The source of light that will make the sun and moon superfluous will be “the glory of God” (Isaiah 60:19). The term translated as “glory” is repeatedly used in earlier Scripture to denote the luminous presence of God, in the sense that God is so overwhelmingly there that everything else is eclipsed or recedes into the background. When the use of Moses’ tabernacle was inaugurated, “the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle” so that “Moses was not able to enter the tent of meeting” (Exodus 40:34–35; 1 Kings 8:10–11). After God agreed to accompany his people to the Promised Land (after his earlier statement that he would not because of Israel’s sin concerning the golden calf) Moses asked to see God’s “glory.” God replied that “man shall not see me and live” (Exodus 33:20). His presence is so tremendous that even the seraphim covered their faces in his proximity (Isaiah 6:2). But in the New Jerusalem, God himself will be present in all his translucent glory, a glory so bright and overpowering that the sun and moon no longer serve a purpose.
23 And the city has no need of sun or moon to shine on it, for the glory of God gives it light, and its lamp is the Lamb.