Revelation 21:22; I Saw No Temple Therein

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Revelation 21:22 (KJV)  And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. 

The city’s illumination is seen in Revelation 21:22-27. Shifting gears slightly, the author turns next to focus in particular upon how the city receives its light and how that light serves the nations (Revelation 21:22-27).

Revelation 21:22-27 (KJV)  And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb isthe light thereof. And the nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it: and the kings of the earth do bring their glory and honour into it. And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there. And they shall bring the glory and honour of the nations into it. And there shall in no wise enter into it any thing that defileth, neither whatsoever worketh abomination, or maketh a lie: but they which are written in the Lamb’s book of life. 

The new order will require no special sanctuary for the reason explained in v22 – And I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it. 

With the simple connective “and” the writer proceeds to a description of the inner life of the city.

V22-27 serve the special function of showing that God has brought men back to a personal relationship with Himself.

John writes, “And I saw no temple therein” because the whole city is, in a sense, a temple. Yet it is more than a temple even though the temple is in its best days had a holy place and the Shekinah glory of God in the Holy of Holies. The Old Testament prophets foresaw the temple as the principal item in their descriptions of the glorified city (Isaiah 44:28; 60:13; Ezekiel 40-48).

Isaiah 44:28 (KJV)  That saith of Cyrus, He is my shepherd, and shall perform all my pleasure: even saying to Jerusalem, Thou shalt be built; and to the temple, Thy foundation shall be laid. 

Isaiah 60:13 (KJV)  The glory of Lebanon shall come unto thee, the fir tree, the pine tree, and the box together, to beautify the place of my sanctuary; and I will make the place of my feet glorious. 

[Robert L. Thomas, Revelation 8-22 – An Exegetical Commentary, Moody, 1995, 474]