Starting at verse 22, the passage describes the glory of the New Jerusalem. The city does not need the sun or moon to shine because God's glory illuminates it and its lamp is the Lamb. Illuminated by God's overwhelming glory, the holy city no longer needs a temple. However, spiritually, it still has a temple because the Lord God and the Lamb are its temple.
Now, absolute and unchangeable holiness characterizes all within the universal Kingdom of God. The redeemed, made so by the blood of the Lamb, are in eternal glory, and life is everywhere, and death will never rear its ugly head again.
So at the end of the age, God's light will wipe out all remnants of darkness. The heavens and the earth are both renewed. Light, truth, holiness, joy, beauty, service, the presence of God, the worship of God, and the likeness to Christ, all are eternal realities.
Words cannot truly and adequately express what God has prepared for those who love Him, for those who walk in the light of God's presence.
So God is the only reliable source of eternal light, of eternal truth, goodness, purity, righteousness, holiness, understanding, and justice.
There will be no physical or spiritual night, no more idolatry or intellectual darkness. The Scriptures will be read everywhere, the pure Word will be preached everywhere, and the Spirit of God will shine and work in every mind.
The glory and light of the New Jerusalem will be the presence of God, with no artificial illumination. The servants of God will reign with Christ forever in eternal light!
This biblical vision, which closes with the breathtaking hope of the New Jerusalem, where God Himself will be our everlasting light and where night will be no more, testifies to the eternal promise of God's presence. Until then we are called to walk in the light as He is in the light, reflecting the radiance of Christ so that others may also see the way of eternal life in the Kingdom of God.
