Revelation 21:3

Revelation 21:3. The Seer next hears a great voice out of the throne. The voice may not be actually that of God Himself, but it certainly expresses the Divine thoughts and purposes.

Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he shall tabernacle with them, and they shall be hit peoples, and he himself, even God with them, shall be their God. The allusion is to the Tabernacle in the wilderness (not the temple), that sacred tent which was the dwelling-place of God in the midst of Israel. That Tabernacle is now ‘with men,' no longer with a people separated from the rest of the world but with men at large, for all sin is banished, and they who are alive upon the earth are without exception members of the Divine family. In the next words, especially when viewed in the light of what seems to be the correct translation, it is impossible to mistake the reference to John 1:14, ‘The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us,' for it is in Christ Jesus that God dwells with man: in the Son only do we know the Father, the ‘only God' (John 5:44). Hence it is said that ‘He Himself,' even ‘God with the' (‘Immanuel, God with us'), shall be their God. He shall no longer be at a distance from them, nor they from Him. No boundary shall be placed around the mount: no cloud shall conceal His glory. As brother dwells with brother, so God incarnate shall dwell with His brethren in one blessed home of holiness and love. From all eternity the Word had been with God (John 1:1); now He is to be to all eternity with men; and men shall be a new Israel for the new Jerusalem (comp. 2 Corinthians 6:11-18 and Leviticus 26:12; Zechariah 8:8).