Following Noah’s ark, the next building of God was the tabernacle. The ark was full of significance, but it was not as full in detail as the tabernacle, the all-inclusive type of God’s building.
When the Israelites were brought out of Egypt, their first need was to contact God. Thus, Moses ascended a mountain, where he dwelt in the presence of God for forty days and nights. Oh, if we mean business with the Lord concerning His building in these days, we must go into His presence! We must learn to go up to the Lord on the mount; we must do some climbing. We must learn to stay in the Lord’s presence, fellowshipping with Him for some time. Then we will realize the meaning of His eternal building; we will know what God is seeking today. We will see that it is certainly not what today’s fallen Christianity is doing.
During Moses’ extended period of fellowship with the Lord, God instructed him: “Speak unto the children of Israel, that they take for me an offering: of every man whose heart maketh him willing ye shall take my offering” (Exo. 25:1, 2). God wants our offering, our consecration. Consecration always follows fellowship. When you fellowship with the Lord, you must tell Him, “Lord, I, all I have, and all I can do, are here available for You. Lord, everything is ready; point out what You want and I will give it to You.” After you have been freed from the usurpation of Satan’s counterfeits, you must go to the Lord and spend much time fellowshipping in His presence. During such fellowship the Lord will reveal that you must consecrate to Him all that you are and all that you possess. You must bring an offering to Him. You must not consecrate according to your own imagination, but according to God’s direction. Whatever He points out, you must release to Him.
There was a mother once who seemed to love the Lord. She had three sons. One day her third son, the weakest and dullest of her boys, came and offered himself in my presence to become a “preacher.” Upon questioning him I discovered that the mother had decided that the eldest, the most clever son, should study to be a medical doctor; that the second and less intelligent son should pursue a career in commerce; and finally, that this boy, the least intelligent, was to be “offered to the Lord.” She felt he was only good enough to be a “preacher.” Oh, that poor mother! We do not have any ground to choose what we will consecrate to God. The Lord will point out what we must offer.
The Lord indicated to Moses the offerings that He desired. The Lord always wants the best. So many dear Christians love the Lord, but with some reservation. They hold back the best for themselves. We really do not have a choice; we must let God point out what He wants. He will choose all the things which fit His purpose: gold, silver, brass, and eventually the onyx stones (Exo. 25:3-7).
Notice the sequence in the items which God requested: gold, silver, and lastly, onyx stones. This means that from the first to the last everything is precious. If it is precious to you, it is even more precious to the Lord. The Lord never desires what you do not want. If you discard something, the Lord will say, “Forget it, I don’t want it either. I want exactly what you want!” If I were an Israelite listening to Moses convey God’s instructions, I would shrink back and even exclaim in fear, “Gold, silver, onyx stones? Oh, these are too precious to me!” Here is the test of our consecration.
I am not speaking of the doctrine or theology of consecration. My burden is to show why after the lapse of over two thousand years there is still no real building for God on this earth today. It is because some Christians are still in Babel, some are still in Sodom, and many, many others are still being usurped by the King of Egypt. Some Christians, it is true, have been separated from Egypt, yet they are not abiding in the presence of the Lord to seek and realize His desire. Still others, who have been in the presence of the Lord, will not yield to His requests or demands. They will not open their hearts to offer all the best things to the Lord. This is the problem today. Without this offering, how can the building of God come into being? Do you realize that God needs you, including all that you are, all you have, and all you can do? Will you bring all into His presence and say, “Lord, here, everything is available; You point out anything, and I agree to give it to You.” Have you seen that from the gold to the onyx stone, including all the items in between, everything God asks for is precious and the best? If these kinds of offerings are brought to the Lord by us today, His building will be realized.
God further said to Moses, “Let them make Me a sanctuary; that I may dwell among them. According to all that I show thee, after the pattern of the tabernacle...even so shall ye make it” (Exo. 25:8-9). God’s desire is to have a dwelling place on this earth. He has planned this; He has a pattern, a pattern according to His pleasure. We must know this; we must realize that God’s intention in the universe is to have a dwelling place built among His people and with His people on this earth. The building up of the local churches today is God’s desire. If we are people after His heart, we will give our full attention to this matter, to the building of the churches today on this earth as God’s dwelling place, according to God’s pattern, the pattern shown by God’s revelation. When the tabernacle was erected, God’s glory covered it and filled it (Exo. 40:17, 34). Through such a building God could express Himself on this earth. This is what God is seeking all the time.
When the tabernacle was built, it became the history of Israel’s journeys. For forty years the Israelites concentrated on that tabernacle. Eventually, after many wanderings, they entered Canaan, bringing the tabernacle with them into that land and establishing it there (Josh. 18:1). There they fought many battles, subdued the enemy, and gained the ground-all for the purpose of building an enlarged and more solid dwelling place for God. We remember how David desired to build the temple for God. He was told, however, that the time was not ripe; there still remained some enemies to be subdued. This proves that all the fighting and subduing of the enemy was for the gaining of the ground that God’s temple might be built.
When the temple was erected, it became the center of Jewish history. Later, the Babylonians came and destroyed the temple, bringing the Jews into captivity (2 Kings 25). But after seventy years, God initiated a recovery and brought the Israelites back to the proper ground that they might rebuild the temple (Ezra 1). This type of situation was repeated until the time of Christ’s first advent.
Throughout New Testament history, Christ Himself is the tabernacle and the temple on this earth (John 1:14; 2:21). God’s enemy came to destroy Christ by putting Him to death on the cross. But the Lord Jesus told the Jews-those people utilized by Satan-“Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up” (John 2:19). By resurrection Christ built the temple again-not merely His physical body, but His mystical Body, the church. From that time, the church is the temple of God, and as such it is the very subject of the remainder of the New Testament. Christ is the subject of the first part, and the church is the subject of the second part of the New Testament. Eventually, following the dispensation of the church, the New Jerusalem will be God’s ultimate building, God’s eternal dwelling place, which is also called “the tabernacle of God” (Rev. 21).
This concludes our bird’s-eye view of the whole of Scripture. The building of God is the central matter of the entire Bible. Can you afford another view of Scripture? If so, I’m afraid it will not be the main view. Oh, may we not be distracted from the main view!
We must see the vision of God’s building from a high mountain. Otherwise, we will be lost in a maze of minor things. God brought both Moses and the Apostle John to a high mountain that they might have a bird’s-eye view and be so clear concerning God’s central desire. We also must go on high that we may see the whole scene and not be lost in some of its corners. Not only in Genesis and Exodus, a total of ninety chapters, but also throughout the entire Scriptures, we see one thing: God is after a building on this earth where He may rest and express Himself.
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