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Scripture Reading: Exo. 37:1-9
Chapter 37 of Exodus speaks concerning the contents of the tabernacle. The tabernacle was the dwelling place, the house, of the Lord. Within every house, every dwelling place, there must be some contents. Within the tabernacle there were four main items as the contents. The first item was the Ark (vv. 1-9), the second item was the table of the bread of the Presence (vv. 10-16), the third item was the lampstand (vv. 17-24), and the fourth item was the altar of incense (vv. 25-28). The tabernacle was divided into two parts—the inner part and the outer part. The inner part was the Holy of Holies, and the outer part was the Holy Place. Accordingly, these four main items as the contents of the tabernacle were divided into two groups. One group was of one item, and the other group was of three items. Within the inner part, the Holy of Holies, there was only the Ark as its content. Within the outer part, the Holy Place, there were three items—the table, the lampstand, and the incense altar—as its contents. These four items as the contents of the tabernacle are full of deep meaning. In this chapter we will fellowship concerning the Ark of the Testimony.
The Ark was called the Ark of the Testimony of God (39:35; 40:3, 5, 21). Within the Ark there were the two tablets of the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments are the definition, the description, the explanation, of God. Most people consider that the Ten Commandments are merely ten laws set up by God for us to keep. This concept is not correct. The Ten Commandments are actually a full definition of God, showing us what kind of God He is. A law is always an explanation of the one who makes it. A person will make a law according to what he is. If you are a good person, you will make good laws. If you are an evil person, you will spontaneously make evil laws. Whatever one sets up as a law will be the definition, the explanation, of that person. The Ten Commandments given by God are a definition, an explanation, of God Himself. The Ten Commandments mainly show us that God is a God of holiness, a God of righteousness, a God of love, and a God of light.
The testimony of God is actually a person, who is the embodiment of God. The testimony was not only the Ten Commandments by themselves. Rather, it was the Ten Commandments within the Ark. This Ark was composed of two materials, acacia wood overlaid with gold, typifying Christ as the One with the human nature and divine nature mingled together. He is the One who is God Himself and was incarnated to be a man. The human nature and the divine nature were mingled and joined together to become one living person. Within this one living person is the law of God, that is, the definition, the explanation, of God. Christ is the testimony of God, a person who is the embodiment of what God is.
Exodus 37:1 speaks of the dimensions of the Ark: “Bezalel made the Ark of acacia wood: two and a half cubits was its length; and one and a half cubits, its width; and one and a half cubits, its height.” All the dimensions of the Ark were half measurements. The length was two and a half cubits, the width was one and a half cubits, and the height was one and a half cubits. Two and a half is half of five, and one and a half is half of three. As we have seen before, three and five are the basic numbers in the building of God’s dwelling place. Three signifies the Triune God, and five signifies the creature plus the Creator to bear the responsibility for God’s building. The dimensions of the Ark are half of the basic numbers, signifying that the Ark is a testimony. A half implies that another half is needed for a full testimony. Half a watermelon causes us to realize that another half is needed for a whole melon. Furthermore, in married life we sometimes speak of a wife being her husband’s other half. Thus, the husband and wife together make a complete unit. The fact that two and a half cubits is half of five and that one and a half cubits is half of three indicates that the Ark is a testimony. The halves imply another half, and these halves put together make up the testimony. The half dimensions of the Ark show us in figure that it is the testimony of God.
Exodus 37:2 says of the Ark, “He overlaid it with pure gold inside and outside, and made a rim of gold around it.” Christ not only manifests God Himself outwardly, but what is within Christ is also God Himself. Both what Christ manifested without and what Christ is within are God Himself. God dwells within Christ and fills Him. At the same time God is manifested upon Christ. Christ is filled with God within, and Christ is “overlaid” with God without.
However, the form of the Ark was not of the gold. The form, the shape, of the Ark was of the acacia wood. The wood formed the shape of the Ark. The manifestation was the gold, but the form was the wood. In the Gospel of John we may see both the form of Christ and the manifestation of Christ. The form of Christ in this Gospel is of a real man, signified by the acacia wood. As a man He was thirsty; He came to a woman, asking for a drink of water (4:7). As a man He was wearied on His journey (v. 6). Once He wept (11:35), and once He washed others’ feet (13:5). He was altogether in the form of a man. He has the form of the acacia wood.
However, in the Gospel of John the manifestation of Christ is not of a man. The manifestation of Christ is God. He was God manifested in the flesh (1 Tim. 3:16). As a real man, in the form of a man, He came to a woman, asking for a drink of water, but the manifestation of this man and the content of this man were something not merely human. Someone very unique came to that woman that day. This very Someone was God manifested. On the one hand, He was in the form of a man, but on the other hand, He was the manifestation of God. He was filled with God. He is the Ark made of acacia wood and overlaid inside and outside with gold. He is the unique One, the wonderful One, with the real form of real humanity but as the manifestation of God and with the content of God. What He is filled with is God Himself, and what He manifests is God Himself yet in the form of a man. The form of the Ark was of the wood but the appearance and the content of the Ark were of gold.
The Ark was the unique content of the Holy of Holies. The Holy of Holies was ten cubits long, ten cubits wide, and ten cubits high (Exo. 36:9-15; cf. 1 Kings 6:20). It was a cube of ten cubits. This means in type that it is something altogether perfect. Within this perfect place there was the Ark as the testimony of God. This testimony is a living person as the embodiment of all that God is. This living person is composed and constituted with the human nature as His form and with the divine nature as His content and manifestation. Within Christ as the testimony of God are the very constituents of God, represented by the Ten Commandments of the law, and upon Him is the appearance of God.
Exodus 37:6-9 tells us that upon the Ark there was a cover, which was called the mercy seat, the expiation cover. It was the cover, but it was also a seat. This seat, this cover, was the very spot where man could meet God, and God could meet man. God and man met together at this seat as the cover of the Ark.
If the Ark were uncovered and one were to come into the Holy of Holies, that is, into the very presence of God, he would immediately find the Ten Commandments, which would show him where he was and testify what he was. He would find the commandment, “Honor your father and your mother” (20:12). This commandment would right away testify what he was. He may immediately be condemned by this commandment because he may not have been one who honored his parents. The open Ark would condemn him.
However, what is depicted in these verses is not an open Ark. All the commandments were covered by the expiation cover, and this cover became the seat where God could meet man, and man could meet God. The blood of the sin offering was brought into the Holy of Holies to be sprinkled on the expiation cover (Lev. 16:14, 15). Without the covering and without the shedding of blood to redeem us from our sins, the testimony of God, which is Christ Himself to testify what God is and to show us what we are, would be a condemnation to us. But, praise the Lord, there is a covering, there is a redemption. He died on the cross, shedding His blood to redeem us and to provide a cover. By this cover we could meet God, and God could meet us, with all the problems between man and God having been resolved. With this cover, with this seat of mercy, there is the reconciliation between God and man.
Upon the expiation cover there were two cherubim (Exo. 37:7-9), signifying the glory of God (Heb. 9:5). The glory of God is the manifestation of God. God manifested is glory. We may compare glory to the shining of electrical lights, which is the glory of the electricity. When God shines Himself out, He becomes the glory. God is manifested in Christ, so upon Christ you can see the glory of God.
The two cherubim signify the glory of God, that is, the manifestation of God. This manifestation, this glory of God, is the testimony. Exodus 37 tells us that there was not only one cherub but two cherubim. Two is the number of testimony. The glory of God becomes the testimony of God, and the testimony of God becomes the glory of God. Upon Christ and with Christ, there is the manifestation of God, which is the glory of God, and this manifestation as the glory of God is the testimony of God. This truth is very rich and very deep in thought and meaning.
With the Ark there are three requirements that must be fulfilled in order that we may meet with God. The first requirement is the glory of God. If one would come into the Holy of Holies, he would immediately see the two cherubim, representing the glory of God. The second requirement is the holiness of God, signified by the gold. The cherubim were made of gold. The Ark was covered with the golden expiation cover, and the Ark itself was overlaid with gold. Gold represents the holy nature of God. If one looked into the Ark, he would see the Ten Commandments. The Ten Commandments represent what God is, and they become the requirement of God toward us. The requirements of the Ten Commandments are simply the righteousness of God.
The glory of God, the holiness of God, and the righteousness of God become the requirements that must be fulfilled before we can meet with God. Without meeting these three requirements, we could never meet God and stand before Him. Rather, we would die before Him. God is a God of glory, a God of holiness, and a God of righteousness. At the Ark, the two cherubim require something of us, the golden nature requires something of us, and the Ten Commandments require something of us.
Praise the Lord, upon the Ark was also the expiation cover, upon which the redeeming blood was sprinkled. This settles all problems and meets all the requirements. The seat of God, in principle, is a seat of judgment (Rev. 20:11-12). But at the Ark the seat of judgment becomes a seat of mercy. Without the shedding of blood, the Lord Himself as the testimony of God—with the glory of God, the holiness of God, and the righteousness of God—could only be a judgment seat to us. But because of the shedding of His redeeming blood, His redemption for us, He became an expiation cover to us. Therefore, at the expiation cover, by His redemption through the shedding of His blood, we can meet God, we can fellowship with God, we can come into contact with God, and we can even become one with God.
