In our study of the tabernacle and its furnishings, we are concerned not merely to know the types in a doctrinal way, but to apply the types to our spiritual experience. In this message and in the next two messages I am burdened to speak a further word on the propitiatory cover. We have seen that the propitiatory cover signifies Christ as the cover of God’s righteous law and also the place where God speaks to His redeemed people in grace. This cover is made of pure gold, signifying Christ’s divine nature, and its size signifies a testimony. Furthermore, the two golden cherubim on the propitiatory cover signify God’s glory and indicate that God’s glory comes out of Christ as the propitiatory cover to be a testimony. In the foregoing message we emphasized the fact that God meets with His redeemed people and speaks with them in the propitiating Christ. He speaks to them from between the two cherubim, indicating that He speaks to His people from the glory expressed in the propitiating Christ as His testimony.
We have pointed out that the ark of the testimony was in the inmost part of the tabernacle. The tabernacle was surrounded by the outer court. There were two sections in the tabernacle—the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies. The Holy of Holies may be likened to our deepest part, our spirit. The Holy of Holies is the deepest part of the tabernacle, and in this deepest part the ark occupies the central place.
Just as we are tripartite, composed of body, soul, and spirit, so the tabernacle with the outer court is composed of three parts. The outer court corresponds to our body; the Holy Place, to our soul; and the Holy of Holies, to our spirit. The ark of testimony in the Holy of Holies signifies the Christ who dwells in our spirit. Christ, the resurrected One, lives as the indwelling Spirit in our regenerated spirit. Actually, this message is not an exposition on the propitiatory covering. Rather, it is a word concerning the Christ who lives in our spirit.
You may be familiar with Paul’s word, “The Lord be with your spirit” (2 Tim. 4:22), and you may have had some experience of the Christ who dwells within you. But do you know what kind of Christ lives in you? He is wonderful and all-inclusive. However, if we have never been enlightened concerning the ark of the testimony, and if we have not had a vision of the ark as a type of Christ with its significance for our experience, we do not have adequate knowledge of the Christ who is in our spirit. We may know the terminology and the verses which speak of Christ dwelling in us, but we may not actually know who is the Christ and what is the Christ who dwells in our spirit. If we would know this Christ, we need a vision of the ark of the testimony. In particular, we need to be enlightened with respect to the propitiatory cover.
The ark is a box in the shape of a stand. We have seen that the ark typifies Christ. The very Christ who is in our spirit is the ark, and this ark is a stand. In the Bible any stand or standing implies a testimony. To take a stand is to testify. As the ark, Christ is God’s testimony. He stands as the testimony of God in our spirit and in the whole universe.
Because the ark is a box, a container, it has a particular content. Exodus 25:21 says, “Into the ark you shall put the testimony which I shall give you.” This testimony, the tables of the law, can be considered a photograph, a portrait, of God. Hence, the content of Christ as the ark is the law as a portrait, a photograph, a definition, of God. Later, the golden pot with manna and Aaron’s budding rod were also put into the ark.