Bronze signifies the testing of God’s judgment. Christ as a man was tested again and again. He was tested throughout His life on earth, and He was tested when He stood before the priests, Herod, and Pilate to be tried and sentenced to death. Moreover, Christ was tested by God. Every day of His life Christ was under God’s testing.
In typology bronze signifies the testing of God’s judgment. This is the reason the altar in the outer court was built with bronze instead of gold. The altar is a means and a place of testing. As such, it typifies the cross as both the means and the place where we are tested by God.
The brass serpent lifted up on a pole in Numbers 21:9 was a type of Christ as the One who was made in the likeness of the flesh of sin and lifted up on the cross to be judged by God. Just as the serpent was lifted up on the pole, Christ was lifted up on the cross to be tested by God. In every way He stood God’s test and passed through it.
Daily we also are under God’s testing. The kind of life we have at home, at work, and at school is subject to God’s test. What a brother says to his wife will be tested by God, and the attitude of a young person toward his teachers and classmates at school will also be tested. God will even test our motives, intentions, and all that is in our heart. As we experience God’s testing, we gain not only gold and silver, but also bronze. This causes us to be a different kind of person, a person who is not careless about the way he behaves, speaks, and expresses his attitudes. A person who experiences the bronze is a person under the cross, under God’s test.
Under God’s testing, a young person may be examined by Him when he is about to say or do a certain thing at school. A brother will also experience God’s testing in relation to his wife. Suppose he intends to say a strong word to her. At that point the Lord may test him, and he will realize that he should not utter such a word. Instead of saying a negative word to his wife, the brother may say a positive word to the Lord, telling Him, “Lord, how wise and how good You are! I love You, Lord, and I love my family.” Through such an experience, the brother will gain some experience of bronze.
First we should gain bronze from our daily experience with the Lord. Then we should bring it to the meetings and, as we function by exercising our spirit, offer it to the Lord as a heave offering. This bronze, experienced and possessed by us, is also material used for the building of God’s tabernacle.
The onyx stone mentioned in 25:7 was red in color. This onyx stone signifies Christ’s blood shed for redemption as a base for the Spirit’s transforming work. Christ’s redemption is the basis for the transforming work of the Holy Spirit.
The other precious stones signify different aspects of the transforming work of the Holy Spirit based on Christ’s redemption. The experience of the onyx is the basis for the experience of the other precious stones. As we have pointed out, this means that Christ’s redemption is the foundation for the transforming work of the Spirit.
We all need to experience the Spirit’s transformation. For example, we need to love our parents, relatives, neighbors, and especially the brothers and sisters in the church. God, however, does not accept our natural love. In His sight, our natural love is clay, not precious stones. We may feel very positively about our natural love, but to God it is loathsome and uncomely. Our love needs to be transformed. We need a love that is transformed by the Spirit with Christ’s redemption, termination, and replacement as the basis. Then we shall love others with a pure love, a love which is the product of the precious transforming work of the Holy Spirit. To love others in this way is very different from loving them in a natural way.
We should not be satisfied with our natural morality, ethics, character, or behavior. All these things need to be transformed. First we must be redeemed, terminated, and replaced and then transformed metabolically by the Holy Spirit. This is the experience of the precious stones.
If we bring these precious materials to the meetings of the church and offer them to God as a heave offering, we shall help to build the church as God’s dwelling place. Then our meetings will be filled with the offering of such precious materials and a wonderful work of building will take place among us.