Revelation 21:23

To shine upon it (ina painwsin auth). Purpose clause with ina and the present active subjunctive of painw, to keep on shining. Light is always a problem in our cities. See Isaiah 60:19 . Did lighten it (epwtisen authn). First aorist active indicative of pwtizw, to illumine, old verb from pw ( Luke 11:36 ). If the sun and moon did shine, they would give no added light in the presence of the Shekinah Glory of God. See verse Luke 11 for "the glory of God." Cf. Luke 18:1 ; Luke 21:3 . "Their splendour is simply put to shame by the glory of God Himself" (Charles). And the lamp thereof is the Lamb (kai o lucno auth to arnion). Charles takes o lucno as predicate, "and the Lamb is the lamp thereof." Bousset thinks that John means to compare Christ to the moon the lesser light ( Genesis 1:16 ), but that contrast is not necessary. Swete sees Christ as the one lamp for all in contrast with the many lucniai of the churches on earth ( Genesis 1:12 Genesis 1:20 ). "No words could more clearly demonstrate the purely spiritual character of St. John's conception of the New Jerusalem" (Swete).