However, we must realize that even up to this stage the tabernacle is still without a roof to cover it. Regardless of the degree to which we have been wrought into Christ and Christ has been wrought into us, we are only the boards—none of us can become the covering. If we are the covering, the church will become the expression of man. Only Christ can be the covering, for the church must be the expression of only Christ Himself. In the type of the tabernacle, as we have seen, the roof consisted of four layers, and every layer signifies an aspect of Christ. The entire roof is a revelation of Christ as the unique covering. The tabernacle thus becomes an expression of Christ through this covering, which covered the tabernacle completely. After the covering was put on the tabernacle, nothing but the covering could be seen from the outside. Even the boards and the utensils were inside the covering. This covering not only protected all the boards and utensils in the tabernacle; it also expressed the whole tabernacle. In fact it was the expression that protected all the boards and utensils. This means that if we do not have Christ as our expression, we do not have His protection. If we expect Christ to protect the church, we must have Him as our expression.
In some places it seems that the church is not covered by Christ, but rather by some kind of doctrine. In other places the covering is the manifestation of certain kinds of gifts—gifts have become the roof. Different groups of believers are either under the covering of teachings or under the covering of gifts; they are not under the covering of Christ. But the gifts and the teachings can never protect us. No gifts, no teachings, and no doctrines are adequate to cover a group of believers. Only Christ must be uplifted; only Christ must be exalted; only Christ must be expressed as the roof to cover us.
If we read the measurements of the tabernacle (Exo. 26:1-14), we will discover that the covering included not only the roof but also the two sides. From the outside nothing could be seen but the covering. The sockets, the boards, and the contents within were not visible. This means that those outside must see only Christ as the covering of the church. When people came inside the tabernacle, in type they saw nothing but the mingling of Christ with man. Outside they saw nothing but Christ, and inside they saw nothing but Christ wrought into and mingled with humanity. In other words, when I am outside looking at the church, I see only Christ, and when I come inside the church and look at the people, I see the mingling of Christ with every believer. This is the genuine church. From without people can see nothing but Christ, and from within they see nothing but Christ wrought into many persons.
This is a wonderful picture. If I had more than ten Epistles like Romans, twelve like 1 and 2 Corinthians, and sixty like Ephesians, without this picture I could not be so clear. I am like a simple little child, still needing pictures and drawings. When we teach children in kindergarten, we need some pictures. For example, merely spelling the word cat to the children does not convey what the word means. We need to bring a picture of a cat and show it to them. Likewise, by beholding the picture of the tabernacle, we can understand the real building of the church. It is not a matter of a pattern or an organization, nor is it any kind of formation by human hands; rather, the church is Christ wrought into many persons, and these persons uplift Christ and exalt Christ and put on Christ as their expression in order to cover and protect themselves.
Now let us look into the four layers of the covering. From inside the tabernacle the first layer was of the finest materials—curtains of fine twined linen with embroidery of cherubim and beautiful colors of blue, purple, and scarlet wrought into them (Exo. 26:1). Blue signifies that which is heavenly, purple denotes royalty, and scarlet signifies the blood of Christ shed for redemption. The basic material, however, was fine linen, which symbolizes the humanity of Christ with all His fine characteristics and behavior. The four Gospels give a record of a man with both His human nature and His conduct exactly like fine linen. The curtains of the tabernacle were fine yet very strong, and because they were made of twined linen, they were doubled in strength. The Lord Jesus is very fine, yet He is strong; there is nothing in Him that is crude or weak.
The embroidery of cherubim means that God’s glory is manifested in His creature. The cherubim typify God’s glory (Heb. 9:5), and the embroidered work of the cherubim on the fine linen means that God’s glory has been wrought into humanity and into His creature. While Jesus was on the earth, we can realize that in this man with His fine human nature and character God’s divine glory was wrought into His creature. He was a real man with a fine human nature and conduct, but He was also the embodiment of the glory of God wrought into His creature. He as man is the very effulgence of God’s glory (1:3). In other words, upon Him cherubim are embroidered. Can you follow this kind of language? He is not only human but also divine. His human nature bears the divine glory. We cannot exhaust this matter, but we must go on.
The second layer of covering consisted of goats’ hair. In the types of the Scriptures, goats signify sinners. Matthew 25:31-46 speaks of the division and difference between the sheep and the goats, and the goats are shown to be sinful people. This corresponds exactly to 2 Corinthians 5:21: God made the One who knew no sin to be sin on our behalf. Therefore, the layer of curtains made of goats’ hair typifies Christ, who was made sin for us. Although He is fine linen, He was made “goats’ hair.” He had no sin and did not know sin, but He was made sin for us.
Following the layer of goats’ hair was a layer of rams’ skins dyed red. The color red signifies the shedding of blood in Christ’s redemptive work. Christ is the sinless One who was made sin on our behalf to bear our sins. This simple sentence explains the first three layers. The first layer typifies Christ as the sinless One, the second layer signifies that He was made sin for us, and the third layer signifies that He bore our sins and shed His blood to redeem us.
After the rams’ skins dyed red, there was the fourth layer, which constituted the outer covering of the tabernacle. This covering was formed of porpoise skins, which are very strong. It could withstand any kind of weather. This signifies that Christ as our covering enables us to stand against Satan and all his attacks. The outer covering of porpoise skins was not attractive in appearance and was somewhat rough. Today Christ is not outwardly pleasant to the worldly people. As a man, His outward appearance was unappealing, like that of strong porpoise skins (Isa. 53:2). However, although He is not comely without, He is beautiful, wonderful, and heavenly within. He is not like today’s Christianity with its great, beautiful buildings—outwardly pretentious but inwardly and spiritually ugly, empty, and sometimes corrupted. The worldly Christian organizations are indeed ugly. Within the proper church, the building of God, there is something heavenly and beautiful, yet on the outside the church is humble and rough, having no comeliness or beauty.
I wish to take this opportunity to say that we all must try to hide ourselves. We must never put a picture of ourselves in the newspaper. That is not something of the church but something entirely of the fallen, worldly religion of Christianity. If possible, we should not allow anyone to advertise our name in the newspaper. The Lord Jesus never advertised Himself. We read in the four Gospels how He always tried to hide Himself and, if possible, to keep Himself hidden (Matt. 8:4; 9:30; 12:15-19). Our beauty and comeliness must be the experience of Christ in our spirit. That is the real beauty before God (cf. 1 Pet. 3:3-4).
I would take this opportunity to say a further word, concerning the building of meeting halls. If possible, we should build a meeting hall that is very plain and simple in appearance. We should not build a luxurious and beautiful meeting hall. It is not possible to attract people to the Lord by beautiful external buildings. I was in Rome once and saw Saint Peter’s Cathedral. I cannot tell you how many millions of dollars the building is worth or how many people are drawn there daily. When I was there, it was crowded. But I am afraid that not one person out of a thousand was a saved one. What is the advantage of drawing people by such means? I would say that it would be better if this kind of building did not exist. It is not a pleasure but an offense to the Lord.
My emphasis, however, is not on these matters but on the very Christ who is full of beauty within and is simple and humble without. Such a Christ must be the expression of our testimony and the covering of the church. This is not man’s opinion or thought; this is the picture shown by the Word of God. We must not put up anything else as an expression. We must lift up and exalt only our wonderful Christ as the covering of God’s building—a Christ within who is full of divine comeliness, and a Christ without who is simple and humble in the eyes of the world. It is the church with such a covering that can endure any assault and stand against any temptation. Once the attack of the enemy comes, those in the beautiful buildings of the so-called Christian churches will be the first to fall. Only those who do not bear any outward show but have the heavenly beauty and divine comeliness within them will endure to the end. Christ is their content and their covering. Nothing can damage or overcome the genuine building of the church covered with such a Christ (Matt. 16:18).
Let us learn to put these things into practice and to seek Christ in our spirit. Let us learn to discern our spirit and experience Christ as everything to us. If we will do these things, we will have the measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ (Eph. 4:13) and become available material to be built up with others as the building of God covered by Christ as the expression. Then there will be a proper, strong church that can withstand any attack, endure any trial, and overcome any temptation for the ultimate glory of God.