Revelation 21:3

‘And I heard a great voice from the throne saying, “Behold the tabernacle of God (place where God tabernacles Himself) is with men and he will tabernacle with them and they will be his peoples and God Himself will be with them and be their God”.'

This closeness is further emphasised. The new Jerusalem replaces the tabernacle of God. Just as the people of God had been His sanctuary and had replaced the Temple, and as God once dwelt in the tabernacle in the pillar of fire, and revealed Himself in the Shekinah glory (an inter-testamental concept, but rooted in the Old Testament revelations of God revealing His glory), so will He now ‘dwell in glory' (the same root as shekinah) with His people in a way not known before. The glorious city of God, His people, will have dwelling within and among them for ever, the fullness of the glory of God. This is the final and complete fulfilment of John 14:23.

Men will also now dwell with Him in this ‘place where God tabernacles Himself' of which they are a part, and will be always in His presence, and He will be with them and be their God (see Ezekiel 37:26 also Zechariah 8:8). We can compare with this idea the promise to overcomers that they will be pillars in the Temple of God (Revelation 3:12). So just as the Word dwelt among us and we beheld His glory (John 1:14) now God in His fullness will dwell among us in the full revelation of His glory.

Note the plural of ‘peoples' (while some authorities have ‘people' it is clearly the easier reading, while there would be no tendency to change the other way). The stress is on the fact that His people are made up of many peoples, compare Revelation 21:24 where they are ‘the nations'.

‘A great voice from the throne.' The living creatures are still active in drawing attention to the activities of God (see Revelation 16:17; Revelation 19:5).