Chapter 49

The Bride, the Lamb’s Wife.
Revelation 21:9-279And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. 10And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, 11Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal; 12And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: 13On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates. 14And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. 15And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof. 16And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal. 17And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel. 18And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass. 19And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald; 20The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst. 21And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. 22And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. 23And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. 24And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it. 25And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there. 26And they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it. 27And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life. (Revelation 21:9‑27).
It is of great importance that we should understand that the first eight verses of this chapter are a description of the eternal state, and that at verse 9 the Holy Spirit goes back to give a detailed picture of the new Jerusalem and the Bride, the Lamb’s Wife in her millennial connection.
There has been much diversity of opinion amongst earnest Bible students with reference to the Bride. Is it something Jewish or Christian? And if either, is it something selective from each? Or, is it a select combination out of both?
Evidently the Bride must be understood in a figurative manner, for in Revelation 21:2,2And 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) John sees the holy city, new Jerusalem, prepared “as a bride.” Further, this figure is found in the Old Testament as well as in the New. This has led some to affirm that there will be an earthly as well as a heavenly Bride, just as there will be an earthly Jerusalem as well as the heavenly. The earthly Jerusalem, during the Millennium, will be the metropolis of saved Israel, the beloved city (20:9), in the land of Palestine. This clearly will be Jewish.
Are There Two Brides.
Another has written: — “In the Old Testament these figures of marriage are used. Israel was Jehovah’s married wife (Isa. 54:11Sing, O barren, thou that didst not bear; break forth into singing, and cry aloud, thou that didst not travail with child: for more are the children of the desolate than the children of the married wife, saith the Lord. (Isaiah 54:1); Jer. 31:3232Not according to the covenant that I made with their fathers in the day that I took them by the hand to bring them out of the land of Egypt; which my covenant they brake, although I was an husband unto them, saith the Lord: (Jeremiah 31:32)), now divorced indeed for her unfaithfulness, but yet to return (Hos. 2), and be received and reinstated. Her Maker will be then once more her husband and more than the old blessing be restored. In the forty-fifth psalm, Israel’s king, Messiah, is the Bridegroom; the Song of Solomon is the mystic song of His espousals. Jerusalem thus heard His name— “this is the name whereby He shall be called, Jehovah, our righteousness” (Jeremiah 33:16,16In those days shall Judah be saved, and Jerusalem shall dwell safely: and this is the name wherewith she shall be called, The Lord our righteousness. (Jeremiah 33:16) cf. 23:6). The land, too, shall be married (Isa. 62:44Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzi-bah, and thy land Beulah: for the Lord delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married. (Isaiah 62:4)).”
“In the New Testament the same figure is still used in the same way. The Baptist speaks of his joy as the friend of the Bridegroom” in hearing the Bridegroom’s voice (John 3:2929He that hath the bride is the bridegroom: but the friend of the bridegroom, which standeth and heareth him, rejoiceth greatly because of the bridegroom's voice: this my joy therefore is fulfilled. (John 3:29)), and in the parable of the virgins (Matt. 25), where Christians are those who go forth to meet the Bridegroom, they are by that very fact not regarded as the Bride, which is still Israel (according to the general character of the prophecy).
“All this, therefore, is in that earthly sphere in which Israel’s blessings lie; our own are ‘in heavenly places’ (Eph. 1:33Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ: (Ephesians 1:3)), and here it is we find, not the Bride of Messiah simply, but distinctively ‘the Bride of the Lamb.’ The ‘Lamb’ as a title always keeps before us His death, and that by violence, — ‘a Lamb as it had been slain’ (Rev. 5:66And I beheld, and, lo, in the midst of the throne and of the four beasts, and in the midst of the elders, stood a Lamb as it had been slain, having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. (Revelation 5:6)), — and it is thus that He has title to that redemptive empire in which we find Him throughout this book. But ‘the Bride of the Lamb’ is thus one espoused to Him in His rejection and shares (though it be in slight measure) in His reproach and sorrow” (Grant).
The Old Testament Bride (Psa. 45) is associated with Christ as triumphant Messiah with girded sword, riding in majestic glory, His enemies falling before Him. But the Bride of Revelation is one associated with a rejected and suffering Lamb. The one is earthly, the other heavenly—the very thing that makes the distinction between Israel and the Church.
The Harlot and the Bride.
On the face of it, it is impossible not to connect Revelation 17:11And there came one of the seven angels which had the seven vials, and talked with me, saying unto me, Come hither; I will show unto thee the judgment of the great whore that sitteth upon many waters: (Revelation 17:1) with Revelation 21:99And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. (Revelation 21:9)—but this connection is by contrast, In each case one of the vial angels talks with John. In each case, the angel says, “Come hither; I will show unto thee, etc.” But how different the vision, how great the contrast! The very similarity of the angelic invitation emphasizes the contrast. A moral wilderness is the viewpoint of Revelation 17, a high and heavenly mountain that of Revelation 21 The great Whore in contrast with the spotless Bride of the Lamb. Earthly glory in contrast with the glory of God.
The picture of Revelation 17. is too clear to need identification—an ecclesiastical system characterized by spiritual fornication with the world, by religious idolatry, and stained with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus. If Revelation 17. depicts the harlot church, does it not follow that Revelation 21. describes the true church which Christ loved, and for which He gave Himself?
And what is the Church? Who that reads the epistle to the Ephesians can have the smallest difficulty in answering that question? But the Church has an eternal relationship with the Lord Jesus Christ―
“Unto Him be glory in the Church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end, Amen” (Eph. 3:2121Unto him be glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, world without end. Amen. (Ephesians 3:21)).
With all deference to others we must state our own firm conviction that the Bride in Revelation 21. is a term used to describe the relationship of the Church to Christ—not a part of the Church, but the Church in its entirety, including every saved soul from Pentecost to the rapture. Christ loved the Church, we read in Ephesians 5:2626That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, (Ephesians 5:26)—not a part of the Church, and He will present her to Himself “a glorious. Church,” that is, the Church in her entirety.
In the passage now under consideration (Rev. 21:9-22:59And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. 10And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, 11Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal; 12And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: 13On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates. 14And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. 15And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof. 16And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal. 17And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel. 18And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass. 19And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald; 20The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst. 21And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. 22And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. 23And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. 24And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it. 25And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there. 26And they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it. 27And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life. 1And he showed me a pure river of water of life, clear as crystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and of the Lamb. 2In the midst of the street of it, and on either side of the river, was there the tree of life, which bare twelve manner of fruits, and yielded her fruit every month: and the leaves of the tree were for the healing of the nations. 3And there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: 4And they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads. 5And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever. (Revelation 21:9‑22:5)) a picture is drawn before our wondering eyes of the Church in her millennial connection with the earth.
Many figures are used in the New Testament describing the Church—a body (1 Cor. 12:1313For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. (1 Corinthians 12:13); Eph. 1:23,23Which is his body, the fulness of him that filleth all in all. (Ephesians 1:23) etc.)— a building, a temple, an holy habitation (Eph. 2:21, 2221In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: 22In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit. (Ephesians 2:21‑22)); each of these has a most important line of teaching attached to it. Here in Revelation 21. a different symbol is used, that of a city, but, unlike all human cities which oft-times are scenes of violence, immorality and sin, this is “the HOLY city Jerusalem.” It is divine, in origin, it comes down from God. It is heavenly in character, it comes out of heaven from God. It is holy in nature, a moral contrast to man’s great city, Babylon, whether that be a literal or symbolic Babylon.
The City and the Church.
It is an interesting question, whether the city and the Bride are co-extensive. That they are very closely connected is clear.
Abraham “looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God” (Heb. 11:1010For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God. (Hebrews 11:10)). Vast as Ur of the Chaldees was, and deeply laid as were its foundations, even as present-day excavations are bringing to light, yet Abraham left all for the path of faith, seeking a better country and a more enduring city, better than a Palestinian Jerusalem, “an heavenly...” for God hath prepared for him and the Old Testament saints a city whose builder and maker is God.
Remembering that Pentecost was the birthday of the Church, it is clear that the saints in dispensations that preceded were not incorporated in that. They died in faith (Heb. 11:1313These all died in faith, not having received the promises, but having seen them afar off, and were persuaded of them, and embraced them, and confessed that they were strangers and pilgrims on the earth. (Hebrews 11:13)), awaiting the “better resurrection” (11:35). The day of realization of the earthly promises, so far as they were concerned, has been postponed. God having provided some better thing for us of this dispensation, they await their glorified condition until His work of present grace is completed. That work, we believe, is the calling out of the Church, now going on. It will be completed at the rapture. Then all who died in faith in the ages past, along with those who sleep in Jesus during the present dispensation, as well as those alive when He comes, shall be glorified together. This, we believe, is the meaning of Hebrews 11:4040God having provided some better thing for us, that they without us should not be made perfect. (Hebrews 11:40). The expression made perfect “is to be understood in the same sense all through the epistle (see 2:10; 5:9; 7: 23). In these verses, to be “made perfect” implies to be “glorified.”
Whilst dispensationally the Church has been provided with better things than they, yet their practical fidelity often puts us to shame.
Sinai and Zion.
We (Christians) are not come to the Mount that burned with fire, etc. In other words, we have not come to the law as our ground of relationship with God. Nay, verily, from that we are delivered (Rom. 7:66But now we are delivered from the law, that being dead wherein we were held; that we should serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter. (Romans 7:6)).
“Free from the law! O happy condition!” Jesus hath bled, and there is remission! Cursed by the law, and bruised by the Fall, Grace hath redeemed us once for all.”
No! we are not come to Sinai, but to Mount Zion, the city of sovereign and royal grace. But this introduces a wonderful circle of heavenly blessings which it is our privilege to behold now by faith, as we shortly shall enter into full possession. And what are they?
1. Mount Zion.
These mountains are here used not in a mere geographical sense, but as two distinct principles of relationship with God—Sinai for law, Zion for grace. But this suggests—
2. The city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. In other words, the very city described more fully in Revelation 21 Associated with that there will be not only sinners saved by grace through faith, but an angelic host.
3. An innumerable company of angels, the “general assembly.” The divisions of the verses in our Bibles are somewhat misleading. A glance at the Greek shows that the expression “general assembly” refers to the angelic host (vs. 22) and not to “the Church of the first-born ones” (vs. 23).
4. The Church of the first born which are written in heaven.
It is not our purpose now to enlarge upon this most interesting passage, but simply to point out the distinction between the “city” (vs. 22) and the “church” (vs. 23). In this inventory of our Christian inheritance here dcribed, they are mentioned as two distinct though closely associated objects.
Turning again to Revelation 21—it seems that we are intended to understand that the city will be the home of everything heavenly—angels are included, the church is included, “the spirits of just men made perfect,” or the saints that died before the Pentecostal change of dispension—these will all appear in their glorified bodies, “made perfect.”
COME, LORD JESUS!
The Bride, the Lamb’s wife, will in that transcendent scene of glory hold a position of special nearness to her gorified Lord.
The love of Christ for the Church is beyond a question, but the Church itself is in such a state of ruin that bridal affection for Christ is little understood. Individuals may say, “Come”— but the Bride is a collective term.
As things grow worse and denominational churches fall into apostasy, might not all true Christians hear a separating call, and rally together at the cry, “Come, Lord Jesus”?
The early Brethren made a genuine attempt at it. This has failed, as everything in which man takes a part has ever done.
It may seem a miracle impossible of accomplishment, but God with whom all things are possible may yet cause every true Christian to cry, Come!
At the very end of the dispensation—the Spirit and the Bride say, COME!
Surely, I come quickly. Amen Even so, come, Lord Jesus.
The Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with on all. Amen.