By the end of the thousand-year Kingdom Age the entire Church will be the Wife of the Lamb, and the firstfruits who now are being called out from the Church will be pillars of the new Jerusalem and a wall of defense protecting the holy city.

The term "church" means the Wife of the Lamb has been called out from the nations of the earth. She has not been called out in order to be saved from Hell, as so often is taught, but called out in order to be a royal priesthood of God. The purpose of the Church is to bring the Presence, Word, and will of God to the nations of the saved.

"Elect" signifies the choosing by the Lord of the members of the Wife of the Lamb, and has to do also with the predestination of the Wife, with her being chosen from the beginning of the world.

"Saints" speaks of the holiness of the Wife—that she is free from evil spirits and filled with the Holy Spirit of God.

"Sons of God" indicates that the Wife of the Lamb has been born of God the Father, that the members of the Bride are God's offspring.

"Royal priesthood" shows that the Wife comprises the nobility of the Kingdom, and that these will stand before God and govern the nations of the earth throughout the ages to come. They are God's servants who will reign over the earth forever.

A woman "clothed with the sun" speaks of the Glory of Christ on His Wife, on the Church, and that from her is born Christ in the saints—the male Son, the ruler of all nations with a rod of iron.

"Him who overcomes" reveals that the Wife consists of those who through Christ's grace have conquered every enemy that has risen up against them. They have not yielded to any foe. They have not stopped at any obstacle.

The victorious saints always are addressed as individuals (him who overcomes) because victory can be attained only through means of an intense, prolonged interaction between Christ and the individual believer. The fellowship of fervent Christians is very helpful if we are to be victorious saints, but overcoming always is an individual matter.

"The new Jerusalem" portrays the Wife of the Lamb as a great city which governs and illumines all the creation of God. The fact that the city is "Jerusalem" shows the continuity from Abraham, through Moses, David, the Prophets, the Apostles—all the way to the new heaven and earth reign of Christ.

It always is Jerusalem, not another city, that God blesses and chooses for His rest. God does not change and His promises do not fail. God is faithful.

"The tabernacle of God" means the Wife of the Lamb is the place of the throne of God from which He rules the universe, the house of God in which He finds rest, the Presence of God among the nations of the earth so He can wipe away the tears of the peoples whom He has created for His glory and pleasure.

To be continued.