After the showbread table is the lampstand (Exo. 40:24-25), where we experience Christ as the shining light of life (John 1:4; 8:12). The fact that the lampstand follows the showbread table indicates that the light comes out of our enjoyment of Christ as our life supply. When we enjoy Christ as our food, we have light because the “life was the light of men” (John 1:4).
The lampstand in the tabernacle (Exo. 25:31-40) signifies the Triune God embodied in Christ. With the lampstand we see three important things: the gold, the stand, and the lamps. Gold is the substance with which the lampstand is made, the stand is the embodiment of the gold, and the lamps are the expression of the stand. The gold signifies the Father as the substance, the stand signifies the Son as the embodiment of the Father, and the lamps signify the Spirit as the expression of the Father in the Son. Therefore, as a type, the lampstand implies the Triune God.
As a type of Christ, the lampstand portrays Christ as the resurrection life growing, branching, budding, and blossoming to shine the light. The fact that the lampstand has branches, buds, and blossoms indicates that it is a growing entity. Since the lampstand typifies Christ, it indicates that Christ is the One who is growing. Christ grows first in Himself, signified by the stalk of the lampstand, and then also in us, signified by the branches.
Another item of furniture in the tabernacle that typifies Christ is the incense altar (Exo. 30:1-5). The incense altar signifies Christ as the Intercessor to maintain the relationship between God and His people (Rom. 8:34; Heb. 7:25). The altar itself is a type of Christ’s person, not a type of His prayer. The incense altar signifies Christ praying, Christ interceding. Without such an interceding Christ, the proper relationship between God and us could not exist, or could not be maintained. For the maintaining of our relationship with God, we need Christ as our Intercessor.
According to Exodus 30:1 and 3, the incense altar was made of acacia wood overlaid with gold. This signifies that Christ’s humanity, signified by the acacia wood, is strong in character and high in standard to express His divinity, signified by the gold.
The incense altar had four horns. In biblical typology a horn signifies power. Therefore, the four horns of the incense altar signify the power of Christ’s intercession. Christ’s intercession is powerful toward the four corners of the earth.
The incense altar also had a crown of gold round about, rings of gold, and poles of acacia wood overlaid with gold. The crown of gold around the incense altar signifies the glory of Christ’s divinity being the preserving power of His intercession. The two rings of gold as receptacles for the carrying poles signify the moving of Christ’s intercession, and the poles of acacia wood overlaid with gold signify that Christ’s human nature with His divine nature is the strength for the moving of His intercession. All these aspects of the interceding Christ typified by the incense altar are fulfilled in the New Testament, especially in John 17.
The ark of testimony is a type of Christ, the true testimony of God, who is the embodiment and expression of all that God is. The tables of the law, the Ten Commandments, were put into the ark (Exo. 25:21). This signifies that God testified by the law is embodied in Christ. As the ark was called the ark of the testimony (Exo. 25:22), so Christ is the testimony, the expression, of God.
As a type of Christ, the ark, which contained the tablets of the testimony, typifies Christ as the embodiment of God’s testimony. The ark as the embodiment of God’s testimony typifies Christ as the embodiment of God. Colossians 2:9 says that the fullness of the Godhead dwells in Christ bodily. Because God is embodied in Christ, He is portrayed, defined, and explained by Christ. Christ is God’s definition, His explanation.
The ark as a type of Christ also indicates that God’s redeemed people can contact God and enjoy God in Christ and through Christ. The New Testament reveals that God has come in Christ so that we may contact Him, receive Him, and enjoy Him. As the ark of the testimony, Christ is for us to contact God and enjoy God.
The ark was made of acacia wood overlaid inside and outside with pure gold (Exo. 25:10-11). The acacia wood typifies Christ’s humanity, strong in character and high in standard. Christ’s humanity is the basic element, the basic substance, for Him to be God’s testimony. Christ became the embodiment of God’s testimony in His humanity, which is the basic substance for expressing God. The pure gold that overlaid the ark signifies Christ’s divinity. Because the substance of gold does not change, it signifies God who is eternally unchanging.
Christ is one person with two natures, the human nature and the divine nature. Because He is man as well as God, He is rightly called the God-man. He is the mingling of God with man. The fact that the acacia wood was overlaid with gold both inside and outside signifies that in Christ the divine nature is mingled with the human nature. In Christ the divine nature penetrates the human nature and also rests on the human nature so that it may be expressed through the human nature. That the acacia wood was between two layers of gold indicates such a mingling. As the embodiment of God, Christ is the God-man, the mingling of God and man.