We do not expect a bride to be a city. That, however, is the case here since the Lamb had been slain (Revelation 5:6) to atone for the sins of innumerable people, an assembled crowd (Revelation 7:9–10; Revelation 14:1). A “city” is a dense concentration of people and so captures the concept of an assembled crowd. We also need to recall the instruction of Genesis 1:26–27, where the Lord commanded humanity to be fruitful, multiply, and fill the earth, as a city is filled. John had earlier seen the elect of God, 144,000 (Revelation 7:4), described as “a great multitude that no one could number” (Revelation 7:9) assembled on Mount Zion (Revelation 14:1). Though the text does not use the word “church,” we are to understand (on the analogy of other Scripture) that the “Bride,” the “wife of the Lamb,” the “holy city,” “Jerusalem” are all terms denoting the church (see Revelation 19:7; Ephesians 5:25–27; Psalm 48:1–14; Psalm 122:1–9).
10 And he carried me away in the Spirit to a great, high mountain, and showed me the holy city Jerusalem coming down out of heaven from God,