As we have pointed out elsewhere, in the Bible a stone is mainly for God's building. When Peter first came to the Lord, the Lord changed his name from Simon to Cephas (John 1:42), saying, "You are Simon the son of John; you shall be called Cephas (which translated means a stone)." Approximately three years later, the Lord questioned His disciples, saying, "Who do men say that the Son of Man is?" (Matt. 16:13). After Peter said, "You are the Christ, the Son of the living God," the Lord Jesus said to him, "I also say to you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church" (Matt. 16, 18). In saying this, the Lord reminded Peter of what He had done three years ago in changing his name from Simon to Cephas. Later, in writing his first Epistle, Peter said, "You yourselves also, as living stones, are being built up a spiritual house" (1 Pet. 2:5). In this one verse Peter mentions both the stone and the house. In 1 Corinthians 3 Paul held a similar concept, telling the believers at Corinth that they were God's building (1 Cor. 3:9). In 1 Corinthians 3:10 Paul tells us to take heed how we build. We must be careful of how and with what we build, for our work will be tested by fire. If we build with gold, silver, and precious stones, our work will remain. So we see, that in 1 Corinthians 3 Paul also speaks of stone for God's building. As we come to the book of Revelation, the ultimate end of the Bible, we see a city built up with precious stones. According to the principle of the Bible, a city is always the enlargement of a house. When a house is immensely enlarged, it becomes a city. There will be no temple in the New Jerusalem because the temple will have been enlarged into a city. That city will be an enlarged house built with precious stones. How consistent is the Bible! By all these portions of the Word, we see that stone is the material for the building of God's house.

What is God's house? God's house is simply God's satisfaction, rest, and expression. The kind of house you live in expresses the kind of person you are. If you are a dirty person, you will have a dirty house, and if you are a clean person, you will have a clean house. Ten years ago I was taken to the so-called hippie section of San Francisco. I could not believe that people could live in such a filthy environment. Although I did not see any hippies at that time, I could tell by the condition of their lodgings that they were dirty, sloppy people. Our house is our expression. If you visit a house in which a Japanese family lives, you will know, simply by walking through it, that it is inhabited by Japanese. The same is true of the lodging of a Scot. In like manner, God's house is His expression. Eventually, His house will be enlarged into a city, and that city will have the same appearance as God. According to Revelation 4:2 and 3, God has the appearance of jasper, and according to Revelation 21:11, the whole city of New Jerusalem will also have the appearance of jasper. This means that the city will have God's appearance and be His expression. We may even say that this city will be God's enlargement.

Although the stone and the house are most crucial, there is still the need of the oil. In typology, oil signifies God reaching man. God is triune. The Father is the source, the Son is the course, and the Spirit is the flow reaching us. Jacob's pouring oil upon the stone signifies the Triune God flowing to reach man. God is in heaven, but He has been poured out upon man. When the Triune God reaches man, He makes man the house of God. Before the oil was poured upon the stone, the stone was merely a stone. But after the oil had been poured upon it, the stone became the house of God.