The first important matter in regard to seeing Christ as the reality is to realize that Christ is the reality by which we worship God. In the universe, the relationship between man and God is man’s worship to God. Whatever we are, whatever we do, and whatever we work must all be for the worship to God. So when we mention worship to God, it includes all these things.
To take Christ as our reality means to take Christ as our being, our doing, our living, and even as our worship to God. I believe that we know something of Christ as reality in a general way, but we are not so clear concerning Christ as reality in details. This has been buried in the Bible for centuries. Although it is in the Bible, it has never been adequately discovered and unveiled. But I believe that in these last days this very thing has been more and more opened up to us. It has been more than ever before discovered and unveiled. So we need to spend some time to see Christ in the pages of the Old Testament as well as the New Testament. The New Testament is so simple and brief, while the Old Testament gives us a picture in detail. Just in the one book of Leviticus, we can see all the details of Christ as the reality to us by which we worship God.
In the above verses, we have read both the first and last verses of Genesis and Exodus before coming to Leviticus. This is quite meaningful. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth, and of course, God created man. Man was created by God to express God Himself and to represent God for His dominion. Man was the center of God’s creation to express Him and to represent Him. But at the end of the book of Genesis, we see that the man created by God died and was put into a coffin in Egypt. How poor and pitiful! If this were the end of the Scriptures, we all would be finished. But this is not the ultimate consummation. After Genesis, there is Exodus. There is a way out, an exit-praise the Lord! But the beginning of Exodus is not as glorious as the beginning of Genesis. At the beginning of Genesis, God created the heavens, the earth, and man. This is wonderful. But man fell, died, and was put into a coffin in Egypt. Then Exodus begins with all of the children of Israel in Egypt. Everyone, without exception, was in Egypt. How poor! But how glorious when we reach the end of Exodus. Instead of a coffin, there is a tabernacle. Instead of a dead corpse, there is the shekinah glory of God. The coffin was individualistic, while the tabernacle is corporate. Whenever there are the words, “the tabernacle of the congregation” or “the tent of the congregation,” we should read “the tent of meeting.” I really like this term “meeting.” It is not a tent of individuals, but a tent of meeting.
In Exodus there was a tent of meeting for God’s dwelling. He was no longer just in the heavens; He was also on the earth in the tent of meeting. When we come to the book of Leviticus, we find that God speaks out of the tent of meeting. On Mount Sinai, God spoke from the heavens, but since God has a tent of meeting on the earth, He can speak out of it. This is marvelous! Out of all the coffins, God raised up a people and brought them out of Egypt to build them together to become the tent of meeting.
Where were we before we were saved? We were just in a coffin. And we were not in a corporate coffin, but in so many separate and individualistic coffins in the world. All the young brothers and sisters and all the older ones were in the same situation. We were all “in a coffin in Egypt.” But, hallelujah, the day came when the Lord called us out of the coffins and brought us out of the world! We had a real exodus. And now He has brought us together in the tent of meeting. Today we can all declare that there is a tent of meeting in Los Angeles! There is no need for God to speak out of the heavens because He has a tent of meeting. The Lord is speaking today out of the local churches, and the local churches are the tents of meeting.
After God’s creation and the fall of man, through His redemption, there is a tent of meeting. This is so marvelous to me! I am so excited because I see the tent of meeting! We should never be disappointed or defeated, because we have the tent of meeting. The tent of meeting is a glorious victory over all the deadening works of Satan. God is so victorious and successful. We should all be excited, and we should excite others. Just look at the people today in the world. Everybody has such a sad face, and they are all so disappointed, but we are so happy and excited. Praise the Lord, today in the city of Los Angeles, in the district of Hollywood, there is a tent of meeting!
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