| Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary 22:1-5 All streams of earthly comfort are muddy; but these are clear, and refreshing. They give life, and preserve life, to those who drink of them, and thus they will flow for evermore. These point to the quickening and sanctifying influences of the Holy Spirit, as given to sinners through Christ. The Holy Spirit, proceeding from the Father and the Son, applies this salvation to our souls by his new-creating love and power. The trees of life are fed by the pure waters of the river that comes from the throne of God. The presence of God in heaven, is the health and happiness of the saints. This tree was an emblem of Christ, and of all the blessings of his salvation; and the leaves for the healing of the nations, mean that his favour and presence supply all good to the inhabitants of that blessed world. The devil has no power there; he cannot draw the saints from serving God, nor can he disturb them in the service of God. God and the Lamb are here spoken of as one. Service there shall be not only freedom, but honour and dominion. There will be no night; no affliction or dejection, no pause in service or enjoyment: no diversions or pleasures or man's inventing will there be wanted. How different all this from gross and merely human views of heavenly happiness, even those which refer to pleasures of the mind! Pulpit CommentaryVerse 5. - And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light; and there shall be night no more; and they need no light of lamp, neither light of sun: for the Lord God shall shine upon them. A repetition of Revelation 21:23, 25 (which see). In 21:23 we are told "the Lamb is the Light thereof;" here, "the Lord God shineth upon them." Again an assertion of the Divinity of the Son (cf. ver. 3). And they shall reign forever and ever. This prediction and promise ends the Revelation, as such. It is the reward placed before those who strive, in order to induce them to "overcome" (see on ver. 5 above, and Revelation 3:12). Gill's Exposition of the Entire BibleAnd there shall be no night there,.... This is repeated from Revelation 21:25 to express the certainty of it, and to observe, that the happiness of this state will greatly lie in the light thereof; it will be one everlasting day, , "day of eternity", or eternal day, as in 2 Peter 3:18 and they need no candle, nor the light of the sun; neither artificial nor natural light; neither the dimmer light of the ceremonial law, under the legal dispensation, which was like a candle lighted up in Judea; nor the more clear light of the Gospel and its ordinances, under the present dispensation, which now will be at an end: for the Lord God giveth them light; immediately from himself, without the use of means and ordinances; and in his light the saints will see all things clearly; who will be always communicating it to them, and will be their everlasting light; See Gill on Revelation 21:23. and they shall reign for ever and ever; they are made kings now, and in this state they shall reign with Christ for the space of a thousand years; and when they are ended, they shall not cease to reign; nor will Christ, when he delivers up the kingdom to the Father, for his and their kingdom is an everlasting one, Revelation 1:6 and here ends the account of this glorious state of things; what follows is the conclusion of the whole book. Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary5. there—so Andreas. But A, B, Vulgate, and Syriac read, "(there shall be no night) any longer"; Greek, "eti," for "ekei." they need—A, Vulgate, and Coptic read the future, "they shall not have need." B reads, "(and there shall be) no need." candle—Greek, "lamp." A, Vulgate, Syriac, and Coptic insert "light (of a candle, or lamp)." B Omits it. of the sun—so A. But B omits it. giveth … light—"illumines." So Vulgate and Syriac. But A reads, "shall give light." them—so B and Andreas. But A reads, "upon them." reign—with a glory probably transcending that of their reign in heaven with Christ over the millennial nations in the flesh described in Re 20:4, 6; that reign was but for a limited time, "a thousand years"; this final reign is "unto the ages of the ages."
Revelation 22:5 Parallel Commentaries Revelation 22:5 NIV Revelation 22:5 NLT Revelation 22:5 ESV Revelation 22:5 NASB Revelation 22:5 KJV Bible Hub: Online Parallel Bible |