In this chapter we will see how to possess the land from the negative aspect instead of from the positive. This will be more helpful to us.
We have seen that the way for the Lord’s people to possess the good land is in a group, not as single persons. This means that not one person as an individual can enter this land. It is not his business. It is the business of a collective body. We have seen this quite clearly. I must also remind you once more that in order for the people of the Lord to enter the good land, they must have the tabernacle. The first thing that the children of Israel set up among them was the tabernacle. This very fact indicates graphically that the entrance into the land is a collective matter, not an individual one. In order to possess the good land, we must be built up; we must all be united into one body as the tabernacle.
We have seen quite clearly that the enjoyment of Christ is a progression, a continual development. There is a start, and there is a process; there is a way to improve and advance. We started at the very beginning by enjoying Christ as the lamb. Then by going on we attain to the point where Christ to us is the Ark of the Testimony with the increase of the tabernacle. This increase, this enlargement of the Ark, is a group of people mingled with Christ and built up together in the divine nature. They are built into one body as the very expression of Christ, who is the manifestation and testimony of God. We must be very clear that at this stage these people who have been continually enjoying Christ have become one. They are no longer simply individuals; by the enjoyment of Christ they have become one body. At the very beginning it seems that we enjoy Christ separately and individually. You enjoy Christ as the lamb, and I enjoy Christ as the lamb. You enjoy Christ in your home, and I enjoy Christ in my home. We all enjoy Christ wherever we are by ourselves. But when we come to the stage of the tabernacle being reared up among us and become the expression of Christ by enjoying Him more and more, we can be separated no longer. We must meet together, be joined together, and be built up together as one body. The forty-eight boards can never be separated. If they are separated, there can be no Ark among them as their content. There will be no place for the Ark as the testimony of Christ.
If we as a group of the Lord’s people would go on to enjoy Christ in a more solid way than the redeeming lamb and the daily manna, if we would enjoy Him as the testimony of God, we must be built up together into one body as the tabernacle under the cover of the fullness of Christ. We must be one. It is at this stage that there must be something among the Lord’s children in the way of oneness. This oneness is the tabernacle as the enlargement of the Ark. We can never go very far by ourselves, separately, singly, and individually. As such, we can receive Christ as our Redeemer, we can enjoy Him a little day by day as the manna, and we can even enjoy Him as the rock flowing with the living stream—indeed, as individuals we may enjoy Christ to this extent. But we can never go further than this and enjoy Christ in a more substantial way. We can never enjoy Him as the Ark of the Testimony of God, to say nothing about the land. Compare the Ark with the land. Consider how big the Ark is and how great the land is. There is a vast difference! The land is unsearchably great, unlimitedly great. The dimensions of the land are the length, the breadth, the height, and the depth of Christ! Yet if we cannot enjoy Christ as the Ark, it is certain we can never enjoy Him as the land. Not until we have been built up together with the people of God can we experience Christ as the Ark. We can never go on as a separate board.
In the Lord’s building, all the numbers and dimensions always involve the figures five and three. This is true in all the building work of God throughout the Scriptures—in the ark of Noah, in the tabernacle, in the temple of Solomon, and in the temple recorded in Ezekiel. All the buildings contain the basic numbers of five and three. Why is this? Because the number three represents the Triune God in resurrection. And the number five is four, the number of the creature, plus one, the Creator; the creature plus the Creator becomes five. Man plus God becomes the God-man to take the responsibility. Therefore, the number five represents God and man, man and God, together as one to take the responsibility. In all the dimensions of the tabernacle we see these two numbers, five and three, signifying that the building of God is constituted of the Triune God in resurrection mingled with man. Now notice: the width of the boards is not three cubits, but one and a half cubits, or in other words, one half of three. This is most significant. It means that you are not a complete person; you are just a half. You must be joined to someone else. The Lord Jesus always sent out His disciples two by two. Saul and Barnabas were sent out together, not separately. Peter and John served together. It was always two by two. If you go by yourself, you are just half.
For example, when a brother comes into the meeting, we may say that he is just a half. When his wife follows a few moments later, there is the other half. When they sit together, you have the completion.
You must be deeply impressed that you are not a complete unit; you are only a half. You need to be coordinated in the Body. You can never simply be an individual. If you are individualistic, you will be spoiled.
It is rather difficult today to learn this lesson. Independence and individualism are stressed so much, and the Lord’s children have been greatly influenced. But as the people of God we can never be independent. If we are, we commit spiritual suicide.
Suppose my ear could say to my body, “I don’t want to be joined to you. I want to be separated and independent.” What would be the result of its independence? It would mean death to the ear. As a member of the Lord’s Body, we must be united with others, not theoretically, but actually and practically. This ear must be united to a piece of skin, this piece of skin must be united to another part, and that part to still another, and so forth until you have the body. No part can be independent of the others. We must see this reality. It is not a nice thought or a teaching, but reality.
Let us seek to apply this principle to ourselves in a practical way. You are a member of the Body of Christ. Praise the Lord, we have been regenerated as members of His Body! Can you tell me, practically, to whom you are united? Can you name a brother or certain brothers with whom you are really one, with whom you are inwardly and practically one? Perhaps you will answer that you are united to the Head of the Body. But if my foot should answer in such a way, then it must be in the wrong position. It must be moved from the lower extremity of my body and joined directly to my head. But that is not God’s arrangement. The Lord did not ask Peter to go with Him as a pair. God did not ask Paul to go with Christ as a pair. You must be united with someone other than Christ, some member other than the Head.
Wherever I go, if it is at all possible, I speak about this matter. But it is almost impossible to hear someone respond, “Brother, thank the Lord, I am definitely and practically united to a certain brother.” If you live in Chicago, you cannot say that you are united to all the saints in Chicago. Practically, you are not. If you say this, it means that you are not united to anyone. We must be definitely united and practically built up with certain brothers and sisters.
Suppose we have the tabernacle here with its forty-eight boards and could ask the first board to whom it is united. It would answer without any hesitation that it is united to board number two, and we could clearly see that indeed it is. Then suppose we could ask board number two to whom it is united. It would immediately answer that on one hand it is united to board number one and on the other hand to board number three—it could name definite boards to which it is united. All the boards could answer in such a way; therefore, they are all composed together to form God’s dwelling place.
Brothers and sisters, if you can answer that you are definitely and practically related and united with certain others, it is a wonder of wonders. If so, we can really praise the Lord. The Lord will greatly bless your locality.
For the past thirty years, I can testify that by the Lord’s grace I have been truly united with other brothers and sisters. If you were to ask me or if Satan were to ask me to whom I am united, I could immediately point to certain ones. I could say, “I am actually, definitely, and practically related to those very brothers and sisters in the Lord.” Oh, this threatens the enemy! How he hates this! Wherever there are two or three who are really united together, it is a wonder and a testimony to the whole universe. Any two who have been really united can never be separated; they can never again act as individuals.
Oh, we must learn this lesson. This is the way to possess the good land. This is the way to enter into the all-inclusiveness of Christ. You must realize that you can never go on any further to enjoy Christ by yourself. At the most you can enjoy Him as the lamb, as the manna, and as the rock. That is all. Then you are finished. If you would enjoy Him more, you must be a board, one of many boards united together. How can you enjoy Christ as the Ark, the testimony of God, and the tabernacle as His enlargement if you are not united in the tabernacle? If you are not built into the tabernacle, you are cut off, you are kept out. You have nothing as far as the further and more solid enjoyment of Christ is concerned. When the tabernacle was reared up among the children of Israel, the Lord was not far away in heaven, nor was He in the wilderness; He was found in the tabernacle, in “the tent of meeting.” In spiritual reality today, He is found in the practical building together of the saints in Him as His dwelling place. If you would enjoy Him as the Ark, you must be the boards united to be the tabernacle. He is not only a lamb; now He is the Ark. He is not only a little piece of manna; now He is the Ark. And where is He as the Ark? He is in the tabernacle.
It is indeed regrettable that so many Christians have never come into the tabernacle. Twenty years ago they enjoyed Christ as little pieces of manna day by day, and today they still enjoy Him as such—nothing more. They are satisfied with this. And yet deeply within them, they are not satisfied. Twenty years ago they were truly satisfied when they enjoyed Christ as the manna, but not today. Twenty years ago they were so fresh; they were living in the newness of life in Christ. But today, if you meet them, they are full of oldness; their face is covered with wrinkles. They are still telling the same old story: “Oh, how good the Lord is to me day by day as the daily manna.” But as they tell it, you may smell the oldness and see the wrinkles. Yes, they are enjoying Christ. It is quite good; but it is so old. It is not sweet anymore; it is not fresh.
Brothers and sisters, you and I must go on; we must make some advance in the enjoyment of Christ. We must have the newness of life, the newness of the Spirit, the freshness and the sweetness of an ever deepening and enriching enjoyment of Christ. Even if we remain here with the enjoyment of Christ as the Ark and after two years are still telling how we enjoy Christ in this way, you will sense the oldness. If for years to come we are continually speaking of Christ as the testimony, the explanation and the manifestation of God, you will certainly feel that we have become old. You will not smell a sweet savor but a stale odor. If the little children, two years of age, come to you, asking, “How are you?” you are really happy. The freshness and newness of life are in their words. But the very same words from the mouth of one twenty-two years of age are old. They lack the freshness, the newness.
We must make some advance. We must not be satisfied with our present state. There is so much more of Christ yet ahead of us to be enjoyed. But at this juncture, if you would enjoy Christ as the Ark of the Testimony of God, it is impossible as long as you are individual. You are finished; you are through. You must be subdued so that you will say, “Lord, here I am. I must be joined, I must be united, with some of Your children. Lord, lead me, point out to me the ones with whom I must be united. I am in this city; I am not in the New Jerusalem. Show me the ones in this locality, in this age, with whom I must be definitely and practically joined and related.” Some may say that they would like to be joined to the apostle Paul or to Peter. But I am sorry, they are not here now. You must be joined to those whom the Lord has put here in your locality. You must be subdued. Perhaps the Lord will bring you together with a peculiar brother and say you must be joined to him. He will tell you that this is your dear brother, the one to whom you must be united. You will probably reply, “Lord, he is too peculiar. I just cannot take him!” But the Lord will answer, “He is the one. You have no other choice. Now go and take him.” Learn the lesson. This is the greatest blessing, and this is the lesson we must learn in order to have the real building of the Lord.
I detest the present situation among the Lord’s children. It seems that hardly one would submit himself to anyone. There is no submission, so there is no building. Whenever the tabernacle is raised up, the glory of God will immediately fill that place. Why is it that today there are so many groups of the Lord’s children, but we never see the glory of God? It is because there is no building, no real unity, no real oneness. You may be continually meeting with the Lord’s people yet never united to anyone. You are meeting, meeting, meeting, but you are an individualistic person—not merely an individual person but an individualistic person. There is no building between you and others, so the Lord can never be enjoyed or experienced in any further way. You are finished as far as the further experience of the Lord is concerned. I do not mean that you will perish, but that as far as the experience of the Lord is concerned, you can go no further until you are willing to be united with others. If you will be united with others, there will be a building between you and the Lord’s children, and the tabernacle will come into existence in your locality. You will enjoy Christ in a much more solid way, as the Ark within the tabernacle.
Immediately after the tabernacle, as we have seen, we come to the priesthood. The priesthood is not the ministry or service of any individual person but the service of the Body. No single person as an individual can be a priest—there is no such priesthood in the Old Testament. Priesthood does not mean individualism but a collective body. With yourself, individually speaking, the priesthood is nonexistent. By yourself, you can never say, “I am a priest.” If you are united with your brothers and sisters, you may say, “We are priests.” But if you are separated and become merely so many individuals, you can never say that you are the priests. Consider the Old Testament, the picture of the reality. Not one single person could act by himself, individually, as a priest. The priesthood is a body.
Then we come to the army. Could you by yourself ever constitute an army? Of course not. Neither could a number of separated individuals. An army must be constituted of a quantity of people formed and acting together as a unit. Some people today insist that wherever there are two or three meeting together in the Lord’s name, it is sufficient. But are two or three an adequate number to form an army? For an army we need a host of people—the more the better.
If only two or three brothers and sisters invite me to speak to them, I will be glad to do it. If I do, however, after a short time I will be finished speaking; I will have no more to say. But if you give me a larger congregation—say, several hundreds or thousands—I can speak for hours without stopping.
Two or three is not enough. We must have a good number of brothers and sisters—the more the better. Never be satisfied with two or three. We must be joined with the brothers in the Lord; we must be joined with the people of God.
Why is the United States the first nation in the world today? Why is it the strongest nation? Because there are fifty united states. If there were only two or three states, for example, Missouri, Iowa, and Illinois, how weak the country would be! But there are fifty, all united under one government, so it is a mighty power.
Oh, how the subtle enemy wants to spoil the army of God! There are so many children of God, but not an army. It is really difficult in any place to find an army formed among the Lord’s children; therefore, they are exceedingly weak. The United States is strong because it is united as one. But what about the Christians? Just consider the situation among the Lord’s people in one city or area, to say nothing about the entire country and the world. It is a pity! It is a shame! There is no unity; there is no formation. Some people even oppose any kind of unity or formation. I am not speaking of a human formation or organization but a divine building, a real and practical unity among God’s children. We hear many Christians in many places, saying, “Oh, as long as two or three of us can come together—two or three here, and two or three there—it is indeed good and quite sufficient.” No, brothers and sisters! We are against this! We must be united with the Lord’s children as an army. We must fight the battle, not just by two or three; it must be by a group of the Lord’s children, a good number, an adequate number. I beg you in the Lord to pay the price for unity with the Lord’s children. Give up all your opinions. As long as the Lord’s people will recognize the all-inclusive Christ and be willing to have a real expression for Him, it is sufficient. We should pay any price for that. We should not insist upon anything but the all-inclusive Christ and the real expression for Him. Let us join with the Lord’s children. Let us be formed as a strong army.
I am deeply burdened with this matter, so burdened that sometimes I am simply beside myself. I do not know anything but this; my whole mind and my entire being are given over to this matter. Oh, brothers and sisters, how we must cooperate with the Lord that He might recover these things! Let the Lord form us into an army in a practical way to fight the battle today for Him. Do not talk so nicely about the battle with Satan. The battle is immediately before you. This is the battle! Here is the battle! You must fight it, but not individually.
Before going to fight, we must be formed with others, and in order to be formed, we must be submissive. We must start by submitting ourselves to others. If we cannot be submissive, we can never be formed, we can never be built up together. Submission! There is a great need for submission among the Lord’s children. Today is indeed a day of rebellion—the whole world is full of rebellion. In the family, in the school, in society, in the government, everyone is rebelling. You and I who are the children of God and who are being formed into an army to fight the battle for His kingdom must learn to submit. Contrary to the whole world course, we must learn the lesson of submission. We must submit ourselves to others and learn to say “yes.” I do not mean that we should be a “yes-man,” but that we must learn to say “yes” to others, not “no.” It is so easy for people today to say “no.” They are saying “no” to everybody and everything. It seems that many times, almost the first word the little children learn to say is “no.” But we must not say “yes” in a false way, with the mouth but not with the heart. Our “yes” must be a “yes” with submission from a sincere heart. “Yes, brother!” “Yes, sister!” Submit yourself to them and learn to say “yes.” Oh, may the Lord deliver us!
In most large cities there are thousands of Christians, but where is the army, where is the tabernacle, where is the priesthood? It is a pity. What can the Lord do? There is no unity, no oneness, no submission, no formation, no building up, no tabernacle, no priesthood, no army. There is no real dwelling place for the Lord on this earth. There is no real service to the Lord, because there is no priesthood. There is no real battle for the kingdom of God, because there is no real army. We are here for the recovery of these things.
We must be formed by submission into an army. The army is always under the priesthood, and the priesthood always accompanies the tabernacle. These three things always go together. Whenever there is a tabernacle, there is a group of priests. Then, surrounding the group of priests, is the army of the people. This is the picture of the reality which we must experience—the tabernacle, the priesthood, and the army. If there is no tabernacle, the priesthood is gone, and without the priesthood, there is no army of the people. The army depends upon the priesthood, and the priesthood is related to the tabernacle. And what is the tabernacle? The tabernacle is the place where the Lord’s very presence is among His people. If there is no tabernacle, there is no presence of the Lord; the Lord’s presence cannot be with us and cannot go with us. The Lord promised that His presence would go with us, but we must be clear where His presence dwells. His presence dwells in the tabernacle. If we have the tabernacle, we have His presence dwelling with us. If we do not have the tabernacle, we are finished; the presence of the Lord is gone.
The tabernacle, the priesthood, and the army! Brothers and sisters, do you have these among you? If not, you are not qualified; you are still short. You cannot go on to take possession of the land. We must be prepared with such qualifications. We must be in the full experience of the tabernacle, the priesthood, and the army. There is nothing individual about these matters. They all involve a collective body.