955. 22:17 And the spirit and the bride say, "Come!" This symbolically means that heaven and the church long for the Lord's advent.

The spirit symbolizes heaven, the bride symbolizes the church, and saying "Come!" symbolizes a longing for the Lord's advent. It is clear from chapter 21:2, 21:9-10 that the church meant by the bride is the New Church, the Holy Jerusalem, as may be seen in nos. 881, 895. And the spirit means heaven because angelic spirits are meant, of whom the New Heaven consists, as symbolized in chapters 14:1-7; 19:1-9; 20:4-5.

The church, here called the bride, does not mean a church composed of people whose faith consists of falsities, but a church composed of people whose faith consists of truths, for it is the latter who long for light, thus who long for the Lord's advent. See no. 954 above.

881. Prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. This symbolizes the New Church conjoined with the Lord through the Word.

We are told that John saw the holy city New Jerusalem coming down from God out of heaven, and now that he saw the city prepared as a bride adorned for her husband. This makes it apparent that Jerusalem means the church, which John saw first as a city and then as a virgin bride - seeing it as a city representatively, and as a virgin bride spiritually. Thus he had two images, one within the other or above the other, even as angels do when they see, hear or read in the Word about a city, perceiving it in the conception of their lower thought as a city, but in the conception of their higher thought as doctrine. And if they desire it and pray to the Lord, they see the latter as a maiden, having a beauty and apparel commensurate with the character of the church. I, too, have been given to see the church in this way.

[2] The bride's being prepared symbolizes her being attired for betrothal, and the church is made ready for betrothal and then for conjunction or marriage in no other way than by the Word; for the Word is the one and only means of conjunction or marriage, inasmuch as the Word originates from the Lord and is about the Lord, and thus embodies the Lord. It is also called a covenant therefore, and a covenant symbolizes spiritual conjunction. Moreover it was for this reason that the Word was given.

That the husband is the Lord is apparent from verses 9 and 10 in this chapter, in which the Jerusalem is called the bride, the Lamb's wife.

To be shown that the Lord is called a bridegroom and husband, and the church His bride and wife, and that their marriage is like the marriage between goodness and truth, and takes place through the Word, see no. 797 above.

It can be seen from this that Jerusalem's being prepared as a bride adorned for her husband symbolizes the New Church conjoined with the Lord through the Word.