Things that are not in the City
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Rev 21:22-27 No temple. "I saw," says John, "no temple therein." The temple hid God behind a veil. It concealed His glory and involved a special priesthood by which men could approach to worship, but not immediately* draw near to God. In the City there is no temple — nothing that will conceal God. The Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. They fill the City: access to God is immediate.* How little Christendom has walked in the light of the City is evident inasmuch as "temples" have again been set up after a Jewish pattern, with priests between the people and God. Thus the true conception of the Assembly (Church) with Christ in the midst has been entirely lost.
{*Used in the sense of nothing or no one in between God and man. Such drawing near was not possible in temple days (Ed.).} No light of the sun nor of the moon. The sun and moon are natural lights symbolic of the natural mind of man. Such light will not be there, and where all will have the mind of Christ, will not be needed. "The glory of God has enlightened it and the lamp thereof is the Lamb" (Rev 21:23, JND). God is the light and the Lamb is the "Light-bearer" through whom the light reaches the City. The City reflects the light of Christ and the nations walk in the light of the City.
Thus the prayer of our Lord in John 17: 23 (JND) will have its perfect answer — "I in them, and Thou in Me, that they may be perfected into one; and that the world may know that Thou hast sent Me and that Thou hast loved them as Thou hast loved Me." God will be perfectly revealed in Christ, reflected by the Church and seen by the nations. As a result "the kings of the earth do bring their glory to it" (v. 24, JND). They will own that the heavens do rule, not by the light of the sun, but by the light of the City, and that all their glory is subject to the rule of the city.
No closed gates. The gates of the City shall "not be shut at all by day." There will be no cessation of the outflow of blessing. Today the professing Church, with Laodicean indifference, has closed its doors upon Christ, and as a result Christ has closed its door to the world. He has ceased to use it as a channel of blessing to the world. In the heavenly City, the Lamb is the light thereof, and thus blessing will flow to man and that unceasingly since the gates will not be shut. No night. "There shall be no night there."
Not only will the light of the City never cease, it will never grow dim. Darkness is ignorance of God even as light is the knowledge of God. Today our light is often hindered by our ignorance. Our ignorance largely results from seeking to walk in the light of our own reason rather than by the light of Christ, thus having His mind. Had we always a single eye to Christ and His glory, our whole body would be full of light, having no part dark. In the City no shade of darkness will obscure the light that shines upon the world, for there will be no night there.
No evil. "There shall in no wise enter into it anything that defileth. " There will be no intrusion of the flesh to defile. There will be nothing that can raise an idol between the soul and God — no abomination. There will be nothing that deceives — no lie. Moreover, it is not only that the flesh, with its defilements, abominations and lies is not here, but it shall in no wise enter there. This was never said of the garden of delights on earth. There indeed all was perfect as created by the hand of God, but of Eden it was not said that evil "shall in no wise enter." In the City we have not only a City of perfection, but a City beyond the possibility of defilement. They alone will enter who are written in the Lamb's book of life.
The Blessings of the City (Rev 22:1-5)
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