In the new heaven and new earth Christ will have a wife, but in the millennium He will have a bride (Rev. 19:7-8; 21:2), consisting of the overcoming believers. At His coming back Christ will marry the overcomers. This marriage is described in Revelation 19:7-9.
Revelation 19:7 says, “Let us rejoice and exult, and let us give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.” The marriage of the Lamb is the issue of the completion of God’s New Testament economy. God’s economy in the New Testament is to obtain for Christ a bride, the church, through His redemption and divine life. By the continual working of the Holy Spirit through all the centuries, this goal will be completed at the end of this age. Then the bride, who will consist of the overcoming believers, will be ready.
The words His wife in Revelation 19:7 refer to the church (Eph. 5:24-25, 31-32), the bride of Christ (John 3:29). However, according to Revelation 19:8 and 9, the wife, the bride of Christ, consists only of the overcoming believers during the millennium, whereas the bride, the wife, in Revelation 21:2 is composed of all the saved saints after the millennium for eternity.
Revelation 19:7b tells us that the wife “has made herself ready.” The readiness of the bride depends on both the overcomers’ maturity in life and on their being built up together as a corporate entity. Therefore, the overcomers are not only mature in life but also built up together as one bride.
Revelation 19:8 says, “It was given to her that she should be clothed in fine linen, bright and pure; for the fine linen is the righteousnesses of the saints.” Here pure refers to the nature and bright, to the expression. The righteousnesses, or righteous acts, do not refer to the righteousness (which is Christ) we received for our salvation, a righteousness that is objective and that qualifies us to meet the requirement of the righteous God. The righteousnesses of the overcoming believers in Revelation 19:8 are subjective so that they may meet the requirement of the overcoming Christ. The fine linen, therefore, indicates our overcoming life. It is actually the Christ whom we live out of our being.
Ultimately, in the new heaven and new earth, the New Jerusalem as the wife of the redeeming Christ will be constituted of all the perfected saints. After the millennium all the saints will have been perfected and constituted together to be the wonderful entity of the New Jerusalem.
The consummation of the church as the counterpart of Christ will be the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth for eternity. Revelation 21:2 says, “I saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” The New Jerusalem is a living composition of all the saints redeemed and perfected by God throughout all generations. This is the bride, the wife, of Christ as His counterpart. As the wife of Christ, the New Jerusalem comes out of Christ and becomes His counterpart. She is prepared by participating in the riches of the life and nature of Christ.
Revelation 22:17 indicates that Christ and the New Jerusalem as His wife will be a universal couple for eternity. The Spirit, who is the totality of the processed Triune God, becomes one with the believers, who are now fully matured to be the bride. Therefore, the consummation of the processed Triune God and the consummation of God’s chosen, redeemed, regenerated, and transformed people will be one and will be a universal couple expressing the Triune God for eternity.
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