The New Jerusalem has no need of the sun nor of the moon, neither of the light of a lamp (Rev. 21:23a; 22:5a). The fact that there is no need of the sun nor of the moon indicates that in the New Jerusalem there is no natural light, and the fact that there is no need of the light of a lamp means that there is no man-made light. God Himself, the very divine Person, is the light. The glory of God, the Lord God Himself, illumines the city (Rev. 21:23b; 22:5b). God is both the light within and the glory without. He is the inner light and the outer expression of the light, the glory.
Such a light needs a lamp and the Lamb is the lamp of the city (Rev. 21:23c). We need to ask why God, being the light, needs a lamp. Every electrical light needs a holder or a bulb. Without the bulb, your touching of the electricity may electrify and kill you. In like manner, without the Lamb being the lamp, God’s shining over us would “kill” all of us. However, the divine light shines through our Redeemer. This light has become so lovable and touchable and we even walk in this light (1 John 1:7). Without the Lamb’s redemption, God’s shining over us could only kill us. God as the light, though, has a holder, and this holder is the Redeemer, the Lamb. The Lamb as the lamp expresses the light in a very approachable and lovable way.
Without the Lamb being the lamp, when the divine light shines we would all run away. Through the redeeming One, however, the killing light becomes the real shining for us to enjoy. This is again the Triune God. The Triune God, on the one hand, is the light, and the Triune God, on the other hand, is the holder as our Redeemer. He shines and He also holds Himself.
This lamp also has a stand. In Revelation 1 this stand is the golden lampstand, but in Revelation 21 the stand for the lamp is the golden mountain, the city proper of the New Jerusalem. The ultimate consummation of the divine revelation shows us God as the light; the Lamb, the Redeemer, as the lamp; and the New Jerusalem as the stand. Furthermore, the nations will walk by the light of the city (Rev. 21:24a).
Our Triune God is our lamp, our light, and our temple in whom we serve. We dwell in Him and He shines within us. We are His tabernacle in whom He dwells, and He is our temple in whom we dwell. He is also our lamp and our light who shines from within us through the lamp. He is in us and we are in Him. This is a mingling of the divine Spirit with our human spirit. In our human spirit He dwells in us, the tabernacle, and we dwell in Him, the divine Spirit reaching us, the temple. We take Him as our temple, our abode, and then He as the divine light shines from within us. This is the mingling of divinity with humanity, which is our present experience and which will be the coming New Jerusalem.
We are experiencing the New Jerusalem today. I have to testify that I experience being a part of His tabernacle today, and I experience that He is my temple today. I experience that I dwell in Him and that while I am dwelling in Him, He is shining from within me. The New Jerusalem will be the consummation of all that we have experienced for so many years. It will be an intensification and a consummation of our present experience. The New Jerusalem will not be something new to us in eternity future if we are now experiencing it.