The Greek at John 1:14 says the Word dwelt (skenoo; G4637) among men. This word occurs only once in the Septuagint (Genesis 13:12), and is used to show Lot pitching his tent in Sodom. Moreover, Lot was one of Sodom’s city officials (Genesis 19:1) and lived in a house (Genesis 19:2). In the New Covenant text, the same Greek word (G4637) occurs only five times, once in the Gospel of John (John 1:14), and four other times in the Apocalypse (Revelation 7:15; 12:12; 13:6; 21:3). The latter half of chapter seven of the Apocalypse concerns the worship of God and Christ and highlights those coming out of the Great Tribulation. In Revelation 7:15 we are told that they are before the throne of God, serving him day and night in his Temple, and he who sits upon the throne will dwell among them (KJV), will shelter them (NET), will spread his Tabernacle over them (NASB), will protect them with his presence (GNB). I believe the idea is that, while these believers are suffering through the Great Tribulation, they are in spirit before the throne of God, serving him, and he comforts them with his presence by spreading his tabernacle over them.
In Revelation 12:12, we have a picture of the Gospel as told in the constellations of the heavens. The heavenly, Hydra, is the sign of the serpent and it winds its way through four constellations or one-third of the stars of heaven. The war in heaven (Revelation 12:7) was actually fought in the first century AD, during and after Jesus’ ministry (cp. Luke 10:18). The righteous are pictured as being in the heavens with Jesus, while the Dragon (unbelieving Israel) is cast to the earth (Revelation 12:9). Therefore, the saints, vis-à-vis those who dwell (G4637) in the spirit in the heavens, are told to rejoice (Revelation 12:12), while those on the earth, meaning those who are ignorant and unbelieving are in a woeful state, due to the dragon’s power of deception. The sense is similar to Revelation 7:15 where the suffering saints are comforted in the presence of the Lord. Those in Revelation 12 make (spiritual) war with the Dragon and overcome him through the blood of Christ (Revelation 12:11). In other words, he spreads his Tabernacle over them, allowing them to dwell (G4637) in him. He has become their strength and comfort, as they make war (via the Gospel) with the Dragon who is actually national Judaism.
In Revelation 13:6 the mouth of the beast blasphemes God, his tabernacle (Christ) and those who dwell (G4637) in heaven, which is in the same sense as Revelation 7:15 and 12:12 (dwelling in heaven is the same as dwelling in Christ). He tabernacles over them. Similarly, we are told later in the Apocalypse: “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” (Revelation 21:3). In other words, John 1:14 tells us that the Word became flesh and was literally observed dwelling with men, but after his crucifixion, resurrection and ascension into heaven, his Presence overshadowed his people, and he became their dwelling place (cp. John 14:17). Therefore, the sense of Revelation 21:3, “the tabernacle of God is with men, and he will dwell with them” is another way of saying what was said elsewhere in the Apocalypse: he spread his tabernacle over them (Revelation 7:15: 12:12; 13:6).
The meaning of our dwelling in Christ points to the healing of man’s spirit, which died in the rebellion of Genesis 3. Prior to the rebellion, mankind enjoyed unbroken fellowship with God, but after the rebellion, the Word came seeking man, asking: “Where are you?” (Genesis 3:9), thus, indicating that fellowship had been broken. Under the Old Covenant the Tabernacle was where God met with men (Leviticus 26:11; 2Samuel 7:6; Psalm 78:67; Ezekiel 37:27), and that meeting place was a physical metaphor for the Garden in Eden. The Garden was represented in the Holy of Holies, and the veil represented the sword (Genesis 3:22-24) that kept man from reentering the Garden or Holy of Holies. Under the New Covenant, the Redeemer had come, fellowship began in the physical realm in that the Word became flesh (John 1:14), and his flesh was the veil (Hebrews 10:20) that hid the Presence of God within. Nevertheless, the crucifixion removed the flesh/veil (Matthew 27:51; Mark 15:38; Luke 23:45), exposing the spiritual realm in the Lord’s resurrection. Moreover, when he ascended into heaven, he spread his tabernacle over men (cp. John 14:17; Revelation 7:15, 12:12; 13:6; 21:3), restoring, forever, that fellowship that had been lost in Eden.
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