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Scripture Reading: Exo. 25:8; 26:15, 26-30; 29:45-46; 40:17
When we read Genesis and Exodus, we need to pay attention to the central revelation of God. Without this revelation, it is not easy to see God’s intention in Genesis. Jacob is the father of the children of Israel. The crucial point with Jacob is that he saw Bethel in the revelation that he received from God (28:17-19). Many years later God told Jacob to go to Bethel (35:1). Bethel means “the house of God.” God wanted to obtain His house with Jacob, His chosen one. While Jacob was fleeing from his brother, he was homeless. However, God did not lead him to care for his own house but rather to care for God’s house.
God led Jacob to focus on Bethel, which is the house of God. The main item in relation to Jacob is God’s house. God chose Jacob out of thousands of people in order to gain a house. God wanted to obtain a dwelling place on earth through Jacob. In other words, God desires to gain a dwelling place, a house, on earth through His chosen ones.
In the beginning of Exodus Jacob’s descendants, the children of Israel, were slaves in Egypt. However, God wanted to deliver them out of the land of Egypt. The children of Israel were enslaved in Egypt and were oppressed and afflicted. They needed God’s deliverance. Perhaps they never thought of God’s house. They thought of their need, but perhaps they did not consider God’s need. They may have thought only of their problems, that is, that they were oppressed and afflicted. They did not know that God wanted to obtain a dwelling place on earth. They knew that God cared for them and would deliver them from the land of Egypt, but they did not know why God would deliver them. Not only were the children of Israel ignorant of the reason for God’s deliverance, but even Bible readers throughout the generations have not seen the purpose of God’s deliverance.
I received the Lord’s salvation before I was twenty years old; that was thirty years ago. Since then I have been pursuing to know the Bible. I have read many expositions and commentaries on the book of Exodus, but I have yet to read a book that explicitly says that God delivered the Israelites out of Egypt so that He might obtain a dwelling place among them. I have never read a book that says this clearly. Sometimes there may be one or two sentences in a book that elude to such a purpose, but not in a clear way. We must see that the main reason God delivered the Israelites out of Egypt was not only because they were suffering oppression and affliction. God delivered the Israelites out of Egypt because He intended to build a dwelling place among them.
Exodus 25:8 says that God desired to dwell in the midst of the children of Israel. After God delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt, they crossed the Red Sea and journeyed to the foot of Mount Sinai. There God told them that He wanted to dwell among them. God said, “I will dwell in the midst of the children of Israel, and I will be their God. And they shall know that I am Jehovah their God, who brought them out of the land of Egypt, that I might dwell in the midst of them; I am Jehovah their God” (29:45-46). God seemed to be saying that He delivered the children of Israel so that He might obtain a dwelling place, a house, in their midst. However, we should never think that the tabernacle was the extent of the house of God. The tabernacle was only a sign, a symbol. We must see that God’s house was Israel. God did not want to dwell in the tabernacle. God wanted to dwell in the midst of the children of Israel. In other words, the children of Israel were God’s house.
The delivery of the children of Israel out of Egypt is a type in the Old Testament. As God’s chosen ones, we are today’s Israel. We are God’s people. God delivered us out of the world, just as He delivered the children of Israel out of Egypt. Before we were saved, we felt that we were desolate and suffering in the world because our life was vain and without hope. But God saved us. God saved us out of the world not merely to deliver us from the afflictions of the world. He saved us for a positive and glorious goal. God saved us because He wants us to be built up to become His house, the church. God desires that we be built up to be His house.
After the Israelites left Egypt, they received a revelation from God at the foot of Mount Sinai, and according to that revelation, they built a tabernacle as God’s dwelling place. This signifies that the children of Israel were built up as God’s house. On the first day of the first month in the second year, the tabernacle was erected, and the glory of Jehovah filled the tabernacle. This was God coming to dwell in the tabernacle. God dwelt in the midst of the children of Israel. The first chapter of Exodus speaks of the Israelites being slaves in Egypt, and the last chapter speaks of the Israelites being God’s dwelling place. This is a very clear picture. Exodus uses forty chapters to present this picture. In chapter 1 the Israelites were ill-treated in the hand of Pharaoh. They were enslaved and making bricks for Pharaoh’s cities. However, by the last chapter of Exodus, they were the glorious dwelling place of God. God dwelt in their midst, and the glory of God filled their midst.
We think that God rescued us from afflictions and disasters so that our lives would be meaningful. However, this is not God’s goal. God has a glorious and positive goal related to His salvation. He intends to build us up to be His dwelling place, His house, so that He can fill this house for His expression.
All saved ones can testify that God’s presence is in the meetings of the church. Of course, we also have God’s presence when we pray and when we read the Bible. However, we know that those experiences cannot equal the presence of God that we experience in the meetings of the church. When we pray, we have the Lord’s presence. However, when the church gathers together to pray, we experience the glory of Jehovah filling the tabernacle. Sometimes we do not remember the message we heard in a meeting, but we know that we touched the presence of God, and thus the glory of Jehovah filled our midst.
After a meeting we often sense that the world has no power over us and that sin has lost its ground in us. Moreover, we are able to live in the Lord’s presence. Then after two or three days we gather again for another meeting, and again we see something glorious and touch something real. This kind of experience does not happen only in the large meetings. We often have such experiences. When the condition of the church is normal, the church is full of the Lord’s presence. Then even if there are no meetings, we can still sense that the saints have been built up to be the glorious house of God. The church has an atmosphere that causes people to sense that God is present.
Hence, if someone is seeking God, we should be bold to say, “Go to the meetings of the church!” When Christians meet together in the Lord’s name, the people who go into their midst meet God. This happens not only in the large meetings. Even when three or five saints gather together to speak for God, people sense that God is in their midst. This is a wonderful condition, because the glory of Jehovah fills our midst.
In Exodus the glory of Jehovah filled the tabernacle after the tabernacle was raised up. The erecting of the tabernacle depended upon one crucial matter — the standing of the boards. The tabernacle had a total of forty-eight boards: twenty boards on the south, twenty boards on the north, six boards on the west, and two boards for the corners in the rear (26:18, 20, 22-23). Each board was ten cubits in length and one and a half cubits in width (vv. 15-16). The forty-eight boards had to stand and also be united.
The boards were able to stand firm because each board had two tenons, and under each tenon was a socket, which was made of a talent of silver (vv. 17, 19, 21, 24-25; 38:27). Under the two tenons of each board there were two sockets, and each socket had a hole to contain a tenon. In this way the boards were able to stand firm. The silver sockets are very meaningful. Silver signifies the work of Christ’s redemption, and the sockets signify stability for standing. We can stand firm before God because of Christ’s redemption. The redemption of Christ is our foundation. It is the solid base for our standing in God’s dwelling place. We are standing firmly on the foundation of Christ’s redemption.
Not only were the boards standing; they were also united. The tabernacle was erected by means of the standing and uniting of the boards. Once the tabernacle was erected, it became God’s house. A house cannot be called a house until it is built. Piles of wood and stone are merely materials; they are not yet a house. Only when the materials are standing and joined will they become a house. The glory of God filled the tabernacle because the tabernacle was built up. This shows that God’s glory will be in the midst of God’s children when they are built up. The building does not involve individuals but all of God’s children. They are joined together not by human organization but by God. God’s life and nature join God’s children together.
Every board was one and a half cubits in width. This is very meaningful. The numbers three and five are basic numbers related to God’s building. Genesis 6 contains the record of the building of the ark by Noah. The ark was three hundred cubits long, fifty cubits wide, and thirty cubits high (v. 15). The basic numbers of these dimensions are three and five. The dimensions of the tabernacle are also composed of these basic numbers. For instance, there were ten curtains divided into two sets of five (Exo. 26:1, 3), and the depth of the tabernacle was thirty cubits. Both the curtains and the depth of the tabernacle contain the basic numbers of three and five. Concerning the standing boards, the length of each board was ten cubits. Ten is a multiple of five. For example, the ten virgins consisted of five who were foolish and five who were prudent (Matt. 25:1-2). Hence, ten cubits are made up of two sets of five. Each board was one and a half cubits wide, which is half of three. This means that a board is not a complete unit. This is similar to a couple. Neither a husband nor a wife is a complete unit; they are halves. Only when the husband and the wife are joined together can they be a complete unit.
We need to see that as boards, none of us is complete. You are one and a half cubits, and I am one and a half cubits. We need to be matched with another to make a complete unit. The number of the boards in the tabernacle was not an odd number but an even number: twenty boards on the south, twenty on the north, six in the rear, and two extra boards for the corners. All the boards were coupled; they were matched with others. It is wonderful that three and five are the basic numbers in God’s building. This indicates that we are not complete units. We are one and a half cubits. We are only half a unit. We need a brother or a sister to match us. In the tabernacle no one can stand alone; all are in twos. There were not twenty-one boards nor were there nineteen boards. There were twenty boards, six boards, and two boards. All the boards were in pairs. This means that we cannot stand alone. We need to be matched with another board.
Furthermore, in order for a board to stand, it cannot depend on only one tenon. If there were only one tenon, the board would spin, but with two tenons, the board could not spin. Hence, in the matter of building, there is the need for two; one cannot work alone. This is coordination. If you stand by yourself, you will turn toward the east today, toward the south tomorrow, and toward the west the next day. After turning a full circle, you will turn toward the south again, and after a few days you will turn again. You will always be turning. A Christian who is always turning cannot be built up with others. When there are two tenons, you have no way to turn. Therefore, you must stand with another. You cannot serve by yourself. When the Lord Jesus sent out His disciples, He sent them out two by two (Luke 10:1). The Lord did not want His disciples to go out by themselves.
Our coordination should also be in twos. We cannot be at peace if someone is serving alone, because we are afraid that he will begin to turn. When two persons are in coordination, one cannot turn without the other turning too. There is no way for one to turn if the other refuses to turn. They both must stand firm. Not only so, you must remember that you are only a half. You are only one and a half cubits, not three cubits. You need another person, another one and a half cubits, to be added to you so that you become three cubits. When one sister is added to another sister, the two become three cubits. They become a complete unit. If they are separated, they will each be one and a half cubits. This is a half unit, not a complete unit. For this reason the Holy Spirit has revealed to us that we must be in coordination.
In order for us to coordinate, based on the foundation of Christ’s redemption, we must be overlaid with gold. This is seen with the boards, which were made of acacia wood and overlaid with gold. This is the only way for us to manifest the proper coordination. Wood denotes the human nature, and gold denotes the divine nature. Gold overlaying wood signifies the mingling of the human nature and the divine nature so that the human nature can express the divine nature. This means that man lives the life of God. In other words, there is a human living that expresses the glory of God. The boards, which were made of acacia wood, needed to be overlaid with gold in order to be joined. Therefore, when we experience the mingling of God and man, that is, the mingling of God’s life with our life and God’s nature with our nature, we can be coordinated with the other standing boards.
The standing boards were also united by gold rings (Exo. 26:29). Gold signifies the divine nature. The uniting rings show that the divine nature is the uniting power among us. We are made of wood. In order to experience the uniting rings in our human nature, we need the divine life and nature to be manifested in us. The more we love the Lord, live before Him, and fellowship with Him, the more He will be manifested in us. Thus, the gold rings, the divine uniting power, are manifested in us and enable us to be united with others.
There was also the need for bars. On each side of the tabernacle there were five bars for the boards. The bars were made of acacia wood overlaid with gold (vv. 26-29). The five bars formed three lines, and the middle bar passed through the center of the boards from end to end. The bars were arranged such that two bars formed a line at the top, two bars formed a line below, and one bar passed through the middle. Hence, the numbers three and five are also involved with the bars. Three signifies the three-one God. Five is four plus one, signifying the created man plus the Creator being able to bear spiritual responsibility.
The uniting of the boards lies entirely in the gold. The boards were overlaid with gold, and the bars that were overlaid with gold united the boards. The boards were united by means of the gold. Likewise, we can be united to be the church, the house of God, because we have the nature of God. We are “wooden boards.” If we did not have the divine nature, He could not be expressed in us. If we live according to our human nature, according to the flesh, we will eventually be scattered. When we live in the divine nature, we are overlaid with gold. In this way we are full of gold, full of the expression of God’s glory, His nature. We must remember that we are all united in oneness by the gold of God’s divine nature. As a result, not only are we standing, but we are also united.
According to Exodus 27:1-8, the bronze altar in the outer court did not have any silver. The bronze altar had only bronze. Bronze signifies God’s judgment. The hangings of fine twined linen in the outer court were held and joined by hooks and connecting rods, both of which were made of silver (vv. 9-17). This means that Christ’s redemption, which issues out of God’s righteous judgment, links us to God’s righteousness, signified by the linen, for God’s testimony and expression. In other words, Christ’s redemption as our foundation brings us into God’s nature and mingles us with God so that we can be overlaid with gold. Then we can have the building. It is not enough for us to be redeemed by the Lord and have a little change in our behavior and our living, because God still does not have His building. We must be overlaid with gold. We must let God mingle Himself with us. As we are overlaid with gold, the divine and human natures are mingled together. On the one hand, we stand on Christ’s redemption as our foundation, and on the other hand, we are mingled with the divine nature. This is the way for us to become a structure, God’s building, in which there is God’s presence and His glory.
If we would express God and be full of His glory and presence, we must be joined to Him. The more we are joined to Him, the more we will have His presence. When we are all joined by the divine nature, we will be filled with the presence and the glory of God. Even though we have the human nature, we will live in the divine nature because we are overlaid with gold. We will be human beings who live by God’s life and nature. The more we live in the divine life and nature, the more we will have the atmosphere and element of gold filling our midst. Furthermore, by means of the gold we will be joined into one to become God’s dwelling place. Then God’s glory will fill our midst. This is the building up of the church, and this is also the presence of God.
Then whoever comes into our midst will sense the glory of Jehovah. When they contact us, they will acknowledge that God is among us and that this is God’s dwelling place.
