HOW GOD ILLUMINATES
THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN
Revelation 21:23 says,
"The city does not need the sun or the moon to
shine on it, for the GLORY of God gives it light and
the Lamb is its lamp. The nations [of the New Earth]
will walk by [the New Jerusalem's] light, and the
kings of [the New] Earth will bring their splendor into it.
(Rev. 21:23 NIV)
How does God go about illuminating the entire Kingdom of Heaven (and the New Earth) without using an actual SUN as the source of sunlight?
Well, I'm sure there are many ways that God could accomplish this process. For instance, God could supernaturally make all 12 ceilings in the New Jerusalem glow with the sunlight of God's GLORY which would in turn naturally illuminate each floor below. Likewise, God could supernaturally make all 6 of the outer walls of the New Jerusalem glow with the sunlight of God's GLORY, which would in turn radiate all God's GLORY into outer space and naturally illuminate the New Earth.
But in the beginning, rather than use something inanimate, (such as a sun) to illuminate our old earth, instead, God set a precedent on Day 1 of the Creation Week by usng his own personal GLORY to illuminate our old earth, GLORY that evidently came directly out of God's own personal image. And Revelation 21:23-24 declares that God will once again use his own personal GLORY to illuminate heaven—the New Jerusalem—and the New Earth rather than use an inanimate sun to do this.
Consequently, the transparent ceilings and walls of the New Jerusalem are most likely not the primary source of light for either the New Earth or for the New Jerusalem, but are probably just simple conduits through which the sunlight of God's GLORY merely passes through on its way to illuminate all 12 floors of the New Jerusalem and to illuminate the New Earth. And if that is true, then it is highly likely that God intends to illuminate heaven and the New Earth for all eternity simply by creating and connecting several transparent conduits for the sunlight of God's GLORY to merely pass through, starting from God's throne itself (transparent conduit #1) and ending up in the walls and ceilings of the New Jerusalem (transparent conduit #5).
So what are these five transparent conduits that will allow God to personally illuminate heaven and earth for all eternity simply from his position on his throne atop his throne mountain in the center of the New Jerusalem? These five transparent conduits are (1) God's transparent throne, (2) the transparent mountain of God, (3) the transparent Sea of Glass, (4) the transparent streets of gold (along with the transparent rivers of the water of life) and (5) the transparent walls and ceilings of the New Jerusalem.
Using the footnotes below, I will attempt to present a reasonable proof for this wild conclusion. But before I give you my reasons for reaching such a wild conclusion, I want to first present a summary of how God might be able to light up the Kingdom of Heaven without the availability of a sun (if my theory is correct, of course).
Imagine that God's throne was made of something transparent, like a sapphire blue gemstone (footnote 1) and also imagine God's mountain itself was made of something like transparent jasper, as clear as crystal (footnote 2). Further imagine that the base of the mountain is attached to a transparent Sea of Glass (footnote 3) and the Sea of Glass itself is attached to four transparent streets of gold (footnote 4) which in turn are attached to all the transparent outer walls and ceilings of the city, each of which is made from transparent jasper, clear as crystal (footnote 5).
If this were all true (and I hope to prove to you that this is all true) then God could literally send the sunlight of his personal GLORY from his image atop his throne mountain into the actual seat portion of his transparent blue throne. This light would naturally pass right through the throne's transparent seat into the transparent mountain itself (where thousands of tiny streams of light from God's GLORY would also shine out though the fiery gemstones that Lucifer used to walk among, back when Lucifer walked upon the mountain of God—footnote 2). Of course, when the gigantic major stream of the sunlight of God's GLORY reached the bottom of the transparent mountain, it could then enter and travel within the transparent Sea of Glass (footnote 3), where it would then enter the four transparent streets of gold and then continue traveling 750 miles north, east, south and west (footnote 6) to enter the transparent outer walls of the New Jerusalem where the sunlight would then go up and down these transparent walls and shine out through all 12 levels of transparent gemstones, thereby radiating all God's GLORY into outer space to illuminate the New Earth (footnote 7). Of course, if all six outer walls of the our Father's cube-shaped house are made of transparent jasper, clear as crystal (the bottom wall being the first foundation for the first level and the top wall being the ceiling for the 12th level), then you can be sure that all 12 ceilings are also made of transparent jasper, clear as crystal. So when the light reaches the transparent walls of the city, it can go up and down these trasparent walls and double back into the 12 transparent ceilings to illuminate all 12 floors of the kingdom of heaven.
In this way, Christ could easily illuminate both heaven and earth (the New Jerusalem and the New Earth) simply by sitting upon his throne and focusing the sunlight of his personal glory from the "seat" of his image directly downward through the seat of his transparent sapphire-blue throne and then into the transparent mountain, into the Sea of Glass, into the transparent streets of gold and into the transparent walls and ceilings of the city itself, thereby illuminating both heaven and earth with his personal GLORY and perfectly fulfilling Revelation 21:23-24, where it says,
"The city does not need the sun or the moon to
shine on it, for the GLORY of God gives it light and
the Lamb is its lamp. The nations [of the New Earth]
will walk by [the New Jerusalem's] light, and the
kings of the [New] Earth will bring their splendor into it.
Now I hope to prove this idea to you (or at least make it sound plausible) by using the following footnotes.
[Footnote 1] Is it possible that God's throne (atop his throne mountain) is actually a sapphire-like blue color that is mostly transparent? In the Bible, God's throne appears in three different colors. God's throne of judgment of the beast (the anti-Christ) was fiery in Daniel 7:9, and God's throne of judgment for all the rest of mankind is white (in Revelation 20:11). Otherwise, when God is not judging anyone, his throne appears to be sapphire blue (in Ezekiel 1:26, 10:1). If this is true, then after God's judgment when we are all in heaven and God is no longer judging anyone, then most likely God's throne will be sapphire blue.
But is God's sapphire-blue throne also transparent? The reason I think God's sapphire blue throne in heaven is transparent is because in Exodus 24:10, God appears to be standing upon a transparent sapphire-blue pavement.
"...and they saw the God of Israel. Beneath his
feet was something like a pavement made of
sapphire stone, as clear as the sky itself."
(Exodus 24:10 Holman Christian Bible)
Since the pavement upon which God is standing appears to be a transparent sapphire blue color, I am convinced that God's throne in heaven will also be a transparent sapphire blue as well. This will allow the sunlight of God's personal GLORY to pass from the bottom of God's image directly through the transparent sapphire blue throne into the transparent mountain of God.
[Footnote 2] But how do we know that the mountain of God is transparent? For two reasons. First, according to the precedent God set on Day 1 of the Creation Week by using his own personal image to be the single source of sunlight for our current earth, according to Revelation 21:23-24 (see above), we know that God's personal image will also be the single source of sunlight for the New Earth and for the New Jerusalem. And the simplest natural (i.e. non-miraculous) way of doing this would be to set up a system of 5 transparent conduits starting from God's image on his throne and ending with the transparent outer walls and ceilings of the New Jerusalem. For instance, as I said earlier, God's throne in heaven is most likely a transparent sapphire blue (footnote 1); the sea of glass is obviously transparent (footnote 3); the streets of gold are transparent (footnote 4); and all the walls of the city appear to be made from transparent jasper, clear as crystal (footnote 5). So the only remaining thing necessary to be transparent in order for God to be able to send the sunlight of his GLORY from his image on his throne to the outer walls of the city in a natural (i.e. non-miraculous) way would be if the mountain itself was also transparent.
The second reason why I believe God's mountain is transparent has to do with the fiery stones on the mountain of God that are mentioned in the book of Ezekiel.
"You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for so I
ordained you. You were on the holy mount of God;
you walked among the fiery stones...I expelled you, guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones."
(Ezekiel 28:14b,16b NIV)
Evidently, before Lucifer was cast out of heaven, he walked among the fiery stones that were partially embedded in the surface of the holy mountain of God. Now there are two ways to explain fiery stones. Either the fiery stones merely sparkled from an external source of light, or more likely the fiery stones were intensely glowing because the mountain itself was a transparent conduit of God's GLORY, allowing a small portion of the literal GLORY of God to pass from the transprent mountain into the transparent gemstones on God's mountain to make them glow so brightly that God called them fiery stones. If my explanation of the fiery stones is correct, then God's mountain has to be transparent, probably made of either transparent gold (like the transparent streets of gold) or made of transparent jasper (like the outer walls of the city).
But this would also mean that the 12 types of gemstones embedded in the outer walls of the New Jerusalem are probably also fiery stones—transparent gemstones that intensely glow as the sunlight of God's GLORY travels from the transparent outer walls directly through the gemstones and then into space.
"The foundations of the city walls were decorated with
every kind of precious stone. The first foundation was
jasper, the second sapphire, the third agate, the fourth emerald, the fifth onyx, the sixth ruby, the seventh
chrysolite, the eighth beryl, the ninth topaz, the tenth turquoise, the eleventh jacinth, and the twelfth amethyst."(Revelation 21:10-20).
I personally believe that all the gemstones partially embedded in the outer walls of heaven—the New Jerusalem—are very transparent and yet very colorful. Why do I believe that? Well, neither gold nor jasper are ordinarily transparent, but evidently God has a purpose for making both jasper and gold to become transparent in the New Jerusalem. If my theory is correct, I think God will make all the gemstones in the outer walls of the New Jerusalem to be transparent for the same reason. After all, the first gemstone mentioned is jasper, and John already mentioned in Revelation that the outer walls of the city appeared to glow like jasper, clear as crystal. So if the first gemstone mentioned is transparent jasper, then most likely all the other levels of gemstones are simply transparent sapphires, emeralds, rubies, topazes, etc. Consequently, this transparent conduit would make the entire kingdom shine with the GLORY of God, like a very precious jewel. For the apostle John said that the entire New Jerusalem—our Father's House—was glowing so brightly that
"It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance
was like that of a very precious jewel, like a
jasper, clear as crystal." Revelation 21:11 (NIV)
[Footnote 3] Is should be obvious that the Sea of Glass is transparent. But exactly where is the Sea of Glass located? The Bible tells us,
"Also in front of the throne there was what looked like
a sea of glass, clear as crystal." (Revelation 4:6 NIV)
Now you might say,
"But the Bible says that Sea of Glass is located in
front of the throne, so how can I claim that the Sea
of Glass is NOT in front of the throne but that the
Sea of Glass actually its surrounds the base of the
throne mountain itself?"
Well, let's think about this practically. In Revelation 22:1-2, it says,
"Then the angel showed me the river of the water of
life, as clear as crystal, flowing from the throne of God
and of the Lamb down the middle of the great street of
the city." (Revelation 22:1-2)
Since it is highly likely that God's throne is in the very center of the New Jerusalem (and not at the edge of one of the outer walls), then it is equally likely that there is not just one great street of the city, but there are four great streets of the city going 750 miles north, east, south and west from the center of the New Jerusalem to its outer walls. And if we presume that God's throne in heaven is also on a mountain, then the river of the water of life that comes out from under the throne atop the mountain may very well flow down the mountain into the Sea of Glass, in which case the Sea of Glass would be at the base of the mountain and surround the entire mountain. The river of the water of life would then break up into four separate rivers, each one traveling down the center of each one of the four transparent streets of gold. Of course, the idea that a single river comes directly from God's throne and eventually breaks into four separate rivers that travel north, east, south and west throughout the entire Kingdom of Heaven is quite similar to the idea that the Garden of Eden itself had a single river coming from it which then broke into four separate rivers which most likely also headed north, east, south and west to provide additional water for the ancient pre-flood world. (See Genesis 2:10-14.) And, just like anyone who lived back then could simply follow any one of these four ancient rivers back to its source and therefore might have been able to meet God outside the Garden of Eden, likewise, anyone in heaven who follows any one of heaven's four rivers back to its source would also be able to meet God at his throne mountain.
Moving on, during our regular, repeated worship of Christ in heaven, what is more likely to happen, that billions of us will be literally in front of God's throne, or that the billions of us will actually surround God's throne on all sides with God in the center? I believe the latter is more likely. And if that is true, then God's throne (and God's throne mountain) will most likely slowly rotate around so that at some point, all of us during our worship will be able to see God's face, and not just see his back. If this is true, then perhaps the mountain has some wheels at its base that allow it to slowly turn—an idea which may help explain why (in Ezekiel 1) each of the four cherubim at the bottom of Ezekiel's vision were in charge of an unusual set of wheels.)
But if the mountain rotates so everyone can see God's face, then in order for the Sea of Glass to remain in front of God at all times, it would have to actually surround God's throne; and for the river of the water of life to enter the Sea of Glass, then the Sea of Glass is probably at the bottom of the mountain.
I have one more thing for you to consider. Do you recall how an entire swimming pool can be lit up at night simply by having a single bright underwater light bulb at only one end of the pool? Well, since the Sea of Glass is already glowing with the literal sunlight of God's GLORY, this would make all four major rivers glow softly with the sunlight of God's GLORY as well. Now imagine the spectacle: all four major streets of transparent gold are glowing softly with the sunlight of God's GLORY as this sunlight starts from the transparent Sea of Glass at the center of the Kingdom of Heaven and then travels 750 miles within the transparent streets of gold to eventually reach the transparent outer walls of the New Jerusalem. And, just like a swimming pool glows at night when lit up from just a single underwater source of light, likewise, at the same time, all four major rivers of the water of life that are flowing down the center of each transparent street of gold are also glowing softly with the sunlight of God's GLORY as well.
[Footnote 4] But how do we know that the streets of gold themselves are actually transparent? Because the Bible says they are.
"And the street of the city was pure gold,
like transparent glass." (Revelation 21:21b)
But this raises another question: Can gold really become transparent?
Let's reason through this issue by making a list of a few things that are normally opaque that, under the right circumstances, can actually become transparent. For instance, carbon, given enough pressure and heat, becomes transparent as glass—a transparent diamond. Silicon dioxide (the most common component of sand), given enough pressure and heat, becomes transparent—a quartz crystal. Silicon dioxide is also the major component in glass (about 75%). Now carbon and silicon are not metals like gold, but aluminum is a metal, and under the right laboratory conditions, aluminum (in the form of aluminum oxynitride—ALON), can become perfectly transparent. And since aluminum can be made perfectly transparent, then perhaps gold can be made perfectly transparent as well.
https://tgnreview.com/2016/06/07/transparent-aluminum-is-real-2/
http://screenrant.com/star-trek-transparent-aluminum-real/
http://makezine.com/2012/01/17/transparent-aluminum/
[Footnote 5] But how do we know that the outer walls of heaven—the New Jerusalem—are transparent?
In Revelation 21:11, the apostle John tells us that the outer walls of the New Jerusalem were made of jasper, and in Revelation 21:18, John tells us that the entire New Jerusalem—our Father's House—was glowing so brightly that
"It shone with the glory of God, and its brilliance
was like that of a very precious jewel, like a
jasper, clear as crystal." Revelation 21:11 (NIV)
So it is highly likely that all the outer walls of the New Jerusalem are made from a transparent jasper. Of course, a house with a flat roof in outer space wouldn't have just four outer walls. It would naturally have six walls: four outer walls, a bottom wall (which would actually be the 1st floor) and a top wall (which would actually be the 12th ceiling), all 6 of which should logically be made from the same thing—transparent jasper. And since the 12th ceiling is made from transparent jasper, then all 12 ceilings are probably made from transparent jasper as well, which means that all 12 ceilings are simple conduits that can easily transfer the sunlight of God's GLORY from one place to another.
If this is correct, then as I said earlier, Christ could easily illuminate both heaven and earth (the New Jerusalem and the New Earth) simply by sitting upon his throne and focusing the sunlight of his personal glory from the "seat" of his image directly downward through the seat of his transparent sapphire-blue throne into the transparent mountain, into the Sea of Glass, into the transparent streets of gold and finally into the transparent walls and ceilings of the city itself, thereby illuminating both heaven and earth with his personal GLORY and literally fulfilling Revelation 21:23-24, where it says,
"They will not need the light of a lamp or the light of
the sun, for the Lord God will give them light."
(Rev. 22:5b NIV)
"The city does not need the sun or the moon to shine
on it, for the glory of God gives it light and the Lamb
is its lamp." (Rev. 21:23 NIV)
And that is how God will most likely illuminate both the New Jerusalem and the New Earth without needing a sun.