Revelation 7:15

Rev_7:15-17

Therefore are they before the throne of God.

The worship and privileges of the heavenly temple

I. What is the nature of that worship which is offered to the Lord in His holy temple in heaven? We may obtain an imperfect answer to this inquiry by contrasting the services of its priests with the polluted offerings of the servants of God below.

1. In contrasting the worship of these two worlds we may observe, first, that the worship of heaven is uninterrupted, constant. They who worship there never need repose. There is no weariness to put a stop to their service, nor any cares and anxieties to distract and pollute it.

2. The worship of the heavenly world is also pure. All who are engaged in it are holy worshippers. Their number is immense; they form a great multitude; but not one formalist, not one deceiver, not one hypocrite can be found amongst them. And not only are all the worshippers pure, their worship itself is free from all mixture of imperfection and sin. There is no blemish either in the priest or in the sacrifice; all is holiness to the Lord.

3. Their worship, too, is fervent. No coldness of feeling, no deadness of love distresses their souls.

4. Hence the worship they offer is a delightful worship. All the difficulties of our service will have passed away, and every act of worship will be elevating to the spirit, and bring with it an unspeakable and glorious joy.

5. The service of heaven is also a united service. They worship in the same temple, and are all engaged in the same work; the same spirit lives in every soul, and the same song is heard from every mouth.

6. The worship of heaven is humble. In the midst of all their glory the redeemed saints appear in the heavenly temple in the character of creatures and of sinners. We see no presumption or self-exaltation in their worship, no unholy familiarity.

II. The privileges which these heavenly worshippers enjoy.

1. The dignity of their station in this temple.

(1) To be before the throne of God implies that they are admitted to the enjoyment of close communion with Him; that they are brought into His immediate presence, and have an intimate, enlarged, and continual intercourse with Him; that they talk with Jehovah as a man talks with his friend. To stand before the throne of God implies also a participation of His glory and happiness, an entering into His blessedness.

2. The text tells us also of the rich provision which is made for all the wants of the heavenly worshippers. As the priests in the Jewish temple not only dwelt in the house of the Lord, but partook of the sacrifices which were offered therein, so the priests in Jehovahs temple above find in it all the spiritual provision their souls can desire. Their happiness consists in having all their spiritual desires kept in unceasing exercise, and in having them fully gratified. They still thirst after the water of life, and it is supplied to them largely from those rivers of pleasure which flow around the throne of Jehovah.

(1) The happiness which results from this provision made for their souls is uninterrupted and unmixed. Nothing can enter their habitation to disturb or mar it.

(2) Their happiness, too, is everlasting. They are not supplied out of a cistern which may be broken or exhausted, but from a fountain which can never fail. Lessons:

1. No man can be happy in heaven who has not first learned to delight in the worship of God. Death will make no material alteration in our tastes and desires. What we love in time we shall love in eternity. What is hateful to us now, will be hateful to us then. We must have a relish for the happiness of angels now, or we shall be utterly incapable of enjoying it hereafter.

2. The great importance and blessedness of the worship of God here on earth.

3. How desirable is death to the spiritual and heavenly-minded worshipper of God. (V. Bradley, M. A.)

Man in heaven

I. Our spiritual heaven. Its great and representative idea is worship, in which we reach at one bound the highest conception of our nature--humanity perfected, humanity in its highest conclusion, and humanity in its highest act.

1. The condition or character of the worshippers is described. Christ, in the sanctifying influences of His sacrificial work, was the reason of their heaven. The condition of their spiritual heaven, therefore, was the perfection of the spiritual part of their nature. It was not the locality merely--not the mere presence of God--not the employment, the robe, the palm, the harp, the worship: it was the perfect moral sympathy of their spirits with holiness, the holiness of God.

2. Their moral victory. They came out of great tribulation.

(1) Remark how strikingly the two affirmations are brought into conjunction. Their position before the throne is in the same sentence ascribed to the blood of the Lamb, and to the moral results of their tribulation, that is, to the meritorious cause, and to the efficacious instrument. In our ordinary logic we are apt to deem one agency exclusive of another. It is God who works in us, therefore, we conclude we need not work. The logic of Scripture is Therefore let us work.

(2) The natural and uniform tendency of affliction to produce tenderness and sanctity of heart. In the light of human experience we feel no surprise at this sequence of tribulations and glory, of light afflictions, and an exceeding great and eternal weight of glory. And the beatitude that is described here--exemption from hunger and thirst, and all the evils of which they stand as the representatives--is quite congruous to our thoughts and feelings, with the tribulation that preceded.

3. Their worship itself. In heaven they only praise, they sing a new song; the old song of lamentation, the wail of sorrow, the misery of sin is forgotten.

(1) Their worship is immediate. The worship of faith is lost in sight, the worship of symbols in the thing signified; they see the King in His beauty.

(2) It is united and catholic. There is but one robe, one palm, one song, one Fathers house, one glorious Model to which all are to be conformed.

(3) The constancy of heavenly worship. They serve Him day and night. They rest not day and night, saying, Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty. Gods work hinders not His rest, neither does the service and worship of the glorified. Their praise is but the utterance of their love; and the constant utterance of love is its rest and joy.

(4) The fervour of their worship. Oh I how unlike our cold and formal service here--our words, our acts of mechanical conformity, of unspiritual temper, of unloving prompting.

(5) Its purity and joy. They who ascribe the heavenly sanctus, themselves are holy. They see God, because they are pure in heart. There is no blemish in their sacrifice, no drawback in their joy; they have come to Zion with songs, and everlasting joy upon their heads, and sorrow and sadness have fled away.

(6) Its perfect satisfaction. The Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and lead them to living fountains of waters. As on earth, so in heaven, their dependence is on Him; they live, yet not they, it is Christ who liveth in them.

II. Such is the spiritual heaven of our spiritual humanity. Of the material heaven of our material humanity we can say but little, and that only in negations. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst any more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. No painful want, no painful infliction, finds its way into that kingdom of blessedness. As it realises all the good that we can crave, it excludes all the evil that we can deprecate. The condition and necessity of probation, and therefore of discipline will be ended; the effects of sin will be destroyed; character will be perfected; reward will be realised; our heavenly Fathers hand will wipe every tear from the eye, and pluck every thorn from the heart. Such is the glorious heaven for humanity, both soul and body, which the seer beheld, such the multitude before the throne. (H. Allon, D. D.)

The heavenly happiness

I. It is partly constituted by an exemption from all those pains and sorrows which embitter and poison the cup of earthly felicity.

1. It is exempted from error, and consequently from suffering upon this account.

2. It is exempted from sin, and all its attendant train of evils.

3. It is exempted from the snares to which we are exposed in this world, and the sufferings to which we are subjected by falling into them.

4. It is exempted from temptations, and all their attendant dangers and mischiefs.

5. It is exempted from the disappointments to which mankind are exposed in this life.

6. It is exempted from the real and unavoidable calamities to which mankind are subjected in this world, and which constitute a large proportion of human misery.

II. It is completed by the union of all those ingredients which can improve or secure the bliss of the heavenly inhabitants.

1. The vision and enjoyment of God, and the resemblance and conformity of our nature to the Divine.

2. The enlargement of our faculties, and the employment of these upon objects suitable to and worthy of them.

3. A progressive improvement in knowledge and goodness.

4. The society of angels, and of the spirits of the just made perfect, and especially of those virtuous persons with whom we were, in this world, connected by the ties of reciprocal love and friendship. (W. Duff, M. A.)

The redeemed in heaven

I. The redeemed in heaven occupy The most elevated position. They are before the throne. A throne is the emblem of regal authority. In heaven there is--

1. A permanent consciousness of the supreme rule.

2. An exalted consciousness of the supreme rule.

II. The redeemed in heaven are engaged in the grandest service. And serve Him day and night. They serve Him in every department of action.

III. The redeemed in heaven are blessed with the loftiest companionship. He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell amongst them. What will it be to have God--the source of all wisdom, purity, and blessedness--as our constant companion? (Homilist.)

The happiness of the saints in heaven

I. The happiness of the saints in perpetual communion with God in His temple above.

1. Let us consider the happiness of the saints in that part of their celestial worship which is internal and spiritual; and in general we must frequently recall to our minds the imperfection of our present discoveries, and remember that eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor hath it entered into the heart of man to conceive what the Lord hath laid up for them that love Him. There may, for anything we know, be discoveries, and by consequence, acts of worship, and dispositions of mind corresponding to them, totally different in kind from anything we are now capable of, as well as higher in degree. Of these we must be absolutely silent. Whatever acts of worship we have now any experience of shall then be performed to far greater perfection, and with infinitely greater joy.

(1) Acts of adoration. By these I understand the immediate contemplation of the glorious excellence of the Divine nature, and the exercise of those affections of soul which correspond to it.

(2) Acts of gratitude and praise.

(3) Acts of desire. There is much of this in the disposition of the people of God on earth; they say with the prophet (Isa_26:8). And as every agreeable object is the more desired the more it is known, so the clear discovery that is made in heaven of the glory and excellence of God, and the delightful communications of His love, must still increase our desire of further and further degrees of it; and there is a fulness, both in the Divine nature and benignity, that can never be exhausted.

(4) Acts of trust and subjection.

2. Let us now consider the worship of the saints in heaven, as it is external and sensible. This is the temple of God in which His servants shall serve Him, in which we may suppose the general assembly of the Church of the first-born meet together for the joint celebration of their Creator and Redeemers praise. And surely if in this lower world and that part of the creation which is at present subjected to our view, there is so much order and beauty, so much splendour and magnificence, though it be the abode of guilty creatures under manifest tokens of Divine displeasure, what must be the unclouded lustre and perfect beauty of that place where the glory of Almighty God is peculiarly displayed, and which was prepared for the reception of the objects of His special love before the foundation of the world? But the external circumstance which, in my apprehension, will contribute most to the delight and happiness of the saints in their heavenly worship, will be their union and society in it. (J. Witherspoon, D. D.)

The pleasures of heaven and the service of earth

The crucial word of the passage is just the one no person would so think of, viz., therefore, indicating the connection between life here and hereafter, and showing that the nexus is never broken.

I. That their submission to a sacrificial life has its reward in bestowal of Divine power. He that sitteth upon the throne shall spread His tabernacle over them. It is paradoxical that a sacrifice is the way to a throne and strength. It would be peculiar in any sphere but one. The heart, however, only gains power as it ceases to be free. We must be imprisoned by the mighty power of love before we can be free. How is it refined ladies as hospital nurses can go through scenes which would make men blush? Because they are bound in the fetters of an intense love of humanity.

II. Their temporary crushing of will was rewarded by its being made chromic and habitual. Came out of great tribulation, therefore Serve Him day and night in His temple. The popular idea that calamities of life are sent to prepare us for heaven by way of contrast is pre-eminently false. They are rather sent to prepare us for the life of heaven by resemblance. Heaven is veritably service. A little girl of my acquaintance was the subject of protracted suffering, and, questioned as to her conception of its purpose, surprised me by replying, not in the direction of contrast, but in that of resemblance. Dont you know, said she, I am preparing to be a ministering spirit? It is coming out of great tribulation which fits us for service. I am much impressed by the fact that the Children of Israel never journeyed when the cloud rested over the tabernacle. Nor should we; but rather rest until the cloud be lifted.

III. Their sacrificial life was rewarded by their receiving a new organ of vision, viz., a sacrificially pure heart. They have washed their robes, and have a front pew; Therefore are they before the throne. If our spirits be bathed in suffering, we shall ever after regard it not as accidental, but as habitual. Sacrifice is the type after which the world is climbing, as illustrated in Abraham on Moriah, Jacob at Bethel, and Moses in Midian. We go to Christ through Egypt and the wilderness of Sinai. We do not expect--or should not--to get new robes, but washed robes. Creation now waits for the seventh morning, which will come when men have washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb. (G. Matheson, D. D.)

And serve Him day and night.--

Service in heaven

When you come to think about it your hearts revolt from the heaven which is set forth in the sentimental hymns. Having nothing to do may be very pleasant for a while, but it would be very intolerable for an eternity. Heaven is a place of sweet activities. The redeemed are serving God day and night before His throne.

I. The highest life is a life of perpetual service. The reward which God confers upon His faithful ones is ability and permission to serve, and when He calls them from the lower to the higher places, the higher honour is that they are enabled and privileged to serve more. In Gods view rank is determined by the measure of service. It is strange how the world has reversed this principle in its conceptions of rank and dignity. We speak of service with a sort of disdain, and of servants as inferior persons. You would find thousands of people ashamed to be seen with soiled hands, where you would find one ashamed of living an utterly profitless life. And we often pay the greatest respect to men and women who are of so little good to the world that almost the best service they could render would be to remove themselves out of it as speedily as possible. What a curious spectacle this must present to those who look down upon the earthly life from above. In days to come, when Christ shall truly rule in the hearts of men, they will find it hard to believe that there was ever a time when hats were doffed and knees were bowed to selfish and unserviceable lives. And even now if we look with Christs eyes, we shall think the most ignorant ploughman who earns his daily bread a far nobler being, and of more exalted rank than the cultured voluptuary who neither uses hands nor brain to serve his fellows and make the world a little better than he found it. We shall honour the meanest workman more than the noblest of societys indolent darlings. We shall be as much ashamed of living unserviceable lives as of being detected in some glaring felony. The homes on earth which most resemble heaven are those in which from the father down to the youngest child, every loved and loving one is serving and being served by each and all; where love is always giving, yet receiving more than it gives; where all are servants, and because servants, masters; where all are happy because all are ministering to the joy of others.

II. The highest life is a life of service in the temple, or rather of temple service. There is no temple, because it is all temple. And all the service, of whatever kind it is, all the work, all the ministry of love there is emphatically temple service, not necessarily singing, praising, preaching, or anything of that kind, but temple service, because the atmosphere, the thought, the motives, the emotions are sacred, holy, and divine; because everything is done in view of Him who sits upon the throne. There is the very spirit of the sanctuary in it all. There is the gladness and the praisefulness of the sanctuary in it all. And here again we find the model for our lives below. The highest life on earth is a life made up entirely of temple service--a life in which we do all things from the least to the greatest in the same spirit in which we sing hymns and offer prayers honestly, reverently, and purely, as in the sight of God and our Master Jesus Christ.

III. The highest life is a life of work inspired by love, by love and not by necessity. They hunger no more, neither thirst any more. For the Lamb doth feed them and lead them to living fountains of water. We regard labour as a curse because it is a necessity. There is no choice where need drives. It is the hunger and thirst that make us bondsmen. We must toil to satisfy want. But in the highest life they work not to get their needs supplied, but because those needs have been supplied; not to secure wages, but because the wages have been sweetly and abundantly paid; not to make their robes white and clean, but because Christ has washed them until they shine like lustrous snow. In a word their service is inspired by gratitude, devotion, love; and that service never tires. Day and night they serve Him in His temple. Much of our earthly service may be made of this kind--nay, all of it in a certain sense. In all that we do there may be the willing, thankful, rejoicing spirit, a feeling of infinite indebtedness to God for His great gifts and His great love, which gives, as it were, wings to the feet that are engaged in common labour. (J. G. Greenhough, M. A.)

He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.--

The Divine presence in heaven

I. Heaven is the place of Gods special presence. It is the beginning of our happiness to have His presence with us here, and it will be the consummation of it to be for ever with Him in the world to come. The Psalmist took this view of it, for he said, Whom have I in heaven but Thee? It is further called appearing in Gods presence; standing before Him; bowing before His throne; abiding in His tabernacle; dwelling in His house for ever; beholding His face; being for ever with the Lord; seeing the King in His beauty; sitting with Christ on His throne.

II. The nature of the Divine presence in heaven. On earth the believer enjoys, in a certain sense, the presence of his God. Not only His essential presence, not only His presence in nature, where His wisdom, power, and goodness are clearly displayed; not only His presence in providence in overruling the unbridled passions of men, in improving the framework of society; not only His presence in the appointed means of grace, but a special presence; a presence which he can feel and enjoy, but which he cannot fully explain; a presence which though secret and invisible, is real, influential, and blessed. The presence referred to in the text is more than His essential presence. His essential presence is as really on earth, and in hell, as it is in heaven; for it fills heaven and earth, nor can the heaven of heavens contain it. It is also more than His special gracious presence by His Spirit, for though the saints have this on earth, they are said to be absent from the Lord. The presence of God in the text means--

1. A wonderful display of His natural and moral perfections--His wisdom, power, holiness, justice, goodness, and mercy, with all other attributes which constitute Him such a glorious being. Now in consequence of the weakness of our powers, and the obscurity of providence and other mediums through which they are contemplated, these perfections are but dimly seen and inadequately appreciated in the present state.

2. A wonderful display of His regal glory. He is to dwell among them sitting upon His throne; that is, surrounded with the ensigns of regal glory.

(1) It sets forth the absolute sovereignty of God and His dominion over all in heaven, and hence Isaiah saw the Lord sitting upon His throne, high and lifted up. His sovereignty is seen there in greater perfection and grandeur than anywhere else.

(2) It sets forth His peculiar glory and majesty, which are manifested in heaven more luminously than anywhere besides.

(3) It sets forth further, that there the deepest homage and respect is paid unto Him.

III. The manner in which this presence is manifested.

1. Here we have His presence in creatures, providences, and ordinances; but in heaven He will be seen immediately without the intervention of means. The mind will there be perfectly free from everything which here dims and interrupts its visions of the glory of God. There is no sin there to weaken and becloud its powers, nor any temptation to draw off the affections. There the light of glory has burst in upon the soul, and the perfection of its holiness secures its devout and unceasing contemplation of spiritual realities. The body, too, will then be fashioned like unto the glorified body of Christ; and instead of hindering and beclouding the spirit as it does now, it will greatly aid the soul in her Divine contemplations. And then shadows will be exchanged for realities.

2. He that sitteth upon the throne shall dwell among them, or, as in another place, in the midst of them; so that He is equally accessible to all, and His glory, as from a centre, diffuses its splendours over the whole assembly of heaven. Here some believers live in the sunshine and some in the shade; but it is a most delightful thought that the immediate and distinct vision of God in heaven is not the special privilege of the few, but is common to all that people the realms of bliss, both angels and men.

3. The presence of God in heaven is a fixed and abiding presence, for He shall dwell among them. Not as He frequently does now, like a wayfaring man who only turns aside for the night, but He will be always in our eye, for we shall be ever with the Lord, and shall always behold the face of our Father in heaven.

IV. The influence of this Divine presence upon the eternal state of the redeemed. As the presence of the sun warms, enlightens, fructifies, and blesses the earth; so, only in a far higher and more important sense, does the presence of God shed the most delightful influences upon the whole region and family of heaven.

1. It will advance their moral perfection.

2. It will secure and promote their eternal happiness.. The visible and immediate presence of God will banish all that is inconsistent with the progressive happiness of the redeemed, just as the presence of the sun banishes darkness, coldness, and gloom. Then this immediate presence of God not only banishes all that is opposed to the happiness of the saints, but it is productive of positive happiness. It is the presence of His approving smile that makes heaven, for there He rejoices over His people with joy: He rests in His love, He joys over them with singing. Oh, what bliss to live in the smile of a reconciled God! (Wm. Gregory.)

Three tabernacles

(with Joh_1:14; Rev_21:8):--The word rendered dwelt, in these three passages is a peculiar one. It literally means to dwell in a tent, or, if we may use such a word, to tabernacle, and there is no doubt a reference to the tabernacle in which the Divine presence abode in the wilderness and in the land of Israel before the erection of the temple.

I. First, then, we have to think for a moment of that tabernacle for Earth. The Word was made flesh, and dwelt, as in a tent, amongst us. The human nature, the visible, material body of Jesus Christ, in which there enshrined itself the everlasting Word, which from the beginning was the Agent of all Divine revelation, that is the true temple of God. We have to be content with a recognition that the manner is beyond our fathoming, and to accept the fact, pressed upon our faith that our hearts may grasp it and be at peace. God hath dwelt in humanity. The everlasting Word, who is the forthcoming of all the fulness of Deity into the realm of finite creatures, was made flesh and dwelt among us. But the tabernacle was not only the dwelling place of God, it was also and, therefore, the place of revelation of God. So, in our text, there follows: we beheld His glory. And how did that glory make itself known to us? By miracle? Yes! But, blessed be His name, miracle is not the highest manifestation of Christs glory and of Gods. The uniqueness of the revelation of Christs glory in God does not depend upon the deeds which He wrought. For, as the context goes on to tell, the Word which tabernacled among us was full of grace and truth, and therein is the glory most gloriously revealed. Still further, the tabernacle was the place of sacrifice. So in the tabernacle of His flesh He offered up the one sacrifice for sins for ever. In the offering up of His human life in continuous obedience, and in the offering up of His body and blood in the bitter passion of the Cross, He brought men nigh unto God. Therefore, because of all these things, because the tabernacle is the dwelling-place of God, the place of revelation, and the place of sacrifice, therefore, finally is it the meeting place betwixt God and man. In Christ, who by His Incarnation lays His hand upon both, God touches man and man touches God. We who are afar off are made nigh, and in that true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man we meet God and are glad. The temple for earth is the temple of His body.

II. We have the tabernacle for the heavens. In the context we have a vision of the great multitude redeemed out of all nations, and kindreds, standing before the throne and before the Lamb, arrayed in white robes, and palms in their hands. The palms in their hands give important help towards understanding the vision. We are not to think of the Roman palm of victory, but of the Jewish palm which was borne at the Feast of Tabernacles. What was the Feast of Tabernacles? A festival established on purpose to recall to the minds and to the gratitude of the Jews settled in their own land the days of their wandering in the wilderness. Part of the ritual of it was that during its celebration they builded for themselves booths, or tabernacles of leaves and boughs of trees under which they dwelt, thus reminding themselves of their nomad condition. Now what beauty and power it gives to the words of my text, if we take in this allusion to the Jewish festival. The great multitude bearing the palms are keeping the feast, memorial of past wilderness wanderings; and He that sitteth on the throne shall spread His tabernacle above them; as the word might be here rendered. That is to say, He Himself shall build and be the tent in which they dwell; He Himself shall dwell with them in it. He Himself, in closer union than can be conceived of here, shall keep them company during that feast.

III. Look at that final vision which we have in these texts, which we may call the tabernacle for the renewed Earth. Behold the Tabernacle of God is with men, and He will tabernacle with them. The climax and the goal of all the Divine working, and the long processes of Gods love for and discipline of the world, are to be this, that He and men shall abide together in unity and concord. That is Gods wish from the beginning. We read in one of the profound utterances of the Book of Proverbs how from the beginning the delights of the Incarnate Wisdom which foreshadowed the Incarnate Word were with the sons of men. And, at the close of all things, when the vision of this final chapter shall be fulfilled, God will say, settling Himself in the midst of a redeemed humanity, Lo! here will I dwell, for I have desired it. This is My rest for ever. He will tabernacle with men, and men with Him. We know not, and never shall know until experience strips the bandages from our eyes, what new methods of participation of the Divine nature, and new possibilities of intimacy and intercourse with Him may be ours when the veils of flesh and sense and time have all dropped away. New windows may be opened in our spirits, from which we shall perceive new aspects of the Divine character. New doors may be opened in our souls from out of which we may pass to touch parts of His nature, all impalpable and inconceivable to us now. And when all the veils of a discordant moral nature are taken away, and we are pure, then we shall see, then we shall draw nigh to God. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)

The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

John

‘THREE TABERNACLES’

Joh 1:14. - Rev 7:15. - Rev 21:3.

The word rendered ‘dwelt’ in these three passages, is a peculiar one. It is only found in the New Testament-in this Gospel and in the Book of Revelation. That fact constitutes one of the many subtle threads of connection between these two books, which at first sight seem so extremely unlike each other; and it is a morsel of evidence in favour of the common authorship of the Gospel and of the Apocalypse, which has often, and very vehemently in these latter days of criticism, been denied.

The force of the word, however, is the matter to which I desire especially to draw attention. It literally means ‘to dwell in a tent,’ or, if we may use such a word, ‘to tabernacle,’ and there is no doubt a reference to the Tabernacle in which the divine Presence abode in the wilderness and in the land of Israel before the erection. In all three passages, then, we may see allusion to that early symbolical dwelling of God with man. ‘The Word tabernacled among us’; so is the truth for earth and time. ‘He that sitteth upon the throne shall spread His tabernacle upon’ the multitude which no man can number, who have made their robes white in the blood of the Lamb; that is the truth for the spirits of just men made perfect, the waiting Church, which expects the redemption of the body. ‘God shall tabernacle with them’; that is the truth for the highest condition of humanity, when the Tabernacle of God shall be with redeemed men in the new earth. ‘Let us build three tabernacles,’ one for the Incarnate Christ, one for the interspace between earth and heaven, and one for the culmination of all things. And it is to these three aspects of the one thought, set forth in rude symbol by the movable tent in the wilderness, that I ask you to turn now.

I. First, then, we have to think of that Tabernacle for earth. ‘The Word was made flesh, and dwelt, as in a tent, amongst us.’

The human nature, the visible, material body of Jesus Christ, in which there enshrined itself the everlasting Word, which from the beginning was the Agent of all divine revelation, that is the true Temple of God. When we begin to speak about the special presence of Omnipresence in any one place, we soon lose ourselves, and get into deep waters of glory, where there is no standing. And I do not care to deal here with theological definitions or thorny questions, but simply to set forth, as the language of my text sets before us, that one transcendent, wonderful, all-blessed thought that this poor human nature is capable of, and has really once in the history of the world received into itself, the real, actual presence of the whole fulness of the Divinity. What must be the kindred and likeness between Godhood and manhood when into the frail vehicle of our humanity that wondrous treasure can be poured; when the fire of God can burn in the bush of our human nature, and that nature not be consumed? So it has been. ‘In Him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.’

And when we come with our questions, How? In what manner? How can the lesser contain the greater? we have to be content with the recognition that the manner is beyond our fathoming, and to accept the fact, pressed upon our faith, that our hearts may grasp it and be at peace. God hath dwelt in humanity. The everlasting Word, who is the forthcoming of all the fulness of Deity into the realm of finite creatures, was made flesh and dwelt among us.

But the Tabernacle was not only the dwelling-place of God, it was also and, therefore, the place of Revelation of God. So in our text there follows, ‘we beheld His glory.’ As in the tent in the wilderness there hovered between the outstretched wings of the silent cherubim, above the Mercy-seat, the brightness of the symbolical cloud which was expressly named ‘the glory of God,’ and was the visible manifestation of His real presence; so John would have us think that in that lowly humanity, with its curtains and its coverings of flesh, there lay shrined in the inmost place the brightness of the light of the manifest glory of God. ‘We beheld His glory.’ The rapturous adoration of the remembrance overcomes him, and he breaks his sentence, reckless of grammatical connection, as the fulness of the blessed memory floods into his soul. ‘That glory was as of the Only Begotten of the Father.’ The manifestation of God in Christ is unique, as becomes Him who partakes of the nature of that God of whom He is the Representative and the Revealer.

And how did that glory make itself known to us? By miracle? Yes! As we read in the story of the first that Christ wrought, ‘He manifested forth His glory and His disciples believed upon Him.’ By miracle? Yes! As we read His own promise at the grave of Lazarus: ‘Said I not unto thee, that, if thou wouldest believe, thou shouldest see the glory of God?’ But, blessed be His name, miracle is not the highest manifestation of Christ’s glory and of God’s. The uniqueness of the revelation of Christ’s glory in God does not depend upon the deeds which He wrought. For, as the context goes on to tell, the Word which tabernacled among us was ‘full of grace and truth,’ and therein is the glory most gloriously revealed.

The lambent light of stooping love that shone forth warning and attracting in His gentle life, and the clear white beam of unmingled truth that streamed from the radiant purity of Christ’s life, revealed God to hearts that pine for love and spirits that hunger for truth, as no others of God’s self-revealing works have done. And that revelation of the glory of God in the fulness of grace and truth is the highest possible revelation. For the divinest thing in God is love, and the true ‘glory of God’ is neither some symbolical flashing light nor the pomp of mere power and majesty; nor even those inconceivable and incommunicable attributes which we christen with names like Omnipotence and Omnipresence and Infinitude, and the like. These are all at the fringes of the brightness. The true central heart and lustrous light of the glory of God lie In His love, and of that glory Christ is the unique Representative and Revealer, because He is the only Begotten Son, and ‘full of grace and truth.’

Thus the Word tabernacled amongst us. And though the Tabernacle to outward seeming was covered by curtains and skins that hid all the glowing splendour within; yet in that lowly life that was lived in the body of His humiliation, and knew our limitations and our weaknesses, ‘the glory of the Lord was revealed; and all flesh hath seen it together’ and acknowledged the divine Presence there.

Still further the Tabernacle was the place of sacrifice. So in the tabernacle of His flesh Jesus offered up the one sacrifice for sins for ever. In the offering up of His human life in continuous obedience, and in the offering up of His body and blood in the bitter Passion of the Cross, He brought men nigh unto God.

Therefore, because of all these things, because the Tabernacle is the dwelling-place of God, the place of revelation, and the place of sacrifice, therefore, finally is it the meeting-place betwixt God and man. In the Old Testament it is always called by the name which our Revised Version has accurately substituted for ‘tabernacle of the congregation,’ namely ‘tent of meeting.’ The correctness of that rendering and the meaning of the name are established by several passages in the Old Testament, as for instance, ‘There I will meet with you, to speak there unto thee, and there I will meet with the children of Israel.’ So in Christ, who by His Incarnation lays His hand upon both, God touches man and man touches God. We who are afar off are made nigh, and in that ‘true tabernacle which the Lord pitched and not man’ we meet God and are glad.

‘And so the word was flesh, and wrought

With human hands the creed of creeds,

In loveliness of perfect deeds.’

The temple for earth is ‘the temple of His body.’

II. We have the Tabernacle for the Heavens.

In the context of our second passage we have a vision of the great multitude redeemed out of all nations and kindreds, ‘standing before the Throne and before the Lamb, arrayed in white robes, and palms in their hands.’ The palms in their hands give important help towards understanding the vision. As has been often remarked, there are no heathen emblems in the Book of the Apocalypse. All its metaphors move within the circle of Jewish experiences and facts. So that we are not to think of the Roman palm of victory, but of the Jewish palm which was borne at the Feast of Tabernacles. What was the Feast of Tabernacles? A festival established on purpose to recall to the minds and to the gratitude of the Jews settled in their own land the days of their wandering in the wilderness. Part of the ritual of it was that during its celebration they builded for themselves booths or tabernacles of leaves and boughs of trees, under which they dwelt, thus reminding themselves of their nomad condition.

Now what beauty and power it gives to the word of my text, if we take in this allusion to the Jewish festival! The great multitude bearing the palms are keeping the feast, memorial of past wilderness wanderings; and ‘He that sitteth on the throne shall spread His tabernacle above them,’ as the word might be here rendered. That is to say, He Himself shall build and be the tent in which they dwell; He Himself shall dwell with them in it. He Himself, in closer union than can be conceived of here, shall keep them company during that feast.

What a thought of that condition-the condition as I believe represented in this vision-of the spirits of the just made perfect, ‘who wait for the adoption, to wit, the resurrection of the body,’ is given us if we take this point of view to interpret the whole lovely symbolism. It is all a time of glad, grateful remembrance of the wilderness march. It is all a time in which festal joys shall be theirs, and the memory of the trials and the weariness and the sorrow and the solitude that are past shall deepen to a more exquisite poignancy of delight, the rest and the fellowship and the felicity of that calm Presence, and God Himself shall spread His tent above them, lodge with them, and they with Him.

And so, dear brethren, rest in that assurance, that though we know so little of that state, we know this: ‘Absent from the body, present with the Lord,’ and that the happy company who bear the palms shall dwell in God, and God in them.

III. And now, lastly, look at that final vision which we have in these texts, which we may call the Tabernacle for the renewed earth.

I do not pretend to interpret the scenery and the setting of these Apocalyptic visions with dogmatic confidence, but it seems to me as if the emblems of this final vision coincide with dim hints in many other portions of Scripture; to the effect that some cosmical change having passed upon this material world in which we dwell, it, in some regenerated form, shall be the final abode of a regenerated and redeemed humanity. That, I think, is the natural interpretation of a great deal of Scriptural teaching.

For that highest condition there is set forth this as the all-sufficing light upon it. ‘Behold, the Tabernacle of God is with men, and He will tabernacle with them.’ The climax and the goal of all the divine working, and the long processes of God’s love for, and discipline of, the world, are to be this, that He and men shall abide together in unity and concord. That is God’s wish from the beginning. We read in one of the profound utterances of the Book of Proverbs how from of old the ‘delights’ of the Incarnate Wisdom which foreshadowed the Incarnate Word ‘were with the sons of men.’ And, at the close of all things, when the vision of this final chapter shall be fulfilled, God will say, settling Himself in the midst of a redeemed humanity, ‘Lo! here will I dwell, for I have desired it. This is My rest for ever.’ He will tabernacle with men, and men with Him.

We know not, and never shall know until experience strips the bandages from our eyes, what new methods of participation of the divine nature, and new possibilities of intimacy and intercourse with Him may be ours when the veils of flesh and sense and time have all dropped away. New windows may be opened in our spirits, from which we shall perceive new aspects of the divine character. New doors may be opened in our souls, from out of which we may pass to touch parts of His nature, all impalpable and inconceivable to us now. And when all the veils of a discordant moral nature are taken away, and we are pure, then we shall see, then we shall draw nigh to God. The thing that chiefly separates man from God is man’s sin. When that is removed, the centrifugal force which kept our tiny orb apart from the great central sun being withdrawn, we shall, as it were, fall into the brightness and be one, not losing our sense of individuality, which would be to lose all the blessedness, but united with Him in a union far more intimate than earth can parallel. ‘The Tabernacle of God shall be with men, and He will tabernacle with them.’

Do not let us forget that this highest and ultimate hope that is held forth here, of the union and communion, perfect and perpetual, of humanity with God, does not sweep aside Jesus Christ. For through all eternity the Everlasting Word, the Christ who bears our nature in its glorified form, or, rather, whose nature in its glorified form we shall bear, is the Medium of Revelation, and the Medium of communication between man and God.

‘I saw no Temple therein,’ says this final vision of the Apocalypse, but ‘God Almighty and the Lamb,’ and these are the Temples thereof. Therefore through eternity God shall tabernacle with men, as He does tabernacle with us now through Him, in whom dwelleth as in its perennial habitation, ‘all the fulness of the Godhead bodily.’

So we have the three tabernacles, for earth, for heaven, for the renewed earth; and these three, if I may say so, are like the triple division of that ancient Tabernacle in the wilderness: the Outer Court; the Holy Place; the Holiest of all. Let us enter into that outer court, and abide and commune with that God who comes near to us, revealing, forgiving, in the person of His Son, and then we shall pass from court to court, ‘and go from strength to strength, until every one of us in Zion appear before God’; and enter into the Holiest of all, where ‘within the veil’ we shall receive splendours of revelation undreamed of here, and enjoy depths of communion to which the selectest moments of fellowship with God on earth are shallow and poor.

Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

7:15 serve him day and night: Service to God is the continual duty of Christians. • God’s Temple symbolizes his presence (also 11:19; cp. 21:22).

Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Rev 7:15. διὰ τοῦτο, therefore) No one is permitted to come forth into sight, unless he is clothed with a white robe.—V. g.

Bengel's Gnomon of the New Testament — English translation (T&T Clark, Edinburgh, 1860) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Rev 7:15 . Ritual as well as pastoral traits from the O.T. fill out the conception of this final bliss with its favoured position ( ἐνώπ . θρόν .). Note the singular tenderness of the oxymoron he that sitteth on the throne (the majestic almighty God) shall overshadow them with a presence of brooding, intimate, care; followed by ποιμανεῖ here (as opposed to Rev 2:27 ) in its literal sense of tender shepherding on the part of Jesus. The messiah as shepherd was an ancient and familiar conception. This verse is partly adapted from Enoch 45:4 6. Unlike Joh 1:14 , it reflects a Christian fulfilment of the Jewish anticipation ( cf. Rev 13:6 , Rev 21:3 ; Zec 2:10 f.; Sir 24:8 f.) that the Shekinah would return in the era of final bliss.

The Expositor's Greek Testament, edited by W. Robertson Nicoll (1897–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

He alludeth to the Levites, which served day and night, for else there is no night in heaven.

Or, upon them, whereby is meant God’s defense and protection, as it were towards them, who are as safe, as men in the Lord’s tent.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain. Text via Bolls.life.

Therefore--because they are so washed white; for without it they could never have entered God's holy heaven; Rev 22:14, "Blessed are those who wash their robes (the oldest manuscripts reading), that they may have right to the tree of life, and may enter in through the gates into the city"; Rev 21:27; Eph 5:26-27.

before--Greek, "in the presence of." Mat 5:8; Co1 13:12, "face to face."

throne . . . temple--These are connected because we can approach the heavenly King only through priestly mediation; therefore, Christ is at once King and Priest on His throne.

day and night--that is, perpetually; as those approved of as priests by the Sanhedrim were clothed in white, and kept by turns a perpetual watch in the temple at Jerusalem; compare as to the singers, Ch1 9:33, "day and night"; Psa 134:1. Strictly "there is no night" in the heavenly sanctuary (Rev 22:5).

in his temple--in what is the heavenly analogue to His temple on earth, for strictly there is "no temple therein" (Rev 21:22), "God and the Lamb are the temple" filling the whole, so that there is no distinction of sacred and secular places; the city is the temple, and the temple the city. Compare Rev 4:8, "the four living creatures rest not day and night, saying, Holy," &c.

shall dwell among them--rather (Greek, "scenosei ep' autous"), "shall be the tabernacle over them" (compare Rev 21:3; Lev 26:11, especially Isa 4:5-6; Isa 8:14; Isa 25:4; Eze 37:27). His dwelling among them is to be understood as a secondary truth, besides what is expressed, namely, His being their covert. When once He tabernacled among us as the Word made flesh, He was in great lowliness; then He shall be in great glory.

Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Verse 15. Therefore] Because they are washed in the blood of the Lamb, are they before the throne-admitted to the immediate presence, of God.

And serve him day and night] Without ceasing; being filled with the spirit of prayer, faith, love, and obedience.

Shall dwell among them.] He lives in his own Church, and in the heart of every true believer.

Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

(15) Therefore are they before the throne . . . —Better, On this account are they before the throne of God—i.e., because they so washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. (Comp. Rev_22:14, where a well-supported reading is, “Blessed are they that wash their robes, that they may have right to the tree of life,” &c.) They are before the throne: they are like Him, for they see Him as He is (1Jn_3:2), and serve Him day and night in His temple, and He that sitteth upon the throne shall tabernacle over them. The life is not simply one of joy or safety, it is one also of service. (Comp. Rev_22:3.) Those who were made priests to God here carry on their service in His temple; yet it is to be remembered that this can only be figurative language, for in the heavenly city there is no temple (Rev_21:22). It serves to teach us that the servant will find his fitting work of service there as well as here. He that sitteth upon the throne shall tabernacle over them. It is worth noticing how persistently St. John keeps up the phrase, “He that sitteth upon the throne” (Rev_4:2; Rev_5:1; Rev_5:7; Rev_5:13; Rev_7:10). Tabernacle, or dwell as in a tent: The rendering “shall dwell” among them does not do justice to this word, and at the same time obscures the allusion which the seer has in his mind. The allusion is to the Shechinah, the symbol of the Divine Presence, which rested over the mercy seat. “The idea that the Shechinah, the σκηνή; (skéné), the glory which betokened the Divine Presence in the Holy of Holies, and which was wanting to the sacred temple, would be restored once more in Messiah’s days was a cherished hope of the Jewish doctors during and after the Apostolic ages.” The expected and wished-for glory would be seen among God’s saints. God’s tabernacle shall be with them (Rev_21:3), and with them so as to stretch over them: He will tabernacle over (or, upon) them. With this we may compare St. Paul’s expression in 2Co_12:9 (“that the power of Christ may tabernacle” —“rest” in the English version—“upon me”), where Professor Lightfoot (whose words have just been quoted) thinks that there is a similar reference to the symbol of the Divine Presence in the Holy of Holies. (Comp. Isa_4:5-6; Eze_37:27; and Joh_1:14.) There seems also to be a carrying on of the imagery derived from the Feast of Tabernacles: as there were the palm branches of the harvest joy, so there will be the booth, or tabernacle, of God’s presence among them. He shall be their pavilion, their shelter. “There shall be a tabernacle for a shadow in the day-time from the heat, and for a place of refuge and for a covert from storm and from rain.”

A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

15. before the throne] Perhaps in a more favoured position than is given to all, even among Saints: as we have similar language about the most favoured Angels, Mat_18:10; Luk_1:19.

serve Him] Cf. Rev_22:3. The sense would be clearer if the word were rendered “worship:” it does not mean that they have active work to do for Him, but that they do what is the appropriate service of His Temple.

shall dwell among them] Rather, as R. V., shall spread his tabernacle over them: in Rev_21:3 the verb is the same, but there the preposition “with” is right. The word is used in the N. T., and in Hellenistic writers generally, to express the dwelling of the Divine Presence in any of its manifestations: see esp. St John’s Gospel, Joh_1:14. The Greek word for “tabernacle,” scênê, was the more readily used in this sense because of its assonance with the late Hebrew word Shìchînêh for “the cloud of glory shadowing the Mercy-seat.” Here perhaps the thought is rather of that manifestation of God’s Presence than of the fuller and later Presence in the Incarnation.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Therefore are they before the throne of God,.... See Gill on Rev 7:9; not because of their great tribulations, but because they were brought through them, and out of them, by the grace and power of God; nor because of their robes, or conversation garments, but because those were washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb; or because of the blood of the Lamb, and their justification, pardon, and cleansing by it:

and serve him day and night in his temple; not in any material temple, but in the new Jerusalem, the general assembly and church of the firstborn, the temple of the living God; for in this state there will be no material temple, or place of worship, but God and the Lamb will be the temple thereof, Rev 21:22; nor will there be any night there, Rev 22:5; wherefore this phrase, day and night, only denotes the constancy and uninterruption of their service, there being nothing to obstruct them in it, or break them off from it, as now; in allusion to the priests and Levites, who were, one or other of them, night or day in the service of the temple: and the service of these persons in the new Jerusalem state will not lie in attending on the word and ordinances, or in the ministration of them, as in the present state; but in praising God, singing Hallelujahs to him, adoring the perfections of his nature, and admiring his wonderful works of providence and grace, and ascribing the glory of salvation to him, and to the Lamb; and this their service will be the glorious liberty of the children of God. Hence the Ethiopic version renders it, "and they praise him day and night"; this will be the employment of the saints in the millennium state, and to all eternity:

and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them; or "tabernacle over them"; for the tabernacle of God shall be now among men, and he will dwell among the saints; they shall enjoy his presence, and have the most intimate communion with him; it will appear most manifest that he is their covenant God, and they are his covenant people; and he will be a tabernacle, not only of inhabitation, but of protection for them; and the name of this city, this new Jerusalem, will be "Jehovah Shammah", the Lord is there.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

15 Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them.

Ver. 15. Therefore are they] Not for the whiteness of their robes, but because they are washed in the meritorious blood of the Lamb.

Before the throne of God] A good man is like a good angel, always standing before the face of God.

Shall dwell among them] Gr. σκηνωσει, shall pitch his tent, or shall keep the feast, of tabernacles among them, or shall hover and cover over them, as the cloud did over Israel in the wilderness; so that under his shadow they shall safely and sweetly repose themselves.

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Therefore are they before the throne of God - The reason why they are there is to be traced to the fact that the Lamb shed his blood to make expiation for sin. No other reason can be given why anyone of the human race is in heaven; and that is reason enough why any of that race are there.

And serve him day and night in his temple - That is, continually or constantly. Day and night constitute the whole of time, and this expression, therefore, denotes constant and uninterrupted service. On earth, toil is suspended by the return of night, and the service of God is intermitted by the necessity of rest; in heaven, as there will be no weariness, there will be no need of intermission, and the service of God, varied doubtless to meet the state of the mind, will be continued forever. The phrase, “to serve him in his temple,” refers undoubtedly to heaven, regarded as the temple or holy dwelling-place of God. See the notes on Rev 1:6.

And he that sitteth on the throne - God. See the notes at Rev 4:2.

Shall dwell among them - σκηνώσει skēnōsei. This word properly means, “to tent, to pitch a tent”; and, in the New Testament, to dwell as in tents. The meaning here is, that God would dwell among them as in a tent, or would have his abode with them. Perhaps the allusion is to the tabernacle in the wilderness. That was regarded as the special dwelling-place of God, and that always occupied a central place among the tribes of Israel. So in heaven there will be the consciousness always that God dwells there among his people, and that the redeemed are gathered around him in his own house. Prof. Stuart renders this, it seems to me, with less beauty and propriety, “will spread his tent over them,” as meaning that he would receive them into intimate connection and union with him, and offer them his protection. Compare Rev 21:3.

Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

Therefore they are before the throne of God....in his temple; i.e. therefore are they now happy in heaven, where the temple was represented to be, as observed before. --- He that sitteth on the throne shall dwell, or dwelleth over them. (Witham)

George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).

Therefore are they before the throne of God; not that they by their sufferings have merited heaven, but because it pleaseth God of his free grace so to reward them; therefore it was said, not only that they were such as came out of tribulation, but that they had washed their garments in the blood of the Lamb, whose blood had paid the price of their salvation.

And serve him day and night in his temple: by the temple, some understand the church in this life, but it is foreign to the true sense of the text; for John saw only their souls before the throne, their bodies were in their graves. By the temple is meant heaven, where God dwelleth, and is worshipped more gloriously and constantly than he was in the Jewish temple, or in any part of the militant church.

And he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them; as God by his gracious presence dwelt in the Jewish temple, so God by his glorious presence shall dwell amongst his glorified saints.

Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.

15. Therefore—In the next three verses we have a brief, exquisite glimpse of a heavenly pastoral, where the redeemed are the sheep and the Lamb is the shepherd. The passage is cognate with 21 and 22, describing the final heaven of the blessed. It is, indeed, said in 21 that there is no temple, as is here mentioned; but it is said, Rev_21:22, that the Lamb is the temple. The present passage might be congenially inserted between Rev_22:21 and Revelation 22:22. With regard to the symbolic numbers of this passage Hengstenberg says: “The delineation of the blessedness is completed in a threefold three: they are before the throne, they serve, they are tented;—they hunger not, they thirst not, they suffer no heat;—the Lamb feeds them, leads them, wipes their tears.”

Therefore—Because of their purification through the sacrificial blood.

Before the throne of God—And not driven from his presence into the “lake of fire,” Rev_20:15, the awful reverse of the celestial state.

Serve him… in his temple—As Stuart well explains, they are made priests unto God, and the ordinary phraseology regarding priests, they serve day and night in the temple, is applied to them.

Shall dwell among them—Literally, Greek, shall spread tent (or tabernacle) over them. Perhaps the meaning is, shall spread himself as tent over them.

Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Therefore are they before the throne of God. That is, because they have been washed, and have their robes made white, they are before the throne. (cf. Eph_5:25-27, "Christ loved the Church, and gave himself for it; that he might sanctify and cleanse it,... that he might present it to himself a glorious Church, not having spot, or wrinkle," etc.) And serve him day and night in his temple. As described in Rev_4:8, 11 5:8-14 7:12 11:15, etc. Temple (naov) is here, as in Rev_3:12, the "dwelling place, the shrine, of God, i.e. heaven. Thus are the redeemed made "pillars" in his temple. (Rev_3:12)

And he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them; shall spread his tabernacle over them (Revised Version). The same verb that occurs in Joh_1:14 Rev_12:12 Rev_13:6 Rev_21:3. The allusion (not an uncommon one with St. John) is to the Shechinah which overshadowed the mercy seat. God"s presence among them, co-dwelling with them, is the happiness of his people. (cf. Joh_17:24, "Father, I will that they also be with me," etc.; 1Jn_3:2, "We shall be like him; for we shall see him as he is

The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Therefore - Because they came out of great affliction, and have washed their robes in his blood. Are they before the throne - It seems, even nearer than the angels. And serve him day and night - Speaking after the manner of men; that is, continually. In his temple - Which is in heaven. And he shall have his tent over them - Shall spread his glory over them as a covering.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

15. Therefore are they before the throne of God. They are exalted to heaven.

B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.

Connecting Statement:

The elder continues to speak to John.

they ... them ... their

All of these refer to those people who have come through the Great Tribulation.

day and night

These two parts of the day are used together to mean "all the time" or "without stopping" (See: Merism)

will spread his tent over them

"will put his tent up over them." Protecting them is spoken of as if he were giving them shelter to live under. AT: "will shelter them" or "will protect them" (See: Metaphor)

The sun will not beat down

The sun's heat is compared to punishment that causes people to suffer. AT: "The sun will not burn them" or "The sun will not make them weak" (See: Metaphor)

the Lamb at the center of the throne

"the Lamb, who is standing in the middle of the area around the throne"

For the Lamb ... will be their shepherd

The elder speaks of the Lamb's care for his people as if it were a shepherd's care for his sheep. AT: "For the Lamb ... will be like a shepherd to them" or "For the Lamb ... will care for them as a shepherd cares for his sheep" (See: Metaphor)

he will guide them to springs of living water

The elder speaks of what gives life as if it were springs of fresh water. AT: "he will guide them like a shepherd guiding his sheep to fresh water" or "he will guide them to life like a shepherd guiding his sheep to living water" (See: Metaphor)

God will wipe away every tear from their eyes

Tears here represent sadness. AT: "God will wipe away their sadness, like wiping away tears" or "God will cause them to not be sad anymore" (See: Metonymy)

translationWords

throne

God

worship

temple

tent

lamb

shepherd

life

unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.

15. ἐνώπιον τοῦ θρόνου. Perhaps in a more favoured position than is given to all, even among Saints: as we have similar language about the most favoured Angels, Mat 18:10; Luk 1:19.

λατρεύουσιν αὐτῷ. The sense would be clearer if the word were rendered “worship”: it does not mean that they have active work to do for Him, but that they do what is the appropriate service of His Temple, though it is to be remembered that the service of the earthly Temple was arranged to represent the service of the Palace of an invisible King: His lamps were lit, His table spread, and the like.

σκηνώσει ἐπʼ αὐτούς. Lit. “shall tabernacle over them”: in Rev 21:3 the verb is the same, but there the construction is μετʼ αὐτῶν. The word is used in the N.T., and in Hellenistic writers generally, to express the dwelling of the Divine Presence in any of its manifestations: see esp. St John’s Gospel, Rev 1:14. The word σκηνὴ was the more readily used in this sense because of its assonance with the late Hebrew word Shĕchînêh for “the cloud of glory shadowing the Mercy-seat.” Here perhaps the thought is rather of that manifestation of God’s Presence than of the fuller and later Presence in the Incarnation.

Cambridge Greek Testament for Schools and Colleges (Cambridge University Press, 1896; 21 vols, various authors incl. Carr, Maclear, Plummer, Farrar, Lumby, Moule, M. R. James, Simcox) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Therefore. Because of this washing.

Before the throne. Compare Eph 5:27.

Serve [λατρευουσιν] . See on Luk 1:74. In scripture the verb never expresses any other service but that of the true God, or of the gods of heathenism.

Temple [ναω] . Or sanctuary. See on Mt 4:5.

Dwell [σκηνωσει] . From skhnh a tent or tabernacle. Hence better, as Rev., shall spread His tabernacle. See on Joh 1:14, and compare Lev 26:11; Isa 4:5, 6; Eze 37:27.

Marvin R. Vincent, Word Studies in the New Testament (1887–1900) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.