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I. THE NIGHT A COMMON EMBLEM OF THINGS EVIL. The Bible notices of it are, like this of our text, almost always of a disparaging and deprecatory tone. It is represented as undesirable, and as telling of things that are evil. Sorrow (Isaiah 21., "Watchman, what of the night?" - speaking of Edom's affliction). "Songs in the night" mean songs in sorrowful seasons. Ignorance. "Darkness shall cover the land, and gross darkness the people." And concerning this land it was said that "it sat in darkness," so dense was the ignorance of the people. Sin. "Men love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil;" "We are not the children of the darkness, but of the light." Death. "Work... while it is day: the night cometh, when no man can work." The power of Satan. "This is your hour, and the power of darkness." And there are many more of a like sort. And yet -

II. THE NIGHT IS ONE OF GOD'S GOOD GIFTS. In plant-life it is essential to their growth. Night - so naturalists tell - is the time that the root of the plant feeds. During the day the light acts as a force upon the lining of the bark of the plant or tree, by which the nutriment is drawn up from the root. Now, at night that action ceases, and the root is able to thrust itself downward, deeper and deeper into the soil, wherever it can gain the nourishment it needs, and which it will have to supply when again the light comes, and yet more when the spring comes. The night is needed for this. And it is the time when the plant rids itself of that which would be hurtful to its life. The sap that the light and warmth of day have drawn up from the roots returns thither at night, but changed because charged with elements that the root will reject. It is these rejections of the root that render necessary the rotation of crops. The soil is poisoned for the same plant, but is ready for others. Now, for this, and much more in vegetable life, the night is needed. And for animal life. Psalm 104. sings, "Thou makest darkness, and it is night: wherein all the beasts of the forest do creep forth. The young lions roar after their prey, and seek their meat from God." Night is their feeding time, the sleeping time of most of their victims. Thus much suffering is avoided, and yet "the young lions" are fed. And for human life. The body is compelled to rest if its powers are to continue in vigour, and the night time is plainly given for that end. They who turn night into day and defraud the body of its due rest, frustrating the purpose for which night was given, violate the Creator's laws, and must pay the certain and severe penalty which such violation involves. And the mind owes much to the night season, for it gains enlargement and instruction by the spectacle of the starry heavens; they, then, declare the glory of God. And the soul is uplifted by the contemplation of that glory. Thus, and for yet other reasons, is night to be regarded as one of God's good gifts to met. Nevertheless, in the new heavens and the new earth it is said, "There is no night there."

III. HOWEVER UNDERSTOOD, THE TEXT IS A BLESSED PROMISE.

1. Suppose we understand it figuratively. Then the promise is that all those varied ills of the mind and the soul which night has been the symbol of - as in the declaration that there shall be "no more sea" - shall be absent from the saints' eternal home.

2. Or if we take the words literally - and it is possible that this may be meant - then they involve other glorious elements of the future which God's Word leads us to look for; e.g. a new physical nature. For if there be no night, then no need of rest. Indeed, we are told "they cease not" in their high employ "day nor night." But for such unresting and yet untiring occupation a body not limited, frail, and easily fatigued, like our present body, must be given; a physical nature altogether different from the present. And that which we should have inferred is clearly stated in other Scriptures. "There is a natural body," such as we now have, "and there is a spiritual body," which is what we shall have. But if there be a new and a more glorious body, that is the index of a new and more glorious spiritual nature. The external is the fit clothing of the internal. There is congruity between them, so that we argue, and for the most part rightly, from the outward to the inward, and we gather much as to the character of any creature from its external form. If, then, there shall be a new and glorious body, what shall be the spirit within, which is furnished with so glorious an instrument for the carrying out of its purposes? But if a new physical and spiritual nature, then there must be a new mind towards God. For it is plain that the embargo laid upon our present nature, by which it is "made subject to vanity," has been taken off. That limitation was because we were not to be trusted with larger powers. "And now," said God, "lest he put forth his hand and take also of the tree of life, and eat, and live forever" (Genesis 3:22); "so he drove out the man." Man was, because of sin, made as he is, because if more had been given him he could not be trusted to use it aright. That is the teaching of the verse in Genesis. But the possession of the new physical and spiritual nature proves that that restriction has been removed. But that proves that a new mind is in man towards God. No longer a rebellious disobedient mind, but "the mind of Christ," of "a dear child." But if this, then there must be a new social state; no longer discord and strife, because there is one mind towards God, and hence all are one. But this is the Paradise of God, the kingdom of heaven itself. That we may have ever-growing surety that we shall come to that blessed home of God's saints, let us look within the region of our own hearts, and see if there be no night there - no darkness of sin and unbelief. If there be, then at once let us turn to him, who giveth to all who seek, that he may "shine into our hearts, to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." - S.C.

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KJV: And the gates of it shall not be shut at all by day: for there shall be no night there.

WEB: Its gates will in no way be shut by day (for there will be no night there),