Let us now look at the story of God’s building of the tabernacle in the Old Testament. However, before looking at the tabernacle I would like to speak a word to lay a foundation.
In the Old Testament we see that God chose some of the forefathers such as Enosh, Enoch, Noah, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. Jacob was the last among the forefathers whom God chose. Out from Jacob came the twelve tribes, the Israelites. We all know the story of Jacob. Jacob was a person who grasped, struggled, and supplanted. When he was in his mother’s womb, he struggled with his brother Esau to get out first, but he failed. Then he used his craftiness to seize the birthright with its blessings. Consequently, his brother Esau wanted to kill him, so his mother told him to flee to Haran. As Jacob went out from Beer-sheba toward Haran, he came to a certain place and spent the night there because the sun had set. He took one of the stones of that place, made it his pillow, and lay down to sleep. Then a marvelous thing happened—he had a dream. In this dream there was a ladder set up on the earth, its top reaching to heaven, and the angels of God were ascending and descending on it. Furthermore, Jehovah was standing above it, and He spoke to him, promising to give him and his descendants the land on which he lay. After Jacob awoke from his sleep, he said, “How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven.” Then he rose up early in the morning and took the stone that he had put under his head, and he set it up as a pillar and poured oil on top of it. He called the name of that place Bethel, which means the house of God. Then Jacob made a business deal with the Lord, saying, “If God will be with me and will keep me in this way that I go and will give me bread to eat and garments to put on, so that I return to my father’s house in peace, then Jehovah will be my God, and this stone, which I have set up as a pillar, will be God’s house” (Gen. 28:10-22).
I would like you all to take note that this is the first time that the house of God is mentioned in the Bible, and in this revelation we see that the house of God comes from the oil poured upon the stone. Most readers of the Bible know that oil in the holy Scriptures denotes the Holy Spirit who is God coming forth to reach and enter into man. The stone denotes a saved person. Previously, we were pieces of clay, but after we were saved, we were transformed into stones. When Peter confessed to the Lord Jesus, “You are the Christ,” the Lord immediately said to him, “You are Peter [or, a stone]” (Matt. 16:16, 18). Therefore, the pouring of the oil upon the stone indicates the mingling together of God and the saved ones, and this mingling becomes the house of God. Therefore, a principle of primary importance concerning the building of God is the mingling of God with man.
When God revealed this vision to Jacob, He promised Jacob that He would give the land on which Jacob lay, which was the land of Canaan, to him and to his seed. God also promised Jacob that his seed would be as the dust of the earth (Gen. 28:13-14). We all know that the seed of Jacob later became the house of Israel, which was the house of God.
Here we again touch the story of building. In Genesis 2 we see that the flow of the water of life produces gold, bdellium, and precious stones as materials for the building. Then in chapter twenty-eight we see oil being poured upon a stone, issuing in the house of God. In these passages we see the story of building. We see the stones as the materials for building, the pouring of the oil upon the stones as the way of building, and the house of God as the result. At this point, the vision of building is clear enough—God uses the way of pouring the oil upon the stone to build His house on the earth.
Jacob stayed in his uncle Laban’s home for twenty years and then returned from Paddan-aram and dwelt in Shechem (33:18). One day God came again to Jacob and said, “Rise up, go up to Bethel, and dwell there” (35:1). God was calling Jacob to go back to the place where God had appeared to him when he was fleeing from his brother. In other words, God was calling him to return to God’s house. Subsequently, Jacob and his household went down to Egypt and dwelt in Egypt until Moses was raised up by God to lead the Israelites out of Egypt. When the Israelites came to the foot of Mount Sinai, God wanted them to build a tabernacle to be His dwelling place on earth. We know that this tabernacle was only a type. In reality, the children of Israel themselves were the house of God.
From this point onward the story of building is completely made manifest. God had a group of people on the earth who were coordinated, knit, and built together to be the dwelling place of God. Therefore, when the tabernacle was raised up, God’s glory filled the tabernacle. God’s glory filled the midst of the children of Israel, and therefore, God could dwell among them.