The bride in Revelation first shows up in John.SlowLearner wrote:I've been thinking about it all day at work today too. So many questions!
I would love to discuss your studies in Revelation, perhaps make a new thread?
With the woman in Revelation, the JWs call her YHWH's wife, the Jerusalem above, but differentiate her to the New Jerusalem who is the bride of Christ. Can someone explain to me all these different brides?
This is John, the best man of Christ the Messiah, and his cousin.The bride belongs to the bridegroom. The friend of the bridegroom stands by and listens for him, and is overjoyed to hear the bridegroom’s voice. That joy is mine, and it is now complete. John 3:28,29
So by his testimony (John 3:28,29) John establishes that the bride is of Israel. (And, this matches ancient marriage traditions of the Jews who typically elect to choose a bride who is a "member of the tribe" (MOT), or nation.)
This is logic: late Middle English: via Old French logique and late Latin logica from Greek logikē (tekhnē ) ‘(art) of reason,’ from logos ‘word, reason.’
And Jesus said to them, "You do not know what you ask. Are you able to drink the cup that I drink, and to be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?"
And they said to Him, "We are able." And Jesus said to them, "You will drink the cup that I drink, and you will be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized,..." This was James and John, they are Jesus’ first cousins.
So far we have three chaste bachelors, all from Christ’s family, just like Revelation later describes those who in the future are elected as the 144,000 (depicted metaphorically or spiritually as Christ's bride).
(We are left to wonder for whom they have been prepared...?)"But to sit at my right or my left is not mine to grant. These places belong to those for whom they have been prepared."
"But the Jerusalem above is free, and she is our mother."
While this uses the memory of Sarah to give meaning to the woman, Jerusalem above is specifically not called Sarah. Paul uses the past as an illusion of the future... we aren't looking to the past but future. Sarah is the model of the perfect wife, but she is not Israel.
This is looking forward, For it is written:
Recall—Israel, as God's wife, has already given birth—to Christ, and many descendants. The Lamb's bride, however, has not yet given birth...“Rejoice, O barren woman, who bears no children; break forth and cry aloud, you who have never travailed; because more are the children of the desolate woman, than of her who has a husband.”
After the betrothal, a marriage covenant, the betrothed do not live together, much like the modern-day tradition of engagement.
The bride waits for her groom to return in the middle of the night to take her away from the house of her father, and into his home.
She is the desolate woman who has had no children (so far).
Now, the question was if the woman of Revelation 12 is the same as New Jerusalem, or the 144,000 the Lamb's bride...?
Short answer, no.
Long answer—
And a great sign appeared in heaven: a woman clothed in the sun, with the moon under her feet and a crown of twelve stars on her head.
She is not a woman, technically. She is a sign. She signifies something. She tells the story of past prophecy fulfilled as prophecy begins revealing its fulfillment, or in short: revelation. Revelation means to unveil. Revelation unveils a bride from Israel...
When she appears in conjunction with the proper events to fulfill the prophecy, she marks the seven-year period of Daniel having begun—broken into two halves, the first "one thousand two hundred sixty days” and the second half of ’the week’ is “a time, and times, and half a time.”
Note: there’s a reason for the difference in the description of the durations— they’re not both 1260 days, but the second is a period of 1260 plus an extra month of 30, which is why she can only appear at a certain time and be relevant for prophecy.
She is the only woman given a crown by God, and that of stars no less.
Since she’s a sign, she represents Israel but isn’t a specific person. Crowned, she reminds us of the future reign of Israel on earth.“Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”
She represents Israel as a whole, not just the 144,000—in her appearance, she gives birth to both Christ, and as a sign, of the kingdom coming confirming the sealing of the 144,000 elect. The sign itself tells the story of Israel giving birth to Christ the king, son of God, sitting at his right hand on the throne in heaven since being betrothed until his wedding.
Later, in the scene where our Father walks the bride down the aisle, that’s the 144,000, the bride, who was chosen out of Israel, from his father's chosen people.
Elaborating, Revelation 12 is a time span that you overlay over the previous and following details in the story...
Therefore, the bride on earth may be sealed by heaven (Rev 7) on the day the sign appears (Rev 12).
Why?
Because—the timeline of events.
This is logic.
from Greek logikē (tekhnē ) ‘(art) of reason,’ from logos ‘word, reason.’
"And this is what we speak, not in words taught us by human wisdom, but in words taught by the Spirit, expressing spiritual truths in spiritual words."
What are “spiritual truths” and “spiritual words”?
They are not doctrines.
An epiphany (from the ancient Greek ἐπιφάνεια, epiphaneia, "manifestation, striking appearance") is an experience of sudden and striking realization:
And Jesus said to them, "Truly I say to you that in the regeneration, when the Son of Man shall sit down upon His throne of glory, you having followed Me, you also will sit on twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel...
The bride, you recall, is taken home to heaven, and then is walked ‘down the aisle’ as heavenly New Jerusalem.Wikipedia wrote:palingenesia
παλινγενεσίᾳ
3824 paliggenesía (from 3825 /pálin, "again" and 1078 /génesis, "birth, beginning") – properly, the coming of new birth because "born again"; regeneration.
3824 /paliggenesía ("renewal, rebirth") is used twice in the NT referring to: a) the re-birth of physical creation at Christ's return (Advent), which ALERT: ERROR IN DOCTRINE: inaugurates (actually it's the end of the reign, not the inauguration) His millennial kingdom (Mt 19:28; cf. Ro 8:18-25); and b) the re-birth all believers experience at conversion (Tit 3:5).
She arrives to a new heaven, and a new earth—regenésis.
She is pregnant.
The woman in the sky appears on September 23, 2017 immediately following the blast for the Feast of Trumpets. (And every year, two days after that new moon.)
Seven years later, a period of 1260 + 1260 + 30 days, as required by scripture is the Day of Atonement 2024. (Only certain sets of years fulfill the start and finish dates of the prophecy matching the dates of the feasts or festivals as the appointed times.)
Palingenesis (/ˌpælɪnˈdʒɛnəsɪs/; or palingenesia) is a concept of rebirth or re-creation, used in various contexts in philosophy, theology, politics, and biology. Its meaning stems from Greek palin, meaning again, and genesis, meaning birth.
The story of the bride is veiled in scripture.Wikipedia wrote:In biology, it is another word for recapitulation—the phase in the development of an organism in which its form and structure pass through the changes undergone in the evolution of the species. In theology, the word can be used to refer to reincarnation and Christian spiritual rebirth symbolized by baptism.
Revelation is from revelare ‘lay bare’. From Old French revelacion, from Latin revēlātiō (“disclosure”), from revēlō (“to disclose”), re (“again”) + vēlō (“to cover”).
Thus this reveals simply that she gives birth to the new creation.
That is what it means to be ‘born again’.
This is how she fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah 54.
The Bride's New Jerusalem, the love story.
Jerusalem above is our mother, as in when Adam, the first man, was told, "a man will leave his father and mother and be united to his wife, and they will become one flesh" (Genesis 2:24) where God is the father being referred to, and the mother rarely discussed is "Jerusalem (above)" as spoken of in the new covenant scriptures (Gal 4:26).
"New" Jersualem (Rev 21:2) is the Lamb's bride, the new covenant bride, the 144,000 of the tribes of Israel chosen to reign with Christ, as his bride.
So God is our father, Jerusalem above is our mother, the woman of the stars in Revelation represents Israel, and New Jerusalem represents the Lamb's bride who are the 144,000 elect out of Israel as the co-rulers of his thousand-year reign.
God's kingdom is eternal, with kings of all nations.
In the end, Jerusalem remains above (where it was long before the city on earth) as the seat of God's eternal kingdom, and New Jerusalem is on the new earth.
It's about two generations of family, and all the relations and those adopted in—as God's kids, or later as Christ's (Isa 29:23).
When the bride dies (Rev 13:7), as Christ did, she's metaphorically drinking from the same cup, and afterward, she is arraigned in fine linen and, after their wedding supper, follows her groom (leaving us) riding on white horses out of heaven (Rev 19:6-16) to Armageddon, the last event before beginning their thousand-year reign on earth.