The Bride

Who is this Bride?  To answer this question, one must carefully examine Revelation 21, 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.

Pay close attention to John’s wording.  New Jerusalem is prepared as a Bride adorned for her husband.  John compares the city of New Jerusalem to the bride.

Revelation 21:9

⁹And 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 shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife.

Finally, one of the angels is going to reveal who is the Bride, Revelation 21:10.

¹⁰And 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,

The angel told John that he was going to show John the Bride; however, the angel shows John New Jerusalem.  How can this be?  Is it possible that they are one in the same?

Revelation 3:12

¹²Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.

God said He would make people pillars.  This is no more literal than Ephesians 2:20-22.

²⁰And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Yeshua Messiah himself being the chief corner stone; ²¹In 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.

Believers will not be turned to stone.  New Jerusalem and the Bride are one in the same.  This is what our father Abraham was looking forward to in Hebrew 11:10.

¹⁰ For he looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God.

Starting in Revelation 21:11, the Bride is described in terms of a city.

Revelation 21:14

¹⁴And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

This is similar to Ephesians 2:20.

²⁰And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Yeshua Messiah himself being the chief corner stone

 The angel speaking with John has a measuring instrument in Revelation 21:15.

¹⁵And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof.

The angel then measures the city in Revelation 21:16.

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.

The length, the breadth and the height are all equal; as such, the city is a cube.  The angel performed 12 measurements, he measured each edge, 12 edges to measure.  The city is 12,000 furlongs square, that is 12,000 per measurement; as such 12 times 12,000 or 144,000.  New Jerusalem is not a literal city.  What we discover is that New Jerusalem, the Bride and the 144,000 are all one in the same.

Revelation 21:17

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.

John writes the measure of man.  Again this is referring to what man does.  This is men’s righteous works, this is beyond salvation.  This is similar to Revelation 19:8:

⁸ 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.

Again it is the righteousness of saints, it is works righteousness.  Refer back to Righteousness of the Saints for a full discussion.

Further, it should be clear that the Great Multitude is not a part of the Bride.  The Bride is a special class of believers.  It is something we should be striving to be a part of.

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