Do all in the 1st resurrection share offices in the Bride of Christ which is the New Jerusalem? My assumption has always been -- Why YES of course. But I'd like your input. It may not be that important a question. But yet if there is an obvious answer then I'd say we had best know it.

Don't know how impressed any of you are with the millennial interpretation of the Seven Churches -- none of you have excommunicated me yet -- but different rewards do seem to be linked to different churches. In Genesis 1 both Adam and Eve are created at the end of the SIXTH DAY -- "the Sabbath was made for Adam [it comes just after Adam and Eve are created and thus for their benefit]" -- and 1 Corinthians 15 sees this as a type of the second coming and of the resurrection of the dead. And so, interestingly, the Church of the Sixth millennium specifically inherits offices in the Bride (Rv 3:12): "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."

Adam is told to be fruitful and multiply -- meaning (one assumes) he will reproduce government after his own kind -- which to me sounds a lot like the reward of the Millennial Church (Rv 3:21): "To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne."

But are ALL thrones situated in the Bride?

What about the thrones over the individual tribes of Israel upon which the 12 apostles will sit? (Mt 19:28) "And Jesus said unto them, Verily I say unto you, That ye which have followed me, in the regeneration when the Son of man shall sit in the throne of his glory, ye also shall sit upon twelve thrones, judging the twelve tribes of Israel." And to what thrones were the Gentiles of that era called? Are they housed within the Bride?

Interestingly the Church of the 4th millennium -- that of the apostles and prophets (remember the skewing of the millennia of Enosh from Adam) -- is to inherit thrones over the nations (Rv 2:26-28): "And he that overcometh, and keepeth my works unto the end, to him will I give power over the nations: And he shall rule them with a rod of iron; as the vessels of a potter shall they be broken to shivers: even as I received of my Father. And I will give him the morning star."

The Bride of Christ? In the New Testament she is imaged as Eve being made from a rib from the side of the Second Adam (Eph 5:30-32): "For we are members of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones. For this cause shall a man leave his father and mother, and shall be joined unto his wife, and they two shall be one flesh. This is a great mystery: but I speak concerning Christ and the church." Right now we are NOT the Bride but rather his body from which the Bride will be fashioned. But doesn't it look like the whole Body -- not just a rib -- is espoused to Christ? (2 Cor 11:1-3) "Would to God ye could bear with me a little in my folly: and indeed bear with me. For I am jealous over you [plural, not singular] with godly jealousy: for I have espoused you [plural, not 'you' individually] to one husband, that I may present you as a chaste virgin to Christ. But I fear, lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtilty, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity that is in Christ."

No, friends, I don't have the answer here. Can you help me? The question is simple? However it is in fact twofold: 1) are all offices in the first resurrection held within the Bride? 2) what about those who come later during the millennium and beyone in the Great White Throne judgment period? Does the Bride ultimately house all government?

Just something to muse over -- maybe we can't solve it -- but it might be fun trying. And if it is solvable then you can bet it is something we should know.

Confusedly yours,

Noel
21 August 2000 Email the author