Revelation 21:1-27
Today and tomorrow, it’s all GLORY, folks!!
I’ve always heard or read that the church is the bride of Christ: For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ. (II Corinthians 11:2) See also Ephesians 5:22-24, ff. Today we see the New Jerusalem as His bride: And I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. (v. 2) and …one of the seven angels … spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.” And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God… (vv. 9-10). So is the Church (all believers) to be resident in the New Jerusalem and therein to be His bride?
This New Jerusalem has no temple: And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. (v. 22) The “Holy of Holies” in the Temple and in the Tabernacle of old was God’s dwelling place on Earth. With God, Himself, resident in the New Jerusalem there is no need for a temple. Interesting!
In this New Jerusalem, twelve gates, twelve tribes; twelve foundation stones, twelve apostles. A blending of the Old and the New… Yes, folks, it’s all GLORY!!