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The tabernacle and its covering typifying the church as the expression of Christ

  Scripture Reading: Exo. 26:1, 7, 14

The building up of the church seen in the type of the tabernacle

  Exodus 26:1 says, “Now the tabernacle you shall make with ten curtains of fine twined linen and blue and purple and scarlet strands; you shall make them with cherubim, the work of a skilled workman.” First, the tabernacle was covered with ten curtains of fine twined linen. Verse 7 says, “You shall make curtains of goats’ hair for a tent over the tabernacle; eleven curtains you shall make.” After the curtains of fine linen were the curtains of goats’ hair. Verse 14 says, “You shall make a covering for the tent, of rams’ skins dyed red, and a covering of porpoise skins above it.” In this verse two coverings are mentioned: the covering of rams’ skins dyed red and the covering of porpoise skins. This shows us that the tabernacle had four layers of covering. The first layer was the ten curtains of fine twined linen. The second layer was the curtains of goats’ hair. The third layer was the covering of the rams’ skins. The fourth layer, the last layer, was the covering of porpoise skins. These coverings have much to do with God’s building.

  The Lord’s building of His dwelling place is not just a matter of having an outward pattern. The building of the church is dependent upon Christ being wrought into us. Through the birth of life and the growth in life, a living person is produced. This living person does not just have an outward pattern or form. A replica of a person may be produced by being manufactured in the way of imitation. This replica has the pattern, shape, and likeness of a person but not the life. The building up of the church is not merely a matter of having an outward pattern but a matter of the birth of life and the growth of life. The real pattern comes into being by the growth of life, not by organization or outward formation. A living person with an outward form comes into being by birth and by growth of life. No one manufactured or shaped him. Instead, he was organically shaped into his present form by the growth in life. In the same way, the building up of the church is a matter of the growth of life.

  Every part and aspect of the tabernacle typifies either the work of Christ or Christ Himself being something to us. The tabernacle typifies that by the redemptive work of Christ, He Himself has to be wrought into us as everything in life. In the outer court is the altar, typifying the cross of Christ. By Christ’s all-inclusive death on the cross, He accomplished everything needed for us to have a right relationship with God. When we come to Him, confessing that we are sinners and that we have been put to an end by His death, we receive Him. Then we go to the laver, signifying the cleansing, purging, purifying work of the Spirit. The washing of the Spirit purifies us from all defilement so that we may be pure, clean, and suitable to have Christ wrought into us.

  After these two items, the real building itself is seen in the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies within the tabernacle. Everywhere in the tabernacle there is something of wood overlaid with gold, signifying the mingling of divinity with humanity. The human nature is overlaid with the divine nature. Divinity has been wrought into and upon humanity. The table of the bread of the Presence, the lampstand, the incense altar, the Ark, and the boards that form the framework of the tabernacle show that Christ as the embodiment of God is wrought into us as the very essence that we may experience Him as life and everything.

  The Lord has to open our eyes and impress us with all these things. We cannot look in the New Testament merely to find the outward items of the church and then try to form a church according to this pattern. This is an imitation of the church. The church is produced in the same way that a living person is produced, that is, by birth and growth of life. A person can make a doll, but he cannot make a real man. The church is a real man, the new man (Eph. 2:15). No one can make a church. The church comes into being by a new birth in the Spirit and by the growth in Christ. The development of the church comes into being by Christ being wrought into us.

  This is why I say that we should not try to form or organize anything. Many brothers do not realize what I mean. They may ask, “If we do not form a church or organize anything, what are we doing here?” My response is that we have to eat and drink of Christ as our spiritual food and drink (John 4:14; 6:57). The more we feed on Him and drink of Him, the more we will be swallowed up by Him. We cannot form or organize a church. The church must be born of Christ in the Spirit. The church must be the living Body of Christ grown up in the Spirit with the life of Christ. Surely there is the outward pattern, or form, but this is not produced by human manufacturing. Instead, the pattern and shape come out of the growth of life. The church grows with Christ, by Christ, and in Christ.

  According to the type of the tabernacle, we experience the work of Christ and what He has accomplished for us in the outer court. Then we enter into the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies where we experience Christ Himself as everything to us. We experience Christ as the supply of life, the light of life, the resurrection, and the all-inclusive One so that He may be wrought into us.

  In this way we become the material for the building up of the church. In the Spirit of regeneration and the Spirit of maturity, signified by the golden rings and the golden bars that unite the boards of the tabernacle, we will be united, combined, and built up together as one. This is the Body of Christ and the dwelling place of God. The building up of the church is a matter of growth. Christ is wrought into us gradually and progressively as everything so that we may grow in Christ, by Christ, and with Christ. Then in the Spirit of regeneration and the Spirit of maturity we become the material fitly framed and united together as a whole. This oneness is the Body of Christ and the dwelling place of God, the church. We have to keep our human hands away from this building of the divine life.

  We also need to realize that regardless of how much Christ has been wrought into us, we can only be good enough to be the boards. We cannot be the covering of the tabernacle. If we were the covering, the church would be the expression of us. Only Christ can be the covering, so the church is the expression of only Christ Himself. The roof of the tabernacle is of four layers of covering. Each layer is an aspect of Christ, and the entire covering as a roof is the full revelation of Christ. Christ is the only covering, so the whole tabernacle is an expression of Christ. It is only when Christ is the expression that He will be our covering.

  All the utensils, furniture, and boards of the tabernacle were also protected by the covering. Thus, the covering is both the protection and expression of the tabernacle. If we do not have Christ as our expression, we do not have His protection. If we expect Christ to protect the church, we must have Him as our expression. Some groups of believers are covered by certain doctrines or gifts. Thus, these doctrines or gifts become their “roof,” their expression. They are not under the covering of Christ Himself, so there is no real protection. No doctrine or gift can protect us. Only Christ can protect us. We must uplift Christ, exalt Christ, and express Christ as the only roof covering us. We are under the roof of Christ Himself.

  The measurements of the tabernacle show that the covering as the roof also covers the sides of the tabernacle. Thus, from the outside nothing can be seen except the covering. The boards and the contents of the tabernacle cannot be seen from the outside. This means that when people look at the local church from without, they must see Christ and only Christ. Then when people come into the church, they should see the mingling of Christ with human beings. Whenever people contact us, they should have the realization that there is something of Christ within us. From without, people should see nothing but Christ. From within, people should see nothing but Christ wrought into human beings. This is the real church life.

  Without the picture and pattern of the tabernacle, we could not be so clear about what the church life should be. We need this picture in addition to the definition of the church in Paul’s Epistles. A child needs both a picture and a definition to receive a thorough understanding. If you want him to understand what a cat is, you must not only give him the word cat but also show him a picture of a cat. When we look at the picture of the tabernacle, we can understand what the real building of the church is. The church is not produced by human organization or formed by human endeavor. The church is the issue of Christ being wrought into a group of people, and all of these people uplift Christ, exalt Christ, and put on Christ to cover them and protect them.

Christ typified by the tabernacle’s four layers of covering

Fine Twined Linen

  Now we want to consider the tabernacle’s four layers of covering. The first layer was of fine linen. This was the layer of the most fine material. It was embroidered with beautiful colors: blue, purple, and scarlet. According to the type, blue is heavenly; purple is kingly, royal; and scarlet is redemptive. The fine linen signifies the fine human nature of Christ with His fine character and conduct. It typifies the bountiful, fine humanity of Christ. The four Gospels portray a man whose nature and conduct were exactly like the fine linen. This linen was very strong because it was twined, doubled, strengthened. The Lord Jesus was fine yet strong. Nothing with Him was rough. The fine linen was also embroidered with cherubim, which typify God’s glory magnified in His creation. This means that God’s glory was wrought into Christ’s humanity. With Christ’s fine human nature and character, there was God’s divine glory wrought into His creation. Hebrews 1:3 says that He is the effulgence of God’s glory. He is the brightness of God’s shining. The embroidered cherubim were upon Him. He is not only human but also divine. His human nature bears the divine glory.

Goats’ hair

  The second layer was goats’ hair. In Matthew 25 the Lord divides the sheep from the goats (vv. 32-33). The goats signify sinful persons. Second Corinthians 5:21 says that God made Christ, the One who knew no sin, sin for us. The layer of goats’ hair typifies that Christ was made sin for us. He was like fine linen, but He was made like goats’ hair. With Him there was no sin. He did not know sin, but He was made sin for our redemption.

Rams’ skins dyed red

  The third layer was rams’ skins dyed red. A ram is a male, and the dyeing of red signifies the shedding of blood for redemption. This signifies that Christ was slain on the cross, shedding His blood to redeem us from our sins. Thus, the first layer typifies that He was sinless; the second layer typifies that He was made sin for us; and the third layer typifies that He bore our sins and shed His blood to redeem us from our sins. He was the sinless One, but He was made sin for us to bear our sins.

Porpoise skins

  The outer covering was porpoise skins, the protection and safeguard for the tabernacle. This layer could withstand any kind of storm or attack. It was very coarse and looked worthless. From the inside the tabernacle looked beautiful and glorious, but from the outside it appeared very coarse. Likewise, Christ did not have a beautiful outward appearance (Isa. 53:2), but within He was divinely beautiful. It is the same with the church. When viewed from the outside by the worldly people, the church seems worthless and coarse like the porpoise skins. But when people come into the church, they will see the beauty and glory of Christ.

  This is different from the testimony in today’s Christianity. They have great and beautiful buildings, but when you get inside, there is no spiritual content. Most of the time they are inwardly empty or may even be inwardly defiling and ugly. This is the situation of worldly Christianity. The proper church, the proper spiritual building of God, is divinely beautiful inwardly and coarse outwardly. There is no outward comeliness or beauty with the church, just as it was with Christ when He was on earth.

  This shows that we should try to hide ourselves, not advertise ourselves. Today many in fallen Christianity put pictures of certain persons who minister the Word in the newspapers to advertise them. That is not a glory but a shame. That is something of worldly religion. We should not have our names advertised in the paper. Once when someone put up a sign advertising that I would speak in a certain place, I charged him to take that sign down or I would not speak. The Lord Jesus never advertised Himself. Instead, He always tried to keep Himself hidden. The beauty, the comeliness, must be within. The experience of Christ within our spirit is the real beauty before God.

  We should even be careful not to build our meeting halls with a very beautiful appearance. In Christianity they build beautiful buildings to attract people. If people are attracted to your beautiful meeting hall, they will end up being a problem to the church. We cannot attract people to the Lord by a beautiful building. Many people are attracted to St. Peter’s Cathedral in the Vatican, but not many of them are saved. There is no use in trying to draw people to the Lord in this way. This is not a pleasure to the Lord but an offense.

  Inwardly, Christ was full of beauty. Outwardly, He was simple and humble. Such a Christ must be the covering as the roof of the church. This is not my opinion or concept but the real picture shown by the Word of God. We should not express anything but Christ Himself. The only thing we lift up and exalt as the covering, the roof, of God’s building is the wonderful Christ. Within He is full of the divine beauty and comeliness. Without, in others’ eyes, He is simple and humble. Such a church can endure any kind of attack or temptation. The ones who endure to the end are those who do not have an outward beautiful appearance but who have an inward heavenly beauty and divine comeliness. Christ is both their content and covering, so nothing can damage or overcome them. This is the real building of the church.

  We must learn to seek Christ in the spirit. We must learn to discern our spirit to experience Christ as everything to us. Then we will enjoy the riches of Christ to arrive at the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Eph. 3:8; 4:13). We will be the material that can be built up with others to be the building of God. We will be covered by Christ by exalting Christ as the roof of God’s building. We will have a proper, strong church life that can withstand any attack and endure any trial or temptation to the end for the glory of God.

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