Message 103
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Scripture Reading: Exo. 26:36-37; 2 Cor. 5:18-21
In the tabernacle there were two veils, or two curtains. The first veil, located at the entrance to the Holy Place, was called the screen; the second curtain, separating the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies, was called the veil. Chapter twenty-six of Exodus speaks first of the inner veil and then of the screen. Verse 31 says, “And you shall make a veil of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen; the work of a skillful workman shall it be made, with cherubim.” This was the veil which made a separation between the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies (v. 33). Verses 36 and 37 say, “And you shall make a curtain for the door of the tent of blue, and purple, and scarlet, and fine twined linen, the work of an embroiderer. And you shall make for the screen five pillars of acacia wood, and overlay them with gold.” As we have pointed out in the foregoing messages, these two veils signify two aspects of the all-inclusive death of Christ. The screen indicates that Christ died for our sins so that our sins may be forgiven and that we may be justified by God. The inner veil indicates that Christ died for us so that our flesh, our fallen nature, may be rent, or torn, and that we may enter the Holy of Holies to enjoy God to the uttermost.
Recently I have seen that the screen and the veil in the tabernacle are related to Paul’s word concerning reconciliation in 2 Corinthians 5. For many years I was puzzled by this chapter, especially by Paul’s appeal to the Corinthians to be reconciled to God. In this chapter Paul is definitely dealing not with unbelievers, but with believers. Nevertheless, he concludes this chapter with a word about reconciliation. Why in speaking to believers does Paul refer to his ministry as a ministry of reconciliation? Had those in Corinth not already been reconciled to God? Since they were genuine believers, they no doubt had been reconciled. Second Corinthians 5:19 says, “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself, not accounting their offenses to them, and putting in us the word of reconciliation.” Then in verse 20 Paul goes on to say, “On behalf of Christ, then, we are ambassadors, as God entreating through us; we beseech you on behalf of Christ, Be reconciled to God.” We need to see that here Paul speaks of reconciliation in two ways, or in two aspects. One aspect is related to sinners; the other aspect, to believers.
If we know the significance of the veil and the screen in the tabernacle, we shall be able to understand how Paul deals with the Corinthian believers in 2 Corinthians 5. The Corinthians had passed through the first veil, the screen, at the entrance to the tabernacle. But they had not yet passed through the second veil, the inner veil, the veil separating the Holy Place from the Holy of Holies. This means that they had not experienced both aspects of the reconciliation between us and God. Before the Corinthians believed in Christ and were saved, they were enemies to God. But when they believed in Christ, they were reconciled to God. They were forgiven, they were justified, and they could enter into the Holy Place to have a certain enjoyment of the Lord. However, although the Corinthians had experienced this aspect of reconciliation, they had not entered into the Holy of Holies. They had been reconciled to God to some extent, but not to the extent of being able to come into the Holy of Holies to enjoy God in full. For this reason, they needed a further reconciliation, the reconciliation Paul speaks of in 2 Corinthians 5:20.
In 1 Corinthians 15:3 Paul says, “For I delivered to you, among the first things, that which also I received, that Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures.” Here Paul emphasizes the basic gospel truth that Christ died for our sins. This is related to the first aspect of reconciliation. The goal of reconciliation is to take away the barrier between us and God. When we experience forgiveness and justification and enter the Holy Place, the barrier is taken away to a certain extent. However, a particular aspect of the barrier remains, and this aspect is our flesh, our fallen nature. Concerning our sins, we have been forgiven and reconciled to God. But concerning our flesh, our fallen nature, we may not yet be reconciled to God. Rather, we still may be separated from Him, unable to enjoy Him in the Holy of Holies.
The Corinthian believers were genuine brothers in Christ, and Paul repeatedly addressed them as such. Nevertheless, in 2 Corinthians 5:20 he beseeches them to be reconciled to God. Then in verse 21 he goes on to say, “Him who did not know sin He made sin on our behalf, that we might become God’s righteousness in Him.” This is deeper than Christ dying for our sins. For Christ to be made sin for us so that we may become the righteousness of God is different from Christ dying so that we may have our sins forgiven and be justified by God.
If we read 2 Corinthians 5 carefully, we shall see that there are in fact two aspects of reconciliation. In verse 19 Paul says that God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself. Notice that concerning the reconciling of the world to God, Paul does not tell us that Christ was made sin. On the contrary, he simply says that God did not reckon their offenses unto them. This aspect of reconciliation involves sinners, as indicated by Paul’s use of the word “world.” But according to verse 20, even the reconciled ones, the believers, still need to be reconciled. In these verses we see three classes of people: the apostles, sinners, and believers who have not been fully reconciled to God.
Most Christian preachers today speak only of the first aspect of reconciliation, the aspect of God not reckoning sinners’ offenses against them. Few, if any, speak of the second aspect of reconciliation, the aspect related to Christ becoming sin so that we may become the righteousness of God in Him. This aspect, which is much deeper than the first, is signified by the second veil in the tabernacle. Only when we pass through this veil are we thoroughly reconciled to God and able to enjoy Him in full.
This second aspect of reconciliation corresponds to what Paul says in Romans 8. Romans 8:3, a verse that is very similar to 2 Corinthians 5:21, says, “God sending His own Son in the likeness of the flesh of sin and concerning sin, condemned sin in the flesh.” This corresponds to the word in 2 Corinthians 5:21 about Christ being made sin for us. The Son of God was sent in the likeness of the flesh of sin and then, on the cross, He was made sin for us. When Christ was on the cross, God condemned sin in the flesh. This means that God crucified, killed, the flesh, including sin, which is actually Satan himself. God condemned sin in the flesh so that the righteous requirement of the law might be fulfilled in us who do not walk according to flesh, but according to spirit. The flesh dealt with in Romans 8 and 2 Corinthians 5 is illustrated by the inner veil in Exodus 26. If we did not have the veil in the tabernacle as a type, we could not have a full understanding that the flesh must be dealt with. We have seen that the rending of the inner veil signifies the tearing of our flesh.
Second Corinthians 5:16 says, “So that we, from now on, know no one according to flesh; even if we have known Christ according to flesh, yet now we know Him so no longer.” Those who know Christ according to the flesh are, at best, in the outer court. In many cases, they may not even be in the outer court. It is possible that the Corinthians knew the apostles according to their soulish understanding, for many of them were in the Holy Place, which signifies the soul. In verse 17 Paul speaks of the new creation: “So that if anyone is in Christ, there is a new creation; the old things have passed away; behold, they have become new.” To be a new creation means to be absolutely new. This is to be in the Holy of Holies.
In 2 Corinthians 5:14 Paul says that One, that is Christ, died for all. This verse does not say that Christ died for our sins so that we may be forgiven. As we have seen, the forgiveness of sins is the first aspect of reconciliation. Christ died for us so that we may live to Him. Living to Christ in 2 Corinthians 5 is equal to walking according to spirit in Romans 8. Living to Christ by walking according to the spirit is much deeper than simply having our sins forgiven.
In the past I was troubled by certain matters in 2 Corinthians 5. For years, I did not know the real significance of this chapter. Although I had a clear view of chapters two, three, and four, I did not have a proper understanding of chapter five. For this reason, in the past nineteen years I have not given many messages on this chapter, especially on the last few verses. But now my view of this chapter is becoming clearer and clearer. As we shall see when we come to this chapter in the Life-study of 2 Corinthians, here we have a dealing which brings the believers into the second aspect of reconciliation. This aspect is to have our flesh torn so that we may enter the Holy of Holies and have the full enjoyment of God.
In 2 Corinthians Paul uses many metaphors. For example, in 2 Corinthians 2:14 through 16 he says, “But thanks be to God, who always leads us in triumph in the Christ, and manifests through us the savor of the knowledge of Him in every place; for we are a fragrance of Christ to God in those who are being saved and in those who are perishing: to the one a savor from death unto death, to the other a savor from life unto life.” There are two metaphors in these verses. The first is that of the triumphal procession. Paul regarded himself and the other apostles as captives in such a procession. They had been fully captured by God, and now they were marching in Christ’s procession. The Corinthians, however, had not yet been wholly captured by the Lord.
The second metaphor in these verses is the bearers of incense. On the one hand, the apostles were captives; on the other hand, they were those bearing incense, the fragrance of Christ. As the apostles marched in Christ’s procession, they bore the fragrance of Christ as incense.
In 2 Corinthians 3:2 and 3 Paul uses the metaphor of living epistles: “You are our letter, inscribed in our hearts, known and read by all men; being manifested that you are a letter of Christ ministered by us, inscribed not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tablets of stone, but in fleshy tablets of the heart.” Here we see that Paul and his co-workers were writing living epistles. These epistles were their letters of commendation. The apostles were the writers, and the believers were the epistles written by them.
A fourth metaphor is that of a mirror. Paul refers to this in 2 Corinthians 3:18: “And we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting as a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.” According to this verse, the believers should be mirrors without any kind of veil covering them. This means that we should no longer be covered by the veil of the law. As uncovered mirrors we should behold the glory of the Lord and thus be transformed.
In 2 Corinthians 4:7 Paul uses yet another metaphor, that of earthen vessels: “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellence of the power may be of God and not of us.” When we consider this verse in the light of what Paul says in verse 6, where he speaks of God shining in our hearts to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ, we realize that the vessel in verse 7 may be likened to a camera. What Paul describes in these verses is actually the experience of spiritual photography. As believers, we can be compared to cameras. The divine light shines through the lens and causes an image, a figure, to be imprinted on the film of our spirit. Originally this film was blank. But now, through the shining of God, the film has the glorious image of Christ imprinted on it. This image on the film of our spirit is the very treasure in the earthen vessel. Furthermore, this treasure is a dynamo, the source of spiritual power. Nothing, including the things described in verses 8 and 9, can defeat this dynamo.
Chapter five of 2 Corinthians is an excellent continuation of chapters two, three, and four. In chapter five Paul indicates that the believers at Corinth had not yet entered into the situation described by Paul in the foregoing chapters. This means that they had not yet come into the Holy of Holies; they were still separated from it by the second veil. Thus, they needed further reconciliation. This is the reason Paul entreated them to be reconciled to God. To be reconciled in the second aspect is to have our flesh rent, torn into pieces.
We thank the Lord for what He has shown us concerning the veil and the screen and concerning the necessity to have the flesh rent so that we may experience God in the Holy of Holies. Having seen these things, we can no longer be content with the outer court or even the Holy Place. In a very real sense, the more we see concerning spiritual things, the more we are spoiled for anything else. The more we enjoy the Holy Place, the less we want to return to the outer court. Only those who live on the border between the Holy Place and the outer court would ever consider leaving the Holy Place and returning to the outer court. In the same principle, if we are in the Holy of Holies, there will be no way for us to go elsewhere. We can never again be content to live in the Holy Place. The vision we see in the Holy of Holies will imprison us.
We praise the Lord for showing us the two veils, the inner veil and the screen, and for revealing the two aspects of reconciliation. We all need to pass through both veils and experience both aspects of reconciliation so that we may enter into the Holy of Holies to enjoy the Lord to the uttermost.
