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--21:3. This great voice was the voice of God and Christ in unison, united with the throng of chapter 19:1, and coming from one throne. Here the fundamental truth that the Father and the Son are one found its expression. The kingdom of Christ and the kingdom of God are one kingdom (Ephesians 5:5); the throne of God and the throne of Christ are one throne (Hebrews 1:8); the church of God and the church of Christ are one church (Acts 20:28); and the great voice from the throne was the voice of God and the voice of Christ in one united sound. The great voice announced that the tabernacle of God is with men. The use of the word tabernacle here was not ecclesiastical as of old. The word meant presence. This tabernacle of God was in contrast with the Jewish tent in the wilderness which was “ a shadow of heavenly things.” (Hebrews 8:1-13 :1-4) It was here used to signify God’ s presence with men and that he would dwell in them through his church in the world. To take the church out of the world would be to take God out of it. The tent of the wilderness signified the presence of God with Israel and through it he dwelt in them. (Exodus 40:34-38) The church is the new tabernacle for his habitation (Ephesians 2:22), and through it God dwells in men and they shall be his people--in contrast with the heathen gods--through their conversion by the truth from the darkness of heathenism to the light of Christianity. (Acts 26:16-18) The words of the voice, he will dwell with them, used the third personal pronoun he in the reference to God, which indicates that another was the speaker, and it represented the entire heavenly throng as in (chapter 19:1) joining in the proclamation--the voice “ of much people in heaven,” envisioned as descending to their new inheritance of the new heaven and the new earth. The old order of Judaism had disappeared; the way for the new Jerusalem had been cleared of the greatest obstacle in its path--Judaism; and the vision presented the new throng of citizens floating down from above with united voices bearing the testimony that the new heaven and the earth would be the dwelling place of God with men in the new Jerusalem, the church.