With the removal of God’s enemies from the earth (the beast and the false prophet, Revelation 19:20; Satan, Revelation 20:10; Death and Hades as well as the reprobate, Revelation 20:14–15), the way was open for the Lord to reveal his plan for the restoration of the world he had once created. The previous paragraph (Revelation 21:1–8) showed us how the new heaven and the new earth were united to form a single dwelling place for God with his people. That dwelling place was the “New Jerusalem.” The present section supplies detail about this 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.”