In the New Testament age, following the desolation and decline of the church, Christ left the formal church to be individually with the believers who love Him with a pure heart and who also have a desire to let Christ make His home in them. However, even though this desire is good, it cannot remain to eternity because it is not according to what God has revealed, and it is not of God or what God wants. God’s intention, His eternal purpose, is that the believers would be built up to be the universal house of the processed and consummated Triune God, which is the holy temple in the Lord (Eph. 2:21), and to be the organic Body of Christ as a great corporate vessel for His expression to consummate in the New Jerusalem in the new heaven and new earth as the dwelling place of the processed and consummated Triune God in eternity forever and ever.
The tabernacle as God’s dwelling place on earth typifies the church; the Ark as God’s testimony on earth typifies Christ. According to God’s arrangement, the Ark was placed in the Holy of Holies within the tabernacle. After the children of Israel entered into the good land, the Ark was captured and separated from the tabernacle because of the deterioration of the house of Aaron the priest. Although the Ark was returned to the children of Israel, it was separated from the tabernacle until the building of the temple was completed, and then it was moved into the Holy of Holies in the temple.
The Ark being separated from the tabernacle typifies that Christ has left the formal church and is separated from the church. The church has lost the testimony of God and become divided. She no longer satisfies the requirement of God but merely maintains a formal service outwardly. In the New Testament age the church as the tabernacle is the dwelling place of God on earth. The children of God should take the church as their center, and the church should take Christ as her center. Christ is the life and content of the church, and the church is the living and expression of Christ. Hence, Christ and the church are one and inseparable. Because the church became degraded and a worldly organization, she lost the presence of Christ. In the degraded church there is no longer the word of God, the riches of Christ, or the authority of God. Instead, evil people came into the church to capture the children of God into the world, and Satan, the prince of the world, even set up his throne in the church. Then the Roman Catholic Church was gradually formed. She had the Judaistic hierarchy of overseers, allowed the deep things of Satan to be brought in, and she tolerated the teachings of Jezebel and thereby brought in confusing heresies, including the committing of fornication and the eating of idol sacrifices. The Reformation issued in so-called state and private churches. In the eyes of the Lord, they had a name that they were living, but they were dead. In the beginning they had the Lord’s blessing, but they were not completely delivered out of the Roman Catholic Church. Rather, they adopted the organizational way of the Roman Catholic Church in order to maintain the blessings they had received. Consequently, like the Roman Catholic Church, they had an outward form without the inward reality of Christ.
After the Ark was removed from the tabernacle, it was returned to Israel by the Philistines. After a time it was moved from the house of Abinadab to the house of Obed-edom, and then from the house of Obed-edom to the tent of David. This typifies that in the desolation and degradation of the church, the presence of Christ among the believers is movable. Where His lovers are, there His presence is. Although the presence of Christ is precious, the believers should not be satisfied and self-contented. Rather, they should seek after the building up of the church so that Christ may have a corporate dwelling place and the believers may have a corporate presence.
After the completion of the building of the temple by Solomon, the Ark was brought into the Holy of Holies in the holy temple. This typifies that Christ will eventually obtain the builded church as the dwelling place for His rest. God did not ordain the Ark to bear His testimony in the homes of His people. God’s ordination involved the Ark bearing a corporate testimony in His dwelling place. In the New Testament age, although Christ is individually with the believers who love the Lord with a pure heart, this is still not what God wants. God’s intention, His eternal purpose, is that the believers would be built up to be the house of the Triune God, the holy temple in the Lord, and to be the organic Body of Christ as a great corporate vessel for His expression. This will consummate in the New Jerusalem as the dwelling place of the processed and consummated Triune God in eternity.