Questions and Answers on Bible Subjects.
Question. Do you consider that the tarrying time of the parable of the ten virgins, Matt. xxv, ended in 1844?
S. A. D. of Mich. Answer. Yes. “We believe we are past the events in our history represented by that parable, as far as to the twelfth verse of the chapter. It is true that we are now in a tarrying time in one sense, that is, a time of waiting, and of the patience of the saints, but not the specific tarrying time of the parable which ended with the event represented by the coming of the bridegroom in verse 10. On this point we design to offer some thoughts through the Review soon.” The Bride, the Lamb’s Wife.
Question. What is meant by the bride, Rev. xxi, 9, 10? Is it the city? the saints? or both?
S. A. D. of Mich. Answer. On this point our views are expressed in the following from “Thoughts on Revelation,” pp. 307-311. Verse 9. 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. 10. 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.
This testimony is positive that the New Jerusalem is the bride, the Lamb’s wife. The angel told John distinctly that he would show him the bride, the Lamb’s wife; and we may be sure that he did not practice upon him a piece of deception, but fulfilled his promise to the very letter; but all that he did show him, was the New Jerusalem. It would be unnecessary to offer a word of proof that this city is not the church, were it not that popular theology has so mystified the Scriptures as to give it this application. This city, then, cannot be the church, because it would be absurd to talk of the church’s lying four square, and having a north side, a south side, an east side, and a west side. It would be absurd to talk of its having a wall great and high, and in that wall twelve gates, three looking toward each of the four points of compass. Indeed, the whole description which we have of the city in this chapter would be more or less an absurdity, as applied to the church. Again, Paul in Galatians speaks of the same city, and says that it is the mother of us all, referring to the church. The church, then, is not the city itself, but the children of the city. And verse 24 of the chapter under comment speaks of the nations of the saved who walk in the light of this city. These nations which are the saved, and on earth constitute the church, are distinct from the city, in the light of which they walk. Hence we believe the city is a literal city, built of all the precious materials here described. But how can this be the bride, the Lamb’s wife? Answer. Inspiration has seen fit to speak of it under this figure, and with us that should be sufficient. The figure is first introduced in Isa. liv. The new-covenant city is there brought to view. It is represented as being desolate, while the old covenant was in force, and the Lord’s care was confined to the Jews and old Jerusalem, but it is said to her that the children of the desolate shall be many more than the children of the married wife. It is said further to her, “Thy Maker is thy husband,” and the closing promise of the Lord to this city, contains a very similar description to the one which we have here in Revelation; namely, “I will lay thy stones with fair colors, and thy foundations with sapphires, and I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones, and all thy children shall be taught of the Lord.” It is this very promise to which Paul refers, and upon which he comments in Galatians, when he says, “But Jerusalem which is above is free, which is the mother of us all.” Here, then, Paul makes an inspired application of Isaiah’s prophecy, which cannot be mistaken. In addition to this we have the positive testimony of this twenty-first chapter of Revelation before us, on this point. With this view there is harmony throughout. We have Christ as the Father of his people, Isa. ix, 6, the Jerusalem above is called our mother, and we are the children; and under the figure of the marriage, we have Christ as the Bridegroom, the city as the bride, and we, the church, are the guests. There is no confusion of parties here. But the popular view which makes the city the church, and the church the bride, exhibits the inexcusable confusion of making the church to be at the same time, both mother and children, and both bride and guests.