“Will God indeed dwell with men on the earth? Behold, heaven and the heaven of heavens cannot contain You.” “Jacob awoke from his sleep and said, "Surely the LORD is in this place, and I did not know it." And he was afraid and said, "How awesome is this place! This is none other than the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven." 2 Chronicles 6:18; Genesis 28:16,17

Solomon wondered at God confining Himself to living in one place on earth, but He understood God’s desire to live among His people. Jacob had a preview of it. He realized God had chosen that place to dwell on earth. It was awe-inspiring & it provided access to heaven itself Later Jacob was called to return to Bethel and live there, to make an altar and to purge himself.

"Let them make Me a sanctuary, that I may dwell among them.” "See to it that you make them according to the pattern which was shown you on the mountain.” Exodus 25:8,40

God gave precise instructions to Moses as to how to buid it. It represented God’s actual dwelling place in heaven. Moses followed the direstions exactly. Then God’s glory filled it - God was living among a united people, under His covenant God’s 1 st house on earth

“One thing I have asked from the LORD, that I shall seek: that I may dwell in the house of the LORD all the days of my life, to behold the beauty of the LORD and to meditate in His temple.” Psalm 27:4; 1 Kings 8:18,19 "But the LORD said to my father David, "Because it was in your heart to build a house for My name, you did well that it was in your heart. Nevertheless you shall not build the house, but your son who will be born to you, he will build the house for My name.”

David fully appreciated the privilege of having the God of heaven living among Israel. He wanted to build a grand house for God, but he was not allowed to. Instead Solomon his son built the great temple in Jerusalem.

“Now Solomon began to build the house of the LORD at Jerusalem on Mount Moriah, where the LORD had appeared to his father David” 2 Chronicles 3:1; 1 Kings 6:7 “The temple, when it was being built, was built with stone finished at the quarry, so that no hammer or chisel or any iron tool was heard in the temple while it was being built.”

It was built by Solomon in Jerusalem. It was more glorious than the tabernacle. It was still built according to precise instructions. It was built of huge stones, quarried from under the city, shaped at the quarry entrance and placed without cutting or mortar at the site. God’s 2nd house on earth

"Go up to the mountains and bring wood and build the temple, that I may take pleasure in it and be glorified.” Haggai 1:8; Matthew 23:38 “See! Your house is left to you desolate.”

Solomon’s temple was destroyed by the Babylonians. The remnant rebuilt it (at the urging of Haggai & others). It was far less glorious, but God still said He would take pleasure in it. Later it was again rebuilt by Herod; this was the temple in existence in the Lord’s time on earth. Christ announced that God was about to forsake it because of the nation’s disobedience.

“What house will you build for Me? says the LORD, or what is the place of My rest?” “If Joshua had given them rest, then He would not afterward have spoken of another day. There remains therefore a rest for the people of God…...Let us therefore be diligent to enter that rest, lest anyone fall according to the same example of disobedience.” Acts 7:49; Hebrews 4:8-11

God wants to be at rest among His people on earth - to be able to enjoy them as a result of His work of creating and redeeming them. All during Old Testament times, that purpose was never fully accomplished; it required the work of Christ on earth to make it possible. God’s rest is centred on His house