Search
Our experiences of Christ in the Holy Place are all good, yet they are still not adequate. Between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies we are confronted with the problem of a veil (Exo. 26:33). The veil signifies the flesh (Heb. 10:20), the self. The idols have been terminated, the problem of sin is past, and the entanglements of worldliness have been abandoned, but our self is still with us. God has four major enemies: idols, which symbolize evil spirits or satanic forces; sin; worldliness; and self. As Christians, we may be delivered from the first three, and we may be presently enjoying Christ as everything to us. But what about our self? Most of us must admit that it has not yet been broken.
Many times we use the very Christ whom we enjoy as an element to glorify ourselves. We feel: “Now I am such a wonderful person; I am so full of Christ. I know Christ as my life, my food, my light, and my incense to God. Christ is my everything.” But it is all “I, I, I”—the terrible self. We are still very shallow. Although we are enjoying Christ so much, the big problem now is the self.
Consider the picture in Exodus carefully. It is not until we enter the Holy of Holies of the tabernacle and there experience the Ark that we could be a proper board, a board that is overlaid with gold on every side, a board that is good for the building of God. Only the boards of the Ark are overlaid with gold on both sides. The table of the bread of the Presence in the Holy Place is overlaid with gold on only one side. In the Holy Place the overlaying work has not been fully accomplished. We must go on to experience the Ark so that we may be perfected by being overlaid with the divine gold within and without. Then we will be the proper and adequate material for God’s building. We must be perfected; we must become like the boards of the Ark. The boards used to build God’s tabernacle corresponded exactly to the boards of the Ark. This signifies that it is only as we experience the Ark that we are the adequate boards for God’s building. In other words, until we attain the experience of the Ark, we are not perfected and available for the building. Although many Christians talk much concerning the church life, strictly speaking, they are not available material for the church.
The boards of the tabernacle itself are produced by our experience of the Ark, for both are completely overlaid with gold. The principle is the same as that which we have seen in the producing of the bronze sockets for the foundation of the outer court. That foundation came from the experience of the bronze altar and the bronze laver. Now we must go on from the outer court, through the Holy Place, and into the Holy of Holies so that we may be brought forth as the boards for God’s building. It is only in the Holy of Holies that we are perfected and fully available for God’s building.
How may we go on from the Holy Place and enter into the Holy of Holies? It is by having the self broken and put to death. Our troublesome self must be dealt with, denied, and broken. The veil that separates the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place must be riven. Then we may enter into the Holy of Holies and enjoy Christ more fully.
The separating veil typifies our flesh, our old, fleshly nature. Just as the veil must be riven, so our fleshly nature, our self, must be broken that we may enter the Holy of Holies. Our self, our old man, has already been crucified with Christ on the cross (Rom. 6:6). Thus, it is through the cross that entry into the Holy of Holies is made possible. We must apply the cross of Christ to ourselves. We must realize that we ourselves are the separation hindering us from entering into God’s holiest place. Our self must be crossed out. The old nature must be fully abandoned. The old man must be broken. It is by the practical experience of the Lord’s death, by the practical application of the cross to our troublesome self, that we may enter into the Holy of Holies to share Christ as the very embodiment of God as typified by the Ark.
The Ark is the sole content of the Holy of Holies (Exo. 40:20-21). This means that in the holiest place of God’s presence there is nothing but God’s Christ as the all-inclusive embodiment of God. The experience of the Holy of Holies is nothing but the experience of such a Christ. In the Holy Place we experience Christ as food, light, and fragrant incense, but deeply within the Holy of Holies Christ is the Ark of the Testimony, a deeper and richer Christ for us to experience. Within the Ark is the testimony of God, the law of God (25:16, 21). This testimony contained in the Ark represents God in a total way. God could not make an image to represent Himself, for then the Israelites would worship this image as an idol. Thus, God gave the law, which is His very picture, the definition and explanation of Himself. The law within the Ark signifies the fullness of the Godhead dwelling in Christ bodily (Col. 2:9). The Ark typifies Christ, and the law within the Ark typifies the embodiment of God. Thus, in the Holy of Holies we have Christ as the embodiment of God.
We must experience Christ not only as life, light, and incense but also as God’s embodiment. A one-year-old believer may experience Christ as life, but he does not as yet have much awareness of Christ as the embodiment of God. He may realize that Christ is God, yet he has not experienced Him as the embodiment of God. However, the more we experience Christ as our food, our light, and our fragrance to God, the more we will begin to deeply sense that we are experiencing God Himself in Christ. Christ is not merely life, light, and fragrant incense but God Himself. The more we experience Christ, the more we will sense that this Christ whom we are experiencing is the very embodiment of God. He is the fullness of God and the testimony of God. The law hidden within the Ark signifies that we must deeply realize Christ as the reality of God.
Many of us have had numerous experiences of Christ as food, life, light, and incense, but not many have experienced Christ as God’s embodiment. It is extremely difficult to explain this deeper experience.
Let us refer to one item of the law, God’s testimony, as an example. Consider the commandment to love others. Apparently this is God’s commandment to us. But if we are in the Holy of Holies, we will realize that this is not really a commandment but an element of what God is in Christ. Love for others is the very essence of God’s being. If we touch this reality and share in this reality, we will spontaneously have a life of loving others. We will no longer try to obey the commandment to love, for it will be a reality in our life. This is but a simple illustration of experiencing Christ as the embodiment of God.
In the Holy Place we enjoy Christ in many ways, but once we experience the brokenness of the self, the flesh, we enter into the Holy of Holies. Then we realize the reality of God in Christ. We will no longer enjoy Christ alone but will have the realization of how real God is in Christ in every way. This is something deeper. From such an experience, everything that we do and express will become easy and spontaneous. We will not attempt to keep any commandments. We will have touched the reality of God in Christ.
It is at this very Ark in the Holy of Holies that we meet God. Strictly speaking, God does not meet us at the bronze altar and laver, or even at the table of the bread of the Presence, lampstand, or incense altar. God only meets us at one place—the mercy seat (Exo. 25:21-22). It is there that we realize how real God is to us in Christ. It is by this deep realization that we are wholly at rest. At the mercy seat we not only enjoy Christ as this or that to us but Christ as God’s embodiment, with all the fullness of God.
Before entering the Holy of Holies, a Christian must first be delivered from all negative things—idolatry, sins, and worldliness. Then, even from the good things of righteousness, he must go on to enjoy Christ in the Holy Place. Eventually, he must leave the self and the flesh so that he may enter into the Holy of Holies to experience the fullness of God in Christ. In the Holy of Holies we do not know nor do we care about anything but God in Christ. We certainly will not be distracted by idols, ensnared by sins, or fall into worldliness. And we will certainly be delivered from our self. We will simply enjoy God as being so real to us in Christ.
The experience of the cross and the Holy Spirit’s purging work is on the negative side. We must go on to experience the positive side—Christ as food, life, and everything to us. Yet this experience is still shallow compared to the experience of God as the very reality in Christ. This is the deepest experience. When we experience the Ark and the Holy of Holies, we are delivered from all other things. Nothing else matters to us. God in Christ is everything. Madame Guyon said that the realization of spiritual experiences will eventually bring us to the point where we are lost in God. Only God in Christ through the Spirit will be everything to us as our reality.
In the Holy Place there are three main things: first, Christ is the bread upon the table; second, He is the light from the lampstand; and third, He is the sweet incense, the acceptance to God, from the incense altar. Hebrews 9:4 tells us that in the Holy of Holies, within Christ as the Ark, there are also three things: the hidden manna, corresponding to the bread; the hidden law which enlightens us, corresponding to the light; and the hidden rod, sprouting with almond blossoms, corresponding to the incense of the golden altar in the matter of acceptance. Only Aaron was acceptable to God; therefore, Aaron’s rod sprouted with almond blossoms. The almond blossoms signify resurrection. This means that God accepted him in resurrection.
In the Holy Place everything was open, but in the Ark everything was hidden. In the Holy Place the bread was openly displayed. But in the Ark it became the hidden manna, something deeper. In the Holy Place there was the lampstand with the light shining forth. But in the Ark the law was hidden, which signifies the law speaking in a hidden and deeper way. From the incense altar the fragrance ascended outwardly. But in the Ark the sprouting rod was hidden. The experience of the Ark in the Holy of Holies is much deeper than the experience of the things in the Holy Place. This is also proved by the Ark being overlaid with gold within and without. Both the table of the bread of the Presence and the incense altar were overlaid with gold only on the outward side. That means that the overlaying of gold was to a lesser degree and was more shallow. The overlaying of gold upon the Ark is greater and deeper, signifying that the experience of Christ is greater and deeper than before.
Suppose that we meet two new Christians who have just been baptized. They have both experienced Christ as their living bread, and they love to come to the meetings and show Him forth to others. They testify: “We have enjoyed Christ so much this week.” Two sisters who were baptized with them are shining with the light that they have received from the Lord. They also testify and shine forth in the meetings. All four have experienced Christ in the Holy Place, and now they express Him publicly in the meeting. If the apostle Paul were to attend the same meeting, however, I do not think that we would so easily recognize him as a Christian. He would sit there quietly with no outward display. However, if we were to converse with him later, we would be amazed. We would wonder where on earth he came from. Something within him is so rich, so hidden. We could not observe so much outwardly, for with him everything is hidden.
The priests in the Holy Place had to dress the lamps in the morning and light them in the evening. But there was no need to attend thus to the hidden law. It was always there speaking. The new sisters who are so brightly shining in the meetings may appear next week with gloomy countenances. They are still shallow in their experience of Christ; they need a “priest” to “dress” and “light” them.
In the Holy of Holies with the Ark we enjoy God in Christ as the hidden manna, as the divine regulating law, and as the sprouting rod with resurrection power. Here we experience God in Christ in such a deep and rich way. He becomes so real and rich to us as the hidden manna, the hidden law, and the hidden resurrection power within us. This is the uttermost experience of Christ, the very climax of spiritual experience. At this point, we are fully and wholly mingled with God; we are overlaid with God as the gold in everything and in every way. The two natures, divinity and humanity, are mingled as one.
The dimensions of the Ark were in half-sizes. The size of the bronze altar was five by five by three cubits (Exo. 27:1). The Ark, however, was two and a half, by one and a half, by one and a half cubits (25:10). Its dimensions were in half-sizes of those of the altar. What is the significance of this? When we see half of a watermelon, we automatically surmise that there must be another half somewhere. In principle, this is the meaning of the Ark of the Testimony. A testimony requires two witnesses. The Ark needs another “half.” Thus, the Ark’s dimensions of half sizes impart the meaning of testimony.
When we carefully consider this wonderful picture in Exodus, we know where we are. The more we experience Christ in a deeper way by rejecting and denying our self, the more we will be in our spirit, which is the Holy of Holies today. When we are thus in our spirit, God will be so real to us in Christ, in the Holy Spirit. It is not a matter of teachings or doctrines that are real to us but something within our spirit. It is not merely an inward enjoyment to us but an inward reality.
From our deep experience of Christ as the Ark in the holiest place of our spirit, we have the reality of the nourishment from the hidden manna, the enlightenment of the divine law, and the empowering of the sprouting rod. These realities are deeply within us in our spirit. The manna, the law, and the rod are not outwardly displayed, yet they are so real. We will not have words to utter, and we will not need to utter this divine reality of the fullness of the Godhead in Christ in our spirit.
We have seen how the Ark was overlaid within and without with gold, signifying something more of Christ. When we experience Christ in a deeper way, we are overlaid with God in Christ inwardly as well as outwardly. Christ, as the embodiment of God, covers us within and without. Later we will see how the tabernacle was built up with boards that were overlaid with gold on every side, just as the Ark. This means that the tabernacle issues out of the experience of the Ark. This is proved in Exodus by the mentioning of the Ark before the boards of the tabernacle (25:10-22; 26:15-30). The outer court issues from the experiences of the bronze altar with the bronze laver, but the tabernacle issues from the experiences of the table of the bread of the Presence, the lampstand, the incense altar, and the Ark. When we are overlaid within and without with God’s divine nature, when we are totally in God and saturated with God in Christ, we are then the proper materials available for the building of God’s dwelling place.
All these things are a picture of the proper way for us to practice the church life today and have the building of God. We must pass through the altar and the laver, we must experience Christ as life, light, and the fragrance to God, and we must deeply experience Christ as the very embodiment of God. We must go on from the outer court, through the Holy Place, into the Holy of Holies to have the full experience of Christ with God in our spirit. Then all the old nature, the old self, will be put to an end on the cross, and our total enjoyment will be Christ, only Christ—Christ as life, as light, as everything, and as the very embodiment of God. Then we will be overlaid with God, thus becoming a board overlaid on every side with the divine gold. And then we become the very material for the building up of God’s dwelling place. This is the proper way to have the real church life, the real building of God.
