Some may complain that to say that the numbers three and five signify the Triune God in resurrection bearing responsibility for His people and that these numbers are related to God’s building is too much allegorization of the Word. However, what they regard as allegorization is simply recognizing what is revealed in the Bible. We may compare this allegorization to reading and pronouncing a word. Suppose the word “availability” is spelled out like this: a-v-a-i-l-a-b-i-l-i-t-y. As we read this word, we need to pronounce it correctly and know its meaning. This process is comparable to what we do when we allegorize the Scriptures in the proper way. The Lord Jesus and the apostle Paul both allegorized the Bible, for they recognized the significance of the spiritual alphabet contained in the Word. We may regard the four spices in Exodus 30 as letters of the spiritual alphabet. Furthermore, the measurements of the spices are also letters in this alphabet. The way to read and understand these letters is to allegorize them.
When I was a young man, I worked for a corporation that daily received telegrams. Unlike today, fifty years ago international trade depended upon communication by way of telegram. Sometimes a telegram contained just one word written in ciphers. At first, I was not able to decipher this kind of telegram. Eventually, by studying a code book that explained the meaning of the different ciphers, I was able to read a message written in ciphers. Many times two letters represented a long sentence. I came to understand that, when deciphered, a code word of ten letters could actually be a long message.
The best way to study the Bible is to learn to decipher it. To decipher the Bible simply means to untie the Lord’s word. If we do not know how to decipher the Bible, we shall be like someone reading a telegram written in ciphers who does not know how to decode what he is reading. For many Christians today, the Bible is like a word written in ciphers that they are not able to decipher. Such is the superficial situation among Christians concerning God’s holy revelation. Virtually every chapter of the Word contains something that they cannot decipher. For example, 1 Peter 1:2 says that we have been chosen according to the foreknowledge of God the Father through the sanctification of the Spirit unto the obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Christ. What does all this mean? Someone may have been a Christian for over forty years and yet not be able to understand this verse.
I am deeply concerned about the situation among Christians today. On the one hand, daily I am happy in the Lord. On the other hand, when I consider the situation of the believers and pray about it, I am very sad. Often I am sad even when I consider the situation of all the saints in the local churches. Not many of the saints have truly been brought into the depths of God’s revelation. Rather, many have been drugged and are in a spiritual stupor. Because they are in such a stupor, they are satisfied with their condition, even though that condition is far from satisfactory. Moreover, those who are satisfied with their condition are not so seeking after the Lord. Oh, we need to treasure the Lord’s word and appreciate it! In particular, we need to seek to touch the depths of the divine revelation concerning the compound ointment in Exodus 30.
For more than fifty years I have been reading books written by others to see how they interpret the type of the compound ointment. The Brethren teachers have paid more attention to this than other Bible teachers have. They have been almost the only ones to touch this matter. They all agreed that the oil signifies the Spirit of God. Some even related the compound ointment in Exodus 30 to John’s word regarding the anointing in 1 John 2:20 and 27. However, although they had some light, they did not say definitely and in detail why the Spirit of God needed to be compounded.
First the Bible uses oil to typify the Spirit of God. But after the revelation of the tabernacle and the priesthood, God gave a formula for the compounding of oil and spices to make an ointment. Why did God require a compound, instead of pure oil with only its own element, after His dwelling place and His serving ones came into existence? Why is the compound ointment not revealed before this? Realizing that this is an important matter, I studied it for years. As a result, I was able to touch the depth of the truth in the Word concerning God’s Spirit. By His mercy, I began to understand little by little the divine revelation regarding the compound Spirit.
Immediately after I was saved, I began to seek the experience of being dead to sin. I knew what Romans 6 said, and I wanted to be delivered from the bondage of the law of sin. I was told to reckon myself dead. But as I have pointed out elsewhere, this reckoning did not work in my experience. Gradually, through more experience, I learned that the energy, the strength, and the effectiveness of Christ’s death dwell in the Spirit. Then I heard Brother Nee say that the subjective aspect of the death of Christ can be experienced only by the Spirit in Romans 8. His word conmfirmed what I had discovered in my experience, and I was very happy to know that the subjective experience of Christ’s death is possible only through the Spirit. I was helped to know that something is included in, or mingled with, the Spirit of God. I learned from experience that the death of Christ presented in Romans 6 is implied or mingled with the Spirit in Romans 8.
As I spent more time to study the Old Testament and the New Testament, one day the Lord showed me from Exodus 30 that here we have a compound of oil and spices and not merely oil as a single element. Then I began to study the spices. I knew from past study that in typology myrrh refers to the Lord’s death. I went on to study the other spices and their measurements. I began to see that here we have three units of five hundred shekels and that the middle unit is divided into two parts. Then my eyes were opened to see that this signifies the Triune God. It was in this way that the revelation came concerning the compound ointment and the compound Spirit.
In the next message we shall consider the different titles of the Spirit found in the Bible. One of these titles, mentioned in Hebrews 10:29, is the Spirit of grace. In the New Testament two matters are crucial: the sanctifying blood and the Spirit of grace. Actually, the New Testament is composed of the blood that sanctifies us and the Spirit of grace, the Spirit who supplies us with the Triune God.
In the Bible we have thirteen titles of the Spirit of God: the Spirit of God (Rom. 8:9, 14; 1 Cor. 2:14); the Spirit of Jehovah, the Spirit of the Lord (Acts 5:9; 8:39; 2 Cor. 3:17); the Holy Spirit (Acts 16:6; Rom. 15:13, 16); the Spirit of reality (John 14:17; 15:26; 16:13); the Spirit of Jesus (Acts 16:7); the Spirit of Christ (Rom. 8:9); the Spirit of Jesus Christ (Phil. 1:19): the Spirit of life (Rom. 8:2); the life-giving Spirit (1 Cor. 15:45; 2 Cor. 3:6); the Lord Spirit (2 Cor. 3:18); the Spirit of grace (Heb. 10:29); the seven Spirits (Rev. 1:4); and the Spirit (Rom. 8:16, 23, 26, 27; Gal. 3:14; 5:16-18, 22, 25; 1 Pet. 1:2; Rev. 2:7; 14:13; 22:17). The Spirit of reality has all the further elements promised in John 14:17; 15:26; and 16:13. The Spirit of Jesus has the elements of humanity, human living, and crucifixion. The Spirit of Christ has the element of resurrection. The Spirit of Jesus Christ has the bountiful supply of all the elements of humanity, human living, crucifixion, and resurrection. The Spirit of life has the riches of the divine life. The life-giving Spirit is for the impartation of the divine life. The Lord Spirit has the elements of ascension and lordship. The Spirit of grace is for supplying us with the divine riches as our enjoyment. The seven Spirits are for the sevenfold intensification. Finally, the Spirit includes all the elements of the foregoing titles. Hence, the Spirit is the all-inclusive Spirit. This means that the Spirit is the aggregate, the totality, of all the aspects of the Spirit of God.
We need to turn from the traditional Christian teaching concerning the Spirit of God and come back to the divine revelation in the pure Word of God. Why does the Bible give us the type of the compound ointment? Why does the Bible contain so many titles of the Spirit? In Genesis 1 the Spirit of God moved upon the surface of the waters. But in the last chapter of the Bible we are told, “The Spirit and the bride say...” (Rev. 22:17). Why does the divine revelation proceed from the Spirit of God in Genesis 1 to the Spirit in Revelation 22? We also need to know why, in between these titles of the Spirit, we have the Spirit of Jehovah, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of reality, the Spirit of Jesus, the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of Jesus Christ, the Spirit of life, the life-giving Spirit, the Lord Spirit, the Spirit of grace, and the seven Spirits. We should not take these matters in the holy Word for granted. We need to get into the depths of the divine revelation concerning the Spirit, we need to understand the type of the compound ointment, and we need to know how to apply in our experience the marvelous compound Spirit.