A person with the kinds of workmanship will also be able to teach others. Exodus 35:34 says, “And He has put in his heart to teach.” We must experience Christ beyond what is needed for us to conduct the spiritual work ourselves, to the extent that we can share with others and teach others. In the building of the church there is the need for us to teach others to do the same thing as we are able to do. The apostle Paul told Timothy to teach those who will be competent to teach others also (2 Tim. 2:2). We ourselves have to serve and build, but at the same time we must have wisdom, understanding, knowledge, and kinds of workmanship to be able to teach others, to help others to be able to serve as we serve and to build as we build.
Exodus 35:32 says that the workers could devise skillful designs. This is not the general kinds of workmanship, but rather something special. To devise skillful, artistic designs requires additional wisdom. In the service and in the building of the church there is sometimes the need to devise something artistic and skillful.
Verses 32 and 33 say, “Even to fashion skillful designs, to work in gold and in silver and in bronze, and in the cutting of stones for setting and in the carving of wood, to work in all kinds of skillful workmanship.” To work in gold we must know how to work with the divine nature of Christ. To work in silver we must know how to work with the redemption of Christ, with the cross, with the death of Christ. And to work in bronze, we must know how to work with the judgment, the tests, and the sufferings the Lord endured. We must also know how to work in the cutting of stones for setting, that is, with the precious, deep, and most subjective experiences of Christ as the precious stones. We must also know how to work in the carving of wood. This means we must know how to work with the human character to make something out of it for the Lord’s building.
Verse 35 goes on to say, “He has filled them with wisdom of heart, to work all kinds of workmanship, of an engraver and of a skillful workman and of an embroiderer in blue and in purple and in scarlet strands and in fine linen, and of the weaver.” We need to know how to embroider with the heavenliness of Christ, with the kingship, the authority, of Christ, with the redemption of Christ, and with Christ as our righteousness. We should know not only how to “spin,” but also how to “weave.” To spin is to make the thread from fiber, but to weave is to use the thread to make cloth.
If we spend some time to consider these matters, I believe the Holy Spirit will speak more to us. What is presented in these verses is a full picture of the work of the building of the church. The way to build the church and to serve the church in the Lord is exactly as depicted by this picture. Sometimes we have to know how to work in gold, that is, with the divine nature of Christ. Sometimes we need to know how to work with silver and with bronze, and sometimes we need to know how to engrave, how to cut, or how to carve. Sometimes we need to know how to spin with the heavenliness of Christ, the authority of Christ, or with the redemption of Christ, and sometimes we need to know how to weave with Christ as our righteousness.
I believe that in these last days these experiences of Christ will be recovered among us. Many skillful men and women will be produced among us. Many will be spiritually skillful to work for the building of the Lord’s dwelling place.