|
SUBJECT: New Jerusalem (Revelation 21:2, 9) and wife or
bride of Christ
QUESTION: Some say the church is the bride or wife of
Christ. However Revelation 21:2 and 9 seem to say that New
Jerusalem is the wife and bride of Christ. What is the
answer here? Who is the bride and/or wife of Christ?
ANSWER:
Let us look at Revelation and where it speaks of New
Jerusalem and brides and wives:
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.
Revelation 21:9
And 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.
Seems clear that this New Jerusalem is the bride and wife of
Christ....BUT IS IT REALLY? Is the city alone the wife or
bride of Christ? Could it actually be that the city
represents something else?
Notice a commentary...
Revelation 21:9
[I will show thee the bride, the
Lamb's wife] I will show you what represents the
redeemed church now to be received into permanent union with
its Lord-as a bride about to be united to her husband. See
the notes on ver. 2. Compare Rev 19:7-8. ~from
Barnes' Notes
See, the New Jerusalem represents the church. It is not
that New Jerusalem is the wife and the church not.
Another commentary...
Revelation 21:9
[The bride, the Lamb's wife]
The pure and holy Christian church.
~from Adam Clarke's Commentary
Note: In
essence, the New Jerusalem and the church are one and the
same. Notice a commentary that states this very fact...
Revelation 21:9-27
The angel calls it "the Bride, the Lamb's Wife." The
heavenly city is Christ's Bride, not on account of what
makes it a city, but on account of the sanctified and
glorified ones who inhabit it. Without the saints, whose
home and residence it is, it would not be the Lamb's Wife;
and yet it is the Lamb's Wife in a sense which does not
exclude the foundations, walls, gates, streets and
constructions which contribute to make it a city. Mere
edifices and avenues do not make a city; neither does a mere
congregation or multitude of people make a city. You cannot
have a living city without people to inhabit it; and you
cannot have a city without the edifices and avenues arranged
in some fixed shape for the accommodation of those who make
up its population. It is the two together, and the order in
which the parts are severally disposed, the animate with the
inanimate, which constitute a city. And while this holy
Jerusalem is the Bride and Wife of Christ with reference to
its holy occupants, it is still those occupants as disposed
and arranged in that city. So that the city as a city, as
well as its people as a people, even the whole taken
together, is embraced in what the angel calls "the Bride,
the Lamb's Wife," as she finally appears in her eternal form
and completeness. ~from The
Apocalypse: Exposition of the Book of Revelation
Note: One and
the same.
One more commentary...
Revelation 21:9-27
The subject-matter of the vision-the bride, the Lamb's wife
(v. 10); that is, the church of God in her glorious,
perfect, triumphant state, under the resemblance of
Jerusalem, having the glory of God shining in its lustre, as
uxor splendit radiis mariti-the bride comely through the
comeliness put on her by her husband; glorious in her
relation to Christ, in his image now perfected in her, and
in his favour shining upon her. And now we have a large
description of the church triumphant under the emblem of a
city, far exceeding in riches and splendour all the cities
of this world; and this new Jerusalem is here represented to
us both in the exterior and the interior part of it.
~from Matthew Henry's
Commentary on the Whole Bible: New Modern Edition
All the commentaries are saying the same thing. New
Jerusalem and the church are one and the same. The city
represents the individuals in the church.
back to the top |