Not only so, underneath each board were two tenons that were inserted into two sockets of silver. In other words, there were two tenons with two corresponding sockets. Our concept is that it would be more convenient to have one tenon set against one socket, but God’s thought is not like this. This is also a matter of building. If there was only one tenon, there would be no need for confirmation. Some brothers and sisters change so easily. The day before yesterday their condition was excellent, and yesterday it was also good, but today their condition is very poor. The reason for their being easily changeable is their lack of confirmation. Such people, in whatever they do, always decide and act on their own. Furthermore, they often use spiritual expressions such as, “This is my inner feeling,” or, “This is something of God,” and therefore, there is no need for others’ confirmation. We must realize that this is very dangerous.
The fact that each board was one and a half cubits in width indicates that we need to be connected with others. The fact that each board had two tenons fixed in two corresponding sockets indicates that we need others’ confirmation. If in our living and work we constantly have the confirmation of the brothers and sisters, then we will surely be well-protected. Suppose one day a newly saved brother has a feeling to go see a movie. If he would go and fellowship with another brother to seek confirmation regarding his feeling, then he would surely be clear concerning God’s will in this matter. Then he would have not only one tenon but two tenons in two corresponding sockets. In this way, he would be preserved. Although this is a very shallow example, it illustrates this most fundamental principle.
Lastly, on the boards overlaid with gold were rings of gold, and through these rings were bars overlaid with gold. Everything was golden. This means that you and I have to live in God, in Christ, and in the Holy Spirit. Only when we live in gold, are overlaid with gold, and are joined and united in gold can we all be one. If the gold covering had been removed from the forty-eight boards, then there would have been merely forty-eight individual boards, completely scattered. However, since they had been overlaid with gold and joined together in gold and through gold, they became a solid entity, a builded structure.
I say again that your measurement is one and a half cubits and that you are only half a unit, because you are a member and not the whole Body. You also need to have two tenons. If at present you have only one, you must go and find another. You definitely need two tenons for you to be stabilized and so that you would not waver. At the same time, you must realize that the coordination and oneness of the church, the church’s being built, and the church’s being one are altogether in the pure gold, that is, in God. When you live in God, I live in God, and all of us live in God, then we can be one.
I look to God to grant every brother and sister to see that we have to be built together with others so that God can have a dwelling place and that the way to be built is to know that each of us is only one and a half cubits, that each of us needs two tenons, and that each of us needs to be overlaid with gold and united through and in gold.