Also, the New Jerusalem symbolizes the believers as the wife of their Redeemer. In 2 Corinthians 11:2, Paul says, “I betrothed you to one Husband, to present a pure virgin to Christ.” “You” in this verse is a corporate you. Many saints have been betrothed to Christ as one corporate virgin. There is one church with many members and Paul betrothed the believers in a corporate way as one corporate virgin to one husband—Christ.
The wife of the Lamb is one with her Redeemer, as Eve taken out of Adam and attached back to him to be one flesh, two as one in one nature and one life (Gen. 2:21-24; Eph. 5:25-27, 29-32). Eve was originally a piece of bone, a rib, taken out of Adam. This bone was taken out of Adam, builded into a woman, a wife for Adam, and attached back to Adam to be one flesh. These two, Adam and Eve, were as one in one nature and one life. A wife is one that is one nature and one life with her husband. Based upon this significance we must again ask how the New Jerusalem could be a physical city. A physical, material city could never be one with Christ in one life and in one nature. The New Jerusalem is not only something with the divine element added to it and with the holy nature wrought into it, but also it is one with the Redeemer in one nature and in one life.
The wife of the Lamb as symbolized by the universal and heavenly woman in Revelation 12:1-6, 13-17, is composed of all the Old Testament and the New Testament saints. According to Revelation 12:1, this woman is “clothed with the sun, and the moon underneath her feet, and on her head a crown of twelve stars” (see Message 34 of the Life-study of Revelation). This universal and heavenly woman is the total composition of God’s people on the earth. The sun signifies God’s people in the New Testament age (Luke 1:78), the moon signifies God’s people in the Old Testament time, and the stars signify the patriarchs (Gen. 37:9). We know that this woman is composed of both the Old and New Testament saints because among the sun, the moon, and the stars are the brothers who overcome Satan because of the blood of the Lamb (Rev. 12:11). We also see that the rest of the woman’s seed are those who keep the commandments of God and have the testimony of Jesus (Rev. 12:17). Those who keep the commandments of God are the Jews, and those who have the testimony of Jesus are the New Testament believers. When I was a young believer I read some books which said that this woman was Mary and that the man-child was Jesus. When I studied this woman with her man-child, though, I discovered that this kind of teaching was unscriptural and illogical. After the man-child is brought to the throne of God there is a period of 1,260 days, which is the period of the great tribulation (Rev. 12:6). This very universal and heavenly woman in Revelation 12 is the wife of the Lamb. This woman is a universal composition of all the saints and this woman consummates in the New Jerusalem.
The wife of the Lamb is also the consummation of the wife as the church in Ephesians 5:25-27 and 29-32. An example may help to illustrate what we mean by the wife in Ephesians 5 consummating in the New Jerusalem. When a certain man’s wife was only ten years old, she was his wife, but she was not consummated to be his wife. As she was growing up, she was consummating. When she finally reached the age of twenty-three to become this man’s bride, that was the consummation of this ten-year-old girl. The bride on that wedding day was the consummation of that little girl. The church in Ephesians 5 is like that little girl who is ten years old, and the New Jerusalem will be the consummated bride. The bride in Revelation 21 can never be improved. She will live forever but she will not grow. The wife in Ephesians 5, however, is still growing. The church in Ephesians 5 still has wrinkles and spots, but the bride in Revelation 21 has no wrinkles or spots. The New Jerusalem is the consummation of the wife in Ephesians 5. The Lord is still working in the church to cause her to grow.