If you read Rev. 19-21 in one sitting, the bride in the closing visions of John in Revelation turns out to be the city promised to the saints in Rev. 3:12, not the church. The prevalent misperception is that the bride is the church, which is most likely due to Paul’s words in 2 Corinthians 11:2. But this is false harmonization. One shouldn’t read Revelation through the lens of another scripture at the expense of Revelation. Just as Paul made a point with the betrothal metaphor in 2 Corinthians, Revelation makes its own point with the marriage of the Lamb vision. Conflating the two at the expense of Revelation makes us miss its message.
In Rev. 3:11-12, the Coming One promised the mark of God, of the lamb, and of the new Jerusalem to the faithful, saying, “I will write on him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, the new Jerusalem, which comes down from my God out of heaven, and my own new name.” If we read the entire Revelation, we see this covenant fulfilled in Rev. 21:2-3, where we see God and the lamb dwelling with their people in it: “And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.” In other words, if we listen to what the Spirit says to the churches, the saints are promised an eternal dwelling place in the presence of the Lamb and of God in the city that comes from heaven if they overcome deception, trials, and tribulations.
On the other hand, when Paul said in 2 Cor. 11:2, he was using the betrothal metaphor of one daughter’s father: “For I feel a divine jealousy for you, since I betrothed you to one husband, to present you as a pure virgin to Christ.” In Acts 18, we learn that he remained in Corinth for a year and a half after receiving a night vision to stay and teaching the word of God. He was a spiritual father to them. In 2 Cor. 12:14, he regarded himself as a parent to them. “Here for the third time, I am ready to come to you. And I will not be a burden, for I seek not what is yours but you. For children are not obligated to save up for their parents, but parents for their children.” He likened himself to a parent betrothing a virgin to marry a husband. He is teaching them to be always pleasing to the Lord, ready to appear before his judgment seat at all times (2 Cor. 5:7-10).
In Eph 5:22-33, Paul used the same metaphor several times. In fact, he used multiple analogies of Christ’s relationship with the church to expound on the relationships between one another in the church. (a) In Eph. 5:22-24, Christ is the head and the church is his body, compared to the man as the head of the wife. And so as the church submits to Christ, the wife must submit to her husband. (b) In Eph. 5:25-29, Christ is the savior of the church compared to the man and his wife. And so, as Christ loved the church, man must love his wife.
Contextual Evidences:
[1] Rev. 19:7-8 says, “Let us rejoice and exult and give him the glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and his Bride has made herself ready; it was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure”— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.” This is the first mention of the bride of the Lamb in Revelation. Observe that it says, “It was granted her to clothe herself with fine linen, bright and pure— for the fine linen is the righteous deeds of the saints.” She is clothed with the righteousness of the church. We’ll get back to this in the next evidence.
[2] Rev. 21:2 says, “And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” This is the second mention of the bride of the lamb in Revelation. It reveals that she’s actually the city that the Coming Christ promised in Rev. 3:12 adorned for her husband, the lamb. We already know in the first evidence that she’s clothed with fine linen which represents the righteous deeds of the saints. The bride therefore is a city, not the church. But it is a city clothed with the righteousness of the people who will live in it.
[3] Rev. 21:3 confirms this for us John saw it as city where God will coinhabit his people. “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.” It will be the residence of the righteous, not “the cowardly, the faithless, the detestable, as for murderers, the sexually immoral, sorcerers, idolaters, and all liars” (Rev. 21:8).
[4] Rev. 21:9 explicitly identified the bride as the city that comes from heaven that the Lamb promised in Rev. 3:12. “Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, ‘Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.'” Further verses (Rev. 21:10-22:5) described what exactly John saw inside the city. One of which is the river of life flowing from the throne of God and of the Lamb (Rev. 22:1). We’ll get back to this in the next evidence.
[5] In Rev. 22:17 we read, “The Spirit and the Bride say, ‘Come.’ And let the one who hears say, ‘Come.’ And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price.” The Spirit and the bride city invite all people to come to her because she has the river of life. See also Rev. 19:9 which says, “Blessed are those who are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb.” Guests are invited to the marriage supper, not the bride.
Recap
In 2 Cor. 5:7-10, Paul appealed to the Corinthian church as if they were his virgin daughter that he’s going to present to Christ. He is preparing them to be always pleasing to the Lord, ready to appear before his judgment seat at all times. But in Revelation 19-21, the marriage of the lamb and the city is reminiscent of 2 Sam. 5:6-10, when David finally entered Jerusalem and it became the city of the great king that God will establish forever (Psa. 48:1-3, 8 ). When the heaven opens (Rev. 19:11) and Christ comes with the clouds (Rev. 1:7), he will forever be united with the city of the great king, except that it is not the one made by the hands of men but with the hand of God (Heb. 11:10). It is also eternal residence that is promised to all who will overcome.
