We have seen how the tabernacle was composed of wooden boards overlaid with gold. It is so clear that the tabernacle did not stand by the gold, but by the wood. Wood was the main element which enabled the tabernacle to stand, and the wood was even the main element of the tabernacle. Gold provided decoration, beauty, value, and preciousness, but wood provided the standing power. Wood is a type of the humanity of Jesus, indicating that the standing power of the church, today’s tabernacle, is the humanity of Jesus. If we are lacking the humanity of Jesus, the church will be very weak and will have no power to stand. The church must have acacia wood as the humanity of Jesus for its standing power.
In the tabernacle there were not only the boards, but also the bars. “Thou shalt make bars of acacia wood; five for the boards of the one side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the other side of the tabernacle, and five bars for the boards of the side of the tabernacle, for the two sides westward. And the middle bar in the midst of the boards shall reach from end to end. And thou shalt overlay the boards with gold, and make their rings of gold for holders for the bars: and thou shalt overlay the bars with gold” (Exo. 26:26-29, lit.).
The tabernacle had twenty standing boards on one side and twenty standing boards on the other side. Then at the rear, on the west side, there were eight standing boards. Altogether, there were forty-eight separate boards standing up in the tabernacle. How then could these forty-eight boards be one? How could they be united? This is the function of the bars. If we enjoy the humanity of Jesus we become strong standing boards, but we may not be united with other boards. We are enabled to stand, but we are not united. This is why we need the uniting bars. The uniting bars were also made of acacia wood overlaid with gold. But the rings for the bars were made of solid gold.
All forty-eight boards were standing up, but it was the bars which held them together. Exodus 26:26-29 tells us clearly that on each of the three sides of the tabernacle, there were five bars, with the middle bar reaching from end to end. If then the middle bar was one long bar going from end to end, where were the other four bars? It must be that the first bar was above the middle bar, but it only extended halfway across. Then the second bar continued above the middle bar to complete the other half. The fourth bar must have gone halfway across below the middle bar, and the fifth continued the other half at the bottom. So there were five bars on every side, with the middle bar going from end to end. Since the middle bar extended from end to end, we can realize that the other four bars must be arranged in this way. Otherwise, there could be no middle bar. Thus we have the number five, since there are five bars, and we have the number three, because there are three layers of the bars.
On each side of the tabernacle, the bars united the boards. But simply to have the boards and the bars was not sufficient; there was also the need of the rings. The golden rings were on the overlaying gold of the boards. Each board was overlaid with gold, and on the overlaying gold of each board there were three solid gold rings. Thus, there were at least 144 rings for the fifteen bars on the three sides of the tabernacle. When the boards, the bars, and the rings were all joined together, there was the unity. All forty-eight boards united together became one dwelling place.
According to typology, the uniting bars are the Holy Spirit, and the rings for the bars are also the Holy Spirit. Both are types of the Holy Spirit. Why are these two things, the rings and the bars, necessary to signify the one Holy Spirit? This requires the proper experience as well as the proper verses for confirmation. The last part of Ephesians 1:13 says, “In Whom also believing, you were sealed with the Holy Spirit of the promise.” This is the initial experience of the Holy Spirit. Once a person believes in the Lord Jesus, he is sealed with the Holy Spirit. But in the same book, Ephesians 4:3, we read, “Being diligent to keep the oneness of the Spirit in the uniting bond of peace.” This verse does not have the word “Holy” before Spirit. We must just keep the unity of the Spirit. There is a significant reason for this, which we see later. Of course, some may say that the Spirit is the Holy Spirit, and I agree. But do not think that the Apostle Paul was careless with his words. There is a purpose in his using “Holy Spirit” in Ephesians 1:13, and “the Spirit” in Ephesians 4:3.
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