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Scripture Reading: Exo. 26:31-35; Heb. 9:2-5; 10:19-20; Matt. 27:50-51
In this chapter we will continue to consider the way to build up the church according to the type of the tabernacle.
The tabernacle was divided into three parts: the outer court, the Holy Place, and the Holy of Holies. Each part of the tabernacle has its crucial points. In the outer court there were bronze pieces of furniture, such as the bronze altar, the bronze laver, and the pillars and sockets of bronze, upon which were the linen hangings. These were the basic pieces of furniture in the outer court. In the outer court there were also the silver rods, the silver hooks, and the fine white linen hangings. Thus, everything in the outer court was either of bronze, silver, or fine white linen (Exo. 38:1-20).
After the outer court there was the Holy Place. All the boards in the Holy Place had two heavy sockets of silver (36:20-30). This means that the experiences of the Holy Place begin with redemption and have redemption as the base. But most of the pieces of furniture in the Holy Place were not of silver. The striking feature of the Holy Place was gold. Although the sockets of the standing boards were of silver, the boards were made of acacia wood overlaid with gold and had gold rings. The boards were joined by bars of acacia wood overlaid with gold that passed through the gold rings. Hence, in the Holy Place everything looked golden (v. 34). Moreover, the three pieces of furniture in the Holy Place—the table of the bread of the Presence, the lampstand, and the incense altar—were of gold (37:10-28). There was gold everywhere one looked in the Holy Place. Gold overlaying acacia wood was the main constituent and feature in the Holy Place.
According to typology, gold signifies God’s divine nature, which is God Himself, and wood signifies the human nature, humanity. Hence, acacia wood overlaid with gold signifies God mingled with man, or the divine element mingled with the human element. This dual-natured entity of gold and wood does not exist until we enter the Holy Place.
The most prominent symbols and types of the mingling of God and man are the standing boards, the table of the bread of the Presence, and the incense altar in the Holy Place of the tabernacle. These pieces of furniture were gold without, but they were wood within; they were wood, but they looked like gold. Each of these pieces of furniture had two natures, gold and wood. God’s children need to see that only by experiencing the mingling of God with man is building up possible.
The significance of wood overlaid with gold is the same as the significance of the oil poured upon the stone in Genesis 28:18. Oil symbolizes the Holy Spirit and, hence, God as well, and the stone symbolizes man. After Jacob poured oil upon the stone, he called the name of that place Bethel (v. 19). Then he made a vow, saying, “If God will be with me...this stone, which I have set up as a pillar, will be God’s house” (vv. 20, 22). Jacob vowed that the stone upon which the oil was poured would become God’s house, His temple, His dwelling place. This corresponds to the significance of wood overlaid with gold, which is for man to be built up into God’s tabernacle, His dwelling place.
If we are to be built up together in the church, we must experience oil being poured upon the stone and experience wood being overlaid with gold, that is, the mingling of God with man. If we are merely convicted and judged under God’s light, confess our sins and are forgiven by God, receive the work of redemption and the washing, and deal with our conduct to become blameless before God and man, then we have experienced only a preparatory work; we have not yet entered into genuine building up. We must touch the mingling of God with man and become a board of wood overlaid with gold, in order to have the genuine building up. This means that being joined and built up with others depend on the divine nature of God.
The standing boards in the tabernacle were joined by means of the gold. If the boards were made of only wood without gold rings, they could not have been joined by the bars. The boards could be joined together because of the gold. The boards were overlaid with gold, the bars were overlaid with gold, and the boards had rings of gold as holders for the bars to pass through and thus join the boards together (Exo. 36:31-34). This shows that although the building of God’s dwelling place requires that we be built up together, we are joined together through God. We cannot be joined in our humanity. We can only be joined to become one building in divinity and with divinity as our linking factor.
The oneness of the church, the linking of the church, is altogether not in man but in God. No matter how blameless we are by being judged and convicted under the light, being cleansed, forgiven, and redeemed, being pleasing to God and justified by Him, and even dealing with our conduct, without divinity we will still be separate. We will not be joined, for we cannot be joined in our humanity. It is not until we move on to experience the mingling of divinity with humanity that the God we are mingled with can join us together.
For example, although the lamps in a room are separate, they are joined into one by means of the electric current within them. In the same principle, no matter how blameless we may be, we are still separate individuals. We can be built together only because we are in God. This is wood overlaid with gold. We cannot neglect this. Our individual effort is useless in the building. Building happens spontaneously when we live in God and are mingled with Him.
In order to be mingled with God, to become wood overlaid with gold, we must enter into the Holy Place and take Christ as our bread of life, light of life, and acceptance of life, that is, to experience the Christ typified by the table of the bread of the Presence, the golden lampstand, and the golden incense altar in the Holy Place (Heb. 9:2). We can live in God’s presence by Christ as the bread of life, we can walk in the light of God’s presence because Christ is in us as the light of life, and we are accepted into God’s presence because Christ is in us as the incense of resurrection. The indwelling Christ as our life enables us to live before God, walk in His light, and be accepted in His presence.
The highest expression in the outer court was the fine linen hangings. In the Holy Place, however, to be a Christian is not only to have outward conduct that matches the fine linen hangings but also to enjoy the bread of the Presence, the golden lampstand, and the golden incense altar. The experience in the outer court condemns our hate of others and approves our love for them, but the experience in the Holy Place asks what the source of our love is. Does our love come from our natural life or from Christ as life? According to the experiences in the outer court, being proud and despising others are wrong but being humble and highly esteeming others are proper. However, the experiences in the Holy Place ask what life is the source of our humility. Is our humility lived out of our adamic life or out of Christ as life? Although the brothers should highly esteem one another and not despise others, we must ask whether the esteem that we give to one another comes from our natural life or from Christ as our life. If our humility, our highly esteeming others, our goodness, and our perfection come from our natural life, they are, at best, hangings in the outer court; they are not wood overlaid with gold and therefore cannot be built up.
Believers who experience only the hangings in the outer court are likely to become proud. A Christian who only takes care of becoming proper will despise and condemn others. To say that we are humble but that others are bad and proud only proves that we are proud. Proud people can never be joined to others.
If such a believer would touch Christ as life and leave the outer layer of behavior to enter into the layer of life, he would become humble. He would know that his love and humility are imperfect and that no matter how good his love and humility may be, they are not acceptable to God and cannot be brought into the Holy Place. In the Holy Place only Christ as life is acceptable to God. Good conduct may be acceptable in the outer court, but it is condemned in the Holy Place. Only by taking Christ as life can we be acceptable to God in the Holy Place.
We will also discover that as Christians, good conduct cannot satisfy us. The more proper our conduct becomes, the emptier we will feel. The food and satisfaction that we need are the inner life, not outward conduct. Even if our conduct is perfect, we will still be in the natural light. Our good conduct will become a veil to us. The more humble and loving we are, the blinder our inner eyes will be. Good conduct can only block light, but experiencing Christ as life will cause us to see light.
We need to be able to distinguish between a Christian in the outer court and a Christian in the Holy Place. A Christian in the outer court condemns his deeds and is forgiven by God and cleansed. A Christian in the Holy Place knows Christ inwardly as his life, his satisfaction, his light, and his acceptable fragrance before God. We should ask ourselves whether we are Christians in the outer court or Christians in the Holy Place.
Sometimes we are like the priests in the Old Testament, because we enter into the Holy Place, but soon after, we go out to the altar and the laver again. We enter and leave the Holy Place often. Last night we were in the outer court, this morning we were in the Holy Place, but in the evening we go back out to the outer court. It is difficult to find a person who lives in the Holy Place.
We cannot be built up if we only pay attention to improving our conduct. We must touch Christ as life in order to experience the mingling of the divine nature with our human nature. Gold is not as hard as acacia wood. The boards are able to stand because of acacia wood, not by means of the gold. Acacia wood is a very hard wood, and it signifies the resurrected humanity. The believers who are in Christ’s resurrection are firm and strong in their humanity. For example, the Lord raised up strong and firm persons, such as Luther, Darby, and Müller, to testify for Him. However, to stand firm is different from being joined with others. We are not joined with other believers in our humanity, which is typified by acacia wood. We are joined with other believers in the divine nature, typified by gold.
When we enter into the Holy Place and experience Christ as life, we will be mingled with God, and we will spontaneously be softened to understand the weak and to accommodate the defeated so that we can be joined and built up with them.
To say that the tabernacle is the dwelling place of God is a general statement. God did not dwell in the Holy Place; He dwelt in the Holy of Holies. Hence, although we may experience some building in the Holy Place, strictly speaking, we still cannot become His dwelling place. In order for us to become God’s dwelling place, we must have the experience of the Holy of Holies.
The saints who confess their sins, are forgiven, cleansed, and manifest fine white linen in their conduct are still in the outer court. They are not yet in the tabernacle. They have good conduct but no building. Gradually, these saints will grow and come to know that Christians should not only have good outward conduct but should also know Christ as their inner life and enter into the experience of the mingling of God with man so that they can be blended as one in the divine nature. At this point, God’s building will be seen among them, but His presence among them will not yet be complete, for they will not yet have the Ark. To experience Christ as our bread of life, our light of life, and our acceptance into God’s presence is to enjoy things from God; it is not our entering into God.
The bread of the Presence, the golden lampstand, and the golden incense altar in the Holy Place correspond to the three items inside the Ark, which was in the Holy of Holies. The hidden manna in the golden pot, the two tablets of the covenant, and Aaron’s budding rod were in the Ark (Heb. 9:2-4). The bread of the Presence in the Holy Place corresponds to the hidden manna in the Ark. Christ is the bread of the Presence, our bread of life, and He is hidden in God as the hidden manna. The light of life causes man to know what is right and wrong and is typified by the golden lampstand. The light hidden in God is the inner law of life, which is typified by the two tablets of law inside the Ark. In the same principle, the experience of the acceptable fragrance at the incense altar in the Holy Place corresponds to the budding rod, the resurrection power, in the Holy of Holies, because the budding rod was proof of Aaron’s being accepted by God (Num. 17:1-10).
The three pieces of furniture in the Holy Place were manifest. The bread of the Presence was on the table, the light shone from the golden lampstand, and the sweet savor went up from the golden incense altar. This means that the experiences of Christ as the bread of life, the light of life, and the acceptable fragrance are manifest. The experiences in the Holy of Holies, which are deeper, involve the hidden manna, the hidden law, and the hidden resurrection power, as typified by the three items in the Ark. Our experiences of Christ in the Holy of Holies are not manifest but are hidden in God.
Let us use an example to illustrate the difference between the experiences of the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. A brother who lives in the outer court will sense when he is not right and will condemn himself, deal thoroughly with his sins, and adjust his behavior. When he is led by God into deeper experiences of knowing Christ as life, he will realize that to be a Christian is not a matter of outward conduct but of experiencing Christ as his satisfaction, light, and acceptable fragrance before God. He will be filled with joy from such experiences. As a result, he will call hymns, pray, and testify in the meeting, as if he is setting forth the bread of the Presence, shining forth the light of the golden lampstand, and emanating the sweet fragrance of the golden incense altar. His functioning will cause the saints to be satisfied, to be enlightened, and to receive the sweet-smelling savor. However, this is only an experience of the Holy Place.
After a period of time he will not sense God’s presence as before, and his prayers and his eating and drinking of the Lord will lose their taste. He will feel dry instead of watered and will not receive much light from the Word. As a result, in the meeting he will not be able to set forth the bread of the Presence, to shine forth the light of the lampstand, or to emanate the sweet-smelling fragrance. This is the Lord’s mercy to lead this brother into the experiences of the Holy of Holies. The three pieces of furniture in the Holy Place are seen, but in the Holy of Holies the three items in the Ark are hidden.
Christ as the bread of life is the bread of the Presence set forth in the Holy Place; He is also the hidden manna in the Holy of Holies. Christ as the light of life is the light of the golden lampstand shining in the Holy Place; He is also the hidden law in the Holy of Holies. Christ as the acceptable fragrance to God is emanating a sweet savor in the Holy Place; He is also the hidden budding rod in the Holy of Holies. Thus, a brother who has deeper experiences in God’s presence may not be that excited in the meetings, but those who contact him can immediately sense that he has a supply of hidden manna, that he understands God’s heart and ways, and that he has the authority of resurrection and the power of resurrection. These are very practical in him. He may not speak often, but once he opens his mouth, others will sense that he has the hidden manna, the hidden law, and the hidden power and authority of resurrection within him. Such a brother is in the Holy of Holies with God’s presence, the Ark, and the throne of grace. This is the practical difference in our experience between the Holy of Holies and the Holy Place.
We will now consider how to proceed from the Holy Place into the Holy of Holies. The Holy Place and the Holy of Holies were separated by a veil. Outside the veil was the Holy Place, and inside the veil was the Holy of Holies. In order to meet God in the Old Testament times, the high priest had to pass through the veil into the Holy of Holies, because God was in the Holy of Holies behind the veil. In the New Testament, however, Hebrews 10:19 and 20 say, “Having therefore, brothers, boldness for entering the Holy of Holies in the blood of Jesus, which entrance He initiated for us as a new and living way through the veil, that is, His flesh.” This shows that the veil into the Holy of Holies has been split and that the Lord has initiated a new and living way for us. Therefore, there is no separating veil between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies in the New Testament age. According to these verses, the veil is the Lord’s flesh. Christ is the Word becoming flesh; that is, He is God becoming a man. His becoming flesh was His becoming a man. Hence, the veil refers to the natural man. Our natural man is a veil between us and God.
When we are in the Holy Place, we are no longer separated from God by sin, darkness, and the world. However, between us and God there is still a separation, a veil, which is our natural man, our self. This veil needs to be split; that is, our natural man needs to be broken. No matter what our condition is—whether we have shortcomings or strengths, whether we fall or stand, and whether or not we have God’s presence—our natural man needs to be broken. The veil was hung in front of the Ark of God, where there were no problems, stains, or faults, in order to separate man from God, who was in the Holy of Holies. We may be experiencing the Holy Place, but God is in the Holy of Holies. We are outside the veil, but God is within the veil. This separating veil is neither sin nor the world; it is our intact natural man. Without being subdued or broken, our natural man separates us from God.
When the Lord Jesus was on the cross, He was a man in the flesh; that is, He had humanity. Therefore, when the Lord died on the cross, in God’s eyes He was a man who had been split. In the Lord’s table meeting we break the bread. The bread cannot break itself; rather, it is broken because we break it. When the Lord Jesus expired on the cross, the veil of the temple was split in two from top to bottom, not from bottom to top (Matt. 27:50-51; Mark 15:37-38). This means that the Lord’s body was broken not by man but by God. Hence, the old creation, not just fallen man, was split from top to bottom by God.
Although this was accomplished on the cross, whether we experience this is another matter. Many believers have not experienced the breaking of their natural man. As a result, they have not entered into the Holy of Holies but linger outside the veil.
A considerable number among us may have entered into the Holy Place experientially. We experience oil being poured upon the stone and experience wood being overlaid with gold; we have become standing boards. We also have the rings of gold through which bars of acacia wood overlaid with gold can pass and bind us together. In a sense, such a condition is prevalent among us. However, we must admit that God’s presence is not practical among us. On the one hand, when we see what the Lord has done in the church and how we have been graced, we bow our heads and worship God in the meetings. On the other hand, we have a strong sense that although we have the table of the bread of the Presence, the golden lampstand, and the golden incense altar, we do not have the Ark. Our meetings are full of life, joy, and light, but God’s presence is not strong. This is because few saints have been broken by God, and not many have experienced the splitting of the veil. We have not entered into the Holy of Holies.
Many saints have the wrong concept that a person who loses his temper and is fleshly has not been broken but that a person who is meek has been broken. Both the quick-tempered believers and the fleshly believers need to be broken. However, the meek believers also need to be broken. Even if a person were blameless before God, he would still need to be broken.
Christ’s death is typified by two things in the tabernacle. The shedding of the blood of the sacrifices on the altar in the outer court and the splitting of the veil between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies both typify the death of Christ. The intrinsic significance of Christ’s death is very rich. The lamb that was killed on the altar in the outer court speaks of Christ bearing our sins, being judged by God, and shedding His blood to accomplish redemption. The splitting of the veil between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies speaks of God crucifying the old creation, including created man, on the cross. Even though the Lord Jesus was blameless and could stand before God and man, He still needed to be split by God. This indicates that created man needs to die.
The burden of this chapter is to reveal the steps of building up. The saints must experience these crucial points. The experiences of the outer court deal with our conduct. The experiences of the Holy Place are a matter of taking Christ as our life. The experiences of the Holy of Holies focus on our entering into God. In order to enter into the Holy of Holies, we not only need to be delivered from sin and the world; we also need to be split, broken. When we pass through the altar and the laver in the outer court, we deal with sin and the defilement of the world. Then we can enter into the Holy Place to experience Christ as life and to be mingled with God. At this point sin and the world no longer separate us from God who is in the Holy of Holies. However, our natural man must be broken in order for us to enter into the Holy of Holies.
After we enter into the Holy of Holies, we can touch the things within God. This is not a matter of experiencing God coming forth in Christ as our bread of life, light of life, and acceptance of life. In the Holy of Holies we enter into God and experience the hidden manna, the inner law of life, and the acceptance in resurrection. When we enter into God, we can touch the matters within Him. Only then are we truly wood in gold, that is, man in God.
This is the experience in Book Four of the Psalms. The first psalm of Book Four, Psalm 90, is titled, “A Prayer of Moses, the man of God.” This indicates that by Book Four the psalmist had entered into God; hence, he is called “the man of God.” Intrinsically speaking, a man of God is a person mingled with God. In Job 1:1, Job is a perfect man. In Psalm 1:1-2 the psalmist is a law-keeping, righteous man. But in Psalm 90 the psalmist is not merely a perfect or righteous man; he is a man of God, that is, a man in God and mingled with God. Therefore, the first sentence of Psalm 90 is, “O Lord, You have been our dwelling place / In all generations.” When we dwell in God, when wood is concealed in gold, we can experience God as our dwelling place. This is where we have God’s presence, the throne of grace typified by the expiation cover, and the cherubim of glory.
God has revealed this light to us from His Word not for us to understand doctrines. I believe that according to this light, He will do an intense work among us in order to bring us from the outer court into the Holy Place and then from the Holy Place into the Holy of Holies. He wants us to learn to deal with sins and the world, to take Christ as life, to live before Him, to experience being mingled with Him, and to let the cross break our natural man. This breaking enables us to enter into God and touch Him. This is the way for God to practically become our dwelling place and for us to be joined by Him as one to become His dwelling place, His habitation. This is the mingling of God with man as a mutual dwelling place.
