Christ, the incarnate God, as the embodiment of God became the dwelling of God in humanity as the means by which man could contact and thereby receive and enjoy God. God, who originally was above the heavens, hidden and untouchable (John 1:18a; 1 Tim. 6:16a), became flesh through Christ and was embodied in Him as the tabernacle. Through this tabernacle man can contact God and enter into God to receive Him and enjoy Him as grace and reality in fullness (John 1:14c).
The tabernacle was made of standing boards of acacia wood overlaid with gold (Exo. 26:15, 29). Acacia wood signifies Christ’s humanity, strong in character and high in standard. Christ’s humanity is the basic element for Him to be God’s expression and dwelling place. Gold signifies Christ’s divinity, divine, pure, and eternally unchanging. The acacia wood was overlaid with gold inside and outside, signifying that the divine nature was mingled with the human nature and that the divine nature penetrates the human nature and is expressed through it. Hence, with Christ as the tabernacle, which is a mingling of divinity and humanity, God obtains a concrete expression and dwelling place in humanity.
The tabernacle was divided into two sections separated by a veil. The section outside the veil was called the Holy Place, and the section inside the veil was called the Holy of Holies (Exo. 26:33). Within the tabernacle there were a number of furnishings, signifying the different aspects of our experience of Christ after we have entered into God. In the Holy Place there were the table of the bread of the Presence, the lampstand, and the incense altar near the Holy of Holies. The table of the bread of the Presence signifies our experience of Christ as our life supply, the lampstand signifies our experience of Christ as the shining light, and the incense altar signifies our experience of Christ as the sweet incense to God for our acceptance by God.
In the Holy of Holies there was the ark, which signifies Christ as the place where God met with people. Within the ark there were the golden pot containing the hidden manna, Aaron’s budding rod, and the two tables of the covenant (Heb. 9:4). The hidden manna in the golden pot signifies our experience of Christ as our life supply in the deepest way; the budding rod signifies our experience of Christ in His resurrection as our acceptance by God for authority in the God-given ministry; the two tables of the covenant, which are the tables of the Ten Commandments, signify our experience of Christ as the enlightening inner law, which regulates us according to God’s divine nature.
According to Exodus 26:1-14, the covering of the tabernacle was of four layers. The first layer, the innermost layer, was made of ten curtains, which were of blue, purple, scarlet, and fine twined linen. This typifies Christ’s fine and perfect humanity. With Christ there is no defect or bias. Christ in His human living, in both nature and appearance, lived as a heavenly man; He is also kingly both in position and behavior. Such a full and complete One shed His blood for redemption for sinners.
The second layer was made of eleven curtains of goats’ hair for a tent over the tabernacle. This signifies that Christ was made sin for us to bear all the sins of us sinners. This redeeming Christ was judged by God and thereby became our covering and protection. The third layer was made of rams’ skins dyed red as a covering for the tent. This signifies that Christ suffered death and shed His blood to become our covering. The fourth layer, the outermost layer, was a covering of porpoise skins as the top covering for the tent to stand against the wind, the rain, and the scorching of the sun. This signifies Christ as the One who is able to withstand any attack. As the rams’ skins, Christ covers us from God’s judgment and enables us to stand before God. As the porpoise skins, He withstands for us all the attacks in our environment and enables us to stand strongly.
This shows us clearly that the four layers of the tabernacle—the curtains of fine linen, the curtains of goats’ hair, the covering of rams’ skins, and the top covering of porpoise skins—all are types of Christ, showing that He, the fine and perfect One, as our Substitute accomplished redemption for us and became our covering before God and our protection against any kind of attack.