21:3 And I heard a loud voice from the throne saying, “Look! God’s dwelling place is now among the people, and he will dwell with them. They will be his people, and God himself will be with them and be their God.
And I heard a loud voice from the THRONE, saying, "LOOK!
To hear a loud voice from the THRONE indicates that this message has the full authority of GOD. In this verse and the next verse, our citizenship in the new earth and new heaven is confirmed (Philippians 3:17-21). Even with this very directed message from the THRONE, we are encouraged, yes, even demanded to listen up because the word, LOOK!, precedes the message.
This is a continuity verse inasmuch that we see the DWELLING PLACE again here in the new earth. God is never changing; so the earthly DWELLING PLACE described to and set up by Moses (Exodus 25-31,35-40) is patterned after the one in heaven at creation time. This same DWELLING PLACE will be around for eternity.
Having said this, the DWELLING PLACE is clearly spiritual in nature. It, over all time, defines where we worship and serve God. It is exclusively for our SPIRITUAL MAN, and as we will see later in verse 22, it is equal to GOD Himself.
During this current period of grace on this earth, Jesus Christ is our mediator (1 Timothy 2:1-5-7). Now in the new earth, He is one of us as our sibling; and DWELLING among "them"/us makes this His kingdom (Psalm 145:8-13, 146:8-10) for ALL who are His. Furthermore, this is Jesus Christ serving men (Luke 12:35-40) and men serving Jesus Christ; in other words, this is an eternally pure SPIRITUAL FELLOWSHIP!
This has always been true for the sons of Israel (Ezekiel 43:6-7-9), but in this context, "they" means all who are heirs with Jesus Christ of this new earth (Romans 8:12-17).
With evil totally vanquished from this new heaven and new earth, GOD HIMSELF can be right among us (Leviticus 26:1-11-12-13). This thought just totally overwhelms our comprehension because we see it and understand(?) it with sin-tainted minds and hearts. In this new earth environment, we will experience what Adam and Eve experienced in the Garden of Eden (Genesis 3:8-13), and what the disciples and all those who came in contact with Jesus Christ when He walked among men on this present earth (Colossians 2:8-9-15) experienced.
Only now can we see Jesus' teaching "Blessed are the PURE in heart, for they shall see God" (Matthew 5:1-8-12) fulfilled.
(continued in the next verse)