The Glory of God Illuminates New Jerusalem
Revelation 21:22 tells us that in New Jerusalem “the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple.” Verse 23 goes on, “And the city has no need of the sun or of the moon that they should shine in it, for the glory of God illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb.”
The glory of God lights the city. Therefore, there is no need for the sun or the moon to shine. We know that in the temple of the Old Testament the outer court was lighted by the sun and the moon, and the Holy Place by the light of the lamp. But in the Holy of Holies there was no window; the light of the sun and the moon could not shine in. Neither was there a lamp as in the Holy Place. The glory of God provided the light. Even so, the New Jerusalem is not lighted by the sun or the moon, but by the glory of God.
New Jerusalem is shown to be the holy of holies both by being a cube and by being illuminated by the glory of God. When we have this glory there is no need of the natural light (sun or moon) nor of man-made light (lamps). This is repeated in Revelation 22:5, “they have no need of the light of a lamp and of the light of the sun, for the Lord God will shine upon them.”
Today in our physical life we have need of natural and man-made lights, but in New Jerusalem we will be entirely in resurrection and have only the light of resurrection—the Lord God.
* From chapter 5 of The Glorious Church by Watchman Nee, published and © by Living Stream Ministry, available at www.ministrybooks.org/ and www.livingstream.com/en/the-church/8012401-glorious-church-the.html.
Posted by Don on August 5, 2022
