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Scripture Reading: Exo. 38:21-31
Exodus 38:21 says, “This is the sum of the things for the tabernacle, the Tabernacle of Testimony.” The tabernacle is called the Tabernacle of Testimony. As we have seen, the Ark is the Ark of Testimony (40:3). The purpose of the Ark was to be the testimony of God. The purpose of the tabernacle is the same in principle; it is also for the testimony of God. The tabernacle is the enlargement of the Ark. In size there was a difference, but in principle and in nature the tabernacle was the same as the Ark. The purpose of the church is to express God in the same way that Christ expresses God. In this respect, the church in principle and in nature is exactly the same as Christ. Christ is the testimony of God, and the church is also the testimony of God in Christ. The church is the increase of Christ, the enlargement of Christ. The Ark is the Ark of Testimony, and the tabernacle is also the Tabernacle of the Testimony of God.
The Ark could be the testimony of God because of its contents. The contents of the Ark were primarily the two tablets of the Ten Commandments, the law. The law with the commandments is the testimony, the definition, the explanation, and the expression of God. Without the law, the Ark could not have been the testimony of God, because without the law, there is no definition, or explanation, of God. The Ark could be the testimony of God because the explanation, the definition, of God was within it. Christ is the testimony of God because with Him there is the definition, the explanation, and the expression of God.
In the same principle, the tabernacle was the testimony of God because of its contents. The contents of the tabernacle were first the Ark, then the three items in the Holy Place: the table of the bread of the Presence, the lampstand, and the incense altar. With these contents the tabernacle was equipped and qualified to be the testimony of God in Christ. Without them the tabernacle would be empty and could never be the testimony.
The reason that the church could be the testimony of God in Christ is because the church is full of Christ as the Ark, the incense altar, the table of the bread of the Presence, and the lampstand. Because the church is full of Christ as all these items, it is the testimony of God in Christ. Exodus 37 mentions these items as the contents of the tabernacle. Following this, in chapter 38, the tabernacle is called the Tabernacle of Testimony. The tabernacle could be a testimony of God in Christ because of its contents. Likewise, the church could be a testimony of God in Christ because the church has Christ as its contents.
Exodus 38:21-31 goes on to speak of the primary materials used for making the contents of the tabernacle. The materials mentioned in this portion are the gold, the silver, and the bronze. In chapter 35 we saw that all the materials with which the tabernacle and its furniture were made are types of the different aspects of Christ experienced by us. When we experience Christ in a certain aspect, we have something of Christ as a surplus to offer to God. The materials typify the aspects of Christ experienced by us and the surplus of that experience, which we bring to God as an offering. The surplus becomes the material with which the tabernacle and its furniture are constructed.
The church could be built up only with the different aspects of Christ experienced by us and brought as a surplus to God. If we do not experience Christ in an adequate way and to a full extent, there will not be sufficient material for the building of the church.
The record of the sum of the gold, silver, and bronze indicates that there was a surplus (38:24-29). With the gold there was the surplus (v. 24). With the silver there was also a surplus. Verse 25 says, “The silver of those who were numbered of the assembly was one hundred talents and one thousand seven hundred seventy-five shekels, according to the shekel of the sanctuary.” In addition to the one hundred talents there was a surplus. The bronze was also in the same principle (v. 29). The record of these quantities indicates that the materials signify the things of Christ experienced by us. They are not the things created by God in predetermined amounts. If they were merely something created and determined by God, there would be no surplus. One hundred talents would be one hundred talents, without a surplus. But with each of these items, the sum of the weight contains a surplus, a remainder, representing something experienced by us and offered to God.
If the people of Israel had not possessed enough silver and had not been able to offer much, the materials for the building of the tabernacle would have been lacking. The amount of the weight of the silver was according to the number of the people. Verse 26 says, “A beka a head, that is, half a shekel, according to the shekel of the sanctuary, for each one who was enrolled among their numbering, from twenty years old and upward, for six hundred three thousand, five hundred fifty men.” From each person came half a shekel. If there had been fewer people, the amount of the silver would have been less. In that case, the silver would not have been sufficient for the tabernacle. The less experience the people of God have, the less material there will be for the building of the Lord’s house. Less experience will produce a shortage. The material for building the church comes from the experience of Christ by the people of God. If we do not have much experience, the material for the building of the church will be in shortage.
Exodus 38:24 through 31 mentions first the gold, then the silver, and finally the bronze. However, in our experience the gold does not come first. On the contrary, the bronze comes first, then the silver, and then the gold. In the Scriptures bronze signifies in type the tests, the trials, the judgment, and even the temptations that Christ suffered. His whole life was a life full of tests, trials, and temptations, and at the end, He was judged by God on the cross. These sufferings became the very foundation upon which Christ accomplished redemption for us. Christ accomplished redemption by being tested, tried, tempted, judged, and eventually crucified on the cross. Therefore, after the bronze comes the silver, signifying the redemption of Christ. This redemption comes from the judgment, trials, and tests suffered by Christ. Without these sufferings, Christ could never have accomplished redemption for us. The silver must come after the bronze. After the silver is the gold; that is, after the experience of the redemption of Christ is the experience of the divine nature of God. The redemption of Christ brings the divine nature into our experience. As long as we have been redeemed by Christ, we have the divine nature of God (2 Pet. 1:4). At the time when we believed into Christ as our Redeemer, we received the divine nature.
The bronze, the silver, and the gold become the material for the building of the house of God through our experience. These aspects must be experienced by us in order to become the material for the building of the church. We must experience the tests, the trials, the temptations, and the judgments that Christ suffered. We must also experience the redemption of Christ, and we must experience the divine nature of God. We can possess something of Christ as the bronze and offer it to God as material for building His house by experiencing Christ in the aspect of His test and trials. We have to be tested, tried, and judged in Christ. Many times God will put us into tests, trials, and sufferings in order that we may experience something of Christ.
In the same principle, we must experience the redemption of Christ. Much is involved with Christ’s redemption. Sin was dealt with by the cross, by the shedding of the Lord’s blood (John 1:29; 1 Pet. 2:24). The world, the evil one, the kingdom of darkness, and the old man with the natural life have also been dealt with on the cross (Gal. 6:14; Heb. 2:14; John 12:31; Rom. 6:6). We need to experience the Christ who was crucified, shedding His blood to wash away our sins and dealing with the old man, the natural life, the world, the kingdom of darkness, and all things that are against God and His purpose. This experience of the redemption of Christ becomes something that we can offer to God as the material for the building up of the church. If we do not experience the redemption, the cross of Christ, in such a full and adequate way, we will not have sufficient silver to offer to the Lord for His building.
As we have pointed out, the amount of silver offered was according to the number of the people of Israel (Exo. 38:26). If there had been fewer men numbered, there would not have been enough silver for the material for the tabernacle. If there is not a sufficient number of believers among us, there will be a shortage of the material for the building of the church. We need to increase the number of the people by bringing others to experience the redemption of Christ. We have to preach the gospel to increase the number, bearing the spiritual children and bringing them into the church, the household of God. If there are a sufficient number of people experiencing the redemption of Christ, there will be enough silver as the material for the building of the tabernacle. The silver as the material for the building of the tabernacle absolutely depends on the number of people. If we do not preach the gospel to increase the number of the believers by begetting spiritual children, we will be too few in number, and there will be a shortage of silver as the material for the building of the church.
If we experience Christ’s redemption, we will also experience the divine nature of God. If we have the silver, then we will have the gold. If we experience the cross, the redemption of Christ, the crucifixion of Christ with the crucifixion of the old man, the old nature, the natural life, the world, the evil powers, and the kingdom of darkness, we will be in a position to experience the divine nature. We will have the gold that we can offer to the Lord for His building.
Exodus 38:29-31 says, “The bronze of the wave offering was seventy talents, and two thousand four hundred shekels. And with it he made the sockets for the entrance of the Tent of Meeting...and the sockets around the court and the sockets of the gate of the court and all the pegs of the tabernacle and all the pegs around the court.” Verse 27 says, “The hundred talents of silver were for casting the sockets of the sanctuary and the sockets of the veil; one hundred sockets for the hundred talents, a talent for a socket.” The primary use of the bronze was as a base, a foundation. Likewise, the silver was also mainly used for the base and support of the tabernacle. The hangings surrounding the outer court were based on bronze sockets (v. 31), and all the boards and the pillars of the tabernacle were based on the silver sockets and had silver hooks and connecting rods (vv. 27-28). This indicates that all the experiences of the tests, the trials, the temptations, and the judgment that Christ suffered, and all the experiences of the redemption of Christ are something for the foundation, for the base, of the building of the church. The more we experience the tests and the trials that Christ suffered, and the more we experience the redemption that Christ accomplished, the more we will have something for the foundation of the building of the church.
We must have all the experiences of the suffering of Christ and of the redemption accomplished by Christ as the foundation for the building of the church, and we must also have the experience of God’s nature as the manifestation of what God is. When people come to the church, the first thing that they should see is the manifestation of God’s glorious nature, typified by the gold upon the boards of the tabernacle. Whoever would go into the tabernacle would immediately see the shining gold. Likewise, anyone who comes into the church must see something of God’s divine nature shining among us, the manifestation of the divine nature as typified by the gold. This manifestation of the divine nature is based upon the experiences of the sufferings of Christ and the redemption accomplished by Christ. We have to experience Christ as the bronze, the silver, and the gold so that we may have something to offer as material for the building.
In the picture of the tabernacle the foundation of the outer court is bronze. Outside the tabernacle, in the outer court, were the attacks of rain and wind. To stand against and suffer every kind of attack, the foundation of the outer court needed the bronze as its material. However, under the boards of the tabernacle itself there were sockets of silver. This does not indicate the suffering but rather the redemption of the cross. From the redemption of the cross comes the divine nature of God. All the gold that overlaid the boards was based upon the silver sockets. In the experiences of the believers, the silver follows the bronze, and the gold follows the silver. The redemption of Christ comes from the sufferings of Christ, and the experience of the divine nature is based upon the redemption of Christ.
