Jacob not only set up the stone as a pillar; he also poured oil upon it (28:18). Many Christians talk about the baptism of the Holy Spirit. There is no need to talk very much about it. As long as you set up your pillow to become a pillar, the oil will be poured upon it. What an experience of oil we have had since we came into the church life and our pillow stood up to become a pillar! What an experience of the Holy Spirit! I can testify that when I say, "Pillow, stand up," I experience the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. I have experienced the baptism of the Holy Spirit many times. When your pillow stands up, the oil will be poured out. I do not say this in vain. This can be proved by our experience. When we say, "Lord Jesus, I love You," we may be somewhat excited. But when we go further and say, "Lord Jesus, I love Your church," we are so excited that we can hardly contain ourselves. Some Christians condemn us, saying that we make the church more important than Christ. Why do we talk so much about the church? Because the more we talk about it, the more excited we become. All Americans love desserts, such as ice cream, pie, and cake. The church life is like a dessert. If you only have Christ without the church, your meal may be like a few slices of Jewish bread. It is solid, but it is not dessert. The church life is the best dessert, a dessert which is even larger than the meal. This is why the church people like to say, "Amen, Lord. I love You and I love the church. I'm for Christ and the church. I consecrate myself to Christ and the church." When the pillow is set up to be a pillar, it is fully baptized. This is the genuine baptism of the Holy Spirit. In John 1 we also have the baptism, the stone, and Jacob's dream (vv. 33, 42, 51).
After the oil was poured upon the pillar, the pillar became the house of God. The issue of saying, "Lord Jesus, I love You and I love the church," is the house. Before we came into the church, we were individualistic. But since coming into the church and testifying how much we love the church, we find that whenever we are individualistic, we lose the dessert. Instead of dessert, we have bitter medicine. Whenever you enjoy the wonderful church life, you have dessert every day. But whenever you are the slightest bit individualistic, you begin to taste the bitter medicine. There is not even the need to be individualistic. Even if you say that you don't like a certain brother, you will sense a bitter taste. If you say, "The church life is wonderful, but I don't like that sister," there will be no dessert. At times, we have sugar-coated medicine. After a while, however, the sugar coat melts and we taste the bitterness.
The genuine experience of Christ becomes the building material, and this building material consummates in the building of the house of God. Here God has rest and satisfaction, and here we also have rest and satisfaction. Jacob's dream was first fulfilled when the children of Israel erected the tabernacle after being delivered out of Egypt. That was the first house of God among men, the first fulfillment of Jacob's dream. The tabernacle indicated that God and man had found rest, that God's dwelling place on earth was the satisfaction and rest for both God and man. After the children of Israel had constructed the temple in the good land, God had a more solid house on earth. Then, in the New Testament, we have the church as the house of God (1 Tim. 3:15). Eventually, in the new heaven and the new earth, we shall have the New Jerusalem as God's eternal dwelling place (Rev. 21:1-3). There God and we shall have eternal rest and enjoy eternal satisfaction. Today we are all in the fulfillment of Jacob's dream. We not only have the stone and the pillar; we also have the house. In fact, we are the house (Heb. 3:6). This house is the composition of divinity with humanity, the composition of the Triune God with human beings. Here we have the house which becomes the rest for both God and man. Now we are not only in the dream but also in the fulfillment of the dream. Thank the Lord for the stone, the pillar, the house, and the oil. In the church life we experience all four of these.
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