Scripture Daily

Context No. 3499 of 4322 · Revelation

Context · Reflection

Revelation 21:22-27: in context

22I saw no temple in it, for the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23The city has no need for the sun or moon to shine, for the very glory of God illuminated it and its lamp is the Lamb. 24The nations will walk in its light. The kings of the earth bring the glory and honor of the nations into it. 25Its gates will in no way be shut by day (for there will be no night there), 26and they shall bring the glory and the honor of the nations into it so that they may enter. 27There will in no way enter into it anything profane, or one who causes an abomination or a lie, but only those who are written in the Lamb’s book of life.

John's vision of the new Jerusalem describes it largely by what it lacks, and each absence is a wonder. There is no temple in the city, because the Lord God and the Lamb are its temple; there is no need for a building to house God's presence when God himself dwells fully among his people.

There is no sun or moon, because the glory of God gives the city light, and the Lamb is its lamp. And there is no night at all, and its gates are never shut. Every barrier and every darkness is gone; nothing any longer separates God's people from him. The whole city is flooded with his unveiled presence and light. This is the destiny toward which all of Scripture moves: God fully present with his people, every shadow and separation removed, and only those written in the Lamb's book of life dwelling forever in his light. The temple itself was always pointing toward a day when no temple would be needed, because God is all in all.

Do I set my hope on the city where God himself is the temple and the light, and is my name written in the Lamb's book of life?

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