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Scripture Reading: Exo. 12:3, 7b-8; 13:6-7; 16:14-15; John 6:51; Exo. 17:6; John 7:38-39; 1 Cor. 15:45b; Exo. 40:34-38; John 1:14; 1 Cor. 12:12; Heb. 9:2-5; Lev. 1:1-2a
In the last chapter we saw something concerning God’s dispensing in the book of Genesis. That part of God’s dispensing was from Adam through Joseph. Let us spend some time to see how the divine dispensing progressed in Genesis. In Adam there was just a little of the dispensing. There was the receiving of the promise of the gospel related to the seed of woman (3:15). Then Adam was covered by the skin of the sacrifice (v. 21). This indicates that Adam participated a little bit in Christ’s redemption. From Adam God’s dispensing progressed to Abel. In Abel we can see more of the dispensing of God. After being redeemed he was brought back to God and into the divine fellowship with God (4:4), and he suffered martyrdom for God’s testimony (vv. 5-8). The dispensing continued with Enosh, who began to call upon the name of the Lord, the eternal One (v. 26). He enjoyed the very sustaining of the eternal life. He began to live not by his fragile nature but by the eternally existing One.
From Enosh the dispensing of God went on to Enoch. Based upon all the dispensing into the past three persons, Enoch began to walk and to live with and in the Triune God (5:22) so that he was taken away from death (v. 24). After Enoch came Noah, who not only walked and lived with God (6:9) but also worked together with God (v. 14). He had both his living and his working in common with God. He worked with God and for God. What he worked on and entered into was just God’s salvation, the ark (7:7). The ark was a type of the practical and present Christ. Many Christians only know a historical and distant Christ. But according to the picture that we see with Noah, we should have a present and practical Christ whom we can enter into, not just a historical Christ or a Christ of distance. And we should work together with God on Christ. Christ is our ark, and in the local churches we are building up this ark. It may sound strange to us to hear that we should build up Christ. But look at Noah. He was building up the ark, and as today’s Noahs, we also should build up Christ.
Today we are saved, but we still need to work on Christ. Noah also was saved before he began working on the ark. If he were not saved, how could he have been charged to work together with God? By the time God came and charged Noah to build the ark, he was already walking with God and in the eyes of God was a righteous man in that age (6:9). This indicates that he was saved even before he began to build the ark. Since he was already saved, why did he need to build the ark? He needed further salvation from the corrupted world. Have we been saved? Do we realize that we need further salvation?
Paul told us in Philippians 2:12 that we need to be obedient and to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling. Although we have been saved, we still need to work out our salvation. God’s salvation is not so short or so brief or so simple. God’s salvation has a long span. We have to enter into God’s salvation and to go through from one end of God’s salvation to the other end. Today we are in the passage of God’s salvation. We have entered into this passage. Now we are going through this passage, and our going through is our working. While Noah was working to make the ark, he was passing through. The more he built the ark, the more he passed through God’s salvation. Eventually, he entered into what he worked out (Gen. 7:7). Dear saints, the very Christ whom we are building up will become our future salvation. One day under God’s sovereignty we will enter into the very Christ whom we have built up.
We can see other points concerning Noah. We can see that the ark is Christ. Christ, of course, is the embodiment of the Triune God. When Noah entered into the ark, he entered into the embodiment of the Triune God. Not only did he enjoy God, but he also entered into the Triune God. In principle, the children of Israel did the same thing. Noah built the ark, and the children of Israel built the tabernacle. Noah entered into what he had built, and the children of Israel also entered into the tabernacle that they built. Just to have God as our enjoyment is not adequate. We must have God as our ark or as our tabernacle into which we can enter. This is why the New Testament tells us that we should abide in Christ (John 15:4-5). When Noah entered into the ark, he abode there; he dwelt there. When the children of Israel entered into the tabernacle, they also dwelt there.
If you work together with the Lord in your daily experience, you surely build up something of Christ, and eventually you get into what you have built up, and you dwell in this Christ as your enjoyment. Then you abide in Christ. Many Christians realize that John 15 speaks of abiding in Christ, but not many know what it means to abide in Christ. First, you need to build up Christ. If you do not build up Christ, you have no Christ to abide in. Doctrinally this may sound strange, but experientially it is right. You have Christ, but do you abide in Christ? You may have Christ in doctrine and yet have no Christ in experience to abide in. Just to have Christ in doctrine means nothing. You need to have Christ in your experience. Just to believe in Christ is sufficient for you to have Him, but to abide in Christ needs some building up. You have to build up Christ for you to abide in Him. What does it mean to build up Christ? By your experience you know. You have to love Him. You have to talk to Him by calling on His name. You have to live by Him. You have to pass through all the experiences of Adam and Abel and Enosh and Enoch, and then you have to come to be Noah. Then you will have something built up.
If you spend from Monday through Saturday loving the Lord, fellowshipping with Him, living by Him, and walking together with Him, surely on the Lord’s Day you would have the deep sensation that you are in Christ. You would have a practical and present Christ for you to abide in. But if, on the other hand, you spent from Monday through Saturday not loving the Lord and not fellowshipping with Him, not living in Him, and not walking with Him, even if you wanted to abide in Him today, you would feel that He is absent. In your experience He is not with you. You have Him in doctrine, but you do not have Him in experience. Although you might desire to abide in Him, it seems that you do not know where He is. This would mean that for the past week you did not build Christ. You did not work on the ark. So when the flood came, you had no ark to enter into. But when you love Him and fellowship with Him and live by Him and walk with Him day after day and hour after hour, you build Him up in your experience. You build up a Christ in your experience for you to enter into as your salvation. We all need to build up Christ.
With Noah, God’s dispensing reached a certain high point. But it was still not sufficient. So God went on from Noah to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob with Joseph. When God’s dispensing came to this complete person, God could get a house. The vessel came into view. This complete man could be transformed into a prince of God, a person absolutely one with God (Gen. 32:28). This complete person was able to express God. He could bear the name of God, and he could reign for God on this earth (41:40-41). So at the end of Genesis there was a person who was one with God, bearing God’s name, expressing God, and reigning with God and for God. Up to this point God had surely dispensed Himself quite much into His chosen people. This is wonderful. But at the end of Genesis there was only an individual to contain and express God; there was no house of God. God had only gained one complete person.
God desired a corporate person, a house. So after Genesis there is Exodus. In Exodus God gained a house. At the end of Genesis God gained a complete person, thereby expressing Himself, but at the end of Exodus God gained a tabernacle, representing a corporate people expressing God. At the end of Genesis there is an individual Israel, but at the end of Exodus there is a corporate Israel. There is a collective people of Israel to be God’s tabernacle. This tabernacle was Bethel, the house of God. By that time God had infused Himself into His people to make them His dwelling. Up to that point God was in the tabernacle because He had infused Himself into His people in a more complete way.
In this chapter we need to see how God could reach such a point in His dispensing. First, the people of Israel were saved by the passover lamb, which typifies the redeeming Christ (Exo. 12:3). Do not forget that the Lord Jesus Christ is the very embodiment of God. The Lamb of God is the embodiment of the Triune God. John 1 says that in the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God. This Word became flesh and tabernacled among us (vv. 1, 14). This very One is the Lamb of God (v. 29). How wonderful! We have the Word, God, the flesh, the tabernacle, and the Lamb. The Lamb is the totality of the eternal Word of God in the beginning, of the flesh, and of the tabernacle. We all have been saved by such a Lamb who is the embodiment of the Triune God.
We have not only been saved, but we are also partaking of the Lamb. It is not a matter of just being saved by Christ but also a matter of partaking of Christ. To partake of Christ means to eat Him. A number of times in John 6 the Lord indicated that we should eat Him. (vv. 35, 50-51, 53-54, 56-58).
When the children of Israel received the passover, they struck the blood of the lamb and were saved (Exo. 12:7). Following that, they ate the meat of the lamb (vv. 7b-8a). Through their eating, the redeeming Lamb got into them, and eventually the redeeming Lamb became them. This is why they were so strong and vigorous and bold to walk out of Egypt. They were full of energy. To be full of energy means to be full of the Lamb. Today many Christians have been saved by Christ, but they have remained so weak and not vigorous, because they have not partaken of Christ. They have not eaten Christ. How about you? You must be vigorous! How can you be vigorous? By partaking of Christ. By partaking of the Lamb. You have to eat the Lamb. The Lamb whom you can eat is the crucified Christ. Through His crucifixion Christ was “cooked” so that you may eat Him.
At the passover the Israelites also ate unleavened bread made of barley or wheat (v. 8b; 13:6-7). Barley or wheat bread is produced from grains that have passed through death and entered into resurrection. The unleavened bread typifies the resurrected Christ. Christ was not only crucified but also resurrected. He was crucified to be our Lamb, and He was resurrected to be the unleavened bread. We have to enjoy the resurrected Christ.
Why, since they had eaten the lamb, did they still need to eat unleavened bread? Let me illustrate in this way. After you were saved, you partook of the crucified Christ, and He became your inner energy to give you the strength and boldness to walk out of the world. But you were not so strong to overcome sin. You were very vigorous to walk out of this world, but you could not overcome your temper or your besetting sin. You had the strength to get out of the world, but you did not have the power to overcome the sinful things. I have seen many dear Christians who came out of the world yet who were still beset by sin. They could not overcome their temper. They could not overcome their lust. They were beset by certain sins. They needed the unleavened bread. This is bread that has nothing to do with sin. It is the bread that overcomes sin. This is the resurrected Christ. When the resurrected Christ becomes your food in your experience, this resurrection life overcomes sin. He who is begotten of God does not sin (1 John 3:9). To be begotten of God is to have the resurrection life. Only the resurrected Christ is the life that overcomes sin. When you live on this unleavened bread, you will live a life without leaven. Eating the Lamb enables you to walk out of Egypt, but it is unleavened bread that enables you to live a life without leaven. To get out of the world you need the crucified Christ. This is why Paul could say that to him the world was crucified, and to the world he was crucified (Gal. 6:14). This is the experience of the crucified Christ. But for you to live in newness of life without any leaven, you need the resurrected Christ. You need the unleavened bread.
After the children of Israel went into the wilderness, they ate manna (Exo. 16:14-15; John 6:51). Manna was a kind of heavenly food, which rained from heaven. It did not come from this earth. That is a type of the ascended Christ. The Christ in the heavens comes to us all day long as the heavenly food. First you enjoy the redeeming Christ and then the crucified Christ. Afterward, you enjoy the resurrected Christ and eventually the ascended Christ. The redeeming Christ redeems you, the crucified Christ energizes you to get out of Egypt, the resurrected Christ enables you to live a life without sin, and the ascended Christ becomes your daily supply to keep you living every day. This is the Christ who is in the heavens and yet who also comes into you every day. We all have this kind of experience. Every morning when we spend a few minutes with the Lord, we have the sensation that Christ in the heavens is raining upon us. We pick up the manna to eat. Manna is the ascended Christ in the heavens raining upon us for our daily supply.
In the wilderness the children of Israel needed manna for food, but they also needed something to drink. So there was living water flowing out of the cleft rock (Exo. 17:6; John 7:38-39). This signifies the pneumatic Christ, the very Christ who is the Spirit. So we have the redeeming Christ, the crucified Christ, the resurrected Christ, and the Christ in ascension. Such a Christ became a life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45b). This is the pneumatic Christ. This pneumatic Christ becomes our drink, our living water, which quenches our thirst. In Exodus we have to see the redeeming Christ, the crucified Christ, the resurrected Christ, the Christ of ascension, and the pneumatic Christ. Hallelujah, this is our Christ! Such a Christ is for the building up of the tabernacle.
After experiencing the passover, eating of the heavenly manna, and drinking of the living water, the children of Israel arrived at Mount Sinai. Today due to the background, many Christians do not like the word Sinai, because that was where the law was given. The law was given on Mount Sinai, but the law was only a part of what was given. There the design of God’s dwelling place was also given. The children of Israel built up a tabernacle. The law as God’s testimony was just a little part within the tabernacle. Eventually, those people, who were redeemed, who partook of the lamb and the unleavened bread, the manna, and the living water, also partook of the riches of the tabernacle with the offerings, which typify the corporate Christ, that is, Christ and the church (Exo. 40:34-38; John 1:14; 1 Cor. 12:12). The tabernacle is too rich.
Not only did they take partake of the tabernacle itself, but they partook of the tabernacle with all the offerings. Look at the riches of all the offerings, and look at the riches within the tabernacle. Both inside and outside of the tabernacle were many riches. Outside of the tabernacle on the altar there was the burnt offering, the meal offering, the peace offering, the sin offering, the trespass offering, the free will offering, the wave offering, and the heave offering. All these are different aspects of the riches of Christ.
Yet all these riches are outside of the tabernacle. After enjoying all these riches outside on the altar, we need to enter into the tabernacle to enjoy the riches within the tabernacle. Within the tabernacle there was the table of the bread of the Presence, the lampstand, the incense altar, and the Ark. Within the Ark there were further riches: there was the law as the testimony of God, there was the hidden manna within the golden pot, and there was the budding rod of Aaron. My, what riches! All these items are the riches that God is dispensing into us in His dispensation.
By enjoying Christ as all the offerings outside of the tabernacle, we are able to enter into the tabernacle. Today the tabernacle is the proper church life. Within the tabernacle, that is, within the church life, there is bread on the table. This is much better than manna. Upon the table are rows upon rows of bread. This is Christ to be our life supply. This is much richer than manna. Then there is the lampstand with the light shining. This light is the light of life (John 1:4). First, we enjoy Christ as our life supply, our daily food. Out of this enjoyment we receive light. The more we enjoy Christ as life, the more we have the shining of the light. In the tabernacle Christ shines not just by one lamp but by seven lamps. And these seven lamps are the seven eyes of the Lamb. The seven eyes of the Lamb are the seven lamps before the throne of God. These are the seven Spirits of God (Rev. 4:5; 5:6). In the church life we have the rich enjoyment of Christ on the table. Out of this rich enjoyment of Christ, we have the seven Spirits of God shining. The lampstand comes out of the table of the bread of the Presence. First comes the bread and then the light.
After the light there is the Ark as God’s testimony. In the Ark there is the deeper enjoyment. The hidden manna is there. In Revelation 2 the Lord promised the overcomers that they would eat of the hidden manna (v. 17). This is not the public manna under the sky but the manna hidden in the golden pot. The hidden manna is concealed within the golden pot, the golden pot is concealed within the Ark, and the Ark is concealed within the tabernacle. There are three layers of concealing. How deep is this hidden manna! Some Christians today enjoy the manna under the sky. A few enjoy the bread in the Holy Place. It is the overcomers, the saints who seek after the Lord to the uttermost, who enter into the Holy of Holies and even into the golden pot where they enjoy Christ as the hidden manna.
Here there is such a deep enjoyment of Christ to strengthen you to bear the testimony of God. The testimony of Jesus is quite requiring and quite demanding. Sometimes you may consider that in the local churches the demand is too high, and you cannot fulfill it. But right by the side of such a testimony there is a golden pot, that is, the divine nature, holding the hidden Christ for your enjoyment. You do not need to fulfill the requirement of the testimony by yourself. The hidden Christ in the divine nature affords you the hidden manna to strengthen you to fulfill the testimony.
When you enjoy the hidden Christ in such a deep way, there will be the budding. What does it mean to bud? It is to blossom, to spread, the resurrection life. Then there will be the glorification. The budding, the blossoming, is the glorification.
Up to this point, dear saints, God would be dispensed into His chosen people to the uttermost. We all need to see this. This is God’s dispensing in His dispensation. I love the dispensation, but without the dispensing the dispensation means nothing. We need the dispensing of God Himself in His dispensation. Throughout all the centuries God has been carrying out His dispensation to dispense Himself into us. We do not want to simply learn about His dispensation; we want to enjoy His dispensing, that is, He Himself being dispensed into our being.
Then we would have the inner testimony, the hidden Christ. We would have the budding rod blossoming to express God. Up to this point the Triune God will have become one with His chosen people. Such a tabernacle becomes God’s oracle where we can enjoy God’s speaking. The local churches are God’s oracle where God’s speaking is going on every day. In Christianity we can hardly hear God’s voice, but in the recovery the Lord has an oracle. This is the church life. It is the place for God to speak. Immediately after the tabernacle was completed in Exodus 40, Jehovah called to Moses and spoke to him out of the tabernacle (Lev. 1:1). Today the tabernacle is the proper church life where there is a kind of infusing with God’s constant and instant speaking. We enjoy His constant speaking, and His speaking always brings us His presence. This is the blessing of the Lord’s recovery.
At the end of the book of Exodus there is the tabernacle as a corporate expression. When the tabernacle was completed, the glory of the Lord descended, overshadowed the tabernacle, and filled it up (40:34-35). This speaks of a corporate people being mingled with the glorious God. The tabernacle was a symbol of the people of Israel. Actually, it was not the tabernacle made of wood and other materials that was God’s dwelling place. That tabernacle was only a symbol that the children of Israel were God’s dwelling place.
When God’s glory descended, overshadowed, and filled the tabernacle, it was a symbol that the entire people of Israel were mingled with God’s glory and enjoyed that glory. Many times in our meetings we too have the sensation that God’s glory is overshadowing and filling us. The hall is filled with glory, and we are under the saturation of the glory. This is God’s dispensing.
This kind of infusing glory is also God’s leading. Exodus 40 tells us that the glory upon and within the tabernacle was God’s leading to the children of Israel. When the cloud of glory was taken up, they went onward. When the cloud of glory was not taken up, they did not journey (vv. 36-38). The leading was just the glory of Jehovah. Today the Lord’s leading is His glory with the church. The best way to be clear about what you should do or where you should go is to enjoy the glory in the church. In the church God’s glory breaks forth, and you have a “highway” to travel on. You are so clear about your future, your destiny, your human life. The best place to be is on the highway of the church life. The best thing to do is to carry the church life. Our leading and our guidance are just the glory of the Lord, overshadowing and filling up the church life. As long as you are kept in the church life, you are in the Lord’s leading, and you are on the highway of God’s purpose. Here you enjoy the tabernacle with all its riches.
