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Scripture Reading: 1 Cor. 1:24, 30; Heb. 10:1; 9:1-5, 10-11
In the previous chapter we saw the preparation of the children of Israel for serving God. Beginning with this chapter, we will see how the children of Israel built the tabernacle as God’s dwelling place and how the tabernacle was the means by which they served God.
In Genesis and Exodus, after God saved His people, He brought them to live in tents. After Noah and his family were delivered out of the city in the age of the great flood, they lived in tents (Gen. 9:21). After Abraham was delivered by God out of Babel into the land of Canaan, he lived in a tent (12:7-8; 13:18). And when the children of Israel were delivered by God out of Egypt into the wilderness, they lived in tents, encamping from place to place (Exo. 13:20; 17:1; 19:2). This is very meaningful.
Separated by the flood, Noah left the city to live in a tent (Gen. 7:11-13, 17-23). Separated through the water of the Euphrates, Abraham left the city to live in a tent (Josh. 24:2-3). Separated by the water of the Red Sea, the children of Israel went out of Egypt to dwell in tents in the wilderness (Exo. 14:26-31). These examples symbolize our being separated out of the world by God through the Lord’s death, signified by water. Today we are living in a tent and serving God as sojourners.
Everyone who was saved by God and lived in a tent also built an altar. The altar was related to their service. As soon as Noah came out of the ark, he built an altar for serving God, and he pitched a tent (Gen. 8:20). As soon as Abraham arrived at the land of Canaan, he built an altar for serving God, and he pitched a tent (12:6-8). Likewise, when the children of Israel came to the wilderness of Sinai and encamped in front of the mountain, they built an altar for serving God (Exo. 24:4-5). They did this because they knew that they could not rely on themselves to serve God. If we have a heart to serve God, we must put aside our own strength and ways, because God wants us to serve Him only by His ability and ways. If we have truly learned this lesson, we know that we cannot serve God in ourselves. Rather, we can serve God only by cooperating with God. The ability to serve God is of God Himself, and the way to serve God is likewise of God Himself. God wants us to serve Him in Christ. Hence, both the ability and the way to serve God are Christ. We need such a vision to know that the service that we render to God depends entirely on the tabernacle, Christ (John 1:14), who is the means by which we serve God.
In the Old Testament God was served by the children of Israel in the tabernacle, and He was their God in the tabernacle. The children of Israel served God in the tabernacle, and they were God’s people in the tabernacle. What God was to them and what they were to God depended on the tabernacle (Exo. 25:8-9; 29:42, 45-46). God’s dealings with them and their fellowship with God were all dependent on the tabernacle.
In the New Testament age the tabernacle is Christ (John 1:14). The children of Israel served God by means of the tabernacle, whereas we, the New Testament believers, serve God by means of Christ. What God is to us and what we are to God is dependent on Christ. It is in Christ that God is worshipped and served by us. We can worship and serve God only by being in Christ. God in Christ is our God, and we in Christ are God’s people. God’s relationship with us is in Christ. Apart from Christ, we do not have God, and we have no way to worship and serve God. Gentiles cannot understand this, just as the Egyptians could not understand the Tent of Meeting. The more we are graced, the more we understand that all our service to God is in Christ.
We need to consider the contents of the Tent of Meeting item by item. Every item has many details. All the materials and measurements have meaning and rich implications. Thus, we can only explain them briefly.
The Tent of Meeting was composed of three sections: the Holy of Holies, the Holy Place, and the outer court. The outer court was enclosed with the hangings (Exo. 27:9-19; 40:8, 33). The children of Israel had to go through the gate into the outer court of the Tent of Meeting to render their service to God. In other words, all the service of the children of Israel in the wilderness took place within the hangings of the outer court; there was no service outside the hangings. Therefore, the hangings of the outer court were the boundary for the service. By considering the materials of the hangings, we see how God draws the boundary for our service.
First, the hangings of the outer court were made of fine twined white linen, a length of one hundred cubits (27:9, 11, 18). According to Revelation 19:8, “the fine linen is the righteousnesses of the saints.” Fine linen typifies the righteousnesses of man before God. Man’s living and walk must correspond to God’s righteousness. God’s righteousness, which is His procedure, must correspond to His law and to His regulations. In other words, all service to God must be within the boundary of righteousness. The world is full of unrighteousness; righteousness cannot be seen in the world. Righteousness can be found only in the service to God. If the service in a church meets the standard of God’s righteousness, anyone who walks into a church meeting will immediately feel that he is filthy, unclean. This is because the service in this church has hangings of fine linen, which are God’s righteousness, as the realm. No unrighteousness, impurity, or darkness can be brought into God’s service. Service to God has cleanness as the boundary and righteousness as the sphere.
Second, the hangings around the Tent of Meeting were not simple. The hangings of fine linen were hung on the hooks of connecting rods. The connecting rods and the hooks were made of silver (Exo. 27:10). Silver signifies redemption (30:11-16). We are not clean or righteous in ourselves. Rather, our cleanness and righteousness come from the Lord’s redemption. Christ died for us on the cross and paid the ransom “silver” for us. We, the Adamic race, are corrupted human beings, and we do not have cleanness or righteousness of our own. Our cleanness and righteousness are hanging on the Lord’s redemption, just as the hangings of fine linen hung on the silver hooks of the silver rods. If the silver rods and silver hooks were taken away, the hangings of fine linen would not have been able to stand. The cleanness and righteousness of our service depend entirely on the Lord’s redemption (Rom. 3:24).
Third, all the pillars with the silver hooks and the silver rods were standing on bronze sockets (Exo. 27:17). Bronze signifies God’s judgment. When the children of Israel had difficulties while journeying through the wilderness, they became impatient and spoke against God and against Moses (Num. 21:4-5). Therefore, God sent fiery serpents to bite them, and many people died (v. 6). Then God told Moses to make a bronze serpent and set it on a pole so that everyone who was bitten could look at it and live (vv. 8-9). God judged the bronze serpent as a replacement for the children of Israel. The pillars with the silver rods and silver hooks were held on the bronze sockets, typifying that the Lord’s redemption is upheld by God’s judgment. The Lord became a bronze serpent to be judged by God on our behalf (John 3:14). Out of this judgment comes redemption, and because of redemption, we are cleansed and justified. We were unrighteous and unclean people, but we have been justified and cleansed because of the Lord’s redemption. The Lord’s redemption passed through God’s judgment, and His redemption becomes the sphere of our service.
The tabernacle had only one gate, and everyone who entered had to pass through this gate. A screen made of four kinds of material hung over the gate. The screen was made of blue and purple and scarlet strands and fine twined white linen (Exo. 26:36). White signifies cleanness and righteousness. Blue signifies heavenliness. Purple signifies royalty, kingliness. Scarlet signifies the shedding of blood on the one hand and redemption on the other hand, illustrating that the Lord shed His blood for us and bore our sins. Everyone who enters into the realm of service has to pass through this screen. The gate typifies the Lord Jesus. In John 10 the Lord said, “I am the door of the sheep...If anyone enters through Me, he shall be saved and shall go in and go out” (vv. 7, 9). This means that everyone who enters into the realm of being justified, heavenly, royal, and redeemed to serve God has to pass through Christ. Only the redeemed ones can enter into this cleansed and righteous realm to serve God.
After the hangings and the gate the first piece of furniture in the tabernacle was the bronze altar (Exo. 27:1-8). Once a person entered into the outer court to serve God, he encountered the bronze altar. No one who entered the Tent of Meeting to serve God could bypass the altar. In their service to God, Nadab and Abihu, the sons of Aaron, did not take the fire from the altar but rather bypassed the altar, and they died before God (Lev. 10:1-2). A person has to pass through the altar for his service to be acceptable to God. Those who serve God must place everything on the altar. Everything we bring with us for the service before God—whether it be a sheep, a bull, a cake, a sheaf of wheat, or the firstfruits—has to be placed on the altar. We cannot come before God without passing through the altar. The altar is the place for consecration, atonement, and the shedding of blood. It is the place that is acceptable to God.
In the Old Testament if someone wanted to enter the Tent of Meeting to serve God, he had to pass through the bronze altar. Everything he brought had to be placed on the altar; all the sacrifices that he brought had to be killed, placed on the altar for atonement, and burned as a sweet savor to God. Anything that was brought for service to God had to become a sweet savor to God and ashes before men. Only then could man’s offerings and service be acceptable to God.
The bronze altar in the Old Testament is the cross in the New Testament. Everyone who serves God has to pass through the cross. Our person and everything that we bring as an offering must pass through the cross. If we have a certain measure of intelligence and wisdom that can be used by God, it has to pass through the cross, to be put on the cross. The cross is a place for redemption and a place for solving every problem. The cross has dealt with sin, the world, the flesh, the old man, Satan, and every other negative thing. If we want to serve God, we must pass through the cross. Bringing our natural ability and capability before God is blasphemous and a sin against God; it is intolerable to Him. We come to the cross to receive the redemption of the blood on the one hand and the experience of death on the other hand. We can serve God only after we have passed through these two aspects of the cross.
What does it mean to serve through the cross? As an example, when we go out to preach the gospel, we should go to the Lord and say, “O Lord, cleanse me with the blood that You shed on the cross. Today I am going out to preach the gospel, and according to what I am, I am not worthy. I cannot impart life to others. Please put me into the death of the cross, putting all my natural aptitude, eloquence, capability, intelligence, and strength to death, so that You can completely live Yourself out of me.” When we pass through the cross in this way, our service will be acceptable to God.
We need to go through the cross even when we clean the meeting hall. Some people begin gossiping whenever they come together to serve, and others work according to their own ways, instead of following the instructions. Some who are unwilling to follow instructions even stop coming to the meetings. Such service has not passed through the cross and is not acceptable to God. When we clean the meeting hall, we must first pass through the dealing of the cross, saying, “O Lord, please deal with my mouth so that I speak things concerning You, instead of gossiping or speaking negative things. Lord, deal with my natural disposition and get rid of my peculiarities and individualism so that I can coordinate with others. Lord, wash away all my defilement with Your precious blood. Through Your cross tear down my natural disposition and my intact, unbroken being. Lord, break my strong and competitive disposition and my personality that does not get along with others.”
We are all peculiar. When we do not apply the cross, we all want to be the head, and we want others to listen to us. We cannot get along with foreigners, and even husbands and wives cannot get along with each other. Only those who have been broken by the cross can get along with others. Those who go into the Tent of Meeting to serve God must pass through the cross. If we do not pass through the cross, not only will our service not be acceptable to God, but it will not last long. This is because no one is acceptable to God unless his flesh has been broken by the cross. Thank the Lord that we have the altar, the cross. The blood shed on the cross cleanses us, and the death on the cross breaks us.
After the altar there was a second piece of furniture—the laver (Exo. 30:18; 40:6-7). The altar was square (38:1), whereas the laver was round. On the altar there was fire, and in the laver there was water (40:29-30). We must pass through the fire and then the water. We can serve God only after passing through the fire and water. The water in the laver refers to the washing of the life-giving Spirit (Titus 3:5; Eph. 5:26). Everyone who has passed through the altar surely has to come to the laver. After passing through the cross, we enter into the Holy Spirit. The laver did not stand alone; it accompanied the altar. The Holy Spirit is where the cross is. Whenever we pass through the cross, we touch the Holy Spirit. Whenever we pass through the dealing of the cross, we receive the washing of the life-giving Spirit.
The bronze used to make the laver was special; it came from the mirrors of the serving women who served at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting (Exo. 38:8). They were women among God’s people who had a desire to serve, and because they loved the Lord, they offered their bronze mirrors to be made into the laver. The water in the laver was for washing, and the reflection from the bronze mirror was for exposing. The laver was put at the entrance of the Tent of Meeting, and thus, when people passed by the laver, the filthiness on their face and hands was exposed. The filthiness that was exposed needed to be washed with the water from the laver. This signifies that after passing through the altar, the cross, we come to the laver, and the water inside, signifying the Holy Spirit, is like a mirror that exposes our true nature and condition, causing us to see our filthiness. Then the washing of the life-giving Spirit causes us to be cleansed.
The book of Exodus records that Aaron and his sons washed their hands and their feet with water from the laver (30:19, 21). The emphasis here is on the washing of hands and feet because hands and feet are always in contact with dust, and dust signifies the defilement of the world. The hands and feet of one who serves God always contact the defilement of the world. Hence, whenever we serve, we must pass through the cross. Once we pass through the cross, the Spirit shows us our filthiness and washes us. The cross always brings the Holy Spirit to us, and the Holy Spirit brings us back to the cross. Once we receive the cross, the Holy Spirit begins to work in us like a mirror, exposing our condition and washing us with the water of life.
Some may ask, “Were we not washed by the blood at the altar? Why do we still need to be washed by the water at the laver?” The washing of the blood washes us of our sins before God, whereas the washing of the water of life washes us of our weaknesses. For example, losing our temper is a sin that needs to be washed by the blood, but the weakness of losing our temper needs to be washed by the water of the life-giving Spirit. Those who come to the Holy Place to serve God must pass through both aspects of washing—the cross and the Holy Spirit.
These two aspects are negative in that they are for reducing our disposition, temper, insight, and worldly capability. Those who serve God need to learn lessons of life and experience being reduced. However, those who pass through the altar and the laver still cannot be acceptable to God and cannot serve Him. Those who desire to serve in the Holy Place still need something positive, that is, the addition of Christ. In other words, we have to enter into the Tent of Meeting in order to go on in our service.
In typology, the Tent of Meeting signifies at least four things.
The Tent of Meeting signifies Christ. John 1:14 says, “The Word became flesh and tabernacled among us.” The Lord Jesus is the Word who became flesh, that is, God who became man and tabernacled among men; He was the tabernacle. The principle of the tabernacle is that God came to be mingled with man. God was in heaven, and the earth was usurped by Satan. Thus, God chose a group of people so that He could have a way to come from heaven to the earth. God mingles Himself with man—this is the principle of the Tent of Meeting. The Tent of Meeting had four layers of covering. The innermost layer was the most beautiful, whereas the outermost layer was the most unattractive. The first layer, the innermost layer, was made of fine twined white linen and blue and purple and scarlet strands. The curtains of fine linen were embroidered with cherubim (Exo. 26:1). All these items signify Christ. Fine white linen signifies that Christ is clean and righteous; blue signifies that Christ is heavenly; purple signifies that Christ is royal and kingly; scarlet signifies Christ’s redemption; cherubim signify Christ’s glory, because cherubim are God’s glory (Ezek. 10:18).
The second layer was made of goats’ hair (Exo. 26:7). In the Gospel of Matthew goats refer to sinners (25:32-33, 41), indicating that Christ became sin for us. The first layer had a total of ten curtains, composed of two sets of five curtains joined to one another (Exo. 26:1, 3). In the Bible the number ten signifies completeness without defect. The second layer had eleven curtains, composed of one set of five curtains joined together and another set of six curtains joined together (vv. 7, 9). The sixth curtain was something in excess, which may be likened to a man having one hand with five fingers and the other hand having six fingers, with the sixth finger being in excess. Thus, the number six is the number of sin before God, signifying that the Lord Jesus was made sin for us.
The third layer was made of rams’ skins dyed red (v. 14). This speaks of the Lord Jesus shedding His blood for redemption. The fourth layer was porpoise skins (v. 14). Porpoise skins are very rough, signifying that the Lord Jesus had no outward attracting form or majesty, and His visage and form were marred and undesirable in man’s eyes (Isa. 53:2; 52:14). However, from God’s view, the Lord Jesus is like fine linen, very fine and very beautiful.
Some cathedrals have a splendid outward appearance but no inward spiritual or heavenly beauty. This is the reason that we do not want to build our meeting halls in an outwardly splendid way. The beauty of the church on earth is not outward but inward. The church does not have something that is visible outwardly, but it has the invisible inward presence of God. The basic principle of the Tent of Meeting is that one sees the porpoise skins from the outside and pure gold and cherubim from the inside. The beauty of the church on earth is altogether inward, for the content of the church is Christ. In the Tent of Meeting the table of the bread of the Presence, the golden lampstand, and the incense altar signify Christ as life, as light, and as acceptance by God. This is the beauty of the church. When the church has Christ as its reality, it is a testimony on earth.
I hope that the serving ones in every locality would not make the appearance of the meeting halls splendid. Instead, we should let people see the image of Christ; we should let people see Christ Himself. Our outward appearance should be simple like porpoise skins. The Lord Jesus often ministered in the wilderness, on the mountains, and by the sea, instead of in Jerusalem or Samaria. Anyone who wants to worship Him must worship Him in spirit, because God is Spirit (John 4:21-24). Outward appearance is nothing; what matters is that we have Christ in us.
Second, the Tent of Meeting signifies the saints. The Tent of Meeting had three sections: the outer court, the Holy Place, and the Holy of Holies. Man also has three parts: body, soul, and spirit. The body is the outer part, the soul is the inner part, and the spirit is the innermost part (1 Thes. 5:23). In the Old Testament God dwelt in the Holy of Holies, the innermost part of the Tent of Meeting; today God is dwelling in our spirit. Our spirit is the Holy of Holies, and we are God’s dwelling place, God’s temple, just like the Tent of Meeting (1 Cor. 6:19; 3:16).
Third, the Tent of Meeting signifies the church. Every believer is God’s dwelling place individually, and the church is God’s dwelling place corporately (Eph. 2:21-22).
Fourth, the Tent of Meeting signifies the coming New Jerusalem as God’s heavenly and eternal dwelling place. When the new heaven and new earth come, the New Jerusalem will come down out of heaven and be God’s tabernacle (Rev. 21:1-3). The tabernacle in the Old Testament is a miniature of the coming New Jerusalem. Only in the New Jerusalem will God have an eternal tabernacle among men. Gold, pearl, and precious stones are in the New Jerusalem (vv. 18-21). Every piece of furniture in the Holy Place was gold (Exo. 25:11, 23-24, 29, 31; 26:29; 37:25-26). When the high priest entered into the tabernacle, the ephod that he wore had enclosures of precious stones (28:15-20). Although the tabernacle had porpoise skins on the outside, the inside matched the New Jerusalem. This should be our condition individually and the church’s condition corporately; on the outside we may look like porpoise skins, without a splendid appearance, but inside we are full of Christ, that is, full of gold, pearl, and precious stones. Paul spoke of his bodily presence being weak and contemptible (2 Cor. 10:10), but inwardly he was full of Christ, that is, full of the elements of gold, pearl, and precious stones. If we want to serve God in the tabernacle, we must have these two conditions: a rough outward appearance and an inward glory and beauty. We can touch the inner glory and beauty only when we are in our inner man.
