Revelation 22:5

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 they shall reign for ever and ever.

EXPOSITORY (ENGLISH BIBLE)

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(5) And there shall be no night there . . .—Rather, And night shall not be any more, and (they shall not have) need of the light of lamp, and of light of sun, because the Lord God shall give light upon them, and they shall reign unto the ages of ages. There shall be no night. Twice is it said (Revelation 21:25) that all darkness shall cease; the darkness in which the saints and sorrowing walked shall be dispelled, when God gives them light. No artificial light is needed, since He who is Light is their light. Those who were children of light now dwell in the light of God’s countenance; and they reign who were made kings and priests to God (Revelation 1:6). With this utterance the visions of the Apocalypse close. The saints of God have been seen in the bitterness and toilfulness of their struggle and pilgrimage towards the Holy City; but from point to point they have made progress. They have gone from strength to strength, unto the God of gods appeareth every one of them in Zion. The Lord God is their sun and shield. He has given grace; He now gives glory. No good thing has been withheld; light, life, and love are theirs. “O Lord God of Hosts, blessed is the man that trusteth in Thee” (Psalm 84:11-12).

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!

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

And there shall be no night there - notes on Revelation 21:25.

And they need no candle - No lamp; no artificial light, as in a world where there is night and darkness.

Neither light of the sun; for the Lord God, ... - See the notes on Revelation 21:23.

And they shall reign forever and ever - That is, with God; they shall be as kings. See the notes on Revelation 5:10; Revelation 20:6. Compare the Romans 8:16 note; 2 Timothy 2:11-12 note.

Remarks On Revelation 21:1-5 And Revelation 22:1-5

This portion of the Apocalypse contains the most full and complete continuous description of the state of the righteous, in the world of blessedness, that is to be found in the Bible. It seems to be proper, therefore, to pause on it for a moment, and to state in a summary manner what will be the principal features of that blessedness. All can see that, as a description, it occupies an appropriate place, not only in regard to this book, but to the volume of revealed truth. In reference to this particular book, it is the appropriate close of the account of the conflicts, the trials, and the persecutions of the church; in reference to the whole volume of revealed truth, it is appropriate because it occurs in the last of the inspired books that was written. It was proper that a volume of revealed truth given to mankind, and designed to describe a great work of redeeming mercy, should close with a description of the state of the righteous after death.

The principal features in the description are the following:

(1) There will be a new heaven and a new earth: a new order of things, and a world adapted to the condition of the righteous. There will be such changes produced in the earth, and such abodes suited up for the redeemed, that it will be proper to say that they are "new," Revelation 21:1.

(2) the locality of that abode is not determined. No particular place is revealed as constituting heaven; nor is it intimated that there would be such a place. For anything that appears, the universe at large will be heaven - the earth and all worlds; and we are left free to suppose that the redeemed will yet occupy any position of the universe, and be permitted to behold the special glories of the divine character that are manifested in each of the worlds that he has made. Compare the notes on 1 Peter 1:12. That there may be some one place in the universe that will be their permanent home, and that will be more properly called heaven, where the glory of their God and Saviour will be especially manifested, is not improbable; but still there is nothing to prevent the hope and the belief that in the infinite duration that awaits them they will be permitted to visit all the worlds that God has made, and to learn in each, and from each, all that he has especially manifested of his own character and glory there.

(3) that future state will be entirely and forever free from all the consequences of the apostasy as now seen on the earth. There will be neither tears, nor sorrow, nor death, nor crying, nor pain, nor curse, Revelation 21:4; Revelation 22:3. It will, therefore, be a perfectly happy abode.

(4) it will be pure and holy. Nothing will ever enter there that shall contaminate and defile, Revelation 21:8, Revelation 21:27. On this account, also, it will be a happy world, for:

(a) all real happiness has its foundation in holiness; and,

(b) the source of all the misery that the universe has experienced is sin. Let that be removed, and the earth would be happy; let it be extinguished from any world, and its happiness will be secure.

(5) it will be a world of perfect light, Revelation 21:22-25; Revelation 22:5. There will be:

continued...

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Bible Commentary

5. 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."

Matthew Poole's Commentary

See Poole on "Revelation 21:23".

Gill's Exposition of the Entire Bible

And 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.

Geneva Study Bible

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 they shall reign for ever and ever.

EXEGETICAL (ORIGINAL LANGUAGES)

Expositor's Greek Testament

Philo (de Joshua 24) had already described heaven as ἡμέραν αἰώνιον, νυκτὸς καὶ πάσης σκιᾶς ἀμέτοχον. Cf. En. vi. 6.—Such teaching on heaven, though in a less religious form, seems to have been current among the Asiatic πρεσβύτεροι. Irenæus (5:36, 1–2) quotes them as holding (cf. above on Revelation 2:7) that some of the blessed τῆς τοῦ παραδείσου τρυφῆς ἀπολαύσουσιν, οἱ δὲ τὴν λαμπρότητα τῆς πόλεως καθέξουσιν· πανταχοῦ γὰρ ὁ Σωτὴρ ὁρασθήσεται, καθὼς ἄξιοι ἔσονται οἱ ὁρῶντες αὐτόν, κ.τ.λ.

The epilogue (Revelation 22:6-21) is a series of loose ejaculations, which it is not easy to assign to the various speakers. It is moulded on the lines of the epilogue to the astronomical section of Enoch (lxxxi. f.), where Enoch is left for one year with his children—“that thou mayest testify to them all.… Let thy heart be strong, for the good will announce righteousness to the good, but the sinners will die with the sinners, and the apostates go down with the apostates”. Two characteristic motifs, however, dominate the entire passage: (a) the vital importance of this book as a valid and authentic revelation, and (b) the nearness of the end. The former is heard in the definite claim of inspiration (Revelation 22:6 f., Revelation 22:16) and prophetic origin (Revelation 22:8-9) which guarantees its contents, in the beatitude of Revelation 22:7 b (cf. Revelation 22:17), and (cf. Revelation 22:21) in the claim of canonical dignity (Revelation 22:18-19). The latter is voiced thrice in a personal (Revelation 22:7; Revelation 22:12; Revelation 22:20) and twice in an impersonal (Revelation 22:6; Revelation 22:10) form. Both are bound up together (cf. Revelation 22:20 and Revelation 1:3). It is as a crucial revelation of the near future and a testimony to the authority and advent of the messiah (cf. Revelation 22:20) that this apocalypse claims to be read, and honoured in the churches. This general standpoint is clear enough, but the details are rather intricate. It is characteristic of the Apocalyse, as of ep. Barnabas, that the writer often leaves it indefinite whether God or Christ or an angel is speaking. Sometimes the divine voice is recognised to be that of Christ (cf. Revelation 1:10 f., Revelation 4:1), or may be inferred from the context to be that of an angel (e.g., Revelation 17:15; Revelation cf.1 and Revelation 19:9), perhaps as the divine spokesman (Revelation 21:5-6, cf. Revelation 22:5; Revelation 22:7). But frequently, even when the seer is addressed (Revelation 10:4, Revelation 14:13), the voice or Bath-Qol is anonymous (e.g., Revelation 11:12, Revelation 12:10, Revelation 14:2, Revelation 16:1; Revelation cf.17). In the epilogue, as it stands, it is impossible and irrelevant to determine whether Jesus (16) begins to speak at Revelation 22:10 (so Spitta, Holtzm, Porter, Forbes) and resumes in Revelation 22:18-20 a. But, while Revelation 22:6-7, and Revelation 22:8-9 are both intended in a sense to round off the entire Apocalypse, and not merely the immediately preceding vision, 8–9 (a replica of Revelation 19:9-10) stands closer to Revelation 21:9 to Revelation 22:5 than does Revelation 22:6-7. No λόγοι in the last vision justify the reference in 6, whereas the specific δεικν. μοι ταῦτα in 8 echoes the cicerone-function of the angel in Revelation 21:9-10, Revelation 22:1. Revelation 22:6-7 very probably lay originally between 9 and 10 (for the juxtaposition of εἶπεν and λέγει cf. Revelation 17:7; Revelation 17:15), where they definitely mark the beginning of the epilogue already anticipated in 8 (cf. Revelation 1:4; Revelation 1:9) and in the broadened close of 9 (contrast Revelation 19:10 above). It is not necessary (though perhaps a later scribe may have thought so) to account for John’s action in 8–9 by supposing that he mistook the angelus interpres for Christ. The λόγοι of 6, when this order is adopted, acquire their natural sense (cf. Revelation 22:10), and the three successive angel-utterances (Revelation 22:8-9; Revelation 22:6-7; Revelation 22:10-11) have a proper sequence. It is needless, in view of Revelation 16:15 (cf. Revelation 3:11) to omit Revelation 22:7 a as an interpolation (Könnecke). But Revelation 22:12-13 probably have been displaced from their original order (Revelation 22:13; Revelation 22:12) and position after Revelation 22:16 (Könnecke), where Revelation 22:17 echoes Revelation 22:12 a, and Revelation 22:14-15 carries on the thought of Revelation 22:11. Revelation 22:18-19 are plainly editorial, interrupting the connexion of Revelation 22:17 and Revelation 22:20. In 11 Resch (Agrapha, § 113) attempts to prove that some logion of Jesus is quoted. On the “inconsistent optimism” of Revelation 22:13; Revelation 22:15, cf. Abbott, p. 107.

Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges

5. there] Read, any more. See Revelation 21:25.

they need no candle &c.] Read, they have no need of light of lamp, neither of light of sun.

giveth them light] Read, shall give light upon them. Here end the visions.

Bengel's Gnomen

Revelation 22:5. Ἐπʼ αὐτοὺς) ἐπʼ is omitted by many,[241] whom Wolf supports, especially comparing the passage, ch. Revelation 21:23. But the places differ. The glory of God enlightens the city: the Lord God pours light upon the citizens. Thus it is said, להאיר על הארץ, Genesis 1:15. The antiquity of the witnesses defends the particle ἘΤΊ.

[241] So B Vulg. and Rec. Text; but Ah Iren. read ἐπʼ.—E.

Pulpit Commentary

Verse 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). Revelation 22:5

Vincent's Word Studies

No night there (ἐκεῖ)

Substitute ἔτι any more. Rev., there shall be night no more.