In March and April I began a series of posts from volumes which present Experiencing, Enjoying, and Expressing Christ through the whole New Testament (details here). This post resumes the quotes from this publication.
The whole Bible speaks concerning the bride and the wife. The first wife in the whole universe was Eve. In Ezekiel 23 the children of Israel are referred to as the wife of Jehovah (vv. 1-4). In John 3 all the regenerated believers are the bride of Christ to be His increase, His enlargement (vv. 29-30). In Ephesians 5 the church is the wife of Christ, and in 2 Corinthians 11:2 the believers have been engaged, or betrothed, to Christ as their Husband. In Revelation 19:7-9 there is a universal wedding day, the marriage of the Lamb. Finally, in the last two chapters of the Bible there is the wife of the Lamb. Revelation 21:2 tells us that the New Jerusalem is prepared as a bride adorned for her husband, and verse 9 refers to the New Jerusalem as the bride, the wife of the Lamb. The Lamb is the embodiment of the Triune God, and the wife is the consummation of all the saints.
Adam is a type/a figure/a symbol of Christ (Romans 5:14). God put Adam into a deep sleep, took a rib from Adam, with it He built Eve, then God presented Eve to Adam. These actions portray the death and resurrection of Christ from which the eternal life flowed out to produce the church as His bride to be presented to Him. Ephesians 5:25-27 summarizes this.
The husband and wife in Genesis 2 and in Revelation 21 are apart from sin and death, because sin and death did not enter until Genesis 3 and were removed by Revelation 20. Therefore, the picture of marriage in Genesis 2 and the reality in Revelation 21 present to us God’s eternal desire and plan, not His response to sin and death.
May we each pray and ask the Lord to give us more vision of His desire and plan. May we be those eagerly awaiting “New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (Revelation 21:2).
Related posts:
The Bride in the Garden and the City
Christ is the Source
Building in the Garden and in the City
The Unbroken Life of Christ
Photo by Teresa Prendusi, courtesy of U.S. Forest Service.
New Jerusalem - the Consummation 
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