Jan Lambrecht, «Final Judgments and Ultimate Blessings: The Climactic Visions of Revelation 20,11-21,8», Vol. 81 (2000) 362-385
Rev 20,11-15 and 21,1-8 contain the last two vision reports. The first does not deal with a general resurrection followed by a general judgment with respectively reward and condemnation. Attention is negatively focused on the final judgments of Death and Hades, as well as of those whose names are not found written in the book of life. In the second vision John sees a new heaven and a new earth and, more specifically, the new Jerusalem, i.e., the church universal of the end-time. The voice from the throne and God himself climactically proclaim final blessings. The covenant formula announces God's dwelling among the peoples, the adoption formula even a divine filial relationship: these are the main content of the ultimate blessings. Hermeneutical reflection on annihilation or transformation, on theocentrism versus human responsibilty and on the expectation of Christ's imminent parousia conclude the study.
Ezekiel. Johns dependence on Ezek 3748 regarding the order in Rev 2022 has already been discussed on pp. 365-366. His creative modification of Ezekiel concerning Gods presence in the new Jerusalem will be dealt with in the following paragraph. For his use of the covenant fomula in Rev 21,3 John is most probably directly influenced by Ezek 37,2728. Ezek 37,27 (LXX) reads:
27a
My dwelling place (kataskh/nwma) shall be with (e)n) them; b and I will be their God, c and they shall be my people.
The fact that Ezek 3748 influences John in the global structuring of his last chapters as well as the presence of the term kataskh/nwma in 37,27a (cf. skhnh/ in Rev 21,3b and skhnw/sei in 21,3c)29 should convince us that John depends on this particular rendering of the often quoted formula and not on Lev 26,12 or Zech 2,14-1530. What are the changes effected by John? He duplicates the first clause (Ezek 37,27a): Behold, the tent of God [will be] with men, and he will put his tent with them (v. 3bc). Then John adds: and they will be his peoples and God himself will be with them, their God (v. 3de). For John the new Jerusalem is not only a restored Israel but comprises all Christians: see men (v. 3b), the plural peoples (v. 3d; compare with my people in Ezek 37,27c)31 and they, them, they (v. 3de). This rewriting in v. 3bc may have caused the inversion in v. 3d and e as well as the stylistically less happy alterations in v. 3e: first they will be his peoples and then God himself will be with them, their God (compare