The Adorning of the Bride
Jerry Hyde

“And I John saw the Holy City, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a Bride adorned for her Husband.”  Revelation 21:2

Kosmeo, the Greek word for “adorn” is used to describe the adorning of the Bride of Christ for her Husband.  She is now fully matured and qualified to be a perfect help, meet for Him.  By right of marriage, she has taken His name and has access to all His goods.  She will reign with Him as His Queen.

The noun form of this word is Kosmos, which means “world.”  Our word “cosmetics” comes from this word.  God created the world, and desired man to have an important part in it.  He placed Adam in the Garden of Eden and directed him to dress, or “adorn” it.

“And the Lord God took the man, and put him in the garden of Eden, to dress it and to keep it.”  Genesis 2:15

It was the Lord’s intention that man would, from this garden, bring the entire “Kosmos” into perfect harmony and order, so God would be fully revealed and expressed through His creation.  Eden - a set apart place, was to be the center, where God and man could walk together.  To the extent that man would allow God to impart Himself into him, man would be enabled to influence the entire world for the glory of God.  Instead of fulfilling this calling, man through disobedience brought chaos and desolation back into God’s world.

In the face of this seeming defeat, God promised to send a Deliverer through the seed of a woman.  Through redemption, the Lord would restore man back into fellowship with Himself.  Man would again walk with God in His garden, as he dressed and adorned it.  Out of a reinstated personal relationship with God, man was to restore creation to union with God, and deliver it from the curse.

“Because the creature itself also shall be delivered from the bondage of corruption into the glorious liberty of the children of God.”  Romans 8:21

In the midst of a rebellious people, God swore to Moses in the wilderness, “But as truly as I live, all the earth shall be filled with the glory of the Lord” (Numbers 14:21).  Thus Isaiah prophesied:

“You shall no longer be termed Forsaken; neither shall your land any more be termed Desolate: but you shall be called Hephzibah (My delight is in her), and your land Beulah (Married): for the Lord delights in you, and your land shall be married.”  Isaiah 62:4

This refers not only to the earth, but also to the “land” within us, where the Lord desires to dwell.  There is a link between the adorning of the Bride in this special set apart place, and the restoration of His full presence and glory in the earth.  The latter will spring forth from the former.  The Word teaches that out of the multitudes who profess faith in Jesus, there will be a time when a people will so flow together in love and submission to the Lord, that they will be adorned as a watered garden (Jeremiah 31:1-14).

In the Sermon on the Mount, Jesus referred to the lilies in respect to this adorning, when He said in Matthew 6:28-30,

“And why take you thought for raiment?  Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say to you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.”

Thus, the Bride does not primarily concern herself with works (toil), but enters into the Lord’s rest.  For it is the Holy Spirit who will clothe her, as she fixes her heart to seek first the Kingdom, and the righteousness of the King (Matthew 6:30-34).

In Isaiah 61:10-11, we see the Bride adorned in precious jewels, which speak of the process of refining in fire, and of anointing.  The wood, hay, and stubble, are gone, and her adornment is only that which is of the heavenly nature of her Bridegroom lover.  The disciples were impressed with outward appearance (Luke 21:5), but Peter gradually learned that the Lord is looking for the beauty of the heart (I Peter 3:3-4).

Adornment was a military term to the Greeks, and related to the soldier who had learned discipline and honor, and one who had come into rank.  How well all these ideas describe the completed Bride of Christ.  In the Song of Solomon, she is described as “terrible as an army with banners,” and also as one who wears a chain of gold around her neck. The neck speaks of the will.  A gold chain speaks of rank and authority to rule (Daniel wore a chain of gold).  Since gold reveals the divine, it tells us that the Bride has so yielded her will to the will of the Lord that she has come to represent His authority, and is ruling out from the very heart of her Bridegroom King.  She has authority because she has submitted to authority.

In the book of Esther, we see two women; Vashti the queen, proud and rebellious, who was adorned outwardly with beautiful jewels and makeup; and Esther who had the adornment of a meek and submissive spirit.  The King rejected Vashti and made Esther Queen in His kingdom.  She became the channel through which the Lord’s people were rescued from destruction, and the wicked Haman, who represents the satanic enemy, is destroyed.  Esther’s are needed in the Church today.

“Let us rejoice and be exceeding glad, and let us give the glory unto Him: for the marriage of the Lamb is come, and His wife hath made herself ready.  And it was given unto her that she should array herself in fine linen, bright and pure: for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints.”  Revelation 19:7-8 ASV

The Bride is clothed in her wedding garment, as she chooses the Lord in the midst of the earth’s pressures.  She is made “heavenly” through the operation of the “earthly” upon her.  She now has a single eye.  The Lord is teaching her to respond to His presence and to see only Him.  She is called a “dove” in Song of Solomon, as a dove only focuses on one thing at a time.  The dove also has no

gall bladder, no capacity for bitterness.

The city in Revelation chapter 21 has twelve gates, and each one is a pearl.  In an oyster, a pearl is formed when a foreign particle causes an irritation.  The oyster cannot get rid of the problem, so it forms a pearl around it, which relieves the suffering.  Often the thing that irritates us is the Lord’s method of producing pearls in our lives.  Our failure to respond properly could cause the very thing which the Lord desires to accomplish within us to become destructive to His purposes for us.  The pearl becomes a gateway into the deeper knowledge of Him.

These gates all lead to the street of transparent gold.  She is now transparent and the inside and outside are exactly the same. Now Jesus shines through her and she has become the very expression of His life.  In this way, out of the multitudes who follow the Lord for miracles, and for loaves and fishes, some will begin to see beyond these, to the Lord Himself, and will go further, seeking this intimate relationship with Him.  The Bride, in the Song of Solomon, does not talk about all that the Lord is capable of doing, rather, she describes how beautiful He is.  In Revelation 22:17, the Spirit and the Bride are in such fellowship that they both are saying the same thing – “Come.”  The Lord is waiting for this singular call.

There is a purpose for the Bride to fulfill.  Esther put on her royal apparel and ruled as Queen in her husband’s kingdom.  She was used to deal with the enemy and to save the Lord’s people from destruction.  She also brought harmony and blessing to the Kingdom.

By marriage, the Bride becomes a joint-heir with the King of all kings.  She sits in His Throne, in the authority of His Wonderful Name.  He will not rule without her.  As His highest creation, the Bride alone has the potential to satisfy the very heart of the Almighty.  May we respond to His desire to bring forth from within us, this Bride.