In order for the children of Israel to express God, they first had to come to the altar in the outer court to confess their sins and their sin. They needed to offer the sin offering for their inward sin and the trespass offering for their outward trespasses. The blood of the sin offering and the trespass offering would then open the way for them to come into the tabernacle.
In the tabernacle first we have the enjoyment of Christ as the life supply. The bread on the table of the bread of the presence indicates that God’s people should no longer live by themselves. Rather, they should live by Christ as their life and their life supply. They should not care about their good behavior, good conduct, and natural character, because God cares only for Christ. God is concerned with how much of Christ we have eaten and enjoyed. God is interested in how much we live Christ, express Christ, and have Christ constituted into our being.
After the table of the bread of the presence, God’s people need to go to the lampstand to be enlightened. How much have you enjoyed Christ as your light? We need to forget our own knowledge, insight, and foresight and recognize that we need Christ to be our light. First we need Christ as our life supply and then as light for our enlightenment. Christ as our enlightenment is versus our natural view, our natural sight.
After experiencing Christ as light, we proceed to the ark of the testimony in the Holy of Holies. However, there is a veil separating the Holy of Holies from the Holy Place. This veil needs to be broken. Otherwise, we shall not be able to enter into the Holy of Holies to contact the ark. Thus, the ark is versus the veil.
As we have pointed out in a previous message, the veil signifies our natural being constituted of our conduct, our view, and our virtue. If we put together our conduct, our sight, and our virtue, we have our natural being. This natural being is the self and also the flesh. This is the veil between us and God. This veil needs to be broken from top to bottom. Once the veil has been rent and we enter into the Holy of Holies to contact the ark, we experience Christ as our testimony.
When we experience Christ as our testimony, we are qualified to come to the incense altar. The golden altar of incense is our destiny and also our destination. What should we do at the incense altar? At the incense altar we need to pray. However, instead of praying for ourselves and our own interests, we should pray for God’s move and for His interests. Prayer for God’s move and God’s interests is intercessory prayer. After God’s chosen people pass through the different stations in the outer court, the Holy Place, and the Holy of Holies, they arrive at their destination, the incense altar, to intercede for God’s interests. For what in particular should God’s people intercede? They need to intercede for God to move.
The tabernacle signifies God embodied in His elect, His chosen people. What is the purpose of this embodiment of God in the tabernacle? It is for God’s move on earth. Concerning this, the principle is the same today as it was in ancient times. Therefore, it is crucial for us to see that the tabernacle and everything related to it is for God’s move on earth.
God has many enemies. The Egyptians were His enemies. The Amalekites also were enemies of God. As we read the Old Testament, we can see that from Egypt to Canaan God had enemies everywhere. Even His own people could be enemies to Him. The same is true today. Who is for God? In ourselves we also are God’s enemies.
Because of all the enemies, God does not have the freedom to move. If He wants to move in a certain direction, there is no thoroughfare, no freeway, because the enemies seek to block the way. Then if God seeks to move in a different direction, other enemies will try to frustrate Him. God is not welcome anywhere. What, then, shall He do? God must fight in order to destroy all His enemies This was the reason the children of Israel were told not to have mercy on the Canaanites. On the contrary, they were to utterly destroy them.
In the book of Ephesians we see the church as the fullness of God. What is the fullness of God? The fullness of God is God’s tabernacle, that is, the embodiment of the Triune God in His chosen people. Eventually, according to the book of Ephesians, the church, God’s people, should be a warrior fighting not against flesh and blood, but against the principalities and powers in the air. Therefore, the revelation of the church in Ephesians corresponds to the type of the tabernacle in Exodus.
First, there is the need of the tabernacle as God’s embodiment. Then God’s chosen people must experience all the aspects of the tabernacle until they arrive at the incense altar to intercede for God’s interests and His move. In particular, God’s people need to pray for the formation of the army of the Lord, an army to fight for God’s move on earth. This is the reason the census and the propitiation silver are mentioned immediately after the description of the incense altar. Actually, in 30:11-16 there is more emphasis on the census than on the ransom silver, the propitiation silver. In verse 12 the Lord told Moses to take a sum, a census, of the sons of Israel according to those who were numbered of them. This numbering of the people is for the formation of an army.
We need to be impressed with the fact that when God’s chosen people arrive at the incense altar, they intercede for God’s move. The answer to this intercessory prayer requires the formation of an army. If we see this, we shall understand the relationship between the incense altar and the propitiation silver. At the incense altar we pray for God’s move. In order for this prayer to be answered, a census must be taken of those who are able to be formed into an army to fight for God’s move on earth.
In this message we have just begun to consider the significance of the propitiation silver. The following message, a continuation of this one, will cover other important matters related to the propitiation silver.