Message 154
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Scripture Reading: Exo. 30:11-16; 38:25-28; Num. 1:45-46; 2:32
In the previous message we began to consider the matter of the propitiation silver in 30:11-16. Exodus 30:12 speaks of the sum, or the census, of the sons of Israel according to those who are numbered, and verse 16 speaks of taking the propitiation silver from the sons of Israel and giving it for the service of the tent of meeting. We have pointed out that, in order to understand the significance of the propitiation silver, we need to ask several important questions. First, what is the relationship between the incense altar and the propitiation silver? Second, why did the children of Israel need the propitiation silver in chapter thirty since they had already been redeemed? Third, why is the propitiation or ransom in Exodus 30 related to silver and not to the blood of an animal, inasmuch as redemption was accomplished through the Passover lamb? Fourth, why is the propitiation silver called a heave offering? Fifth, why is the propitiation silver paid only for males twenty years of age and older and not for all the children of Israel?
In answer to the first question, we have seen that the prayer, the intercession, at the incense altar is for God’s move, that God’s move requires an army that can fight for His interests, and that for the formation of His army a census is necessary. By this we can understand the relationship between the incense altar and the propitiation silver. We can understand why the propitiation silver is mentioned immediately after the description of the incense altar. The prayer at the incense altar issues in the numbering of the children of Israel for the formation of an army to fight for God’s move on earth.
Suppose an army had not been formed among the children of Israel. Would it still have been possible for the tabernacle to move without an army? No, there would have been no way for the tabernacle to move without an army to fight for God’s interests. According to the book of Numbers, the numbering of the males aged twenty and upward was for the formation of the army. Later, the book of Numbers refers to the twelve tribes as hosts, that is, armies. This indicates that each tribe was formed into an army. The only exception was the tribe of Levi, because that tribe was the host for the tabernacle. The tribes were formed into armies for the purpose of God’s move.
In Exodus 30, immediately after the record concerning the incense altar, we have a word regarding the census and the propitiation silver. In order to have the formation of an army to fight, there was the need of a census. The intercession at the incense altar is for God’s move. But how can God move in a situation where there are so many enemies? The answer is that God moves by fighting. But where is God’s army? Where are His hosts? These hosts must be formed from God’s chosen people. Furthermore, only males who have reached the age of twenty are qualified to be part of this army. This indicates that, in order for the army to be formed, a good number of God’s chosen people need to mature.
In certain countries young men of a particular age are drafted into the army. However, this kind of military draft has nothing to do with redemption. A young man does not need to be redeemed in order to be drafted into military service. But the situation is altogether different with the formation of God’s army. The formation of God’s army requires redemption. Do you believe that a natural man is qualified to be in God’s army? The natural man surely is not qualified to be drafted into this army. For this reason, there is the need of the ransom silver, the propitiation silver, a further requirement in addition to the blood of the Passover lamb.
There is an important difference between the Passover lamb and the propitiation silver. The Passover lamb was purely and absolutely for redemption, and it was available for all the people. But the ransom silver was related to redemption as it applied to those who were qualified to be formed into God’s army. Suppose some of God’s chosen people who were under the age of twenty wanted to put in the half-shekel of the ransom silver. Because they were under age, not yet mature enough, they would be disqualified from paying the ransom silver. However, age was not a factor in the redemption accomplished through the Passover lamb. All the children of Israel, regardless of age, were qualified to be redeemed by the lamb. Even a newborn infant was qualified to be redeemed. The matter of the difference in qualification for the redemption of the lamb and the ransom silver has been overlooked by some teachers of the Bible.
As God’s chosen people, we all have been redeemed, no matter what our age may be, spiritually speaking. However, we need to ask ourselves what our spiritual age is according to our maturity. Perhaps your spiritual age is only a few weeks or a few years. The total number of the children of Israel at the time of Exodus 30 was at least two million. But less than a third, 603,550 to be exact, were qualified to be in God’s army. More than two-thirds of God’s people, all the females and the males under the age of twenty, could not be numbered in this military census.
The spiritual significance of this is that if we would be in the army to fight for God’s move, we need to mature. We need to grow until we come to the spiritual age of twenty. The intercession offered at the incense altar is for this growth and maturity so that the army can be formed. The more intercession there is at the incense altar, the greater will be the urgency for God’s people to grow. More and more we shall realize that the need for maturity is desperate. There is the urgent need for more of us to grow, reach maturity, and thereby become qualified to be formed into an army. Only when such an army has been formed will God be able to move on earth for His purpose. Apart from an army formed of mature ones, there is no way for God to move. Oh, God’s chosen people need to grow! The intercessory prayer offered to God at the incense altar is for this.
The sisters should not be disappointed to hear that only the males among the Israelites could be formed into God’s army. In spiritual experience a male signifies someone who is strong. Today, spiritually speaking, some sisters may be males, whereas some brothers may be females spiritually. Whether we are spiritually a male or a female does not depend on whether we are brothers or sisters; it depends on whether we are strong in spirit or weak in spirit. If you are strong in spirit, you are a male. But if you are weak in spirit, you are a female. Too many among us are females. Therefore, there is the need of maturity.
Let us suppose that you are mature enough to be in God’s army. Because your spiritual age is at least twenty years, you are qualified to be numbered among those who are able to go to war. But does this mean that you should enter directly into the fight? It certainly does not mean this. If you try to fight directly, you will suffer a plague. Exodus 30:12 says, “When you take the sum of the sons of Israel according to those that are numbered of them, then every man shall give a ransom for his soul to Jehovah when you number them, that there be no plague among them when you number them.” In order to avoid any plague, we should never go to war in ourselves. We should say, “In myself I shall never go to fight in God’s army. Only in Christ and by Christ shall I go. I have Christ as my half-shekel, as my ransom silver. He is precious and valuable.” If we would fight in God’s army, we must fight only by this precious Christ.
The Christ typified by the ransom silver is not the crucified Christ, the Christ who died on the cross as the sin offering and the trespass offering. On the contrary, the propitiation silver is a heave offering, and the heave offering signifies the resurrected and ascended Christ, the Christ in the heavens. According to the type of the propitiation silver, the Christ by whom we fight is not the crucified One — He is the ascended One. Perhaps you have never considered this matter before, but this is the picture presented by the type.
Furthermore, from experience we know that whenever we go to war by ourselves and not by Christ as the ransom silver, we suffer a plague. This means that in spiritual fighting we have a disaster. However, at least some among us have had the experience of fighting the spiritual warfare not by themselves but by Christ as the ransom silver. They fight by Christ as the heave offering, as the resurrected and ascended One.
All those who have engaged in spiritual warfare know that this warfare is not fought on earth. The battles of spiritual warfare are waged in the air. In order to fight this kind of battle, we need to be in the heavenlies with the ascended Christ. We need to be in the heavens with Christ as our heave offering. Elsewhere we have pointed out that the wave offering signifies the resurrected Christ and that the heave offering signifies the ascended Christ. Therefore, the heave offering is an advancement beyond the wave offering; that is, the ascended Christ is an advancement over the resurrected Christ. In ascension Christ defeats His enemy.
According to the record in Exodus and Numbers, only through a military census can God’s army be formed. When God has such an army, He is able to move on earth for His interests. However, as we fight in this army for God’s move, we must fight by the resurrected and ascended Christ. We should never fight by ourselves.
If the Lord’s recovery is to move on, a number of saints need to experience all the aspects of the outer court and the tabernacle. They must go to the altar and then enjoy Christ as their life supply at the table in the Holy Place. Then they need to receive Christ as their light and experience the breaking of their natural being in order to have the ark, Christ as the testimony of God. Eventually, they will reach the incense altar and intercede for God’s move.
Some of the saints in the recovery have had this experience. They can understand experientially what I am talking about. These saints long to stay at the incense altar to pray. Even if outwardly they do not have much time to pray, inwardly their spirit craves to remain at the incense altar and pray, “Lord, we call on You for Your recovery. O Lord, move on. But look at today’s situation — there are enemies everywhere. Lord, where is Your testimony? We pray that Your testimony will go on.” This is the intercessory prayer offered at the incense altar.
After we arrive at the incense altar and stay there for a period of time, we shall not have the appetite to pray for material things, such as a house or a car. Our only desire will be to pray for the Lord’s move. We shall be burdened for His testimony throughout the earth. We shall pray, “Lord, may Your recovery move on. O Lord, what about Your testimony on earth? Lord, move on in Europe and in South America.” We may be so burdened to pray for the Lord’s move that we shall not have the heart to pray for personal matters. We shall leave all these matters, including concern for our health, in the hand of the Lord. But even if we outwardly have some prayer for personal matters or for our health, inwardly those things are not our real concern. Our concern deep within is for the Lord’s recovery, move, and testimony.
The intercessory prayer at the incense altar makes it urgent for God to have a census among His people so that an army can be formed to fight for His move. This means that it is the prayer at the incense altar that leads to the formation of the army. Do not think that this understanding is a product of my imagination. Far from being imaginary, this is a true description of events in the spiritual world. As a result of the prayer at the incense altar, the Lord conducts a military census of the saints in the churches. Here and there, He numbers His people. Those who are numbered are the ones qualified to go to war. However, they must realize that they cannot fight on their own; they need Christ as the ascended One. They need the Christ who is on the throne in the third heaven.
According to 38:25, the silver that was collected from the males numbered to form the army was “a hundred talents, and a thousand seven hundred and threescore and fifteen shekels, after the shekel of the sanctuary.” Verse 27 tells us that the hundred talents of silver were used to make the sockets for the sanctuary and the veil: “And of the hundred talents of silver were cast the sockets of the sanctuary, and the sockets of the veil; a hundred sockets of the hundred talents, a talent for a socket.” Each socket weighed a talent, and a talent is equal to approximately one hundred pounds. The entire tabernacle rested upon these one hundred silver sockets. Furthermore, all the pillars in the tabernacle had caps of silver. These caps signify glory. Exodus 38:28 says, “And of the thousand seven hundred seventy and five shekels he made hooks for the pillars, and overlaid their chapters, and filleted them.” The hooks and the fillets were for the formation of the tabernacle and the connecting of it.
This silver signifies the Christ in the heavens as the price paid by those who are able to go to war. Every local church rests upon this Christ, experienced by the saints who are able to go to war. These brothers and sisters have experienced the resurrected and ascended Christ to this extent, and the Christ whom they have experienced becomes the silver sockets, the silver crowns of the pillars, the silver hooks, and the silver fillets.
I can assure you that this is not merely a doctrine. If you study the history of every local church, you will see that this is actually the situation. Wherever there is a local church, there is sure to be a number of saints who, spiritually speaking, have reached the age of twenty and who take Christ as their ransom silver. This Christ is not the crucified One; He is the resurrected and ascended One. These saints are one with this Christ and experience Him to such an extent that He becomes the sockets of the church in their locality. He also becomes the caps on the pillars; that is, He becomes the glory of that church. Furthermore, this ascended Christ becomes the hooks and the fillets, the strength and the linking power of that church.
This experience of the ascended Christ as the ransom silver is for God’s move. It is the issue, the result, of the intercessory prayers offered at the incense altar. Therefore, the ransom silver is directly related to the incense altar.
