Audio Download

Rev 21:1-3 A Bride Adorned for Her Husband

[Study Aired July 6, 2025]

Rev 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
Rev 21:2 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 21:3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

Introduction

Our goal in this study, as it has been throughout, is to understand how a new heaven and a new earth are being formed within each of us, and how the first heaven and the first earth are passed away, and there is no more sea, in the sense that “the things written herein must shortly came to pass” with all those who “read, heard, and kept the things written here” two thousand years ago as well as those who read, hear, and keep the things written in this prophecy to this very day. We want to make clear that these words “are spirit… which will never pass away”, and therefore have been being kept by believers in every generation since Christ.

Rev 1:3 Blessed is he that readeth, and they that hear the words of this prophecy, and keep those things which are written therein: for the time is at hand.

Joh 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

Mat 24:33 So likewise ye, when ye shall see all these things, know that it is near, even at the doors.
Mat 24:34 Verily I say unto you, This generation shall not pass, till all these things be fulfilled.
Mat 24:35 Heaven and earth shall pass away, but my words shall not pass away.

Here are some of those words which have been being kept by those who have been reading and hearing them for the past two thousand years.

Rev 21:1 And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.

Is it possible that there is even now a new heaven and a new earth? As always these things we are to keep are to be seen as primarily spiritual and within “until the redemption of the purchased possession”.

Eph 1:11  In whom also we have obtained an inheritance, being predestinated according to the purpose of him who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will:
Eph 1:12  That we should be to the praise of his glory, who first trusted in Christ.
Eph 1:13  In whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,
Eph 1:14  Which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession, unto the praise of his glory.

Does the fact that our inheritance is just in “earnest… until the redemption of the purchased possession” mean that we simply do not really have it at this present time? That is what our flesh tells us, but what does the spirit tell us about how we are to perceive our heavens and our earth at this present time?

2Co 5:16  Wherefore henceforth [from this moment on] know we no man after the flesh: yea, though we have known Christ after the flesh, yet now henceforth know we him no more.

For  those to whom it is given to read, hear and keep these “things which are written [herein]”, this is how there is now a new heaven and a new earth”.

2Co 5:17 Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new.

Does “all things” include heaven? Should we really see ourselves as being in heaven?

Eph 2:6 and raised us up together and seated us together in the heavenlies in Christ Jesus, (LITV)

So when we who “keep the things written therein” read of a “new heaven and a new earth”, we are not to think only of a future event, but we ought also to think in terms of what Christ has accomplished within us.

Isa 65:17 For, behold, I create new heavens and a new earth: and the former shall not be remembered, nor come into mind.
Isa 65:18 But be ye glad and rejoice for ever in that which I create: for, behold, I create Jerusalem a rejoicing, and her people a joy.
Isa 65:19 And I will rejoice in Jerusalem, and joy in my people: and the voice of weeping shall be no more heard in her, nor the voice of crying.

This is what God is doing within us if we are this “Jerusalem” which He is creating. This is the end product of what God is doing now within His chosen few.

Isa 66:22 For as the new heavens and the new earth, which I will make, shall remain before me, saith the LORD, so shall your seed and your name remain.

What is the name given to those whose “seed will remain”?

Rev 3:12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.

These are words which we are to keep here and now (Rev 1:3). This “New Jerusalem” is to be understood as a present reality “in earnest” for God’s elect (Eph 1:14).

How does our Lord go about making “all things new” for all men who are “in Christ?” Here is how that is accomplished in every man in his own appointed and predestined time:

1Co 3:13 Every man’s work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man’s work of what sort it is.

“The day [which] shall… reveal by fire.. of what sort [our] works [are]” is the day of the Lord’s judgment, and this is when that day begins within His elect:

1Pe 4:17  For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God: and if it first begin at us, what shall the end be of them that obey not the gospel of God?

1Co 3:14 If any man’s work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
1Co 3:15 If any man’s work shall be burned, he shall suffer loss: but he himself shall be saved; yet so as by fire.
1Co 3:16 Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?
1Co 3:17 If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.

Which men have defiled the temple of God? Is it only sinners who do that? Yes, that is right; it is only sinners who defile the temple of God and who must, one and all, be destroyed. Who then must be destroyed?

Rom 3:23 For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God;

Rom 5:12 Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:

Rom 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

If “all have sinned” and if “the wages of sin is death”, how then is anyone saved? Here is how that is accomplished.

Rom 3:22 Even the righteousness of God which is by faith of Jesus Christ unto all and upon all them that believe: for there is no difference:

There it is. “There is no difference” between “all… and all them that believe”. So much for the heresy of Calvin that “all” here means only “all kinds of men”. Not so. If that were the case, the phrase “for there is no difference” would have no contrast at all. How would that then read? ‘… by faith of Jesus Christ unto all kinds of people, and upon all kinds of people, who believe, for there is no difference’??? The words “kinds of people” are not in the Greek and are not the point being made. What the point being made is is that “The righteousness of God is by the faith of Jesus Christ, and it is coming unto all, as well as to all believers, because there is no difference” between the process of salvation which is coming to all sinners, as well as “all who believe”. All will be judged, either now in this life, or else they will be judged in the lake of fire, called “the second death.” “There is no difference, because there is one event which destroys the old man in present believers, and then it is the very same event which will one day destroy the old man in all the rest of mankind, who will be “cast into the lake of fire.” It is all the same experience. It is simply experienced at a different time.

Ecc 9:2 All things come alike to all: there is one event to the righteous, and to the wicked; to the good and to the clean, and to the unclean; to him that sacrificeth, and to him that sacrificeth not: as is the good, so is the sinner; and he that sweareth, as he that feareth an oath.

So we are told that the overcomers of this life will be the first to enter into this symbolic city called “new Jerusalem”, and to serve as the channel, or agency, by which all unbelievers will be shown mercy and be brought to faith, to repentance and eventually brought into that city and into the family of God.

Rev 21:2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

God’s “elect… overcomers” have “in earnest” and “in the spirit” already been granted to “come unto” and to be the children of this “holy city, new Jerusalem”.

Gal 4:26 But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.

The reason this “holy city, new Jerusalem” is called our mother while Christ is called our “everlasting Father”, is that this New Jerusalem is Christ’s bride. This New Jerusalem is the Biblical symbol of “the church which is His body” but which is also His bride, His elect.

2Co 11:2 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

Heb 12:22 But ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of angels,

If we are God’s elect, then we are espoused to Him as “a chaste virgin” who is also called His bride.

Rev 21:2 And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.

It is this very same “new Jerusalem” which is symbolically said to be “written upon” those who are Christ’s bride, His elect.

Rev 3:12 Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.

In the final analysis whether we are a bride, a city or an overcomer, ‘the dream is one’ (Gen 41 :25-26) and all three symbols signify the greatest honor ever to be bestowed upon any person. One’s wedding is a very important day. ‘The dream is one’, and these symbols all signify the one Christ of Christ. Christ and His Father are dwelling within His first fruit elect for the purpose of using them to bring all the rest of mankind to themselves.

Joh 20:21  Then said Jesus to them again, Peace be unto you: as my Father hath sent me, even so send I you.

This is what Christ’s Father sent Him to accomplish:

Joh 3:17  For God sent not his Son into the world to condemn the world; but [He sent His Son into the world] that the world through him might be saved.

Rev 21:3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

This is first fruit of the 144,000 firstfruits unto God and the Lamb. God “tabernacles with them” first. Afterward it is also true of “a great multitude which no man can number”, who go through the same tribulations and wash their robes white in the same blood of the Lamb. These are two separate groups of mankind who are being saved. One is symbolically numbered as being 144,000. The other is “a great multitude, which no man could number”.

Rev 7:4 And I heard the number of them which were sealed: and there were sealed an hundred and forty and four thousand of all the tribes of the children of Israel.

Rev 7:9 After this I beheld, and, lo, a great multitude, which no man could number, of all nations, and kindreds, and people, and tongues, stood before the throne, and before the Lamb, clothed with white robes, and palms in their hands;

What we are not told in Rev 7:9 is that there is a symbolic thousand years between these 144,000 who are enthroned at the beginning of the thousand year reign of “our Lord and His Christ” and the appearance of this “great multitude which no man could number… when the thousand years are expired”.

Rev 20:4  And I saw thrones, and they sat upon them, and judgment was given unto them: and I saw the souls of them that were beheaded for the witness of Jesus, and for the word of God, and which had not worshipped the beast, neither his image, neither had received his mark upon their foreheads, or in their hands; and they lived and reigned with Christ a thousand years.
Rev 20:5  But the rest of the dead lived not again until the thousand years were finished. This is the first resurrection.
Rev 20:6  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.
Rev 20:7  And when the thousand years are expired, Satan shall be loosed out of his prison,
Rev 20:8  And shall go out to deceive the nations which are in the four quarters of the earth, Gog and Magog, to gather them together to battle: the number of whom is as the sand of the sea.
Rev 20:9  And they went up on the breadth of the earth, and compassed the camp of the saints about, and the beloved city: and fire came down from God out of heaven, and devoured them.
Rev 20:10  And the devil that deceived them was cast into the lake of fire and brimstone, where the beast and the false prophet are, and shall be tormented day and night for ever and ever.

The very next verse after informing us that the nations in the four quarters of the earth have been destroyed is that the goats stand before Christ, and they are being judged according to their works before the Great White Throne. The goats had no part in the “blessed and holy… first resurrection:

Rev 20:11  And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them.

We are given more revelation concerning these 144,000 in Rev 14.

Rev 14:1 And I looked, and, lo, a Lamb stood on the mount Sion, and with him an hundred forty and four thousand, having his Father’s name written in their foreheads.

Rev 14:4  These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.

Now notice what these 144,000 are called:

Rev 14:4 These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.

These 144,000 are ‘virgins’ and ‘firstfruits.’ They are not called the only fruits, they are distinguished as “firstfruits unto God and the lamb.” Who else is identified by these same symbols of a virgin and being firstfruits?

2Co 11:2 For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

Jas 1:18 Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits of his creatures.

Again, the dream is one, and the firstfruits and the virgin are just a couple of more symbols signifying those who will be the first to have Christ and His Father living within them, and who will rule and reign with Christ on this earth for a thousand years.

God will “judge the world”, and “all men will be saved”, and God will one day dwell within all of mankind who have ever lived.

Act 17:31 Because he hath appointed a day, in the which he will judge the world in righteousness by that man whom he hath ordained; whereof he hath given assurance unto all men, in that he hath raised him from the dead.

Heb 12:23 To the general assembly and church of the firstborn, which are written in heaven, and to God the Judge of all, and to the spirits of just men made perfect,

Here we have it again. It is called “the assembly of the firstborn”. It is not called ‘the assembly of the only born.’ So there is obviously a group in whom God dwells first. They are His numbered “firstfruits”, in whom He dwells before He dwells with the “great multitude which no man can number.”

1Co 15:22 For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
1Co 15:23 But every man in his own order: Christ the firstfruits; afterward they that are Christ’s at his coming.

“They that are Christ’s at His coming” are also called “a kind of firstfruits… unto God and the Lamb.” That is why Israel is given three seasons of harvest. The first of the firstfruits is called the barley harvest at the passover and the days of unleavened bread. This is where the wave sheaf of barley was waved before God as the offering of the first of the first fruits. The second harvest season is called both Pentecost and “the feast of firstfruits.” This harvest is in the summer. It is the harvest of the wheat. There is yet another harvest of the souls of mankind “in the end of the year.”

Exo 23:14  Three times thou shalt keep a feast unto me in the year.
Exo 23:15  Thou shalt keep the feast of unleavened bread: (thou shalt eat unleavened bread seven days, as I commanded thee, in the time appointed of the month Abib; for in it thou camest out from Egypt: and none shall appear before me empty:)
Exo 23:16  And the feast of harvest, the firstfruits of thy labours, which thou hast sown in the field: and the feast of ingathering, which is in the end of the year, when thou hast gathered in thy labours out of the field.
Exo 23:17  Three times in the year all thy males shall appear before the Lord GOD.

These are three festivals signify the “each in his own order” harvests to which the apostle Paul refers in 1 Corinthian 15:

1Co 15:22  For as in Adam all die, even so in Christ shall all be made alive.
1Co 15:23  But every man in his own order:[1] Christ the firstfruits; afterward [2] they that are Christ’s at his coming.
1Co 15:24  [3] Then cometh the end [of the year harvest, the great white throne], when he shall have delivered up the kingdom to God, even the Father; when he shall have put down all rule and all authority and power.
1Co 15:25 For he must reign, till he hath put all enemies under his feet.
1Co 15:26 The last enemy that shall be destroyed is death.

Christ is the first of the firstfruits. He is the wave sheaf which is offered to His Father during the days of unleavened bread. Fifty days later, the two loaves are to be offered “with leaven”, and they are also called “firstfruits unto the Lord.”

Lev 23:15  And ye shall count unto you from the morrow after the sabbath, from the day that ye brought the sheaf of the wave offering; seven sabbaths shall be complete:
Lev 23:16  Even unto the morrow after the seventh sabbath shall ye number fifty days; and ye shall offer a new meat offering unto the LORD.
Lev 23:17  Ye shall bring out of your habitations two wave loaves of two tenth deals: they shall be of fine flour; they shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the LORD.

“They shall be baken with leaven; they are the firstfruits unto the Lord” seems to the casual reader to contradict:

Lev 2:11  No meat offering, which ye shall bring unto the LORD, shall be made with leaven: for ye shall burn no leaven, nor any honey, in any offering of the LORD made by fire.

The next verse clarifies this apparent contradiction:

Lev 2:12  As for the oblation of the firstfruits, ye shall offer them unto the LORD: but they shall not be burnt on the altar for a sweet savour.

“Not be… for a sweet savour” is the point. The firstfruits unto the Lord are the trespass offering as His body. It is Christ, but not His head.

This “New Jerusalem” is both “the body of Christ” and “chaste virgin… bride”:

2Co 11:2  For I am jealous over you with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ.

The “New Jerusalem” is another name for the 144,000 firstfruits unto God and the Lamb:

Rev 14:4  These are they which were not defiled with women; for they are virgins. These are they which follow the Lamb whithersoever he goeth. These were redeemed from among men, being the firstfruits unto God and to the Lamb.

The “New Jerusalem” is another signification of the four beasts and the four and twenty elders who were also redeemed from among men:

Rev 5:8  And when he had taken the book, the four beasts and four and twenty elders fell down before the Lamb, having every one of them harps, and golden vials full of odours, which are the prayers of saints.
Rev 5:9  And they sung a new song, saying, Thou art worthy to take the book, and to open the seals thereof: for thou wast slain, and hast redeemed us to God by thy blood out of every kindred, and tongue, and people, and nation;

Again and again the Lord is telling us just how special we are to Him, and He is showing us how integral we are to His plan and His purpose. He identifies with us to the extent that just as the whole creation was created for Him He is working all things together for our good:

Rom 8:28  And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.

We are that “bride [who He has] adorned for her Husband, and in whom He dwells:

Rev 21:1  And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away; and there was no more sea.
Rev 21:2  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 21:3  And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.

Rom 8:31  What shall we then say to these things? If God be for us, who can be against us?
Rom 8:32  He that spared not his own Son, but delivered him up for us all, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things?