When we have the Ark as our center and we are built together as the tabernacle to embody this Ark, then the glory of God comes down and fills the tabernacle. It is not until we have this testimony, until we experience Christ as the Ark, as the manifestation of God, and until we are the expression of the Ark, the enlargement of Christ, that we are filled with the glory of God. We should experience Christ in such a way. He is the expression of God, and we must be the expression of Him. Then the glory of God will fill us. We may be sure that whenever we reach this point, it matters not when or how we meet, formally or informally, the very glory of God will be with us. What is glory? As we have already mentioned, it is the presence of God realized by human sense. When you can sense the presence of God, that is glory. Where is this glory? It is where the Ark is the center and where the tabernacle is built up as the enlargement and embodiment of it.
The glory of God may be illustrated by an electric light bulb. The bulb is a vessel to display the glory of the electricity. When not connected to electricity, it has no glory and is rather meaningless. But when everything is in order and the electricity is switched on, the glory fills the bulb. Everyone can see it. Everyone can recognize it and sense the glory.
When the point is reached where we have such a Christ as the manifestation of God and we are the expression of such a Christ, the glory of God will fill us whenever we come together. People can sense it. They can sense the very expression of God because God is glorified among us. Not until we attain this stage is there such reality. When we take Christ as the passover lamb, there is not such an expression of glory. Even when we enjoy Him as the daily manna and as the rock flowing with the living stream, the shekinah glory is missing. It is not until one day the Ark is put into the tabernacle and the tabernacle is raised up upon the silver sockets and covered with the fourfold covering that the glory of God descends.
This is a clear picture of the real expression of Christ. The real expression of Christ is the enlargement of Christ Himself. It is Christ as the manifestation of God mingled with us. It is neither the little passover lamb, nor even Christ as the daily manna and the rock, but Christ, the manifestation of God among us as the center, mingled with us, enlarged within us, and increased among us. Everyone of us has been saturated with the nature of Christ and built up together in Him. Christ is of two natures, the human and the divine, and we are the same: we are of the human nature but covered with the divine. He is the God-man, and we are the God-men. He is the Ark made of wood covered with gold, and we are the boards made of wood covered with gold. In number we are different, but in nature we are exactly the same. Christ is the manifestation of God, and all these boards combined together as one in the gold are the expression of Christ. When this point is reached, the God of glory comes down and fills us. This is the testimony. We are testifying nothing but this Christ who is the manifestation of God and who has been enlarged through us, thereby filling us with the glory of God.
I can relate numerous stories to illustrate this point. Many times I have experienced such a glory, a wonderful glory. Many times when I have been with a group of believers who have come to such a stage, the glory has come down. Everyone knows it. When we experience Christ not just as the passover lamb and the manna, but together in this fuller and solid way, we always have the glory among us.
But this is not all. This is not the end of the story. Even if we have this, we are still not qualified to enter that good land. We must have something more. We started with Exodus 12 by enjoying Christ as the redeeming lamb; we have also seen what it means to go on and enjoy Him as the daily manna and as the rock flowing with the living water; and we have seen the enjoyment of Christ as the Ark, as the manifestation of the living God, and us as the expression, the enlargement of this Christ, so that the glory of God fills us. We have finished the book of Exodus, and we come now to the next book, Leviticus.
After the tabernacle is reared up, we must deal next with the offerings. How rich Christ is to us in all the various offerings! Perhaps you are saying, “Oh, we have seen so much of Christ already; it is sufficient!” But, no, we must go on. There is much more. The tabernacle is reared up, but how may we get in contact with this tabernacle? Here is the testimony, here is the manifestation of God, here is the expression of Christ, but how can we contact these? We cannot go on to contact this testimony in ourselves. Never. There is an entrance, but the only proper way for us to approach this entrance and contact the tabernacle is by the offerings. To contact the tabernacle without the offerings means immediate death. When we come to contact this tabernacle, we must have some offerings. Oh, Christ is so rich! On one hand, He is the manifestation of God, and on the other hand, He is the way by which we can contact this God: He is the offerings. He is the very means by which we may contact the manifestation of God, which is Himself. He is everything.
What are the offerings? There are five: the burnt offering, the meal offering, the peace offering, the sin offering, and the trespass offering. They are all Christ. Whenever we would deal with the testimony, whenever we would contact the expression of Christ, we must offer Christ once more, we must apply Christ once more. Sometimes we need to apply Him as the trespass offering, sometimes as the sin offering, sometimes as the meal offering, sometimes as the peace offering, and sometimes even more as the burnt offering.
When should we apply Christ as the trespass offering? It is quite clear. Let me illustrate. Suppose we are having a meeting and you are coming to the meeting; you are coming to contact the tabernacle with Christ as its center. But in your heart you have the registration that you have done something wrong. Perhaps you have been wrong with one of your brothers. Yes, you saw him today and even smiled at him, but that kind of smile was an expression of hatred. When you come to contact the tabernacle and the testimony, the Holy Spirit causes you to sense your trespass. You have sinned; you have trespassed. The Lord has told you to love your brother, but you have loved him in a false way; you have smiled at him with hatred. Thus, you must apply Christ as the trespass offering.
Many times you can tell the truth, but with a lie. In other words, you lie with the truth. Sometimes I ask a brother concerning the state of another brother. He replies that the brother is quite well, but by the tone and the sense of the spirit, I can detect that on one hand he is telling the truth, but on the other hand it is a lie. I may ask if you love a certain brother, and you may reply that by the grace of God you do. If so, I know you do not love him. I may ask if you are a good brother, and you may answer that you are not so good. It seems that you are being humble and honest. But in your heart you are saying that you are the best brother. Oh, brothers and sisters, we are trespassing all the time!
How selfish we are! We are selfish to such an extent that when we come to the meeting we choose the best seat. Here in America you have separate seats, so you cannot take advantage of others, but in Formosa they have long benches. All the benches are of sufficient length to seat four persons during the usual meetings. But when they have a conference, they ask the brothers and sisters to sit as closely as possible in order to make the bench available for five. Some, however, knowing this, spread out and occupy one fourth of the bench, compelling others to take less. What kind of way is this to contact the tabernacle and testimony of the Lord? How sinful we are! How much we need to apply the Lord as our trespass offering!
Brothers and sisters, I believe that if we are faithful and honest before the Lord, when we come to contact this tabernacle, this testimony, His Spirit will cause us to sense all our sinfulness and all our trespasses. We will sense what we have done, and we will say, “O Lord, forgive me. Cleanse me. You have died on the cross as my Redeemer; so once more I apply you as my trespass offering.” Oh, it is wonderful! Whenever we apply Christ in such a way, we immediately sense that we have been forgiven and cleansed. We are at peace in our conscience. We have good fellowship with the Lord and with the Body. This is the application of Christ as our trespass offering. Do you have this kind of experience?
Every time, without one exception, when I am preparing to minister, I must ask the Lord to cleanse me once more. Otherwise, because of the condemnation in my conscience, I will not have the anointing and will not be able to minister in a living way. I must apply Christ every time as my trespass offering so that my conscience will be pure and I will be at peace. Then I have the boldness to claim the anointing of God. Where the blood cleanses, there the anointing will come. The anointing of the ointment always follows the cleansing of the blood. We have the ground of the blood to claim the anointing, the working of the Holy Spirit, so that we can minister in a living way. When I apply Christ as my trespass offering, it matters not how much I have trespassed. Praise the Lord, I am forgiven and cleansed. Whenever I come to minister, whenever I come to serve, and even when I contact some brothers, I have to say, “Lord, forgive me and cleanse me once more. I apply You as my trespass offering.”
Sometimes it seems that we have not trespassed. By the protection of the Lord, we have been kept through the entire day in His presence without any trespasses. It is possible. We do not sense that we have trespassed, but we have a deeper feeling. It is quite strange. When we are saying, “Lord, I praise You, You have kept me through the whole day; by Your protection I have not trespassed,” we have a deeper feeling that within us is something sinful. We sense that deeply within is something which is more sinful than trespasses. It is Sin, capitalized Sin. It is the sinful nature. Though we have been saved and have peace with God and with one another, yet within us is a sinful nature. This is the Sin which is dealt with so extensively in Romans 5, 6, 7, and 8. Sin dwells within me. I am not speaking of sins, but Sin—capitalized, singular Sin. I hate to do what I do. It is not I that do it, but Sin which dwells in me. There is an evil, but powerful, living matter within me called Sin. It can conquer me; it can defeat me; it can cause me to do things which I detest. It is a living nature; it is the nature of the evil one. For this there is an offering—the sin offering.
One day I was reading in the newspaper concerning a man who robbed a bank. I said, “O Lord, I thank You that by Your mercy and grace I have never done such a thing; I have never robbed others.” But deeply within me was a sense that I should not say this, for the very robbing element is in me. True, I have not had the robbing act, but I have the robbing nature. On one hand, I can say, “Lord, I thank You that by Your protection I have not engaged in the act of robbing others.” But on the other hand, I must say, “Lord, I have a sinful nature, a robbing nature, but You are my sin offering. Though I have no trespasses outwardly, yet I have a sinful nature inwardly. Though I do not need to apply You now as my trespass offering, yet I still need You as my sin offering.”
Brothers and sisters, whenever we as fallen creatures come to contact the testimony of the Lord, we must at least apply Christ as the sin offering. In the Scriptures we see that the children of Israel had to offer the sin offering to contact the Lord. It does not matter how good you feel you are. You must realize that since you are still in the sinful nature, you must still apply Christ as the sin offering.
Praise the Lord that He is also the peace offering. Day by day and even moment by moment, as we enjoy Him as our trespass offering and our sin offering, we also enjoy Him as our peace offering. Through Him and in Him we have peace with God and we have peace with our brothers and sisters. Christ Himself is our peace. We enjoy Him as our peace with God and our peace with men. He is so sweet, He is so satisfying; everyone of us may enjoy Him in the presence of God and enjoy Him together with God. This is Christ as the peace offering.
Sometimes we must apply Christ as the meal offering. Many times after we have applied and experienced Him as the trespass offering and as the sin offering, we will immediately apply Him as the meal offering. We simply enjoy Christ. We enjoy His life upon earth—how He was so perfect, so fine, so pure, and so spiritual! We enjoy Him as such a One. We say, “Lord, how we enjoy You as the meal offering to God.” This is the way to offer Christ as the meal offering.
We must also apply Christ many times as the burnt offering. We have to say, “O Lord, I realize how You have wholly offered Yourself to God as a sacrifice to do His will, to satisfy Him, to have a life absolutely for God. I enjoy You as such a One.” Many times at the Lord’s table we have this sort of experience. We apply Christ as the meal offering and as the burnt offering. We see that wondrous life of the Lord when He was here. We see Him when He was twelve years of age. We see Him as a carpenter in that poor family in Nazareth. We see how He acted when He came forth in His ministry for God, how He conducted Himself before others and how He treated them so kindly, so gently, so humbly, and so holily. We apply Him as our enjoyment, as our meal offering and as our burnt offering for God’s satisfaction. We can say to the Lord, “You lived on this earth absolutely for God. You are the burnt offering. I apply You as my enjoyment and God’s satisfaction, not only here at Your table but during the day. Sometimes in the morning and sometimes in the evening, I enjoy You as the meal offering and the burnt offering.”
Oh, praise the Lord that He is all these offerings for us to enjoy! The more you and I apply Christ as the trespass offering, as the sin offering, as the peace offering, as the meal offering, and as the burnt offering, the more we feel that we are in the tabernacle. The more we apply Christ in such a way, the more we feel we are in the glorious presence of God. This is not just a doctrine, but something so real. It can be proved; it can be experienced. If we do not have such experiences, something is wrong with us.
Now you see how much of Christ we have to experience. We have to experience Him as the lamb of the passover, as the manna, as the rock, as the Ark with the tabernacle, and as all the offerings—trespass, sin, peace, meal, and burnt. We have to experience Christ and apply Christ hour by hour, instance by instance, in such a way that we will be qualified, enabled, and strengthened to go on and take possession of the all-inclusive Christ. Gaining possession of this good land does not take place suddenly or instantaneously. It is a gradual process. First we must enjoy Him as the lamb; then we must enjoy Him as the manna, as the rock, as the Ark with the tabernacle; and then day by day and instance after instance we must enjoy Him as all the various kinds of offerings. Then we will be qualified and matured to gain possession of that all-inclusive land. But there is more to follow.