This Ark is embodied within the tabernacle. The Ten Commandments are embodied in the Ark, and the Ark is embodied within the tabernacle (Exo. 40:20-21). What then is the tabernacle? The tabernacle is the enlargement of the Ark, the increase of the Ark. The Ark was made with wood overlaid with gold, and the major part of the tabernacle was composed of the same materials—wood overlaid with gold (Exo. 26:15-30). The tabernacle, therefore, is the enlargement of the Ark. In other words, the Ark enlarged becomes the tabernacle. The tabernacle is made in the same shape and with the same materials, and it is constituted with and contains within it more of Christ.
Let us see something more of Christ in the tabernacle. We read that there were four layers of covering over it (Exo. 26:1-14). This means that Christ became one of the creatures, since four is the number signifying the creatures. What are these four layers of different kinds of coverings? The outermost one is seal skin, a strong protection against the wind, the rain, and the heat of the sun. Under the seal skin is the rams’ skin dyed red, signifying that Christ died and shed His blood for our sins, and under that is the covering of goats’ hair, signifying that Christ was made sin for us. The innermost covering is of linen, so beautiful, so fine, so full of glory, with the cherubim embroidered upon it. All these coverings are full of meaning and require much explanation. They all relate to Christ.
From within, you see His glory. Oh, Christ is so glorious from within! From without, you see His lowliness, His humility, His simplicity; you see His strength and His enduring power, but there is no beauty. This is Jesus, despised by others, a lowly man. But within He is the glorious Christ.
Praise the Lord, we are covered with such a Christ! According to the dimensions of the tabernacle, ten curtains were required to form the covering. The innermost covering of fine linen, therefore, was made of ten curtains. But the covering of goats’ hair was formed of eleven curtains. It was not five plus five, but five plus six, and six is not a good number. Six refers to man and involves sin. Thus, it signifies that Christ was made sin for us. The innermost layer is the glorious Christ; the second is the Christ who was made sin for us; the third is the Christ who died, shedding His blood; and the fourth, the outermost covering, is the Christ who humbled Himself to become a lowly man. This Christ, this fourfold Christ, covers us. What a covering, what a protection, what a safeguard!
In this tabernacle, Christ is joined with so many boards. We are the wooden boards, the human members: you are one board, and I am another. The Ark is embodied in such a tabernacle, which is Christ joined with us and uniting us all in the divine nature just as all the boards were united in the gold. There were at least forty-eight boards, all overlaid with gold, and joined together with golden rings and bars (Exo. 26:26-29). If we were to remove the gold, all forty-eight boards would fall apart; not one would be joined to another. We are not joined in the flesh, nor could we ever be joined in such a way. It is the divine nature that joins us. The gold is the joint; the gold is the unity among us. Without the gold, we will fall to pieces. I will not agree with you, and you will not agree with me. But, praise the Lord, the gold covers you, and the gold covers me. There are some golden rings on you, and there is a golden bar on me. It is impossible for us to be separated. Even if you like to run away, you cannot. You are bound. You and I are bound together and can never be separated. We are not bound by our natural dispositions—naturally speaking, I may never be able to get along with you. And even if we are naturally compatible, that is not a true or stable union. But, praise the Lord, we are bound in a real and indissoluble union by something divine, by the very nature of God Himself. We are not only bound by the gold, but we are covered by the gold, we are safeguarded by the gold. The gold is God Himself.
One day in my room I said to myself, “How unfortunate you are! You have been captured by the divine nature, and you can’t escape. You may try, but you can never get out of this team of gold!” This is the unity. Brothers and sisters, there must be such a unity among us. Then we will be strengthened and qualified to enter the land. If we can escape from each other, if we can be separated from one another, there is no way for us to go into the good land. We must have this tabernacle, this embodiment of the Ark. We must be bound together in this divine nature as the tabernacle to the Ark. The Ark, which is Christ, is within as our center, and we are the enlargement of this Christ as the tabernacle embodying the Ark.
We have seen how we must enjoy Christ as the lamb of the passover, as the daily manna, and as the Ark embodied within the tabernacle. All these are our qualifications to enter the land.