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The tabernacle and the temple, as we have seen, were of three parts: the outer court, the Holy Place, and the Holy of Holies. Within the outer court the tabernacle was divided into two parts: the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. Before we see the items in the Holy of Holies, we must first look at those in the outer court and in the Holy Place.
In the outer court there were two things: the altar and the laver. All Bible students agree that the altar is the type of the cross of Christ and that the laver is the type of the work of the Holy Spirit. Have we experienced the altar and the laver? On the cross Christ was offered as our sin offering. He died for our sins, and He was even made sin on the cross for our sake, so He is our Passover. The meaning of the Passover is that He, the very Lamb of God, bore our sins and died on the cross. First Corinthians 5:7 clearly states that Christ is our Passover. The day that we believed in His death for our sins was the day of our Passover. It was on that day that we enjoyed Christ as our Passover lamb.
After we experienced the altar of the cross, immediately the Holy Spirit began to work, as signified by the laver. The laver is a place for people to be washed and cleansed. After receiving Christ as our Passover, the Holy Spirit starts His cleansing work within and without. When the people of Israel entered the tabernacle, they had to pass the altar with the sin and trespass offerings, but they also had to wash their feet and their hands in the laver to cleanse away all the earthly dirt. The Holy Spirit cleanses us from all the earthly dirt of our daily walk since the time that we were saved. If we have had these experiences, it means that we have been saved and are no longer outside the outer court. Once we are inside the outer court, we are within the boundary and realm of God. In other words, we are in the kingdom of God, for we have been regenerated, redeemed, forgiven, and now cleansed by the working of the Holy Spirit. Unless we have experienced both the altar and the laver, we can never be a real child of God. Even though we may have outwardly entered Christianity, without the experience of these two things we are still outside the kingdom of God.
But this is not all; this is just the ABCs of the Christian life. We must press in further. We have entered the main gate of the tabernacle, but there is still another veil, or gate, which we must enter. From the outer court, from the place to which we came by believing in the Lord, we need to enter into the Holy Place.
The first item in the Holy Place is the table of the bread of the Presence, a table on which the bread was shown. The bread is a type of Christ as our food, for He is the bread of life (John 6:35). Christ is the supply for our life. He is our daily manna, nourishing us that we may live before God. The table of the bread of the Presence did not merely contain one piece of bread; it was a table holding a large amount of bread. This means that we may experience an abundant supply of life, just like the manna that fell from heaven. Every morning there was an abundant supply of manna. Since we experienced Christ as our Passover and the cleansing work of the Holy Spirit, have we gone on to experience Christ as our daily manna? If we have, we know the table of the bread of the Presence in a living way.
The lampstand follows the table of the bread of the Presence as the second item. This means that Christ is the light as well as the life. John 1:4 says that life is in Christ, and this life is the very light of men. John 8:12 also states that this light is the light of life. If we can enjoy and experience Christ as life, then He will definitely become our light. When we feed on Christ, we can sense the shining within enlightening us. After we have received Christ as our Passover and have been cleansed by the working of the Holy Spirit, and after we know how to feed upon Christ as our daily manna of life, then we can sense the inner shining.
The third item, the altar of incense, follows the table of the bread of the Presence and the lampstand. This is experienced when we sense a savor, a sweet-smelling odor. This sweet odor, which is Christ in resurrection, spreads and ascends toward God. When we enjoy Christ as our food and are in His light of life, we are then in resurrection. Within us there is something sweet spreading and ascending toward God. This can never be confirmed by knowledge or by doctrine but must be checked by our experience. Do we have such experiences? Although we may not have enough of these experiences, the main issue at this time is that we have had such experiences. I can testify that it is wonderful. Thirty-three years ago I was daily and even hourly in this Holy Place. Christ was my daily manna, and I was full of Him and full of light. I was very pleased with God, and He was very pleased with me, and something of Christ within me was spreading and ascending to God as a sweet savor.
But is this the end? This is something holy, but it is not the holiest. It is good, but it is not the best. Therefore, we need to press on again in order to enter into the Holy of Holies. The first veil has to be passed through, but the second veil has to be rent. This veil is the flesh (Heb. 10:20), which must be broken before we can enter the Holy of Holies.
There was only one thing in the Holy of Holies — that was the Ark. All students of the Bible agree that the Ark is a type of Christ. Although Christ may be enjoyed as our food, as our light, and as our sweet savor toward God, yet Christ Himself is in the Holy of Holies. Christ as food, as light, and as the sweet savor are the three items in the Holy Place, but now Christ Himself has to be touched. We must not merely touch Christ as some item, but Christ Himself. This is deeper. We must make contact with Christ Himself. We have experienced Christ as our Passover and the washing of the Holy Spirit; then we have experienced Christ as life, as light, and as the sweet savor; now we have to contact Christ Himself. Very few Christians have ever entered into the Holy of Holies in order to touch the Ark, which is Christ Himself.
Now let us consider the contents of the Ark. It is quite meaningful to see that manna was in the Ark. It is not the open manna but the hidden manna; not the manna displayed but manna in the secret place. The hidden manna, no doubt, corresponds with the bread of the Presence. The difference, however, is this: the bread was shown forth, but the manna in the Ark was hidden. The bread was exhibited on the table, but the manna in the Ark was hidden in the golden pot. Not only was the manna hidden in the golden pot, but this pot was hidden in the Ark. It was doubly hidden. In the wilderness the people of Israel enjoyed the manna, but the manna that they enjoyed was public manna; it was manna fallen to the earth, not the manna hidden in the heavens. The hidden manna is Christ Himself.
We need to experience such a deeper Christ, a Christ in the secret place, a Christ in the heavenlies. This is the Christ mentioned in Hebrews 7, according to the order of Melchizedek — not according to the order of Aaron. Aaron was in the outer court, offering sacrifices upon the altar; Melchizedek is on the throne of grace in the heavenlies. We may experience Christ as our food, but this enjoyment is only in the Holy Place, and whatever we experience is immediately known by many people. Sometimes the news of our “glorious” experience spreads across the whole nation. This is nothing but the experience of the open bread of the Presence. We need to press deeper into the secret place of the Almighty in order to touch the heavenly Christ Himself.
In the Ark was also the law, the regulating and enlightening law. The law corresponds with the lampstand in the Holy Place. The law is the testimony of God, and the lampstand in both the Old Testament and the New Testament also is the testimony of God. Although the law corresponds with the lampstand, the principle is still the same: the lampstand shines forth openly, but this law is a hidden, inner, and deeper light. Many times the brothers and sisters have only the light of the lampstand. Oh, how their light shines! In one sense that is good, but in another sense they are still shallow; everything is showing forth on the surface. They need Christ to become their inner law. Those who have Christ as their living law hidden within them do not show forth much outwardly, but inwardly they know Christ in a deeper way.
Third, the budding rod was in the Ark. The rod, with sprouted buds, typifies the resurrected Christ. This corresponds with the savor of the incense, both of which signify the resurrected Christ; but again the difference is that the incense is openly expressed, whereas the budding rod is experienced in a hidden and deeper way.
Three things have been seen in the Holy Place: Christ as food, Christ as life, and Christ as the sweet savor. But the three things in the Ark of the Holy of Holies are deeper. The bread of the Presence is something showing forth, the lampstand is something shining forth, and the incense is something spreading forth — all are outwardly exhibited. But the three things in the Ark are deeply and inwardly hidden.
We are now clear that the Holy Place represents the wilderness on one hand and the soul on the other. In ancient times the Israelites were originally in Egypt. Since it was in Egypt that they experienced the passover, Egypt was their outer court. After the passover they were brought out of Egypt into the wilderness. In other words, they proceeded from the outer court into the Holy Place.
While the Holy Place corresponds to the wilderness for the Israelites, it corresponds to the human soul for the Corinthian and Hebrew believers. For example, the believers in Corinth had experienced Christ as their Passover (1 Cor. 5:7) and then passed into the wilderness in their experience, where they enjoyed Christ as their manna and as their living water (10:1-5). They too were in the wilderness, like the Israelites of old, but the wilderness for the Corinthians was the soul. By reading 1 Corinthians carefully, we see that they were soulish and fleshly. Yes, they enjoyed Christ as their food and as their light and had many wonderful experiences of Christ, but their enjoyment of Christ was in their soul. Their flesh, the veil that separates the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place, had not been broken. Their soul had not been dealt with, so they were not in the spirit, which is the Holy of Holies. They enjoyed something of Christ, but not Christ Himself.
The Hebrew Christians also were typified by the Israelites in the wilderness (Heb. 3:6-8). The apostle Paul pointed out to the Hebrew Christians as well as to the Corinthians that the people of Israel were the illustration of their own condition. Chapter 4 of Hebrews indicates that to enter into the rest is to enter into the Holy of Holies and touch the throne of grace, where Christ our High Priest is today. The Hebrew Christians enjoyed something of Christ by the teachings. First Corinthians deals with the matter of gifts, whereas Hebrews deals with the matter of doctrines. The Corinthian believers were in the soul enjoying the gifts, and the Hebrew Christians were also in the soul enjoying doctrines; therefore, they could not understand the deeper things. Since both the Corinthians and Hebrews were addicted either to their gifts or to the elementary doctrines, they had to tolerate the wilderness in their souls.
This is why the apostle Paul entreated the Corinthian believers to know the spirit and be spiritual men instead of soulish men (1 Cor. 2:11-15). And in Hebrews 4:12 he said the same thing — that they must divide, or discern, the spirit from the soul. The principle in these two books is the same. Only these two books in the New Testament refer to the history of Israel in the wilderness. The reason for this is that the Corinthians were soulish in their gifts, and the Hebrews were soulish in their doctrines. Many Christians today are soulish in their gifts, and many others are soulish in their doctrines. Without a doubt, the doctrines helped the Hebrew Christians, and the gifts helped the Corinthians. But they were all in the soul, which is the Holy Place — not in the spirit, the Holy of Holies, where they could touch and experience Christ Himself. If we are going to make contact with Him in our spirit, we have to forsake our soul. We should not remain in the soul. If we remain in the soul, we are wandering in the wilderness.
You may say, “Why is it important? I still enjoy something of Christ. Why do you say that these doctrines are only elementary? By them I know something about Christ and enjoy something of Him. You say that these gifts are stressed too much. Why, then, do I still enjoy something of Christ by the gifts?” Look at the picture in the wilderness. For more than thirty-eight years, the Israelites wandered in the wilderness, and day by day through all that time they partook of the manna. God is merciful. He is not a small God but an exceedingly generous God. Even when they were wrong, He still granted them something. But the manna, falling from the heavens daily, did not justify the wandering of the people of Israel in the wilderness. On the contrary, it proved how babyish and fleshly they were by enjoying nothing more than manna for thirty-eight years. Manna was all right for a short time, but they should have soon left it to enjoy the produce of Canaan.
The lesson for us is simply this: to have the gifts for a short time is permissible, but to insist on having the gifts all the time only proves that we are babyish. We must go on and even press on. The gifts are not our portion — Christ is the portion that God has allotted us. Before the apostle Paul dealt with the gifts in 1 Corinthians, he pointed out that Christ Himself is our portion. We are not called into the fellowship of gifts, but we are called into the fellowship of Christ (1 Cor. 1:9). God did not make the gifts our wisdom, but He made Christ our wisdom. It is through Christ that we are justified and sanctified and redeemed (v. 30). We have to thank God for His gifts, but they are only a help for a short time. Israel surely could thank God for their daily manna, but the manna was only a temporary provision until they arrived in the good land. They should not have remained in the wilderness with the manna every day for thirty-eight years. Praise God for His wisdom and mercy, and thank God for His gifts, for when we are wandering in the wilderness, we do need the daily manna and gifts to help us. But this does not justify our continuing in such a course over an extended period of time. On the contrary, it may prove that we are still young and even babyish. If we would press on, there would be no further need for us to enjoy the manna; we could begin immediately to enjoy the produce of the good land of Canaan. When we enjoy the produce of the good land, it proves that we are in the rest and in the spirit. Otherwise, we are like Israel, remaining in the wilderness of our soul. If we are not in the spirit, the cross must deal with our flesh and our soul.
Hebrews 4, 5, and 6 exhort us to press on, and 1 Corinthians 9 exhorts us to run the race. We must press on to enter the spirit in order to touch Christ Himself and experience the deeper Christ as the hidden manna, the inner law, and the secret budding rod. The writer of 1 Corinthians advised the Corinthian believers to adjust and limit themselves in relation to the gifts. They needed to learn how to use the gifts in a proper way (ch. 14). If we read 1 Corinthians carefully and objectively, we will see that the intention of the writer is not to encourage but to adjust the believers in the practice of gifts. In order to run the race in a proper way, we must know the deeper things of Christ in the spirit.
Now we all have to check where we are. Are we at the altar or the laver? Perhaps we are even outside the main gate. Have we experienced these two items in the outer court and gone on to the bread, the light, and the sweet savor? Or have we passed through the Holy Place and now are in the Holy of Holies? If so, we are in the spirit, touching and experiencing Christ Himself in the deepest way. May the Lord be merciful to us so that we may know where we are.
