St Paul’s Dorking Small Groups: Sun 17th May 2015
Read: Revelation 21: 1-5a. Count me In - The Bride
Icebreaker: We’re thinking about heaven this week: can we tell each other one thing we are
really looking forward to in heaven ……………… why is it so difficult to imagine heaven?
This is the last in our ‘Count me in’ series in which we have been thinking about the true nature of the Christian Church
with the aid of three biblical metaphors. We’ve seen believers as the Body of Christ, as the Branches of Christ the True
Vine and thirdly we’ll see the Church as the Bride of Christ in a passage about heaven from the book of Revelation.
We have no vocabulary for heaven because we have not been there, St Paul could only wonder at its prospect in 1
Corinthians 2: 9-10 but John had a series of visions while imprisoned and wrote it down in a ‘gallery’ of pictures using
words to try and paint the indescribable. One of his visions described the relationship between Jesus and the Church
as being like a heavenly marriage. Read Revelation 21 verses 1-5.
A marriage really made in heaven!
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Jesus the Bridegroom
a) Predicted in the Old Testament: God will rejoice over His people, Isaiah 62:1-5; Hosea 2: 14-19-20
b) Jesus describes Himself as a future Bridegroom at Cana of Galilee: John 2:3-4 “…my time has not yet
come.” Christ did not marry when on earth but in Rev 19: 6-9 we read the beautiful end of the story.

The Church seen as the Holy City dressed like a Bride for her husband
a) So here is a sort of double metaphor – the new community of all believers (the Church) is seen as living (or
‘dwelling’) together with God in the Holy City, the New Jerusalem.
b) But the relationship between God and His people is so close and intimate that the Church is also described
as a Bride ‘beautifully dressed’ or ‘adorned’ in fine linen, bright and clean (Rev19: 8) for her husband.
c) The Church can look forward to a day when the sin that spoils relationship will be cleaned away; there will
be no more death to mourn or pain to cry about. The old order is replaced with a perfect New Reality.

Love, actually:
a) The entire image is one of covenant love – and a covenant is a two-way promise made like the marriage
vows are made at a wedding: both say, “All that I have I give to you and all that I am I share with you.”
b) So God needs His Church, which is us, to love Him as he loves us: Monday to Saturday as well as Sunday,
looking to Jesus continually to give us our identity, our purpose, our morality and our destiny.
c) We are living in the in-between-time before the heavenly Wedding Feast when God says, “Behold, I am
making everything new!” (Rev21:5) We can only try in the Spirit’s power to live faithfully with this vision
and model an approximation until the reality. Christ is praying specifically for us: John 17: 20-26
Count Me In!
Response forms at Church or on the website: www.stpaulsdorking.org.uk
Connection: This is important for any relationship: it is vital in a marriage. At St Paul’s we’re being asked to increase
our regularity in attendance at Services and Small groups.
Service: “Love is to serve someone else’s best interests, even at your own expense” (Tim Kellers). So we serve Jesus
by serving the Church out of love, which is a decision more than an emotion. There are many teams on which to
serve.
Giving: There is a lot of giving at the heart of any marriage. We are all being asked to become regular financial givers.
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William Hendrikson in his book “More than Conquerors” points out a ‘beautiful connection’ between Genesis and Revelation:
Scripture is like a flower; the seed is in Genesis, the growing plant in between and the beautiful flower in Revelation.
Compare: Genesis 1:1 with Revelation 21:1
Genesis 1: 3-5; 14-19 with Revelation 21:23
Genesis 2:9; 3:23 with Revelation 2:7; 22:2
Genesis 3:1 with Revelation 20:7-10
Genesis 3:8-10 with Revelation 21:3
Genesis 3:24 with Revelation 22:14