Revelation 21:3 - Exposition

And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying. Out of the throne is read in א , A, and others; out of heaven is the reading of B, P, etc. As usual, the voice is described as a great voice (cf. Revelation 19:17 , etc.). It is not stated from whom the voice proceeds, but comp. Revelation 20:11 . Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them; literally, he shall tabernacle with them. Still the seer is influenced by the language of Ezekiel: "And the heathen shall know that I the Lord do sanctify Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them forevermore" ( Ezekiel 37:28 ). Thus God makes his abode in his glorified Church—the New Jerusalem, among his spiritual Israel (cf. Revelation 7:15 , where this vision has been already anticipated). And they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God; and they shall be his peoples, and himself shall be God with them, their God. The balance of authority is in favour of retaining the two last words, though they are omitted in א , B, and others. Evidently the same words as Ezekiel 37:27 (see above), "My tabernacle also shall be with them: yea, I will be their God, and they shall be my people." Cf. "God with them" with "Emmanuel" ( Matthew 1:23 ; Isaiah 7:14 ). Now, the promise is redeemed in all its fulness. The plural "peoples" seems to point to the catholic nature of the New Jerusalem, which embraces many nations (cf. Ezekiel 37:24 ; also Revelation 7:9 ).