15. Therefore--because they are so washed white; for without it
they could never have entered God's holy heaven;
Re 22:14,
"Blessed are those who wash their robes (the oldest manuscripts
reading), that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter
in through the gates into the city";
Re 21:27;
Eph 5:26, 27.
before--Greek, "in the presence of."
Mt 5:8;
1Co 13:12,
"face to face."
throne . . . temple--These are connected because we
can approach the heavenly King only through priestly mediation;
therefore, Christ is at once King and Priest on His throne.
day and night--that is, perpetually; as those approved of as
priests by the Sanhedrim were clothed in white, and kept by turns a
perpetual watch in the temple at Jerusalem; compare as to the singers,
1Ch 9:33,
"day and night";
Ps 134:1.
Strictly "there is no night" in the heavenly sanctuary
(Re 22:5).
in his temple--in what is the heavenly analogue to His temple on
earth, for strictly there is "no temple therein"
(Re 21:22),
"God and the Lamb are the temple" filling the whole, so that there is
no distinction of sacred and secular places; the city is the temple,
and the temple the city. Compare
Re 4:8,
"the four living creatures rest not day and night, saying,
Holy," &c.
shall dwell among them--rather (Greek, "scenosei ep'
autous"), "shall be the tabernacle over them" (compare
Re 21:3;
Le 26:11,
especially
Isa 4:5, 6; 8:14; 25:4;
Eze 37:27).
His dwelling among them is to be understood as a secondary
truth, besides what is expressed, namely, His being their covert. When
once He tabernacled among us as the Word made flesh, He was in
great lowliness; then He shall be in great glory.
JFB.
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