Crystallization-Study of Exodus (4)
Message Ten
The Eightfold Significance of the Tabernacle
Scripture Reading: Exo. 26:1-14, 19; 36:20, 22, 31-32, 36, 38
I. We need to see and experience the redemption of Christ:
A. The one hundred silver sockets, upon which the entire tabernacle rested, signify that the church is built on the basis of the redemption of Christ and rests on the ascended Christ experienced by us—Exo. 26:19; 36:24, 26, 30, 36; 38:27.
B. Sockets signify stability for standing; each socket was made of a talent (approximately one hundred pounds) of silver (v. 27), signifying the redemption of Christ as the solid base for the believers' standing in God's dwelling place (John 14:2-3 and footnote 2 on verse 3).
II. We need to see and experience the manifestation of the divine nature:
A. The foundation of the tabernacle was of silver, but the manifestation within the tabernacle was the gold; gold signifies the divine nature with the divine life of Christ, which is God Himself—Exo. 36:13, 34, 36, 38; 37:1-28.
B. Within the church, the building of God, what must be manifested is not the works, the doings of God, but the nature and life of God; what we manifest, express, and show to others should be nothing other than the glorious divine nature of Christ—2 Pet. 1:4.
III. We need to see and experience the transformed human nature:
A. The gold of the tabernacle overlaid the acacia wood, signifying the transformed human nature—Exo. 36:20, 31, 36; 37:1, 4.
B. With the building of the church, the divine nature depends greatly upon our human nature; the standing strength for the gold was with the acacia wood.
C. The standing strength needed for the tabernacle is with the human nature overlaid, that is, transformed, with the divine nature and the divine life of Christ; the divine nature and the human nature must be mingled together.
IV. We need a firm and unshakable standing in the Body, and we must always be willing to be balanced by others:
A. The two tenons, which fit into the two sockets under each board, may signify our complete faith in Christ's redemption, which gives us a firm and unshakable standing—26:19; 36:22; 2 Cor. 1:24; Rom. 5:2; Gal. 5:1.
B. Furthermore, two tenons are for balance; we always have to be balanced by others.
C. We must always be checked, tested, and confirmed by others that we may have the balance; otherwise, we will be peculiar and will go to an extreme.
V. Each member of the Body needs to be completed for the building up of the church, and there is the need for reinforcing when a turn in the Lord's move is made:
A. The width of each of the boards of the tabernacle was one and a half cubits (Exo. 36:21), indicating a half measurement of three cubits.
B. This signifies that every believer as a half unit needs to be matched by another to form a complete unit of three cubits for the building of God's dwelling place.
C. We must remember that we always need another member to make us complete in the principle of the Body—cf. 1 Cor. 1:1.
D. The doubling of the corner boards (Exo. 26:24) signifies that at each turn in the Lord's move, there is a need for doubling, strengthening, reinforcing; for example, at Antioch there was a turn to the Gentile world, and Barnabas and Saul were doubled and strengthened to become corner boards for the building of the church—Acts 13:2, 46.
VI. We must be joined with others by the Holy Spirit and in the Holy Spirit with the holding power of the divine nature:
A. All the boards of the tabernacle (Exo. 26:15-30) were joined together within the gold and by the golden bars; in other words, they were in the divine nature and divine life of Christ.
B. According to Exodus 36:31-32, there were five bars on the south side, five bars on the north side, and five bars on the west side; the three groups of bars (representing the uniting Spirit) indicate that this Spirit is the Spirit of the Triune God.
C. Furthermore, five is the number of responsibility; therefore, the bars signify the Spirit of the Triune God, who takes the full responsibility for God's building by mingling His divine nature with the human nature.
VII. God's building, the church, is covered by a "fourfold" Christ (the covering of the tabernacle consisted of four layers)—26:1-14; 36:8-19:
A. The first and innermost layer of covering, forming the ceiling of the tabernacle was made of fine twined linen and blue and purple and scarlet strands with cherubim:
1. Fine twined linen signifies the fine living of Christ manifested through sufferings and trials; this layer was also a protection for the standing boards and all the contents of the tabernacle, signifying that the glory and beauty of the Lord Jesus in His humanity (cf. 28:2) cover, protect, and embrace all His believers as the church.
2. Furthermore, this Christ bears the heavenly character (blue), the kingship, the authority of heaven (purple), the redemption (scarlet), and the glory of God (the cherubim).
B. The second layer of covering, the goats' hair (26:7), typifies Christ as the One who was made sin for us (2 Cor. 5:21) and who died on the cross for our sins (1 Cor. 15:3; 1 Pet. 2:24; 3:18); goats signify sinners (Matt. 25:33, 41), and goats' hair signifies the sins of sinners; thus, goats' hair as a covering on the tabernacle signifies Christ's being made sin for us in His redemptive work (2 Cor. 5:21).
C. The third layer of covering, the rams' skins dyed red (Exo. 26:14a), typifies Christ as the One who accomplished redemption by dying and shedding His blood to meet God's need and ours (Heb. 9:12-14; 1 Pet. 1:18-19; Col. 1:14).
D. The fourth layer of covering, the porpoise skins (Exo. 26:14b), signifies that Christ is without comeliness or beauty (Isa. 53:2); the covering of porpoise skins protected the tabernacle from storms and rain, signifying that Christ as our covering enables us to stand against Satan and all his attacks.
VIII. We need to become pillars in the Triune God (Rev. 3:12; cf. 21:22), signified by the nine pillars in the tabernacle; at the entrance to the tabernacle five pillars supported the screen, and at the entrance to the Holy of Holies four pillars supported the veil (Exo. 36:36, 38):
A. The pillars at the entrance of the tabernacle and those within the tabernacle provide entrances for sinners to be saved into God's dwelling place and then to be terminated so that they may come into God's Holy of Holies to enjoy God Himself in His fullness.
B. Revelation 3:12 says, "He who overcomes, him I will make a pillar in the temple of My God, and he shall by no means go out anymore, and I will write upon him the name of My God and the name of the city of My God, the New Jerusalem, which descends out of heaven from My God, and My new name":
1. Because the overcomer is a pillar built into God's building, he shall by no means go out anymore.
2. That the name of God, the name of the New Jerusalem, and the name of the Lord are written upon the overcomer indicates that what God is, the nature of the New Jerusalem, and the person of the Lord have all been wrought into the overcomer.
3. This promise, as a prize to the overcomer, will be fulfilled in the millennial kingdom, whereas the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth will be the common portion of all the redeemed for eternity.