As we have pointed out, in the ark in the Holy of Holies there were three crucial items: the hidden manna, the budding rod, and the tables of the law (Быт. 9:4). In the past five messages we have somewhat covered the hidden manna and the budding rod. In this message we come to the tables of the law.
In the Bible it is difficult to find the term the tables of the law. The Old Testament frequently speaks of the tables of the testimony (Exo. 31:18), and the New Testament mentions the tables of the covenant (Heb. 9:4). Why was the law called the tables of the testimony and the tables of the covenant? It is quite easy to understand why the law was called the tables of the covenant because in the Old Testament the law was the old covenant. It is difficult, however, to understand why the law was called the tables of the testimony. When God commanded Moses to build the ark (Exo. 25:10), He said, “Thou shalt put into the ark the testimony which I shall give thee” (Exo. 25:16). The testimony in this verse undoubtedly denotes the law. God did not say to put the law in the ark; He said to put the testimony into it. Because the testimony was placed in the ark, the ark was called the ark of the testimony (Exo. 25:22). Furthermore, the tabernacle was called the tabernacle of the testimony (Num. 17:8, Heb.). Hence, we have the testimony, the ark of the testimony, and the tabernacle of the testimony. When the manna and the budding rod were placed before the law, they were put in front of the testimony (Exo. 16:34; Num. 17:10). Whatever was placed in front of the testimony was before God (Exo. 16:33-34), for the testimony could not be separated from Him. When something was before the testimony, it was before God, and when it was before God, it was before the testimony. What is this testimony? We have seen that the ark is called the ark of the testimony and that the tabernacle is called the tabernacle of the testimony. The law was called the testimony because it testified of God. For this reason, it was God’s testimony.
In Genesis 1:26 we are told that God created man in His own image. God’s intention is to have an expression through man. This expression is His testimony. Therefore, the testimony of God is the expression of God. It is God expressed. God’s intention has been, still is, and for eternity will be the same — to work Himself into man that He may be expressed and have a testimony. But before God accomplished this, man fell. In his fallen nature, man tried to do good in order to please God. Because of this, God gave man the law. God gave man the law because man did not know that, as a fallen being, he could neither satisfy God nor express Him. After the law was given, however, God immediately changed the term, calling it the testimony. What God gave man was the law, but it was not mainly called the law but the testimony. In Psa. 119 the word testimony is used many times to denote the law (vv. 2, 88, 168). Every time this word is used in Psalm 119 it refers to the law.
According to man’s concept, the law means the ten commandments. But God’s intention was not that the law should be some commandments, but that it should be His testimony. When I was in Christianity, I never heard the term testimony used with respect to the law. I only heard about the ten commandments. In Christianity, when many young people are examined for membership in the so-called churches, they must recite the ten commandments. Although you may be able to recite the commandments, perhaps you have never heard that the testimony in Psalm 119 is the law. In fact, in the book of the Psalms the word testimony refers to the law. I say once again that in God’s intention and according to His concept, the law is His testimony. But in the human concept, the law is the ten commandments. If you are trying to keep God’s law, it will certainly be the ten commandments to you. But if you know what life is, and if, instead of trying to keep the law, you walk with God, you will realize that the law is God’s testimony, God’s expression.
Every law has two aspects, the aspect of the law-keeper and the aspect of the law-maker. Laws are for people to keep. As we have mentioned several times in the past, the kind of law you make reveals the kind of person you are. If bank robbers could make laws, they would legalize bank robbing. Some legislators want to legalize such an evil thing as prostitution. This reveals that they themselves are evil. Evil lawmakers will enact evil laws. That the laws we make express the kind of people we are is true not only in a nation but also in a family. If the parents in a family get up very late every day and do not clean the house, they will make family laws which allow their children to get up late and to be messy. But if the parents are strict, clean, neat, and diligent, they will have a different family law. They will require their children to arise early in the morning, to wash themselves, and then to clean their rooms. If I visit this kind of home and see this type of regulation, I shall immediately know that the parents there must be diligent and clean. But if I go into a home where everything is a mess and where the children are allowed to sleep until late in the morning, I shall also realize what kind of people the parents in that home are. Since the laws we make testify to what we are, our law becomes our testimony. On the side of the law-maker, the law is a testimony; on the side of the law-keeper, the law is a commandment or regulation. God’s law also has these two aspects. To us who attempt to keep the law, it is the ten commandments, but to God, it is His testimony.
I have read some books which say that the law is a type of Christ. For a long time, I was troubled by this. How can the law, whose position is that of the concubine (Gal. 4:24), be a type of Christ? From the aspect of the law as commandments for us to keep, its position is that of the concubine. But from the aspect of the law as the testimony of God, it is a type of Christ. The real, living, full, and adequate testimony of God is just Christ Himself. Thus, the law typifies Christ as God’s living testimony. Christ expresses God. The law was given, but Christ came to be the living expression of God (John 1:17). In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was God (John 1:1). Then the Word became flesh, full of grace and reality (John 1:14), for the purpose of being the expression of God. Because God is embodied in Christ, Christ is the living, full, and adequate testimony of God.
We have seen that the law is God’s testimony, God’s expression. If you want to know what kind of God God is, you should read the laws He has made. If you read the ten commandments, you will see that the Maker of those laws certainly must be a holy One, a righteous One, a loving One, One who is in the light. The ten commandments prove that God is holy and righteous and that He is love and light. God is a God of light and a God of love. He Himself is light and is love (1 John 1:5; 4:8), and He is holy and righteous. The law testifies that He is such a God. But the law was merely a testimony in letters. When Christ came, the testimony of God became living. It was no longer letters, but a living Person. While Jesus was on earth, He was God’s living testimony. Wherever He went, He expressed God. Whatever He did, said, and thought expressed God. Because He was the embodiment of God, He was the expression and testimony of God. If in the days of the Old Testament you wanted to know what God was like, you had to consult the law. But today if you want to know what God is like, you must come to Jesus Christ. In the Old Testament the law was God’s testimony, but today Jesus Christ is His living, full, and adequate testimony.
Holding this concept of the law as the testimony of God will help us to understand Hebrews 9. Hebrews 9:4 mentions the tables of the covenant, referring to the tables of the testimony of the law. According to Hebrews 9, the tables of the covenant were the last of the items related to the tabernacle. In the outer court were the altar and the laver; in the Holy Place were the showbread table, the lampstand, and the incense altar; and in the Holy of Holies was the ark in which were the hidden manna, the budding rod, and the tables of the covenant. In this we see that the last and ultimate item is the tables of the covenant, that is, the testimony. The three items in the ark are deeper than those in the Holy Place. The items in the Holy Place are merely the beginning, but the items in the ark are the ultimate consummation. The ultimate consummation of the showbread is the hidden manna, the ultimate consummation of the incense altar is the budding rod, and the ultimate consummation of the lampstand is the testimony. Of all the things related to the tabernacle, the tables of the testimony are the topmost. Not only are they the top item; they are also the most central item. They are in the very center of the tabernacle.
In the tabernacle we can see a number of layers. The first layer is the curtain separating the tabernacle and the outer court from everything else, the second is the wall of the tabernacle, and the third is the veil separating the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place. The ark of the testimony, within which is the testimony, is the fourth layer. Thus, the testimony is in the center of the tabernacle.
As saved people, we are the temple of God (1 Cor. 3:16). Our body is the outer court, our soul is the Holy Place, and our spirit is the Holy of Holies. The law of life is neither in the outer court nor in the Holy Place but in the Holy of Holies. However, it is not sufficient to say that it is only in the Holy of Holies, for it is in the ark, that is, within the fourth layer. The law of life is in the ark, the ark is in the Holy of Holies, the Holy of Holies is in the tabernacle, and the tabernacle is within the separating curtain of the outer court. We have seen that the outer court is our body, that the Holy Place is our soul, and that the Holy of Holies is our spirit. What then is the ark? It is Christ. Since Christ is the ark, we should not say that the law of life is directly in our spirit. Although we have a spirit, if we do not have Christ in it, the law of life is not in our spirit. The law of life is in our spirit because the law of life is in Christ and Christ is in our spirit.
Why did God not tell His people to put the law in the altar? Why did He command them to put it into the ark? It would have been a mistake for God to put the law in the altar, because His intention was not that man should keep the law. No, according to God’s concept, the law was to be His testimony. Therefore, He put His law in the ark in the Holy of Holies.
Do you think that you can be like God? It is impossible. If you read the ten commandments every day, prayed about them, fasted concerning them, and tried your best to keep them, you would still be unable to fulfill them. You can never make yourself correspond to God’s law. Neither can you express Him. God’s intention is not that we try to obey the law nor attempt to express Him. Firstly, His intention is to show us what He is. However greatly we may love the law, we cannot fulfill it. What then should God do? He said, “This is the covenant which I will covenant with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord: I will impart My laws into their mind, and on their hearts I will inscribe them, and I will be God to them, and they shall be a people to Me” (8:10). God’s intention is to put His law into us, into our inward parts and even into our heart. This does not mean that we should keep the law. No, it means that the law will work itself out from within us. This reveals why God put the law into the ark and put the ark into the Holy of Holies. How can this law get into us? Only through Christ. When Christ gets into us, this law comes into us. When we received Christ, we received the law. The law is in Christ, and Christ is in our spirit. Thus, Romans 8:2 speaks of “the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus.” Not only is this law in Christ; it is Christ. When you received Christ and accepted Him as your Savior, you received the law of life.
When God gave the law to Moses, He did not intend that His people should keep it. He gave them the law to show them what kind of God He is and to reveal to them what He wants. Because He wants man to be His expression, He wanted them to be like Him, to be the same as He is. Although God had this desire, nothing happened. Instead, man tried to imitate God, attempting to make himself the same as God. But man failed. One day the real law, the living law, Christ, the reality of God’s testimony, came, and we received Him into us. As a result, this real law, the reality of the law, has been wrought into the very center of our being. Now in the innermost part of our being is something wonderful — Christ Himself as the reality of the law. We have seen that the innermost matter in the tabernacle is the law. Today, the innermost thing within us is Christ in our spirit as the reality of the law. Now that we have this law within us, it is no longer a matter of our keeping the law; it is absolutely a matter of allowing Christ to live out of us. We should not try to keep the law from without, but let Christ live Himself out from within.
Every religion, whether it is Judaism, Catholicism, or Protestantism, is the same. God’s intention is to put the law into our innermost part and to have us submit ourselves to it, not to try to keep it. Although we cannot keep the law, we should submit to it and let it live itself out of us. Religion, which teaches people to keep the law, is the exact opposite of this. When Christians read the Bible, they often select verses to keep as commandments. For example, the married brothers who are not good husbands always choose the commandment which says that the wives should submit to their husbands. But the better husbands choose the commandment which says that the husbands should love their wives. These brothers say, “O Lord, I can’t fulfill this commandment. Please come in to help me. Lord, in the past I have not behaved as a loving husband. Forgive me and make me the best husband.” Although you may pray in this way, you will never succeed. Such a husband must realize that the real love for his wife is Christ. Since this love is in us, we need not try to love. We should simply submit to this love, that is, to Christ, and let Him come out of us.
Take the example of humility. James 4:6 says, “God resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble.” After reading this verse in the past, I prayed, “Lord, I want to be humble. But You know, Lord, that it’s difficult for me to be humble. I ask You to please help me.” This prayer is in the darkness of religion. One day, the Lord opened my eyes, and I saw that my name is pride and that I could never be humble. How can pride be humble? I am a dog. How can a dog be a bird? It is impossible. Our eyes must be opened to see that we can never be humble and that real humility is Christ. We should simply submit ourselves to Him and say, “Lord, You do it. It is no longer I, but Christ who lives in and out of me.” If you simply submit to Christ, He will live Himself out of you, and you will become the expression and testimony of God. This is God’s economy.
How can Christ as the reality of the law be real to us? Consider the contents of the ark once again. The first item, the manna, is firstly followed by the budding rod and then by the testimony. This implies and even indicates that when we eat and enjoy Christ as the hidden manna, something will bud in us. The manna we eat eventually becomes the budding element in us. The more we eat and enjoy Christ, the more He becomes our budding element. When this element blossoms and yields fruit, that is the testimony, the expression. Sometimes in the late afternoon I am exhausted and my stomach is empty. This indicates that I need to eat something. After I eat, I am filled and experience a quick transformation, for what I have eaten for dinner begins to blossom out of me, becoming my expression and testimony. In like manner, if we would experience Christ as the reality of the law, we must firstly eat the hidden manna. Once this manna gets into us, it will become the budding element, and this budding element will bring forth the fruit which is God’s expression and testimony.
We should not stay at the altar, nor linger at the laver, nor even remain in the Holy Place eating the superficial food. We must come forward to the Holy of Holies, dive into the ark, and eat the hidden manna, the hidden Christ. This Christ will then become our budding element. When He buds and blossoms, He will yield the fruit which will be God’s expression and testimony. This expression will correspond to and even surpass the ten commandments. Praise the Lord that now we are not in the outer court, nor even in the Holy Place, but in the Holy of Holies. Now that we are touching the ark and eating the hidden manna, we shall surely bud, blossom, and bear fruit. In this way, we shall have the testimony of God.
