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Scripture Reading: Num. Num. 7:1-10, 84-89
In this message we come to a new section of Numbers, chapter seven. This chapter covers the offerings of the children of Israel.
After the dealing with defilement, the testing of suspicion, the vow of the Nazarite, and the blessing of the Triune God, the situation between God and Israel came to a new stage. On the people's side everything was ready. They had been formed into an army and were camping in array. On God's side, the tabernacle had been built and set up, and it was standing on earth, declaring that the God of the heavens now had a dwelling place on earth, even in the wilderness.
From a bird's-eye view, we can see two items: the tabernacle and the altar. The tabernacle signifies God's embodiment on earth. This embodiment is God's habitation, where He can dwell among men and through which man can not only contact Him but also enter into Him to participate in all that He is in His elements and attributes. These elements and attributes are signified by the showbread, the lampstand, the incense altar, and the ark. Man can enter into God. How wonderful!
Before this time, God did not have a home on earth. As far as the earth was concerned, God was homeless. He had nowhere to go, to stay, or to settle down. Abraham was a close friend to Him and was very good to Him. God liked Abraham very much as a close friend, but He could only come to visit him, to stay in His friend's tent for a few hours and then leave. He had no place to settle and to rest. When the children of Israel went down into Egypt, they were usurped, occupied, by Pharaoh, who used them as slaves. God could do nothing. At that time He could be considered only the God in the heavens but not yet the God on earth.
In the book of Numbers the situation is altogether different. Now, in the wilderness, among the approximately two million children of Israel, God could have a home, a habitation, and could become fully settled and rest. Also, His people had been formed into an army in good order to have a display in a beautiful array in order to declare something to God's enemy. Furthermore, God's chosen people had the right, through the altar (that is, redemption), through the shedding of the blood of the sacrifices, which pointed to Christ, not only to contact God but also to enter into Him. At this stage in the book of Numbers, God was no longer just in the heavens; He was the very God of the heavens and of the earth. Thus, God now has two residences — the heavens and the earth. The residence He prefers is His residence on earth.
The tabernacle with all its furnishings fully portrays and typifies the embodied Triune God, the processed Triune God. To be in the tabernacle is to be in the embodied and processed Triune God. Once we are in the tabernacle, we can take a tour within it and view all its contents.
The Christian life is a touring life; it is a life of daily taking a tour in the tabernacle, the typified Triune God. This means that after entering into the tabernacle, we can have a tour to see God's attributes and elements. As we are taking such a tour, we will see the showbread, the lampstand, and the incense altar, all of which typify Christ. God is life; the showbread table displays the bread of life. God is light; the lampstand shines upon us, and we are in the light. God accepts repentant and redeemed sinners, and the incense altar signifies God's welcoming of us.
Have you taken a tour in the tabernacle today? After you rose up this morning, did you call, "O Lord Jesus," and enter into God's dwelling place? In God's dwelling place we see life, light, the incense for acceptance, and the ark. After spending time at the altar to deal with our sins, we can enter into the tabernacle and make a tour, looking at the showbread table, the lampstand, and the incense altar. Then we can enter into the most holy place and muse upon the ark. We can even open the ark and see the law of the testimony, the budding rod, and the hidden manna. The Christian life is such a sightseeing life, a life of daily touring the tabernacle.
Numbers 7:1 speaks of "the day when Moses had finished setting up the tabernacle, and had anointed and sanctified it, and all its furnishings and the altar with all its utensils." This indicates that after the setting up of the tabernacle, Moses anointed the tabernacle with its furnishings and the altar with its utensils.
We need to know the spiritual significance of the anointing. The ointment with which the anointing is accomplished may be likened to paint, and the anointing may be likened to painting. The ointment, which is a compound of different elements, typifies the compound, all-inclusive Spirit. This compound Spirit is the consummation of the processed Triune God. As the consummation of the processed Triune God, the all-inclusive Spirit includes Christ's divine nature, human nature, incarnation, human living, all-inclusive death, wonderful resurrection, and exalting ascension. The ointment, therefore, typifies the Triune God with all that He has passed through. (See Life-study of Exodus, Messages One Hundred Fifty-seven through One Hundred Sixty-six.) To anoint is to put this ointment upon the anointed object. This can be illustrated by painting. To paint an object is to apply paint to the object. Eventually, layer upon layer of paint may be applied to that object. Likewise, to anoint is to apply the processed, consummated Triune God with His divine nature, human nature, human living, death, resurrection, and ascension, as a whole, to the object of the anointing.
Without the anointing, the tabernacle and the altar had nothing to do with God. Thus, the ointment, a symbol of the compounded and consummated processed Triune God with all His elements and processes, as a whole, had to be put upon the tabernacle and the altar. From that time onward, the tabernacle and the altar were absolutely one with the compounded, consummated Triune God. We today have also been anointed. This means that we are identified with the processed Triune God.
After the tabernacle and the altar were anointed, they became most holy, and whoever touched them was sanctified, made holy. Furthermore, by being anointed, by being identified with the processed Triune God, the tabernacle and the altar were dedicated.
Numbers 7:2-9 speaks of the offering of six wagons and twelve oxen. This offering was for the transporting of the tabernacle (not including its furnishings) and the altar, and it was to match God's move in His dwelling place on the earth. The six wagons and the twelve oxen were offered by the people who had dealt with defilement and had been sanctified to receive the blessing of God in His divine trinity.
God, according to His eternal economy, will not do anything by Himself. He did something by Himself only in producing the old creation. But in the new creation He will not do anything by Himself and He will not move by Himself. He must move and work through man.
In Numbers the omnipotent God moved in a portable home in wagons drawn by oxen. We may find it very surprising that God moved in such a way. At the end of the Bible the Lord said, "I come quickly" (Rev. 22:20). Why has the Lord not come yet? It seems that He is coming very slowly. Actually, it is not the One in the wagon who is slow; the oxen are slow. This indicates that the transportation we offer Him is slow. If we could offer God a faster means of transportation, such as a 747, surely He would take it. My point here is that, according to God's New Testament economy, God will not move, act, or do anything by Himself. He needs man's cooperation, even man's coordination. He needs us, and we need to offer ourselves to Him.
The leaders of the twelve tribes offered twelve silver plates, twelve silver basins, and twelve gold spoons full of incense (vv. 84-86). In offering these for the service of God, they cooperated with God in His services by offering the silver and gold vessels with the incense, signifying Christ in His redemption and His divine nature as a fragrant satisfaction to God.
These items were offered by the twelve tribes in twelve days, signifying that both the offering people and the offering time are eternally complete in God's administration. It took twelve days for all these items to be offered. This indicates that God was patient with man's slowness in his coordination. Although the pace was slow, both the offering people and the offering time were eternally complete and perfect for the divine administration.
The leaders of the twelve tribes also offered twelve oxen, twelve rams, twelve lambs a year old, and their meal offering for the burnt offering; twelve male goats for a sin offering; and twenty-four oxen, sixty rams, sixty male goats, and sixty male lambs a year old for the peace offering (vv. 87-88).
We need to offer ourselves to God to match His need for His move. This offering is our coordination with God. However, because we are sinful, we cannot coordinate with God by ourselves. If we try to do this, we will not be accepted. We need Christ. First, we must offer Christ as our sin offering to redeem us from sin. Then we must offer Christ as our burnt offering so that we may live for God in Christ, with Christ, and by Christ. As our burnt offering, Christ is for our living to God. The result of the sin offering and the burnt offering is the peace offering, signifying our enjoyment with God and God's enjoyment with us. The issue of the sin offering and the burnt offering is the rich peace offering, through which we and God enjoy Christ mutually in peace.
These offerings are for the worship of God. The proper worship of God is very different from the worship in Judaism, Islam, and Christianity. According to the Bible, in order to worship God, we must offer ourselves to Him. Then we must offer Christ as our sin offering, burnt offering, and peace offering. As a result, God is satisfied, and we also are satisfied. Then we and God can sit down together to enjoy Christ in a mutual way.
Even for the transportation of God's moveable home, there was the mutual enjoyment between God and His people in Christ as the sin offering, burnt offering, and peace offering. The principle is the same with us today. For example, when you come to clean the meeting hall, you must come in the way indicated by the type in Numbers 7. This means that first you should offer yourself to cooperate with God and then offer Christ as your sin offering, burnt offering, and peace offering. If you offer Christ in this way, you and God will enjoy Christ in mutuality and be satisfied with Him.
When we have the proper worship of God, God is satisfied by the burnt offerings, sin offerings, and peace offerings. All these offerings signify Christ as the redemption of God's people in different aspects.
These sacrifices were offered by the twelve tribes in twelve days. The number of the sacrifices was twelve multiplied either one time (twelve), two times (twenty-four), or five times (sixty), signifying that the offering time, the offering people, and the offerings are eternally complete in God's administration.
The offering in Numbers 7 afforded Moses a time to speak with God. "When Moses went into the tent of meeting to speak with Him, he heard the voice speaking to him from above the propitiatory cover that was upon the ark of the testimony, from between the two cherubim; and he spoke to Him" (v. 89). At the propitiatory cover upon the ark of the testimony, there was a conversation between man and God. In this conversation Moses could hear God's voice. How wonderful that God and man could be one to the extent that they could have such a conversation!
