The temple being the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb signifies the processed Triune God as a dwelling place for all the redeemed and perfected saints to dwell in and serve God in eternity. Moses had this realization. In Deuteronomy 33:27 he said, “The God of old is your habitation,” and in Psalm 90:1 he said, “Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations.” This indicates that while Moses was traveling in the wilderness with the children of Israel, according to his deep feeling he was dwelling in God.
Psalms 27:4 and 36:8 and 9 also refer to the saints’ experience of dwelling in God. Psalm 27:4 says, “One thing have I desired of the Lord, that will I seek after; that I may dwell in the house of the Lord all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the Lord, and to inquire in his temple.” This indicates that in the temple the saints beheld the beauty of the Lord and inquired of Him. Psalm 36:8 and 9 say, “They shall be abundantly satisfied with the fatness of thy house; and thou shalt make them drink of the river of thy pleasures. For with thee is the fountain of life: in thy light shall we see light.” This reveals that the saints were abundantly satisfied with the riches of God’s house, drinking of the river of God’s pleasures, enjoying the fountain of life, and receiving the divine light. This is a pre-picture of our dwelling in the Triune God in eternity.
Revelation 21:23 says, “The city has no need of the sun nor of the moon that they should shine in it, for the glory of God illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb.” In the millennium the light of the sun and of the moon will be intensified (Isa. 30:26). But in the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth, there will be no need of the sun nor of the moon. The sun and the moon will be in the new heaven and new earth, but they will not be needed in the New Jerusalem; for there God, the divine light, will shine much more brightly.
In the New Jerusalem there will be no night, for “night shall be no more” (Rev. 22:5a). “Night shall not be there” (21:25b). In the new heaven and new earth there will still be the distinction between day and night, but in the New Jerusalem there will be no such distinction. Outside the city there will be night, but within the city there will be no night because the city will have an eternal, divine light, God Himself.
Revelation 21:11 and 23 tell us that the New Jerusalem has the glory of God and that her light is like a most precious stone, as a jasper stone, clear as crystal. In the New Jerusalem Christ, as the lamp of the holy city, will shine with God within as the light to illumine the city with the glory of God, the expression of the divine light. “The city has no need of the sun nor of the moon that they should shine in it, for the glory of God illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb” (v. 23). The glory of God, which is God expressed, illumines the New Jerusalem. Hence, the glory of God, with God as its substance, essence, and element, is the light of the New Jerusalem which shines in the Lamb as its lamp. The expressed glory of God, or the God of glory expressed, is the light shining in Christ as the lamp through the jasper wall of the New Jerusalem like the most precious jasper, which bears God’s appearance rich in life (v. 11). The appearance of God rich in life goes with the shining for God’s expression in His final and consummated manifestation.
In 21:23 we see that God is the light and Christ is the lamp. This indicates that God and the Lamb are one light. God is the content, and the Lamb, Christ, is the light-bearer, the expression. This means that God who is the light will shine in Christ as the lamp throughout the city. This is a matter of the divine dispensing, for the shining of the divine light is actually the dispensing of the processed Triune God into the believers.
God, the divine light, needs a lamp. Without the Lamb being the lamp, God’s shining would kill us. However, with the redeeming Christ as the lamp, the divine light does not kill us but instead illumines us. First Timothy 6:16 says that God dwells in unapproachable light. In Christ, though, God becomes approachable. Apart from Christ, God’s shining would be a killing, but in Christ God’s shining is an illumining. Because the divine light shines through the Lamb, the Redeemer, it has become lovable and touchable. Through the Lamb as the lamp God’s light becomes an enjoyable shining for God’s dispensing.
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