Who is the bride, the Lamb’s wife, mentioned in Rev. 21:9? H. P. The context itself answers the question very clearly and decidedly. The angel said to John, “Come hither, and I will show thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife.” And the next verse states, “And 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.” What then is the bride, the Lamb’s wife? There can be but one answer, and that is, The heavenly Jerusalem. This is in harmony with other scriptures. See verse 2 of the same chapter: “And I John saw the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.” Isa. 9:6 calls Christ the everlasting Father. Paul declares, in Gal. 4:26, “Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.” Christ the Father, Jerusalem the mother, and God’s people the children. Again, of the overcomer it is said, “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.” He will bear the name of the Father, of whom every family in heaven and earth is named; he will bear the name of Christ his everlasting Father; he will bear the name of the mother, New Jerusalem. This may be made a little clearer by referring to Isa. 54:5: “For thy Maker is thine husband; the Lord of Hosts is His name; and thy Redeemer the Holy One of Israel. The God of the whole earth shall He be called.” And in Isaiah 62 the Lord refers to that same city, now uninhabited by her children: “Thou shalt no more be termed Forsaken; neither shall thy land any more be termed Desolate: but thou shalt be called Hephzi-bah, and thy land Beulah: for the Lord delighteth in thee, and thy land shall be married.” “Hephzi-bah” means, “My delight is in her;” and “Beulah” means “married.” The figure is that of a king taking his kingdom. Christ will receive the whole earth as His kingdom. He the King, the earth the kingdom; but the capital city represents the earth, and that capital city of the new earth is the New Jerusalem represented as a bride receiving her husband. We would not have our correspondent understand from the above that bride, used as a figure, always represents the city of God. Sometimes the individual Christian is referred to as the bride, uniting with Christ through the ceremony of baptism, and sometimes the church is represented as a chaste virgin espoused to Christ; but the figure used in the 21st chapter of Revelation without question refers to the taking of the new earth kingdom by our Lord Jesus Christ, in which the great capital city of that kingdom is represented as the bride. 2988.—What Flesh Did Our Lord Take?
Did our Lord take sinful flesh, as our flesh, or did He take a flesh as Adam had before he fell? SUBSCRIBER. This is not a difficult question to answer, because the Word is very clear and emphatic. First we read in Rom. 8:3 that God sent His own Son in the likeness of sinful flesh. We read in Gal. 4:4, “When the fulness of the time came, God sent forth His Son, born of a woman, born under the law.” We have no reason to suppose that Mary was not like other women, better through faith in God than many, doubtless, but still a mortal, fallible woman. We read again in Heb. 2:14, “Since then the children [not Adam] are sharers in flesh and blood, He also Himself in like manner partook of the same; that through death He might bring to naught him that had the power of death, that is, the devil.” Then in verses 17, 18: “Wherefore it behooved Him in all things to be made like unto His brethren, that He might become a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people. For in that He Himself hath suffered being tempted, He is able to succor them that are tempted.” His brethren were sinful children, those who needed to have their sins propitiated, those who needed a priest, those who needed mercy; Jesus was made in all things like unto them. And therefore, in the language of Hebrews 4, “We have not an High Priest that can not be touched with the feeling of our infirmities; but one that hath been in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin.” He did not yield to the sin. He conquered sin in sinful flesh, and therefore is able to conquer it in our sinful flesh if we will but give Him place there. But one more testimony “concerning His Son, who was born of the seed of David according to the flesh.” Rom. 1:3, 4. Certainly the seed of David did have sinful flesh. Through a long line of ancestry this was demonstrated repeatedly, that they were prone to sin. This gives tremendous point and force to Heb. 10:5: “Sacrifice and offering Thou wouldest not, but a body didst Thou prepare for Me.” When the Son of God “gave Himself” to be a Saviour for mankind, He took upon Himself all the infirmities, all the sins, of mankind, and the infinite God prepared for Him a body in which all the temptations which come to mankind would appeal, so that He was tempted in all things. Not one single soul ever met a temptation upon this earth, but that that temptation was met by Jesus of Nazareth in that body prepared for that purpose. But in it all He conquered, in order that He might help every one who was tempted in any way. Must we believe that mustard-seed is really the smallest of seed in the world and the largest of trees, or was it the smallest in the days of our Lord? SUBSCRIBER. The better way to understand it is given by Mark 4:31 in the American Revised Version: “It is like a grain of mustard-seed, which, when it is sown upon the earth, though it be less than all the seeds that are upon the earth, yet when it is sown, groweth up, and becometh greater than all the herbs, and putteth out great branches; so that the birds of the heaven can lodge under the shadow thereof.” Not but that there are seeds smaller, but it is among the very smallest seeds. The species of mustard which grew there may have had smaller seeds than that which we have here. They would naturally be considered among the smallest seeds that men sowed. Mustard is among the greatest of herbs. It may seem like a California story, yet we have seen mustard grow in the spring-time in California, within the space of between two and three months, fourteen feet high, with quite large branches. The stalk was about two inches in diameter at the root. Birds of the air can very easily lodge on its branches. 2990.—The Coming of Christ
Please explain Titus 2:13. Does it mean that the Father will be coming with the Son in the clouds of heaven? Does any of our Lord’s parables teach that They both will be coming? SUBSCRIBER. No. The better way to understand that is in the light of Matt. 16:27: “For the Son of Man shall come in the glory of His Father with His angels.” Therefore when Jesus comes in the glory of the Father with all His holy angels, He will manifest to the world the glory of God the Father. The American Revised Version of Titus 2:13 reads, “Looking for the blessed hope and appearing of the glory of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ.” Christ will be the bearer of that glory.