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Commentary Index | Return to PrayerRequest.com | DownloadPaul Kretzmann Commentary - Revelation 21:22 - 21:27
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The wonderful glory of the city:
v. 22. And I saw no temple therein; for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it.
v. 23. 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.
v. 24. 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 honor into it.
v. 25. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day; for there shall be no night there.
v. 26. And they shall bring the glory and honor of the nations into it.
v. 27. And there shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination or maketh a lie, but they which are written in the Lamb's Book of Life.
A few features of the picture, at least, give us an inkling of the ineffable bliss that awaits us in our heavenly home: And a temple I did not see in her; for the Lord God, the Almighty, is her temple, and the Lamb. When we reach the consummation of our hopes in eternal life, we shall no longer be obliged to have any means of grace, the Word and the Sacraments; for we shall see God face to face and shall know Him even as we are known, 1Co_13:12. The same thought is repeated in the next verse: And the city has no need of the sun nor of the moon to give light to her; for the glory of God illumines her, and her lamp is the Lamb. As we, here on earth, receive the physical light which we need from the sun by day and from the moon by night, but only inasmuch as the sun and the moon are bearers of the light, so we receive our spiritual light through the Gospel and not by the direct revelation of the unclouded glory of God. But in heaven we shall need neither sun nor light nor the Gospel, for there the open glory of God and of our Savior will serve for our eternal enlightenment.
It is a blessed light which will surround us at that time, as John writes: And the nations shall walk by her light, and the kings of the earth will bear their glory to her, and her gates they will not close by day, for night will not be there; and they will bear the glory and the honor of the nations to her. See Isa_60:3. The elect instruments of God in the Church Militant, the patriarchs and prophets and apostles and martyrs and all others that were leaders of God's Church here on earth, together with those who were mighty ones here on earth, will bring the glory which was given them through their salvation to the holy city of God. There will be a great, happy, eternal communion of saints, of those that accepted the salvation of Christ. The city is secure in the light from the throne and from the Lamb, and the Lord Himself will hold the gates open to those that are bought with the price of the Lamb's blood and have accepted His merits. Thus will all the glory and honor of all the world and of all the nations be assembled in the city of God, to the praise of the Savior.
Only one class of people is excluded: And there shall not enter into her anything profane and he that commits abomination and lie, but only those that are inscribed in the Book of Life of the Lamb. Those that are not permitted to enter into the gates of the heavenly Jerusalem are such as have excluded themselves by their unbelief and their consequent life of abominations and lies, which was a proof of their unbelief. But those that are written in the book of the Lamb, the true children, the elect of God, will enter the heavenly city, where they will have complete and perfect salvation. Then shall the righteous shine like the sun in their Father's kingdom. He that hath ears to hear, let him hear!
Summary
The seer is shown the heavenly Jerusalem, the Church Triumphant, as it descends from God out of heaven, and gives a description of the glory of perfection, as well as that can be done in words of human tongue.