“…and the Lamb is its lamp.”

                 We read the words, but we really can’t quite get it.  The last 2 chapters of Revelation describe in plain language things that are essentially indescribable.  A city dressed as a bride (21:2)?  The city’s foundation made of precious stones (21:19)?  Gold like transparent glass (21:21)?  No sun or moon (21:23)?  No impurities of any kind (21:26)?  No more night (22:5)?  Definitely not like life on earth!

In heaven John tells us that the Lamb, Jesus, will be the lamp of heaven.  The word choice is specific.  Older English translations have “light” for lamp.  Is there a difference?  Yes.  Light is what radiates from the lamp.  The light is not the lamp itself.  Yes, we do say things like, “Turn on the light,” which means turn on the lamp.  But it is important to be specific when God is specific.  This verse says that the glory of the Lord is the source of the light.  Philippians 2:10-11 mentions that when every knee will bow and “every tongue confess that Jesus Christ is Lord,” it will be “to the glory of God the Father.”  Clearly the glorified Lamb is at the heart of God’s glory.

The Greek word for lamp is luchnos.  It is not a stagnant light source.  It has the idea that the lamp is portable.  In this we see perhaps a picture of the Trinity.  These portable lamps were oil-fed.  Throughout the Scriptures oil is a symbol of the Holy Spirit.  The lamp is obviously Jesus.  But whose hand carries the lamp from place to place?  The Father!

Remember when King David wanted to build a house for God?  David was “settled in his palace” because “the Lord had given him rest from all his enemies around him” (2 Samuel 7:1).  It was there, while he considered his fancy, wood-paneled home that he realized that the earthly presence of God “remains in a tent” (v. 2).  What is a tent compared to a palace of cedar?  David therefore concluded that God was worth enough to upgrade his home on earth — with a brand new temple nicer and grander than his own!  After all, it was only fitting for the glorious God.

But what did God say?  “Are you the one to build me a house to dwell in?  I have not dwelt in a house from the day I brought the Israelites up out of Egypt to this day.  I have been moving from place to place with a tent as my dwelling.  Wherever I have moved with all the Israelites, did I ever say to any of their rulers whom I commanded to shepherd my people Israel, ‘Why have you not built me a house of cedar?’ ” (vs. 5-7.)  Translated, God is saying, “I have not wanted to be characterized as a God that is stagnant or caught up in the things of worldly splendor.”  Even in heaven God is mobile, just as the word for lamp — luchnos — suggests.  While the Father, Son and Spirit will be the center of attention in heaven, they will not be immobile.  They will be active and continuing to do the things God does in heaven.  And doing them with us!

Part of God’s activity in heaven includes the nations:  “[T]he kings of the earth will bring their splendor into [the city]…The glory and honor of the nations will be brought into [the city]” (vs. 24-26).  This shows the completely global perspective and intention God has for salvation.  His love gift is meant for everyone.  A few years ago I attended a Festival of Nations at a large state university.  While I was at a table a lady I had never met before came by and invited us to a lecture she was giving as part of the festival.  Then she gave us copies of the United Nations’ Earth Charter.  It advocates “respect and care for the community of life, ecological integrity, social and economic justice, and democracy, nonviolence and peace.”  One of the first things this lady said in her lecture, holding up a copy of the Charter, was, “God’s name does not exist.  You will not find God in this document.”  Her first statement was false, the second true.  In short, the Earth Charter is man’s attempt to create for the nations a kind of heaven on earth, or utopia, which literally means, “no place” — no place in heaven or on earth!

So the choice is ours: either an elitist idea of an earthbound paradise, striving for “a sustainable future,” or heaven itself where our environment and future already are assured forever.  God and his Lamp, whose light penetrates everything, guarantee it.  Do others see the light of this hope shining in you?  Is that light touching the nations around you?