The fourth point with which we must be deeply impressed is related to the two tenons under each board (v. 22). There are always two sides, two aspects, to the things created by God. As a member in the church you are one board, but you must have two tenons. The two tenons may be compared to your two feet. You are one person but with two feet. Your feet are needed for balance. If you stand upon one foot, you will eventually lose your balance. We must always be balanced by the number two. Not only do we have two feet, we also have two hands, two arms, two shoulders, and even two ears and two eyes. Everything is in twos for balance. We must remember that we always have to be balanced by others. If anything stands alone, it will lose its balance. We must always be checked, tested, and confirmed by others that we may have the balance. Otherwise, we will be peculiar and will go to an extreme. The significance of the two tenons is that they show us our need for balance.
As we have seen before, if a board had only one tenon, it would turn easily and even fall, just as we may easily fall if we stand on one foot. When we are walking and wish to turn, we must lift one foot off the ground. We cannot turn when we are standing on two feet. Many Christians today may easily be turned. They are like a board with one tenon. Spiritually speaking, they may face in one direction today, but tomorrow they may face in the opposite direction. It is easy for such ones to be changed and fall because they do not have two tenons.
The width of the boards of the tabernacle was one and a half cubits (v. 21), indicating a half measurement of three cubits. One half always needs the other half. As members of the Body we are just one half. We must remember that we always need another member to make us complete. In creation there is the same principle. A man is not complete unless he has a wife. Likewise, a woman is not complete unless she is married to a husband. The couple is the completion. The husband is one half, and the wife is another half. Sometimes when the brothers and sisters come into the meeting, a wife and her husband may sit together as one whole. Each is a half, and they both need the other half to make them a whole. For the building of the church our need is to be completed. We can never be individuals; we must always be completed by others.
We must be joined with others by the Holy Spirit and in the Holy Spirit with the holding power of the divine nature. According to 36:31-34, the bars of acacia wood overlaid with gold were in the golden rings, and the golden rings were joined to the gold overlaying the boards. This typifies the holding strength and the holding power of the divine nature and life of Christ. All the boards were joined together within the gold and by the golden bars. The boards could be joined together as one simply because they were in the gold; that is, in type they were in the divine nature and divine life of Christ.
The strength and the power for joining together was the bars, which represent the Holy Spirit. According to 36:31 and 32, there were five bars on the south side, five bars on the north side, and five bars on the west side. The three groups of bars indicate that this Spirit is the Spirit of the Triune God.
We must be impressed with the picture in Exodus 36. There were three groups of bars, and each group consisted of five bars. Five is four plus one. As we have seen, four bars were smaller and one bar, the middle one, was bigger, extending from one end of a wall to the other end. This is a picture of the mingling of the divine nature with the human nature. Four represents the creature, while one represents the Creator. These two added together become five. Moreover, five signifies responsibility. Therefore, the bars signify the Holy Spirit of the Triune God, who takes the full responsibility for God’s building by mingling His divine nature with the human nature. How could the church be built up with so many believers? It could be done only in the divine nature and divine life of Christ by the Spirit of the Triune God.