Those of us who believe in Jesus Christ, or in Hebrew, Yeshua haMashiach, tend to organize ourselves into bodies known as “churches”. We see this all throughout the New Testament Gospels and Letters. This notion of “churches” or, in Greek, “ekklesia” has been the dominant form of organization for nearly 2,000 years. In fact, it’s so dominant that in Christendom, the churches ARE the Body of Christ. But are the churches the permanent form of the Body of Christ?

No, they are not.

As a quick aside, Eddie Chumney has done an in-depth study on the “Bride of Christ” and that book is well worth acquiring and studying. It may be out of print now, but he seems to have made it available for study on his website.

But for the purposes of this short blog post, I want to point out that the book of Revelation is the final book of the New Testament, and thus the entire Bible. It serves, if you will, as a capstone or bookend (with Genesis the other book end). The book of Revelation brings together a large part of Old Testament prophecies and serves as a guide for what will happen in secular history from the time the prophecy was given to John the Beloved on the island of Patmos to the final close of secular history and transition into eternity.

Chapters two and three of the book of Revelation are the letters to the seven churches. Every one of those churches are in the Diaspora, in the region known as Asia Minor, which, in the present day, is Turkey. To restate, not one of those churches or congregations are in the Land of Israel.

In contrast, chapter twenty-one of the book of Revelation describes the bride of Christ as the New Jerusalem.

10 And in the spirit he carried me away to a great, high mountain and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God. 11 It has the glory of God and a radiance like a very rare jewel, like jasper, clear as crystal. 12 It has a great, high wall with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates are inscribed the names of the twelve tribes of the Israelites; 13 on the east three gates, on the north three gates, on the south three gates, and on the west three gates. 14 And the wall of the city has twelve foundations, and on them are the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

Revelation 21:10-14 NRSV

Consider Paul’s comment in Ephesians chapter 5:

For the husband is the head of the wife just as Christ is the head of the church, the body of which he is the Savior.

Ephesians 5:23

It should not escape the reader’s notice that the wife is being compared to the church or body. Then compare with Revelation 21:9:

9 Then one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues came and said to me, “Come, I will show you the bride, the wife of the Lamb.”

Revelation 21:9

The foundations of this city are the twelve apostles of the Lamb. The apostles can be seen in two ways: as religious leaders of the Lamb or as the messengers or “sent-ones” (aka heralds) of the King. In contrast, the gates of this city are each named for one of the twelve tribes of Israel.

After the initial mention of the seven churches in chapters two and three, we do not see the churches again. Instead, what we do see is are martyrs in the fifth seal (chapter 6), 144,000 Israelites, 12,000 from each tribe (which parallels Numbers 31:1-6) and an uncounted multitude that comes out of the Great Tribulation (both from chapter 7).

The twelfth chapter of Revelation introduces the woman who flees into the wilderness on wings of eagles. It becomes apparent from studying the woman in this chapter that there are two groups that the dragon persecutes, the woman and those of her offspring who keep the commandments of God and hold to the testimony of Jesus (Rev. 12:17).

The 144,000 reappear with the Lamb on Mount Zion in chapter 14 and are described as first fruits.

Finally, after the 1,000 year millennial reign, we see the New Jerusalem coming down from Heaven. That is described in chapter 21 quoted above.

In short, we are shown the 7 churches in exile and those people, the Jews and the rest the world are taken through the Great Tribulation. All those from the churches, the Jews and everyone else who have made their robes white in the blood of the Lamb are then reconstituted into the twelve tribes of Israel.

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