Revelation 7:15Meaning & Commentary from the Church Fathers

Verses 14b-15. Blessed are those who inherit eternal rest for temporary labors, and who, for sufferings with Christ, will reign together with Him and serve Him. The words day and night indicate the continuity of this service. There will be no night there, but eternal day, illumined not by a sensible sun, but by the spiritual Sun, the Sun of righteousness, Christ. Yet by night one may understand hidden and profound mysteries. Then by day one should understand what is clear and easily comprehended. The temple of God is every creature renewed by the Spirit. But most certainly it is those who have kept the pledge of the Spirit whole and unquenched. God promised to dwell and walk in them (2 Cor 6:16).

Therefore they serve God eternally, and God dwells in them. One saint says that the dwelling place of God is the unceasing remembrance of Him that abides in the souls of the saints. Accordingly, God rightly dwells in those who serve Him day and night.

In the sight of the throne of God the Church abides, and she has established His courts in her heart in this valley of weeping, in the place He appointed for her (cf. Ps 83:6-7). She serves Him day and night, that is, in joys and in sorrows. By the temple we should understand those who, as was mentioned, serve in the temple. The throne is also these same ones. Then it is said: and He who sits on the throne will dwell in them. For the soul of the righteous is the receptacle of wisdom. Wisdom is Christ, and Christ is God.

The service of constant praise to God is not difficult, but pleasant and desired. Of course, day and night here symbolize not the alternation of time, but constancy.

Death shall be swallowed up forever, and the Lord God will wipe away tears from all faces (Isa 25:8).

All His elect followed the Lord along the path of temporal sufferings into blessed eternity. It is impossible for us to remain in fleshly pleasures and at the same time remain in a spiritual state. Therefore the Lord continually gives His beloved His Cup. Through it He preserves in them deadness to the world and the capacity to live the life of the Spirit. St. Isaac the Syrian said: "A man for whom God has special care is known by the sorrows continually sent to him" (Homily 35). What fruit do temporal sorrows bear for eternity? When Heaven was shown to the holy Apostle John, one of the heavenly inhabitants questioned him.