To enjoy Christ, starting from the lamb of the passover and continuing day by day with the manna from heaven, is just the beginning. We must go on to experience Him as the Ark, the Ark embodied and covered with the tabernacle (Exo. 25:10-22). What is the Ark? The Ark is the testimony of God. The testimony of God is simply the manifestation of God, the expression of God. In the Ark were the tablets with the Ten Commandments. What are the Ten Commandments?
The impression most Christians have concerning the Ten Commandments is that they are simply the strict demands of God. You should do this and you should do that; you should not do this and you should not do that. This is the impression imparted to us by general Christian teaching. But what is the essential meaning of the Ten Commandments? Apparently they are laws, but the main significance is not that they are laws; that is secondary. The primary significance is that they are the expression of God. The Ten Commandments are the manifestation of God.
What kind of God is God? We may know by the Ten Commandments. You have never seen God, but here are “ten words” (Exo. 34:28, footnote) which give you a description of Him. The first feature is that God is jealous. God wants everything; He will never let anyone rival with Him. He is a jealous God. The second is that He is a holy God. Then there are other features: He is a God of love, He is a righteous God, He is a faithful God, etc. Thus, the Ten Commandments are the description, the expression, the manifestation of the hidden God. They give you an impression of the invisible God and show you what kind of God He is. He is a jealous God; He is a holy God; He is a God of love; He is a righteous God; He is a faithful God. By these Ten Commandments you may discern His nature. Do not pay too much attention to these Ten Commandments as laws. That is secondary. The primary significance, we must realize, is the description, the expression, the testimony of the glorious yet invisible God.
These Ten Commandments were put into the Ark. This signifies that God put Himself into Christ. The Ten Commandments are the testimony of God, and the Ark of the Testimony is Christ. Therefore, the fullness of God dwells in Christ.
The Ark is clearly the type of Christ with two natures. It was made of wood overlaid with gold. Wood is the human nature, and gold is the divine nature. It is a picture of Christ in the flesh mingled with the divine nature. He has the nature of man, and at the same time He has the nature of God—the human nature and the divine. He is the Ark, but within Him is God Himself. Just as the Ten Commandments were put into the Ark, so all that God is was put into Christ. Just as the Ark was called “the Ark of the Testimony,” so Christ is the manifestation and testimony of God. This is something more, you see, than the lamb of the passover and the daily manna. This is something solid, perfect, and full. This is the manifestation of God, the expression of God, the testimony of God. By the lamb of the passover, can you realize what God is like? Yes, perhaps you may see a little. By the daily manna, can you be impressed with the nature of God? It is rather difficult. I do not say that you can see nothing, but that you cannot see much. Now come to the Ark. Consider it. Read it. Immediately you know something about God. God is jealous; God is love; God is holy; God is righteous; God is faithful. By the Ark you can immediately realize what the hidden God is like.
But I wish to ask, Can you eat the Ark? Can you drink the Ark? You cannot; but this is another aspect of Christ, a fuller aspect of Christ. Christ is the expression, the manifestation, the testimony of the invisible God. As we enjoy Christ as the lamb of the passover and as our daily manna, we must also have this Christ, this larger Christ (if you would allow me to use this word), as our center. We must have the Ark of the Testimony, the Christ who is the expression, the manifestation, and the testimony of God as our very center. This is indeed more. We must not only have the lamb as our Redeemer and not only the daily manna as our food but also the Ark of the Testimony as our center.
Brothers and sisters, permit me to repeat. I fear that some of you may not be able to follow. Are you enjoying Christ day by day as your daily manna? That is good, but that is not sufficient. We must have Him as our center. What is the center? The center is the expression, the manifestation, the testimony of God. Do we have such a center among us? Is this really the center of our meeting, our church life? When people come to us, can they realize that in our midst is the expression of God? If people come to us and just realize that we are those who are redeemed, that we are those who enjoy Christ as the lamb, it is entirely inadequate. If they just realize that we are those who feed on Christ day by day as the daily manna, even this misses the mark. We must be able to give them the impression that among us, in the midst of us, is the manifestation of the jealous God, the God of love, the God of holiness, the God of righteousness, the God of faithfulness. Do we have such a center among us or not? When people come to us, do they realize that here is the manifestation, the expression, the definition, the explanation, of God? Do they realize that we are the testimony of God, that we are testifying from the reality of our experience of Christ that God is a jealous God, a holy God, a God of love, a righteous God, and a faithful God? We must have this testimony as our center.
You see, it is not such a simple matter to possess the land. Do you think that immediately after enjoying the lamb and crossing the Red Sea we can enter the land? No. After Exodus 12, 13, and 14, after the passover and the crossing of the Red Sea, there are many more experiences to be gained. The remainder of Exodus and all of Leviticus, Numbers, Deuteronomy, and Joshua still lie before us. There are many more things to be dealt with, many more things to experience, many more things to be possessed, before we can get into the land.
We must see the full meaning of the Ark. There is undoubtedly the aspect of the commandments as laws—we cannot deal with that aspect here. But more important than that, the Ten Commandments are the definition, the explanation, the interpretation, of the invisible God. And this interpretation, this explanation, is in Jesus Christ, that God-man, that incarnate One with the divine and human natures. He is the explanation of God; He is the manifestation of God; He is God Himself. This is the One who must be our center. He is the expression, the testimony of God, and we should have Him as our testimony. We should be testifying nothing else but God manifested in Christ.