Exodus 25:2 says, “Speak to the sons of Israel, that they take for Me a heave offering; from every man whose heart urges him you shall take My heave offering.” According to the Old Testament, an offering is something created by God and prepared by Him, yet gained, possessed, and enjoyed by us. It refers to something created by God which becomes our experience. Suppose, for example, that an Israelite offered a lamb to God. Although the lamb was created by God and prepared by Him, the one offering it had to gain it in a rightful way. He could not steal a lamb and then offer that stolen lamb to God. After possessing the lamb in a proper way, he had to enjoy it and experience it. Then he could offer this lamb to God. Presenting an offering to God is a matter of experience. All the materials prepared by God must become our possession, enjoyment, and experience. Then, through our experience, we shall have the right and the position to offer these materials to God as a heave offering.
In the Old Testament a heave offering refers to an offering lifted up before God. Furthermore, the heave offering and the wave offering belong together. Actually, these two offerings are a pair. The heave offering refers to the uplifted Christ in the heavens, the Christ in ascension. If we would have a heave offering, we must experience the heavenly Christ. The wave offering typifies Christ in resurrection. As the resurrected One, Christ is able to move. He is active and powerful. He was buried in the tomb, but He broke through the bondage of death and came out of the grave. Death cannot retain Him.
Here in 25:2 the heave offering, not the wave offering, is mentioned. The fact that the materials were to be presented as a heave offering means that these materials refer to what we have experienced in resurrection. All the virtues of Christ’s Person and work are offered to God as a heave offering in the character of resurrection, in the position of the heavenlies, and for the building of God’s dwelling place on earth. The materials we offer must have the character of resurrection and a heavenly position. This indicates that the church is built with materials which are filled with the character of resurrection and altogether in a heavenly position.
We have pointed out that the materials used in building the church must be in the character of resurrection and in a heavenly position. If we see this, we shall not take the way of organization. Organizing is natural; it has nothing to do with resurrection. The material for the building of the church must be full of the character of resurrection. Even our love should not be a natural love, but a love in resurrection. When you are about to express love for a saint, you need to discern whether this love is natural or in resurrection. You need to ask whether your love is according to your natural taste, tendency, and purpose, or is of the character of resurrection. If it is in resurrection, this means that the natural life has been crucified and buried. Love that is in resurrection is automatically in a heavenly position. If we have a wave offering, this offering is also a heave offering. It is something which is in resurrection and which is in the heavens. All the materials must be the virtues of Christ’s Person and work that have been possessed, enjoyed, and experienced by us and offered to God in resurrection as a heave offering. Thus, our experiences need to be in resurrection and in the heavenlies.
The church is not built with any natural materials, and it is not even built with Christ directly. Rather, it is built with the Christ who has become our experience. The church is built not merely with the Christ prepared by God, but with the Christ possessed, enjoyed, and experienced by us in resurrection and in the heavenlies. We need a rich experience of Christ’s resurrection and ascension. We should not be natural or earthly. On the contrary, we should be in resurrection and in the heavenlies.
As we shall see, there were twelve kinds of materials used in building the tabernacle. These materials were of three categories: minerals, plants, and animals. In the Bible, animal life signifies redemption. Before the fall, God did not ordain that man should eat animals. Since man had not yet sinned, there was no need for redemption as signified by the eating of animals. The taking of animal life with the shedding of blood signifies redemption.
Plant life in the Bible signifies generating life, producing life. Before the fall of man, there was the need only for this generating life. This was the reason that before the fall it was necessary for man to eat only of the plant life. Man needed generating life for production. But after the fall, he also needed animal life for redemption.
In the Bible minerals are used for building and for fighting. Of course, fighting may also be related to building.
Christ’s life is first for redemption; second, for generation; and third, for building. Christ’s life is a redeeming life, a producing life, and a building life. God’s goal is neither redemption nor regeneration. God’s goal is the building. For us to be built up together as God’s dwelling place, we need both the redeeming life and the generating life. If we would be built up, we need the generating life, and if we would be regenerated, we need the redeeming life.
The reason the minerals are mentioned first in 25:1-7 is that the building is God’s goal. We have seen from verse 8 that God’s desire was that the people make a sanctuary for Him. This sanctuary, this building, requires certain minerals. In the building of the New Jerusalem, the ultimate consummation of God’s building, there will not be the plant life or the animal life. There will only be minerals: the pearl gates, the golden streets, and the wall and foundations of precious stones. But in order to arrive at God’s goal, we need both the redeeming life and the generating life. Only when we have Christ’s redemption and generation can we have God’s building. Therefore, the three categories of materials are minerals, plants, and animal life to show that the redeeming life is for the generating life and that the generating life is for the building.