Audio Download

Rev 21:9-12 Who Shows Us The Bride, Part 2

[Study Aired July 20, 2025]

Rev 21:9  And 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 shew thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife.
Rev 21:10  And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,
Rev 21:11  Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;
Rev 21:12  And 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:

We paused our last study with the promise to give you the scriptures which demonstrate with the spirit and power (1Co 2:4) that we are now being judged and being crucified with Christ daily. As such, the angel with the seven last plagues which shows us this revelation of Jesus Christ signifies the church and the body of Christ. If these verses are true then judgment begins with us, and we are the first to be judged in this present time, and we are the first to die with Christ in this present age. Having been judged in this age, we will be raised up in “the resurrection of life” at the first resurrection at the beginning of the thousand-year reign of “our Lord and His Christ”(Rev 11:15).

Joh 5:28  Marvel not at this: for the hour is coming, in the which all that are in the graves shall hear his voice,
Joh 5:29  And shall come forth; they that have done good, unto the [first] resurrection of life; and they that have done evil, unto the resurrection of damnation [Greek: Krisis, judgment, the great white throne judgment].

Rev 11:15  And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

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?

Therefore, the great white throne judgment will not be judging us, and the lake of fire which is the second death will not hurt nor have power over us:

Rev 2:11  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

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.

The great white throne judgment/lake of fire is the second death:

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.
Rev 20:12  And I saw the dead, small and great, stand before God; and the books were opened: and another book was opened, which is the book of life: and the dead were judged out of those things which were written in the books, according to their works.
Rev 20:13  And the sea gave up the dead which were in it; and death and hell delivered up the dead which were in them: and they were judged every man according to their works.
Rev 20:14  And death and hell were cast into the lake of fire. This is the second death.

Here are just a few of the verses which make the point that the Lord’s elect are dying in this age and are being judged in this age:

Rom 6:3  Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized [Aorist tense] into Jesus Christ were baptized [Aorist tense] into his death?
Rom 6:4  Therefore we are buried with [Aorist tense] him by baptism into death: that like as Christ [the firstfruit] was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we [“a kind of firstfruits”, Jas 1:18] also should walk in newness of life.

1Co 15:31  I protest by your rejoicing which I have in Christ Jesus our Lord, I die daily.

Gal 2:20  I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me.

Jas 1:18  Of his own will begat he us with the word of truth, that we should be a kind of firstfruits [Rev 14:4] of his creatures.

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?

Rev 2:11  He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; He that overcometh shall not be hurt of the second death.

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.

This angel with one of the seven vials full of the wrath of God is you and me. This angel is the body of Christ and the church, which is His body. It is we who are given to show these things, “this mystery, to every man… in his own order.” It is you and me who are made aware that we must “read, hear, and keep” the things in this revelation:

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.

Knowing that this revelation is “the revelation of Jesus Christ” within each of us is what is called “the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world has been hid in God.”

Eph 3:9  And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:
Eph 3:10  To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,
Eph 3:11  According to the eternal purpose which he purposed in Christ Jesus our Lord:

This secret was “hid in God… from the beginning… to the intent that now by the church might be known the manifold wisdom of God… who will have all men to be saved” (1Ti 2:4).

That is what this angel is revealing to us:

Rev 19:10  And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God: for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy.

Our “fellow servant and our brothers that have the testimony of Jesus” signify “His body the church” (Col 1:24).

What does this angel, the body of Christ, show us?

Rev 21:10 And he carried me away in the spirit to a great and high mountain, and shewed me that great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God,

It is only “in the spirit” that we can see “that great city, the holy Jerusalem.” ‘Carried me away in the spirit’ and “showed me that great city’ are both in the aorist tense indicating that these things are ongoing. If we are this angel, God’s elect, and if we are fellowservants who keep the sayings of this prophecy, how are we carried away in the spirit, and how are we given to carry others away in the spirit to see these same things? To answer that question, it will help to know one of the Biblical definitions of what is the spirit. What is the spirit with which you and I are “carried away” and what is the spirit with which we, signified by this angel, carry others  away in the spirit? This is how that is accomplished by the spirit:

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.

There it is. It is the Word of God which carries His elect away to a great and high mountain, and it is only from that “great and high mountain” that we are given to see that great city, the holy Jerusalem.

Our next logical question should be, “what is this great and high mountain”.

Isa 2:2 And it shall come to pass in the last days, that the mountain of the LORD’S house shall be established in the top of the mountains, and shall be exalted above the hills; and all nations shall flow unto it.

Dan 2:35 Then was the iron, the clay, the brass, the silver, and the gold, broken to pieces together, and became like the chaff of the summer threshingfloors; and the wind carried them away, that no place was found for them: and the stone that smote the image became a great mountain, and filled the whole earth.

It is “the mountain of the Lord’s house” which smites the image on its feet and destroys that image. Where is this “house of the Lord?” Where is that mountain which destroys the image of our old man and becomes a kingdom which fills our whole earth? While there is indeed a dispensational application to these prophecies, if we do not first apply these prophecies inwardly while in these clay vessels, then we will not be given part in their dispensational application as resurrected spirits ruling with Christ over the kingdoms of this world (Rev 11:15). Here is the only place we will ever find “that great and high mountain and that great city, the holy Jerusalem.”

Luk 17:20 And when he was demanded of the Pharisees, when the kingdom of God should come, he answered them and said, The kingdom of God cometh not with observation:
Luk 17:21 Neither shall they say, Lo here! or, lo there! for, behold, the kingdom of God is [first] within you.

1Pe 2:5 Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices,acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.

Rev 2:26  And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end [of this age], to him will I give power over the nations:
Rev 2:27  And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father.

Rev 11:15  And the seventh angel sounded; and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of his Christ; and he shall reign for ever and ever.

There it is; “the great and high mountain”, the only place from which we are shown “that great city, the holy Jerusalem.” It is “the mountain of the Lord’s house” within all who abide in His Words in this age. What is that house? Once again we are forced by the Word of God to acknowledge that “the kingdom of God is within us”, and this revelation of Jesus Christ first takes place within us.

What are we to see within those who make up and comprise the holy Jerusalem?

Rev 21:11 Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal;

It is by “the glory of God: and her light like a stone most precious, clear as a crystal” that we see within “the mountain of the house of God”. What then is this “glory of God?”

Joh 12:20 And there were certain Greeks among them that came up to worship at the feast:
Joh 12:21 The same came therefore to Philip, which was of Bethsaida of Galilee, and desired him, saying, Sir, we would see Jesus.
Joh 12:22 Philip cometh and telleth Andrew: and again Andrew and Philip tell Jesus.
Joh 12:23 And Jesus answered them, saying, The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.
Joh 12:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
Joh 12:25 He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto life eternal.
Joh 12:26 If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.

“Certain Greeks” wanted to see Jesus, and Jesus’ answer was “The hour is come, that the Son of man should be glorified.” How is this answer related to the request of these Helenistic Jews to “see Jesus?” What Christ is telling Andrew and Philip is that the only way to really ‘see’ Him is in His glorified body as Paul made clear:

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

How would that be done? There is only one way to be glorified and “have the glory of God” as the bride of the Lamb. What is it that glorifies any man? Here it is for any and all who can receive it:

Joh 12:24 Verily, verily, I say unto you, Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.
Joh 12:25 He that loveth his life shall lose it; and he that hateth his life in this world shall keep it unto [glorified] life eternal.

This is how Christ is glorifying us:

Eph 5:25 Husbands, love your wives, even as Christ also loved the church, and gave himself for it;
Eph 5:26 That he might sanctify and cleanse it with the washing of water by the word,
Eph 5:27 That he might present it to himself a glorious [glorified] church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish.

It is “the washing of water by the Word” which cleanses and makes the bride of Christ glorious and glorified. What does that Word tell us will bring us glory?

Joh 12:26 If any man serve me, let him follow me; and where I am, there shall also my servant be: if any man serve me, him will my Father honour.
Joh 12:27 Now is my soul troubled; and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour: but for this cause came I unto this hour.
Joh 12:28 Father, glorify thy name. Then came there a voice from heaven, saying, I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.

How did God go about glorifying Christ? Here again is how He and we are glorified. This is how the holy Jerusalem is glorious within us.

Joh 13:30 He then [Judas] having received the sop went immediately out: and it was night.
Joh 13:31 Therefore, when he was gone out, Jesus said, Now is the Son of man glorified, and God is glorified in him.
Joh 13:32 If God be glorified in him, God shall also glorify him in himself, and shall straightway glorify him.

We always come back to the same Biblical definition of glory and being glorified, and that definition is always the same.

Rom 8:17 And if children, then heirs; heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; if so be that we suffer with him, that we may be also glorified together.

1Pe 4:14 If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you: on their part he is evil spoken of, but on your part he is glorified.

There is only one thing which will cause us to “suffer with and be reproached for the name of Christ” and that is to remain faithful to Him and His doctrine:

Mat 13:21  Yet hath he not root in himself, but dureth for a while: for when tribulation or persecution ariseth because of the word, by and by he is offended.

Joh 17:14  I have given them thy word; and the world hath hated them, because they are not of the world, even as I am not of the world.

Christ has given us His doctrine, and it is the act of being faithful to His doctrine which will cause us to be hated and persecuted of all men:

Mat 10:22  And ye shall be hated of all men for my name’s sake: but he that endureth to the end shall be saved.

Matthew 13:21 tells us that tribulation and persecution arises “because of the Word”.  John 17:14 warns us that the world will hate us because Christ “has given [us] His Word” and Matthew 10:22 assures us that we will be hated of all men “for [Christ’s] name sake”.

‘Christ’s name’s sake’ is just another way of saying “persecution arising because of [His] word”, because of His doctrine. It is that persecution and tribulation which tries our faith which to our heavenly Father is so precious, so pure and as clear as glass”, and so ‘glorious’.

Now we can much better understand this, our Lord’s statement:

Joh 17:10 And all mine are thine, and thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.

It is a rare person indeed who sees what this “glory of God” is and desires to attain to this glorified state. That is the very meaning of “having the glory of God…. being a stone most precious and being clear as crystal”.

Rev 21:11 Having the glory of God: and her light was like unto a stone most precious, even like a jasper stone, clear as crystal; [Glorious… having the glory of God]

It is the very fact that so few are given to appreciate this precious, rare and clear “glory of God”, which serves as “a wall great and high.”

This “high wall” is nothing but the very mind and ways of God, which walls out and closes the gates on the natural carnal minds of the masses of humanity who will just naturally choose the tree of the knowledge of good and evil over “the way of the tree of life.” So we are told:

Rev 21:12 And 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:

This is what is signified by “a wall great and high”.

Isa 55:8 For my thoughts are not your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways, saith the LORD.
Isa 55:9 For as the heavens are higher than the earth, so are my ways higher than your ways, and my thoughts than your thoughts.

It is God’s thoughts and His ways which form the “great and high wall” which surrounds the holy Jerusalem and makes us the bride… most precious… the Lamb’s wife. It is “the mind of Christ”, God’s ways that are so much higher than the ways of our natural man. It is Christ’s mind and His ways in His bride which also comprise the glory that is seen within that great city, which ‘city’ we are.

1Co 2:16  For who hath known the mind of the Lord, that he may instruct him? But we have the mind of Christ.

Php 2:5  Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus:

This ‘glory’, this crystal clear glory was not available to anyone until after Christ was glorified:

Joh 7:37  In the last day, that great day of the feast [signifying the events leading up to the great white throne judgment], Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink.
Joh 7:38  He that believeth on me, as the scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.
Joh 7:39  (But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) [Aorist tense, Had not yet been crucified and resurrected, which continues to take place within His body the church]

If Christ has taken up His residence in us then we, too, are ‘being glorified.’ Christ was ‘glorified’ through dying for our sins and our afflictions. We fill up what is behind of the afflictions of Christ for His body’s sake, which is the church, by enduring His persecutions and afflictions in our own bodies “because as He is so are we in this world.”

Col 1:24  Who now rejoice in my sufferings for you, and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh for his body’s sake, which is the church:

Our sufferings and afflictions are as much “for His body’s sake, which is the church” as the sufferings of Christ Himself because:

1Jn 4:17  Herein is our love made perfect, that we may have boldness in the day of judgment: because as he is, so are we in this world.

We just read in 1Peter 4:17 that “the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God” and now Paul tells us that our sufferings and afflictions are just as much for the church which is His body as the afflictions of Christ Himself… because as He is so are we in this world (1Jo 4:17).

The use here of the number twelve signifies to us that we are part of the very foundations of this great city, which will one day have within it all the glory of the spiritual Gentiles who now think of themselves as Jews, when they are not but do lie.

Rev 3:9 Behold, I will make them of the synagogue of Satan, which say they are Jews, and are not, but do lie; behold, I will make them to come and worship before thy feet, and to know that I have loved thee.

We have seen in our study on the twelve thousand which are from each of the twelve tribes of Israel in Revelation chapters 7 and 14, that those 144,000 are just one more symbol of those who are the Christ of Christ. The same is true for these twelve gates, entering into this holy city. Here is the URL to our study on the spiritual significance of the number 12:

Numbers: Twelve/

These twelve gates to the New Jerusalem are merely one more symbol of those to whom this entire prophecy is addressed. They are the elect of God, through whom all men of all time will come to our Lord and His Father.

Eph 3:8  Unto me, who am less than the least of all saints, is this grace given, that I should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ;
Eph 3:9  And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery, which from the beginning of the world hath been hid in God, who created all things by Jesus Christ:
Eph 3:10  To the intent that now unto the principalities and powers in heavenly places might be known by the church the manifold wisdom of God,

Here it is stated a clearly as it can be stated.

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.
Rev 3:13 He that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches.

The only pillars in the tabernacle of Moses were five pillars located at the door of the tabernacle, and another four pillars at the door of the holy of holies through which all men will come to God:

Exo 26:32 And thou shalt hang it upon four pillars of shittim wood overlaid with gold: their hooks shall be of gold, upon the four sockets of silver.
Exo 26:37 And thou shalt make for the hanging five pillars of shittim wood, and overlay them with gold, and their hooks shall be of gold: and thou shalt cast five sockets of brass for them.

Ours is the greatest calling that can be given to mankind. This city with its twelve gates are those who have ”the name of the city of God, which is new Jerusalem” written upon them, and as the 12,000 from each of the twelve tribes of Israel, we will also be the pillars through whom all mankind will be shown the mercy which we have been shown. Being a pillar in the temple of God is the same as being one of the twelve gates to “the city of my God, which is New Jerusalem which comes down out of heaven from my God.” It is through these pillars and these gates that all men will be saved:

Oba 1:21  And saviours shall come up on mount Zion to judge the mount of Esau; and the kingdom shall be the LORD’S.

Rom 11:30 For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:
Rom 11:31 Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy [12 gates] they also may obtain mercy.

The mercy of God upon all who come up at the great white throne judgment/lake of fire/second death will come through us as those twelve gates and those nine pillars, is made clear in the very next verse.

Rom 11:32 For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.

We are compelled to exclaim with the apostle:

Rom 11:33 O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!
Rom 11:34 For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?
Rom 11:35 Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?
Rom 11:36 For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

In our next study, if the Lord, wills we will look into the following verses:

Rev 21:13 On the east three gates; on the north three gates; on the south three gates; and on the west three gates.
Rev 21:14 And the wall of the city had twelve foundations, and in them the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.
Rev 21:15 And he that talked with me had a golden reed to measure the city, and the gates thereof, and the wall thereof.
Rev 21:16 And 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.