Revelation 21:2; Prepared As a Bride Adorned For Her Husband
Revelation 21:2 (KJV) And I John saw the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband.
John’s privileged perspective arrears him the opportunity of seeing the Holy City in the process of descending down from God out of heaven. The Greek expression describing this descent occurs in two other places, both of which describe this same event (Revelation 3:12; 21:10). The preposition “out of” tells the origin of the Holy City and the “from” points to the city’s originator (Beckwith, Moffatt).
Revelation 3:12 (KJV) Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is new Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name.
Revelation 21:10 (KJV) 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,
The verb “I prepare” in Revelation 19:7 speaks of the bride’s self-preparation, but here the passive participle “prepared” leaves the agent of preparation unnamed. In that former case the bride was the people of God, but here she is the Holy City.
Revelation 19:7 (KJV) Let us be glad and rejoice, and give honour to him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and his wife hath made herself ready.
A more specific “bride” replaces the term of Revelation 19:7. A combination of the two words designate the Lamb’s wife in Revelation 21:9.
Revelation 21:9 (KJV) 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.
The figure of a bride-city captures two characteristics of the New Jerusalem: God’s relationship with His people (i.e. the bride) and the life of the people in communion with Him (i.e., the city, with its social connotations). (Johnson). As in common practice, the name of the material city stands for the community composed of the city’s inhabitants (Alford).
The bride is both the people of God and the seat of their abode, the New Jerusalem.
The bride’s atonement for her husband defines the nature of her preparation. The Greek term depicting her atonement is the source of the English word “cosmetics.” The same term speaks of the adornment of the foundations of the city a little later (Revelation 21:19).
[Robert L. Thomas, Revelation 8-22 – An Exegetical Commentary, Moody 1995, 441-442]