Revelation 21:3 And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them… The voice that uttered these words is said to have been a "great" one, indicating their importance, and God's desire that we should listen to the announcement. We are not told who uttered it. It "came out of heaven"; this is all we know. It was the inhabitants of heaven looking down from the upper glory, and rejoicing in what had at length, after so many ages and so many hindrances, been accomplished upon earth. I. THE DESIRABLENESS OF THIS STATE OF THINGS. Many things show us this. 1. The interest which the inhabitants of heaven take in it, as seen in the words before us. 2. The pains and costs which God has been at to bring about this issue. 3. The work of Christ, through which it has been brought about. 4. The desire with which prophets and righteous men have desired this issue. 5. The change which it will produce on earth. II. THE DECLARED PURPOSE OF GOD AS TO THIS GLORIOUS ISSUE — GOD HAVING HIS TABERNACLE WITH MEN. One of the earliest statements is an intimation of God's purpose respecting this. Paradise was meant not merely as man's abode, but as God's abode with man; so that when man sinned, God is represented as coming down to the garden in the cool of the day. Man's sin then frustrated, if we may so speak, God's purpose in the meantime, yet it did not hinder that purpose from being made known. This great original purpose of God to have His dwelling with men continued to be presented to man in type and prophecy from that day forward, to show that it had only been postponed, not abandoned — postponed in order to be carried out more fully and more gloriously than it could have been before. Especially was this the case in Israel's history, from the time that the tabernacle was erected in the wilderness to the day when the temple and city were laid in ruins by the hand of the aliens. The statement in the Gospel of John regarding the Son of God is another declaration of this same purpose: "The Word was made flesh, and dwelt among us"; literally, tabernacled or pitched His tent among us. And, in our Lord's words, we have more than once the intimation of the same thing. "If a man love Me, he will keep My words: and My Father will love him, and We will come unto him, and make our abode with him" (John 14:23). And it is this which is the complete fulfilment of Christ's name Immanuel, "God with us." Nor have there been any intimations of God's design ultimately to abandon earth, after He has accomplished certain ends. On the contrary, all that He has said and done hitherto indicate His intention to restore it, to glorify it, and to fit it for being His abode. III. THE MEANS, OR PROCESS, BY WHICH GOD IS BRINGING ALL THIS ABOUT. 1. The first actual step was the incarnation. By taking a body made out of the substance of earth, He joined Himself in perpetual affinity with man and his world; and that which God has thus joined together, who shall put asunder? 2. His life on earth was the second step towards the end in view. His living here for thirty-three years was the declaration of His desire and purpose to make earth the seat of His tabernacle. But in this life we see more than this. We see Him taking possession of creation; we see Him doing battle with its oppressors: we see Him casting out Satan, healing diseases, overcoming death. He who did these things in the day of His humiliation and weakness, and before His great work upon the Cross was accomplished, will surely do exceeding abundantly more than all these, in the day of glory and power, now that He has finished His work, and put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself. 3. His death was the next step. He was earth's Sin-bearer as well as man's. He took upon Him the curse of earth as well as man; and the thorns which formed His crown showed how truly He was bearing the curse upon creation which Adam's sin had caused. As the bearer of man's guilt, He was nailed to the cross; as the bearer of earth's curse, He was crowned with thorns. Earth has now been sprinkled with His blood; and that blood cleanseth from all sin. 4. His burial was the next step. By death the Prince of life overcame death; and in His burial He was pursuing the routed foe, and compelling him to deliver up his prey. Thus did He commence the expulsion from death of that mortality and corruption which had defaced it so sadly. 5. His resurrection was the next step. Wresting His own body from the dominion of death, He showed how ere long He is to wrest, not only the bodies of His saints, but the whole creation, from the bondage of corruption. Christ's resurrection not only proclaimed Him to be the Son of God with power, but also the Prince of the kings of the earth. 6. His ascension into heaven was the next step. When He ascended, He not only led captivity captive, but He carried up into heaven His own body as the representative of earth. That portion of earth which, in His body, He has carried up into heaven, proclaims to the inhabitants of heaven His interest in earth, and to the inhabitants of earth the certainty of His purpose respecting earth's final restitution. And for what is this ascended Saviour interceding? Not only for His Church, but for earth itself. "Ask of Me, and I will give Thee the heathen for Thine inheritance, and the uttermost ends of the earth for Thy possession."Nor shall these intercessions be long in vain. Soon shall they be all answered, and the cry be heard, "Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men!" 1. Saint, are you making ready for that day? Are you walking worthy of an heir of that glory? Are you remembering that your body is the temple of the Holy Ghost? Are you at one with Father and with Son in your desire for that restitution of all things? 2. Sinner, what are your thoughts of that day? What hopes have you of sharing its blessedness? From that world all sin is swept away; and can you hope to dwell in it? Nothing that defileth shall enter; and do you expect to enter it? (H. Bonar, D. D.) Parallel Verses KJV: And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, 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, and be their God. |
    |