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Echoes of Revelation
Revelation never quotes the Old Testament outright, yet no New Testament book refers to it more. See both texts side by side, why they don’t match, and what John does with them.
Revelation 7:15, God will spread his tent over them
God sheltering his people with his tent joins Ezekiel's promise of God's dwelling with restored Israel and Isaiah's canopy over Zion.
Revelation 7:15, in every translation this tool compares.
A host who pitches a tent over the guests is promising shade and safety. Ezekiel 37 promises that God's dwelling will be with his restored people forever. Isaiah 4 pictures a cloud by day and fire by night, a canopy and shelter over Zion. John says the one on the throne will spread his tent over the crowd. Day and night they worship and serve in his temple.
God dwelling over his people as in a tent. Ezekiel 37:27 in Greek promises God's dwelling (kataskenosis) among them; John has he will tent over them (skenosei). Isaiah 4:6 adds shelter from the heat (kaumatos), which John picks up in 7:16.
Ezekiel's promise is for Israel brought home and made one. John applies it to a crowd from every nation. Ezekiel and Isaiah speak of the land and Zion; John speaks of God's presence in heaven, before the throne.
Beale notes that Ezekiel said the nations would know God sanctifies Israel when his sanctuary is among them. John sees the nations themselves inside. The tent also carries on the Feast of Tabernacles from 7:9.
Not Ezekiel's temple plan. John borrows Ezekiel's promise that God will dwell with his people, from 37:27. He does not draw on the temple described in Ezekiel 40-48.
Beale calls being in his temple, with God tenting over them, a clear echo of Ezekiel 37:26-28, confirmed by 21:3, which quotes Ezekiel 37:27 more fully and is followed by the same allusions as 7:16-17. In the vault's Septuagint, Ezekiel 37:27 reads estai he kataskenosis mou en autois. He says Isaiah 4:4-6 may also be echoed. Keener says God's tabernacle as a refuge directly echoes Isaiah 4:5-6, a new exodus text; the NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible says the shelter alludes to Isaiah 4:5-6; the ESV Study Bible compares Ezekiel 37:27. Isaiah 4:6 in Greek reads eis skian apo kaumatos kai en skepe. Beale suggests the verb skenoo may play on the Hebrew shekinah. The grade is Beale's own word for the Ezekiel link: a clear echo.
Beale puts Ezekiel 37:27 first and Isaiah 4 second. Keener and the NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible name Isaiah 4:5-6 and not Ezekiel. They agree the picture is God's shelter for his people. On the temple, Beale reads it here as the presence of God and the Lamb, as in 21:22. MacArthur reads it as God's throne in heaven. He expects a temple on earth during the thousand years (Ezekiel 40-48), and none in the eternal state, where God himself is the temple.
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- G. K. Beale, The Book of Revelation (New International Greek Testament Commentary), The Temple and Its Old Testament Background, and Additional Considerations on the Old Testament Background of 7:14ff.
- Craig S. Keener, The IVP Bible Background Commentary: New Testament, on Revelation 7:15-16
- NIV Cultural Backgrounds Study Bible, note on Revelation 7:15
- ESV Study Bible, note on Revelation 7:15-17
- Septuagint, Ezekiel 37:27 and Isaiah 4:5-6, Interlinear Greek-English Septuagint
- SBL Greek New Testament (MorphGNT), Revelation 7:15
- John MacArthur, The MacArthur Study Bible (ESV), note on Revelation 7:15
