No Need of The Sun

The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and the Lamb is its lamp.~ Revelation 21:23


At first reading I thought, and I cannot say why, that there would be no sun or moon. Now scripture may indicate elsewhere about those things, but here it is not said.

All that is said is that there will be no need of them. That is to say that if they exist in that reality, their function will be different, or perhaps, if not different then unnecessary.

If Unnecessary then  what has superseded them?

Here the new Jerusalem is a picture of Heaven and Earth meeting. And here it is that God will dwell with mankind. God's presence and glory has superseded the sun.

The sun gives life to all things. It is the point towards which plants grow. It warms the blood of reptiles, it sustains survivable temperatures for mammals. It gives nutrition, it's rays even carry vitamins that bring happiness.

It is easy to see why an unenlightened people would worship it.

But the sun is not God.

It is God's creation.

And as his creation it is a fantastic picture of himself.

He is the sustainer of all life.

All things are held in HIS orbit.

In this world we need the sun.

But in the next life our utter dependence will be on him, and we will lack no good thing.


And the moon is very useful. The moon and stars were the primitive man's sat nav,

They provided guidance and direction when all around is darkness.

Another powerful picture of what God is to us.

But then we will never be lost in the dark, His glory will give us light, and Jesus will be our lamp.


Let us, in this life, continue to live under these powerful symbols of God's watchful love in the knowledge that they are a representation of our true dependence on our Creator Father.

He is our light.
He is our warmth.
He sustains and provides.
He guides us when we are in darkness.

But unlike the sun,

He will never fail.

He has no end and no beginning.

And he will keep us,

This day,
And all days.