Message 89
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Scripture Reading: Exo. 25:17-22
Not many Christians have seen that Christ is the place of propitiation. Speaking of Christ Jesus, Paul says in Romans 3:25, “Whom God set forth a propitiation-cover through faith in His blood.” Here the Greek word for propitiation-cover is hilasterion, which means the place of propitiation. In Hebrews 9:5 this word is used for the cover, the lid of the ark within the Holy of Holies. In Exodus 25:17-22 and Leviticus 16:12-16, the Septuagint also uses this word for the cover of the ark. The King James Version adopts the rendering “mercy seat.” This indicates that those translators regarded the place of propitiation as a seat, realizing that Christ as the place of propitiation was a seat for God to grant mercy to us.
It is important to see that propitiation is not only an act; it is also Christ Himself as a place. According to Romans 3:25, God set up Christ Himself, the Person, to be a propitiation-cover. It is upon this Person that God can meet with us and we can meet with God.
In the book of Hebrews Paul speaks of the propitiation-cover as the throne of grace: “Let us therefore come forward with boldness to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and may find grace for timely help” (4:16). Hebrews 10:19 and 20 say, “Having therefore, brothers, boldness for entering the Holy of Holies by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which He dedicated for us through the veil, that is, His flesh.” The throne of grace is in the Holy of Holies, for it is the cover of the ark, which is in the Holy of Holies. Thus, the cover of the ark is a place where God gives us grace. For this reason, the place where God gives grace to us is surely the throne of grace. Now we must see that this throne of grace, the place where God gives us grace, is actually Christ Himself.
In these messages on the ark of the testimony we have seen that the entire ark with its cover is a type of Christ. This is a matter of great significance. Christ is all-inclusive. We should not think that the propitiation-cover on the ark is something other than Christ Himself and regard propitiation simply as an act accomplished by Christ. To repeat, Christ is the entire ark, including the top, the cover.
Because few Christians have seen that Christ is the place of propitiation, the propitiation-cover, they do not appreciate the preciousness of the blood on this cover. Rather, the majority of Christians appreciate the preciousness of the blood at the cross. Instead of entering into the Holy of Holies, they continue to linger at the cross, the altar. Most of the hymns written about the redeeming blood are centered on the cross. Can you find one hymn which speaks about the preciousness of the redeeming blood on the propitiatory cover? I do not know of such a hymn.
We have seen that both Paul and John spoke of matters related to Christ as the propitiatory cover. Both Paul’s completing ministry and John’s mending ministry cover this point. Certain points in the mending ministry of John are stronger than the points in the completing ministry of Paul. When something is mended, often it is stronger than it was before. For example, when you mend a worn part of a garment, the area that is mended is usually stronger than the original cloth. This is true of the mending ministry of John with respect to Christ as the ark.
In John 1:1 and 14 we see that the Word which was in the beginning and which was God became flesh. According to verse 14, the disciples beheld the Lord’s glory. In other words, they saw the cherubim, the shining of Christ’s divinity. John 1:29 says, “Behold, the Lamb of God who takes away the sin of the world!” An important element related to the Lamb of God is the redeeming blood. John 19:34 says, “But one of the soldiers pierced His side with a spear, and immediately there came out blood and water.” In John 17 we read more concerning the glory, concerning the cherubim. In verse 1 the Lord Jesus prayed, “Father, the hour has come; glorify Your Son that the Son may glorify You.” In verse 22 the Lord went on to pray, “And the glory which You have given Me I have given to them, that they may be one, even as We are one.”
In chapter one of the First Epistle of John we read of life, fellowship, and the blood. Verse 1 speaks of the Word of life, and verse 2 says that the life was manifested. In verse 3 John says, “That which we have seen and heard we report also to you, that you also may have fellowship with us, and indeed the fellowship which is ours is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ.” Concerning the blood, verse 7 says, “But if we walk in the light as He is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and the blood of Jesus His Son cleanses us from all sin.” Eternal life has been proclaimed that we may have fellowship with the Father and the Son. Although we are sinful, the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses us.
In the book of Revelation we see the shining Christ, beginning with His unveiling in chapter one: His head and hair are white as white wool, as snow; His eyes as a flame of fire; His feet like shining brass; and His face “as the sun shines in its power” (vv. 14-16). Revelation 10:1 also describes a shining Christ: “And I saw another strong Angel coming down out of heaven, clothed with a cloud; and the rainbow was upon His head, and His face was as the sun, and His feet as pillars of fire.” Revelation 18:1 also speaks of Christ as the shining One: “After these things I saw another Angel coming down out of heaven, having great authority; and the earth was illumined with His glory.”
The book of Revelation also emphasizes the blood. Revelation 1:5 says, “To Him who loves us and has loosed us from our sins by His blood.” Revelation 5:9 declares, “You were slain and did purchase to God by Your blood men out of every tribe and tongue and people and nation.” Revelation 7:14 speaks of “those who come out of the great tribulation and have washed their robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb.” Speaking of the overcomers, Revelation 12:11 says, “They overcame him because of the blood of the Lamb.” The blood with which we are cleansed also shuts the slandering, accusing mouth of the Devil.
In the book of Revelation we can see the very Christ typified by the ark made of acacia wood overlaid with gold. Much is said concerning gold in this book. The Son of Man in the midst of the golden lampstands is the One typified by the acacia wood.
At this point we need to see that the book of Hebrews is a definition of the ark. If we would know the ark of the testimony, we need to study Hebrews. Speaking of Christ, Hebrews 1:3 says, “Who being the effulgence of His glory and the express image of His substance.” Christ as the effulgence of God’s glory is the cherubim. He is God, and He has the golden nature out of which come the cherubim, the glory. In Hebrews 2 we have the element of acacia wood, the human nature of Christ. From verse 14 we see that Christ took on a human nature of blood and flesh. Verse 17 says, “Wherefore He ought to be made like His brothers in all things, that He might become a merciful and faithful High Priest in things pertaining to God, to make propitiation for the sins of the people.”
The book of Hebrews has much to say concerning the redeeming blood. Hebrews 9:22 says that “without shedding of blood there is no forgiveness.” Verse 12 says that Christ “through His own blood, entered once for all into the Holy of Holies, having found an eternal redemption.” Verse 14 goes on to say, “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without blemish to God, purify our conscience from dead works to serve the living God.”
In Hebrews 9:5 Paul speaks explicitly of the propitiation-cover on the ark. This verse says, “And above it cherubim of glory overshadowing the propitiation-cover.” How rich and all-inclusive is the Christ signified by the ark! We can never exhaust the definition of this ark. Just as the ark of the testimony was in the Holy of Holies, so now the Christ typified by the ark dwells in our spirit.
The understanding of most Christians regarding the ark is extremely superficial. Most Bible teachers have expounded the record of the ark merely in a doctrinal way. They do not emphasize the place of the ark in Christian experience. Do you know of any Bible teacher who has said that the ark is the Christ who dwells in our spirit? Many believers do not even know the human spirit; they consider the spirit and the soul synonymous terms. Even many Bible teachers believe in dichotomy — the doctrine that man is made of two parts, body and soul — and not trichotomy — the truth that man is composed of three parts, spirit, soul, and body. Certain Christians who emphasize the inner life do stress that man is made of three parts and that the spirit and the soul are not identical. If we do not realize that we have a human spirit, there is no way to see that the ark in the Holy of Holies typifies Christ dwelling in our spirit.
We need to consider this matter in a practical way from the standpoint of our experience. Where is it that you have fellowship with God? Do you go to the heavens to have fellowship with Him? Certainly not. Hebrews 4:16 encourages us to come forward to the throne of grace. But when you come forward to the throne of grace according to this verse, where do you come? Do you not come to your regenerated human spirit? Practically speaking, the throne of grace is now in our spirit. If we do not know Christ as the ark in our spirit, we shall not know how to come to the throne of grace.
To say that the throne of grace is in our spirit is practical and experiential. It is not merely a matter of doctrine. Whenever we pray by turning to the spirit, we touch the throne of grace. What is the throne of grace? It is the all-inclusive Christ typified by the ark, in particular typified by the top part of the all-inclusive Christ, the propitiatory cover.
Two important symbols are related to the cover of the ark: the blood and the cherubim. The blood signifies the redemption accomplished by Christ in His humanity, and the cherubim signify the glory of Christ’s divinity. It is on this cover, the propitiatory cover with the cherubim of glory and sprinkled with the redeeming blood, that God and we can meet together. Here on this cover we and God have fellowship. Furthermore, this is also the place where we hear a word from God and receive vision, revelation, and instruction to control our daily life.
Our daily walk as Christians should not be controlled by ethics, morality, devotion, piety, or religion. Our daily life should not even be controlled by the Scriptures alone. Then by what should our daily living be controlled? It should be controlled by the vision we see when we meet with Christ on the cover of the ark. Proverbs 29:18 says that where there is no vision, the people run wild (lit.). This indicates that it is the vision which controls us. Where do we receive this vision? We receive it when we meet with God on the top part of Christ, the propitiatory cover. How meaningful and deep this is!
Daily we may enter into the Holy of Holies through the new and living way opened by the blood of Jesus shed in His humanity. When we come into the Holy of Holies, we meet the all-inclusive Christ. With the redeeming blood as our standing, we can meet with God and have fellowship with Him in the midst of Christ’s shining glory. Then we shall be infused with God and receive revelation, vision, instruction, and direction. We should then walk according to this infusion and direction. This is to be a genuine Christian and not a devotional Christian or a pious, ethical, moral, or religious Christian.
To be a Christian who receives God’s infusion in the Holy of Holies and walks according to it is to be a Christian in the most wonderful sense of all. In order to be such Christians, we need to turn from devotion, piety, religion, morality, and ethics and turn wholly to Christ. Because of their lack of understanding, some may oppose what we say regarding this. Their opposition simply exposes their pitiful situation and shows that they do not see into the depths of God’s Word. In His mercy, God has opened many things to us, and we believe that He intends to open more.
We also believe that we are in the last recovery, the ultimate move of God on earth. The world situation has come to an ultimate point. The Lord’s ultimate recovery is the recovery of Christ and the church. It is the recovery of the all-inclusive Christ typified by the ark. However, we must remember that the measurements of the ark are halves of complete units. This indicates that just as a wife is the other half of her husband, so the Christ typified by the ark also has another half — the church. Christ is the Bridegroom, and the church will be His bride. With the Bridegroom and bride we have the testimony in full. For this reason, in His recovery today, the Lord is emphasizing not only Christ, but Christ and the church, the great mystery. Praise the Lord that we are in His recovery! By His ultimate recovery the Lord will terminate this age and usher in the age of the kingdom.
