Now the tabernacle you shall make with ten curtains of fine twined linen and blue and purple and scarlet strands; you shall make them with cherubim, the work of a skillful workman. (Exo. 26:1)
And you shall make curtains of goats’ hair for a tent over the tabernacle; eleven curtains you shall make...And you shall make a covering for the tent, of rams’ skins dyed red, and a covering of porpoise skins above it. (vv. 7, 14)
From the above passages we learn that there were four layers that formed the covering of the tabernacle. The first layer consisted of ten curtains of fine linen; the second was composed of curtains of goats’ hair; the third was a covering of rams’ skins; and the fourth was the outside covering of porpoise skins. These four layers of covering formed the roof of the tabernacle. Much has been written by others concerning the tabernacle and its covering, but my burden is to point out how this covering is related to the Lord’s building.
In the previous chapter we saw that the Lord’s building is not merely a matter of conforming to a pattern, but a matter of Christ being wrought into humanity. The building of the church cannot be manufactured with human hands, by imitating a pattern or by forming an organization. Of course, by the divine birth and the growth in life a certain pattern will spontaneously come forth, just as the size and shape of a man evolve as a result of his birth and growth in life. No one can manufacture or fashion a man to his mature form. Likewise, the building of the church is not a man-made pattern, not a manufactured imitation, but the spontaneous growth of Christ as our life.
Every part and every aspect of the tabernacle typifies either the work or the person of Christ—it is much more than a pattern. The tabernacle shows that by means of His redemptive work Christ Himself must be wrought into us as everything. The altar in the outer court typifies the all-inclusive death of Christ on the cross, which has ushered us into a right relationship with God. Confessing that we are sinners and that we have been put to an end by Christ’s death, we receive Christ as our life. Then the cleansing and purging work of His Spirit, typified by the laver, purifies us from the dirt of the world in order to make us fit and suitable for Him to be wrought into us.
After these two items, we can then look at the building of the tabernacle. Immediately, we see that in everything the tabernacle manifests Christ as having been wrought into us. Nearly everywhere in the Holy Place and in the Holy of Holies there was wood overlaid with gold, signifying that the human nature is overlaid with the divine nature, that divinity has been wrought into and upon humanity. The table of the bread of the Presence, the lampstand, the incense altar, the Ark, all the boards that form the framework of the tabernacle, and even the four layers of the covering reveal and emphasize one thing: Christ as the very embodiment of God has been wrought into us that we may experience Him as life and as everything.
The Lord must open our eyes and impress us with all these things. We cannot merely find a pattern from the book of Acts, set up elders and deacons, and call this the church. This is not the church; this is an imitation of the church. If we ask someone how he came into being and became such a tall person, he will tell us, “I was born of my mother, I have eaten a great deal of nourishing food, and I have grown up to such a height.” We can manufacture a toy or a doll, but there is no way for us to manufacture a man. The church is a real man; no one can make a church. It must be something out of the new birth in the Spirit and the growth of life in Christ. We must say again and again that we should keep our hands off. We should not try to form or organize anything.
In many places during the past few years I have pleaded in this way, yet not many brothers realize what I mean. They say, “If we do not form a church, if we do not organize anything, what should we do?” We should do one thing: eat Christ and drink of Christ (John 6:57; 7:37). Moreover, we need to be swallowed up by Christ. The more we feast on Him, the more we will be swallowed up by Him. We think that we are only feeding on Him and enjoying Him, but actually the more we feed on Him, the more we are being swallowed up by Him. The church cannot be formulated and organized. It must be born of Christ in the Spirit; it must be the living Body of Christ grown up with the life of Christ. As a result, it will spontaneously assume a certain shape, and a pattern will be seen. The church grows with Christ, by Christ, and in Christ (Eph. 2:21; 4:16; Col. 2:19).
In the outer court we experience the accomplished work of Christ, which is the means for us to enter into the Holy Place. The Holy Place and the Holy of Holies are not a matter of experiencing the work of Christ but of experiencing Christ Himself. In these two places Christ Himself is experienced as food for the supply of life, as the light of life, as the resurrection savor, and as the all-inclusive One. Once Christ is worked into us, the materials will be available for the building of the church. Then we will be united and built up together into one through the Holy Spirit, who regenerates and matures us (as portrayed in the gold rings and the gold-overlaid bars). This is the Body of Christ, and this is the dwelling place of God. Again we repeat: the building of the church is a matter of growth, which is Christ being progressively wrought into us as our everything. This alone produces the materials for the building of the church. Through the process of regeneration and maturing by the Spirit, all the materials will be fitly framed together and united as a whole. This building in oneness is the Body of Christ and the dwelling place of God.