<p>21:3- see on Jn. 1:14.</p><p><i>And I heard a great voice out of the throne, saying: Behold, the tabernacle of God is with men, and He shall dwell with them, and they shall be His people; and God Himself shall be with them</i>- This is stating the same wondrous truth three times. God shall indeed live with us on earth. Heaven shall come to earth. This is all an allusion to Ez. 37:26,27, concerning the time of Christ's return. If God lives with us at Christ's return, how will He be shielded from the 'mortal' population? This problem disappears if the 1000 years is seen as a description of the Kingdom itself. Seeing God's face was what motivated Job, and John seems to allude to it as the final consolation in 1 Jn. 4.</p><p>&quot;The tabernacle of God&quot;, being God's people;&nbsp;He being our God; God living and walking with us, is all evidently alluding to Lev. 26:11,12 and Ex. 29:45,46 concerning the ultimate blessings of the covenant after Israel's final repentance. The shadowy fulfilment they have had in the past through God's manifestation in an Angel doesn't mean that these promises can and must only be fulfilled by some form of God manifestation.&nbsp;Surely Revelation 21:3 is saying that at the second coming the principle of God manifestation will change in that God will personally be with His people. Because we have so far lived under the paradigm of God manifestation, let's not think that it's not possible for God to personally be with us.&nbsp;Let's really try to be broad-minded enough to take this on board.&nbsp;</p><p>The other references to &quot;God himself&quot; are to Yahweh personally, rather than to Christ:&nbsp; Is. 45:18; Jn. 5:37; 16:27; 2 Cor. 5:18,19; Eph. 1:5.&nbsp; Indeed, those N.T. references seem to point a difference between &quot;God himself&quot; and Christ.&nbsp;So isn't it lack of spiritual vision- perhaps even of faith - that makes us wriggle against the idea of God Himself, in person, living with us?&nbsp;The idea of God Himself dwelling with men in the tabernacle (temple) of the new city of Jerusalem is a clear reference to Ez. 48:35, which says that the name of Jerusalem in the Millennium will be &quot;Yahweh is there&quot;. These ideas doubtless also have reference to Yahweh's promise to David to build an eternal house for Yahweh's Name.&nbsp;This verse seems to teach that God Himself, in person, will descend to earth with Christ.&nbsp;This might sound altogether too incredible.&nbsp; But think about the idea.&nbsp;The King Himself (= God) comes to see the guests at the wedding of His Son (= Jesus; Mt. 22:11). &quot;God himself&quot; here either means God Himself or God manifest in Christ.&nbsp;&quot;God himself shall be with them&quot; seems to me an odd way of describing Christ's second coming. God will &quot;be their God&rdquo;. I would just about be willing to concede that this might apply to God manifest in Christ - but for one significant fact:&nbsp;this Revelation 21:3 is packed with O.T. allusions which explicitly refer to God the Father.&nbsp;&nbsp;</p><p><i>And be their God- </i>God promised Abraham that through Christ, His seed, blessing would come on people from all nations, with the result that God would be the God of Abraham's multitudinous seed: &quot;To be a God unto... your seed... I will be their God&quot; (Gen. 17:7,8).&nbsp;The seed is Christ, and the &quot;God&quot; is Yahweh.&nbsp;Let's not confuse them.&nbsp;Now in Revelation 21:3 this fundamental promise is alluded to; God Himself will be our God then; we will see Him and have a personal relationship with Him.&nbsp;This would mean that this idea of personally being with God is a fundamental part of the Gospel preached to Abraham.&nbsp;</p>