When is the Church the Bride?

As I continue my contemplations on church, I would like to pose a question:

Does the Church continue past the Second Coming?

Theologians have probably debated this without letting me know. Dispensationalism might have a theory. I don't know. I don't even know if I am a Dispensationalist. One thing at a time. I just decided I'm a Calvinist!

Here's another one: Is the Church the bride of Christ, or His betrothed? After the Second Coming, is the Church no longer the Church, but the Bride?

Think about it: What does "church" mean? Assembly. A gathering of believers. A unity of purpose and faith.

Why does the Church exist? To edify believers, and in working together, to further God's kingdom and bring Him glory.

Why is the Church on earth still today? That we may bear witness of God's grace to all men.

After the Second Coming, are those roles still necessary? Does the purpose and identity shift? Prior to marriage, surely the romance has a different focus than that of married life. Perhaps the Church is preparing for the life with Christ, when He will dwell with us as it says in Revelation.

"And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying,

Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men,

and he will dwell with them,

and they shall be his people,

and God himself shall be with them, and be their God."

~ Revelation 21:3

After the "wedding supper of the Lamb," maybe the responsibility of the redeemed will be different. The loyalty will be the same. The singular devotion will not go away.

"Let us be glad and rejoice,

and give honour to him:

for the marriage of the Lamb is come,

and his wife hath made herself ready."

~ Revelation 19:7

All my life I've heard that Heaven is a place where we will constantly praise God. Revelation 4 is used to say that we will be with masses casting crowns at God's feet.

"And the four beasts had each of them six wings about him;

and they were full of eyes within:

and they rest not day and night,

saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty,

which was, and is, and is to come.

And when those beasts give glory and honour and thanks
to him that sat on the throne, who liveth for ever and ever,

The four and twenty elders fall down before him that sat on the throne,

and worship him that liveth for ever and ever,

and cast their crowns before the throne,

saying, Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory and honour and power:

for thou hast created all things,

and for thy pleasure they are and were created."

~ Revelation 4:8-11

I've also heard, and more importantly read, that eternity begins with Heaven, continues to an earthly Millenium in which Christ will reign, and converts to forever in a New Earth with a New Jerusalem to which people will come to bring sacrifices.

"And the nations of them which are saved

shall walk in the light of it:

and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it.

And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day:

for there shall be no night there.

And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it."

~ Revelation 21:24-26

Honestly, I don't believe God created men to be up and down bow-ers. Angels stand around His throne crying, "Holy!" God created man and set him in a garden, with tasks and responsibilities, communication and relationships. I cannot believe that men will turn into a perpetual choir any more than I believe we all get wings and harps when we die.

However, though the role develops at the brink of eternity, do we cease to be the Church, the assembly of saints, called apart and called together into unity? Does 1 Corinthians 13 cease to govern us? No, for verses 8 and 13 of that chapter says,

"Charity never faileth...

And now abideth faith, hope, charity,

these three; but the greatest of these is charity."

To God be all glory.