Bride or a City?

 

Then one of the seven angels, who had held the seven bowls filled with the seven last plagues, came and spoke with me: "Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb."

Revelation 21:9

When the angel told John that he was going to show him the Bride, the wife of the Lamb there appeared not a Bride, but a City. The description is of a City. Can it be that the Bride is a City or does the picture of the City have a profound symbolism?

I have always thought that the New Jerusalem is simply where the Bride lives, that is heaven. If I were to declare that I was going to show you the Queen of England and all you saw was Buckingham Palace you would be at least disappointed and perhaps deceived.

There is no description of God or Jesus or the Holy Spirit in the Bible.  If a picture is worth a thousand words, then it would take more than all the words that have ever been created to even begin to describe a member of the Trinity.  It would be like trying to describe a beach when all you have is a dozen grains of sand.

I believe what John is describing in Revelation 21 is not the Bride herself, but the Glory that surrounds her.  The beauty and Glory of the New Jerusalem comes not from where it is and how it was built, but rather from who is there.  There will be radiant glory from the Bride.

Don’t forget the children’s game that includes a profound eternal declaration.  The game is hide and seek and the declaration will soon be said by Jesus Himself, READY OR NOT HERE I COME!