Revelation Now :
Daily Devotional Bible Studies in Revelation
Next | Previous | Contact Ron | Introduction | Foreword | Index | Tellout Home
The Shining Son in the City of God : Day 80 
I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 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. The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. Nothing impure will ever enter it, nor will anyone who does what is shameful or deceitful, but only those whose names are written in the Lamb's book of life. (Revelation 21.22-27)
No Temple in the City of God
In verse 22, John lays down a unique feature of the city of God. In it, there is no "temple"! When we remember how precious the Temple was to the Jews, this is amazing. But we have already noted that the city is built in the shape of a perfect cube, indicating that it is itself the Holy of Holies. The city needs no "temple" because the presence of God is continually there.
Buildings do not make a Church. The one thing which makes a Church is the presence of Jesus Christ and Christian people. Without these there can be no such thing as a Church. Without these, no gathering of people is a real Church.
The Light of God
The city of God needed no created "light", because God was in the midst of her. "The Lord, will be your everlasting light" said Isaiah, (1). "In thy light, do we see light" said the Psalmist (2).
Only when we see things in the "light" of God, do we see things as they really are. Some things which seem vastly important are unimportant in the light of God.
All Nations Walk in His Light
Isaiah has a picture of the day when "all nations" will go up to Mount Zion to be taught the law and to learn to walk in the ways of God (3). God will set up a flag to which all the nations will come (4). It is a privilege to Israel, "I will give you for a light to the nations, that my salvation may reach to the ends of the earth" (5). Nations who never knew God will run to him (6). The Gentiles will come to God from the ends of the earth, confessing and repenting of the previous errors of their ways (7).
All peoples, nations and languages will serve "the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb" (8). God will give all a pure language in which they may with one voice call upon and praise him (9). All flesh will be silent before God (10).Many people and the inhabitants of many cities will come to Jerusalem. The day will come when the Lord will be king over all the earth (11)."The nations will walk by the light" of the city of God and the kings bringing their gifts to it.
No Night in the City of God
More than once John insists that there will be "no night" in the city of God. Ancient peoples, like children, were afraid of the dark. In the new world, the frightening dark will be no more, for the presence of God will bring eternal light. Even in this world of space and time, where God is, the night is as bright as the day(12).
Again and again, it has happened that an age of brilliance has been followed by an age of darkness. But in the new age the darkness will be gone and there will be nothing but light.
The Nations Bring Gifts into the City of God
John, like the ancient prophets, repeatedly speaks of "the kings of the earth bringing their gifts into it." It is true that the nations did bring their gifts to the Church. The Greeks brought the power of their intellect. To them, "the unexamined life was the life not worth living," (13) and so the unexamined faith was the faith not worth having. To the Greeks we owe theology.
The Romans were the greatest experts in government the world has ever seen. To the Church they brought their ability to organize and to administer and to formulate law. When a person enters the Church, he must bring his gift with him; the writer his power in words, the artist his power in color, the sculptor his mastery of line and form and mass, the musician his music, the craftsman his craft. There is no gift which Christ cannot use.
The chapter ends with a threat. Those who will not lay aside the evil of their ways are barred from the city of God. There is a sinner who sins against his will; there is a sinner who deliberately sins. It is not the repentant sinner, but the defiant sinner, who is barred from the city of God.
Words to meditate on
Is your name "written in the Lamb's Book of Life?"
Words to pray
"Your word is a lamp unto my feet, And a light unto my path."(14)
Thank you for the Bible, to show me the way to live my life for your glory. Amen
Notes
(1) Isaiah 60:19, 20 (2) Psalm 36:9 (3) Isaiah 2:2-4 (4) Isaiah 11:12 (5) Isaiah 49:6 (6) Isaiah 55:5 (7) Jeremiah 16:19-21 (8) Daniel 7:14 (9) Zephaniah 3:9 (10) Zechariah 2:13 (11) Zechariah 14:9 (12) Psalm 139:12 (13) Plato (14)
"The revelation of Jesus Christ, which God gave him to show his servants what must soon take place."
