Tuesday: The Bride
Daily Lesson for Tuesday 23rd of June 2026
While exiled on the island of Patmos, the disciple John was given a vision of what it will be like when we are reunited with God for eternity.
Read Revelation 21:9-11. What analogy was given, and why do you think it was used?
The bride is beautiful, and on her wedding day, everyone wants to see her. A wedding day is a turning point of a new life together for the bride and groom, and this will also be true of our relationship with God upon His return.
Jesus has been preparing a place for us (John 14:1-3), a beautiful place that is too amazing to describe. In fact, “human language is inadequate to describe the reward of the righteous. It will be known only to those who behold it. No finite mind can comprehend the glory of the Paradise of God.”—Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 675.
Image © Review & Herald Publishing at Goodsalt.com
Although we cannot really comprehend what the new heaven and new earth will be like, God shows John a vision of this place so that we look forward to the “wedding” that will soon happen. Indeed, we’re invited to “set your mind on things above, not on things on the earth” (Colossians 3:2, NKJV).
God is carefully preparing for this event, and He doesn’t want this “wedding” to catch us by surprise (see Matthew 22:1-14, Matthew 25:1-13).
The universe is the congregation that will see this event take place, and we are some of the central figures in this story. We will join with the “bride,” this city that Jesus will take us to at His second coming. Interestingly, God’s people (the saints) are also called the bride (see Revelation 19:7, NASB), perhaps because they are in “the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband” (Revelation 21:2, NKJV).
This beautiful description of the Holy City shows that there is an intimate connection between God’s people and the city, because both are called “the bride.” The Bible reveals a detailed description of “the Holy City, the New Jerusalem, which is the capital and representative of the kingdom, [and] is called ‘the bride, the Lamb’s wife.’ ”—Ellen G. White, The Great Controversy, p. 426.
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Read Revelation 21:9-27. Why is this so hard for us to imagine now? How do we even begin to wrap our minds around what is promised to us in these verses? |
That an inanimate object, though beautiful, should be the “bride” of our Lord Jesus Christ has likely puzzled many people. Our author points out that the saints are also called “the bride” in Rev. 19:7 NASB. And that helps a little. However, I think there’s more to understand in the full description, Rev. 19:-7-21.
I believe that the New Jerusalem symbolizes the whole body of God’s people from the beginning of time to the end. Let’s take a look at the description.
The city has the “glory of God,” and we know that the “glory of God” is His character. The gates are inscribed with the names of the twelve tribes of Israel. Again, the biblical significance of “name” is character and personality. Might these gates symbolize the many different personalities represented by the saved who have, by the grace of Jesus, developed a character like His?
The twelve great foundation stones are inscribed with the names of the twelve apostles. Again, considering that “name” has much greater import in bible times, than now, could these stones represent the church being founded on the teaching of the twelve apostles?
And I wonder whether the “pure gold” of the streets isn’t the same that the church of Laodicea was counseled to “buy.” Then that would mean that all the inhabitants of the city walk on/by faith.
It’s also reasonable to assume that the “adornment” of the city consists of the saints within the city who have the character of Jesus.
And then it makes sense that both the city and the saints are called “the bride” of Jesus.
[I don’t believe in attaching symbolic meanings to every ordinary thing in the Bible, but Revelation is apocalyptic literature, like Daniel, so it’s reasonable to consider that everything about the city also represents more than what can be seen and touched.]
I just want to mention that the symbolism of the gates, the foundations, the gold, and more does not mean the city is not real, any more than the symbolism of a wedding ring means it is not a real gold ring.
The beauty of the city and the symbolism of a bride is a faint reflection of the beauty of the city and the inexpressible joy of salvation that it represents. The Lord uses symbols and language to which we can relate, such as a beautiful bride all ready for the wedding and a city studded with precious gems. The Apostle Paul assures us that the reality of salvation is much deeper and more beautiful than that. (See 1 Cor. 2:9)
I like this. I think the city being the bride of Christ has to relate to the people in it. It does not make sense for Jesus to be married to an inanimate object no matter how beautiful it is. The symbol of marriage and God’s people is also seen all over the whole Bible.
The tribe/apostles names must have significance and it is interesting because we know very little about most of Jacob’s sons and the disciples. But God must have had a good reason for each one being represented. It will be interesting to find out which gate I am connected with!
John might have been surprised when God showed him a city instead of a woman (Revelation 21:9–11). In the ordinary sense of the word, a bride refers to a woman and not a city. What is so special about this metaphor? A bride relates to a woman in marriage, and in a marriage, there is a relationship. Therefore, the key message is that anyone who shall enter the New Jerusalem must have a personal relationship with God. The New Jerusalem relates a special dwelling place where those who have established a special relationship with God will live forever. What will be so special with the New Jerusalem is not the wonderful buildings, but the people who will dwell in it. These are the people for whom the Son of God died for.
This analogy of a bride symbolises deep love. God is telling us that He will love us forever. He wants us to prepare as the bride prepares to meet her husband. This preparation requires total commitment. While preparing to meet her husband, the bride’s attention is exclusively fixed on one man. In our preparation to meet our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, our sole attention should be fixed on Him. The redeemed will not only live in a perfect place, but, more importantly, will have a perfect relationship with God.
“I heard a loud shout from the throne, saying, “Look, God’s home is now among his people! He will live with them, and they will be his people. God himself will be with them.” (Revelation 21:3, NLT).
The time to reflect on whether we are faithful brides or promiscuous is now.
Adding to that there’s a story which is said, people where invited to a ceremony and there was found one without the robe for the ceremony and he was kicked out. All I’m saying is the relationship is the robe of the ceremony which is the ticket also to be in the ceremony with our Lord so for the Lord to say he doesn’t know us, let’s strengthen our relationship with him.
may and he Lord help us to renew our vows to him daily asking him for strength because honestly we alone can’t do a thing
I have a short testimony to tell. During the night I asked God to enable me so as to wake up midnight so as to ask for strength and that he can speak to me what he wants me to say right. It happened during my prayer I was feeling very stiff, almost full of fear because I wasn’t praying in my room I went out and went in other unfinished rooms of the house which was dark and I asked God to strengthen me up and, to my surprise, I felt his presence inside me that I said out my prayer to him, exhausting everything I had to say to him.
Remember God is always there for us I don’t know whom is going to benefit from this but I know by God’s grace someone will
A wedding is a beautiful ceremony filled with joy, love, and commitment. It demonstrates the deep affection shared between a bride and a groom. Therefore, when the Bible teaches that Jesus is the Bridegroom and the Church is His bride, who will one day be united with Him at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, we should carefully consider the significance of this relationship. God is not distant or detached from His people; rather, He delights in loving and relating the bride personally. As Isaiah 62:5 declares, “As the bridegroom rejoices over the bride, so shall your God rejoice over you.”
This biblical picture of marriage reveals God’s desire for intimacy and fellowship with the bride who are his people. He calls us to draw near to Him, spend time in His presence, and grow in our relationship with Him. Just as a healthy marriage flourishes through love and communication, our walk with Christ grows stronger as we seek Him daily. The Lord rejoices over His beloved bride and desires that we respond to His love with faith, devotion, and obedience.
The coming union between Christ and His bride the church calls us to love and adore Him above all else. He alone can satisfy our deepest longings and meet our every need. Jesus gave Himself for the Church so that she might be holy and blameless before Him (Ephesians 5:25–27). Through His death on the cross, He redeemed the bride and prepared her for that glorious day when we will be united with Him forever- Revelation 19:7 proclaims, “Let us be glad and rejoice and give Him glory, for the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.”
It is an uphill battle for God to adequately describe through faulty and imperfect human language and institutions what He is like, what He has done, is doing, and what He wants. We are in a battle for our affections and the struggle for us is in more fully comprehending the length and breadth He has undertaken to reveal who He is, and the processes He uses to sort the universe impacting sin problem.
The concept of bride and groom is something most of us can relate to – especially considering the culture and practices of the time. It’s a good one but still falls short.
“As the repentant soul offers its prayer, God sees its struggles, watches its conflicts, and marks its sincerity. He has His finger upon its pulse, and He takes note of every throb. Not a feeling thrills it, not an emotion agitates it, not a sorrow shades it, not a sin stains it, not a thought or purpose moves it, of which He is not cognizant.” (RH October 30, 1900)
Thankfully, my wife doesn’t know me that well – but He does.
Heaven is not the goal it is being with Jesus. In His presence, it will take a while to even notice all the things He has prepared for us…
I am supposed to be a couple of weeks into a camping trip to Darwin with my daughter and her husband, but events have prevented that. On the first day, they crashed their car and van (they were unhurt) and we had to return home. We were in the midst or rescuing our trip when our son rang to say he had to go back into the hospital emergency for his heart condition. We raced down to Sydney to look care for him. He came out of the hospital and then returned a day later with complications. I won’t tell you the financial cost of all this, but you can imagine the emotional drain this has been for us. This is only a summary of what has happened.
The irony of all this is that it started when we were studying a lesson titled “Setbacks”! As I looked at the lesson today about the bride, hope, and all that future stuff, I was reminded that our spiritual survival now is important. I have been touched by the compassion and understanding of so many people, not only Christians in our circle, but even strangers. It is a reminder that while expressing hope for the future, we still need to share the core values of Christianity with everyone we meet.
Life is not all glory and brides and bright shining hope. Sometimes we have to sit in emergency rooms, travel long distances at night, and pray for sustaining faith, when the chips are down.
Our son is back at his home now, but we are taking a few more days to be with him as he recovers. Hopefully, in a few days I will back to regular commenting.
Praying for you sir Maurice 🙏.
Maurice,
You, your son and your family are in my prayers! I hope and pray all goes well!!
SonWon
So lovely to hear from you Maurice! Keeping you and family in prayers. Our God continues to keep you safe ‘til the storm passes by.
Dear Maurice ,
I’m so very happy to see you back; however, very sorry to hear how things went. Thank God no one got hurt in the crashes.
I well present you and your family to God prayer. He will carry you all when you cannot carry yourself.
We thank him for sustaining you all.
🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿
Setbacks, in all of this you shall be more than a conqueror.
It is so good to hear from you Maurice. I looked every day for your comments and wondered what was happening with you. I will continue to pray for your son and the entire family. “God’s strength is perfect when our strength is gone. He will carry you when you can’t carry on. Raised in His power, the weak becomes strong, His strength is perfect, His strength is perfect”🙏🏽
May God continue to guide and bless you as you continue to encourage others with your thoughts. Our thoughts and prayers are with you and your family 🙏❣️
Maurice, I was wondering what had happened to you. I’m glad to hear that everyone is doing well now. Let us continue to pray that we will all remain faithful so that we may have the privilege of heaven as our eternal home.
We’ve been praying for you and will continue to do so. It’s good to hear from you again, and I am confident that the same Lord who brought you this far will carry you through.
Maurice, I have been so blessed by your comments on the lesson. I marvel as I read of the steadfastness of your faith especially during these challenging setbacks that have happened to you and your family of late. Thank you for taking the time to share what you’re going through. Prayers continue for the healing of your precious son! How blessed he is to have such devoted parents! May God continue to increase your faith and give you all that you need to come through this experience, “shining like gold”.
Dear Maurice, I will continue to pray for you and your family. Praise God there was no loss of life. God is able to heal your son.
🙏 will keep you in my prayers Maurice.
We are praying for you and your family Maurice.
God be with you till we meet again. When life’s perils thick confound you, put His arms unfailing round you: God be with you till we meet again.
Verse 1, 2, and 4 is song number 66 of the Seventh-day Adventist Hymnal.
Praying for you and your family.
Maurice Ashton, do not be moved, reference one of our hymnals; devil is a liar. The balm of God will manifest healing in every way of your live, comfort you, and you shall testify.
Many thanks for your prayers and expressions of hope. Sabbath School Net is more than a discussion. It is a supportive and caring group of Christian friends – a spiritual family. Continue to share the love.
I’m one of those strangers feeling your plight and wishing you strength of faith all the way from a village in remote South Africa! Know that there are brothers that love you here and appreciate the blessing you are to our faith.
Thank God all is well with you
It was all for you to be near your son. Had the camp go as planned, you would be far away I think.
All things for for good to those that love the Lord!
I will keep praying for you
Amen, Mr Maurice
May God Almighty sustain your faith in this difficult moments and healing mercies be upon your son
🙏🏿🙏🏿🙏🏿
May the Lord inspire us with the passion of heaven,the beautiful place He is preparing for us.
Amen!
I think it is hard for us to imagine the New Jerusalem because everything we know is limited by our present experience. Even the most beautiful landscapes, magnificent buildings, and breathtaking sights we have seen on earth cannot compare to what God is preparing for us.
For now, my focus is simply to be there. More than the city’s streets, gates, or mansions, I long for the end of suffering, pain, and death. The promise that we will never again face sickness, sorrow, separation, or the prospect of death is almost beyond comprehension. Above all, the greatest joy of the New Jerusalem will be living forever in the presence of Jesus, the One who made it all possible. That hope helps me keep my eyes on the goal, even when I cannot fully imagine the glory that awaits God’s faithful people.
A wedding is the apex of a relationship. It’s not the beginning or the ending. The Lord has been courting His bride for some time now and is eager to get the wedding underway. However, the bride seems to have gotten “cold feet” and is delaying the ceremony. Entering into the unknown is a bit unsettling, especially if you don’t thoroughly know each other. Some Hallmark movies will show how the bride gets all the way to the altar and changes her mind, leaving the groom dazed and confused.
Have we as the Bride of Christ done the same? Are we not certain that we should continue on? Could it be the wedding garment we have been asked to wear?
As I reminisce of my wedding day, I remember both the excitement and the nervousness of pledging myself to one person “til death do we part.” We had a couple delays in getting the ceremony underway. First, the candles wouldn’t light. Then the Bible boy and Flower girl, my nephew and niece, both got stage-fright and had to be carried to the front. My brother, the “Best Man,” had extra duty that day. At last, when the back doors of the church finally opened to reveal my backlit bride, I was almost overwhelmed, my knees almost buckled, and I had to wipe a tear of joy from my eye. There she stood in all her splendor, sparkling from the reflected light of the sun.
That was nearly 39 years ago, and while it hasn’t been all rainbows and unicorns, it has been worth it all. Jesus, as the perfect Bridegroom, anxiously awaits his Bride to decide that He is indeed the one we want to spend eternity with. No one ever cared for us like Jesus. He will be the perfect husband. May we as the symbolic bride, make ourselves ready so that the wedding can begin. (Revelation 19:7) It will be worth it all when we see Jesus.
After reading Rev. 21 my husband asked a question – why would the New Jerusalem have walls. If we are in heaven – or the earth made new – what use would there be in walls. We have always thought that walls either kept people in or kept them out. That would not be needed in heaven. My only thought was that walls are part of our simplistic view of a city. Any thoughts?
I feel that God gave John a picture that he could relate to. In his time, cities had walls and a city without walls would not be safe. I think we have to be careful about taking the details literally, though I won’t be sad if they are.
The picture of the New Earth in Isaiah 64-66 is quite different and was appropriate for the Old Testament Israelites who lived in an agricutural society. The believers in the New Testament were more urban. God gave them pictures that they could relate to.
Maurice, I hesitated to ask why you dropped off from commenting because I have been blessed by your remarks. Thank you for updating us. Joining everyone in prayer for you and your children.
“Read Revelation 22:9-27. Why is this so hard for us to imagine now? How do we even wrap our minds around what is promised to us in these verses.”
I am reminded of the quote. Eye has not seen; ear has not heard the wonderous things that are prepared for us who are the saints described in Revelation. I am not asking for anyone to jumps up and say saints are sinless, and all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Romans 3:23. Saints are clothed by the righteousness of Christ. Genesis 15:6. Saints according to Revelation 14:12, are they who are patient, keep the commands of God, and love the Lord.
Let’s see what Ellen White says about the importance of wrapping our minds around our promised heavenly home.
“A fear of making the future inheritance seem too material has led many to spiritualize away the very truths which lead us to look upon it as our home. Christ assured his disciples that he went to prepare mansions for them in the Father’s house. John 14:1-3. Those who accept the teachings of God’s Word will not be wholly ignorant concerning the heavenly abode. And yet, “eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him.” [1 Corinthians 2:9.] Human language is inadequate to describe the reward of the righteous. It will be known only to those who behold it. No finite mind can comprehend the glory of the Paradise of God.” Great Controversy page 674.4
And the Clear Word says regarding John 14:1-3.
“Don’t let your hearts be troubled. You have faith in God; have faith also in me.
In my Father’s house there’s plenty of room for everyone. If that weren’t so, I would have told you. I’m going home to prepare a place for you.
And if I go to prepare a place for you, you can be sure that I’ll come back to take you home with me, so you can be with me forever.
Don’t forget how to get there. John 14:6.
The whole country of Israel is about 290 miles long and 85 miles wide on its widest point. New Jerusalem will be 1500 miles long, wide, and high according to Rev.21:14-16. The Scriptures reveal the significance of the place on which the ancient Jerusalem was build. It is the location where Abraham was willing to sacrifice his son, believing that God would raise him up again. It is the mount Salomon built the first Temple for the children of Israel to come to meet with God in His House.
In His Father’s House, Jesus, the Son of God, rebuked the merchants for turning it into a market place and a den of thiefs. The Jews, challenging His authority to speak out against them, heared Him say: “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up again. … But Jesus was speaking about the temple of His body.” John 2:15-22.
Our loving heavenly Father declared that Faith in His Son Jesus Christ is to be the Cornerstone for our faith. When He returns, we will meet our Bridegroom and dwell together with Him in our new Home – the New Jerusalem – coming down from heaven. The Son of God – Jesus Christ – is our Bridegroom. The Father is Architect, Builder, and everlasting Sustainer of our New Home – New Jerusalem. Like Abraham, we believe God – Heb.11:9-10.
Why would God offer us such an amazing dream about where to live in eternity? Perhaps He wants us to be sure that, although the best prize of His presence is enough, He is preparing a wonderful, rich place because He is a generous God! And He always overcomes our expectations!
“Our entry into the New Jerusalem should be a daily hope, and we must work so that many more people may have the same faith as us and accept the covenant that Christ (the Bridegroom) wishes to establish with them, keeping His Commandments and loving Him with all their heart.”
Jose I take it you mean work so hard, by allowing Christ to work in us, of course through asking. Philippians 2:13.
You maybe yearning to know more about the bride. From the Great Controversy page 426 paragraph 2, is a good explanation I find valuable.
So you see also the church. “The ten virgins going out to meet the bridegroom is a symbol of the church.” Yes, the lesson also points this out.
God bless you.