Who is the Bride? Are we a Groom?
A Written compostion of the Heavenly Calling Network Study Group

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Who is the Bride? Are we a Groom?
Who is the Bride? And are we expoused to Him? Perhaps we are part of the Groom? These questions enter in our minds very often and are questions that need to be considered in their dispensational settings.  The bride is definately Israel for it says this in the book of Revelation chapter 21 verse 2,
I John saw the New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven, prepared AS A BRIDE ADORNED FOR HER HUSBAND...
The New Jerusalem is the hope of believing Israel in the new heaven and new earth.The bride is espoused to Jehovah, Israel's Husband. There are any number of verses in the OT that shows us that Jehovah is the husband of Israel. All you would need to do is look up the word husband in your concordance.

We might be asking ourselves that when we read Revelation chapter 21 verse 2 that this is speaking of a Mountain, a Great City that is coming down from heaven and not at all about people. And another question we might have is where did these people for this city come from? Were they resurrected?

The fact is, the bride simply cannot be reserved to just those alive at the end of the tribulation for Jesus Christ came as the bridegroom a few thousand years in the past. And it was of that present day congregation of which  Paul spoke to the members that were at Corinth of his eagerness to present them as spiritual virgins to Christ the husband (2 Corinthians 11:2). However, Scripture indicates that the bride company will not be ready until the very end of the age, not only in total numbers but also in maturity. He’s coming back for a bride without spot or wrinkle. She will be the people of a heavenly city whose gates stand for the twelve tribes of Israel and whose foundation stones stand for the twelve apostles (Revelation 21:12-14). This indicates that the saints of Old Testament Israel are included in the bride company.

The Great writer of Hebrews adds to us in chapter 11 this,

And all these, having gained approval through their faith, did not receive what was promised, because God had provided something better for us, so that apart from us they should not be made perfect. Therefore, since we have so great a cloud of witnesses surrounding us, let us also lay aside every encumbrance, and the sin which so easily entangles us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us (Hebrews 11:39-12:1).

Now in the Jewish context of marriage, the groom was always responsible to provide a suitable home for the bride. One of Jesus's purposes when He returned to Heaven at the Ascension was to prepare a place for the Bride, as revealed in John 14:1-3:

Let not your heart be troubled: believe in God, believe also in me. In my Father’s house are many mansions; if it were not so, I would have told you; for I go to prepare a place for you. And if I go and prepare a place for you, I come again, and will receive you unto myself; that where I am, there ye may be also.

That place is known in scriptures as the New Jerusalem. And herein lies the application: that Jesus is even now preparing a suitable home for that congregation. The principal Scripture revealing this is Revelation 21:9-22:5, where John is able to see the home of the Bride. Verses 9-10 state:

And there came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls, who were laden with the seven last plagues; and he spake with me, saying, Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the wife of the Lamb. And 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, ...

According to verse nine, the Bride is now also the wife of the Lamb, because by this time the wedding ceremony and the wedding feast have taken place, and they have been married for a thousand years. After the thousand year Kingdom, John next sees the eternal home of the Bride (v. 10), and the eternal abode of the Bride is the New Jerusalem. Then John gives the details of the New Jerusalem (21:11-22:5), which will be the home of the Bride.

So is the present day congregation or church part of the bride? The answer is simply No. The Bride is Israel and all those who belong to that company. Then if we are not the bride then we must be the groom.  The answer again is simply No. How do we know that? Because the bride is Israel in the New Jerusalem which comes DOWN to the ground. The present day congregation or church is in heavenly places. When we read the scriptures we might get the idea that we are a part of the groom because of the fact that the present day congregation or church is the body of Christ and Christ, who by the way is the manifestation of Jehovah,  is the groom.

It would be very dangerous for anyone to mix these metaphores in scripture. For example, in Deut. 16 it is said that God is the Father of Israel. But then later in the same exact chapter this same God becomes Her Husband. I'm sure you see the point. Also, these things must be considered in their dispensational setting. That is to say, the church is called in the dispensation of the mystery and should not be mixed and matched with Israel which is called out in the dispensaiton of law. The wife is believing Israel which, when all things become new in the new heaven and new earth, becomes the bride. Israel is truly the wife of Jehovah until all things become new, at which time She becomes His bride.