总题：民数记结晶读经（一）
Crystallization-Study of Numbers (1)
Message Eight
God's Speaking from between the Cherubim of Glory
Scripture Reading: Num. 7:89; Exo. 24:15-18; 25:8, 17-22; Psa. 80:1; 99:1; Heb. 1:3; 9:4-5; 10:19; 4:12, 14, 16; 2 Cor. 3:18; 4:4, 6; Rev. 21:2-3, 10-11, 16, 22-23; 22:1-5
I. The Lord spoke to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his companion—Exo. 33:11; Num. 12:7-8:
A. God and Moses were companions, associates, partners, involved in the same career and having a common interest in a great enterprise.
B. Because Moses was intimate with God, he was a person who knew God's heart, who was according to God's heart, and who could touch God's heart; thus, he had God's presence to a full extent—Exo. 33:14.
C. In Exodus 24:15-18 Moses was in the Holy of Holies, where the shekinah glory was:
1. There were at least three classes of people at different distances in relation to Mount Horeb:
a. The majority of the children of Israel were at the bottom of the mountain standing at a distance and trembling—20:18.
b. Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy elders were on the mountain worshipping at a distance and watching—24:1, 9.
c. Moses was on the mountaintop being infused with God under His glory and receiving the vision of the tabernacle as God's dwelling place on earth—vv. 13, 16a; 25:1, 8-9.
2. These three locations—corresponding to the three parts of the tabernacle (the outer court, the Holy Place, and the Holy of Holies)—illustrate the fact that among God's people there are different degrees of fellowship with Him.
3. The principle in Exodus 24 with Moses on the mountaintop under God's glory receiving commandments from God is the same as that in Numbers 7:89, which concerns Moses speaking with God in the Tent of Meeting.
II. When Moses went into the Tent of Meeting to speak with God, he heard the voice speaking to him from above the expiation cover that was upon the Ark of the Testimony, from between the two cherubim—v. 89; Exo. 25:17-22:
A. The expiation cover signifies Christ as the place where God meets with His redeemed people and speaks to them in grace—v. 22; Num. 7:89.
B. The cherubim on the expiation cover signify God's glory (Ezek. 10:18) and are called "cherubim of glory" (Heb. 9:5); thus, the cherubim on the expiation cover indicate that Christ expresses God's glory (John 1:14):
1. The two cherubim were one piece with the expiation cover; this indicates that God's glory shines out from Christ and upon Christ as the expiation cover to be a testimony—Exo. 25:19; cf. John 1:14; 2 Cor. 4:4, 6:
a. This manifestation of God, this glory of God, is the testimony of God—Exo. 37:7-8.
b. Two is the number of testimony; the glory of God becomes the testimony of God.
c. Upon Christ and with Christ, there is the manifestation of God, which is the glory of God, and this manifestation as the glory of God is the testimony of God.
2. The cherubim and the expiation cover were made of pure gold; this signifies that the shining of Christ as the effulgence of God's glory is divine—25:17-18; Heb. 1:3.
C. Jehovah, the Shepherd of Israel, was enthroned between the cherubim, and from there He shined forth—Psa. 80:1; 99:1; 1 Sam. 4:4; 2 Sam. 6:2.
D. From above the expiation cover, from between the two cherubim which were upon the Ark of the Testimony, God met with Moses and spoke with him—Exo. 25:22:
1. The fact that God met with His people and spoke to them from above the expiation cover and between the cherubim signifies that God meets with us and speaks to us in the propitiating Christ and in the glory expressed in the propitiating Christ as His testimony—cf. 2 Cor. 3:8-11, 18.
2. For God to speak to His people from between the cherubim means that He speaks to us in the midst of His glory—Num. 7:89; Exo. 25:22; Psa. 80:1, 3; 99:1.
3. The glory in which God meets with us and speaks to us is the shining of Christ—2 Cor. 4:4, 6.
4. The place of propitiation, the expiation cover, with the cherubim is nothing less than our dear Lord Jesus Himself—Rom. 3:25:
a. Whenever God meets with us and speaks with us, this precious Christ is present.
b. Actually, it is in this shining Christ that God meets with us and speaks with us—Heb. 1:3.
5. The expiation cover with the blood of the sacrifices sprinkled on it portrays the redeeming Christ in His humanity (with His judicial redemption) and the shining Christ in His divinity (with His organic salvation) as the place where fallen sinners can meet with the righteous, holy, and glorious God and hear His word—Lev. 16:14-15, 29-30:
a. The cherubim on the expiation cover signify Christ's shining with His divinity, and the blood sprinkled on the cover signifies His humanity for redeeming; now we and God can meet together and talk together in the redeeming and shining Christ.
b. Upon the expiation cover and in the midst of the shining of His glory, we can hear God's voice, learn the desire of His heart, and receive vision, revelation, and instruction from Him.
c. When we meet with the Lord in the Holy of Holies, we are infused by Him with all that He is—2 Cor. 3:18.
III. The expiation cover on the Ark in the Holy of Holies equals the throne of grace in Hebrews 4:16:
A. As believers in Christ, we have "boldness for entering the Holy of Holies in the blood of Jesus"—10:19:
1. It is a great matter to enter into the Holy of Holies, for there God in Christ is sitting on the throne of grace—4:16.
2. In order to enter into such a place, we must have boldness, and we have it by Christ's death and by His blood.
3. By the blood of Jesus we have the boldness to enter into the Holy of Holies at any time.
B. The Holy of Holies today is in heaven, where the Lord Jesus is (9:12, 24), but even though we are still on earth, we can enter into the Holy of Holies:
1. The secret is our spirit; the Christ who is in heaven is also in our spirit—2 Tim. 4:22.
2. As the heavenly ladder (Gen. 28:12; John 1:51), He joins our spirit to heaven and brings heaven into our spirit.
3. Whenever we turn to our spirit, we enter into the Holy of Holies, where we meet with God who is on the throne of grace.
C. Whenever we enter into the Holy of Holies by the blood of Jesus, we come to the throne of grace within the veil to receive mercy and find grace from the ascended Christ in the heavens—Heb. 4:14, 16; 6:19-20:
1. The throne of grace is undoubtedly the throne of God, the throne of authority to all the universe, but to us, the believers, it is the throne of grace, signified by the expiation cover over the Ark of the Testimony in the Holy of Holies sprinkled with the blood of Christ—Exo. 25:17; Rom. 3:25; Lev. 16:15; Heb. 9:3, 5, 12.
2. The covering of the Ark, the expiation cover, signifies the throne of grace; the expiation cover is the throne of grace where God meets with us and speaks with us—Num. 7:89; Exo. 25:17-22:
a. Here God meets with His people and communes with them—vv. 21-22; Num. 7:89.
b. When we come to the throne of grace through the blood of Christ, we meet with God and commune with Him—Heb. 4:16; 10:19.
c. God speaks from the throne of grace, and at the throne of grace, the oracle in the Holy of Holies, we hear God's voice, see His countenance, enjoy His presence, and are one with Him in His economy.
d. At the throne of grace we look to the One on the throne, thanking Him and praising Him.
3. The throne of grace, the reality of the expiation cover, is in our spirit; whenever we turn to our spirit and come to the throne of grace, we correspond to Christ's heavenly ministry—4:12, 16; 7:25-26; 8:1; 13:20-21.
D. When we are at the throne of grace in the Holy of Holies, we behold the glory of the Lord and are transformed into the image of the resurrected and glorified Christ from glory to glory, for we see the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ—2 Cor. 3:18; 4:4, 6.
E. In the new heaven and new earth, the entire city of New Jerusalem will be the Holy of Holies filled with the glory of God, the light, shining in the Lamb as the lamp, and we will enjoy the throne of God and of the Lamb with the river of water of life, serve Him, see His face, live under His shining, and reign forever and ever—Rev. 21:2-3, 10-11, 16, 22-23; 22:1-5.