I wish to present to you a little about “the bride, the Lamb’s wife,” as displayed in the millennial glory. God acts upon our souls by His truth in this way. He brings the future glory before us as a present, practical reality in its sanctifying power; He unfolds to us the glory prepared for us from everlasting, a boundless field of endless joy; He points us to One who has gone on high, the center of it all, One who can fill our heart’s affections as the only worthy object of them — Christ, whom we have known below in weakness and sorrow, the center of that scene of light and blessedness. He takes of the things of Christ’s glory and puts them before us now that we may live in them — live in the Father’s love and in the love of Christ which passes knowledge. Thus He unfolds the glory, that our hearts may be carried into it and that it may have its own sanctifying effect upon us.
The Bride’s Personal Glory
Revelation 21:9-279And there came unto me one of the seven angels which had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, and talked with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb's wife. 10And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and showed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God, 11Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal; 12And had a wall great and high, and had twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and names written thereon, which are the names of the twelve tribes of the children of Israel: 13On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates. 14And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb. 15And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof. 16And the city lieth foursquare, and the length is as large as the breadth: and he measured the city with the reed, twelve thousand furlongs. The length and the breadth and the height of it are equal. 17And he measured the wall thereof, an hundred and forty and four cubits, according to the measure of a man, that is, of the angel. 18And the building of the wall of it was of jasper: and the city was pure gold, like unto clear glass. 19And the foundations of the wall of the city were garnished with all manner of precious stones. The first foundation was jasper; the second, sapphire; the third, a chalcedony; the fourth, an emerald; 20The fifth, sardonyx; the sixth, sardius; the seventh, chrysolite; the eighth, beryl; the ninth, a topaz; the tenth, a chrysoprasus; the eleventh, a jacinth; the twelfth, an amethyst. 21And the twelve gates were twelve pearls; every several gate was of one pearl: and the street of the city was pure gold, as it were transparent glass. 22And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. 23And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof. 24And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honor into it. 25And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there. 26And they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it. 27And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life. (Revelation 21:9‑27) gives us the description of the millennial display of the bride to the world. The bride, the Lamb’s wife, is seen in her personal glory. And what is so noteworthy and a blessing to our souls is that all the sanctifying work which Christ is now accomplishing in His saints will come out, and the result will be seen in the glory as here pictured. We read that He “loved the church, and gave Himself for it; that He might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word, that He might present it to Himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.” What a motive, then, to yield ourselves to Him that His grace may not be hindered! He sanctifies by the action of the Word; He discloses all that hinders fellowship with Himself in that bright scene; He reveals and unfolds Himself to the hearts of His saints — to wean them away from this scene and fill their hearts with Himself. Then, He will present His church to Himself glorious, without a spot of defilement or wrinkle of old age — not a trace of the scene through which she has passed — the heavenly Eve of the last Adam for the paradise of God!
In this display of glory, what Christ was personally and what the glorified church will be as displaying the glories of the Lamb — all these come out in this scene.
The Display of the Glory of God
“Having the glory of God” (vs. 11). One thing must strike us forcibly: It is how much the glory of God is interwoven with the description of the heavenly city. You have it both in literal words and in figures. You find it in the foundations of the city, in its walls, in its light within and appearance without: All is glory. It underlies, surrounds, enfolds and lights up the whole scene. The glory of God has enwrapped the saints, and they dwell in the glory of God. No doubt, it is her millennial display; still it gives character to the church, that even now is set in this world to display the moral traits of that glory to it. “The glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.”
Here it is seen, in the perfection of the given glory of Christ, as answering to its full character. She is the display of the glory to the millennial earth. She does not come down to earth herself, but sheds the light of that glory upon Jerusalem below. As the heavenly Jerusalem, the church still keeps her character as the display of grace, as Jerusalem below will be the center of earthly government in that day.
A mountain, great and high, is the platform from which to behold this heavenly Jerusalem, the bride, “descending out of heaven from God.” She is let down so that the earth may see her glory, the glory of God displayed in her.
The Perfect Display of Christ
In John 17 He says, “The glory which Thou hast given Me I have given them; that they may be one, even as We are one: I in them, and Thou in Me.” It is Christ in them as perfectly displayed, as the Father was in Him. The Lord Jesus turns to the day of glory that is before us. Thus He can speak of our being “made perfect in one” and “that the world may know.” Now, we should have walked so that the world might have believed, but, alas, we have failed to display Christ to the world. In what infinite grace He carries us on to the day when there will be no more failure, but He will be perfectly displayed in us, “that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me” when it sees you, my brethren, and all His saints in the same glory as the Son of God — “and hast loved them, as Thou hast loved Me.”
This city has the glory of God: “Having the glory of God, and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal.” This is a symbol used for the glory of God (ch. 4:3). She has the glory “of God,” and yet it is called “her light” (vs. 11). God has produced the graces of Christ in the saints here — by pure grace has done so — yet He has counted it to them. You long that the graces and mind of Christ may be reproduced in you. Well, those that are are counted as yours, though His grace has wrought them, as, in chapter 19:8, to His wife “was granted that she should be arrayed in fine linen clean and white” and this linen is said to be “the righteousnesses of the saints,” though all be absolutely the production of His own grace in her. What He was upon earth, what He produces in His people, and what He displays in glory are all seen.
You may remember that in Ephesians 2:77That in the ages to come he might show the exceeding riches of his grace in his kindness toward us through Christ Jesus. (Ephesians 2:7) it is said that by the church God will display “in the ages to come ... the exceeding riches of His grace in His kindness toward us through Christ Jesus.” You cannot measure by human measurement that by which God unfolds and displays to eternity the full extent of His riches of grace, in His kindness towards us.
The glory of God is the foundation, the security, the stability, and the light of the heavenly city. Oh, how the heart worships as it contemplates such a scene! His glory enfolds His people on every side.
“The city was of pure gold, like unto clear glass.” Gold is divine righteousness, and clear glass represents the fixed, transparent purity of truth. Thus, the city itself presents in this wondrous symbol what Christ was Himself and what the “new man” is, which after God is created in righteousness and holiness of truth.
His Pearl of Great Price
“The twelve gates were twelve pearls.” Here a lovely thought finds its expression. In it is seen that moral beauty and comeliness which attracted the heart of Christ in the church and for which He “sold all that He had.” Internally, we find the city is “pure gold like unto clear glass”; externally, the moral beauty of the pearl. Each gate showed this out. So it is with the Lord Himself personally, and so it is with the Christian relatively who has “put on the new man” where “Christ is all,” and outwardly, the effect is that the lowly traits of His grace are produced, and thus with the church collectively, that Christ might be fully displayed according to God’s thought, and what will be seen in full display when He comes “to be glorified in His saints, and to be admired in all them that believe.”
So the description goes on: “I saw no temple therein.” Why is this? Because worship is all that is here; it characterizes the scene. “I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.” The whole city is the sanctuary of His presence.
“The city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it [no need of borrowed light]: for the glory of God did lighten it.” It is the light of it. Even now if there is light in our hearts, it is the light of that glory shining on the face of Jesus. All the glory of God shines concentrated on that face, and we gaze on it without a veil and at peace; nay, the fact that it shines on the face of Him who gave Himself for me engages me to be occupied with the glory thus revealed. So it will be forever.
“The nations ... shall walk in the light of it.” There Christ is seen in the saints, who are the radiance of His glory to the nations below.
God reveals to us this scene where the Lamb’s glories dwell, to cheer and fill our hearts with its present sanctifying power and to give us a truer estimate of what the height of our calling is, as we see all that it now made good to faith and, in the power of the Holy Spirit, carried out to its full result in glory then.
F. G. Patterson, adapted