In this message we will consider the duties of the priests and the Levites in the tabernacle's setting out.
The priests and the Levites had certain duties in the tabernacle's setting out. To set out is to go forward. Thus, what is covered in the holy service is not for a Christ who is inactive but for a Christ who is very active. In His activity we must match Him.
In the Old Testament, God could move by Himself, without man. For instance, when God created the heavens and the earth, there was no need of man to match Him. But the New Testament begins with the divine incarnation. This set up the principle for God's New Testament economy, which is that God needs man to match Him. Without man, God can do nothing. In the Old Testament, God could do many things without man. In the New Testament, God has given Himself to be bound together with man. This binding together of God with man can be illustrated by the runners in a three-legged race, who are bound together in such a way that each pair of runners has three legs. In the New Testament, God must have man to match Him, to be one with Him, to coordinate with Him. This is the basic principle of God's New Testament economy.
In His New Testament economy, God does nothing without man. Man must be one with God, match God, and be bound together with God. "He who is joined to the Lord is one spirit" (1 Cor. 6:17). This implies that in the New Testament God's economy has bound man together with God. God is willing to be bound to man, for He cannot move without man. Now God moves not only with man but also within man. This is why God never preaches the gospel directly to anyone; instead, He preaches the gospel through man.
Christ is moving today throughout the earth. "You shall receive power when the Holy Spirit has come upon you, and you shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea and Samaria, and unto the remotest part of the earth" (Acts 1:8). To be Christ's witnesses is to be His testimony, and to be His testimony is to be His portrait. If we are Christ's testimony, His portrait, people will see Him wherever we go. We witness for Christ in the sense of being His portraits. Hence, all gospel preachers are actually witnesses, portraits, of Christ.
The Lord's move today is with us. Regarding His move, we may be either a "mule wagon" or a "747." By this I mean that if we are slow, the Lord's move with us will be slow. If we are fast, the Lord's move with us will be fast.
We need to see how the Lord moves today. He moves within us. We are today's Gershonites, Kohathites, and sons of Merari. In order to see how Christ moves on earth, we should look at the move of the tabernacle. The tabernacle moved on the shoulders of the descendants of the three sons of Levi. This moving was in a very good sequence, with no confusion. Only Aaron and his sons could look at the holy things and touch them. The Levites could look at them and touch them only after they had been packed and covered. The layman had no right at all to touch the holy things.
From the foregoing we can realize that not everyone is able to bring the Lord's recovery from one country to another. By the Lord's mercy, I can testify that when I came to the United States, I brought the ark with all the furnishings of the sanctuary. I also brought the tent of meeting, which is the enlargement of Christ, the church. The Lord moves through our bearing the ark, the furnishings of the sanctuary, and the tent of meeting.
Christ, the embodiment of God for His expansion, moves through those who love Him. If we do not move, He cannot move. Rather, He is bound and even imprisoned within us. If we do not move, we become a prison to the Lord.