The Ark of the Testimony Typifies Christ as the Embodiment and Testimony of God

We are now returning to the crystallization-study of Exodus (the third part), focusing mainly on the last 16 chapters of Exodus. These last 16 chapters are a test of whether we truly have a heart seeking after God and His economy. Many Christians tend to skip the last 16 chapters of Exodus (after they read the book once or twice), since they are not as interesting or filled with history as the first part is.

In Exo. 25-40 we see the tabernacle with all the details of its furnishings, a type of the church and the church life. Because the contents of these chapters are deep and profound, many neglect them; but the revelation in these chapters brings us into the depths and details of Christ and the church.

We need to have a seeking heart and an exercised spirit when we come to this portion of the Word of God, so that we may see a detailed and accurate picture of God’s economy in the universe and realize what are the experiences of Christ we need for God’s building.

In our crystallization-study of Exodus we want to go on a divine and mystical tour of the tabernacle with all its contents and see how the design of the tabernacle with all its arrangements portrays a detailed and accurate picture of God’s economy in the universe, showing to us the experiences of Christ we need for God’s building.

God’s building is the corporate expression of the Triune God; furthermore, God’s building is the divine-human enlarged universal incorporation of the processed and consummated Triune God with His redeemed, regenerated, and transformed tripartite people. God’s building is what God is after; it is for the obtaining of His building that God saved us from the world, took care of us in the wilderness, supplied us with manna and living water, and gave us a revelation of who He is.

What God wants is that we would be in God and He would be in us, that we would be joined, mingled, and incorporated with God so that we may be built into God and God would be built into us to become the Body of Christ in this age and the New Jerusalem for eternity for God to dwell in man and man to dwell in God for eternity!

Father, grant us a spirit of wisdom and revelation in the full knowledge of Christ. Enlighten the eyes of our inner heart to see Christ like we have never seen before, and give us the experiences that we need in order for You to gain Your building. Lord, open the heavens to us so that we may see You, Your economy, Your heart’s desire, Your purpose, and Your will, so that we may be the ones who bring You back! Lord, infuse us with Your feelings, Your burden, Your thought, Your intents, and Your up-to-date speaking so that we may cooperate with You for the building up of the church as Your Body, Your dwelling place!

The Ark of the Testimony Typifies Christ as the Embodiment and Testimony of God

The first item of the furniture of the tabernacle is the Ark of the Testimony (see Exo. 25:21-22; 38:21); the ark typifies Christ as the embodiment of God (see Col. 2:9) and it signifies Christ as the presence of the Triune God with His people for the carrying out of His economy to establish His kingdom on earth.

The tabernacle had a number of important furnishings: in the outer court there was the bronze altar and the laver for washing, in the Holy Place there was the showbread table, the lampstand, and the incense altar, and in the Holy of Holies there was the ark of the covenant.

When God gave Moses the pattern of the tabernacle with its furnishings, the first item He spoke of was the ark of the testimony; this signifies that, if we don’t have Christ as the embodiment of God, we cannot have the church as the enlargement of Christ (that is, the tabernacle).

In the ark, there were the tablets of the law (also called the testimony of God), the budding rod of Aaron, and the manna in the golden pot. Because the law as God’s testimony was in the ark, the ark was called the ark of the testimony, and because the ark of the testimony was in the tabernacle, the tabernacle was called the tabernacle of the testimony (see Exo. 25:22; 38:21).

The law was given by God as a portrait, a description of who God is, so that His people would know their God. As a testimony of God, the law is a type of Christ; Christ is the testimony of God – He is the living portrait of God, the definition, explanation, expression, and description of who God is in a living way (see Col. 2:9).

God is love, light, holiness, and righteousness, so the law is the expression and revelation of God as love, light, holiness, and righteousness, and Christ is the living portrait of God, the reality of love, light, holiness, and righteousness.

God’s heart’s desire is to make us, His people, the same as He is for His universal expression, to fill us with Himself and make us His fullness for His corporate expression as the Body of Christ and consummately the New Jerusalem.

How can we, sinners, become the same as God is as love, light, holiness, and righteousness? On the positive side of the law, the law as God’s testimony is an engagement contract between God and His people. When asked what is the greatest commandment, the Lord Jesus answered, You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. This is the great and first commandment. (Matt. 22:37-38)

The greatest and first commandment is to love the Lord! By loving the Lord we become the same as He is in life and nature but not in the Godhead. Love takes the shortest route to God; knowledge takes us on a roundabout and never gets us to God, but loving the Lord causes us to become the same as He is.

How can we become the same as Christ as the testimony of God? By loving the Lord and enjoying Him as the explanation, definition, portrait, and description of God.

Thank You Lord Jesus for commanding us to love You. Oh Lord Jesus, we love You! You are God’s explanation, definition, expression, and testimony. You are the reality of the ark of the testimony, and You expressed God in all Your human living. Lord Jesus, we love You with all of our heart, mind, soul, and strength. We want to enjoy and experience You as the testimony of God until we also become God’s expression and testimony on the earth!

The Ark as the Contents of the Church is the Center of God’s Dwelling Place

The center of our human body is our heart; even though our heart is not really located at the exact center of our body, we regard it as being the center. In the same way, the Holy of Holies was located in the center of the tabernacle, and the ark of the testimony was in the center of the Holy of Holies; therefore, the ark of the testimony is the center of God’s dwelling place and the focus of the tabernacle.

God dwelt in the Holy of Holies, and the only item in the Holy of Holies was the ark; this was the place where God met with His people and spoke to them. The Ark in the Holy of Holies signifies the center of God’s dwelling place, the church (Eph. 2:21-22).

Also, the ark signifies the contents of the church as the house of God (see 1 Tim. 3:15-16; cf. 1 Sam. 4:22). What is the contents of the church? It is Christ, the embodiment of God. Christ as the testimony of God, the reality of the ark of the testimony, is the contents of the church as the house of God.

When in the time of Eli the priest the ark was taken from God, the glory had departed from Israel; when there’s no Christ as the testimony of God in the church, there’s no glory and no content in the church.

Christ as the presence of the Triune God is the contents of the church and the glory of the church, and if we lose Christ, the church is empty and with no glory. Christ as the reality of the new covenant is our glory and expression.

In Rev. 3:20 the Lord Jesus was outside the local church in Laodicea, knocking at the door; it is terrible for the Lord to be outside a local church – this means that the church has no contents! We need to personally open the door of our heart to the Lord so that He may come into us and dine with us.

Outwardly the church must be on the proper ground, the ground of oneness, which is the ground of locality; inwardly the church must have Christ as the content in reality and not merely in name or terminology. Hallelujah, the church is the Body of Christ with Christ as life and everything, and the contents of the church is Christ as the embodiment of God’s testimony!

Lord Jesus, we open to You the door of our heart so that You may come in and make Your home in us, dine with us, and we with You. Lord, You are our center, our focus, and our contents; we take You as our life and our everything for the church as the Body of Christ. We forsake any other focuses or centers, and we focus our whole being on You, Christ as the testimony of God. Lord, You are the embodiment of God’s testimony to be the contents of the church!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, brother Ed Marks’ sharing in the message for this week, and Life-study of Exodus, msg. 84, by Witness Lee, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallization-Study of Exodus (3), week 1 (week 25), The Ark of the Testimony.
• All Bible verses are taken from, Holy Bible Recovery Version.
• Hymns on this topic to strengthen this burden:
  # Thou art God’s testimony, Lord, / Much better than the law; / The law in letter was engraved, / In it Thy type men saw. / A definition was the law, / God’s picture to provide; / But Thou art God’s reality, / In Thee doth God abide. (Hymns #194)
  # What e’er thou lovest, man, / That too become thou must; / God, if thou lovest God, / Dust, if thou lovest dust. / Go out, God will come in; / Die thou and let Him live; / Be not and He will be; / Wait and He’ll all things give. (Hymns #477 stanza 2)
  # To bring thee to thy God, / Love takes the shortest route; / The way which knowledge leads, / Is but a roundabout. / Drive out from thee the world, / And then thy heart shall be / Filled with the love of God, / And holy like as He. (Hymns #477 stanza 3)