The Light shines

DEVOTION

THE REVELATION

THE LIGHT SHINES

Rev 21:22-27

22 I did not see a temple in the city, because the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are its temple. 23 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. 24 The nations will walk by its light, and the kings of the earth will bring their splendor into it. 25 On no day will its gates ever be shut, for there will be no night there. 26 The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into it. 27 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.

NIV

We might imagine this could be talking about the Christian church, as some of our ancient scholars would, in the sense its doors are always open to sinners. But that is really not the case in our day and age, as many churches lock their doors except when some service or activity is scheduled. With all the expensive things they manage to amass, they fear all that stuff being stolen if they were to leave their doors forever open for sinners to find Christ. No this is the new city of Jerusalem on the new earth which sits in an all new universe. Everything has been made new, even the order of things. On the past earth we built structures specifically designed for the worship of God. Others built shrines for the worship of their gods. Here in this new place there will be no temple, no one place we would go for worship because the whole of the entire city is a temple. God is there, Jesus is there, and although John does not say it, the Holy Spirit would be there as well. Again we see this new world order as this great city 1400 miles wide by 1400 miles long and just as high, shines so brightly it gives light to all the rest of the world. This could be an illusion to the gospel being the light of the world. That in the darkness of the mind of mankind, having their heart bent toward evil all the time, the gospel brings light into their lives. But again that is a historical vision of this whole revelation. What we have here is the presence of the Lord with his people in this new city. We can just imagine how many people will be living with God in his temple city. If we were to enter a gate and turn to the right, we could walk for a total of 5600 miles, seeing aboding places all along this road. Then we would find ourselves back at the original gate, but turn left and go up to the next road, and travel the circumference again, but this time perhaps travel only 5400 miles as we would be a little higher up the pyramid/mountain. On and on we would travel getting a little higher each time and traveling a little fewer miles. The point being it would have so many dwelling places that Jesus went to prepare for us. This again is the truth of all scripture. When Jesus said he would prepare a place for:

John 14:1-4

14:1 "Do not let your hearts be troubled. Trust in God; trust also in me. 2 In my Father's house are many rooms; if it were not so, I would have told you. I am going there to prepare a place for you. 3 And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come back and take you to be with me that you also may be where I am. 4 You know the way to the place where I am going." 

NIV

We know that Jesus ascended to be at the right hand of the Father:

Matt 26:64

 64 "Yes, it is as you say," Jesus replied. "But I say to all of you: In the future you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of the Mighty One and coming on the clouds of heaven." 

NIV

Acts 7:54-56

 55 But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God. 56 "Look," he said, "I see heaven open and the Son of Man standing at the right hand of God."

NIV

Col 3:1-4

3:1 Since, then, you have been raised with Christ, set your hearts on things above, where Christ is seated at the right hand of God. 2 Set your minds on things above, not on earthly things. 3 For you died, and your life is now hidden with Christ in God. 4 When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.

NIV

This new city is that place Jesus has prepared for us at the right hand of God the Father in Heaven and it has come down from Heaven to sit upon this all new earth. Just imagine if we started in Boston and drove to somewhere in the Southeastern corner of South Dakota, and turned south and traveled to somewhere of the coast of Mexico in the gulf and then East to a place in the Bahamas turning north and going back to Boston we would have traveled the size of this city along its wall. This is why the light which God emits will shine throughout the whole of this new earth. It would also seem there will be people living outside the city in other places on this new earth and they will be bringing their riches to worship God. But this may not be. What we see here is that people from every nation have accepted Jesus Christ as their Lord and Savior. The only people who can enter this city are those whose names are in the Book of Life. People who accept Jesus Christ are the glory and honor of each nation that is on this present earth. Man, by himself is not pure, but we who have Jesus are pure in him as he is our righteousness, our purity. Now it is possible that God creates more people, to live outside the city. All things are possible with God and we certainly cannot put him in a box, so to speak. But it makes sense that we are the glory and honor of our nation, as all believers are to theirs. We will be within this city, but will able to come and go, and enjoy all the splendor of this new earth. God will never shut us out, as he did the day he shut the door to the ark, and the day he shut the door of the cross. Right now the door is open for all to enter.  Salvation is available to all at the cross, but someday God is going to shut that door and the final judgment will happen. Once we have been judged, and found being in Christ and thus our names are written in the Book of Life, we will have the freedom to live in the city and to travel throughout the earth, always being illuminated by the brilliance of God. He will always welcome us home within the city, as the gates will always be open because there is no night. This of course has some reference to the days of John, when walled cities would close their gates at night, to guard against attacks under the cover of darkness.  We will never see darkness again, we will always be in the light. We should live as such now. We should not allow the darkness to enter into our lives, getting used to always being in the light. The darkness usually has a reference to some form of sin, and we cannot afford to allow that darkness to have a place in our lives. The light always shines, and the darkness cannot prevail against it. This new city is all light, all purity, all goodness, and we will see each other there.