All the above three items were in the Holy Place. The fourth item of the contents of the tabernacle was the ark in the Holy of Holies. The ark was the place where God met with people and spoke to people (Exo. 25:22). It signifies Christ in His redemption as the place where God meets with man and speaks to man. In the ark was the law of the Ten Commandments, which by its holy and righteous requirement exposed and condemned the sins of the people who came to contact God. However, by the lid of the ark, with the propitiating blood sprinkled on it on the Day of Propitiation (Lev. 16:15-17, 34), the entire situation on the sinner’s side was fully covered. Therefore, upon this sin-covering lid God could meet with the people who broke His righteous law, and He could do this without, governmentally, any contradiction to His righteousness, even under the observing of the cherubim that bore His glory and overshadowed the lid of the ark. Thus, the problem between man and God was appeased, enabling God to meet with those who come forward to His presence. This is a prefigure of Christ as the Lamb of God who took away the sin that caused man to have a problem with God (John 1:29) by offering Himself once for all on the cross as the sacrifice for sins (Heb. 9:14; 10:12). Moreover, through His own blood He entered once for all into the Holy of Holies, thus accomplishing an eternal redemption for us and appeasing the problem between man and God. Thus, because of the blood of Christ we and God can meet together, have peace with one another, and communicate with and speak to one another in Christ.
Within the ark there were also the golden pot that had the manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the two tablets of the covenant, all of which signify our deeper and more inward experiences of Christ.
After the exodus of the children of Israel from Egypt, God gave them manna from heaven as their food. Furthermore, He commanded Moses to take a golden pot, put an omerful of manna therein, and lay it up before Him to be kept throughout the generations (Exo. 16:33-34). This manna is called the hidden manna (Rev. 2:17), signifying our deepest experience of Christ as our life supply, which is deeper than that which is signified by the table of the bread of the Presence. This is a special portion reserved by the Lord for those who overcome the degradation of the worldly church, as their daily supply today and as their special enjoyment to be their reward in the coming kingdom.
After the judgment of God on Korah and his company for their rebellion in the wilderness, in order to vindicate the proper authority of leadership, God told the leaders of the twelve tribes to each take a rod and lay up their rods before the ark. On the next day, the rod of Aaron had sprouted, put forth buds, produced blossoms, and born ripe almonds (Num. 17:3-8, 10). The rod that budded signifies our experience of Christ in His resurrection as our acceptance by God for authority in the God-given ministry. This is deeper than the experience of Christ as the incense for our acceptance by God.
The two tablets of the covenant, which are the tablets of the Ten Commandments (Exo. 25:21), signify our experience of Christ as the enlightening inner law (Heb. 8:10), which regulates us according to God’s divine nature. The law of commandments regulates us from without by and according to its dead letters; the law of life as the issue of Christ’s being our life enlightens and regulates us from within. This is deeper than the experience of Christ as the shining lampstand in the Holy Place.
The furnishings inside and outside the tabernacle are types of the contents of the New Testament. Outside the tabernacle there were two articles of accessory furnishings, one being the bronze laver and the other, the bronze altar. The laver typifies the Holy Spirit given based on the judgment at the cross. Furthermore, since the laver was made of bronze mirrors, it signifies that the Holy Spirit as the judging Spirit has the power to reflect and expose, making manifest the sins and defilements of people and then washing the people. The bronze altar typifies the cross of Christ. A sinner who wants to go into the tabernacle must first pass through the altar, that is, the cross of Christ, for his redemption from sins and for the dealing with his sins. The altar was overlaid with bronze plates made of the burnt censers used by the rebellious ones, signifying that the cross, typified by the altar, is the place where sinners are judged by God. The altar was located in the outer court of the tabernacle, signifying that the cross of Christ was accomplished on the earth and is very close and convenient to sinners.
The furnishings within the tabernacle are the contents of the tabernacle, ministering to people the riches of Christ in different aspects. The first item was the table of the bread of the Presence, signifying the riches of Christ’s life as the bread of life for the supply of God’s people that they may live and serve in God’s dwelling place. The second item was the golden lampstand, which signifies that Christ in His divinity is the light of life that shines over God’s redeemed people. The third item was the golden incense altar, which signifies Christ as the means by which God’s redeemed are accepted by God. The fourth item was the ark in the Holy of Holies, signifying Christ in His redemption as the place where God meets with man and speaks to man. Within the ark there were also the golden pot that had the manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the two tablets of the covenant, all of which signify our deeper and more inward experiences of Christ.