Useful Bible Studies > Revelation Commentary > chapter 22
With these words, John finishes his description of the New Jerusalem. It seems such a short description; we would like to know so much more. For example, we may ask about the lives of God’s people there, their daily activities and astonishing experiences. We may want to know about the beautiful and wonderful things in that great city and across the new earth. We may desire to understand the nature of the royal authority by which God’s people will rule.
John does not answer these questions, and he could not answer them. He has already told us all that God showed to him (1:2). John can add nothing more (22:18). Very soon, his book will be complete.
However, perhaps we do not need to know the answers to our questions. In the Bible, God has taught us all that we truly need to know about these things. There are many matters about which we must simply trust God. Perhaps we will not know the answers until the day when we finally enter the gates of the New Jerusalem. However, at that time, our knowledge will at last be complete (1 Corinthians 13:12).
Perhaps even if we knew the answers now, we could not understand them yet. God’s people will have a different quality of life then, than anything that they know now (1 Corinthians 15:35-44). John finishes his description with some facts that we can hardly imagine. It astonishes us to think of a world without night. It is so wonderful that God himself, and not the sun or a lamp, will give us light. It seems almost impossible to believe that God’s people will have the honour to rule with Christ. These things would be wonderful if they happened only for a day or for a year. However, John tells us that these things will continue always. They can never end.
Next part: ‘I am coming soon’ (Revelation 22:6)
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© 2016, Keith Simons.