THROUGHOUT the twentieth chapter the prophetic vision
of future events is seen, described, and written down by
the seer himself. No other voice, no words of the angels
are heard ;it is true that an angel does come down from
heaven, having the key of the bottomless pit, and a great
chain destined for Satan in his hand ; but Satan is bound
before the eyes of John, and cast into the abyss without an
audible word. The earthly instruments of the great adversary
having all been done awaywith, the last triumph over the
devil, alone and powerless now, is easier than any former,
as is very evident. After the thousand years are over, he
is to be loosed out of prison again to deceive the nations,
but there are no explanatory details vouchsafed respecting
the last conflict and last victory. Only we read at its close,
of eternal torment for Satan and all his angels ; of the last
judgment of all the dead ; of the new heaven and the new
earth. The millennial reign, and the final and eternal
glory, which, in the two last chapters, are treated of together,
are here spoken of as separate epochs. Chapters
xxi., xxii. speak only of the completely new and eternal
last dispensation ; of all that went before it is said, It is
done ! The new earth, one with the new heaven, has, in
stead of its vanished sea, the stream of living water that
proceedeth out of the throne of God and of the Lamb.
Here then our feeble exposition would willingly give
place altogether to the simple sublimity and unfathomable
profundity of the words of the holy text itself, but still we
are bound, in so far as we are able, to continue it to the end.
After John's vision, and vision only, in chap. xxi. 3, we
once more hear a great voice out of heaven, or as it might
perhaps be even more correctly rendered, out of the throne
(as in vi. 6 ; xvi. 1 ; xix. 5). That it cannot be the voice
of the Lord Jesus himself is made clear by ver. 5, which
introduces Him that sat on the throne as beginning to
speak. Neither can it be the voice of the blessed dead,
who are now inhabitants of the holy city, for there is reference
made as from above to the tabernacle of God with
men, and also it said," God shall be with them, shall be
their God." Shall we abstain entirely from pronouncing
on the nature of this voice, as we did with reference to
those in chap. vi. 6 ? Not so, for we believe that we have
here another angelic utterance, though whether it be that
of one or more angels we must not venture to decide.
The voice utters most inexpressibly glorious words, rising
even higher than ver. 1,2; discovering profounder depths ;
still more clearly connecting the end of God's ways with
the beginning of his gracious purpose. Here is their first
clause :"Behold, the tabernacle of God shall be with
men, and he will dwell with them, and God himself shall
be with them, their God."
This is the last (with its eternal emphasis surviving all
the rest), the last "Behold" we hear from angels' lips. As
the New Jerusalem borrows its eternal name from its earthly
and typical, as a memorial of the beginning, so also the
actual fulfilment, the true tabernacle, the perfect temple is
here not once called a temple ; nay, in ver. 22 it is
expressly said, that there is no temple in the city, because
she herself is become the tabernacle, the almighty God in
the person of the Lamb being its Holy of Holies, to whom
there is constant access. As early as chap. xiii. 6, we
meet with a deeply significant sentence respecting the
tabernacle of God, or his indwelling through the Holy
Spirit. This one perfected tabernacle and city is something
more than the temple that we have hitherto seen
opened in heaven to the gaze of the seer as the archetype
and antitype of Israel's earthly sanctuary (Heb. viii. 2 ;
ix. 11-24). It is the continuing city spoken of in Heb.
xiii. 14 ;xi. 10-16), and more, the habitation of God as
described under the New Testament. Von Meyer observes
in connexion with this subject :"Only when the inner
and outer life perfectly correspond will a third and complete
dispensation be entered upon. In the second dispensation
(the present or New Testament dispensation) there is only
a spiritual temple without any external form or comeliness,
while on the other hand that of the Old Testament was
incomparably costly. For its external aspect typified the
splendour of the glorified temple, and its sacred services,
the spirituality, grace, and truth of both succeeding dis-
pensations,which are indeed essentially one, the spiritual
influences of the former being the type of the full perfection
of the latter."
It is to this goal that all tends from the very beginning.
The indelible yearning for fellowship with Godwhich existed
in man from the hour of his creation, and even survived his
fall that tendency which the lost criminally extirpated
from their nature finds here its satisfaction, its rest, its
accomplishment. This is the spiritual sense of the measure
of a man (v. 17). Redeemed humanity is not merely
a people the one people gathered out of all nations ; but
it resembles one glorified man in whom God dwells. At
the same time, though this is meant, the expression used
is not in them, but with them, in order that the last may
be linked with the earlier prophecies. How many a time
throughout the whole Old Testament have the words that
sound out here been applied to the dwelling of God with
man : he their God ; they his people (refer especially to
Ex. xix. 6 ; xx. 24 ; Lev. xxvi. 12 ; Jer. xxiv. 7 ; xxx. 22,
xxxi. 1, 33). But it is in the prophet Ezekiel, above all,
that such expressions are found. Compare chap, xxxvii.
U7, with xlviii. 35. We must not overlook the New
Testament echo (2 Cor. vi. 16), which refers to the
spiritual fulfilment of these precious promises. But now,
observe how free from all envy is the joy in heaven over all
the saved, all the found again, the joy with which the holy
angels humbly proclaim the preference given to men. It is
they who are God's people, who are God's dwelling. In
Rev. vii. 15, we had the expression (rightly rendered) "dwell
over them ;" now, it is" with them ;" it is a complete in-
dwelling, in which body and soul share. The glorified
earth is the home of the great body of saints who alone
are called men now. The lost are put out of sight, have
lost the very name of men, are in the lake of fire with
devils. Now the holy name of Immanuel is indeed fulfilled.
He who bore it will be God with them, as their God in
the fullest sense of the word.
As yet, it has been truly said by Zeller," there is nowhere
on earth a perfect people of God, nowhere on earth
a perfect church of God ; yea, not one single perfect man
of God to be found on the earth." Moreover, we so little
apprehend the positive nature of full communion with God,
of perfect blessedness and glory, that the heavenly voice pro-
ceeds negatively to describe it, making it in some measure
intelligible to us under the aspect of an immunity from
earthly woes. "And God shall wipe away all tearsfrom their
eyes ; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor
crying ; for the former things have passed away." In chap.
vii. 17, we had the same melodious strain. The passages
in the old prophets most closely resembling it are
Isa. xxv. 8 ; xxxv. 10 ; Ixv. 19. We are also reminded of
Ps. cxxvi. 5 ;1 Cor. xv. 55. Alas ! how many tears which
we have no power to wipe away for ourselves, must still
be wept, before the former things are thus completely done
away with. Sin has brought in death as climax of all sorrow
; grace 'has conquered death, and swallowed it up in
the triumph of an eternal existence. If all tears (literally
and emphatically each tear) is to be entirely wiped
away, the promise at the same time conveys a satisfactory
future conviction of their necessity, their utility in ripening
the good seed for the harvest. Were it not so, there
would remain some sting of sadness in the very memory
of sorrow. But all tears are to be wiped away ; the often
spoken weep not at length has all its Divine power and
efficiency, includes even all tears of melancholy and of
yearning those "tenderest buds of the tree of sorrow."
The memory indeed remains, of the way through much
tribulation to glory ; but there is no longer any pain in
the memory, only the thanksgiving and praise and joy of
salvation, only a looking back to the way, as what indeed
it ever was," a way through a sea of mercies.'"
Are we, however, in opposition to the testimony of the
Word of God on the subject, still anxiously to surmise that
at least compassion and sorrow for the lost must trouble
the blessedness of the blest, so long as there still is a lost
condition? Or shall we be wise above that which is
written, and comfort ourselves with the idea of a universal
restoration, as many dear children of God have done :
Von Meyer, for instance, who persists in that opinion, and
writes with respect to this passage :" It is nowhere said
that this lost estate is the very last of all." Rather, we
hold that throughout Holy Scripture it is so said, that the
actual end is described, as well as the actual beginning.
Even in the Revelation of John everlasting misery is in-
controvertibly established, especially in the two last chapters
(see chap. xxi. 8 ; xxii. 15). But the saved will learn
to say,"Amen, hallelujah," over the judgments of God,
when God himself in all his holiness and justice dwells
within them, and this great truth is implied in the very
words we have been considering.
