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Scripture Reading: Exo. 40:2, 9, 34, 36-38
At the end of Exodus we see a profound and wonderful picture of the Divine Trinity. Most readers of the Bible probably do not consider that there is a picture of the Trinity in this brief portion of the holy Word. We need to pray for the proper understanding in our apprehension of the following verses. Exodus 40:2 and 9 say, “You shall raise up the tabernacle...And you shall take the anointing oil and anoint the tabernacle.” Verse 34 says, “Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of Jehovah filled the tabernacle.” Verses 36 through 38 say, “Whenever the cloud was taken up from over the tabernacle, the children of Israel set out on all their journeys; but if the cloud was not taken up, they did not set out until the day that it was taken up. For the cloud of Jehovah was upon the tabernacle by day, and there was fire in it by night, in the sight of all the house of Israel on all their journeys.” The crucial figures in this picture that show us the Divine Trinity are the tabernacle, the anointing oil, the cloud, the glory, and the fire.
In Exodus 40 we see the entire, completed tabernacle for the first time. Immediately after the tabernacle was raised up, the cloud descended to cover it, and the glory entered to fill it. For the tabernacle to become an entire, completed, living, and genuine tabernacle, it needed not only to be constructed and raised up but also to be covered by the cloud and filled by the glory. When the tabernacle was raised up, covered by the cloud, and filled with the glory, it became a full type of the Triune God. John 1:14a says, “The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us.” Therefore, the type of the tabernacle was fulfilled in Christ, the second of the Trinity, God the Son incarnated. According to 1 Corinthians 10:1-2 and 12:13, the cloud that descended and covered the tabernacle is a type of the Holy Spirit, the third of the Trinity. That the descending cloud typifies the Spirit is also confirmed by John 1:32, which says, “John testified, saying, I beheld the Spirit descending as a dove out of heaven, and He abode upon Him.” John saw the Spirit descending upon Christ, who was identified as the fulfillment of the tabernacle in verse 14 of the same chapter. Furthermore, verse 14b says, “We beheld His glory.” This glory corresponds to the glory that filled the tabernacle. Thus, the picture of the tabernacle covered by the descending cloud and filled with the glory of Jehovah in Exodus 40 was fulfilled in Christ in John 1.
Because the tabernacle is a type of Christ, the cloud represents the Spirit, and glory is God Himself expressed, the picture of the tabernacle covered by the cloud and filled with glory embodies the entire Triune God in figure. The day that the tabernacle was raised up, the cloud descended and covered it, and the glory entered and filled it was a great day in history. Never before had the Triune God been embodied on the earth. As human beings created by God, what more could we want? The tabernacle covered by the cloud and filled with glory was a great blessing to the children of Israel, but today we have the reality of what they had only in figure.
In order to understand what is recorded and revealed in John 1, we must compare it with the picture in Exodus 40. If we consider these two chapters together, we will see the light. The embodiment of the Triune God was God’s goal throughout Genesis and Exodus. It took more than twenty-five hundred years from the creation of man to reach the goal of raising up the tabernacle. In Genesis 1:26 God said, “Let Us make man in Our image.” Thus, the Triune God conferred with Himself to produce an expression of Himself in man. However, God did not reach this goal with Adam or any of the forefathers in Genesis. Therefore, God went on in Exodus to deliver His chosen people out of their fallen state and bring them to Mount Sinai, where the tabernacle was produced as the first fulfillment of the desire that God expressed in creating man.
Such a profound revelation requires that we be built up in the understanding of the spiritual things and in the apprehension of the inner revelation of the holy Word. We thank the Lord that He has shown this to us. It is easy to see the positive examples of Enosh calling on the name of the Lord, Enoch walking with God, Noah working together with God, Abraham being called and following God, and Joseph living a holy and victorious life. However, it is not so easy to see the significance of the tabernacle in Exodus 40. We need to see that at the end of Genesis God had not reached His goal. Joseph was dead and in a coffin in Egypt. There was no remaining expression of God. Joseph was humanly good, but the tabernacle is divinely wonderful.
There is no record in the Bible of how the children of Israel reacted when the tabernacle was erected, the cloud descended, and the glory entered, but I believe that many were beside themselves with joy. Today we have something much more profound. If we are not beside ourselves, this indicates that we have not seen the revelation. When we read John 1, we need to see that Christ as the fulfillment of the tabernacle is with us today, the covering Spirit is upon this tabernacle, and the glory is filling this tabernacle. This revelation of the Triune God is not mere doctrine. We are seeing a vision of the living Trinity. For years people had told me that when traveling by road between San Francisco and Los Angeles, I should take the Pacific Coast Highway to see the view along the coast. When I finally took this route several years ago, I could not believe the beauty of the scenery. The descriptions that I had heard did not compare to the actual view. I even stopped at several points and got out of the car to better appreciate the scenery. Similarly, we need not only to hear others describe what they have seen of the tabernacle but also to see for ourselves Christ as the tabernacle covered by the Holy Spirit and filled with the glory of God. As long as we see this scene, we will be joyful, regardless of whether others who do not see criticize us. Some are self-righteously content with their traditional concepts and inherited doctrines concerning the Trinity, but we want to see the revelation in the holy Word.
The anointing oil used to anoint the tabernacle in Exodus 40:9 typifies God the Spirit compounded with the Triune God, Christ’s humanity, Christ’s death with its effectiveness, and Christ’s resurrection with its power. This anointing oil is the compound ointment described in Exodus 30:23-25: “Take the finest spices: of flowing myrrh five hundred shekels, and of fragrant cinnamon half as much, two hundred fifty shekels, and of fragrant calamus two hundred fifty shekels, and of cassia five hundred shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, and a hin of olive oil. And you shall make it a holy anointing oil, a fragrant ointment compounded according to the work of a compounder; it shall be a holy anointing oil.” The olive oil signifies the Spirit of God. The three units of five hundred shekels each, the measure of the spices, signify the Trinity, the three of the Godhead. The middle unit of five hundred shekels was split into two halves of two hundred fifty shekels each, signifying the second of the Trinity, who was “split” in crucifixion as the cleft rock (John 19:34; Exo. 17:6). The one hin of olive oil signifies the unique God, and the four spices signify Christ’s humanity, since the number four denotes God’s creatures (Ezek. 1:5), of which man is the head (Gen. 1:26). Myrrh, a spice used in burial, typifies Christ’s death, and cinnamon typifies the sweetness and effectiveness of His death. Calamus, a reed growing in marshy ground, typifies the resurrection of Christ, and cassia, used to repel insects and snakes, typifies the power of Christ’s resurrection. The anointing oil was used to anoint every part of the tabernacle (Exo. 30:26-30; 40:9-11, 13). In other words, the entire tabernacle within and without was painted with this oil. The anointing oil corresponds to the Spirit after Christ’s resurrection, the Spirit in the Epistles. John 7:39 says, “The Spirit was not yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.” After Christ’s resurrection the Spirit was compounded to include the Triune God, Christ’s humanity, Christ’s death with its effectiveness, and Christ’s resurrection with its power.
The cloud that was upon the tabernacle by day is the Spirit, and the fire that was in it by night is also the Spirit. As the anointing oil, the Spirit first anoints us, and then as the pillar of cloud and fire, He leads and guides us. Romans 8:14 says, “As many as are led by the Spirit of God, these are sons of God.” The cloud in the day and the fire in the night refer to the same guiding Spirit. God ordained that there would be day and night (Gen. 1:5). In the night we need the Spirit as the enlightening fire, and in the day we need the Spirit as the guiding cloud.
The children of Israel, numbering about two million, journeyed with the tabernacle. The children of Israel moved with the tabernacle whenever the cloud was taken up. As the tabernacle was carried along, the cloud was always above it. The cloud and the fire never left the tabernacle, because even in type there can be no separation between the Spirit and Christ; They are always together. Strictly speaking, the journey of the children of Israel was actually not their journey but the journey of the tabernacle. When the cloud moved, they moved with the tabernacle, and when the cloud remained, they remained. The children of Israel journeying according to the move of the cloud was for the move of the tabernacle, which typifies Christ. Today the Spirit’s guiding and enlightening are for the Lord’s move. For instance, we may desire to be married, but the goal and purpose of our “journey” should be not marriage but Christ.
The glory mentioned in Exodus 40:34 is God Himself. The Bible does not record anything about the physical appearance of this glory; it only says, “The glory of Jehovah filled the tabernacle.” It is only by experience that we can apprehend what the glory of God is today. Most days we do not experience much glory, but sometimes in our Christian experience we sense that we are filled with glory. When this is our experience, it is difficult to describe. How wonderful it would be if we were filled with glory all the time! When we show a fallen countenance to our spouse, we are certainly not filled with glory. However, we cannot be glorious simply by being cheerful toward our spouse. We should not try to be glorious. If we exercise to enjoy the Lord in every situation, we will be filled with glory.
The Triune God was embodied in Christ as the tabernacle for the purpose of dispensing Himself into His redeemed people for their enjoyment of all the riches of His being. The tabernacle and the offerings, which also typify Christ, show that the Triune God mingles Himself with His people to dispense all the riches of His being into them for their enjoyment and their portion as their eternal inheritance so that they might become His enjoyment and His portion as His inheritance for eternity. Ephesians 1:11a says, “In whom also we were designated as an inheritance.” The footnote for the phrase designated as an inheritance in the Recovery Version says, “On the one hand, we have become God’s inheritance (v. 18) for God’s enjoyment; on the other hand, we inherit God as our inheritance (v. 14) for our enjoyment.” Verse 18b mentions “the riches of the glory of His inheritance in the saints.” The footnote for the word inheritance says, “First, God made us His inheritance (v. 11a) as His acquired possession (v. 14b) and caused us to participate in all that He is, all that He has, and all that He has accomplished, as our inheritance (v. 14a). Ultimately, all these will become His inheritance in the saints for eternity.”
In type, the children of Israel enjoyed and possessed the Triune God in the divine mingling and dispensing, and the Triune God enjoyed and possessed them. The proper living, work, and move of God’s redeemed people in the Old Testament were altogether according to this mingling and dispensing. The New Testament reveals the full reality of the divine dispensing and mingling of the Triune God with His redeemed ones. This revelation is especially clear in the Gospel of John, Revelation, Ephesians, and Paul’s other Epistles. Although the two Epistles to the Corinthians present a somewhat negative picture of the church’s condition, the revelation in these two books concerning the Divine Trinity is profound. In 2 Corinthians 13:14 Paul writes, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit be with you all.”
Matthew also has a profound word concerning the Trinity. Matthew 28:19 is a unique word in the Bible. It says, “Go therefore and disciple all the nations, baptizing them into the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit.” Although it seems that this verse lists three names, the noun name in this verse is singular in number, indicating that there is one name for the Divine Trinity. In a footnote on this verse, Dr. Scofield says, “Father, Son, and Holy Spirit is the final name of the one true God.” According to the revelation in the New Testament, it is clear that God is eternally triune, but this was not made entirely clear in the Old Testament times. Perhaps this is because the Triune God had not yet been processed. The Son had not passed through incarnation, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection, and the Spirit was not yet consummated (John 7:39). After the Lord’s resurrection, He spoke a clear word to the disciples concerning the Trinity in Matthew 28:19.
Ephesians is composed with the Divine Trinity as its basic element and structure. Every chapter of Ephesians reveals the Triune God. Thus, Ephesians is a clear explanation and definition of the tabernacle in Exodus 40. The tabernacle typifies Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God for God’s redeemed people to enter and enjoy all the inward contents. Furthermore, the Triune God entered into His people in type through the offerings, which typify Christ. Before the tabernacle was the altar with all the offerings. No one could enter the tabernacle without first passing through the altar by partaking of the offerings there. This signifies that Christ first enters into us as the offerings, and our enjoyment of Christ as the offerings ushers us into Christ as the tabernacle for us to fully enjoy the Triune God. Through this picture we see the Triune God’s mingling with and dispensing of Himself into His redeemed for their enjoyment and their portion as their inheritance, which causes them to become God’s enjoyment and portion as His inheritance for eternity.
