Revelation 21:23–24

Context

Chapter 21 of Revelation opens with a vision of "a new heaven and a new earth." The author, traditionally identified as John, is guided by an angel and sees the New Jerusalem coming down out of heaven. He describes the city's walls, gates, and foundations (Revelation 21:12–14). In verse 22 he states that there is no temple in the city, for God and the Lamb are its temple.

Verses 23–24 follow. The city is lit not by the sun or the moon but by the glory of God, and the Lamb is its lamp (KJV: "the Lamb is the light thereof"). "The Lamb" is the principal title for Christ in Revelation. Verses 25–27 add that the city's gates are never shut and that there is no night there. Nothing that defiles may enter, and only those written in the Lamb's book of life may come in. The passage is widely understood to draw on the language of Isaiah 60, which declares that the Lord will be an everlasting light and that the nations and kings will come to that light.

Interpretation

• The consummation of God's presence: Many commentators do not take the statement that the city "had no need of the sun, neither of the moon" as a rejection of the created order. They read it instead to mean that the glory of God, which once dwelt in the tabernacle and the temple (Exodus 40:34–35), now fills the midst of His people without mediation. Some also connect the description of the Lamb as the city's lamp with "the light of the world" in John 8:12.
• The redeemed people: Several traditions, including the Reformed tradition, read "the nations" and "the kings of the earth" as those redeemed from every people (Revelation 7:9–17). They interpret the passage together with the restriction in verse 27.
• The transformation of culture: This reading takes the statement that the kings bring "their glory" into the city to mean that the good achieved by nations and cultures will be purified and brought into the new creation. The American Reformed theologian Richard Mouw is known to have advanced this view on the basis of Isaiah 60 and this passage.
• A literal, futurist reading: Some interpreters in the dispensationalist tradition regard the New Jerusalem as an actual city. They read the passage as describing the nations living on the new earth coming and going from the city under its light.

Debates and Issues

Earlier in Revelation, "the kings of the earth" are portrayed as those who commit fornication with Babylon and make war against the Lamb (Revelation 17:2; 18:9; 19:19). Some scholars therefore read their entry into the New Jerusalem as a hint that even the nations that were once enemies will ultimately be restored. The majority, however, reject this reading on the basis of 21:8 and 21:27. They take the expression either as referring to nations that have turned to God or as a symbol of the universality of the kingdom of God.

Verse 24 also involves a textual issue. Some later manuscripts, and the Textus Receptus that follows them, add the words "of them which are saved." Translations in the King James Version tradition accordingly read "the nations of them which are saved." The major ancient manuscripts lack these words, and the Korean Revised Version and the New Korean Revised Version read simply "the nations."

Perspective: Korean Protestant practiceHow this idea is used in Korean churches, kept from the original Korean article.

In Korean Protestant churches, Revelation 21 is frequently read at funeral services as a text expressing the hope of heaven. These verses are read with it as part of the chapter's portrayal of the New Jerusalem.

Related Passages

• Isaiah 60:1–3
• Isaiah 60:19–20
• Revelation 21:22
• Revelation 22:5
• John 8:12