Let us look at the silver rods and the silver hooks of the pillars. No doubt these items denote redemption, because the people of Israel gave this silver for the redemption of their lives. The meaning of the silver rods and the silver hooks being on the pillars which rested upon the bronze sockets is that whatever passes through God’s judgment receives God’s redemption. The degree of God’s judgment determines the degree of man’s redemption. Is this not so in our experience? In our living and our career, whatever is judged is redeemed and accepted by God.
Now let us look at the hangings on the silver hooks. The hangings of the outer court were made of fine white linen. In typology, fine white linen signifies the righteous and pure conduct of man before God. A person who has passed through the cross and the washing and renewing of the Holy Spirit has the white linen hangings upon him. Because his conduct is pure and white before man and God, a boundary or separating line has been established in his living. When people observe him, they have to admit that he is clearly separated from the world. The world is a mess, and the people of the world are in filthiness, but this person who has been rescued by God and is being built by God has a boundary upon him which distinctly separates him from the world. Because everything of himself has passed through God’s judgment, has received God’s redemption, and has been cleansed by the Holy Spirit, his living and walk have become a boundary line that separates him from the world.
Up to this point, everything has been a matter of outward conduct and not a matter of inward nature. At this stage, although this person has been judged, redeemed, and washed to be pure and white before man and God, he has only gone through an outward change in behavior and has not necessarily had much transformation in life. He may not have a great deal of the expression of the divine life and nature as gold in him. Therefore, according to the picture of the building, he still has to enter further.
Now let us look at the items inside the tabernacle. We all know that being a Christian is not merely a matter of our outward living and walk but even more a matter of our inward life and nature. Therefore, merely having the fine white linen hangings on the outside is not enough. The life within as gold must be expressed. In the outer court, you see only the bronze, silver, and white fine linen but not the gold. Therefore, as a saved one grows in his spiritual life, he will gradually turn from the outside to the inside. This is according to what we often say about turning within. We cannot merely be good Christians, well-behaved Christians, cleansed Christians, or faultless Christians in an outward way. We cannot merely be Christians in the outer court. Rather, we must enter the tabernacle and be Christians in the Holy Place.
We have already said that when you entered the tabernacle, that is, the Holy Place and the Holy of Holies, everything you saw was of gold. The tabernacle’s four sides were boards overlaid with gold, and the furniture within it was either made of pure, solid gold or was overlaid with gold. Although the bases of the tabernacle were made of silver and the curtains were of fine twined linen and blue and purple and scarlet strands, the important component within the tabernacle was pure gold. The spiritual meaning of this is that when we advance in our experience from the outer court into the Holy Place, we will discover that within us is pure gold, which is God in Christ as our life. Therefore, we will learn to live not outwardly but inwardly, paying attention not only to the boundary line of fine white linen without but also to the life of the gold within. From that time onward we will know how to contact the Christ within, touch the feeling within, and have fellowship with the Lord within, inquiring of Him and looking to Him. This is the experience of dealing with the life of the gold within.