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We come now to the tabernacle itself, God’s very building. According to the record of Exodus, it is clear that the tabernacle itself is brought forth from the experiences of all the items within it, items such as the table of the bread of the Presence, the lampstand, the incense altar, and the Ark of the Testimony. We have seen that these items represent Christ as the bread of life, as light, as incense, and as the very embodiment of God. We must experience Christ to such an extent if we would be part of God’s building. The more we experience Christ, the more we are overlaid with the divine gold, the nature of God. We have seen that the Ark, the last item of the tabernacle’s interior, was overlaid both within and without with gold. This proves that when we experience the Ark, our human nature, typified by the acacia wood, is absolutely covered by the divine nature, as typified by the gold. Humanity is completely overlaid with divinity.
The boards of the tabernacle issue from the experiences of the items within the tabernacle and are the main part of the building itself. Without the boards, the tabernacle could not be erected. If we know how to view this impressive picture, we will realize that the boards are the reproduction and enlargement of the Ark. The Ark is Christ, the incarnated Son of God. On one hand, He has the divine nature, and on the other hand, He has the human nature. The divine nature is mingled together with the human nature as one. This very One is God’s embodiment and God’s testimony, the Ark. The boards, as the reproduction of the Ark, are the church. The Ark is Christ and the reproduction, or increase, of the Ark is the church. The church is the enlargement of Christ, the increase of Christ, exactly the same in nature as Christ.
There is only one Christ, so there must be only one Ark. However, the boards are many. There were twenty on the north side, twenty on the south, six at the rear, and two at the corners (Exo. 26:15-25). Altogether there were forty-eight boards. The number forty-eight is composed of six times eight. Man was made on the sixth day; therefore, six is the number of man. The number of Antichrist is six hundred sixty-six (Rev. 13:18). This means too much man, too much humanity, and this is very bad. The number eight signifies a new beginning, another start, and this is resurrection. Thus, the forty-eight boards signify that all those related to the church as God’s building are human, yet they are resurrected. The building is composed of humanity in resurrection. There were forty-eight boards, but there was only one tabernacle. We Christians are many, yet we are one Body, one church (1 Cor. 10:17). And this one church is the increase of the Ark, the enlargement of Christ.
These things are a precious revelation, but now we come to a very practical matter—the composition of the boards. Each board was composed of acacia wood overlaid with gold. Therefore, their composition clearly reveals two distinct things of two distinct natures united together. In typology wood signifies human nature. But acacia is a superior kind of hard wood; it is not a substandard wood. It is in contrast to our grain, our human nature. We are extremely loose, but acacia is very solid, hard, and strong. Acacia wood typifies the resurrected, uplifted, and strengthened human nature. We must have the human element, or human nature, for the church to be built, but this human nature must first be put to death. Then it must be resurrected, uplifted, and strengthened.
As members of the church, the first requirement is that every bit of our human nature must be rejected. Not a particle of it is welcome in the church. Indeed, the church requires human beings, but our human nature is not needed. It is good for nothing but burial. Whenever a new person comes into the church, the first occurrence should not be a wedding but a funeral. When we come into the church, we must agree to be buried in baptism. Baptism signifies burial, a riddance of one’s self. But in God’s redemption, death is not the end. Death is the process that leads to resurrection. We should not be afraid to be buried in Christ, for through death we will be resurrected. The first requirement of the church life is that we must reject ourselves. But praise the Lord, within us is the Spirit of resurrection! The Holy Spirit will be responsible to resurrect us, to uplift us and strengthen us. The more we experience the denial of the self by the cross of Christ, the more we will be uplifted. We will no longer be so natural, but live and act in resurrection.
These experiences produce the building up of a spiritual character, which is the resurrected, uplifted, and strengthened human nature. As a Christian in the church life, we should be exceedingly strong, yet we should not be naturally strong but spiritually strong. In the resurrected human nature we should be as strong as acacia wood. Many brothers and sisters are loose, and some even appreciate their looseness. They say, “We must be loose to be acceptable to others; to be strict causes others to think we are cold and rather unpleasant.” No! One requirement that is absolutely necessary for the building up of the church is that our human nature be resurrected, uplifted, and strengthened, even as the acacia wood.
The second constituent of the boards of the tabernacle is the gold, overlaying the wood. We must all be so overlaid by God that we lose ourselves in the divine nature. Those who view the boards of the tabernacle see only gold. The boards themselves are intrinsically wood, but the manifestation of the boards is golden. We should be strong, but not strong in ourselves. We should be patient, but not patient in ourselves. We must be able to say, “Praise the Lord, my manifestation, my expression, is not myself but God. I am a wooden board, but my manifestation is golden.” As human beings, we must not manifest our natural human nature but something divinely golden. Our natural human nature must be put to death, buried, and resurrected. We need a full experience of Christ. The more we experience Him, the more we will be overlaid with the divine nature until eventually the entire board is covered by the glorious gold. Then the appearance and expression of all the boards will be golden.
The church is composed of many different men, including Americans, Chinese, Japanese, Germans, etc. But praise the Lord, there is no American, Chinese, Japanese, or German nature in the church. The total expression is divine. We are all overlaid, covered, and hidden; the wood is hidden in the gold. This is exceedingly vital, for as we shall see later, without this overlaying gold we can never be united (Exo. 26:26-29). In ourselves we are separate and independent boards, but when we are overlaid with gold, we are united together as one. Our peculiar human natures could never be united. The oneness of the church, the oneness of the saints, is not in the human nature but in the divine nature. Praise the Lord, the overlaying gold, the gold rings, and the gold bars unite us. We must ask ourselves how much have we been overlaid with gold.
Good brothers are nice, but golden brothers are necessary. Good brothers cannot further the building; in fact, they may even frustrate and damage the building. Many times the building up of the church is damaged more by the good persons than by the bad. We must be mingled with the divine nature; we must be overlaid with God. This can only take place by our experiencing Christ—there is no other way. When we experience Him not only as our life, our light, and our incense but as the very reality and embodiment of God, we will be full of God. We will be overlaid, saturated, and mingled with God. We will become wooden boards with a golden appearance, and we will be proper materials available for the building up of the church.
Each board was one and one-half cubits wide (Exo. 26:15-16). This is exceedingly significant. The numbers three and five are the main numbers in God’s building, and one and a half is half of three. This means that neither you nor I are a whole unit; we are only half of a unit. We need another half to match us. When the Lord Jesus sent out His disciples, He sent them two by two: Peter was one and a half, and John was one and a half. When they were put together, they equaled three cubits, or a whole unit. We can never be independent; we must have someone else to match us. Many times when we observe a husband and wife, they look like two halves of one whole. In the home a husband needs his dear wife, but in the church he needs someone else to match him. The sending forth of the New Testament disciples two by two clearly reveals that they were not individualistic persons but members one of another. Not one individual Christian is a whole body. We are but members, and we need other members to match us. The primary factor in the church life is that regardless of what kind of person I am, I am still only one and a half cubits wide. Someone may be as big as the apostle Paul, but he must still remember that he is only one and a half cubits. Most of us believe that the apostle Paul wrote the book of 1 Corinthians alone. However, if we look closely, we will see that someone else, one who is unknown by most Christians, was his other half writing with him (1:1). The apostle Paul was not independent; he did not write in an individualistic and uncoordinated way.
We must be definitely and practically related with other Christians. This is why there were forty-eight rather than forty-seven or forty-five boards in the tabernacle. There was an even number, not an odd number. We cannot have any odd brothers or sisters in the church; we must all constitute an even number. Thus, we must constantly realize that we in ourselves are not complete; we are only half a unit. We must always be related to someone else. For many years I have never dared to act in an individualistic way. Praise the Lord, under His authority I have always had some brother or sister to match me. We must be matched with others.
Every board had two tenons (Exo. 26:17). This is quite interesting. Why do we have two feet rather than one? It is because with only one foot a person would be unbalanced, unstable, and without confirmation. Likewise, a board might easily turn on only one tenon, but with two tenons it would be fixed. Many brothers are indeed precious, but they turn so easily. They are constantly turning. Last week they were so positive toward the Lord, but this week they have changed, they have turned. Oh, there is no turning with God! (James 1:17). The reason many dear Christians are continually turning is that they have one tenon instead of two. With two tenons we are always balanced and fixed.
If you are such a turning brother, you had better find another brother to be a tenon to you. You are short of one tenon, so you must borrow a tenon from someone else. Whenever you begin to turn, you must seek fellowship and confirmation from your brother. Go to him and ask whether or not he agrees with what you are doing. If he does not, then you must not turn. Learn to have another tenon and be confirmed by others.
The two tenons were fixed in two sockets (Exo. 26:19, 21, 25). Each board, therefore, had two tenons fixed in two sockets. Each socket weighed one talent of silver, or approximately one hundred pounds. That means that under each board there was a base of two hundred pounds. It was impossible for a board to turn or fall with such a base. Thus, each board was exceedingly stable and fixed. Yet there was something more.
Upon the gold overlay of each board there were rings, and through the rings were bars joining all the boards together (vv. 26-29). There were five bars on each side connecting the twenty boards. It is indeed interesting. Note how these five bars on each side of the twenty boards were arranged. A single bar extended from one end of the twenty boards to the other and was the middle bar of the five bars. The other four bars were divided into two broken rows of two bars each, with one row above and the other row beneath the middle bar. Thus, the five bars were arranged in three rows. Again we see the numbers three and five. Three signifies the Triune God, and five is the number of the creature plus the Creator to bear responsibility. Therefore, the uniting power of the church is the Triune God mingled with the creature. The bars, which signify the uniting Holy Spirit, were made of wood overlaid with gold. Not only was there wood within the boards, but there was also wood within the bars. This signifies that in the Holy Spirit, who unites us together, there is also the human element. This is very meaningful.
In chapter 5 of Andrew Murray’s book The Spirit of Christ, there is a statement concerning the Spirit of the glorified Jesus. He says that the Holy Spirit is not only of the divine nature but also with the human nature. Hence, wood is used in the type of the uniting Holy Spirit, because He is not only the Spirit of God but also the Spirit of the glorified man, Jesus. Included in the Spirit of Jesus today are the divine nature and the human nature. Today the Holy Spirit of Christ is such an all-inclusive Spirit. It is this Holy Spirit, the Spirit with both the divine and human nature, that unites the saints together.
The boards of the tabernacle were not united by the wood but by the gold. If the element of gold were removed, all the boards would fall apart. In the boards alone there was no oneness. The oneness was in the gold, in the divine nature. The rings typify the Holy Spirit in regeneration, the very initial experience of the Holy Spirit. The bars are the uniting Holy Spirit, with both the divine and human natures. The bars unite all the parts together as one Body. When we remain in the divine nature, in Christ, in God, then we are one. The oneness of the church is in the divine nature, in God and Christ as the Spirit.
There were three groups of bars: one on the north side, another on the south side, and the last on the west side, at the rear of the tabernacle. Again, this typifies the three persons of the Godhead. The expression of the Triune God is continually seen in the tabernacle, God’s building.
On every side of the tabernacle there were the boards, except in the front, the east side. In the front there were the pillars, with a veil, or curtain (vv. 31-32). If there were boards on all four sides, the tabernacle would be entirely closed. That would be too exclusive. There would be no entry or exit. Most members of the church are boards, but some must be the pillars. Chapter 2 of Galatians tells us that Peter, James, and John were the pillars, or the stronger ones, in the church at Jerusalem. Because the pillars were stronger than the boards, the entrance to the tabernacle was through them. If people would enter, the pillars afforded the way. There must be stronger brothers as pillars in the church life; there must be those who afford an entrance. If some would come in, the entrance opens, but if there is the need of protection, the entrance closes. A wall is a fixed structure; no one can pass through it. It is suitable for protection, but it is not available for an entrance. A door, however, may be opened to afford entrance, or it may be closed to protect those within. It may be opened to allow people to enter, or it may be closed to keep people out.
Praise the Lord for the entrances in the church. There are twelve gates in the New Jerusalem. There must not only be the boards as walls, separating and protecting, but also the pillars which afford the entrance. Many brothers are sufficiently strong to be boards, but we need stronger brothers, more experienced brothers, brothers who are not so square, but a little rounded, to stand as strong columns for the entrance.
In some so-called churches there are neither boards nor pillars. There is no separating power, no protection, and no entrance. In other places there are too many boards; all four sides are walled up. They are protected to the point of exclusion. There must be the pillars to balance the church.
At the bottom or base of the tabernacle there were one hundred silver sockets (Exo. 26:19, 21, 25, 32), totaling one hundred talents, or about ten thousand pounds in weight (38:27). These silver sockets afforded an extremely solid structure. Silver, as we have seen, signifies redemption. God’s dwelling place among His people must be based upon the Lord’s redemption. It could be solid only in this way.
During the time of Exodus there was no floor in the tabernacle. The building of God was not as yet established in a permanent location but was involved in journeys and wanderings.
The covering over the tabernacle consisted of four layers (26:1-14), which signifies the fourfold Christ, the Christ of four aspects. The first layer, of fine linen, typifies Christ as the sinless One. He had no sin and knew no sin. The second layer was a layer of goats’ hair. In typology goats signify sinners, and sheep signify justified persons (Matt. 25:31-46). Therefore, the layer of goats’ hair reveals Christ as the One who knew no sin but who was made sin for us (2 Cor. 5:21). This layer consisted of eleven pieces, one more in number than ten, and something too much. The third layer consisted of rams’ skins dyed red, thus revealing the sinless One who was made sin and died for our sins by shedding His blood (1 Cor. 15:3). He is our redemption. The fourth layer of porpoise skins typifies the Redeemer as our protection. Porpoise skin is exceedingly strong and was thus able to protect from the heat of the sun, the assault of the rain, the blowing of the wind, and all kinds of attack. All these layers together signify the protection of Christ, who as the sinless One was made sin for us to be our Redeemer. This is the fourfold Christ, our covering.
In conclusion, all that we have seen in the building of the tabernacle is a portrait, a figure, of the building of the church with Christ as its content. The church is a composition of many people who experience Christ to such an extent that they are mingled with God. Thus, they become the wooden boards overlaid with gold and set in silver sockets. They are also covered by the fourfold Christ as their protection. This is the church. In such a church Christ is the content. Within the tabernacle was the table of the bread of the Presence, displaying Christ as the bread of life; there is the lampstand, revealing Christ as the light of life; and there is the altar of incense, portraying Christ as our fragrance and acceptance before God. Finally, there is the Ark of the Testimony, setting forth Christ as the very embodiment of God. Such a Christ is the content of the church, and such a church is the expression of such a Christ.
I believe that this impressive picture is quite clear. If we would practice the proper church life, we must realize and experience Christ as the content of the church and the church as the expression of such a Christ. Throughout all the centuries God has been seeking and is still seeking for such an expression. He desires such a building on this earth, even in your locality. The Triune God portrayed in these chapters is the reality of the local church. May the Lord in His mercy bring us all into such an experience.
