Crystallization-Study of Exodus (3)
Message Eight
The Expiation Silverfor the Formation of an Army to Fight for God's Interests and Move on Earth
Scripture Reading: Exo. 30:11-16; Eph. 1:19-21; 2:6; 6:10-18; Heb. 6:1
I. God's intention is to have a people formed into an army that will engage in spiritual warfare to fight for His interests and move on earth—Exo. 30:12-14; Num. 1:1-3:
A. Spiritual warfare is necessary because Satan's will is set against God's will—Matt. 6:10; 7:21; Isa. 14:12-14.
B. The purpose of spiritual warfare is to bring in the kingdom of God—Rev. 12:10.
C. God has many enemies, and He is not welcome anywhere—Exo. 23:23; Num. 14:45; 21:1:
1. Because of all these enemies, God does not have the freedom to move on earth; God must fight in order to destroy His enemies.
2. According to Ephesians 6:10-18, the church must be a warrior fighting against God's enemies.
II. The spiritual significance of the relationship between the incense altar and the expiation silver is that at the incense altar we pray for the formation of an army to fight for God's move on earth—Exo. 30:1-16:
A. The tabernacle signifies God embodied in His chosen people for His move on earth; the tabernacle and everything related to it is for God's move—25:8-9:
1. The prayer at the incense altar is for God's move; because of all the enemies that oppose God's move, God moves by fighting—Num. 10:35.
2. In particular, God's people need to pray for the formation of an army to fight for God's move on earth to accomplish His purpose—Eph. 6:10-12.
3. This intercessory prayer issues in the numbering of God's people to form an army to fight against God's enemies, who oppose His move, that is, against the rulers and authorities in the heavenlies, typified by the inhabitants of the good land—Exo. 30:11-16; 23:23; Eph. 6:12.
4. When God has such an army, He is able to move on earth for His interests.
B. The spiritual significance of the age of the males qualified to be in the army is that if we would be in the army to fight for God's move, we need maturity—Exo. 30:14; Heb. 5:14—6:1; Phil. 3:15; 1 Cor. 2:6:
1. The half shekel of silver to be paid by every male over the age of twenty signifies that it takes maturity in life to fight the spiritual warfare—Exo. 30:13-14:
a. In order to be in the army to fight for God's move, we need to be strong in spirit and grow until we come to the spiritual age of twenty—Eph. 4:15.
b. To be transformed is to be changed in our natural life; to be matured is to be filled with the divine life that changes us—Heb. 6:1.
c. God will sovereignly use persons, things, and events to empty us of everything that has filled us and to take away every preoccupation so that we may have an increased capacity to be filled with Him—Luke 1:53; Matt. 5:6; Rom. 8:28-29.
2. In the Lord's recovery today, there is the desperate need of maturity; there is an urgent need for more of us to grow, reach maturity, and thereby become qualified to be formed into an army—Heb. 6:1; Phil. 3:15 and footnote 1.
3. The intercession offered at the incense altar is for the growth and maturity of the believers so that an army can be formed—Eph. 4:13; 6:10-12.
4. The more we pray at the incense altar, the more we will realize that the need for maturity is desperate, and the greater will be the urgency to pray for the growth in life unto maturity—1 Cor. 2:6; 3:1-2; 14:20; 16:13.
5. Only when such an army is 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—Eph. 4:13; 6:10-12.
C. According to the type of the expiation silver, the Christ by whom we fight is the ascended Christ, the Christ in the heavens—1:20-23; Exo. 30:12-13:
1. The half shekel as a heave offering typifies the ascended Christ experienced by God's people and paid by them as the expiation silver—v. 13; Eph. 1:21; 4:10; Heb. 4:14; 7:26; 8:1.
2. In order to fight the spiritual warfare, our experience of Christ must reach the highest point, the point where we are sitting with Him in the heavenlies and are fighting not in ourselves but in the ascended Christ—Eph. 1:20-21; 2:6; 6:10-12; S. S. 4:8.
III. We need to experience Christ as the expiation silver for God's building and God's move:
A. 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 interests on this earth—Exo. 30:11-13; Num. 1:45-46:
1. For the church to be the fullness of God, the expression of God, the church must be a warrior engaging in spiritual warfare—Gen. 1:26; Eph. 1:22-23; 6:10-11.
2. As a result of the prayer at the incense altar, the Lord conducts a "military census" of the saints in the churches; those who are numbered are qualified to go to war for God's move on the earth—Num. 2:32; 4:23; 2 Tim. 2:3.
B. The passover lamb was purely and absolutely for redemption, and it was available for all the people, but the expiation silver was applied only to those who were qualified to be formed into God's army:
1. Because our natural man is not qualified to be drafted into God's army, we must pay the price to experience Christ as our redemption, signified by the expiation silver—1 Cor. 1:30.
2. Redemption means that we are brought back to God, that our natural man is terminated by God, and that we are reconstituted with Christ.
C. The expiation silver for God's building and God's move was called a heave offering, signifying the ascended Christ as the price paid by those who are able to go to war—Exo. 30:14:
1. The heave offering signifies the resurrected and ascended Christ, the Christ in the heavenlies—Eph. 1:19-21.
2. The giving of the half shekel of silver as a heave offering was used by God for the building up of the tabernacle:
a. The one hundred silver sockets, upon which the entire tabernacle rested, signify that the church rests on the ascended Christ experienced by us—Exo. 38:25-27.
b. The silver capitals of the pillars and the silver hooks and connecting rods signify that the ascended Christ experienced by us becomes the glory, strength, and linking power of the church—v. 28.
3. The giving of the half shekel of silver as a heave offering was used by God to accomplish the formation of an army—30:11-13:
a. As indicated by the fact that the expiation silver was a heave offering signifying Christ in ascension, only those who keep the position of ascension can fight against the enemy in the air from the transcendent position of ascension—Eph. 2:6.
b. For God's move on earth, we need to be formed into an army, fighting the spiritual warfare in the Body by the precious Christ in ascension—6:10-12.