No Need of Sun or Moon
And I saw no temple in the city, for its temple is the Lord God the Almighty and the Lamb. And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.
(Revelation 21:22-23) ESV
There won’t be a temple in the New Jerusalem because there won’t be any need for a symbolic representation of God. God’s glory will be the light we live by, unimpeded, for the rest of forever.
The physical reality of the new Jerusalem that we’re learning about is made of material which looks like transparent gold or precious stones and which don’t impede the passage of light. The light is generated by God and his Lamb, our savior Jesus Christ.
We can understand this if God the Father, Alpha, is the first elemental particle Hydrogen. God the Spirit is Omega Oxygen (ΩO) upon whom is based a series of elements which don’t contain neutrons. The Lamb, Jesus Christ, is also a source of light because he’s Alpha and Omega, Hydrogen and ΩOxygen.
We’ve made a strong connection between the transparent gold and precious stones described in Revelation 21 with the firmament, or third heaven. It’s a sphere of rigid crystal which formed at the edge of space in response to the creation of gravity on the second day. Popular science (SciPop) has detected it as a brightly shining wall on the edge of the “solar system” and called it the heliopause.
We’ve been a die hard fan of Douglas Adams and a few other authors for decades such that we haven’t read anything new in a long time. We don’t remember when but we were given a novel as a gift some time ago and we dutifully put it in alphabetical order in our fiction collection and forgot about it. It surfaced a week or so ago and, out of a sense of loyalty to the giver, we began reading it. Here’s a poignant quote:
.. she was no longer living in the trashed remnants of her old expectations.
– Annalee Newitz, Autonomous
We are all currently living in the trashed remnants of our old expectations. As a result, it’s hard to really imagine what the coming new Jerusalem could be like, given that God said, “behold, I make all things new.” The best that we may be able to do is to make sense of, and come to terms with, the world around us.
No Need of Sun or Moon – Navigation
| Section | Title | Scripture |
| 1 | Introduction | Revelation 21:22-23 |
| 2 | Alpha and Omega | Revelation 1:8 |
| 2.1 | Not Just any Oxygen | Acts 10:45 |
| 2.2 | Transparent Gold | Revelation 21:18 |
| 3 | The Three Heavens | 2 Corinthians 12:2 |
| 3.1 | The First Heaven | Genesis 1:20 |
| 3.2 | The Second Heaven | Judges 5:20 |
| 3.3 | The Third Heaven | 2 Corinthians 12:2-4 |
| 4 | The Heliopause | Daniel 12:3 |
| Salvation | Romans 10:9-10 |
The Naked Prophet 