Christ and the New Man as our Clothing is also our Dwelling Place as Priests to God

As believers in Christ, we are all priests to God, and Christ is our food, our clothing, and our dwelling. The priests were a particular kind of people who were set aside for God; they spent time with God, served God, and were infused with God to be mingled with God and express God.

Their food was specifically ordained by God to be the sacrifices and the bread of the presence (holy food), their garments were designed by God and were beautiful, and their dwelling place was the tabernacle itself. Everything about the priests was related to and wrapped up with God’s dwelling place, the tabernacle; it is here that they ate, served God, lived, and had their dwelling place.

Earlier this week we have seen how the reality of all the offerings in the Old Testament is Christ Himself; we are priests to God as God’s spiritual people, and Christ is our unique food, our only diet, our holy and spiritual nourishment for us to live and serve God. Furthermore, Christ is our garment covering our nakedness, protecting us from the enemy and the environment, and shining out to be our expression.

Where did the priests live? Where was their dwelling place? According to the type in the Old Testament, the dwelling place of the priests was the tabernacle (outwardly they served in the tabernacle, ate in the tabernacle, and did everything around and in the tabernacle, and at night they encamped around the tabernacle, being a part of the tabernacle).

What is most interesting concerning the dwelling of the priests, the tabernacle, is that the materials used for the tabernacle are the same as the materials used for the garments of the priests; also, God’s speaking concerning the building of the tabernacle was intertwined with His speaking concerning the making of the garments of the priests (see Exo. 28-29).

This shows that the tabernacle was “worn” by the priests as their garments, and their clothing was their housing. As believers in Christ, our putting on Christ is our dwelling in Christ, and we “wear our dwelling place” – we wear Christ and the church, and we abide in Christ and in the Body. Praise the Lord!

Christ and the New Man as our Clothing is also our Dwelling Place as Priests to God

The garments of the priests were composed of the same material as the tabernacle; the curtains, the veil, and the screen at the entrance of the tabernacle were all made with blue and purple and scarlet strands and fine twined linen, and the priestly garments contained these materials as well (Exo. 26:1, 5-6, 31, 36; 28:8).

What was hanging on the tabernacle was the same as the clothes the priests wore. Also, the tabernacle had many items made of gold, and the priestly garments were made with gold thread and gold settings for the precious stones (Exo. 28:6, 11, 13, 20; 39:3).

This shows us that our clothing as priests is also our housing, our dwelling place. The tabernacle was the dwelling place of the priests, and at the same time they were “wearing the tabernacle” as their garments. Our garments as priests to God are the house of God; we put on the new man, which was created according to God in righteousness and holiness of truth (Eph. 4:24) – we put on the house of God, the church, the Body, the new man.

In 2 Cor. 5:1-4 we see the same concept in Paul’s writing; he was expecting to be clothed with the house of God, with a home, the dwelling place from heaven. The new man is a corporate, universal man – it is the Body of Christ in which we all were reconciled to God (Eph. 2:15-16).

What we need to put on as clothing is the new man, which is the house of God – the Body of Christ, the new man – which is also our home. Our clothing is Christ and the church (the new man), and our dwelling place is also Christ (the true vine) and the church (the enlarged Christ).

What is the church? The church is the expression of Christ from within all the saints. Outwardly believers may gather together, but unless they put on Christ and live out Christ, they are not the church in reality. The real church life is the expression of Christ through the believers in Christ, the priests of God.

When we put on Christ (Christ and the church, the enlargement and expression of Christ), we express Christ in His divinity (gold), His heavenliness (blue), His kingliness (purple), His redemption (scarlet), and His fine humanity for the expression of His divine glory and human beauty (fine linen).

We need to put on the Body of Christ (our dwelling place) as our clothing and remain in the Body, be under the covering of the Body, seek the fellowship of the Body, and be Body-conscious in everything we do. The Body is our clothing and our covering, and the Body is also our dwelling place and God’s dwelling place, His habitation in our spirit (Eph. 1:22-23).

Lord Jesus, we long to be clothed upon with our dwelling place from heaven. We groan, being burdened, in that we desire to be clothed with the new man so that what is mortal may be swallowed up by life. Lord, we put on the new man, which was created according to God in righteousness and holiness of the reality. We take the Body of Christ as our clothing and our covering, and we want to dwell in the house of God, the church. Lord, keep us eating You as the reality of all the offerings and putting You as the new man on so that we may express You and thus be Your dwelling place!

Dwelling in and Putting on Christ and the Church, the Dwelling Place of God and Man

Just as the priests’ clothing in the Old Testament was the same as the tabernacle, so we in the New Testament take Christ and the church as both our clothing and our dwelling place. This is a profound thought in the Bible.

As living stones, we are being built up as a spiritual house into a holy priesthood, the church (1 Pet. 2:5); this priesthood is a body of priests, a spiritual house for God and man to dwell together. As a holy priesthood, all believers in Christ need to be filled and saturated with Christ, expressing Him in an accurate and full way to become His dwelling place.

We become God’s dwelling place by putting on Christ and the church, that is, by expressing Christ and being in the Body of Christ. In the Old Testament the tabernacle was where the priests were, and the priesthood was actually the tabernacle, God’s dwelling place.

What about us today? Are we a proper dwelling place of God, a spiritual house? Do we express God in His divine nature (gold), in His purity, His fine humanity, His kingliness, and His heavenliness? If we don’t express Christ by putting on Christ, what do we express?

What we wear is what we express; if we wear Christ and the church, we will express Christ and be the church in reality. But if we live in our natural man and express something of the flesh, we may be in the same meeting place with other believers, but we are not expressing Christ to be the church.

Our expression should be of gold (Christ in His divinity), pure linen (Christ in His fine humanity for the expression of His divine glory and human beauty), scarlet (Christ’s redemption), and purple (Christ’s kingliness). Then, we will be qualified to be God’s spiritual house, the reality of the tabernacle.

God wants to gain a dwelling place, a spiritual house constituted with all His people who are filled with Him, saturated with Him, and mingled with Him to the point that they put on the new man and express Christ corporately. For this, we need to dwell in Christ and the church, and we need to put on Christ and the church so that we may become the dwelling place of God and man, the church.

We need to “wear the Body”, that is, wear Christ and the Body as our clothing and our covering. The Body is our glory, beauty, protection, and covering, because the Body is Christ, the corporate Christ expressed and lived out.

God has been and He is our dwelling place throughout the generations (Psa. 90:1), and we love to hide and abide in the shadow of the Almighty (Psa. 91:1), even to dwell in the house of Jehovah (Psa. 27:4).

Lord Jesus, we want to no longer live in our natural man or in our flesh but in our spirit, where You as the Spirit dwell. We no longer want to express our natural man or our flesh but express You in Your divine nature, Your purity, Your kingliness, Your wonderful humanity, and in all that You are. Lord, we put on the new man and we want to wear the Body so that You may be expressed through us and become our dwelling place as we become Your dwelling place. Lord, You are our dwelling place and we are becoming Your dwelling place!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my Christian experience, bro. Minoru Chen’s sharing in the message for this week, and portions from, Collected Works of Witness Lee, 1966, vol. 1, “The Priesthood,” ch. 10, as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, The Recovery of the Priesthood or God’s Building, week 3 / msg 3, Christ as Food, Clothing, and Dwelling of the Priests.
• All Bible verses are taken from, Holy Bible Recovery Version.
• Hymns on this topic to strengthen this burden:
  # Holy, glorious is their dwelling, / ’Tis the increase of the Lord; / Here the priests built up together / Unto God a house afford. (Hymns #911)
  # Lord, to know Thee as the Body, / Is my desperate need today, / Oh, to see Thee in Thy members, / ’Tis for this I long and pray. / No more just to know Thy headship / In an individual way, / But to see Thee incarnated, / As the Body-Christ, I pray. (Hymns #1225)
  # How lovely is Thy dwelling-place! / Within Thy courts I long to be; / Thy presence, Lord, my spirit craves, / For this my heart cries out to Thee. (Hymns #851)