Revelation 21:25Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

In that Kingdom He promised His servants: “Everyone who has left father or mother or brothers or sisters for My name’s sake shall receive a hundredfold and inherit eternal life” (Mt 19:29). In that Kingdom those deprived of possessions for the name of the Lord will receive their consolation, that is, the crown and heavenly riches. So too will many who were killed amid various crimes and in prisons. For before the Lord’s coming the holy prophets were stoned, killed, and sawn in two; cf. Heb 11:36-37. In that Kingdom the Lord promised that He would restore the years consumed by the locust, the worms, and destruction (Joel 2:25). There the wholeness of creation will be preserved, and by God’s command it will bring forth from itself its hidden goods.

And its gates shall not be shut. This indicates either the firmness and safety of the inhabitants, or that the divine gates of apostolic teaching will be open there for the fullest instruction of all. There will be only day there, and not night, for night will be only for sinners.

The meaning is twofold. Either it says that there will be peace and safety, so there will be no need to appoint guards in the city, or ever to shut the doors, or draw the bolt. Or it means that the teachings of the apostles, for we have called the doors the apostles, will not fall silent in that place. Even there the apostles will teach the saints new and still more divine doctrines. For the righteous, being sons of light and sons of the day (1 Thess 5:5), will enjoy divine and most radiant praises and mysteries. Around them there will be eternal day and the light of divine illumination. For it is said that there will be no night there. Truly, if the divine illumination were ever cut off, there would also be night. But if it is impious to assert this, and God’s light acts without ceasing, how will night come upon the saints?

The author mentions the eternal light of the Lamb, or better, the eternal Lamb, who will serve instead of light in this city when the time of night has passed. As Isaiah said: “Then from month to month and from Sabbath to Sabbath it shall be for them” (Isa 66:23). By the word “month” he signified light, because at the end of the month the moon has its brightest light. By “Sabbath” he signified eternal rest. It is as though he had said: then from light to light, and from eternal rest to eternal rest, it shall be for them. The fact that the gates are not shut testifies to the most secure protection. For it is not said: “Watch and pray, lest you enter into temptation” (Mt 26:41), but rather: “Be still and know that I am God” (Ps 45:11). In the age to come, what is seen is truly loved, and what is loved is glorified without weariness. No one is weakened by rest. No one grows tired in the work of endless praise.

The gates of the Kingdom of Heaven, once opened by Christ, will remain open forever for all the nations being saved. All who have pleased Christ, all who are written in the book of life, will enter the Kingdom of Heaven. But for everything unclean and defiled, for vicious and corrupt people, the gates of the Kingdom of Heaven are closed. They are closed to those who neglect faith, truth, and the holiness of God’s laws. They are closed to those who give creation the honor that belongs to God alone, and who confess and preach false teachings and errors. St. Andrew speaks thus about the gates always being open and the absence of night in the holy city: “There will be day there, and not night, for night will be set apart for sinners.”

By what features is the inner life of the inhabitants of the heavenly city described? This means that heavenly religion is wholly spiritual and without rites. There the one pure and unveiled truth will be directly received and known by all. There will be no need of a material temple, because worship will be offered directly to the Lord God in the living image of His Son, the Lord Jesus Christ. Secondly, the heavenly city needs no illumination, for the glory of God illumined it, and its lamp is the Lamb; cf. Isa 60:19. This means that every member of the Church of God in heaven will be wholly embraced by the Spirit of God. Each will be abundantly illumined by the light of the knowledge of God and of the glory of God.