Exodus 25:13 says, “You shall overlay them with gold.” The acacia wood overlaid with gold here signifies that Christ’s divine nature is the expression of His move. If we have the acacia wood in our living, then the gold, Christ’s divine nature, will be expressed.
The move of Christ as the testimony of God is always by His two natures, human and divine, mingled as one. While the apostles and the best missionaries were carrying out the testimony of Jesus, not only did they live a life of an uplifted humanity, but they also had the divine nature expressed through their humanity. This is clearly indicated in the Acts and the Epistles.
The fact that there were two poles signifies that Christ’s move is not by an individual, but by a corporate testimony.
Verse 15 says, “The poles shall be in the rings of the ark; they shall not depart from it.” The poles were put into the golden rings for carrying the ark. This signifies that the move of Christ is by men bearing God’s testimony in their bodies in the uniting power of Christ’s divine nature. It is not by men pulling the ark, for then there would be a distance between the ark and those who pulled it. Neither were cattle used to pull it on a cart, for then there would have been no relation between men and the ark. God’s way of carrying the ark was that it be borne on the shoulders of those appointed to carry it. This indicates that the witnesses, those who bear the ark of the testimony, must be one with the ark.
In the Old Testament there are two instances where the ark of testimony was not carried in the proper way. First, in 1 Samuel 6:7 and 8 the Philistines, who had captured the ark, returned it by laying it upon a cart pulled by two cows. Because the Philistines were Gentiles, God tolerated this mistake. Second, after David became king, he used a cart drawn by oxen to transport the ark (2 Sam. 6:3-7). When “Uzzah put forth his hand to the ark of God, and took hold of it,...the anger of the Lord was kindled against Uzzah, and God smote him there for his error; and there he died by the ark of God” (vv. 6-7). God did not approve of the ark being carried in this way, and He judged the one who touched it.
We must be careful to use only the proper means to carry the Lord’s testimony today. If you look at certain popular Christian publications, you will see that “carts” drawn by “cattle” are still being used to carry the Lord’s testimony. In fact, even worse means are used. Is the Lord’s recovery to be carried on by such things? Certainly not! The proper way is to have a direct connection with the Lord Jesus. We must bear Christ upon our shoulders. This means that there should not be any distance between us and Him. If we would bear Him as God’s testimony, we should be one with Him.
Paul spread the testimony of Jesus by speaking and by writing. He did not use any gimmicks. He carried the testimony by his living. Likewise, the testimony of the Lord must be one with us today. This means that our living should be the carrying of the testimony. As we live Christ, we bear Him wherever we go.
According to 25:15, the poles were to stay in the rings of the ark and not depart from it. This signifies our readiness for the move of Christ as God’s testimony. We must always be ready for the testimony of God to move. We should have the rings and the poles, and the poles should be in the rings. For a period of time, we may stay where we are. At some point the Lord may move us to another city, perhaps even to another country. We should always be ready to go, to move, with the Lord’s testimony.
Exodus 25:16 says, “And you shall put into the ark the testimony which I shall give you.” Because the testimony, the law, was put into the ark, it caused the ark to become the ark of the testimony (v. 22). We have seen that here the testimony, the law, does not refer to regulations which God’s people were to observe. Rather, it denotes a portrait, a picture, a photograph, of the living God. Because the law was a picture of God, it was His testimony. Today the law of God, the living law, as God’s testimony dwells in Christ bodily (Col. 2:9), making Him the testimony of God. Hallelujah, Christ is God’s testimony, and we are those who carry Him!