Ruben Zimmermann, «Nuptial Imagery in the Revelation of John», Vol. 84 (2003) 153-183
In this article is argued that the nuptial imagery of the Book of Revelation is not limited to chapters 19 and 21 but rather runs throughout the book. While the imagery is certainly most pronounced in the final part of the book, it also appears in the letters to the churches (bridal wreath in Rev 2,10; 3,11), in the scene depicting the 144,000 as virgins (Rev 14,4-5), and is encountered again in Rev 18,23 (silencing of the voice of bridegroom and bride) and Rev 22,17 (summons of the bride) at the end of the book. Thus the wedding metaphors can be seen as one of the structural patterns of Revelation as a whole directly in contrast to the metaphors of fornication.
simultaneously the throne of the Lamb (qro/noj tou= qeou= kai_ tou= a)rni/ou, Rev 22,1–3; 7,10.17; cp. 5,6.11). Looking at Rev 19, one can conclude that here the reign of God and the sovereignty of Christ are also indivisibly joined and must not be separated. Regarding Rev 17,14 and 19,16, one can also connect the begin of the reign of the king described in 19,6 to the kingdom of the Lamb. The reference to God should, however, not be overemphasized in a Christological sense upon the background of PsLXX 44,7 and 92,1. Certainly there already exists a synopsis of God and Christ that may have been employed consciously and that was able to form the breeding ground for the later "explicit Christology"38.
Let us now turn to the bride of the Lamb. The text provides little help in the interpretation of who is actually represented in the imagery of the bride. A reference back to Rev 12 is created by the clearly conscious use of the term gunh/ (the author also knows nu/mfh, see 21,2.9)39. The woman in Rev 12 is also "splendidly" clothed (peribeblhme/nh, Rev 12,1) for she is robed with the sun. However, we meet the pregnant woman of Rev 12 in a stage in a woman’s life that is much later than that of the bride. The allegorical provision in Rev 19,8c ("for the fine linen is the righteous acts of the saints") could give another clue to the designation of the bride. As the linen was first introduced as the clothing of the bride, the bride is identified with the saints by way of the parallel phrases. The clothing then refers to the righteous acts in the sense of an analogue structure. Of course, the celestial bride could also be robed in the righteous acts of the saints, so that the saints and the bride do not have to be identical. This is suggested in the continuation in Rev 19,9 for if the saints are identical with those that are said to be lucky, those invited to the wedding can not simultaneously be the bride herself. Thus, the identity of the bride