At this point, we need to realize that Christ is also our golden incense altar. In Christ we can offer fragrant prayers to God and be acceptable to God. I believe that all of us have had this kind of experience. Whenever we enjoy Him and are satisfied and enlightened within by enjoying Him as the bread of life and the light of life, then immediately we feel that we are in the presence of God and that between us and God there is a fragrant odor. We sense that we have been accepted before God, and therefore, we thank, praise, and worship Him.
We have clearly seen that being a Christian is not only a matter of living a proper human life outwardly but even more a matter of living by the life of the pure gold within. Today God in Christ dwells in us as our life, and our experiences as Christians altogether hinge on how we deal with this Christ. Christ is the One who is both God and man. He is the embodiment of God, and in Him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily. When we draw near to Him and receive Him, He becomes our life supply and our satisfaction. When we are satisfied with Him, we have the brightness and sweetness within. At such a time the sense of sweetness between God and us and the fragrance in the presence of God are truly indescribable. Thus, the only thing we can do is to praise and worship. These experiences are indications that we have experienced the Ark, the showbread table, the golden lampstand, and the golden incense altar. Whoever touches these matters is an inward Christian. Such a one not only has the fine white linen hangings without but also the precious, pure gold within. Hallelujah, we have the life of the pure gold within us. We should have a set of experiences pertaining to the pure gold within us. Every morning in our morning watch we should touch the Ark overlaid with gold, the showbread table also overlaid with gold, the lampstand of pure gold, and the golden incense altar.
To reach this stage is truly quite rare and precious. With many brothers and sisters, the fine white linen hangings have not yet been set up, not to mention the fact that there is no pure gold within them! If you have the fine white linen hangings without and are full of the pure gold within, your situation is truly quite good. However, I would like you to see that it is not enough even to be at this stage, because at this stage there still is no tabernacle in which God can dwell.
I have heard that among the brothers and sisters there seems to be a kind of talk in which some are saying, “What difference does it make whether or not we have the building? It is all right as long as we have Christ.” In other words, they are saying that it is enough merely to have the pure gold, so why do we need to talk about building? To such brothers and sisters I would like to ask whether or not it was enough that in Genesis 2 there was gold, pearl, and precious stone. If it were enough, then why is it that the will of God is not accomplished until the end of Revelation, when God has built the gold, pearl, and precious stone into a city as His tabernacle? May God have mercy upon us, and may He open our eyes to see that there is the need for building after receiving the pure gold. Only after the building takes place will there be the tabernacle, the dwelling place of God.
Now let us briefly look at the tabernacle itself. The main components of the tabernacle were the standing boards. There were twenty on the south side, twenty on the north, and eight on the west, and all of them were made of wood overlaid with gold. What does this mean? Spiritually, this means that the tabernacle is the enlargement of the Ark. Just as the Ark was made of wood overlaid with gold, so the tabernacle was also constructed with wood overlaid with gold. The Ark enlarged is the tabernacle. The meaning of this is very deep. This means that the church is nothing other than the enlargement of Christ. Christ is God mingled with man, and the church is the enlargement of God’s being mingled with man. Please remember that you are a board and that in you there is the life of God and the mingling of divinity and humanity. I am also a board, and in me there is also the mingling of divinity and humanity. Every saved person is a board, and when all the saved ones are connected and coordinated together, they become the tabernacle. It is a marvelous matter that the Bible has no record of how many pieces of wood were used to build the Ark. It seems that the Ark was made of a single, solid piece of wood. The tabernacle, however, was constructed with forty-eight standing boards. This indicates that the church is composed of many saved ones.