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In the previous chapter it has been made clear to us that the tabernacle as God’s dwelling place is the center of everything. With a bird’s-eye view we realize that three kinds of cities are in opposition to this tabernacle of God. In contrast to God’s building we have seen Satan’s counterfeits. He intervened first to build the city of Enoch and later attempted to erect the city of Babel. Out of the realm of Babel, the realm of idolatry, God called Abraham, the first forefather of the builders of the tabernacle. When Abraham was separated from the realm of Babel, he was in a position to attain the goal of God’s building. He was also kept from the sinful city of Sodom, although his nephew Lot drifted into that city. By living in a tent, Abraham took the position of looking forward to the city which has the foundations, the New Jerusalem, which is the very tabernacle that God will eventually build up in this universe. Abraham’s position of separation from Satan’s cities was not a doctrinal standing. It was an intensely practical stand for the real, future building of God.
Neither Abraham, nor his son Isaac, nor his grandson Jacob would build a city or live in a house; they were all satisfied to dwell in tents. They looked for that city with foundations, the New Jerusalem, God’s tabernacle that was to be built. They expected to move from their tents into that eternal tabernacle, of which their tents were but a very small shadow.
However, their descendants, the children of Israel, fell in another direction. They went to Egypt to satisfy their appetites. They were enslaved by Pharaoh and forced to build two cities of worldliness, treasure, and enjoyment. But God mercifully redeemed them through the passover and saved them by the deliverance of the Red Sea. God’s redemption and salvation brought these fallen people out of the cities of worldliness and back into a proper position for God’s building. By God’s deliverance from the bondage of Egypt, the children of Israel were finally free from all of Satan’s counterfeits. God brought them into His presence at Mount Sinai in the wilderness, where they saw His glory and heard His voice. This is the first record in the Scriptures of any group of persons abiding so deeply in the presence of God. Man could enjoy God’s presence because he was separated from all the satanic cities.
The Israelites were not only freed from bondage; they were also spoiled for anything other than God’s building. They were no longer good for Babel, Sodom, or the treasure cities of Egypt. They no longer had anything to do with them. Day by day they dealt with the tabernacle of God; they beheld the glorious cloud and listened to the voice. In one sense they were jobless—they had no stores, factories, or farms. They had nothing but the glory of God and the voice of God. Continually, from morning to evening, they dealt only with God and His dwelling place. Day and night they talked only about God and His tabernacle. This was real freedom, a freedom from all Satan’s counterfeits of idolatry, sins, and worldliness, a release unto the presence of God and His building.
Our first need today is to be separated from idols. Second, we must be preserved from sins. And third, we must be delivered out of worldliness. Then we are in the position of being available for God’s building.
The tabernacle is the first full picture of God’s building in the Scriptures. Concerning the tabernacle there are three main parts: the outer court, the Holy Place, and the Holy of Holies. Whenever a person enters the tabernacle, he must pass through the outer court. Within the outer court there are two things: the altar and the laver (Exo. 40:29-30).
The altar is the place where all the offerings are offered. Its essential meanings are judgment, redemption, and consecration. When the Israelites offered anything to the Lord, it had to be brought to the altar. Everything they offered had to pass through the altar; it had to be killed and burned upon the altar. This signifies judgment. As Christians, we may feel that we have offered ourselves quite properly to the Lord. Yes, God needs our offering, but His first demand is that we put everything on the altar. He must judge us by death and by burning. This may seem a frightening prospect, but we must realize that all that is natural about us must be judged. God can never accept the natural man or his living as material for His building. All we are, all we have, and all we can do must be judged by the altar. The altar typifies the cross. We must be checked and judged by the cross.
This is the proper Christian experience: as we spend time in the Lord’s presence in fellowship, we will have the sense that the Lord asks us to offer all that we are, all that we have, and all that we can do. Thus, we offer all to Him. But then we will sense that we are sinful, fallen, evil, and corrupted and that we are fleshly, soulish, and natural. We will sense that we are certainly not good for God’s building. We must be put on the cross. Praise the Lord, we have already been put on the cross.
We must realize the reality of the death of Christ—this is the real judgment. Such a realization means on one hand that God demands our life and all we have to be offered to Him. But on the other hand it means we realize that we are good for nothing but death and that we have already been put on the cross. Through consecration we realize that we have been completely ended, that we have been put on the cross. This is the experience of passing through the altar, the real experience of the cross.
A brother came to me once and said, “Last night I had a dream, and this morning I went before the Lord. I have seen that the Lord wants me. Now, I am a little clever in certain things that could be a real help to the building of the church, so this morning I am burdened to come and tell you that I have offered myself to the Lord for the building of the church.” I replied, “Brother, on the one hand, this is wonderful, but on the other hand, it is awful. When you offer yourself in such a way to the Lord for the building of His church, it is dreadful.” He was greatly disappointed and exclaimed, “Am I not good enough?” I answered, “Brother, you are good for nothing but death. Forget your cleverness—you must throw that in the ocean. The Lord does not need your cleverness. That must be put to death; that must be judged. Your clever mind must be put upon the altar. In fact, you must put everything on the altar.”
No Israelite could possibly enter into the tabernacle without first passing through the altar. Should he attempt to do so, he would immediately perish. All of us, in fact, must die, either on the altar or within the tabernacle. It is better to die on the altar, on the cross, rather than in the tabernacle. Only the Lord can testify how many times I have said to myself, “You must die. You must be put on the cross. You must realize that you are already put on the cross.” We should not think that we are smart. God’s building does not need smart or stupid people but only those who have been put on the cross, those who have been killed and burned on the altar, those who have been checked, judged, and disposed of.
The second meaning of the altar is redemption. Praise the Lord! Whatever God judges, God redeems. Redemption comes through judgment and issues in resurrection. Whatever we put to death, God will raise up in His redemption. We simply put ourselves in the position of death. We should not worry about the next step. The Holy Spirit will bring us into life. We put ourselves on the altar, and the Holy Spirit will bring us into the tabernacle. God redeems what He judges. Redemption realized through judgment must be experienced by us; it is not a matter of theology.
The third meaning of the altar is consecration. After redemption, the Lord immediately demands another consecration. We need to experience consecration continually, from the first step to the last. Step by step, before judgment and after redemption, we need to be consecrated. In every situation we should be constantly aware that we are a consecrated people. This is the real meaning of the altar. All things brought to God must be put on the altar, judged, redeemed, and consecrated. It is only after passing through the altar that everything will be truly consecrated to God. Nothing can belong to God or really be of God until it passes through the altar. You may have offered yourself to the Lord, but have you passed through the cross? Have you experienced the resurrection and the reality of consecration? Do you have such an altar in your daily life? From the picture of the tabernacle we see that the reality of God’s building is not possible without the altar being first experienced by us. The experience of the altar must precede everything. All the rest is based upon this.
Now notice the measurement of the altar. It is square, five cubits wide by five cubits long, and it is three cubits high. The number five signifies the creature (four) plus the Creator (one) to bear responsibility for the fulfilling of God’s requirements. The Ten Commandments and the ten virgins (Matt. 25:1-13) are divided into two groups of five. All these signify responsibility to fulfill God’s requirement. The square measurement of five by five gives the sense of the complete fulfillment of God’s requirements in full responsibility. The number three signifies the Triune God. It signifies the responsibility and the fulfillment of the altar. The cross of Christ comes up to the standard of the Triune God. The cross of Christ has fulfilled God’s requirements. And by our experience of the cross, we fulfill the requirements of God.
Thus, we must realize that at the altar and by the altar our being dealt with by God must come up to God’s standard in the full responsibility and fulfillment of God’s requirements. This was so with the Lord Jesus on the cross, and it must be so with us in our subjective experience of the cross. If we would enter the building of God, we must first fulfill all the righteous requirements of God. Anyone or anything brought into the building of God must pass through the altar in this way.
The next item in the outer court is the laver. But before sharing the meaning of the laver, we must indicate in this connection that the altar was overlaid with bronze. The source of this bronze was the bronze censers of the two hundred and fifty Israelites who rebelled against God and were judged by fire. The Lord instructed Moses to gather all these bronze censers and make from them bronze plates to overlay the altar (Num. 16:38-40). This, of course, imparts the sense that the bronze altar is for judgment by burning. It is significant that the laver is also made of bronze. However, this bronze had its source in the mirrors of the women who served at the tabernacle (Exo. 38:8). The purpose of a mirror is to reflect our true image and thus to expose us. Sometimes when we ask our children to wash their faces, they reply indignantly that they are quite clean. It is helpful, then, to take them to a mirror and let them see for themselves. Similarly, the laver of bronze exposes and enlightens us. We immediately sense the need of cleansing, and it is the laver which also cleanses us (40:30-32). This is the real work of the Holy Spirit (Titus 3:5). We must be exposed and then cleansed from our fallen state.
The kind of bronze used in the laver differs from that used in the altar, but the nature of both is the same. This means that the Holy Spirit’s exposing or enlightening depends on the judgment of the cross. The laver of bronze follows the altar of bronze. From the bronze altar there is the bronze laver. Spiritually speaking, this means that the laver’s function issues from the altar. Judgment always brings light to us. When we are judged, we are enlightened. The more we are judged by the cross, the more the Holy Spirit enlightens and exposes us. If we do not apply the cross to ourselves, we will always say, “I am all right; there is nothing wrong with me.” If we have this attitude, the Holy Spirit will never expose us. We will simply remain in darkness. When we apply the cross, saying, “Oh, I am so sinful; I am good for nothing but death, I must be put to death, and I have already been put to death,” immediately the Holy Spirit exposes us from within. He points out that we are wrong in this matter, corrupted in that matter, and defiled in many other things. The more we apply the cross, the more we will be enlightened by the Holy Spirit. The laver follows the altar—both are of bronze. At the bronze altar we have the experience of being judged; at the bronze laver we have the experience of being enlightened and cleansed. We must judge ourselves—this is the only way to experience the building of God.
No one can tell us the size of the laver. The exposing, enlightening, and cleansing work of the Holy Spirit is unlimited and immeasurable. Concerning all the utensils of the tabernacle, only two are without measurement—the laver and the lampstand. Both are immeasurable and unlimited.
The vital problem and main issue today are that all we are, all we have, and all we can do must be put on the altar, that is, must be put on the cross. For when we are thus judged, redeemed, and consecrated, we will continually be in the position where the light may shine upon us. The Holy Spirit will constantly expose, enlighten, and cleanse us. When we pass the bronze altar and the bronze laver in this way, we really experience God’s judgment. This is the first experience of God’s building. We are good for nothing but judgment, and we must realize this judgment.
From the experiences of the altar and the laver, we go on to the experience of the bronze sockets (Exo. 27:10-17). These are the bases of the wall of the outer court. All the pillars which support the hangings of the outer court rest upon these bronze sockets. In spiritual experience this means that the foundation, the base of the wall of the outer court, comes out of the judgment of God. After we pass the cross and the exposing and cleansing work of the Holy Spirit, we will lay the foundation of the wall of the outer court. This constitutes the boundary line of God’s building. All things outside of this line do not belong to God’s building. When we experience the bronze altar and laver, we see the bronze sockets laid as a foundation, drawing the boundary line of God’s building. From our experience of being judged and cleansed comes the foundation of the outer court, the sockets of bronze. In the record of the specifications of the tabernacle, the mentioning of the bronze altar precedes the mentioning of the bronze sockets. Spiritually speaking, this means that the sockets come out of the altar. We must first experience the dealing of the cross and the exposing, enlightening, and cleansing of the Holy Spirit. We must experience these items extensively; then we will have the foundation laid as the boundary line for God’s building. By this line we may separate what is within from what is without God’s building. By this line we may clearly discern what must be kept without, what should not be brought within. The boundary of God’s building is the judgment of the cross and the cleansing of the Holy Spirit. Anything belonging to the building of God must be judged by the cross and exposed and cleansed by the Holy Spirit. Otherwise it is outside the building. Anyone who thinks that he is clever and adequate for God’s building has not judged himself and has no boundary line. When there is no separating line, no outer court, then the whole world will be the outer court for the building of the church. That is wrong! We must have the separating line—the judgment of the cross and the exposing and cleansing of the Holy Spirit. This is so clear.
Upon the base of the bronze sockets we have bronze pillars (vv. 10-16), and on the pillars are the silver hooks and the silver connecting rods (v. 17). The Scriptures tell us that the pillars were made of bronze. What is the meaning of these items? Again, based upon judgment, we have redemption. Judgment brings redemption, and redemption comes by or with judgment. In typology, silver always signifies redemption.
Upon the hooks and pillars of the outer court were the hangings (vv. 9-15). These hangings were like drapes. They were made of fine twined linen, very strong, pure, and clean. In typology, linen signifies righteousness (Rev. 19:8). This means that we have judgment, redemption, and righteousness in the eyes of God and in the eyes of the people. By our experiences of the altar and the laver, everything is cleansed and adjusted, so everything is right and just. This is the way that we obtain the righteousness, the white linen, as the separating wall of the outer court of God’s dwelling place, testifying the full righteousness of God among His people. When the hangings are set upon the pillars of the sockets, those beholding the tabernacle from without see something white, pure, and clean. This is the separating borderline, setting us apart for God’s expression, God’s building. There must be such a separating line of righteousness based upon God’s judgment and redemption as a testimony of God’s righteousness to the sinful world.
All the hangings were five cubits high and were divided by the pillars into sections, each in the measurement of five cubits by five cubits (vv. 9-15, 18). The hangings on the north and south sides were both one hundred cubits long with twenty pillars. Those on the west side, that is, at the rear, were fifty cubits long with ten pillars. And those on either side of the front entrance were fifteen cubits long with three pillars. Thus, all the hangings were divided into square sections of five cubits by five cubits, corresponding with the size of the altar. This signifies that all the hangings correspond with the righteous requirements of God fulfilled upon the altar. Thus, they stand as a testimony of all that is accomplished on the altar. The square top of the altar in the measurement of five cubits by five cubits covers the ground of God’s requirements. The square sections of the hangings in the same measurement stand as the testimony to all that is covered and accomplished by the altar. When we have been dealt with by the cross, our daily living and walk will be a testimony to the work of the cross. In our daily life and walk there must be such pure and white hangings as a testimony to those without. All we are and all we do must correspond with the work of the cross. Then we will be fit for God’s building.
For the realization of God’s building, for the practice of the church life, people must be dealt with and purged in the outer court. The Israelites, who would be built up together as God’s building, were fallen people. At one time they had fallen into the world of idols, then they were related to the world of sins, and eventually they became enslaved in the world of treasure and enjoyment. Now they were separated from all these to be materials for God’s building. The first step in their being built up was that they must be judged and purged. By judgment they could be redeemed, and by redemption and purging they could become clean, pure, just, and right—right with God and right with man.
But although the Israelites were brought out of all the sinful and worldly cities, they still remembered their past; they remembered the onions and garlic of Egypt and retained their taste for these things. In the wilderness they became disgusted with the heavenly manna and said, “This is tasteless. Day by day we are eating the same things. Let us return to Egypt, to the tasteful enjoyments. We are fed up with this simple food.” This is the picture of today’s Christianity. We have all come from such a corrupted and evil background; we are full of all kinds of evil. Thus, we must be judged and killed, cleansed and purged by the experiences in the outer court. These experiences erect the boundary line that separates us and keeps us from idols, sins, and worldliness. The work of the cross and the work of the Holy Spirit keep us from these things. We must experience the bronze altar—the cross—and the bronze laver—the cleansing of the Holy Spirit. We must be dealt with by the cross and purged by the Holy Spirit; then there is the possibility for us to share in the building of God.
Notice that the outer court is outside of the building. It is not until we have passed through the outer court that we may enter into God’s building, the tabernacle itself. This is not a matter of doctrine but is something to be experienced. Why are so many Christians not experiencing the proper building of the church on this earth today? It is because some are still in Babel, Sodom, or Egypt. Some have indeed departed from these evil realms, but they are still full of idolatrous germs, sinful germs, and germs of worldly enjoyment. In the so-called churches of today, one can sometimes hear the announcements of pleasures and amusements. These are the germs. It is impossible to have a proper church life in this way. The reason for this is that so many have not experienced the dealing of the altar and the purging of the laver. Thus, there is no foundation laid for the boundary line.
God’s building must have a definite boundary line. Within that line everything belongs to His building; outside of that line everything belongs either to Babel, Sodom, or the treasure cities. Today’s fallen Christianity does not have the proper, necessary boundary line. Such a boundary has never been built up; it has never been drawn. The people are still participating in idols, sins, and treasures of worldly enjoyment. They have never experienced the bronze altar and the bronze laver. They have never been judged and been put to death on the altar or cleansed and purged by the laver. If we would practice the church life and share in the building of God, we must first experience the bronze altar with the bronze laver. Then we will have the bronze sockets laid as the foundation of the boundary line. It is by such experiences that the boundary line of God’s building is drawn.
In the outer court we realize and experience the cross, by which everything is judged, put to death, and burned. With the cross we also experience the working of the Holy Spirit to expose, enlighten, cleanse, and purge us. Everything that does not correspond with God and God’s righteous way must be judged and purged away. All the worldly pleasures and enjoyments must be excluded from God’s building. They must be terminated and purged. We must experience the judgment of the cross with the purging of the Holy Spirit. Then we will be a proper and right person, right with God and with man. We will have the righteousness typified by the white linen hangings on the pillars set upon the bronze sockets as the boundary line of God’s testimony. Within this boundary line there is the possibility for us to realize the building of God and practice the church life.
