The Book of Revelation

Word Study

"tabernacle," Greek skene (σκηνή). A skene is a tent or dwelling. "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men." This is the goal of the whole Bible, the reason for creation and redemption alike: God dwelling with His people. In the wilderness God gave Israel a tabernacle so that He might "dwell among them" (Exodus 25:8). And now, at the end, the tabernacle is complete and eternal: "God himself shall be with them, and be their God." Every barrier is gone; God and His redeemed dwell together forever. So skene unveils the heart of eternity: the one God who tabernacled among us in Christ will dwell with His people forever, and to be with Him is heaven itself.

"dwell," skenoo (σκηνόω). The verb skenoo means to pitch one's tent, to dwell. "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them", the noun skene and the verb skenoo standing together. In the fullness of time the Word "was made flesh, and dwelt among us" (John 1:14), where "dwelt" is this very verb skenoo, God pitching His tent in human flesh in Jesus Christ. Notice the fullness of the promise: "the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them." It is the covenant refrain, "will be their God, and they shall be my people" (Jeremiah 31:33), brought to its everlasting fulfillment. And with His presence comes the undoing of every sorrow: "God shall wipe away all tears... no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying." Heaven's joy is not chiefly golden streets but the presence of God Himself, the God who once pitched His tent among us and now dwells with us without end.

Explanation

John sees "a new heaven and a new earth," and the holy city, New Jerusalem, coming down from God -- and the great voice declares the goal of all redemption: "the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them... and God himself shall be with them, and be their God." Every tear is wiped away; "there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying." The story that began with God walking in Eden and was broken by sin ends with God dwelling forever with His people. He who sits on the throne says, "Behold, I make all things new," and "It is done" -- the same God who is "Alpha and Omega" gives freely of the water of life to the thirsty.

Gospel Focus

After the judgment comes the new creation: "a new heaven and a new earth," for "the first... were passed away." God does not merely rescue His people from a ruined world; He makes all things new. And the crown of the new creation is "the holy city, new Jerusalem, coming down from God out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." Here is the deliberate answer to Babylon: where the harlot was decked in gold to seduce, the bride is adorned in holiness for her Husband; where Babylon fell, the New Jerusalem descends from God. Then the great voice announces the summit of all blessedness: "the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them... and God himself shall be with them." The distance between God and man, opened by sin, is forever closed; God dwells with His people. And in His presence every wound is healed: "God shall wipe away all tears... no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither... pain." The One on the throne speaks, and His words are staggering: "Behold, I make all things new," and "It is done. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end." This is the same title the glorified Christ took in chapter 1 (1:8, 17), spoken here by the One on the throne, for the God of the throne and Jesus Christ are one Lord; He is the beginning and the end of all things. He offers grace freely: "I will give unto him that is athirst of the fountain of the water of life freely," and promises the overcomer, "I will be his God, and he shall be my son." But the warning stands beside the promise: "the fearful, and unbelieving... and all liars, shall have their part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone: which is the second death." Two destinies remain to the end. For the Apostolic reader this passage is the sweetest in the Bible: the goal of redemption is God Himself dwelling with us, every tear wiped away, all things made new by the One who is Alpha and Omega. The invitation is open now, "let him take the water of life freely", and the call is to be among the overcomers who inherit all things and are forever God's own.

Word Study

"temple," Greek naos (ναός). The naos is the inner sanctuary, the dwelling-place of God, the holiest part of the temple where His presence was met. Of the New Jerusalem John says the astonishing thing: "I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it." In every previous age, God's presence was mediated through a sanctuary, the tabernacle, then the temple, a holy place set apart because sinful man could not come directly to God. But in the eternal city there is no such building, for the mediation is over and the reality has come: God Himself is present, and His people dwell directly in His presence. And notice how this is stated: "the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it." God and the Lamb are named together as one temple, one presence, one object of worship, for the Lamb is God our Saviour, the Lord God Almighty manifest in flesh. The same truth shines in the next verse: "the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof", the glory of God and the light of the Lamb are one light, for the one God is revealed in the Lamb. This is the Oneness of God at the very center of eternity: not two beings sharing a city, but the one Lord God, known and seen in Jesus Christ, filling all things with His presence and light. There is no sun, for God is the light; no temple, for God is the sanctuary; nothing between the redeemed and their God, for the veil is gone forever. So naos proclaims the glory of the eternal city: no temple is needed, because the one Lord God, revealed in the Lamb, is Himself the dwelling, the light, and the joy of His people forever.

Explanation

The New Jerusalem is described in dazzling splendor -- walls of jasper, gates of pearl, streets of gold, foundations of precious stones -- the eternal home of the redeemed, radiant with "the glory of God." Most striking is what it lacks: "I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it," and it needs no sun, "for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof." The Lord God and the Lamb are named together as the one temple and light -- for the Lamb is God, and in Him the fulness of Deity dwells. Nothing unclean enters; only "they which are written in the Lamb's book of life" dwell in the city where God is all in all.

Gospel Focus

The same angel who showed John the great whore (17:1) now shows him "the bride, the Lamb's wife", the deliberate contrast complete. Babylon was a harlot decked to seduce and destined to burn; the New Jerusalem is a bride radiant with "the glory of God," her light "like unto a jasper stone, clear as crystal." The city unites the whole people of God across the ages: its twelve gates bear "the names of the twelve tribes," and its twelve foundations "the names of the twelve apostles of the Lamb", Israel and the church, the Old Covenant and the New, one people in one city. It is measured "foursquare," a perfect cube, "the length and the breadth and the height of it are equal," recalling the Holy of Holies, which was a cube (1 Kings 6:20): the whole city is now the most holy place, filled with the presence of God. Its walls are jasper, its street pure gold "as it were transparent glass," its foundations garnished with every precious stone, its gates each a single pearl, imagery of surpassing, God-given glory. Then come the crowning wonders. "I saw no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it." No sanctuary is needed, because God Himself is present, and He and the Lamb are one temple, the one Lord God revealed in Christ, dwelling openly with His people. "The city had no need of the sun... for the glory of God did lighten it, and the Lamb is the light thereof", God's glory and the Lamb's light are one light. "The nations of them which are saved shall walk in the light of it," and "there shall be no night there," for the gates are never shut and the darkness is gone forever. Nothing unclean can enter, "but they which are written in the Lamb's book of life." For the Apostolic reader the eternal city is the sum of every hope: the one true God, revealed in Jesus Christ, dwelling with His redeemed in unveiled glory, His presence their temple and His light their day, with every tribe and every apostle's testimony gathered into one holy people. To be written in the Lamb's book of life is to belong to this city forever. So we set our hearts on it, we keep ourselves pure, and we long for the day the holy city descends and God dwells with us, world without end.