The Bride, the City, and the Door
The Church is both the Bride of Christ and the holy City, the New Jerusalem. Ephesians 5:25-32 describes Christ's relationship with the Church as a marriage, while Revelation 21:2, 9-10 connects the Bride with the holy city. The City is not merely a collection of buildings, but God's people united to Christ and becoming His dwelling place. Ephesians 2:19-22 describes believers as being built together into a dwelling place for God through the Spirit. The Bride is the people Christ loves, and the City is the community in which He dwells.
Jesus is the Door through which we enter the City. Jesus declares, "I am the door" (John 10:9), and says He is the way to the Father (John 14:6). Through Him, we enter into fellowship with God and become part of His covenant people. Hebrews 12:22-24 tells believers, "ye are come unto mount Sion, and unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem." Colossians 1:13 says God has delivered us from the power of darkness and brought us into the kingdom of His Son. These passages support the understanding that the City is a present spiritual reality: through Christ, we enter into God's kingdom and enjoy access to Him now.
The New Heavens and New Earth can be understood as the new covenant world replacing the former order, Hebrews 8:13. Revelation 12:7-12 describes Satan and his angels being cast out of heaven, Revelation 20:10 depicts the Devil's final judgment, and Revelation 21 reveals the New Jerusalem. In a preterist understanding, these visions describe the defeat of the old spiritual order and the establishment of Christ's kingdom. The new world is new because the former order of accusation and opposition has been displaced by the reign of Christ. Revelation does not explicitly state that the heavens and earth are new because Satan and his angels are no longer there; this conclusion comes from connecting these passages. Christians differ about the timing and extent of this fulfillment.
The tabernacle's bronze basin and the great bronze Sea in Solomon's temple were used for priestly washing before sacred service (Exodus 30:17-21; 1 Kings 7:23-26). Yet Revelation 21:1 declares, "there was no more sea," and verse 22 says the City has no separate temple, because God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. Nothing unclean enters the City (Revelation 21:27). Although Scripture does not explicitly identify the missing sea with the temple's bronze Sea—and the sea of glass in Revelation 4:6 is a separate image—the contrast can be understood typologically: the old sanctuary system of washing and regulated access gives way to life in God's presence through Christ. Jesus is the Door. The Church is the Bride and the City. The New Heavens and New Earth are the new covenant reality in which God dwells with His people.