The Forum
The Bride Of Christ
For the marriage, the Lamb’s wife made herself ready. There is a difference of opinion in regard to this statement. Some interpret it as her doing righteous acts, but the word “acts” is not in the original. There could be a reference here to an Old Testament passage. “The Lord… He hath clothed me with garments of salvation (The plural indicating abundance), He hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with jewels” (Isa. 61:10). The Bride of Christ is seen as she prepared herself in His righteousnesses, His intense and abundant purity; even as it is said of some, “These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb” (Rev. 7:14).
While the marriage establishes the intimate and eternal relationship between Christ and His Church, the marriage supper suggests the pleasure of others as well as that of the Lamb and His wife. There is social and general delight in others that distance has been bridged, differences dissolved, and that at long last the Lamb and His wife are one.
The marriage supper of the Lamb is the antitype of the marriage in Cana of Galilee. The Lamb in His fully revealed glory, the very personification of joy, is the observed and the adored, and in close association with Him is His wife reflecting His sublime excellency. She is the Bride He purchased, sanctified, and glorified.
The eternal destiny of the Bride, the Lamb’s wife will be the New Jerusalem (Rev. 21:9) that will descend from God upon the New Earth (Rev. 21:1). That city in appearance will be as lovely as a bride, but this simile, of course, does not suggest that the city itself is the Bride; it merely attests the beauty of the city.
The different inhabitants of the lovely city, obviously, retain their distinctive existence. The writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews says, “Ye are come (by faith to the divine provision) unto Mount Sion, and unto the city of the Living God, the Heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels (Angels will be inhabitants of the city); to the general assembly and Church of the Firstborn which are written in Heaven (The Church will be there for she too will retain her separate identity, and as such will glorify God ages without end — Eph. 3:21); and to God the Judge of all (The New Jerusalem will be the eternal habitation of the Triune God in the midst of the redeemed); and to the spirits of just men made perfect (All the Old Testament saints will be there, made perfect through the blood of Christ (Heb. 12:22-23). Furthermore, Israel will also be in that wonderful city for her seed and name shall remain in the New Heavens and in the New Earth (Isa. 66:22).
It was for that city that Abraham looked (Heb. 11:9-10), and into it the nations of all the redeemed shall bring their glory and honour (Rev. 21:26) .
The New Jerusalem will be the capital city of the New Earth, and in that state of eternal glory all the redeemed of God out of all nations in the earlier and last dispensations, all the redeemed of Israel, and all the redeemed of the Church, the Bride of Christ, shall enjoy His presence in a sinless society.
These hours of research lead the writer to but one conclusion, the Bride of Christ and the Lamb’s wife are one and the same. Other Scriptures have been examined and more might be written, but further space is not available. Our prayer is that what has been written may prove helpful and thought provoking. The day is coming when we shall no longer see through a glass darkly for all will be plain.
J. G.