The emphasis here is that eternity will not be a time of
eternal idleness and uselessness, but a time when every
person will be involved in a special vocation of service and
activity for the Lord. This teaches us that we will be
totally engaged in the service of the sovereign of the
universe, as His bondservants all our needs will be
perfectly provided.
Today our service and activity for the Lord is often
distracted and often not for His advantage. We fail
repeatedly, but then it will always be for the glory and
advantage of God.
Right after the mention of service to the Lord we read, “and
they shall see His face.” In the pressures of service and
the everyday trials of this life, our problem is often
precisely in this very area; we fail to see the face of our
Lord or to count on His presence, comfort, and support. The
face of our Lord in His ministry among men must have been a
face that spoke volumes because of His character, love,
sympathy, and understanding. Remember that the third time
Peter denied the Lord during His trials; Luke tells us the
Lord turned and looked at Peter, and Peter remembered the
word of the Lord and he went out and wept bitterly (Luke
22:61-62). The Lord only looked at Peter, but His face and
those eyes said it all. One of the most important elements
of communication and fellowship is not only what we say, but
also the way we say them, our tone of voice, and especially
facial expressions. The telephone and written notes or
letters are wonderful mediums of expression and
communication, but nothing compares with face-to-face
fellowship to communicate love, sympathy and support, or
encouragement.
Today, seeing the Lord through our fellowship with Him in
His Word is full of ‘ifs’ because of our own failures.
Today, focusing our hearts and minds on the Lord through
eyes of faith and confidence in the promises of the Word, is
full of the ‘ifs’ of whether or not we will look unto Jesus,
keep our eyes on Him. However, in eternity there will always
be the smiling and loving face of the Savior.
“Seeing His face” stands first for being face to face with
the Lord, in His very presence. It means having perfect
fellowship and clear understanding and illumination by the
light of His countenance. It stands for a fellowship and
understanding which is unblemished by our ignorance, or
sins, or prejudices, or preoccupations with personalities,
or anything else that might dim the light or distort the
truth.
The time is coming when we will see the face of our Lord and
Savior and His name shall be on our foreheads. The name on
the forehead stands as a seal and proof of ownership. It
will be our identification and guarantee that we are the
Lord’s and belong to the eternal city, qualified to be there
by the work of the Lamb. Those who took the mark of the
beast on their foreheads as a sign of their obedience and
worship of the beast had their names removed from the Lamb’s
book of life. Those who have the mark of the beast fall
short and are excluded from the eternal city, but those who
have the name of God are accepted and belong to the eternal
city because they are there through faith in the person and
work of the Lamb.
In verse 5, we have an emphasis on the light or illuminating
character of the New Jerusalem. All light in the city will
come directly from God’s presence that means, the light will
be perfect and complete. God who is absolute Light and in
whom there is no darkness at all (1 John 1:5) can allow no
darkness in New Jerusalem. The perfect and infinite light of
the presence of God will render all previous light
ineffective, this includes both physical and spiritual
light. Therefore, our passage says, “they will not have need
of the light of a lamp nor the light of the sun because the
Lord God will illumine them; and they will reign forever and
ever.” Why is this inserted here?
Man originally lost his capacity to reign over the creation
of God because he listened to the one of darkness. Our
reigning with the Lord proceeds from our fellowship with the
Lord and the illuminating presence of God.
What do we have in the eternal and blessed city of the New
Jerusalem? First, perfect restoration, no more curse and
paradise regained. Second, perfect administration, the very
throne of God and the Lamb shall be on it. Third, perfect
submission. Fourth, perfect transformation, we shall see His
face and we shall be like Him (1 John 3:2). Fifth, perfect
identification, the Lord’s name on our foreheads. Sixth,
perfect illumination the Lord Himself shall illumine us.
Seventh, perfect exaltation, we shall reign forever and
ever.
