After the Holy Place is the Holy of Holies. In the Holy of Holies we experience Christ in the innermost way. Firstly, at the ark of testimony (Exo. 40:20-21), we partake of Christ as the embodiment of God for God’s testimony (Col. 2:9; Heb. 1:3a). The word testimony here actually means the law of God, the ten commandments, which were put into the ark. Since the law was God’s testimony, the ark into which it was put was called the ark of testimony. According to our natural concept, we think that the law is something which regulates us and makes demands and requirements of us. In the Bible, however, the law is not mainly for regulations but for a testimony of what God is. God is pure, God is love, God is holy, God is light, etc. Because the law is made according to what God is and expresses God, it is God’s testimony. Any kind of law is the expression of the one who makes it, the legislator. The ark of testimony is a type of Christ, the true testimony of God, who is the embodiment and expression of all God is. In the Holy of Holies, in the innermost part of God’s dwelling place, we experience Christ as the ark of God’s testimony. It is here that we enjoy Christ as the embodiment and expression of all God is, not only as the Redeemer, the life supply, and the light of life, but as all God is. The riches and the fullness of the very Godhead are our enjoyment here in Christ. Nothing in our experience of Christ can be richer and higher than this. Here in Christ we participate in the divine element, the divine attributes, and even the divine expression of our God.
In the ark of testimony we enjoy Christ in three aspects. Firstly, we enjoy Him as the hidden manna (Exo. 16:33-34). The hidden manna was in the golden pot, signifying our experience of Christ as our life supply in the innermost way, much more inward than that signified by the showbread table in the Holy Place. When the children of Israel wandered in the wilderness, they ate the outward, open manna, but now we eat the inward, hidden manna in the Holy of Holies, the manna hidden in the golden pot in the ark. This is the manna promised to the overcomer in Revelation 2:17. The open manna was food for all the people who were outside the dwelling place of God wandering in the wilderness, whereas the hidden manna is for the person who is remaining in the innermost part of God’s dwelling place, no longer wandering in the soul but abiding in the presence of God in the spirit. For the enjoyment of Christ as such an innermost supply, we need to overcome all the outward frustrations, cross through all the worldly, fleshly, and soulish barriers, and enter into God’s Holy of Holies.
In the ark of testimony there is also the budding rod, signifying our experience of Christ as our acceptance by God in resurrection life for authority in the God-given ministry (Num. 17:3, 5, 8, 10). This is more inward than the experience of Christ as the incense for our acceptance by God. Aaron’s budding rod signifies resurrection life. Where there is resurrection life, there is authority. Hence, the budding rod means authority in the resurrection life for our God-given ministry. The Israelites were debating about who had authority to represent God. When God caused Aaron’s rod to bud, it signified that in resurrection he was authorized to represent God, to be God’s deputy authority. It is the same today. The elders and ministers of the divine Word must have the authority which comes from resurrection life. The incense altar only signifies our acceptance in Christ by God, whereas the budding rod not only signifies Christ as our acceptance by God but also Christ as our authority given by God in His resurrection life. Within the ark, in the Holy of Holies, that is, within the very Christ who is the embodiment and expression of God, we enjoy Christ as our God-given authority in His resurrection life. Here nothing is natural or within ourselves; everything is in resurrection, in the hidden Christ. It is here that the resurrected and hidden Christ becomes our God-given authority in His resurrection life, which is budding, even in the cold darkness, without any element of death. For the church life today, we need the experience of such a budding rod—the resurrected and hidden Christ.