Revelation 21:26Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

With good reason Scripture indicates that the riches of subject kings, of the regions of the world, and of the nations will be brought into that city. Here it speaks of the incorporation of the very last nations, about whom we have spoken. But the city is not understood as we previously imagined it. Without a guide we cannot conceive anything greater than what we have already heard and seen. Nevertheless, it is said that the city is the whole region of the eastern provinces promised to the patriarch Abraham. “Look,” God says, “toward heaven from the place where you stand,” that is, from the great river Euphrates to the great river of Egypt. “All the land that you see I give to you and to your seed” (Gen 13:14-15; 15:18).

The glory and honor of the nations means that those from the nations who have been well pleasing to Christ will dwell in it, [...]

Speaking of the glory and honor of the nations that will be brought into the sacred city, John figuratively means those Gentiles who gained a good reputation and did what is worthy of life. For they will be brought into the heavenly Jerusalem and will dwell there together with the saints.

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.