With Them (Revelation 21:3)

And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Behold, the dwelling place of God is with man. He will dwell with them, and they will be his people, and God himself will be with them as their God.” —Revelation 21:3

With. It’s such a short, yet powerful word that kindles some of the deepest emotions of the human heart. An engaged couple eagerly counts down the days until they can be with each other at last. A soldier fights against all odds in the hope he can get home to be with his family again. A grandmother longs for the next time she can be with her grandkids.

When we talk about being with someone, there are two aspects to what we mean: presence and relationship. We use with to communicate both ideas. To want to be with someone, on one hand, means simply to want to be where they are, to be around them and enjoy their company. On the other hand, it can mean to be connected to someone in relationship, like when we say, “She’s best friends with her,” or when the celebrity tells the security guard, “He’s with me.”

We see both of these elements of with-ness in Revelation 21:3. There, the voice from the throne proclaims that God will be with his people in both senses of the word. We will forever enjoy both the glory of His presence and the goodness of relationship with Him.

What makes this reality so stunning is that this with-ness is the merciful reversal of our former situation. While we were created to be in God’s presence, one of the tragic consequences of our sin was that God could no longer dwell with us. Isaiah 59:2 says, “your iniquities have made a separation between you and your God.” Were God to dwell with us, his holiness would consume us because of our sin.

But our separation wasn’t only spatial; it was also relational. Paul tells us in Ephesians 2:12 that we were “separated from Christ…having no hope and without God in the world.” Let the bleakness of that statement land on you. We were without God. He was not our God, and we were not his people. God was not with us in either sense of the word.

But the bleakness of that word without only serves to heighten the beauty of the word with in our verse. In order for us to get to the “with” of Revelation 21:3, Jesus came to dwell with us as a man. And not merely to dwell with us; he also died for us. When Jesus died for us, our sins were nailed to the tree and we were crucified with him (Gal. 2:20), we were raised with him (Colossians 3:1), and made alive with” him (Ephesians 2:5).

That’s what makes Revelation 21:3 so glorious. Because of Jesus, God can and will one day dwell with us! We will finally be with the One our souls long for. In His presence we’ll find fullness of joy. He will be with us as our God, and we’ll be with Him as his people.

This Christmas let's celebrate the coming of Immanuel, “God with us,” and long for the day when He comes again to be with us, finally and fully, forever.

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For Reflection

1. What do you most look forward to about God dwelling with us? How does that hope sustain you in the midst of hard times?

2. How does it encourage you to remember that God is with us by His Spirit even now?

3. What can you do this Advent to stir up deeper longing in your heart for Jesus' Second Advent when God will come to dwell with us? How can you seek to tell others about this hope?