Who is the Wife, the Bride, the Virgin?

[1whirlwind]

We are told of the wife and the bride, who is "the virgin" before she becomes the bride. What are their/our roles? Who is the wife or the bride?

Revelation 21:9-10 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. 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.
​

The bride IS the holy city Jerusalem. A literal city? No, those that are the bride are the city.

Isaiah 62:1 For Zion's sake will I not hold My peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation therof as a lamp that burneth. (5) For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.
​

The virgin is the bride is Jerusalem. The young man/man child are the sons are Zion. The bridegroom is Christ that rejoices over His children....Zion and Jerusalem.

Leviticus 21:13-14 And he shall take a wife in her virginity. A widow, or a divorced woman, or profane, or an harlot, these shall he not take: but he shall take a virgin of his own people to wife.
​

The "virgin of his own people" will be the bride and the bride will be...the wife. The "young man," the man child, will marry the virgin, (Zion and Jerusalem).

1 Corinthians 7:32-34 But I would have you without carefulness. He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord: But he that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife. There is difference also between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit: but she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please her husband.

2 Corinthians 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.
​

Spiritually speaking....we, whether we are the man child or the virgin, Zion or Jerusalem, are to remain virgins to be married to our One Husband....Christ. Then, the virgin bride becomes the wife. The virgin (male and female) "careth for the things that belong to the Lord."

Deuteronomy 32:25 The sword without, and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling also with the man of gray hairs.
​

The "sword without" I believe is deception, twisted teaching of God's Sword...His Holy Word. The "terror within" is, I believe, our carnal natures believing the "sword without." It shall destroy many, including the man child and virgin. They are of the elect but nevertheless....some shall be destroyed. Is this being physically destroyed and not spiritually or...is it both?

Lamentations 1:18 The LORD is righteous; for I have rebelled against his commandment: hear, I pray you, all people, and behold my sorrow: my virgins and my young men are gone into captivity.

Amos 8:11-13 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: And they shall wander from sea to sea, from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it. In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst.
​

Are those days here now? Are we in captivity to false teaching, to not hearing His Word. Those that love Him hunger for His truths and seek it but instead...they faint for thirst. They/we must seek it from our Father and "take the water of life freely"...not from man, nor by searching from sea to sea.

As we've been shown, the man child is different from the virgin....they are two different groups, Zion and Jerusalem, that shall be joined. Are the two witnesses...the man child and the virgin? The Spirit speaks from them and...their destiny is foretold.

Revelation 22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.

Revelation 11:7-8 And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.

Lamentations 2:21 The young and the old lie on the ground in the streets: my virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword; thou hast slain them in the day of thine anger; thou hast killed, and not pitied.
​

They will testify, allowing the Holy Spirit to speak through them and....they shall fall.

Revelation 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. (3-4) And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. 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.
​

Christ, the Lamb, stands on mount Sion, the spiritual mount Zion. Christ is in His elect, in His man child, in His Zion. And with them is the virgin...the bride. Has the wedding taken place? Has Zion joined Jerusalem, the man child the bride?

Joel 2:16 Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet.

1 Corinthians 7:28 But and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned; and if a virgin marry, she hath not sinned. Nevertheless such shall have trouble in the flesh: but I spare you.
​

When the virgin becomes the bride they "shall have trouble in the flesh" for they shall be delivered to death...in order to allow the Spirit to speak through them which confronts death...Satan. Not all virgins will become the bride.

Matthew 25:1 Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.
​

All ten of the virgins (the ten lost tribes of Israel...Christians) are of the kingdom and as such are promised to, and love the groom. But, as the parable tells us, they don't have enough oil (truth). They will follow the imposter, the fake christ. These virgins will not be the bride, will not become the wife. Only those that marry Him...becoming the bride, will "have trouble in the flesh." But, if we are sons of God...this trouble must happen, this scourging (Hebrews 12:6/666) by Satan/death, happens as the witnesses testify for Him.

 

[Bible2]

1whirlwind:
Who is the Wife, the Bride, the Virgin?

The church is figuratively the wife/bride of Jesus Christ the Lamb: "For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church" (Ephesians 5:30-32).

At the same time, the church can be figuratively referred to as a virgin who has been espoused to Christ: "for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ" (2 Corinthians 11:2).

The bride IS the holy city Jerusalem.

New Jerusalem is called the bride of Christ (Revelation 21:9-10) only insofar as its physical structure is modeled after the figurative structure of the church (Revelation 21:12-14).

A literal city? No, those that are the bride are the city.

New Jerusalem is a literal city; it's the Father's house (John 14:2, Revelation 21:3), which is now in heaven, and will not descend to the earth until after a new earth has been created (Revelation 21:1-4). That is when all those in the church who were obedient will physically enter into the gates of New Jerusalem and live there forever with God on the new earth (Revelation 22:14, Revelation 21:24-22:5).

Spiritually speaking....we, whether we are the man child or the virgin, Zion or Jerusalem, are to remain virgins to be married to our One Husband....Christ.

Regarding the "man child" who will be caught up to the throne of God mid-tribulation (Revelation 12:5-6), that refers figuratively to only the part of the church which consists of 144,000 literal male virgins (Revelation 14:4-5).

Has the wedding taken place?

The wedding of the church to Jesus Christ referred to in Revelation 19:7 will not occur until after the coming tribulation of Revelation chapters 6-18 is over. At the second coming of Jesus, he will first resurrect and rapture the church to have a meeting with him in the sky (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). At that meeting, Jesus will judge the church (Psalms 50:4-5, cf. Mark 13:27) and then marry the church (Revelation 19:7) in the sky, before the church mounts white horses and comes back down from the sky (the first heaven) with Jesus (Revelation 19:14) as he defeats the Antichrist (the beast) and all the unsaved armies of the world (Revelation 19:15-21). Jesus will then make the wedding supper of Revelation 19:9 for the just-resurrected-and-married-church in the earthly Jerusalem (Isaiah 25:6-9; 1 Corinthians 15:54). Jesus and the church will then reign on the earth for 1,000 years (Revelation 20:4-6, 5:10, 2:26-29).

 

[1whirlwind]

The church is figuratively the wife/bride of Jesus Christ the Lamb: "For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church" (Ephesians 5:30-32).

At the same time, the church can be figuratively referred to as a virgin who has been espoused to Christ: "for I have espoused you to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ" (2 Corinthians 11:2).

Did you notice that there is a difference given in the wife and the bride/virgin? Both are the holy city Jerusalem but one is Zion.

New Jerusalem is called the bride of Christ (Revelation 21:9-10) only insofar as its physical structure is modeled after the figurative structure of the church (Revelation 21:12-14).



New Jerusalem is a literal city; it's the Father's house (John 14:2, Revelation 21:3), which is now in heaven, and will not descend to the earth until after a new earth has been created (Revelation 21:1-4). That is when all those in the church who were obedient will physically enter into the gates of New Jerusalem and live there forever with God on the new earth (Revelation 22:14, Revelation 21:24-22:5).

We are the house, we are the temple, we are the holy city.

Regarding the "man child" who will be caught up to the throne of God mid-tribulation (Revelation 12:5-6), that refers figuratively to only the part of the church which consists of 144,000 literal male virgins (Revelation 14:4-5).

If we are the man child we are caught up to Him spiritually before our physical life ends. We are translated into His kingdom, "caught up unto God and to His throne," while we live in this flesh body. We are of the first resurrection and therefore will "not see death," as Enoch.

Colossians 1:13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:

Hebrews 11:5 By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.
​

As far as....."that refers figuratively to only the part of the church which consists of 144,000 literal male virgins (Revelation 14:4-5)." That is incorrect. "Men" as used there is "anthropos = an individual of the Genus Homo; a human being as distinct from animals." It is inclusive of both male and female for in Christ...

Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
​

The verse isn't saying we, male or female, are literal virgins but rather are spiritual virgins...promised to One husband.

The wedding of the church to Jesus Christ referred to in Revelation 19:7 will not occur until after the coming tribulation of Revelation chapters 6-18 is over. At the second coming of Jesus, he will first resurrect and rapture the church to have a meeting with him in the sky (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). At that meeting, Jesus will judge the church (Psalms 50:4-5, cf. Mark 13:27) and then marry the church (Revelation 19:7) in the sky, before the church mounts white horses and comes back down from the sky (the first heaven) with Jesus (Revelation 19:14) as he defeats the Antichrist (the beast) and all the unsaved armies of the world (Revelation 19:15-21). Jesus will then make the wedding supper of Revelation 19:9 for the just-resurrected-and-married-church in the earthly Jerusalem (Isaiah 25:6-9; 1 Corinthians 15:54). Jesus and the church will then reign on the earth for 1,000 years (Revelation 20:4-6, 5:10, 2:26-29).

There is much in this that should be seen with spiritual eyes. They are not to be understood in the literal sense.

 

[pilgrimage]

Did you notice that there is a difference given in the wife and the bride/virgin? Both are the holy city Jerusalem but one is Zion.

The wife is OT and the bride is NT. Wife=law bride=grace
Gal 4
24These things may be taken figuratively, for the women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar. 25Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. 26But the Jerusalem that is above is free, and she is our mother.

New Jerusalem is called the bride of Christ (Revelation 21:9-10) only insofar as its physical structure is modeled after the figurative structure of the church (Revelation 21:12-14).

Rev 10And he carried me away in the Spirit to a mountain great and high, and showed me the Holy City, Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God.
This shows the new city (New Jerusalem that is above) as still not touching the earth, there is no one foot on land and one foot on sea as descibed in other verses of Rev. So the place of dwelling for the overcoming priests is still above. The reconstructed old Jerusalem is still below where the nations still go thru the process to learn what the sacrifices are for. They are ruled by the kings, perhaps the virgins who slept but had been waiting nonetheless, only lacking in a bit of oil.

If we are the man child we are caught up to Him spiritually before our physical life ends. We are translated into His kingdom, "caught up unto God and to His throne," while we live in this flesh body. We are of the first resurrection and therefore will "not see death," as Enoch.

That also includes those who had died in Christ, they are the first installment of the first resurrection

Colossians 1:13 Who hath delivered us from the power of darkness, and hath translated us into the kingdom of his dear Son:
Hebrews 11:5 By faith Enoch was translated that he should not see death; and was not found, because God had translated him: for before his translation he had this testimony, that he pleased God.

As far as....."that refers figuratively to only the part of the church which consists of 144,000 literal male virgins (Revelation 14:4-5)." That is incorrect. "Men" as used there is "anthropos = an individual of the Genus Homo; a human being as distinct from animals." It is inclusive of both male and female for in Christ...

They would be those who came out of the tribulation.

Galatians 3:28 There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither bond nor free, there is neither male nor female: for ye are all one in Christ Jesus.
The verse isn't saying we, male or female, are literal virgins but rather are spiritual virgins...promised to One husband.

The wedding of the church to Jesus Christ referred to in Revelation 19:7 will not occur until after the coming tribulation of Revelation chapters 6-18 is over. At the second coming of Jesus, he will first resurrect and rapture the church to have a meeting with him in the sky (1 Thessalonians 4:16-17). At that meeting, Jesus will judge the church (Psalms 50:4-5, cf. Mark 13:27) and then marry the church (Revelation 19:7) in the sky, before the church mounts white horses and comes back down from the sky (the first heaven) with Jesus (Revelation 19:14) as he defeats the Antichrist (the beast) and all the unsaved armies of the world (Revelation 19:15-21). Jesus will then make the wedding supper of Revelation 19:9 for the just-resurrected-and-married-church in the earthly Jerusalem (Isaiah 25:6-9; 1 Corinthians 15:54). Jesus and the church will then reign on the earth for 1,000 years (Revelation 20:4-6, 5:10, 2:26-29).

correct

 

[Kristos]

the one who searches and finds the missing coin with the image of the King.

 

[itisdeliciouscake]

it's bad exegesis to make an extended allegory out of different metaphors and parables from the Bible

 

[pilgrimage]

it's bad exegesis to make an extended allegory out of different metaphors and parables from the Bible

There has been a definate roudup of scripture to include all different passages of virgins, etc.
But as far as the NT teachings go the virgin and bride only mean one thing and that relates to Christ, the bridegrom. (the only exception being the bride and groom of the wedding where water was turned to wine)
And there's no denying that the wife of the OT refered to Israel

 

[zeke37]

We are told of the wife and the bride, who is "the virgin" before she becomes the bride. What are their/our roles? Who is the wife or the bride?

Revelation 21:9-10 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. 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.
​

The bride IS the holy city Jerusalem. A literal city? No, those that are the bride are the city.

Isaiah 62:1 For Zion's sake will I not hold My peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest, until the righteousness thereof go forth as brightness, and the salvation therof as a lamp that burneth. (5) For as a young man marrieth a virgin, so shall thy sons marry thee: and as the bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee.
​

The virgin is the bride is Jerusalem. The young man/man child are the sons are Zion. The bridegroom is Christ that rejoices over His children....Zion and Jerusalem.

Leviticus 21:13-14 And he shall take a wife in her virginity. A widow, or a divorced woman, or profane, or an harlot, these shall he not take: but he shall take a virgin of his own people to wife.
​

The "virgin of his own people" will be the bride and the bride will be...the wife. The "young man," the man child, will marry the virgin, (Zion and Jerusalem).

1 Corinthians 7:32-34 But I would have you without carefulness. He that is unmarried careth for the things that belong to the Lord, how he may please the Lord: But he that is married careth for the things that are of the world, how he may please his wife. There is difference also between a wife and a virgin. The unmarried woman careth for the things of the Lord, that she may be holy both in body and in spirit: but she that is married careth for the things of the world, how she may please her husband.

2 Corinthians 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.
​

Spiritually speaking....we, whether we are the man child or the virgin, Zion or Jerusalem, are to remain virgins to be married to our One Husband....Christ. Then, the virgin bride becomes the wife. The virgin (male and female) "careth for the things that belong to the Lord."

Deuteronomy 32:25 The sword without, and terror within, shall destroy both the young man and the virgin, the suckling also with the man of gray hairs.
​

The "sword without" I believe is deception, twisted teaching of God's Sword...His Holy Word. The "terror within" is, I believe, our carnal natures believing the "sword without." It shall destroy many, including the man child and virgin. They are of the elect but nevertheless....some shall be destroyed. Is this being physically destroyed and not spiritually or...is it both?

Lamentations 1:18 The LORD is righteous; for I have rebelled against his commandment: hear, I pray you, all people, and behold my sorrow: my virgins and my young men are gone into captivity.

Amos 8:11-13 Behold, the days come, saith the Lord GOD, that I will send a famine in the land, not a famine of bread, nor a thirst for water, but of hearing the words of the LORD: And they shall wander from sea to sea, from the north even to the east, they shall run to and fro to seek the word of the LORD, and shall not find it. In that day shall the fair virgins and young men faint for thirst.
​

Are those days here now? Are we in captivity to false teaching, to not hearing His Word. Those that love Him hunger for His truths and seek it but instead...they faint for thirst. They/we must seek it from our Father and "take the water of life freely"...not from man, nor by searching from sea to sea.

As we've been shown, the man child is different from the virgin....they are two different groups, Zion and Jerusalem, that shall be joined. Are the two witnesses...the man child and the virgin? The Spirit speaks from them and...their destiny is foretold.

Revelation 22:17 And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that heareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely.

Revelation 11:7-8 And when they shall have finished their testimony, the beast that ascendeth out of the bottomless pit shall make war against them, and shall overcome them, and kill them. And their dead bodies shall lie in the street of the great city, which spiritually is called Sodom and Egypt, where also our Lord was crucified.

Lamentations 2:21 The young and the old lie on the ground in the streets: my virgins and my young men are fallen by the sword; thou hast slain them in the day of thine anger; thou hast killed, and not pitied.
​

They will testify, allowing the Holy Spirit to speak through them and....they shall fall.

Revelation 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. (3-4) And they sung as it were a new song before the throne, and before the four beasts, and the elders: and no man could learn that song but the hundred and forty and four thousand, which were redeemed from the earth. 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.
​

Christ, the Lamb, stands on mount Sion, the spiritual mount Zion. Christ is in His elect, in His man child, in His Zion. And with them is the virgin...the bride. Has the wedding taken place? Has Zion joined Jerusalem, the man child the bride?

Joel 2:16 Gather the people, sanctify the congregation, assemble the elders, gather the children, and those that suck the breasts: let the bridegroom go forth of his chamber, and the bride out of her closet.

1 Corinthians 7:28 But and if thou marry, thou hast not sinned; and if a virgin marry, she hath not sinned. Nevertheless such shall have trouble in the flesh: but I spare you.
​

When the virgin becomes the bride they "shall have trouble in the flesh" for they shall be delivered to death...in order to allow the Spirit to speak through them which confronts death...Satan. Not all virgins will become the bride.

Matthew 25:1 Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likened unto ten virgins, which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.
​

All ten of the virgins (the ten lost tribes of Israel...Christians) are of the kingdom and as such are promised to, and love the groom. But, as the parable tells us, they don't have enough oil (truth). They will follow the imposter, the fake christ. These virgins will not be the bride, will not become the wife. Only those that marry Him...becoming the bride, will "have trouble in the flesh." But, if we are sons of God...this trouble must happen, this scourging (Hebrews 12:6/666) by Satan/death, happens as the witnesses testify for Him.

you gave me a few things to think on...
I've been thinking of the New Jerusalem....


thx.