I hope you enjoyed a wonderful celebration of the Feast of Weeks, the Day of Pentecost!
There is a scripture in Revelation chapter 19 which states, “Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready” (Rev 19:7).
Who is the wife of the Lamb? And how does she make herself ready?
Most people would automatically state that the church, the body of Messiah, is His wife. But in chapter 21:2 we’re told, “And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (Rev 21:2). Is the bride of Messiah the assembly of the saints or is it the New Jerusalem?
What is New Jerusalem?
Walls 1,500 miles long, wide and high, it is like no physical structure man could ever conceive. At 1,500 miles high this is 6 times higher than the International Space Station and 300 times higher than Mount Everest. The walls are made of gold. If each wall was just one standard house brick wide and the entire structure was totally hollow we would need almost 50 trillion tons of gold to build it!
There is also an apparent contradiction between Revelation chapter 3 and chapter 21. In chapter 3 Y’HoWShUA tells us that we will be pillars in the temple of The Mighty One. Yet in chapter 21 we are told that there is no temple in the New Jerusalem. If the scripture cannot be broken, how do we reconcile these two statements?
How does the bride make herself ready?
Once we understand who the bride is we are then in a better position to understand how she is to be made ready. And more importantly, the admonition on us to do our part in preparing the bride of Messiah so that we may be counted amongst the wise virgins who we’re ready for the arrival of the bridegroom!
There is also a reference to the bride and groom coming out of their chambers in Joel chapter 2. Joel 2 is an end time prophecy and the statement about the bridegroom and His bride is a clear reference to the return of Messiah in the time of the end.
Joel 2 was the basis of Peter’s first sermon which he gave on the Day of Pentecost. It was that day that YHWH poured out His Spirit on the New Testament assembly and this in turn gives us a clue as to how His wife needs to be made ready.
Please watch the whole message “His Wife Has Made Herself Ready” to get answers to all the questions raised here. If you have any questions about this message or would like to suggest other subjects for future messages, please feel free to contact me because I am always pleased to explore new study areas for these messages.