God’s Eternal Day

There shall be no night there:  They need no lamp nor light of the sun, for the Lord God gives them light.  And they shall reign forever and ever.

Revelation 22:5

One of the characteristics of the eternal state in the new Jerusalem is, ‘there shall be no night there.’  What is the significance of there being no night?  The answer to that lies elsewhere in Scripture.  In writing to the Thessalonians, Paul makes some statements that will aid our understanding of our text.  He says, ‘You are all sons of light and sons of the day.  We are not of the night nor of darkness.  Therefore, let us not sleep, as others do, but let us watch and be sober.  For those who sleep, sleep at night, and those who get drunk are drunk at night.’  Because of the entrance of sin into the world, the night has become a time for evil to occur in the earth.  Paul is alluding to that in Thessalonians.  By contrast, we see that in the eternal state, ‘there shall be no night there.’  The eternal state is what the old theologians used to call, ‘God’s Eternal Day.’  The idea derives from Isaiah 60:20, ‘Your sun shall no longer go down, nor shall your moon withdraw itself, for the Lord will be your everlasting light, and the days of your mourning shall be ended.’  There is no need of taking rest in sleep in the eternal state.  Christ is there and is the light of that place.  We have energy that never flags.  Therefore, there is no need of a lamp or of the light of the sun, and there is no night.  This affords us the everlasting, unending prospect of rendering service to Christ in a perfect environment with unfailing strength.  The night, so marred by the effects of sin, becomes a thing of the past.  We look forward to this with great anticipation.  We shall live in God’s Eternal Day.

Our Glorious Living God,
we look forward to the day when our faith shall become sight.
We praise You that we shall live forever,
to do service to Jesus our King,
in God’s eternal day.

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning