expressed through the church (see Isa. 43:7; Eph. 3:21).
We are called by the Lord’s name; He created us, He formed us, and He even made us for His glory. God wants to express Himself through His people, a corporate group of people who not only obey Him but even more, have Christ wrought into them and shining through them.
In the Old Testament, the people of Israel were to be used by God to express Him in a corporate way for His glorification; however, they failed the Lord.
In the present age, the church is the testimony of Jesus in the sense of being one with Christ as God’s testimony.
This is the highest service we can render God – to express Him in His glory. And we do this by enjoying the Lord and by allowing the Lord to work Himself into us, for the beauty of the bride of Christ comes from the Christ wrought into the church and shining out of the church to be expressed through the church.
The Lord is gaining His glory not only in Himself; He came to express God and therefore glorify God, and now He lives in us and works Himself into us to express God through us.
God will gain the glory, for to Him will be the glory in the church and in Christ Jesus unto all the generations forever and ever (Eph. 3:21).
As we believers in Christ open to the Lord and allow God to strengthen us into our inner man according to the riches of His glory, this glory comes to us with God and, after being worked into us, will return to God from us.
God is strengthening us into the inner man according to the riches of His glory, and He works His glory into us (Eph. 3:16).
Then, He is gaining glory from us, for we become the house of His beauty, shining out Christ to express Christ. Praise the Lord!
Today God’s glory is wrought into the church, and He is expressed in the church.
This is how God is gaining His glory in the church, for He is being glorified in the church. Amen! Christ is a crown of glory and a diadem of beauty to the remnant of His people (Isa. 28:5). So wonderful!
On the one hand, Christ is a crown of glory, and on the other hand, He’s a diadem of beauty to the remnant of His people.
What is the difference between the two and what do they represent, or how can these be applied in our experience?
A crown is like a hat or turban, whereas the diadem is the headband as the most beautiful, glorious part of the crown (Exo. 28:36-39; 29:6; Isa. 62:3).
These are not the same thing; Christ is both a crown of glory and a diadem of beauty. Christ will be a crown of glory and a diadem of beauty to the remnant of Israel, God’s chosen people, in the age of restoration and after all the dealings of God.
He will be His chosen people’s glorification! At the same time, for us, the believers in Christ composing the church, Christ is a crown of glory and a diadem of beauty. On the one hand, He is our glory; on the other hand, He is also our beauty.
Today in the age of grace we live in a miniature and a foretaste of the coming age of restoration.
Today we believers in Christ enjoy a foretaste of Christ as our crown and diadem. He is our glory.
When we meet others, we need to boast in Christ and speak of Him. Sadly, however, not many Christians today speak of the Lord Jesus as their glory and beauty.
They are OK to speak to others about many things in the world, but when the subject of Christ comes up, many Christians feel ashamed to speak of Christ. This is not right.
May we consider that Christ is our crown and diadem, our glory and beauty!
We need to testify of the Christ we enjoy! As we speak Christ, as we testify of Christ as our glory, He also becomes our beauty.
Others may not agree with us or they may even hate us because we believe into the Lord Jesus, but they will see the Lord’s glory and beauty in us and through us!
May we have the same expectation as Paul did, that in nothing we would be put to shame but in all things, with all boldness, Christ may be magnified in our body (Phil. 1:20).
May we simply magnify Christ, allowing Him to work Himself into us and shine forth from us so that others may see Christ and believe into Him, even appreciate Him more.
Lord Jesus, we love You! You are our glory and our beauty. Hallelujah, we are becoming the beautiful bride of Christ! Praise the Lord, the beauty of the bride of Christ comes from the very Christ who is wrought into the church and shining out from the church to be expressed through the church! Amen, Lord, we open to You today; work Yourself into us a little more today. Beautify us, Lord, by working Yourself into us. May we be filled with Christ. Father, strengthen us into our inner man according to the riches of Your glory! May Christ be formed in us. May Christ live in us. May Christ be glorified in us. May we not be ashamed of Christ but rather, may we wear Christ as our crown of glory and our diadem of beauty! Amen, Lord, may we have You as our glory and our beauty. We love You, Lord, and we want to magnify You today! May Christ be magnified in our body in all the things of our daily living!
Continually Behold the Beauty of the Lord in the Church to be Transformed and Beautified by the Lord as His Beautiful Bride
How can we become the beautiful bride of Christ? 2 Corinthians 3:18 says that, when we are unveiled before the Lord and behold Him, we will also reflect Him like a mirror, and we will express His glory. Amen!
We believers in Christ need to continually behold the beauty of the Lord in the church as the house of His beauty so that we may be transformed from glory to glory (2 Cor. 3:18; Rev. 19:7-9; Isa. 28:5; Psa. 27:4; Isa. 60:1, 7, 9, 13, 19; 62:3; Rev. 21:11).
As we behold Him, as we behold His beauty in His house, we are transformed into His image to become His beautiful bride with Him as our diadem of beauty.
As we behold the Lord’s beauty in our spirit, we are infused with Him and we become the house of His beauty.
He is working Himself into us and we become the house of His beauty; He is beautifying the house of His beauty (Isa. 60:7).
May we be like the Psalmist who desired to do just one thing: dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of our life to behold the beauty of the Lord and to inquire in His temple (Psa. 27:4).
We do not focus merely on the word of God as a thing in itself; if we focus on the letter of the word, we will get the law, not the precious and lovely person of Christ.
We focus on the enjoyment of God in His house, continually beholding the beauty of the Lord in the church to be transformed into His beautiful and glorious image.
In God’s house, that is, in Christ and in the church, we behold God’s beauty and inquire of God, and we are concealed from any calamities.
Here we are hidden from our pursuers and are raised up, having our heads lifted up by God.
Here we offer sacrifices of shouts of joy and sing and psalm to God. Oh, how much we need to simply spend time with the Lord to continually behold the beauty of the Lord in the church so that we may enjoy His loveliness, His pleasantess, and His delightfulness!
As we enjoy the Lord and behold His beauty in the Word and in the church, God will be an eternal light to us and our God will be our beauty.
By enjoying His beauty, we become the house of His beauty. By beholding the Lord’s beauty, we become a crown of beauty in the Lord’s hands (Isa. 62:3), even a royal turban in the palm of our God.
We are becoming the same as He is, not by our being perfected or by trying harder to do this or that for the Lord but by enjoying Him and remaining in His presence to behold His beauty!
This should be our daily experience as believers in Christ; we need to remain in the enjoyment of Christ, being infused with Him as our beauty and glory.
As we do this, as each one of us spends time with the Lord to continually behold the beauty of the Lord in the church as the house of His beauty, we are transformed into His image from glory to glory.
We are being beautified as the house of His beauty to become His beautiful bride with Him as our diadem of beauty. This is what the Lord is gaining today.
The beauty of the Bridegroom is being wrought into the bride, and the bride becomes one with the Bridegroom in this matter of beauty.
As we live in the church life as the house of God’s beauty, we behold the Lord’s beauty both personally and corporately, and the Lord has a way to gain His beautiful bride in us and through us!
Lord Jesus, we want to continually behold the beauty of the Lord in the church as the house of Your beauty! Hallelujah, we today are in the church as the house of the Lord’s beauty, and we can take time to behold Him and be infused with Him as our beauty! How precious it is for us to behold the Lord face to face, having an unveiled face, so that He may beautify us and make us His beautiful bride! Amen, Lord, work Yourself into us more today. We just want to spend our days dwelling in the house of Jehovah to behold the beauty of Jehovah and to inquire in His temple! Amen, Lord, we come to You in Your word and in the meetings of the church to behold You and be infused with Your beauty. You are the most beautiful One. Make us a crown of beauty in the hand of Jehovah and a royal turban in the palm of our God! Amen, Lord, beautify us so that we may become Your beautiful bride, reflecting Your beauty and shining You forth!
References and Hymns on this Topic
- Inspiration for this article/sharing comes from the Word of God, the enjoyment in the ministry, a sharing by the brother Ed Marks in this conference, and portions from, Life-study of Isaiah, msg. 43, by Witness Lee , as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Maturity of the Bride (2025 Memorial Day Blending Conference), week 4, The Beauty of the Bride – day 2.
- Hymns on this topic:
– Jesus Lord, I’m captured by Thy beauty, / All my heart to Thee I open wide; / Now set free from all religious duty, / Only let me in Thyself abide. / As I’m gazing here upon Thy glory, / Fill my heart with radiancy divine; / Saturate me, Lord, I now implore Thee, / Mingle now Thy Spirit, Lord, with mine. (Hymns #1159 stanza 1)
– Pray to fellowship with Jesus, / Bathing in His countenance; / Saturated with His beauty, / Radiate His excellence. (Hymns #784 stanza 6)
– He will sanctify thee wholly; / Body, spirit, soul shall be / Blameless till thy Savior’s coming / In His glorious majesty! / He hath perfected forever / Those whom He hath sanctified; / Spotless, glorious, and holy, / Is the Church, His chosen Bride. (Hymns #825 stanza 4)
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