We come now to the tabernacle itself, God’s very building. According to the record of Exodus, it is clear that the tabernacle itself is brought forth from the experiences of all the items within it, items such as the showbread table, the lampstand, the incense altar and the ark of testimony. We have seen that these items represent Christ as the bread of life, as light, as incense, and as the very embodiment of God. We must experience Christ to such an extent if we would be part of God’s building. The more we experience Christ, the more we are overlaid with the divine gold, the nature of God. We have seen that the ark, the last item of the tabernacle’s interior, was overlaid both within and without with gold. This proves that when we experience the ark, our human nature, typified by the acacia wood, is absolutely covered by the divine nature, as typified by the gold. Humanity is completely overlaid with divinity.
The boards of the tabernacle issue from the experiences of the items within the tabernacle and are the main part of the building itself. Without the boards, the tabernacle could not be erected. If we know how to view this impressive picture, we will realize that the boards are the reproduction and enlargement of the ark. The ark is Christ, the incarnated Son of God. On one hand He has the divine nature, and on the other hand He has the human nature. The divine nature is mingled together with the human nature as one. This very One is God’s embodiment and God’s testimony, the ark. The boards, then, as the reproduction of the ark, are the church. The ark is Christ and the reproduction or increase of the ark is the church. The church is the enlargement of Christ, the increase of Christ, exactly the same in nature as Christ.
There is only one Christ, so there must be only one ark. But the boards are many. There are twenty on the north side, twenty on the south, six at the rear and two at the corners (Exo. 26:15-25). Altogether there are forty-eight boards. The number forty-eight is composed of six times eight. Man was made on the sixth day; therefore, six is the number of man. The number of the antichrist is six hundred and sixty-six (Rev. 13:18). This means too much man, too much humanity, and this is very bad. The number eight signifies a new beginning, another start, and this is resurrection. Thus, the forty-eight boards signify that all those related to the church building are human, yet they are resurrected. The building is composed of humanity in resurrection. There are forty-eight boards, but there is only one tabernacle. We Christians are many, yet we are one body, one church (1 Cor. 10:17). And this one church is the increase of the ark, the enlargement of Christ.
These things are a precious revelation, but now we come to a very practical matter-the composition of the boards. Each board is composed of acacia wood overlaid with gold. Therefore, their composition clearly reveals two distinct things of two distinct natures united together. In typology wood signifies human nature. But acacia is a superior kind of hard wood; it is not a sub-standard wood. It is in contrast to our grain, our human nature. We are extremely loose, but acacia is very solid, hard and strong. Acacia wood typifies the resurrected, uplifted, and strengthened human nature. We must have the human element or human nature for the church to be built, but this human nature must first be put to death. Then it must be resurrected, uplifted, and strengthened.
As members of the church, the first requirement is that every bit of our human nature must be rejected. Not a particle of it is welcomed by the church. Indeed the church requires human beings, but our human nature is not needed. It is good for nothing but burial. Whenever a new person comes into the church, the first occurrence should not be a wedding, but a funeral. When we come into the church, we must agree to be buried in baptism. Baptism signifies burial, a riddance of one’s self. But in God’s redemption, death is not the end. Death is the process which leads to resurrection. Oh, do not be afraid to be buried in Christ, for through death you will be resurrected! The first requirement of the church life is that we must reject ourselves. But praise the Lord, within us is the Spirit of resurrection! The Holy Spirit will be responsible to resurrect us, to uplift us and strengthen us. The more we experience the denial of the self by the cross of Christ, the more we will be uplifted. We will no longer be so natural, but live and act in resurrection.
These experiences produce the building up of spiritual character, which is the resurrected, uplifted, and strengthened human nature. As a Christian in the church life, we should be exceedingly strong, yet not naturally strong, but spiritually strong. In the resurrected human nature, we should be as strong as acacia wood. Many brothers and sisters are loose, and some even appreciate their looseness. They say, “We must be loose to be acceptable to others; to be strict causes others to think we are cold and rather unpleasant.” No! One requirement which is absolutely necessary for the building up of the church is that our human nature be resurrected, uplifted, and strengthened, even as the acacia wood.
The second constituent of the boards of the tabernacle is the gold, overlaying the wood. We must all be so overlaid by God that we lose ourselves in the divine nature. Those who view the boards of the tabernacle see only gold. The boards themselves are intrinsically wood, but the manifestation of the boards is golden. We should be strong, but not strong in ourselves. We should be patient, but not patient in ourselves. We must be able to say, “Praise the Lord, my manifestation, my expression, is not myself, but God. I am a wooden board, but my manifestation is golden!” As human beings we must not manifest our natural human nature, but something divinely golden. Our natural human nature must be put to death, buried, and resurrected. We need a full experience of Christ. The more we experience Him, the more we will be overlaid with the divine nature till eventually the entire board is covered by the glorious gold. Then the appearance and expression of all the boards will be golden.
The church is composed of many different men, including Americans, Chinese, Japanese, Germans, etc. But praise the Lord, there is no American, Chinese, Japanese, or German nature in the church. The total expression is divine. We are all overlaid, covered, and hidden; the wood is hidden in the gold. This is exceedingly vital, for as we shall see later, without this overlaying gold we can never be united (Exo. 26:26-29). In ourselves we are separate and independent boards, but when we are overlaid with gold, we are united together as one. Our peculiar human natures could never be united. The unity of the church, the oneness of the saints, is not in the human nature, but in the divine. Praise the Lord, the overlaying gold, the golden rings, and the golden bars unite us. How much have you been overlaid with gold?
Good brothers are nice, but golden brothers are necessary. Good brothers cannot further the building; in fact, they may even frustrate and damage the building. Many times the building up of the church is damaged more by the good persons than by the bad. Oh, we must be mingled with the divine nature; we must be overlaid with God! This can only take place by our experiencing Christ-there is no other way. When we experience Him not only as our life, our light, and our incense, but as the very reality and embodiment of God, then we will be full of God. We will be overlaid, saturated, and mingled with God. We will become wooden boards with a golden appearance, and we will be proper materials, available for the building up of the church.
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