Immediately after the city is burned, the “time for the marriage of Lamb comes.” Then, the bridegroom makes his appearance where the marriage feast is given. The only thing left to complete the vision is the arrival of the Lamb’s bride, who has made herself ready (19:7).
Then I saw a new heaven and a new earth, for the first heaven and the first earth had passed away, and the sea was no ore. And I saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. (Revelation 21;1-2 – ESV)
With these words, John begins to describe the Bride, which includes the last two chapters of Revelation (21-22). As mentioned already, we should view the “first resurrection” (Rev. 20:4-6) within the broader context of the marriage of the Lamb (Rev. 19:6 – 22:21). The first resurrection was the first of two resurrections of the saints (cf. Rev. 20:4-6; 11:18). In the first, Jesus came to claim his bride (1 Thess. 4:16, cf. Luke 21:20, 28). Those blessed and redeemed in the first resurrection are those who “shall be priests of God and of Christ and shall reign with him a thousand years.” According to Jesus (Matt. 24:29-34 and Paul (1 Thess. 4:13-18; 2 Thess. 2:1-12), this gathering took place immediately after the Roman siege against Jerusalem. The blessing commenced exactly forty-five days after the fall of Jerusalem (Dan. 12:11-13). This would have been the 22nd of Tishri, 70 AD. Hymenaeus and Philetus erred in teaching the first resurrection had already come prior to the Jewish Revolt (cf. 2 Tim. 2:16-19; 2 Thess. 2:1-12). It was “immediately after” the siege when John, Daniel, and other prophets received their reward (cf. Rev. 11:18). Jehovah caused the prophets to pass out of the land “in that day” of the siege against Jerusalem (Zechariah 13:2; cf. 12:1 – 13:6). Anyone prophesying after the siege against Jerusalem was a liar and worthy of death (Zech. 13:3-6). If the apostle John was translated and redeemed in 70 AD, residing in the new Jerusalem today, then he most certainly was not on the isle of Patmos during the reign of Domitian in 96 A.D. (cf. Rev. 22:14; 3:12).
This bride is not old Jerusalem with whom God had married because the parable refers to the inviting of others, which is a reference to Gentile inclusion in this covenant with New Jerusalem. John sees the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down out of heaven from God, made ready as a bride adorned for her husband. This description is taken up by the last two chapters of the Revelation of Jesus Christ (Rev. 21-22). When He returned to redeem the saints (Luke 21:20), they would be priests of God and Christ and would reign with him a thousand years. This gathering of the elect and the marriage of the Lamb took place “immediately after” the Roman siege against Jerusalem (cf. Matthew 24:29-34, 1 Thess. 4:13-18; 2 Thess. 2:1-12). To be more precise, Daniel reveals that it commenced forty-five days after the fall of Jerusalem (Dan. 12:11-13, Tisri 22, A.D). The order of events is important if one is to counter the errors of the day, like Hymenaeus and Philetus. Their error was that the first resurrection had already come prior to the Jewish revolt and the revealing of the “man of sin” (cf. 2 Thess. 2:1-12; 2 Tim. 2:16-19). In the same way that Jesus teaches the gathering of the elect coming “immediately after” the siege of Jerusalem, Paul is clear about the man of sin being revealed before Jesus comes. The gathering of the elect and the marriage of the Lamb refer to the same glorious reward of the faithful, while the destruction of old Jerusalem and that present age refer to a day of destruction. Both fall under the resurrection or restoration motif because it involves the death of a covenant relationship and its restoration in and through Christ. It was the hope of Israel, the promise of a glorious reign with Christ who entered into a covenant marriage with the elect. Some of the elect are in that celestial city who are not in this earthly tabernacle. They are the same ones who experienced the first resurrection. Others are still on the earth. Still, others who have died from the end of the Jewish age til now are the “rest of the dead” who lived not (the second resurrection) till the thousand years are finished. But, after the invitation to come and take of the water of life, if we take away or pervert the words of the prophecy of this book, God will take away our part from the tree of life, and out of the holy city (the new Jerusalem).