The next part of Isaiah’s revelation concerning the barren bride shows her coming to the end of her tribulations and into her fullness. He writes,

 “O afflicted one, storm-tossed and not comforted,
    behold, I will set your stones in antimony,
    and lay your foundations with sapphires.^[b]
12 I will make your pinnacles of agate,^[c]
    your gates of carbuncles,^[d]
    and all your wall of precious stones. (Isaiah 54:11-12 ESV)

Previously we saw that God portrays his future Bride as one afflicted with sin. Recall that Isaiah earlier said,

Therefore hear this, you who are afflicted,
    who are drunk, but not with wine:
²² Thus says your Lord, the Lord,
    your God who pleads the cause of his people:
“Behold, I have taken from your hand the cup of staggering;
the bowl of my wrath you shall drink no more;
²³ and I will put it into the hand of your tormentors,
    who have said to you,
    ‘Bow down, that we may pass over’;
and you have made your back like the ground
    and like the street for them to pass over.” (Isaiah 51:21-23)

Isaiah speaks here to a people drunk with sin, not necessarily drunk with alcoholic beverages. Unfortunately this describes most Christians who will one day make up the Bride of Christ. John saw her during his visions on the Isle of Patmos and was astonished at her. How could the church which he helped to establish grow into a harlot sitting atop a satanic beast? We need to ask today, how can Christians send their children to government schools which teach them to do everything except honor the God of creation, even teaching them that they evolved from soulless slime? And again, how do Christians justify vacationing in sin cities like Las Vegas? Clearly the time of barren bride’s affliction has not yet ended, but it will soon.

At this point I want to urge you to read the following excellent treatise by brother J. Leland Earls: The Three Comings of Christ. In this booklet he clearly shows the distinction between the overcomers in God’s Church and those who comprise the barren bride, those who do not “overcome” the world until forced to during the great tribulation to come. He clearly, and correctly I believe, points out the “pre-tribulation” glorification of the firstfruits sons of God and the post-tribulation glorification of the majority of true Christians, Christians which today comprise the barren bride. This distinction has confused theologians for centuries, just as the “once saved, always saved,” and “not once saved always saved” controversy has.*

The second part of the passage quoted above from Isaiah 54 concerns God’s beautiful promise to his wayward bride. He says “I will set your stones in antimony, and lay your foundations with sapphires. I will make your pinnacles of agate, your gates of carbuncles, and all your wall of precious stones.” Here he promises to make the barren, afflicted, rebellious, sinful woman today called “the church” into that glorious Bride of Christ which God reveals to John as New Jerusalem. 

⁹ Then came one of the seven angels who had the seven bowls full of the seven last plagues and spoke to me, saying, “Come, I will show you the Bride, the wife of the Lamb.”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, ¹¹ having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal. ¹² It had a great, high wall, with twelve gates, and at the gates twelve angels, and on the gates the names of the twelve tribes of the sons of Israel were inscribed— 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 had twelve foundations, and on them were the twelve names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb.

¹⁵ And the one who spoke with me had a measuring rod of gold to measure the city and its gates and walls. ¹⁶ The city lies foursquare, its length the same as its width. And he measured the city with his rod, 12,000 stadia.^[d] Its length and width and height are equal.¹⁷ He also measured its wall, 144 cubits^[e] by human measurement, which is also an angel’s measurement. ¹⁸ The wall was built of jasper, while the city was pure gold, like clear glass.¹⁹ The foundations of the wall of the city were adorned with every kind of jewel. The first was jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, ²⁰ the fifth onyx, the sixth carnelian, the seventh chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth chrysoprase, the eleventh jacinth, the twelfth amethyst. ²¹ And the twelve gates were twelve pearls, each of the gates made of a single pearl, and the street of the city was pure gold, like transparent glass. (Revelation 21:9-21)

Our God is following the pattern he gave to Solomon for building the first temple to the LORD. Just as Solomon’s builders fully prepared each stone away from the temple site, do does God prepare each living stone away from the ultimate temple of God, New Jerusalem. Remember that God teaches nothing except by using a parable. Solomon’s temple, therefore, was a parable. It was a prophetic type of the ultimate spiritual reality which God has named “New Jerusalem.” The New Testament teaches that believers are the temple of God. Concerning this Peter says,

5 you yourselves like living stones are being built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. 6 For it stands in Scripture:

*Note: the “once saved, always saved,” and “not once saved always saved” controversy can only be understood once one discerns the distinction between spiritual salvation and soul salvation. Many articles deal with this issue on this web site.