(ח) וְעָ֥שׂוּ לִ֖י מִקְדָּ֑שׁ וְשָׁכַנְתִּ֖י בְּתוֹכָֽם׃ (ט) כְּכֹ֗ל אֲשֶׁ֤ר אֲנִי֙ מַרְאֶ֣ה אוֹתְךָ֔ אֵ֚ת תַּבְנִ֣ית הַמִּשְׁכָּ֔ן וְאֵ֖ת תַּבְנִ֣ית כָּל־כֵּלָ֑יו וְכֵ֖ן תַּעֲשֽׂוּ׃ (ס) (י) וְעָשׂ֥וּ אֲר֖וֹן עֲצֵ֣י שִׁטִּ֑ים אַמָּתַ֨יִם וָחֵ֜צִי אָרְכּ֗וֹ וְאַמָּ֤ה וָחֵ֙צִי֙ רָחְבּ֔וֹ וְאַמָּ֥ה וָחֵ֖צִי קֹמָתֽוֹ׃
(8) And let them make Me a sanctuary that I may dwell among them. (9) Exactly as I show you—the pattern of the Tabernacle and the pattern of all its furnishings—so shall you make it. (10) They shall make an ark of acacia wood, two and a half cubits long, a cubit and a half wide, and a cubit and a half high.
Rashi asked how they would have had acacia wood available to them in the desert. [He quotes a Midrash teaching that] Rabbi Tanhuma said: Our father Jacob foresaw by the holy spirit that the Children of Israel were to erect a Tabernacle in the wilderness. He brought cedar trees into Egypt and planted the, commanding his descendants to take them along when they would depart from there....
Our father Jacob was teaching his children the way of God, how divinity flows forth through these qualities and the holy sparks that exist within all creatures. There is no place devoid of Y-H-W-H...
Now we can understand why the sages taught that father Jacob foresaw by the holy spirit the building of the mishkan in the desert. This refers to us. We Children of Israel are forever building up our entire selves to become dwelling-places for divinity. That is why they erected the mishkan from offerings there in the wilderness. This process has never ceased and goes on in every generation. We Israelites are called upon to build up the full form of shekhinah (= mishkan) by using our own entire selves. Thus our sages taught on the verse "Let them make Me a Tabernacle and I will dwell within them" (Ex. 25:8). The verse does not say "within it" but "within them"! This teaches that God dwells within every single one of Israel. This is what we have taught: that each of us must build up our entire self to be a fit dwelling for divinity. Then God indeed dwells within us.
This is what the holy Zohar meant when it taught that the form in which the world was created, the form of the mishkan, and the human form are all the same (2:149a-b)...
וכן תעשו. לַדוֹרוֹת (סנהדרין ט"ז), אִם יֹאבַד אֶחָד מִן הַכֵּלִים, אוֹ כְּשֶׁתַּעֲשׂוּ לִי כְּלֵי בֵית עוֹלָמִים, כְּגוֹן שֻׁלְחָנוֹת וּמְנוֹרוֹת וְכִיּוֹרוֹת וּמְכוֹנוֹת שֶׁעָשָׂה שְׁלֹמֹה, כְּתַבְנִית אֵלּוּ תַּעֲשׂוּ אוֹתָם:
וכן תעשו SO SHALL YOU MAKE IT also in future generations (cf. Sanhedrin 16b); if one of the vessels is lost, or when you make for Me the vessels for the “House of Eternity” (another name for the Temple in Jerusalem), — as e. g., the tables, candlesticks, lavers and stands which Solomon had made — you shall make them after the pattern of these (the vessels of the Tabernacle).