117. 1. In the Word, the Lord is called a Bridegroom and Husband, and the church a bride and wife; and the conjunction of the Lord with the church and the reciprocal conjunction of the church with the Lord is called a marriage. It can be seen from the following passages that the Lord is called a Bridegroom and Husband in the Word, and the church a bride and wife:

He who has the bride is the Bridegroom; but the friend of the Bridegroom (is the one) who stands and hears Him, (who) rejoices greatly because of the Bridegroom's voice. (John 3:29)

(John the Baptist said this in reference to the Lord.)

...Jesus said..., "...As long as the Bridegroom is with them, the wedding guests cannot fast.... The days will come when the Bridegroom will be taken away from them; ...then they will fast." (Matthew 9:15, Mark 2:19-20, Luke 5:34-35)

...I...saw the holy city, New Jerusalem..., prepared as a bride adorned for her Husband. (Revelation 21:2)

(That the Lord's New Church is meant by the New Jerusalem, see The Apocalypse Revealed, nos. 880, 881.)

(An angel said to John,) "Come, and I will show you the bride, the Lamb's wife." (And he showed him) the city, the holy Jerusalem.... (Revelation 21:9-10)

(The time for) the marriage of the Lamb has come, and His wife has made herself ready.... Blessed are those who are called to the marriage supper of the Lamb. (Revelation 19:7,9)

The bridegroom that the five ready virgins went out to meet, with whom they went in to the wedding (Matthew 25:1-10), means the Lord, as is plain from the thirteenth verse, where He says:

Watch therefore, for you know neither the day nor the hour in which the Son of Man will come. (Matthew 25:13)

Further references may be found in many passages in the Prophets as well.

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.