Revelation 21:23 - Printer Friendly

ESV: And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.

NIV: The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.

NASB: And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God has illuminated it, and its lamp is the Lamb.

CSB: The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, because the glory of God illuminates it, and its lamp is the Lamb.

NLT: And the city has no need of sun or moon, for the glory of God illuminates the city, and the Lamb is its light.

KJV: And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof.

NKJV: The city had no need of the sun or of the moon to shine in it, for the glory of God illuminated it. The Lamb is its light.

Ancient cities were often dark. They did not have lighting systems, so they depended upon lighted torches or the light of the sun by day and the light of the moon at night. How different the New Jerusalem is. It enjoys glorious light all the time, as God and the Lamb provide it. The residents of New Jerusalem will never receive an electric bill or experience a blackout. Light will come from God's glory. Neither the moon nor the sun is needed to shine on New Jerusalem. Jesus, the Light of the world (John 1:9; 8:12), serves as the city's lamp.

In Old Testament times the shekinah glory shone at various times as God revealed His glory. When Jesus appeared to Saul of Tarsus on the road to Damascus, a brilliant light accompanied Jesus' appearance and blinded Saul (Acts 9:3–9). The apostle John wrote in 1 John 1:5 that "God is light, and in him is no darkness at all."

Revelation 21:9–27 presents a description of the New Jerusalem. Interpreters disagree about whether this is a flashback to the millennial reign of Christ, or a description of the eternal state of the city. A flashback is not unprecedented in Revelation, occurring in chapters 11, 14, 15, and 17. However, some verses here clearly refer to eternal conditions, and most scholars take this as a depiction of the eternal, final heavenly city.

This chapter focuses on the New Jerusalem. This is not the earthly, historic Jerusalem of the tribulation (Revelation 11:2, 8). Nor is it the surviving Jerusalem of the millennium that serves as Jesus' capital (Revelation 20:9). It is the heavenly city referred to in Hebrews 12:22, whose designer and builder is God (Hebrews 11:10, 16). John attempts to describe the indescribable using analogies to precious gems and metals.

Leading up to this chapter, all sin and evil have been entirely defeated. Satan is banished to hell, along with every person who rejected Christ, as seen in chapter 20. Here, John describes the nature of the New Jerusalem, the heavenly city which descends onto earth after the ultimate victory over evil. Chapter 22 is a further description of this perfect eternity, and last messages from Jesus to those who read John's words.

The word ''revelation'' means ''an unveiling or disclosure.'' This writing unveils future events such as the rapture, three series of judgments that will fall on the earth during the tribulation, the emergence of the Antichrist, the persecution of Israel and her amazing revival, as well as Jesus' second coming with His saints to the earth, the judgment of Satan and his followers, and finally, the eternal state. This content, combined with the original Greek term apokalypsis, is why we now refer to an end-of-the-world scenario as ''an apocalypse.''

Accessed 11/21/2024 8:28:19 AM