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In this chapter we want to see more concerning Christ as the content of the church and the church as the expression of Christ as typified by the tabernacle. We do not want to have the mere doctrine of typology. We want the real, practical application of the types confirmed by our experiences.
The bars that united the boards of the tabernacle (Exo. 26:26-28, 29b) signify the uniting Spirit (Eph. 4:3). In the uniting Spirit, there are both the human nature and the divine nature. Andrew Murray points this out in chapter 5 of his book The Spirit of Christ. This chapter is titled “The Spirit of the Glorified Jesus.” The Spirit of Christ (Rom. 8:9), the Spirit of the glorified Jesus, is different from the Spirit of Jehovah who fell upon people in the Old Testament (Judg. 3:10; 6:34; 13:25; 14:6, 19; 15:14). In the Old Testament the Spirit possessed merely the divine nature. But since the resurrection and ascension of the Lord Jesus, the Spirit possesses both the divine nature and the human nature. The uniting bars of the tabernacle were made of wood, signifying humanity, overlaid with gold, signifying divinity.
Also, there were three rows of bars uniting the boards. The number three signifies the Triune God. These three rows of bars were in five pieces. The middle bar was of one piece, and the top and bottom bars were each of two pieces. Thus, on the north, south, and west sides of the tabernacle there were five pieces. These three groups of five again point to the Triune God.
Now we need to consider what the number five signifies. Our hand has five fingers, that is, four fingers plus one thumb. The Ten Commandments are divided into two groups of five. The ten virgins in Matthew 25 are also divided into two groups of five. With the tabernacle, the number five occurs frequently. The tabernacle was made with ten curtains of fine linen. According to Exodus 26:3, five curtains were joined to one another, and the other five curtains were also joined to one another. Furthermore, the curtains in the outer court were squares, each measuring five cubits by five cubits (27:9-12, 18). Also, the altar of burnt offering was five cubits in length and width, and three cubits in height (27:1). The number five is composed of four plus one. The number four signifies the creature, and the number one signifies the Creator. This means that five is the number for responsibility formed by the Creator added to the creature.
Thus, we can see that the uniting Spirit is of the Triune God with the human nature overlaid with the divine nature. This means that the Creator is added to man, the creature, enabling man to take the responsibility to fulfill all the requirements of God.
Among all the utensils and furniture of the tabernacle, there are only two pieces without wooden material. The laver was made solely of bronze (30:18), and the lampstand was made purely of gold (25:31-40). This is because the laver signifies the working of the Holy Spirit, and the lampstand signifies the working of Christ as light. This shows us that Christ as the Spirit is working within us.
The lampstand was all of gold, signifying the divine nature, but it still had something in it related to human beings. The lampstand consisted of a base, a stalk, and three pairs of branches. On each branch there were three cups shaped like almond blossoms, with calyxes and blossom buds. The number three also signifies resurrection since Christ was resurrected on the third day. The central stalk of the lampstand had four blossoms, whereas each branch had three blossoms. The number four signifies the creatures. The Bible speaks of the four living creatures (Rev. 4:6; Ezek. 1:5). Thus, even with the lampstand, which was entirely of gold, signifying that Christ as the light of life to us is absolutely divine, there was something showing that Christ as light is related to human beings, the creatures.
No one can exhaust the typological significances of the tabernacle. When we speak concerning the tabernacle, we have to stress that Christ is the content of the church, and the church is the expression of Christ.
The tabernacle consisted of three parts: the outer court, the Holy Place, and the Holy of Holies. In the outer court Christ is seen as righteousness for us to enjoy. We have to put on Christ as our righteousness. In the Holy Place Christ is seen as holiness, and in the Holy of Holies there is Christ as the glory. The content of the Holy Place is holiness, and the content of the Holy of Holies is glory. Righteousness, holiness, and glory are Christ in different aspects. This shows us that Christ is the content of the church life in three aspects to be manifested in the church life. Ultimately, He is the effulgence of God’s glory (Heb. 1:3) to be expressed in and through the church. The church as the reality of the tabernacle is built to show forth, manifest, and express Christ as righteousness, holiness, and glory. If we have a vision of this, our church life will be revolutionized.
Now we need to consider how people can enjoy and express Christ as their righteousness. A person approaching the tabernacle from afar would first see the white fine linen hangings of the outer court. There was something white, pure, and clean separating the outer court of the dwelling place of God from worldly things. The white linen typifies, expresses, shows forth, declares, and proclaims that Christ is our righteousness. We put on Christ as our righteousness before God and man. In ourselves we have nothing to cover or qualify us so that we can stand before God and man. Christ as our righteousness covers and qualifies us.
In order to enjoy Christ as our righteousness, we have to pass through the altar and the laver. The altar signifies the cross. We can prove this by Hebrews 13:10, which says, “We have an altar from which they who are serving the tabernacle have no right to eat.” The Old Testament priests had no right to enjoy the offerings on this altar which we have. We have an altar, and this altar is the cross. On the cross Christ accomplished an all-inclusive death. That means that on the cross Christ carried out an all-inclusive judgment. Everything negative has been judged on the cross. If we want to enjoy Christ as our righteousness and participate in the church life, we have to realize that whatever we have, whatever we are, and whatever we can do have all been judged on the cross. By judgment we are redeemed. By redemption we are justified. This is the experience of the cross.
Based on the cross, the Holy Spirit comes into us to regenerate us. Our regeneration is the beginning of the cleansing, washing, work of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5). Regeneration is a part of the significance of the washing of the laver. The laver washes and cleanses. The altar was covered with bronze (Exo. 27:1-2), and the laver was made entirely of bronze (30:18), typifying God’s judgment. The laver was made with a particular kind of bronze. It was made from the bronze mirrors of the ministering women who ministered at the door of the Tent of Meeting (38:8). In ancient times they had bronze mirrors, not glass mirrors. The laver exposed the priests in the way that a mirror does to show us what we are. Before the laver cleansed and washed the priests, it told them what they were, giving them a real picture of themselves. A father may tell his child that he is dirty, but the child may not believe him. But when the father brings his child to the mirror, the child can see for himself how dirty he is. By the mirror the child is convinced that he is dirty. Then he will go to the sink to wash himself. In the same way, the laver first exposed the priests. Then it cleansed them. This signifies the working of the Holy Spirit.
By the cross and the working of the Holy Spirit, we enjoy Christ as our righteousness. In the outer court we see that Christ is expressed as righteousness before God and man. But this is just the outward behavior, the outward conduct, with nothing related to the inward nature. Righteousness relates to conduct, to behavior, but holiness relates to nature. God’s divine nature is holiness. As far as our conduct, morality, and behavior are concerned, we may enjoy Christ as our righteousness, but this is just the outward aspect. We have to go deeper to enjoy Christ as our inward nature, our holiness. In other words, we have to go on to express Christ not only as righteousness in our behavior but also as holiness in our nature, in what we are.
Now we need to consider how we can go on to enjoy Christ in such a deeper way. After the people offered the offerings and the shed blood was sprinkled so that they could experience redemption, they began to eat. All the experiences of holiness begin with eating. The bread on the table of the bread of the Presence in the Holy Place was for eating (Lev. 24:5-9). We do not merely put on Christ as our righteousness, but we also eat Christ as our spiritual food so that He can become our very nature (John 6:57). When the prodigal son in Luke 15 returned to his father, the father clothed him with the best robe to justify and qualify him so that he could come into the living presence of the father to eat and enjoy the fattened calf. Our salvation is not a matter of just putting something on but also of taking something in, of eating something. First, we have to put on Christ as our righteousness. Then we have to take Christ into us as our holiness.
The first part of Romans shows that we have Christ as our righteousness to put on. The next part speaks of Christ as our holiness taken into us and working within us. We enjoy Christ as our holiness by eating Him as our spiritual food. By eating Christ, He will work in us to enlighten us all the time. Then we enjoy Him as the light of life, which is the reality of the lampstand in the Holy Place. This brings us into the enjoyment of Christ as the sweet incense ascending to God to have His acceptance at the incense altar (Exo. 30:1-4). We enjoy the sweet acceptance of God in Christ in an inward and subjective way. When we take Christ into us, He is mingled with us to be our holiness.
Real sanctification involves not just a positional change but a dispositional change. The process of sanctification changes us in nature, in form, and in essence as well as in place. This metabolic change is transformation (2 Cor. 3:18; Rom. 12:2). When the church is transformed, the church expresses Christ as holiness. Holiness as the content of the church is Christ Himself.
In the outer court the most striking thing was the white linen hangings, signifying Christ as righteousness. In the Holy Place the significant element was gold. Gold signifies God’s holy nature, His holiness. The outer court shows that the church expresses Christ as our righteousness. The Holy Place shows that the church expresses Christ as our holiness. When you were outside the tabernacle, you saw righteousness. When you came inside, you saw holiness.
When we look at the church outwardly, we should see good, pure, and righteous people. But when we come into the church, we should see that these people are not only righteous but also holy. They should have not only outwardly good behavior but also something in their nature which is divine and holy. By the Lord’s grace, we should express Christ in such a way. This is what we have to attain. We have Christ as our righteousness without and our holiness within, and we need to express Him in such a way even to the rulers and the authorities in the heavenlies.
Eventually, our natural man — including the will, the self, the flesh, the “I” — must be broken. The “I” has to be broken, riven, torn down. Then we will get into the spirit. When we are walking in the spirit and not in our natural life, we will enjoy Christ as the glory of God in the Holy of Holies. We will have Christ expressed among us and through us as the glory of God. This is the expression of Christ to the uttermost. We should not only have Christ as righteousness in our behavior and holiness in our lives. We should also have Him as our glory. Then the natural life, the self, the flesh, the “I,” has been put away, and we are in the spirit, the Holy of Holies. When we are in the spirit, we can sense that we have Christ as the glory expressed among us.
In the outer court we see the white linen, and in the Holy Place we see the gold. The most significant thing in the Holy of Holies is the glory. Christ as righteousness, holiness, and glory is the very content of the church life, and the church is the expression of such a Christ. In these days we expect that such a local expression of Christ will be raised up in many places. This is God’s intention, and this is what His enemy is trying to frustrate.
We can never be built together in ourselves. The acacia wood of the standing boards of the tabernacle signifies our regenerated, resurrected, uplifted, and reinforced human nature, not our natural human nature. In our untransformed human nature, we cannot be built up. The stronger we become in our natural man, the more independent we are. The weaker we become, the more we become limited and dependent on others. We have to be overlaid with gold. When we enjoy Christ more and more, the increasing measure of Christ unites us with others in God’s building. In ourselves we are too independent and can never stand with others. But when we enjoy Christ, we are being overlaid with Him, and the Christ whom we enjoy unites us. The more we enjoy Christ, the more oneness we will have.
We need to stress the matter of eating Christ. At the altar in the outer court, there was the eating of the offerings. At the table in the Holy Place, there was the eating of the bread of the Presence. Also, in the Holy of Holies within the Ark was the golden pot with the hidden manna (Heb. 9:4). This signifies the Christ eaten, digested, and assimilated by us. We have to put Christ on as our righteousness. But we also have to eat of Him to enjoy Him. We feast on Him at the altar in the outer court and at the table of the bread of the Presence in the Holy Place. We also enjoy Him as our inward, hidden supply in the Ark in the Holy of Holies. We enjoy Christ subjectively by feasting on Him. We all have to learn to feast on Christ day by day. When we feast on Him, He will sanctify us, transform us, and conform us to His image. Then there can be the building up of the church as the dwelling place of God.
The content of the church is Christ Himself as righteousness, holiness, and glory, and the church is the expression of such a Christ. When there is such an expression in our locality, both we and the Lord will be satisfied to the uttermost. If we have such a church life, we will be satisfied. Our being satisfied means that the Lord is satisfied. This must be our goal. We must go on by His grace to attain this goal. In all of the localities we must build up such a glorious expression of Christ. This is the ultimate recovery of the Lord.
