Revelation 21:5; Behold, I Make All Things New

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Revelation 21:5 (KJV)  And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. 

John’s pastoral purpose in this book is nowhere more evident than in v5-8 where the personal concern of Almighty God comes into immediate view – And he that sat upon the throne said, Behold, I make all things new. And he said unto me, Write: for these words are true and faithful. 

John leave the subject of the New Jerusalem for the moment to record thee unique utterances of God (Kiddle). The one sitting upon the throne is the same person as throughout the book, the last mention of this title being in Revelation 20:11.

Revelation 20:11 (KJV)  And I saw a great white throne, and him that sat on it, from whose face the earth and the heaven fled away; and there was found no place for them. 

This is the first direct utterance of the Father since Revelation 1:8, and is in fact the only time time it is explicitly He who speaks except in Revelation 1:8. Voices have come out of the throne as in Revelation 21:3 and out of the sanctuary as in Revelation 16:1, 17 where it may be His voice, but these latter are not explicitly stated to be from Him.

Revelation 1:8 (KJV)  I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty. 

Revelation 21:3 (KJV)  And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, 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 16:1 (KJV)  And I heard a great voice out of the temple saying to the seven angels, Go your ways, and pour out the vials of the wrath of God upon the earth. 

Revelation 16:17 (KJV)  And the seventh angel poured out his vial into the air; and there came a great voice out of the temple of heaven, from the throne, saying, It is done. 

“Behold” introduces this as a special pronouncement the same as it does in Revelation 1:7, 21:3, and elsewhere.

Revelation 1:7 (KJV)  Behold, he cometh with clouds; and every eye shall see him, and they also which pierced him: and all kindreds of the earth shall wail because of him. Even so, Amen. 

Revelation 21:3 (KJV)  And I heard a great voice out of heaven saying, Behold, 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. 

[Robert L. Thomas, Revelation 8-22 – An Exegetical Commentary, Moody 1995, 446]