The tabernacle and the temple, as we have seen, were composed of three parts: the outer court, the Holy Place, and the Holy of Holies. Inside the outer court the tabernacle and the temple were divided into two parts: the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. Before we see the items in the Holy of Holies, we must first look at the items in the outer court and the Holy Place.
In the outer court there were two things: the altar and the laver. All Bible students agree that the altar is a type of the cross of Christ (Heb. 13:10) and the laver is a type of the work of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. 6:11). Have we experienced the altar and the laver? On the cross Christ was offered as our sin offering. He died for our sins, and He was even made sin on the cross for our sake (15:3; 2 Cor. 5:21). Hence, He is our Passover. The meaning of the Passover is that Christ, the very Lamb of God (John 1:29), bore our sins and died on the cross. First Corinthians 5:7 clearly states that Christ is our Passover. The day that we believed in Christ’s death for our sins was the day of our Passover. It was on that day that we enjoyed Christ as our Passover lamb.
After we experienced the altar of the cross, immediately the Holy Spirit began to work, as signified by the laver. The laver was a place for the priests to wash and be cleansed. After we receive Christ as our Passover, the Holy Spirit begins His cleansing work within and without. When the priests entered the tabernacle, they had to pass the altar with the sin offering and the trespass offering, and they also had to wash their feet and their hands in the laver to cleanse away all the earthly dirt. From the time we are saved, the Holy Spirit cleanses us from all the earthly dirt of our daily walk. If we have had the experiences at the altar and the laver, it means that we have been saved and are no longer outside the outer court. Once we are inside the outer court, we are within the boundary and realm of God. In other words, we are in the kingdom of God, for we have been regenerated, redeemed, and forgiven and are now cleansed by the working of the Holy Spirit. Unless we have experienced both the altar and the laver, we can never be a genuine child of God. Even though we may have outwardly entered Christianity, without the experience of these two things, we are still outside the kingdom of God.
However, this is not all; this is merely the ABCs of the Christian life. We must press on further. We have entered the main gate of the tabernacle, but there is still another veil, or gate, which we must enter. From the outer court, from the place to which we came by believing in the Lord, we need to enter into the Holy Place.
The first item in the Holy Place was the table of the bread of the Presence, a table on which the bread was displayed. The bread is a type of Christ as our food, for He is the bread of life (John 6:35). Christ is the supply for our daily life. He is our daily manna, nourishing us that we may live before God. The table of the bread of the Presence did not contain only one piece of bread; it held a large amount of bread (Lev. 24:5-6). This means that we can experience an abundant supply of life, just like the manna that fell from heaven. Every morning there was an abundant supply of manna. After experiencing Christ as our Passover and the cleansing work of the Holy Spirit, have we gone on to experience Christ as our daily manna? If we have, we know the table of the bread of the Presence in a living way.
The lampstand follows the table of the bread of the Presence as the second item in the Holy Place. This signifies that Christ is the light as well as the life. John 1:4 says that life is in Christ, and this life is the very light of men. John 8:12 also states that this light is the light of life. If we enjoy and experience Christ as life, He will definitely become our light. When we feed on Christ, we sense the shining within enlightening us. After we have received Christ as our Passover and have been cleansed by the working of the Holy Spirit, and after we know how to feed on Christ as our daily bread of life, we can sense the inner shining.
The third item in the Holy Place, the altar of incense, follows the table and the lampstand. We experience the incense altar when we sense a savor, a sweet-smelling odor, which is Christ in resurrection, spreading and ascending toward God. When we enjoy Christ as our food and are in His light of life, we are in resurrection. Within us there is something sweet spreading and ascending toward God. This can never be confirmed by knowledge or by doctrine, but must be checked by our experience. Do we have such experiences? Although we may not have enough of these experiences, the main issue at this time is that we have such experiences. I can testify that these experiences are wonderful. Thirty-three years ago I was daily and even hourly in the Holy Place. Christ was my daily bread, and I was full of Him and full of light. I was very pleased with God, and He was very pleased with me, and something of Christ within me was spreading and ascending to God as a sweet savor.
But is this the end? This is something holy, but it is not the holiest. It is good, but it is not the best. Therefore, we need to press on again in order to enter the Holy of Holies. The first veil, the screen (Exo. 26:36), must be passed through, but the second veil (vv. 31-33) must be rent (Matt. 27:51). This veil is the flesh (Heb. 10:20), which must be broken before we can enter the Holy of Holies.
There is only one thing in the Holy of Holies—the Ark. All students of the Bible agree that the Ark is a type of Christ. Although Christ can be enjoyed as our food, as our light, and as our sweet savor toward God, Christ Himself is in the Holy of Holies. Christ as food, as light, and as the sweet savor are the three items in the Holy Place, but now Christ Himself must be touched. We must not touch Christ merely as some item; we must touch Christ Himself. This is deeper. We must make contact with Christ Himself. We have experienced Christ as our Passover and the washing of the Holy Spirit, and we have experienced Christ as life, as light, and as the sweet savor; now we need to contact Christ Himself. Very few Christians have entered into the Holy of Holies in order to touch Christ Himself as the Ark.
Now let us consider the contents of the Ark. It is quite meaningful to see that manna was in the Ark (Exo. 16:33-34; Heb. 9:4). The manna in the Ark was not the open manna but the hidden manna (Rev. 2:17); it was not the manna displayed but the manna hidden in a secret place. The hidden manna, no doubt, corresponds with the bread of the Presence. The difference, however, is that the bread was shown forth, but the manna in the Ark was hidden. The bread of the Presence was exhibited on the table, but the manna in the Ark was hidden in the golden pot (Exo. 16:33; Heb. 9:4). Not only was the manna hidden in the golden pot, but this pot was hidden in the Ark. Thus, the manna was doubly hidden. In the wilderness the people of Israel enjoyed the manna, but the manna they enjoyed was public manna; it was manna that had fallen to the earth, not the manna hidden in the heavens. The hidden manna is Christ Himself, a Christ who is deeper than the Christ signified by the public manna.
We need to experience such a deeper Christ, a Christ in the secret place, a Christ in the heavenlies. This is the Christ mentioned in Hebrews 7 as the High Priest according to the order of Melchizedek, not according to the order of Aaron (cf. Heb. 5:6, 10; 6:20). Aaron ministered in the outer court, offering sacrifices on the altar; Melchizedek ministers on the throne of grace in the heavenlies (4:16; Rev. 4:2). We may experience Christ as our food, but this enjoyment is only in the Holy Place, and whatever we experience is immediately known by many people. Sometimes the news of our “glorious” experience spreads across the whole nation. This is nothing but the experience of the open bread of the Presence. We need to press deeper to enter into “the secret place of the Most High” (Psa. 91:1) in order to touch the heavenly Christ Himself.
In the Ark there was also the law, the regulating and enlightening law (Exo. 25:16, 21; Deut. 10:1-5). The law corresponds with the lampstand in the Holy Place. The law is the testimony of God, and the lampstand in both the Old Testament and the New Testament also is the testimony of God. Though the law corresponds with the lampstand, the principle is still the same: the lampstand shines forth openly, but the law in the Ark is a hidden, inner, and deeper light. Many times the brothers and sisters have only the light of the lampstand. This light may shine brightly within them. In one sense, that is good, but in another sense, these brothers and sisters are still shallow, because everything is showing forth on the surface. They need Christ to become their inner law. Those who have Christ as their living law hidden within them do not show forth much outwardly, but inwardly they know Christ in a deeper way.
Third, the budding rod was in the Ark (Num. 17:10-11). This rod, with sprouted buds, typifies the resurrected Christ. This corresponds with the savor of the incense, both of which signify the resurrected Christ; but again the difference is that the incense is openly expressed, whereas the budding rod is experienced in a hidden and deeper way.
We have seen three things in the Holy Place: Christ as food, Christ as the light of life, and Christ as the sweet savor. But the three things in the Ark in the Holy of Holies are deeper. The bread of the Presence is something that shows forth, the lampstand is something that shines forth, and the incense is something that spreads forth—all are outwardly exhibited. But the three things in the Ark are deeply and inwardly hidden.