Is not the Church the Bride of Christ? (
Rev. 21:2-3)
Hi
Douglas Summers, I’ll attempt to lend light to your question here with an excerpt from “A Prophesy Study of Revelation I transcribed from CD’s presented by Gene Hawkins to have mailed from FedEx Copies to a lifer in prison.
Revelation 21:2.
"And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." It is very important that we understand this because sometimes people read this and say all of the new Jerusalem here is the bride of Christ. It doesn't say that. It says that the holy city new Jerusalem came down from God out of heaven prepared as a bride
adorned for her husband. Anyone knows that a bride has all sorts of adornment which are other people. The bride's maids, attendants for the groom, and all of these different ones are never used to take away attention from her, but they are really designed to compliment the bride of Christ as a part of her adornment. This is exactly what you find with the new Jerusalem, it is representative of all of the people of God, but it is the bride of Christ that is the center of all of that attention. And so you'll notice that in describing the new Jerusalem he says
"I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven." The new Jerusalem is composed of the people of God coming down from God out of heaven and I wondered well, how far down are they going to come? You know, where is this going to be? It is really very representative of the throne of God where God wanted to come down and dwell among men and He is going to do that but you know, where is this going to be? In Genesis 3:8-9 God came walking in the garden in the cool of the day and talked to Adam. God has always had that desire to be amongst His own people and so here we find that new Jerusalem coming down out of heaven. Who knows how close it will come? Will it be where you can see it in the air? We simply do not know but this is the same city that Abraham looked for. You'll find that at Hebrews 11:10.
"He looked for a city which hath foundations, whose builder and maker is God," and he will realize that desire and see that wonderful city.
Now I want to again emphasize that the whole city is not the bride, but the city includes the bride and her adornment. Other believers are going to compliment her there and that's what we need to understand is that her adornment are other believers. The central company, the bride of Christ is the four living ones and the twenty-four elders which were that first company of believers we saw there in Revelation Chapter Four and they have been at the center of things down through the tribulation and all of that. Things have centered on them, they call forth the praise, and their attitude and purpose has always been to magnify only Christ such as when the twenty-four elders threw their crowns at Jesus' feet.
Now then Revelation 21:9 through 22:5 describes in detail the entirety of this city and her adornment in such wonderful specific detail. As we have noted, believers are an adornment and a compliment for other believers. Philippians 4:1 says,
"Therefore, my brethren dearly beloved and longed for, my joy and crown, so stand fast in the Lord, my dearly beloved." You see, this crown is an adornment. 1 Thessalonians 2:19 says it this way,
"For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Are not even ye in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his coming?" These different saints of God are going to be around the bride of Christ that constitutes her adornment, but the bride of Christ is a separate company. In the Song of Solomon 6:9 we read this:
"My dove, my undefiled is but one; she is the only one of her mother, she is the choice one of her that bare her. The daughters saw her, and blessed her; yea, the queens and the concubines, and they praised her." In other words the bride of Christ is the cream of the crop of mother grace. She has yielded to all of these specific requirements and manifestations of this manifold grace of God. These daughters that we see here are not sinners; they are other Christians and they just add to her adornment and of course it's for the purpose of Bridegroom's enjoyment, but indeed they are simply adorning the bride.
Now then, what are the qualifications for this woman who is the central figure or nucleus of this new Jerusalem, the one who is adorned? The price for us is suffering, and yet all Christians are not suffering with Christ. Many of them suffer as a result of their own stupidity and foolishness, but that's not suffering with Christ. 2 Timothy 2:12 tells us that
"If we suffer, we shall also reign with him: if we deny him, he also will deny us." If we deny Him meaning that if we hold back and refuse to take the path He chooses for us even though it means suffering He'll deny us what? He will deny us the throne. We will be denied reigning conjointly with Him the way that the bride of Christ is going to do. There is a great difference between an heir and a joint heir with Christ, but what is the key to being a joint heir with Christ? We find the answer in Romans 8:17.
"If so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together." A part of the glorification of Christ is reigning as King of kings, and Lord of lords. This group, the bride of Christ is going to reign jointly with Him.
In Revelation 5:10 we read,
"Thou hast made us unto our God kings and priests: and we shall reign on (Or over)
the earth" and that is spoken only of the twenty-four elders and the four living ones. They are that separate company known as the bride of Christ. The rest of the new Jerusalem simply supplied the adornment that is going to be manifested both for her and of course ultimately Christ Himself.
Alright we want to notice the time frame that we are talking about here in Chapter Twenty-one. Now the new Jerusalem comes down as a bride adorned for her husband. When? Again it is at the millennium, however we want to make sure we understand this is not when the marriage took place. The marriage took place back in Revelation 19:7 and then she is also seen in Revelation 19:14 as the armies of heaven and that's the same company as the bride adorned. Now when we first see these four living ones and the twenty-four elders in Revelation 4:4-11, she is not married yet but we don't find the innumerable company arriving in heaven until Revelation 7:9, then we don't find the one hundred and forty-four thousand there until Revelation 14:1 and both of those groups are a part of her adornment, and so the wedding doesn't take place until right shortly before the middle of the week. Now I can't tell you how many days it's going to be but we know that two hundred and fifty days prior to the middle of the week is a very important time there for the release of the antichrist and all of that, and then that's about the time of arrival of the one hundred and forty-four thousand, but that's how we know when she is going to be married. In the parable of the ten virgins there were five foolish and five wise virgins, and in Matthew 25:6 it says,
"At midnight there was a cry made, Behold, the bridegroom cometh; go ye out to meet him." The five wise virgins were going out to meet the bridegroom which means the marriage has come and so it is somewhere around the middle of the week.
Now we come to the end of the millennial period and the bride of Christ has been ruling with Jesus for one thousand years and that's what she was promised. After that thousand year reign is over at the end of the millennial period this new Jerusalem is going to come down as a bride adorned for her husband.
