Revelation 21:23; And The City Had No Need for the Sun

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Revelation 21:23 (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. 

God’s presence in the city has implications for her lighting system – 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. 

As the city will have need of the sun or of the moon, that they might shine in her, for the glory of God illumined her, she will also not need created light because God’s presence pervades the city and emits contstant light in abundance (cf. Revelation 22:5).

“The sun” and “the moon” of the first creation (Genesis 1:14-16) have no place in the second creation (Swete).

Genesis 1:14-16 (KJV)  And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of the heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days, and years: And let them be for lights in the firmament of the heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so. And God made two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: he made the stars also. 

They have not need to “shine” in there city. The Shekinah glory of God provided necessary illumination for the Holy of Holies in the tabernacle and the temple. His immediate presence will do the same for the whole city that will descend from heaven (Bullinger). This element in the city’s life alludes to the seed-thought regarding God’s presence expressed in Isaiah 60:19-20 (Charles, Ford, Mounce).

Isaiah 60:19-20 (KJV)  The sun shall be no more thy light by day; neither for brightness shall the moon give light unto thee: but the LORD shall be unto thee an everlasting light, and thy God thy glory. Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the LORD shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mourning shall be ended. 

The reason why the sun and the doom are unnecessary is the presence of the “glory of God” to provide the needed illumination. This is all the illumination anyone could ask or want. The sun and moon could add nothing to its radiance. An earlier reference to serving God day and night in His temple (Revelation 7:15-16) pertained to an epoch when “day and night” continue in cycles, but in the New Jerusalem no such alternations between light and darkness exist (Lee). It will be a condition of constant brightness and brilliance.

The words “the Lamp is the light” show that the Lamb will be to the city in a physical and spiritual sense what the churches (Lampstands) were in a spiritual sense to the world of their day (Swete). The lamb is the effulgence of the Father’s glory (Hebrews 1:3).

Hebrews 1:3 (KJV)  Who being the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person, and upholding all things by the word of his power, when he had by himself purged our sins, sat down on the right hand of the Majesty on high; 

The glory of both persons is the same (Lee). Like the Lamb, the Father too is the lamp (Revelation 22:5) (Beckwith).

[Robert L. Thomas, Revelation 8-22 – An Exegetical Commentary, Moody 1995, 475]