John's style of writing noticeably relaxes as he moves from the plagues and battles and judgements, to the Lord's unopposed sovereign reign. These last two chapters of Revelation are full of joy as he sees God's people enraptured by the glory of God. After the previous prediction of so much suffering for the world and the church in earlier chapters, everything John sees and hears about believers living with their Lord excites and encourages him. Hebrew 12:22-24 is a prelude to this vision: "But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem.

In this passage, the Lord Jesus Himself is speaking. Most of the announcements in Revelation are from divinely authorised angels or an unnamed voice from God's throne, but here Jesus speaks directly to John, as He did at the beginning of the book (Revelation 1:17-18).

The vision which John experienced took him, and generations of believers including ourselves, on a tour of the future. Revelation is a pictorial description of what will happen. The reality will be far more intense and rich, but we can only appreciate something new by reference to what we already know. Thus, the imagery projects what has already been experienced, either through previous Bible accounts of the Exodus, the prophecies in Daniel and from the Lord Jesus; or from observed life events.

We are used to thinking that light only comes from the sun or moon, fire or a light bulb, LEDs, phosphorescent sea creatures, glow worms or a lightning bolt. But where did all that energy come from? Genesis 1:3-4 says that God is the source of light.