"But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all."
Revelation 21:9-10
"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.� And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God,
My question: Heavenly Jerusalem, is it Our Mother? or is it US? or is it technicaly neither and its JUST the Bride,The Lambs wife, as Revelation puts it?
I was always taught that WE, the church are the bride of Christ, However we are also called the BODY.
So, Im not totaly confused, but i see that There is allot of error in mans teachings. Of course, because all men are liars and ONLY GOD is Truth.
But do you see my quandry?
We Are Christs Body. So Jesus is not going to mary himself is he?
Heavenly Jerusalem(where we will live, and where our righteousness(which is technicaly Gods) will be the bridal garments)Is The Bride.
SO first off:
The bride of the Lamb, is Heavenly Jerusalem, The Mother of US, meaning the heavenly bearer of Our promise as Gods Children, So our Promise IS Eternal Life(which is Jesus 1 John 1:2) in the eternal heavenly city, both of which are in US allready, and slowly conforming us to God. Ok I get that.
So that brings me to the teaching where "WE, are the Bride of Christ"
The scriptures NEVER, say that we are "The Bride of Christ"
Paul says he wants to present the church(or at least the people HE is writing to), AS A bride,
but never says that the Complete body of Jesus, IS the Bride.
Its never said.
So my questions are(sorry for the rambling "Stream of consciousness" post, im kinda typing as im thinking...ha!)
1.) Is the Heavenly Jerusalem, Both? Our mother(spiritual, NOT lieteral) and our Lords bride?
2.) Where does it say in scripture that we are "The Bride of Christ"?
Wondering if anyone has any word on this. Thank you in advance. Jesus bless you.
Without getting all eschatologial on you basically the Church is the Body of Christ here on earth, since Christ's glorified body has ascended into heaven. The Term is figurative in the sense that the Church is not the same body of Christ that is in heaven, but literal in the sense that the Spirit of Jesus really does inhabit His Church in His believers.
The Bride of Christ is figurative of a marriage union, but literal in the sense we will be truly united with Christ at the end of this age.
The New Jerusalem is could be literal or figurative, being prophetic it is difficult to say. But keep in mind after this age everything will be made new, New Heavens, New Earth and a New Jerusalem and we'll have New Bodies. I think we can only speculate as to the meanings of these, especially since not only are they out of our time, but out of our age, maybe even out of our current dimension!
