The Lord will rule as king on Mount Zion in Jerusalem. His Glory will be shown to the city leaders with such brightness that the moon will be embarrassed and the sun will be ashamed.
“The sun will no longer be your light during the day. The light from the moon will no longer be your light at night. The Lord will be your light forever. Your God will be your glory.
There will never be night again. People will not need the light of a lamp or the light of the sun. The Lord God will give them light. And they will rule like kings forever and ever.
But you have come to Mount Zion, to the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem. You have come to a place where thousands of angels have gathered to celebrate.
“The people of that ‘crippled’ city will be the only ones left alive. They were forced to leave, but I will make them into a strong nation.” The Lord will be their king. He will rule from Mount Zion forever.
At that time the light from the moon will be as bright as the sun, and the light from the sun will be seven times brighter than it is now. One day of sunlight will be like a whole week’s worth. This will happen when the Lord bandages his broken people and heals the hurts from their beatings.
Then I heard something that sounded like a large crowd of people. It was as loud as crashing waves or claps of thunder. The people were saying, “Hallelujah! Our Lord God rules. He is the All-Powerful.
Then I looked, and there before me was the Lamb, who was standing on Mount Zion. There were 144,000 people with him. They all had his name and his Father’s name written on their foreheads.
The seventh angel blew his trumpet. Then there were loud voices in heaven. The voices said, “The kingdom of the world has now become the kingdom of our Lord and of his Messiah. And he will rule forever and ever.”
People of Zion, rejoice! People of Jerusalem, shout with joy! Look, your king is coming to you! He is the good king who won the victory, but he is humble. He is riding on a donkey, on a young donkey born from a work animal.
Then God’s holy people will rule over the kingdom and all the people from all the kingdoms of earth. This kingdom will last forever, and people from all the other kingdoms will respect and serve them.’
How wonderful it is to see someone coming over the hills to tell good news. How wonderful to hear him announce, “There is peace! We have been saved!” and to hear him say to Zion, “Your God is the king!”
“Right after the trouble of those days, this will happen: ‘The sun will become dark, and the moon will not give light. The stars will fall from the sky, and everything in the sky will be changed.’
Your sun will never go down again. Your moon will never again be dark. That’s because the Lord will be your light forever, and the dark days of mourning will end.
That will be a very special day. There will not be any light, cold, or frost. Only the Lord knows how, but there will not be any day or night. Then, when darkness usually comes, there will still be light.