Revelation 22:5; And There Shall Be No Night Thee

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Revelation 22:5 (KJV)  And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever. 

The description of “Paradise restored” closes with a repeated reference to the illuminating effect of God’s presence with a promise of an eternal reign for His servants – And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall reign for ever and ever. 

What was a somewhat parenthetical explanation in Revelation 21:25 now comes to the forefront of privileges in the new order in the words – And there shall be no more night (Beckwith).

Revelation 21:25 (KJV)  And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there. 

This is a reminiscence of the condition described in Zechariah 14:6-7.

Zechariah 14:6-7 (KJV)  And it shall come to pass in that day, that the light shall not be clear, nor dark: But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be light. 

The words “and they need no candle, neither light of the sun” repeat the gist of Revelation 21:23. In the earlier instance its setting focused on how unusual this new city will be. Here, however, attention is on the delight this condition will produce for the city’s citizens (Beckwith).

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. 

The promise of the Lord God’s personal illumination replaces the earlier one of illumination by His glory in Revelation 21:23. Another slight difference in the promise, “the Lord God giveth them light”, lies in the tenses of “photizo” I illuminate, shine”). The earlier occasion uses an aorist tense (an action or instant in time) to describe what John saw (Revelation 21:23), but here the future tense is a prediction of conditions that will prevail for people in the city.

[Robert L. Thomas, Revelation 8-22 – An Exegetical Commentary, Moody 1995, 488]