Throughout the ages, people have felt the presence of God. Some experiences were so vivid that afterward the action and the place with which God was connected took on a special identity. It happened thus, for example, with the tabernacle.
In the Old Testament the tabernacle was a holy place, the tent or meeting place that Moses constructed under divine command. In this place he talked with God "face to face." This tabernacle was transported by the children of Israel and erected each time they camped.
When Solomon reigned, he built the temple at Jerusalem. This was, in effect, a permanent tabernacle—representative of the house, or dwelling, of God among His people. In the New Testament, Christ Jesus is seen as the tabernacle, or temple, of God—the living proof that God is with us. In the book of Revelation, John describes New Jerusalem as having "no temple therein: for the Lord God Almighty and the Lamb are the temple of it." Rev. 21:22. And centuries later, in the Christian Science textbook, Science and Health with Key to the Scriptures, Mrs. Eddy would write this about John's vision: "There was no temple,—that is, no material structure in which to worship God, for He must be worshipped in spirit and in love." Science and Health, p. 576.
