THE FIRST VOICE. — The voice out of the throne (Revelation 21:3-4.)
(3) And I heard a great voice out of heaven.... — According to the best MSS. the voice now heard was heard “out of the throne,” saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He will tabernacle with them. Here, as in Revelation 7:15, the translation, “shall dwell,” weakens the force of the allusion. The tent, or tabernacle, is in the seer’s mind. There is a difference in the prepositions used here and in Revelation 7 : in the latter, God was spoken of as tabernacling over them; here He tabernacles with them. He not only stretches His cloud-shelter over them, but He is with them. They shall be His people, and He shall be God with them, their God. The introduction of the words in italics (“and be”) in our version is a weakness; the force of the thought is spoiled. They are God’s people, and He is their Emmanuel — God with them, their God. The prophet Ezekiel supplies parallel thoughts (Ezekiel 37:27-28; comp. also Leviticus 26:11-12).