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Scripture Reading: Exo. 36:20-38
Exodus 36 speaks of the building of the boards and the pillars of the tabernacle. The boards and pillars composed the main structures of the tabernacle. Although in principle the tabernacle is a type of Christ (John 1:14; 2:19-21), Christ is more fully typified by the Ark of the Testimony (Exo. 37:1-9). Because the tabernacle was built not with one board but with forty-eight boards joined together, it also signifies the church as the dwelling place of God, composed of many believers who have been joined together (Eph. 2:21-22). Strictly speaking, the Ark typifies Christ, and the tabernacle typifies the church.
The Ark was composed of acacia wood, signifying the human nature of Christ, overlaid with gold, signifying the divine nature of Christ. The boards of the tabernacle were also made of acacia wood overlaid with gold. Because the boards were constructed of the same two elements as the Ark, they are the enlargement, the expansion, of the Ark. The church, which is the Body of Christ, is the enlargement, the expansion, of Christ as the Head. The two natures of Christ, the human nature and the divine nature, are joined together and mingled as one. When this principle of mingling is enlarged, the church is produced. The church, in principle, is the same as Christ—the human nature is mingled with the divine nature to become one entity. The church is composed not only of God Himself, nor merely of human nature alone. It is an entity of two different natures mingled together and joined into one, as typified by the acacia wood overlaid with gold.
The measurements of the boards are very significant. Exodus 36:21 says, “Ten cubits was the length of a board, and one and a half cubits, the width of each board.” In principle, ten cubits may be divided into two sections, each consisting of five cubits, just as the Ten Commandments are divided into two groups of five each, and the ten curtains are divided into two sections joined together (vv. 8, 10). As we have seen before, five signifies the number of responsibility. Furthermore, two indicates a testimony (Matt. 18:16). Therefore, the length and the materials of the boards signify the responsibility for the testimony of God’s building, taken by us who have been regenerated with the nature of God.
The width of the boards was one and a half cubits. Since the basic numbers of God’s building are three and five, we may realize that one and a half is simply half of the number three. This signifies that one board is not complete in itself. It must be completed by another board. Two boards joined together complete the number three. This principle is quite clear in the Scriptures; in Luke 10:1-16 the Lord sent the disciples out by twos. As members of the church none of us should be individualistic. Individualism is against the principle of the Body, the house of God. By ourselves, individually, we can never be complete. We are merely half a unit. We all must be related together to be complete. In principle, we must go in pairs.
Exodus 36:22a and 24 say, “Each board had two tenons joined to one another...And he made forty sockets of silver under the twenty boards, two sockets under one board for its two tenons and two sockets under the next board for its two tenons.” Beneath each board there were two tenons. Here again is the number two, the number of testimony and confirmation. We need both the testimony and the confirmation. A testimony is given by us to others, and confirmation is something received by us from others. We must be confirmed by others. If one board were to have only one tenon, it would be easy for it to turn and even fall down. One board with two tenons is more stable, not easily turning or falling. Some brothers or sisters may easily be turned or changed. Last month they may have been doing quite well, but now they have changed and are no longer doing well. It seems that they have only one tenon instead of two. If we have two tenons, we will be stable. It will not be easy for us to have such a change or to fall because we are always confirmed by others and can give testimony to others.
With each tenon there was a socket made of silver (v. 24). Silver represents redemption. The redemption of the Lord is the base on which the building of God is laid. These silver sockets were very weighty. According to 38:27, each socket was of a talent of silver, the equivalent of about one hundred pounds. The tenons of the boards were placed into the sockets of silver. Forty-eight boards had two sockets each. Another four sockets were cast for the four pillars that bore the inner veil (36:36). This totaled to one hundred sockets of silver. One hundred in the Scriptures signifies fullness and completion. The Lord said that some would bear fruit thirtyfold, sixtyfold, and one hundredfold (Matt. 13:8), indicating fruit-bearing in fullness. The redemption of the Lord as the base of the tabernacle is in fullness. There is nothing short; Christ’s redemption is absolutely full and complete.
On the south side of the tabernacle there were twenty boards (Exo. 36:23), and on the north side there were twenty more (v. 25). There were two sets of twenty, again signifying a testimony. Furthermore, twenty itself is two times ten, signifying the testimony of completeness. Twenty may also be figured as four times five. Four is the number of the creatures in God’s creation. Man as a created being takes up the responsibility to have a testimony by being regenerated, by having God added to him.
Exodus 36:27 through 29 say, “For the rear of the tabernacle westward he made six boards. And two boards he made for the corners of the tabernacle in the rear. And they were double below, and at its top they were completely joined to a single ring; thus he did to both of them for the two corners.” At the rear of the tabernacle there were six boards, totaling nine cubits in width (v. 27). These may be divided into three pairs, each pair being three cubits wide. At the two corners of the west side there were another two boards (vv. 27-29). These two boards were made in a peculiar and special way. According to the Hebrew, verse 29 says that they were “doubled from below” for strength. According to the Scriptures, the corner is crucial for God’s building (Matt. 21:42). The corner joins the two sides of the wall. It stands to meet all kinds of situations and to withstand all kinds of attacks. Therefore, the corners must be strengthened. In the church some are like the boards at the corner. If you took away such ones, the church would be weakened. The church could be joined together and stand strongly because of these “corner boards.”
The six boards plus the two corner boards totaled to eight. Without the corner boards, the other boards would number to six. By itself, six does not have a positive connotation. The number six is the number of the created and unregenerated man, for man was made on the sixth day. With these two corner boards, however, the number comes to eight. Eight signifies resurrection. The strengthening power of the church is the resurrection power.
The total of all the boards of the tabernacle was forty-eight. Forty-eight is composed of six times eight. All the created men, typified by the boards, are now in resurrection. The boards signify men, who were created on the sixth day but are now in Christ, that is, in resurrection. Their number has become eight.
Verses 31 through 34 speak of the bars for the boards of the tabernacle. The bars were made of the same material as the boards, that is, of acacia wood overlaid with gold. They signify the Holy Spirit as the uniting Spirit, who joins all the members of the Body into one (Eph. 4:3). The revelation of the Spirit as acacia wood overlaid with gold is very deep. With the Spirit, there is the divine nature and there is also the human nature. The Spirit of God before the Lord’s incarnation was different from the Spirit after the Lord’s incarnation. Before the Lord’s incarnation, the Spirit was mainly the Spirit of God (Gen. 1:2). With the Spirit of God, there was only the divine nature. But after the incarnation, the resurrection, and the ascension of Christ, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of God, is now the Spirit of Christ (Rom. 8:9). Christ has not only the divine nature but also the human nature. Therefore, the Spirit of this Christ is the Spirit with two natures, the divine nature and the human nature mingled together.
John 7:38-39 says, “He who believes into Me, as the Scripture said, out of his innermost being shall flow rivers of living water. But this He said concerning the Spirit, whom those who believed into Him were about to receive; for the Spirit was not yet, because Jesus had not yet been glorified.” At the time the Lord spoke this verse, the Spirit had not yet come. On the one hand, the Spirit in the Old Testament had come already. Many times the Spirit of Jehovah came to visit people (Judg. 6:34; 14:5-6, 19; 1 Sam. 11:6; 16:13; 2 Chron. 24:20). But the Spirit of Christ, at the time when the Lord Jesus spoke this word, had not yet come. The Spirit of Jehovah was the Spirit with the divine nature but without the human nature. But after the resurrection the Spirit of Christ comes with two natures, the divine nature and the human nature. As a type of the Spirit, the bars in the tabernacle were of two materials, wood overlaid with gold.
Exodus 36:31 and 32 say that the bars were divided into three groups of five, one on the south side, one on the north side, and one on the rear side. Verse 33 goes on to say, “He made the middle bar to pass through in the center of the boards from end to end.” By these three verses we may infer that there were five bars in three lines on each side. On each side, the middle bar reached from end to end in one line. The lines of bars above and below the middle bar each were made of two bars, two pieces. Two bars formed the first line, one bar from end to end was the second line, and two bars formed the last line. Three lines were composed of five bars. The middle bar was twice the length of the other bars, providing balance. If the middle bar had been in two pieces, there would have been a weakness at the center of the wall, and the two halves of each side would have been without balance.
Here again are the numbers three and five, with the three groups of five bars signifying the Spirit of the Triune God to take the responsibility for God’s building. The Holy Spirit, the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit with the two natures—the divine nature and the human nature—bears the responsibility for God’s building.
Verse 34 says, “He overlaid the boards with gold and made their rings of gold as holders for the bars, and overlaid the bars with gold.” The golden rings represent the joining strength of the Holy Spirit (Eph. 4:3). The forty-eight boards were joined together not by themselves but absolutely by the gold. If the gold were to be removed from the forty-eight standing boards, they would all be separated from each other. They were joined together in the gold. Each board was overlaid with gold, on the gold there were the golden rings, and within the golden rings there were the golden bars. The oneness of all the believers in the Body is in the divine nature. If we are not living in the divine nature and life of Christ, we are separated from one another. We can be one only in Christ, in the divine nature and in the divine life. Without the gold, the boards would have been separated from each other, but in the gold they were joined together.
Exodus 36:35-38 speaks concerning the pillars in the tabernacle that supported the veil and the screen. The inner veil separated the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place. The screen, or the outer veil, on the other hand, was at the entrance of the tabernacle separating the outer court from the Holy Place. The veil was upon four pillars, made with the same materials as the boards and the bars, acacia wood overlaid with gold, and were based on four silver sockets. The screen was upon five pillars of acacia wood overlaid with gold, but it was based on bronze sockets. The inner entrance to God’s building is based on the redemption that Christ accomplished, and the judgments, trials, tests, and temptations suffered by Christ form the base of the outer entrance.
At the screen there were four entrances formed by five pillars. Four refers to man as the leading one of the creatures. The entrance of the tabernacle, the dwelling place and building of God, is toward man. All men as redeemed creatures may enter in through this entrance. At the veil, the inner entrance, four pillars formed three entrances. The inner entrance represents the Triune God, signified by the number three. By passing through the screen and the veil, the creatures come into the Triune God. The numbers four and three may be added to form seven. They may also be multiplied to form twelve. These two numbers, seven and twelve, are the main numbers of the book of Revelation. In chapter 1 of Revelation there are the seven churches (vv. 12, 20), and in chapter 21 there is the number twelve, the number of the New Jerusalem (vv. 12-21). Those who enter the tabernacle are according to the number seven, but in the New Jerusalem they will be according to the number twelve.
The first entrance into the tabernacle is characterized by the number four, and the second entrance, by the number three. The building of God is open to man as a redeemed creature. When he comes into the tabernacle, he meets the three inner entrances, signifying the Triune God, so that he may enter into the Triune God.
Upon the inner veil were sewn the cherubim (Exo. 36:35), signifying the glory of God (Heb. 9:5). However, the screen did not have the cherubim. The glory of God within the church is always concealed. It is something inward, not outward. The glory of God with His people is always concealed and can be seen only from within God’s building.
