New Jerusalem, the Wife of the Lamb
In Revelation 21:9-10 an angel spoke to John “saying, Come here; I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb. And he carried me away in spirit onto a great and high mountain and showed me the holy city, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.”
The New Jerusalem is not only the tabernacle of God but also the wife of the redeeming Christ [the Lamb]. In both the Old and New Testaments, God likens His chosen people to a spouse for His satisfaction in love (Isa. 54:6; Jer. 3:1; Ezek. 16:8; Hosea 2:19; 2 Cor. 11:2; Eph. 5:31-32). In the New Jerusalem as the wife of the redeeming Christ, God will have the fullest satisfaction in love.*
Ephesians 5 presents husband and wife as a picture of Christ and the church. Verse 25 unveils that “Christ also loved the church and gave Himself up for her.” His giving Himself in death, and His current sanctifying work in verse 26 are for the goal “that He might present the church to Himself glorious.”
The steps in Ephesians 5:25-27, made in love, prepare the church to be enlarged to New Jerusalem, the “wife of the Lamb.”
* Life-Study of the New Testament, Conclusion Messages: The Church, the Kingdom, and the New Jerusalem, message 258, p. 2700, by Witness Lee. Published 1998 and © by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, California.
Photo courtesy of Good Free Photos.
Posted by Don on November 11, 2024
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