The Beauty Of Holiness

22:3-5 No longer shall there be any accursed thing. And the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it, and his servants shall worship him, and shall see his face, and his name shall be on their foreheads. And night will be no more, for they have no need of the light of a lamp, or the light of a sun, for the Lord God will be a light to them, and they will reign for ever and ever.

Here is the final culmination of the description of the city of God.

There will be no accursed thing there. That is to say, there will be no more of the pollutions which harm the Christian life.

God's servants shall see his face. The promise will come true that the pure in heart will see God ( Matthew 5:8 ). We may best understand the greatness of that promise by remembering that the Christian is promised a privilege which was denied even to Moses to whom God's word was: "You cannot see my face; for man shall not see me and live" ( Exodus 33:20 ; Exodus 33:23 ). It is in Christ alone that men can see God.

The sight of God produces two things. It produces the perfect worship; where God is always seen, all life becomes an act of worship. It produces the perfect consecration; the inhabitants of the city will have the mark of God upon their foreheads, showing that they belong absolutely to him.

John returns to his vision that in the city of God there can never be any darkness nor need of any other light, for the presence of God is there.

The vision ends with the promise that the people of God will reign for ever and ever. In perfect submission to him they will find perfect freedom and the only true royalty.