Good evening and welcome to EBible Fellowship’s Bible study in the Book of Revelation. Tonight is study #5 of Revelation chapter 21 and we are going to read 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, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
The Apostle John has been given a vision in which He hears a great voice out of heaven: “Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men.” God has said this very thing in other Biblical teachings. He has taught in various ways that it is His plan to dwell with His people (those He has saved). He taught this very thing when He dwelt among the Israelites in the wilderness and, again, when the temple was built and it has all been a picture of building the spiritual house of God in which He will dwell for evermore.
After the earlier statements in Revelation 21 regarding the holy city of new Jerusalem coming down prepared as a bride, we now read that His “tabernacle” is with men and He will dwell with them. We read in Ephesians 2:20-23:
And are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner stone; In whom all the building fitly framed together groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord: In whom ye also are builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit.
This is quite a statement God makes here, but He is speaking of the body of believers, all His elect that are built upon the Lord Jesus. Jesus is the cornerstone. He is the foundation. Upon Christ the eternal church is built and God calls it a “holy temple in the Lord” and that temple was constructed by God, similar to what we read in our last study of a city “whose builder and maker is God.” God speaks of His salvation program as though He is building a city or building a temple, as it says here in Ephesians. It is all the same thing. God builds up the temple for a dwellingplace and for His habitation. In 1Corinthians, chapter 3, we also read of the Lord Jesus Christ being the foundation. It says in 1Corinthians 3:11-14:
For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ. Now if any man build upon this foundation gold, silver, precious stones, wood, hay, stubble; Every man's work shall be made manifest: for the day shall declare it, because it shall be revealed by fire; and the fire shall try every man's work of what sort it is. If any man's work abide which he hath built thereupon, he shall receive a reward.
There are gold, silver and precious stones built upon the foundation of Jesus Christ and they will abide and the “day shall declare it” as a proper building. Then there is wood, hay and stubble and the fire of Judgment Day will burn them up and that is where we are in time right now. But notice that the “fire” is put to the building materials once the building is completed and the construction in finished; that is, once God’s salvation program has come to an end. It is just like the parable of the storm upon the house that was built upon a rock; Christ was the rock and the foundation and the house built upon that rock was able to endure the storm and stand to the end. When the storm is over, the house remains. On the other hand, the foolish man built his house upon the sand and not upon Christ. Then came the same storm. If you read that parable, it is the same language and the same storm assails the house of the foolish, just as it assails the house of the wise man. The difference is that the foolish man’s house falls and is destroyed. It does not endure to the end. In that parable God is teaching that He will put all through the fire and all will go through Judgment Day, saved and unsaved alike. There will be the “gold, silver, precious stone” and the “wood, hay, stubble,” and the day will declare which will endure. The ones that endure to the end shall be saved and the ones that fail to endure are the “wood, hay stubble” and they are burned up, indicating that they had never become saved. This is what God has been doing since May 21, 2011. He has been “trying” his own work, the “gold, silver, precious stones” and destroying the rest with fire.
It says in 1Corinthians 3:16-17:
Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye are.
Here, God is (for a moment) revealing the spiritual nature of the “temple.” He says to believers, “Ye are the temple of God. You are the ones that the fire must be put to in order to reveal the fact that you are saved.”
In Revelation 21:3, in the final completion of God’s salvation program, the bride has made herself ready. All those to become saved have become saved and the next thing we read is that God speaks of the tabernacle of God being with men and He shall dwell with them, as it says in Revelation 21:3:
… 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.
This kind of language regarding God dwelling with His people and being their God is derived from the Old Testament. We can find these references in many places, but it says in Exodus 29:42-46:
This shall be a continual burnt offering throughout your generations at the door of the tabernacle of the congregation before JEHOVAH: where I will meet you, to speak there unto thee. And there I will meet with the children of Israel, and the tabernacle shall be sanctified by my glory. And I will sanctify the tabernacle of the congregation, and the altar: I will sanctify also both Aaron and his sons, to minister to me in the priest's office. And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will be their God. And they shall know that I am JEHOVAH their God, that brought them forth out of the land of Egypt, that I may dwell among them: I am JEHOVAH their God.
This is language that applies to the period of time after the deliverance from Egypt, so it was during the wilderness sojourn when Israel wandered in the desolate wilderness and God gave them instruction to build Him a tabernacle and that is where He dwelt, symbolically. Of course, God is everywhere, but it signified His presence with His people of Israel and God speaks of it as if He dwelt there.
In 1 Kings, many hundreds of years later, God placed it upon David’s heart to build Him a house. Even though David made much preparation God did not allow David, a man of war, to build the house, but his son Solomon was to construct the house of God. It says in 1Kings 6:11-14:
And the word of JEHOVAH came to Solomon, saying, Concerning this house which thou art in building, if thou wilt walk in my statutes, and execute my judgments, and keep all my commandments to walk in them; then will I perform my word with thee, which I spake unto David thy father: And I will dwell among the children of Israel, and will not forsake my people Israel. So Solomon built the house, and finished it.
The temple that Solomon built was similar to the tabernacle in the days of Moses in the wilderness and it was also a place in which God was said to dwell. When we read of the finishing of that house or temple, we read in 1Kings 8:1:
Then Solomon assembled the elders of Israel, and all the heads of the tribes, the chief of the fathers of the children of Israel, unto king Solomon in Jerusalem, that they might bring up the ark of the covenant of JEHOVAH out of the city of David, which is Zion.
The ark contained the Ten Commandments and it was a figure of God’s presence and the ark was a picture of the indwelling presence of God. So they completed the house and it says in 1Kings 8:2-13:
And all the men of Israel assembled themselves unto king Solomon at the feast in the month Ethanim, which is the seventh month. And all the elders of Israel came, and the priests took up the ark. And they brought up the ark of JEHOVAH, and the tabernacle of the congregation, and all the holy vessels that were in the tabernacle, even those did the priests and the Levites bring up. And king Solomon, and all the congregation of Israel, that were assembled unto him, were with him before the ark, sacrificing sheep and oxen, that could not be told nor numbered for multitude. And the priests brought in the ark of the covenant of JEHOVAH unto his place, into the oracle of the house, to the most holy place, even under the wings of the cherubims. For the cherubims spread forth their two wings over the place of the ark, and the cherubims covered the ark and the staves thereof above. And they drew out the staves, that the ends of the staves were seen out in the holy place before the oracle, and they were not seen without: and there they are unto this day. There was nothing in the ark save the two tables of stone, which Moses put there at Horeb, when JEHOVAH made a covenant with the children of Israel, when they came out of the land of Egypt. And it came to pass, when the priests were come out of the holy place, that the cloud filled the house of JEHOVAH, So that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud: for the glory of JEHOVAH had filled the house of JEHOVAH. Then spake Solomon, JEHOVAH said that he would dwell in the thick darkness. I have surely built thee an house to dwell in, a settled place for thee to abide in for ever.
Here, we see the very same language. It is an eternal dwelling place for God. Of course, when we read of the land of Canaan as an everlasting habitation, God is using the land of Canaan as a “figure” of the new heaven and new earth. It is not actually going to continue on forever. Likewise, the house that Solomon built was a physical, earthly construction and there was no way that house would continue forever. As a matter of fact, that house was destroyed. When the Babylonians entered into Jerusalem, they destroyed that temple, so it was certainly not an eternal dwellingplace. It can be proven from the Bible that the physical temple was destroyed and yet God spoke here of it being a house for Him to dwell in forever. It was far from forever. It was just a matter of a few hundred years when that house was destroyed.
Since we know that God cannot lie or make a mistake, He could not have been speaking of that physical house because He knew that house would be destroyed. But He is using this language in order to paint a picture – the eternal habitation of God would not take place in a physical temple, but it does take place in the spiritual temple. We see this in Hebrews 3:1-6:
Wherefore, holy brethren, partakers of the heavenly calling, consider the Apostle and High Priest of our profession, Christ Jesus; Who was faithful to him that appointed him, as also Moses was faithful in all his house. For this man was counted worthy of more glory than Moses, inasmuch as he who hath builded the house hath more honour than the house. For every house is builded by some man; but he that built all things is God. And Moses verily was faithful in all his house, as a servant, for a testimony of those things which were to be spoken after; But Christ as a son over his own house; whose house are we, if we hold fast the confidence and the rejoicing of the hope firm unto the end.
The children of God are the house that Christ built, a house not made of stones or wood, but a house made of the elect people of God. This is why it says in 1Peter 2:4-5:
To whom coming, as unto a living stone, disallowed indeed of men, but chosen of God, and precious, Ye also, as lively stones, are built up a spiritual house, an holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ.
This is the body of believers, all those God saved from Abel to Zacharias. Every one God saved before He shut the door on May 21, 2011 are living stones built up by the Lord Jesus Christ as He constructed His house upon the Rock and which would withstand the storm of Judgment Day. This is the house the tabernacle typified. This is the house that Solomon’s temple typified. That is why God can make a statement that the house was built for an eternal habitation for God to indwell forever. That is why in Revelation, chapter 21, we find that kind of language, as it says in our verse in 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, and they shall be his people, and God himself shall be with them, and be their God.
He is Emmanuel or “God with us.” The Lord Jesus entered into the human race and dwelt among man, but God’s plan was to mysteriously and gloriously dwell in that “house” that is the body of His elect and He will dwell there for evermore.
You know, it is significant that Solomon completed the house and then it was dedicated in the feast of the seventh month. What feast occurs in the seventh month? It is the Feast of Tabernacles and it so happens that in this feast the house, which had been completed, was dedicated. It was on that last day of the Feast of Tabernacles that all the Israelites were sent “home” merry of heart. This was historically what happened, but now we have an interesting parallel situation, except it is the spiritual situation. God has completed His spiritual house, “whose house are we.” Everyone whose name was written in the Lamb’s Book of Life are the living stones that build up that house that is built for a habitation of God, according to Ephesians. When the house is complete, God has a period of time in which He tries the “gold, silver, precious stones” and “wood, hay stubble,” as we read in 1Corinthians, chapter 3, and the “day” will declare and reveal that which is solid and will endure and that which will not endure. That is where we now are in time.
It so happens that we have a timeline in the Bible that gives us 1,600 days as the likely duration of Judgment Day and the conclusion of that period of time. After 1,600 days it will be the “fortieth forty” and it is also the 10,000th overall day of judgment since judgment began at the house of God on May 21, 1988, so it is the day we are looking to as the day of “completion” and the finality of the testing and it is also the “last day” of the Feast of Tabernacles, a time when the historical picture in the days of Solomon was a time when the house was completed and everyone went home. The house is built and God indwells the house, as we read in 1Kings, chapter 8. The ark was placed in the finished house and the feast was completed.
So we have very interesting parallel things happening at this time, spiritually. It agrees with just about every point, including the language of the completion of the “house” and the smoke filling the house so that no man could enter in, exactly as we read in Revelation 15 in regard to the Day of Judgment. And now we have a hope and expectation because God has now finished His spiritual house, “whose house are we.” And we know this, do we not? We know it from the Bible. We know God has completed the building of the house of God and we are waiting for the “last day” of the Feast of Tabernacles to see if this will be the end of all things for this world, because it does not say this for no reason, in Revelation 21:1:
And I saw a new heaven and a new earth: for the first heaven and the first earth were passed away;
It is the “new Jerusalem,” the holy city, which is the completed bride. It is the “tabernacle” for God’s dwellingplace forevermore. Do you see how that relates? Once the house is complete and once the tabernacle of God is finished, then God enters in to dwell in it. This is exactly what our hope is as we look toward this most interesting, final day of the 1,600 days. Could it be that God will enter into His people and dwell with them in eternity forevermore?