Suppose a person who is a typical sinner one day hears the gospel, repents, confesses his sinful deeds, and believes in the Lord Jesus. After he repents, confesses, and believes, God meets with him, and he with God. Furthermore, Christ comes into him as the One typified by the ark with all its aspects. When Christ died on the cross, He was the Lamb for redemption. But when He comes into a believer’s spirit, He comes not only as the Lamb, but also as the ark. Today, due to their limited understanding and the inadequacy of much gospel preaching, most Christians only realize that Christ is the Lamb. Very few know that this Lamb has become in them the indwelling ark with many marvelous aspects.
I can testify that I enjoy Christ in a very rich way as the ark. To me, Christ as God’s testimony is a precious container with God’s portrait concealed inside. He also has a covering with a crown. This crown is the top part of my Christ. On this top part the redeeming blood has been sprinkled. No matter how many failures and defeats I have and no matter how many mistakes I make, I can still enjoy Christ because I am standing on the blood.
If we are short of the proper knowledge, we may speak of being under the blood. Actually, the Bible does not say that the believers are under the blood. We have the blood as our ground and standing. Likewise, according to the type of the ark of testimony with the propitiatory cover, God is not under the blood, but is standing on the blood. If we have Christ as the ark, we also have the redeeming blood.
No words can describe the glory we experience when we meet with God upon Christ as the propitiatory cover. Although we may not have the understanding or the words, we have a deep sense of peace and the realization we are experiencing something glorious. Often as we meet with the Lord, we are repentant and say to Him, “O Lord, forgive me. I am so evil. I have been a Christian for many years, but I am still sinful.” But even as we are repenting and begging the Lord for forgiveness, we have the sense within of something glorious. On the one hand, we confess that we are evil, pitiful, and full of failures and defeats. On the other hand, deep within we have peace and joy. Outwardly we may weep, but inwardly we sense a deep rejoicing. This inner sense comes from the blood and the glory in the midst of which God meets with us.
When we spend time with the Lord in the Holy of Holies, we are infused by Him with all He is. We may illustrate this by the case of a young man who spends an hour in conversation with a famous university professor. After this hour spent in the presence of such a professor, many things from that person will be infused into the young man. He may even unconsciously imitate the professor’s way of speaking. How much more will the Lord infuse Himself into us if we spend an hour of fellowship with Him!
We need to enjoy Christ as the ark in our spirit, which, in our experience, is the Holy of Holies. Whenever we come to Christ, to the ark in the Holy of Holies, two things are before our eyes: the redeeming blood and the cherubim of glory. Because we have the blood as our ground and standing, we may meet with God in glory. It is impossible to come to the ark with the blood and the cherubim and fail to meet with God. We know from our experience that whenever we come to Christ with the realization of the blood and the glory, we have the sense that God is present. Even though we may not have many words before the Lord, we are infused with Him.
Recently we have spoken a great deal about living Christ. But if we do not experience Christ as the indwelling ark and if we are not infused with Him, we shall not be able to live Him. Living Christ is the spontaneous issue of being infused with Him. According to 25:22, God not only meets with man on the propitiatory cover, but speaks with him “from above the propitiatory cover, from between the two cherubim which are upon the ark of the testimony.” Whenever God meets with us, He also speaks to us. It is not possible to meet with God without having His speaking. Hence, we are not only infused by Him—we also are enlightened. We are instructed concerning what to do and where to go. As a result, our living and activities are according to God’s revelation. Then we shall not live in a way which is merely moral or ethical, religious or devotional. Those who simply have religious behavior or devotional activity do not experience Christ as the living ark. This is why we say that Christ is different from religion, morality, ethics, and so many good aspects of culture. Christ, and Christ alone, is the living ark.
I wonder how much you have seen of Christ as the indwelling ark and how deep an impression this has made on you. In our spiritual life we must learn to speak of Christ in this way. But because of the influence of our culture, tradition, background, and terminology, we easily neglect this fact. We may have a little enjoyment of Christ as the ark, but then automatically we revert to living according to ethics, morality, religion, or devotion. We may also endeavor to live according to Scripture, without living according to the Christ who has been infused into us. What a pitiful situation! To be ethical, religious, moral, and devotional is one thing. But to enter into the Holy of Holies and enjoy Christ as the living ark is another thing altogether.
In Colossians 1:25 Paul speaks of completing the word of God, of completing the divine revelation. Actually, the completing ministry of Paul is to reveal Christ to us as the indwelling ark with all His aspects.