Rajk999's criticism:
You are mistaken .. again. The wife of the Lamb is the New Jerusalem.:
I never said
the New Jerusalem was NOT the Wife or Bride of the Lamb. I never negated that fact.
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, (Rev 21:9-10)
This scene is of something AFTER the 1,000 millennial kingdom. It is in the age of a completely renewed universe.
" And I saw a new heaven and a new earth; for the first heaven and the first earth passed away, and the sea was not more." (Rev. 21:1)
But the scene of
Revelation 19 is STILL in the age of the old heaven and the old earth. And there we are told that the Wife and Bride of Christ has made herself ready ---- BEFORE the time of
Revelation 21.
At least SOME overcomers have taken the lead to be the Bride to come with Christ to defeat Antichrist at Armegeddon. Before chapter 21 and 22 chapter 19 says:
" Let us rejoice and exult, and let is give the glory to Him, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His bride has made herself ready." (19:6)
Rajk999 doesn't understand the principle of the overcomers. He doesn't understand that a remnant of overcoming believers do not WAIT until the end of the millennium to be ready to be Christ's Wife.
Rajk999 rightly points to the end of the millennium to show the FULL New Jerusalem as Christ's Bride in chapter 21. But he is completely ignorant that the overcomers arrive to be that Bride in her smaller numerical form by the time of the battle of Armegeddon.
He fails to notice the seven promises to those who overcome given in the seven letters to the seven local churches in
Revelation 2 and 3.
What did the angel show John? Christians? The church? NO .. He showed John the the New Jerusalem. - wife of the Lamb.
Not sure what he means here or its relevance. In chapter 19 the Wife and Bride of the Lamb has prepared herself to marry Christ BEFORE He descends to do battle at Armegeddon.
In fact the bridal garment in verse 8 is exactly the fighting armor of verse 14 when they come down with Christ.
Compare:
"And it was given her that she should be clothed in fine linen, bright and clean; for the fine linen is the righteousnesses [sic] of the saints." (19:8)
"And the armies which are in heaven followed Him on white horses, dressed in fine linen, white and clean." (19:14)
This shows that the Brides wedding garment is also her fighting armor. The fine linen, clean and bright and white is the righteousnesses of the believers.
The word
RIGHTEOUSNESSES though awkward sounding in English, is the righteous DEEDS of the saints. That is the plural righteous deeds or righteous living of the saints.
The Bride has prepared herself not just by having a righteous standing in justification. But she has prepared herself with righteous deeds out from righteous living.
What qualifies these overcomers to be Christ's bride at the wedding feast is also what qualifies them to be Christ's armies as He descends to the earth to smite Antichrist.
The bottom line is that the Wife and Bride is NOT totally postponed until chapter 21 AFTER the 1,000 years. The overcomers participate in the Bride and Wife in the end of the church age, are raptured, and accompany Christ down to defeat Antichrist.
This chapter 19 is of wedding feasting and battle before the beginning of the millennial kingdom of 1,000 years.
A careful analysis will likely boggle Rajk999's head or cause him to whine that it is not simple enough.
Christians are invited to the marriage supper of the Lamb Yes. To get married to Christ NO!!
Yes.
Will all Christians arrive on time or will they arrive late. That is the issue.
Those who arrive at the normal appointed time are called the overcomers.
Those who are late join the overcomers after a certain period.
That is why you have the Bride and Wife in chapter 19 as overcomers and the Bride and Wife as ALL the redeemed throughout all ages in chapters 21 and 22.