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Scripture Reading: Exo. 40:17-35; Heb. 9:2-5
The Bible is a record of God’s expression. From the first page to the last page the expression of God is revealed. In the last chapter we pointed out that the first time the Bible mentions man, it says that he was created in the image of God (Gen. 1:26-27). This indicates that man was intended to express God. Then God put this man before the tree of life, showing that God’s intention was for man to eat of the tree of life so that he might enjoy and partake of the divine life of God.
In Genesis there are nine persons as landmarks of the human race. The first, Adam, was the landmark of man’s fall. Man got fallen in Adam. Following Adam was the second man, Abel, who was the landmark of man being brought back to God according to the divine way of salvation. The third landmark was Enosh. Not many Christians have paid attention to this person. Enosh means “frail, mortal man,” one who is easily broken and easily put down. Because he realized that he was weak and fragile, he began to call on the name of the One who is the great I Am, Jehovah. This is the One who was and who is. This is the One who is the To Be. This is Jesus. In the Old Testament He was called Jehovah, and Enosh was the first in human history who called upon this all-inclusive One, this great To Be. He trusted in this One for his life. The fourth landmark was Enoch, who walked with God and lived a life together with God. The fifth landmark was Noah, who not only walked with God but also had a common interest with God and worked with God. God’s interest was his interest. From these five landmarks we can see where man should be.
In Genesis there are four other important persons: Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Joseph. These four persons actually depict one complete person. In Life-study of Genesis we pointed out that the three generations of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are really three parts of one complete person. Joseph should not be considered as a fourth part but as a kind of annex to Jacob. In the father, Abraham, there was the calling by God out of the idolatrous world into the sphere of the full enjoyment of the riches of God. He was called out of Ur of the Chaldeans into Canaan.
In the son, Isaac, we can see a person who inherited and possessed and enjoyed all the riches of God typified by the good land. The grandson of Abraham, Jacob, shows a person who was chosen and selected by God to a destiny, that is, to be transformed into a prince of God. By his natural birth he was a supplanter, a heel holder. But such a one was transformed into a prince of God to execute God’s government on this earth. This was fully represented by Joseph. Eventually, Joseph as an annex to Jacob, or Israel, the prince of God, reigned over the entire world and supplied them with food. So in this complete person you can see God’s choosing, God’s calling, God’s redemption, and God’s transformation to execute His government on this earth. The goal of all God’s doing is to have man to express Him.
With these nine great men you cannot see a clear view of God’s expression until this transformed person, Israel, was reproduced manyfold so that his descendants formed a people. The people of Israel as a collective people were used by God to express Him. God brought His people out of the tyranny and slavery in Egypt to Mount Sinai, where they received the revelation to build up the tabernacle of God on this earth. After the tabernacle was completely built up, God’s glory came down from the heavens in a visible way to dwell with man. This is marvelous! On this earth there was a people among whom God had gained a dwelling place to express Him in His expanded glory. Up to the end of Exodus, God’s expression was quite complete.
Consider how big the universe is. Within the universe there is a globe that is good for life. It is good for the vegetable life, for the animal life, for the human life, and even for the divine life to be expressed through the human life. Eventually, in Exodus the divine life came and dwelt in its splendid glory among the human life, even visible to the human eyes. Again I say that by the end of Exodus God’s expression on this earth was fully complete, and that expression was traveling. It traveled through the wilderness for at least thirty-eight years. A people on this earth did not live on anything from the earth. While they were traveling, they lived on manna, something from the heavens. Early in the morning they gathered manna, and they drank of the living water that came out of the rock that followed them.
Among them there was the dwelling place of God. God dwelt in that tabernacle, and God overshadowed that tabernacle. In other words, God was fully expressed in that dwelling place among the human race on earth. From Exodus to Malachi there are still thirty-seven more books in the Old Testament. What is the content of those books? The content in the first stage was the tabernacle, and in the second stage it was the temple. The tabernacle was a precursor of the temple. The tabernacle or the temple was the center of the history of these thirty-seven books from Leviticus to Malachi. And what was the tabernacle or the temple? That was the expression of God among the human race on this earth. It is so easy to remember the entire Old Testament. All you need to remember is nine great men plus the tabernacle and the temple. Eventually, those nine great men issued in God’s dwelling place. This is the way to understand the Bible with a heavenly view. The Old Testament tells us about nine great men and a dwelling place of God. The dwelling place of God was just God’s expression as an issue coming out of those nine great men.
The New Testament begins not with nine great men but with one unique man. This man is wonderful. He is both God and man. He is God in the heavens becoming a man on this earth. So this man joined the heavens to the earth and brought the earth up to join the heavens. He was surely the ladder that Jacob saw in his dream (Gen. 28:12). This ladder is the very gate of heaven and also the house of God, Bethel. While He was on this earth, He was tabernacling. The tabernacle, the first stage of God’s dwelling place in Exodus, was not grounded but was traveling. When the Lord Jesus was on this earth, He also was traveling. He traveled from Galilee to Judea, from Nazareth to Bethlehem, from Jerusalem to Samaria. He was really a traveling tabernacle, but He was God’s dwelling place. As God’s temple, He was destroyed, and He raised Himself up in the way of enlargement. In His resurrection He raised us up with Him. Do not think that you were saved in the twentieth century. You were resurrected in the first century when Christ was resurrected. All of us were resurrected with Him and became the temple.
The temple was on a bigger scale than the tabernacle. When the Lord Jesus was the tabernacle traveling on the earth, He only traveled in a small country, the Holy Land. He was limited. He was the infinite God in eternity, yet He became a finite man. But after He raised Himself up in an enlarged way, that tabernacle became a temple. This temple today is all over the globe. This is the church. In the four Gospels God was manifested in the tabernacle, but from Acts to Revelation God is expressed in a temple. So the New Testament is also easy to remember. It contains a unique man, who was God’s tabernacle, and the church, which is the enlargement of this unique man, as God’s dwelling place on the earth.
The nine great men in the Old Testament issued in God’s dwelling place for God’s expression. But that was still not the real thing; that was just a model. In the last chapter we pointed out that the Old Testament and the New Testament reveal the same thing. The Old Testament reveals the model, and the New Testament reveals the reality.
In Exodus 40:17-33 there is a depiction of all the details of this model. In these seventeen verses one clause is repeated seven times: As Jehovah had commanded Moses. This means that the model was of seven sections. Whenever one section was completed in its rearing up, that section ends with this word: As Jehovah had commanded Moses. The first section was that of raising up or erecting the tabernacle. First, the foundation was laid, not with cement blocks but with one hundred silver sockets, each of which was made of one talent of silver. A talent weighs over one hundred pounds. It may be that at least four persons were needed to carry each socket. This means that four hundred young men were needed. They had to be matured; otherwise, how could they carry the silver sockets as the foundation?
Second, upon the sockets there were forty-eight standing boards plus four pillars in the front. Each of the forty-eight boards stood on two sockets, so there were ninety-six sockets for the forty-eight boards and four sockets for the four pillars. The standing boards became the walls of the tabernacle. A curtain hanging over the boards became the ceiling of the tabernacle. Above the ceiling there were three more layers of covering, which were the roof.
In the second section the Ark was put into the tabernacle, and in the Ark were placed the two tablets of the Ten Commandments, which were called the Testimony, the pot with the manna, and Aaron’s rod that budded. The Ark was then covered with a lid, which the King James Version translates as “mercy seat” but which is better rendered “propitiation cover.” Two cherubim were upon this covering. The Ark was put within the tabernacle, and the veil was hung in place. This is the second section.
Then the table for the bread of the Presence was brought in and put on the north side of the tabernacle. This was to display the bread. Afterward, the lampstand was put on the south side of the tabernacle opposite the table. This was the fourth section. Then the incense altar was placed in the middle of a triangle formed by the table, the lampstand, and the Ark. The sweet incense was burned upon the incense altar to please God. Finally, the screen was set up to close the entrance. This was the fifth section and completed the tabernacle on the inside.
In the sixth section an altar was set up. This was an altar of burnt offering, which was in the front of the court. Finally, a laver was set up to wash the hands and feet of all the priests. All these things were done according to what Jehovah had commanded Moses. Once these things were finished, God descended in His glory, first to overshadow the entire tabernacle and second to enter into the tabernacle and fill it with His visible glory (v. 34). God was manifested in the tabernacle to make it the expression of God among His people on the earth.
What are the contents of the tabernacle? From God’s side the raising up of the tabernacle begins from the west end, where the Ark is. But from our side it begins at the east end, where the altar is. When we come into the sphere of God’s dwelling, the first thing we have to contact is the altar. The altar deals with our sin and our sins. Here we offer the sin offering to deal with our sinful nature, our indwelling sin. Here we offer the trespass offering to deal with our trespasses, transgressions, faults, offenses, and wrongdoings. Unless the sin within us and the outward sins are dealt with, we are not allowed to go further to reach God. Where is God? God is at the Ark. First, we were wandering out in the world, but one day we heard the gospel and desired to contact God. Once we entered into the sphere of God’s dwelling place, we reached the cross typified by the altar. We heard the gospel that Jesus the Son of God died for our sins. We heard that He is the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world. There at the cross, at the altar, we said, “Lord Jesus, thank You. You are my Savior. You died for my sins. You died for me, a sinner.” After such a confession we were saved; we were forgiven; we were redeemed; we were justified.
At the altar there is not only the sin offering and the trespass offering but also the burnt offering and the meal offering (v. 29). The burnt offering was only for God. It was the food to satisfy God’s hunger. We are not the only ones who want to eat. Our hunger should remind us of God’s hunger. We need to serve Him with some food by offering Christ. What does it mean to offer Christ as food to God? Actually, in our Christian experience we have realized this to some extent already. When we repented at the cross of Christ and received Him as our Savior and Redeemer, this was our taking Him as our trespass offering and sin offering.
Simultaneously, we may realize that we can never please God and satisfy God. Then we would say, “Lord Jesus, You not only died for me and for my sins, but You also died to satisfy God. You have pleased God for me.” This is to offer Christ as the burnt offering. I believe that a good number of newly saved persons have had such a prayer.
Exodus 40 does not mention all the offerings; it only mentions the burnt offering and the meal offering (v. 29). After the burnt offering there was the meal offering, which was food for God and also for the serving priests. After we have been saved, we are no more sinners. Rather, we are priests serving God. Outside the outer court we were sinners. When we got into the outer court and we experienced Christ as our trespass offering and sin offering at the cross, the altar, we got saved. Right away the sinners became priests. So we need to eat the priestly food, not the secular food. We need to eat Christ. Christ is not only for God’s satisfaction but also for our satisfaction. We eat Him, and this is the meal offering. Although we may not have received this kind of teaching in the past, we surely have had the experience to some extent.
When we get saved at the cross by receiving Christ as our trespass offering and sin offering, we realize at the same time that He is the One who satisfies God and pleases God. But at the same time we also have the realization that we are satisfied. That is why we are so happy. We are happy not only because our sins are forgiven. We are happy because we have something within. That something is the meal offering. Christ as the meal offering feeds us and strengthens us to serve God. Eventually, there is the peace offering, which is good for fellowship. With the peace offering there is a kind of feast for the offerer and for the priest who offers the offering and also for all the other parties who are there and for God. This is very much like the New Testament fellowship that we have at the Lord’s table. In a sense, the Lord’s table is a peace offering.
Is this not wonderful? But I am sorry to say that most Christians have only enjoyed Christ as their trespass offering and sin offering. Many do not even know what is the difference between the trespass offering and the sin offering. This is the poor situation of today’s Christians. Few realize at the time of their conversion that Christ is their burnt offering to God for God’s satisfaction, and Christ is the meal offering for them to feed God and to feed themselves. Very few realize how much they need the peace offering and how much they need to come into the fellowship with the saints around the Lord’s table to enjoy Him with God and before God and with one another. What most Christians know is just the so-called holy communion as a kind of sacrament and form.
After their conversion at the cross, many Christians enjoyed Christ for a time but then gradually went back to the world. They would not go on. They would not go forward. This is why the Lord’s recovery is needed. To go forward to enter into the tabernacle means to enter into God’s expression. This matter of going on has been mostly lost among Christians. As long as you remain outside the tabernacle, God has no expression. You have to get into the tabernacle to have God’s expression. The cross is not God’s expression. The cross is an usher to bring you into God’s tabernacle, God’s expression. Today very few Christians who have enjoyed the cross of Christ would go on and go forward to enter into God’s expression. The expression has been lost. This is why there is the need of the recovery. God’s expression should be recovered to you. This means that you should go on from the cross into the tabernacle, into the expression of God.
Once we go forward into the tabernacle, we will reach the table, which has the heavenly bread, the bread of life. On the table are many rows of bread, signifying Christ as our life and life supply.
At the altar in the outer court you can enjoy the meal offering, but it is not so enjoyable as eating of the bread of the Presence at the table. At the altar in the outer court there was not a table, but within the tabernacle there was a table. In John 6 we are told that Christ is the bread of life (v. 35), the bread from heaven (v. 50), the bread of God (v. 33), the living bread (v. 51), and the true bread (v. 32). This means that Jesus is the bread on the table for us. You must realize that it is not in the outer court. It is within the tabernacle. It is within the expression of God. Unless you are in the expression of God, you could never enjoy Christ as the bread on the table.
Once you have been satisfied by eating of the bread on the table, you travel further. The enjoyment of life always turns you to light and always issues in light. When you enjoy Christ, right away you have light within. “In Him was life, and the life was the light of men” (1:4). When you enjoy Christ as your life supply, you not only get the satisfaction but also the enlightenment, the light. During the past few months many of us have practiced every morning to take the Lord as our sin offering and trespass offering at the altar. The sin offering and trespass offering bring us to the enjoyment of Christ as our daily life supply. When we enjoy Christ as our daily supply, right away we are under a kind of enlightening. Whatever we do is not in darkness. We live our daily life under the light. This is from the inner life. The inner life within us becomes our inner light.
From the shining of this light we go onward to enter through the veil and to the Ark, which typifies Christ Himself. Within the Ark are the two tablets of stone with the Ten Commandments, the pot with the hidden manna, and also Aaron’s rod, which budded in resurrection. This means that within Christ is the divine law, the hidden manna, and the budding life. At this Ark you enjoy Christ so much!
You should have had this kind of experience already. When you take Christ as your sin offering and your trespass offering at the cross in the morning, you would be ushered during the day into the enjoyment of Christ. This enjoyment would issue in light so that you are living and walking in the light. This enlightenment then brings you to the Ark, to the inner Christ. This is to enjoy Christ in the inner chamber, which is the Holy of Holies. At least a few times you have experienced that when you were walking and living under the light, you were full of regulations within. You were regulated by commandment one, commandment two, commandment three, and so forth. All the Ten Commandments were within you as the law of life regulating you. On the one hand, you like to be here because it is so wonderful. But on the other hand, you do not like to be here, because you are so restricted. When you enjoy Christ in this way, you are really bound. You are not free to lose your temper and be mad with your wife. You are not free to comb your hair the way you want to comb it. Within you there are so many commandments. This is the inner Ten Commandments. In the church life we do not have even one regulation, but when you enter into the veil, you enter into the Ten Commandments. But do not consider that this is too hard, because close to the Ten Commandments as the law of life there is a pot with hidden manna to supply you. So to be bound by the Ten Commandments is a kind of enjoyment because you can enjoy the hidden manna. Also when you enjoy the hidden manna, something buds. The dead rod buds in life.
This kind of deeper experience would then send you to the incense altar to join with Christ and to be one with Him in His commission to intercede for God’s economy. You would experience Christ’s heavenly intercession. This is not to pray for a good job or a good car or a bigger house. This is to intercede with Christ for God’s move on this earth.
We have to pass through all the things and to stay with Christ at the incense altar, where we intercede with Christ and where we have Christ as the sweet incense burning unto God. This not only satisfies God but pleases God. At the offering altar in the outer court we satisfy God, but at the incense altar we please God. On the altar there is food, and on the incense altar there is the sweet smell of incense ascending to God to please Him.
This is the contents of God’s expression. When this is the situation in the church life, the glory will overshadow and fill the church to make the church a glorious expression of the Triune God. In this expression the very Triune God makes Himself one with His chosen people. This expression is a mingling of divinity with humanity. The Triune God has been wrought into His redeemed people to make Himself one with His people and to make His people one with Him. With the boards of the tabernacle, the wood and the gold are joined together. The wood is overlaid by the gold. This means that the wood gets into the gold. This shows us that the Triune God is mingled together with His redeemed people.
This expression is a mutual abode where God abides in His people, and His serving people abide in Him. This is like the Lord’s word in John 15:4: “Abide in Me and I in you.” This is a kind of mingling. This mingling of divinity with humanity is God’s expression on this earth. Such an expression has been missed and neglected by today’s Christianity. Today the Lord is going to recover the real mingling of divinity with humanity so that God may have an expression on this earth.
If we would participate in God’s expression, or be God’s expression, we must have the full and adequate experience of Christ. At the altar our experience of Christ is mostly objective. There are some subjective aspects because at the altar we could eat part of the meal offering and part of the peace offering. But when we enter into the tabernacle and come to the table, we can experience Christ altogether subjectively. At the altar the experience is partially without and partially within. But when we enter into the tabernacle and go to the table, we enjoy Christ altogether inwardly, taking Him as our food and life supply.
From the table we go to the lampstand, where there is not the outward shining but the inward shining. It is the shining of Christ from within us. Then we go to the Ark. You can see that we are progressing more and more inward. We are entering not only within the tabernacle but also within the veil. We enter even into the Ark itself until eventually we have the inmost experience. Here we experience Christ in the deepest sense. We not only have some light but also have the inner law of life regulating us inwardly. We get the supply in our inner life from the manna within the golden pot. The manna is not only within the tabernacle but also within the veil, within the golden Ark, and even within the golden pot. So it has four layers of covering. In order to enjoy this hidden manna, we have to enter into that very spot. The enjoyment of Christ as the hidden manna was promised by the Lord to the overcomers (Rev. 2:17). We must be such lovers and seekers of the Lord so that we can be overcomers to enjoy His riches in such an inward way in order to bud with life to exercise His authority.
At this point we will then be one with Him at the interceding altar to intercede for God’s move on the earth. We will intercede for the move of the tabernacle as it travels through the wilderness and enters into the good land to the very spot God intends it to be. The real experience of Christ is the way for us to enter into God’s expression. This is what God wants to recover today. This is the very thing that has been lost through all the centuries. God has no intention to merely pick up small things, certain doctrines, or certain practices. God wants to recover the unique item in His recovery — to express Himself within His people to the fullest.
