Revelation 22:5 says that the Lord will shine upon His saints. In the future the unlimited glory of God will shine forth as light with Christ as the lamp in the New Jerusalem, signifying that Christ is the center of the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and the new earth for all eternity. Being illuminated by the Lord God is a blessing to God’s redeemed in eternity. God Himself will shine upon us, and we will live under His illumination.
According to Revelation 21:11, the holy city has the glory of God. Here the glory of God is the expression of God, God expressed. When God is manifested, that is glory. We have been ordained for this glory and called to this glory (1 Cor. 2:7; 1 Pet. 5:10; 1 Thes. 2:12). We are being transformed into this glory (2 Cor. 3:18), and we will be brought into it (Heb. 2:10). Eventually, we will be glorified with Christ (Rom. 8:17, 30) to bear the glory of God for God’s expression in the New Jerusalem. In the holy city both the lamp and the light refer to God’s glory.
The whole city of New Jerusalem is God. The light is God, its glory is the expression of God, and its appearance is God Himself revealed to the nations. All of this should be found in the church life today. The church is God’s temple. God Himself in the church is our dwelling place, and He is also the light that shines out through us to our neighbors. This shining out is also the glory and appearance of the church. This is the church life.
When God completely finishes His work in the church, it will be a transparent city. All the gold in the New Jerusalem is transparent, transmitting the effulgence of God, so that by its light all things may arrive at the oneness. The light effaces death in all things and heads up all things. The city diffuses the light, shining upon the nations (Rev. 21:24).
Revelation 21:24 tells us that the nations will walk by the light of the shining from the New Jerusalem. Even after the millennium the nations will live on the new earth as the peoples (vv. 3-4). These nations will have kings, who will bring their glory into the city. In eternity we the redeemed ones will be the royal family ruling over the nations.
The nations will walk by the light of the New Jerusalem, an organic building. Thus, the entire eternal kingdom of God will be under the shining of God’s glory in the Redeemer through the redeemed as the diffuser. The eternal kingdom of God includes the New Jerusalem and the nations around it. The redeemed who constitute the New Jerusalem are the kings to reign, and the nations around the New Jerusalem are the subjects.
In their relationship with God, the subjects will walk in the light of the New Jerusalem (v. 24a). For their human affairs they will live under the light of the sun created by God and the lamp made by man, but in matters related to God the nations as the subjects will walk in the divine light.
In the millennium the light of the moon will be as the light of the sun, and the light of the sun will be intensified sevenfold (Isa. 30:26). I believe that in the new heaven and the new earth the light of the sun will be even brighter than this. Nevertheless, Revelation 21:24 says that the nations will walk in the light of the city. This proves that the light in the city will be stronger than the natural light. God will shine through the city, and this shining will be brighter than either the moon or the sun. Actually, the nations will not need to walk in the sunlight or in the moonlight, for they will walk in the shining of the New Jerusalem.
The New Jerusalem, the ultimate consummation of God’s building, is a full picture of today’s church life. If we are such a miniature of the holy city, we will shine forth with God as the light. Then the unbelievers, the worldly people, will walk in our light. We will enlighten everyone around us.
The church should be such a shining light today, and all our neighbors should walk in the light of our shining. Today the church is the light-bearer, bearing Christ as the light shining to this generation. We need to be such a shining church. There should be a difference between the church people and unbelievers, a difference not of some man-made designation but a difference because of our shining. We must shine so that the nations may walk in our light.
In the new heaven and new earth with the New Jerusalem as the center, all things will be headed up in Christ. This will be the complete fulfillment of Ephesians 1:10, which says, “Unto the economy of the fullness of the times, to head up all things in Christ, the things in the heavens and the things on the earth, in Him.” If Christ as life is not able to shine forth from the church to be the light of the nations, all the things of creation will have no way to be headed up in Him. When the nations walk by the light of the city, there will be no harm to men and no damage to things. At that time the earth will be filled with the knowledge of Jehovah (Isa. 11:9), and all things will be headed up in Christ.
Because God is the source of life, He recovers the oneness of the universe by entering into man to be man’s life. First, He became a man, a part of “all things” which will be headed up in Christ. He then imparted His life into believers, making them the constituents of the church, and He works in them so that they can shine Him forth as light to all things. Through the shining, all things will walk in the light, be in one accord, and be headed up in Christ. Hence, the condition of oneness in the universe is altogether related to life and death, light and darkness.
At the top of the New Jerusalem, Christ is the Head with God in Him as the content. From Him flows the river of life with the tree of life to supply all His sons, and the redeemed ones as the sons of God are filled with life (Rev. 22:1-2). The whole city shines out this life as light, and the nations, representing the whole universe, walk in the light of this city. Because Christ is at the top of the city as the Head, all things are headed up in Christ through the Body, the church, which consummates in the New Jerusalem. At that time the entire universe will be in harmony, and there will be no more death and, thus, no more darkness and no more confusion. Within, the city is full of life, and without, it is full of light. The whole environment surrounding the city will be under the regulation of this light. Then the entire universe will be headed up in Christ through the church. This will be the full manifestation of Christ being Head over all things to the church, which is His Body.
From Christ as the Head at the top of the New Jerusalem flows the bountiful life to supply us all. We are filled with this life, and spontaneously we shine out this life as light to the whole environment. Then all the surrounding nations, representing the entire universe, walk in this light and are controlled under this light. Thus, they will have real harmony. All things will be headed up in Christ through the church. This is the consummation of God’s eternal purpose.
Within the city there is the life, but outside the city there is only the shining. All the nations are under the shining, but they do not have the life. The life is only in the city, and this life is God Himself imparted to all of His children. By this life they are full of light, and this light will shine through them to bring all creation out of darkness, confusion, and the bondage of corruption in vanity into the order of the manifestation of the sons of God.
Even today this can be realized among us to some degree. When we are filled with Christ under His headship, light shines out of us, and others are under the enlightening of this light. This is a foretaste and a miniature of the coming consummation.