Prophetic Expositions, vol. 1

WHO IS THE BRIDE, THE LAMB’S WIFE?

John answers, Revelation 21:9, 10: “Come hither and I will show thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife.” “And he showed me that great city, the HOLY JERUSALEM, descending out of heaven from God.” Did the angel fulfil his promise? If so, the holy city is the bride. PREX1 205.1

This view is confirmed by Isaiah 54:5, where he addresses the New Jerusalem, and says: “For thy maker is thy husband; the Lord of hosts is his name: and thy Redeemer, the holy One of Israel; the God of the whole earth shall he be called.” That this is the heavenly Jerusalem is clear from Galatians 4:26, 27: “But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all. For it is written, Rejoice, thou barren that bearest not; break forth and cry, thou that travailest not: for the desolate hath many more children than she which, hath a husband.” Paul has here expressly applied the 54th of Isaiah to the Jerusalem which is above, and is the mother of the saints, the children of promise. The multitude, therefore, which are to flock to Jerusalem as her children, are the redeemed saints. Jerusalem is now a widow, but will then remember the reproach of her widowhood no more. She is forsaken of God for a small moment, but will be gathered with great mercies, and her stones be laid with fair colors. PREX1 205.2

The children of the bride chamber are the saints of God. They are the children of God, “begotten of him again to a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible, undefiled, and which fadeth not away,” and which is “ready to be revealed in the last times.” To that inheritance we are now begotten by the spirit of Christ, by which he was raised from the dead, and shall be born to it as soon as he, who is our life, appears. PREX1 206.1

Isaiah 66:7, 8: “Before she travailed she brought forth” Jesus Christ, the first fruits from the dead, and the sure pledge of the resurrection of all the saints. Who hath heard such a thing? A man-child, a child of the resurrection, brought forth before the pain of Zion came! But what is that to what will be? “Shall the earth be made to bring forth in a day? Or shall a nation be born at once?” The implied answer is, no. “Yet,” says the prophet, although this cannot be, “as soon as Zion travailed, she brought forth her children.” In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trump. It is certain as it is that Christ is raised from the dead to die no more. All these shall be the children of the New Jerusalem, and will inherit it forever. PREX1 206.2

The saints raised-the wicked destroyed-the earth burned and renovated-the New Jerusalem brought from heaven-the marriage of the Lamb in the New Jerusalem will be celebrated. “For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy God marry thee.” PREX1 207.1

In reading the prophecies, it is important to understand Jerusalem and Zion, literally; and to understand her widowhood, mourning, desolation, condemnation and punishment, as her present oppressed and desolate condition, as the fruit of the sins which have been committed in her; her gathering, being built, multiplying and gathering her children, as being the glory of the New Jerusalem with the resurrection saints. PREX1 207.2

That the New Jerusalem comes before the millennium, is clear, from the fact that she is addressed, (Isaiah 54:15,) and told of the gathering of her enemies against her. “Behold, all they gather themselves together against thee, but not by me.” That is, I will not be the agent who will gather this innumerable multitude against thee, but some other agent will. The devil, according to Revelation 20., is the agent. “Whosoever shall gather together against thee, shall fall for thy sake.” Here is the same gathering of the enemies of Jerusalem described in Revelation 20:7-10. And the same defeat attends them in each instance. Destruction from the Almighty overwhelms them. PREX1 207.3