"night" (literally or figuratively) · noun — nominative singular feminine
there
ἐκεῖ.ekei
G1563
there · adverb
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Isaiah 60:11 Therefore thy gates shall be open continually; they shall not be shut day nor night; that men may bring unto thee the forces of the Gentiles…
Zechariah 14:7 But it shall be one day which shall be known to the LORD, not day, nor night: but it shall come to pass, that at evening time it shall be li…
Revelation 22:5 And there shall be no night there; and they need no candle, neither light of the sun; for the Lord God giveth them light: and they shall rei…
Isaiah 60:20 Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon withdraw itself: for the LORD shall be thine everlasting light, and the days of thy mo…
Revelation 21:23 And the city had no need of the sun, neither of the moon, to shine in it: for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light the…
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Revelation 21:9–end
We have already considered the introduction to the vision of the new Jerusalem in a more general idea of the heavenly state; we now come to the vision itself, where observe,
I. The person that opened the vision to the apostle - one of the seven angels, that had the seven vials full of the seven last plagues, Rev 21:9. God has a variety of work and employment for his holy angels. Sometimes they are to sound the trumpet of divine Providence, and give fair warning to a careless world; sometimes they are to pour out the vials of God's anger upon impenitent sinners; and sometimes to discover things of a heavenly nature to those that are the heirs of salvation. They readily execute every commissio…
not be shut . . . by day--therefore shall never be shut: for it shall always be day. Gates are usually shut by night: but in it shall be no night. There shall be continual free ingress into it, so as that all which is blessed and glorious may continually be brought into it. So in the millennial type.
Adam Clarke on Revelation 21:25
The gates of it shall not be shut at all - The Christian Church shall ever stand open to receive sinners of all sorts, degrees, and nations.
There shall be no night there - No more idolatry, no intellectual darkness; the Scriptures shall be everywhere read, the pure word everywhere preached, and the Spirit of God shall shine and work in every heart.
John Gill on Revelation 21:25
And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day,.... Which does not design the free communication between the living saints on the new earth, and the raised ones in the new heaven, as some have thought, for these shall be together, and make up one body; but rather the universal collection, and free admission of all the saints from all parts into this city; though it seems best to interpret it of the safety of the inhabitants, see Jeremiah 49:31 who will have no enemy to fear, and therefore need never shut their gates; the beast and false prophet will have been taken, and cast into the lake of fire long ago; ungodly men will be destroyed in the general conflagration, and Satan will be bou…
The Church Fathers
And that the gates cannot be shut, it is evidently shown that the doctrine of the apostles can be separated from rectitude by no tempest of contradiction. Even though the floods of the nations and the vain superstitions of heretics should revolt against their true faith, they are overcome, and shall be dissolved as the foam, because Christ is the Rock by which, and on which, the Church is founded. And thus it is overcome by no traces of maddened men.
And its gates will not be closed by day, for there will be no night there. He recalls that the perpetual light of the Lamb, or rather the Lamb himself as the eternal light, will be in that city, with the time of night removed. But the fact that the gates will not be closed is a sign of complete security. For there it is no longer said: "Watch and pray that you may not enter into temptation" (Matt. XXVI), but rather: "Be still and know that I am God" (Ps. XLV).
THERE FOLLOWS: And the gates thereof shall not be shut by day: for there shall be no night there. ANSWER: He is saying that there will be in that city the perpetual light of the Lamb, or rather that the Lamb himself will be there as a perpetual light, while nighttime will have been eliminated. As for the gates not being shut, it is a sign of the fullest security; for there it is no longer said, Watch ye, and pray that ye enter not into temptation, [Matt. 26:41, Mark 14:38] but rather, Be still and see that I am God. [Ps. 45:11]
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Light — The offspring of the divine command (Gen. 1:3). “All the more joyous emotions of the mind, all the pleasing sensations of the frame, all the happy hours of domestic intercourse were habitually…
Jerusalem · NEW — NEW
Night · No night in heaven — No night in heaven
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
The nations: God’s promise to Abraham is fulfilled (Gen 12:3; see Isa 2:3). • In Revelation, the kings of the world usually refer to God’s enemies (Rev 6:15; 17:18; 18:3, 9). Now that the enemies have been destroyed (16:9, 11; 19:1-2, 19-21), the picture is of God’s glory as reflected in those people who have repented (14:6-7; cp. 11:13) and walk with God (5:9; 15:4). • The gates that are never . . . closed contrast with the ancient scene in which closed gates protected cities from enemies, particularly at night. The people enjoy peace and security in God’s supremacy (see Isa 60:11). God’s enemies have been destroyed, and fear and failure have ended (see Zech 14:7; John 11:8-10; 12:35-36).
