In the Holy of Holies
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the kingdom, is called “the bride, the Lamb’s wife.” Said the angel to
John: “Come hither, I will show thee the bride, the Lamb’s wife.” “He
carried me away in the spirit,” says the prophet, “and showed me that
great city, the holy Jerusalem, descending out of heaven from God.”
Revelation 21:9, 10. Clearly, then, the bride represents the Holy City,
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and the virgins that go out to meet the bridegroom are a symbol of the
church. In the Revelation the people of God are said to be the guests
at the marriage supper.
Revelation 19:9
. If guests, they cannot be
represented also as the bride. Christ, as stated by the prophet Daniel,
will receive from the Ancient of Days in heaven, “dominion, and glory,
and a kingdom;” He will receive the New Jerusalem, the capital of His
kingdom, “prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.”
Daniel 7:14
;
Revelation 21:2
. Having received the kingdom, He will come in His
glory, as King of kings and Lord of lords, for the redemption of His
people, who are to “sit down with Abraham, and Isaac, and Jacob,” at
His table in His kingdom (
Matthew 8:11
;
Luke 22:30
), to partake of
the marriage supper of the Lamb.
The proclamation, “Behold, the Bridegroom cometh,” in the sum-
mer of 1844, led thousands to expect the immediate advent of the Lord.
At the appointed time the Bridegroom came, not to the earth, as the
people expected, but to the Ancient of Days in heaven, to the marriage,
the reception of His kingdom. “They that were ready went in with Him
to the marriage: and the door was shut.” They were not to be present
in person at the marriage; for it takes place in heaven, while they are
upon the earth. The followers of Christ are to “wait for their Lord,
when He will return from the wedding.”
Luke 12:36
. But they are to
understand His work, and to follow Him by faith as He goes in before
God. It is in this sense that they are said to go in to the marriage.
In the parable it was those that had oil in their vessels with their
lamps that went in to the marriage. Those who, with a knowledge of
the truth from the Scriptures, had also the Spirit and grace of God,
and who, in the night of their bitter trial, had patiently waited, search-
ing the Bible for clearer light—these saw the truth concerning the
sanctuary in heaven and the Saviour’s change in ministration, and by
faith they followed Him in His work in the sanctuary above. And all
who through the testimony of the Scriptures accept the same truths,
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following Christ by faith as He enters in before God to perform the