Christ’s Humanity is Strong in Character and High in Standard for Expressing God

In our crystallization-study of Exodus we don’t merely want to see what the types in this book represent but how can we apply them to our Christian life and experience. As we delve into the deeper study and appreciation of the tabernacle with all its furnishings, we need to realize that the tabernacle is a type of God’s building, and there are some particular experiences of Christ that we need to have in order for God to gain his building.

May we be those who have a seeking heart and an exercised spirit when we come to God’s word so that the Lord would shine on us, impress us with His intention, and get the positive and proper response from us – our prayer for the Lord to make this our experience daily.

The first item of the furnishings of the tabernacle is the ark of the testimony, which was a box made of acacia wood overlaid with gold; the ark signifies the pneumatic Christ as the embodiment of God and as the mingling of divinity with humanity (the building of God with man) dwelling in our spirit for us to contact God and enjoy God.

Today we want to see how Christ who is now the Spirit – the pneumatic Christ – is God mingled with man, the embodiment of God, the building of God with man, as the reality of the ark of the testimony, and how this One dwells in our spirit to make us God’s testimony and expression on earth.

Christ’s Humanity is Strong in Character and High in Standard for Expressing God

The ark of the testimony was made of acacia wood; the basic substance and supporting structure of the ark was acacia wood, which is a strong wood. Acacia wood signifies Christ’s humanity, which is strong in character and high in standard, as the basic substance for expressing God. Christ was a genuine human being: He was born of a human mother, partook of human blood and flesh, was called Jesus, and lived a perfect human life on earth; His humanity was the basic substance for Him to be God’s testimony.

If we read the gospels we can see how Christ expressed God in His humanity; no other person in history has had a humanity as strong in character and as high in standard as that of the Lord Jesus. Here are some verses to show this:

• In His humanity, Christ entered into the ministry of John the Baptist (the minister of that age) to be baptized, fulfilling all God’s righteousness. He didn’t consider Himself as an exception (since He was God) but as a Man, He was baptized with the baptism of repentance, doing things in the way that God has ordained (see Matt. 3:16).
• When He was tempted by the devil, Christ stood on the position of a man; if He would have been God, He could not be tempted, but as a Man He was tempted, and He defeated Satan as a Man! The Lord clearly said that, Man (not only God) shall not live by bread alone but by every word that proceeds out through the mouth of God (Matt. 4:4).
• As a Man, Christ had no place to rest His head; the foxes had holes and the birds had nests but the Son of Man had no place to rest His head (see Matt. 8:20).
• The Lord Jesus came as a Man to be the Physician for all His sick people (Matt. 9:12-13); in His humanity He had a love for the sick ones. Today the church is not a police station or a law court but a home, a school, and a hospital where love prevails. As believers in Christ we need to love one another with the Lord as our love; the pneumatic Christ in our spirit is the most loving One, caring for others in love.
• The Lord Jesus as a Man was lowly and meek in heart, and we as His people should learn from Him (Matt. 11:29).
• The Lord would not break a bruised reed nor quench a smoking flax; in His humanity the Lord would not break or quench those who don’t give a perfect musical sound or spread smoke because of the lack of oil (Matt. 12:19-20). Rather, the Lord loves the weak ones and cares for them, and we need to be one with Him not to quench or break others but to love them and care for them in the Lord’s humanity.
• The Lord Jesus did not come to be served but to serve, and to give His life as a ransom for many (Matt. 20:28). In His humanity the Lord came with the spirit of a servant; if we want to love the church life and appreciate the Lord, we need to be one with the Lord to serve the saints in the Lord’s humanity.
• The Lord Jesus did not vindicate Himself before Pilate (Matt. 27:14); He could have vindicated and answered the accusers, but Christ as a Man did not speak one word, so that the governor marveled.
• The Lord Jesus spent much time personally with the Father (Mark 1:35); even though He was busy and the whole village was at the door, the Lord as a Man diligently woke up early in the morning to spent personal time with the Father. We need to be those who ask the Lord to wake us up early in the morning (Isa. 50:4-5) to spend time with Him and be instructed and supplied by Him in His living word.
• The Lord Jesus as a Man was orderly: when He fed the 5000, He set them by hundreds and by fifties, “garden plot by garden plot” (literal translation, see Mark 6:49-50). Then, after they ate, there must have been a lot of things lying around and a big mess, so the Lord asked the disciples to pick up all the fragments (John 6:12). The Lord Jesus was not sloppy in His behavior but He was diligent and orderly in His humanity.
• The Lord Jesus was limited by time (John 7:6); His brothers had all the time in the world and their time was at any time, but the Lord’s time was limited by the Father’s will. This One, the limited Jesus with His uplifted, high, and strong humanity, is in our spirit to limit us and cause us to live the same kind of life as Jesus did (Acts 16:7).

What a Person! Christ’s humanity is strong in character and high in standard, and His humanity became the basic element for Him to express God and thus be the reality of the acacia wood. Such a One He now lives in us as the Spirit; the Lord is now the Spirit, and He is mingled with our spirit to live in us the same kind of life that He lived while on the earth.

Lord Jesus, thank You for coming to us as a Man with a humanity that is strong in character and high in standard. You defeated the devil as a Man. You are our Physician to care for us in love, You are lowly and meek in heart, and You love us as the weak ones. Lord, thank You for coming as the One who serves us. You are not only our pattern but You are also now in our spirit as the pneumatic Christ to live Your life in us. Lord, live in us today a life that expresses the Father for His purpose!

A Fivefold Standard of Christian Work in the Divinely Enriched Humanity of Jesus

The Lord Jesus lived and worked in such a way that changed the world, and His life and work even today is something marvelous – yet something that can be reproduced in us as His Body. Based on what we read in the Gospels, we can see that there’s a fivefold standard of Christian work in the divinely enriched humanity of Jesus:

1. Never doing anything from ourselves but from the Lord. The Lord Jesus did not do anything from Himself or out of Himself (John 5:19); whatever the Father did, so the Son did in like manner. This was a pattern to the disciples: through Christ the whole universe was created, but He denied Himself and told us that, if we were to follow Him, we need to deny ourselves, pick up our cross, and follow Him. We are not today’s professors but today’s God-men, the duplication of Jesus. We should deny ourselves and have no intention of doing anything of ourselves but of Him, by doing things with the Lord. Hallelujah, the One who denied Himself and didn’t do anything out of Himself now lives in us!

2. Never doing our own work but doing the Father’s will. The Lord Jesus didn’t do His own work; His food was to do the Father’s will, and He finished the work that the Father gave Him to do (John 4:34; 17:4). He didn’t seek His own will but rejected His idea, intention, and purpose, seeking the will of the One who sent Him. When working for the Lord we need to be on the alert: we shouldn’t seek to do our own will or accomplish our own goal when we are sent to do something. When we are sent to do a work, do we seek our purpose or the Lord’s purpose? It is not easy to have a pure heart, without having our own purpose, goal, and idea. We should just go seeking the purpose, goal, intention, and idea of the Lord who sent us.

3. Never speaking our own word but the Lord’s word. The Lord Jesus didn’t seek His own will nor spoke His own word but spoke the Father’s word, and whatever He heard from the Father, this is what He spoke (John 14:10). The words which the ones around heard from the Lord were not His words but the Father’s words. We need to learn to speak the word of God and not our own ideas, opinions, or even doctrines and scriptural things; we need to be one with the Lord who lives in us and does not speak of Himself but as He hears from the Father, so He speaks. When we work for the Lord we may want to speak a lot and all the time, but we need to be one with the pneumatic Christ in our spirit to speak when He speaks and speak what He speaks.

4. Never doing things by our own will but doing the will of the Father. The Lord Jesus didn’t seek His own will but the will of the Father who sent Him (John 5:30). Our heart, however, is impure: we seek our own ideal, will, and purpose, and when we do something for the Lord we may also accomplish our intention. We need to not take the chance to accomplish our own will but seek to fulfill the Lord’s purpose. May the Lord save us from doing something to accomplish our intention and idea! May we be purified in our intention and seek the Lord’s will only!

5. Never seeking our own glory but the glory of God. The Lord Jesus said of Himself that He sought not His own glory but the glory of Him who sent Him (John 7:18). To be ambitious is to seek our own glory; ambition spoils us. In working for the Lord there are three big destroying worms: our self, our purpose, and our ambition. In order for us to be used by the Lord for His work in His recover, our self needs to be denied, our purpose has to be rejected, and our ambition has to be given up. We should seek the Lord’s will and not our own purpose. We should only know how to labor and work for the Lord by denying our self, rejecting our purpose, and giving up our ambition, so that the Lord would get all the glory.

Lord Jesus, we want to learn from You as the One who lived a God-man life to serve and express the Father. Lord, save us from doing anything from ourselves, for our purpose, or out of our ambition. We want to follow You in denying ourselves, picking up our cross, and rejecting our purpose and ambition so that we may do Your will, speak Your words, and seek Your glory. Lord, we want to learn to keep our heart pure from any ambition, purpose, or idea in Your work, so that we may do a Christian work in the divinely enriched humanity of Jesus!

Acacia Wood Overlaid with Gold: God Mingled with Man for God’s Expression in Man

The acacia wood of the ark signifies the humanity of Jesus, and the pure gold signifies Christ’s eternal and unchanging divinity (see Exo. 25:11). Gold doesn’t decay or rust, and its substance doesn’t change; gold signifies God’s nature who is eternally unchanging.

The fact that the acacia wood was overlaid with gold inside and outside signifies that in Christ as God’s testimony God and man were mingled, and the divine nature was mingled with the human nature. The divine nature penetrates the human nature, and it also rests on the human nature to be expressed through the human nature.

Furthermore, the size of the ark was two and a half cubits long, one and a half cubits wide, and one and a half cubits tall – these measurements are halves of three and five, the numbers of God’s building (Gen. 6:15-16; Exo. 25:10). These halves imply that the ark is a testimony; when the halves are put together there’s a testimony.

On top of the ark there’s a rim of gold all around it (Exo. 25:11); this rim was in the form of a wreath as a crown. Hallelujah, Christ as God’s embodiment expresses God by showing forth His glory in His divinity, and the glory of God is upon Christ as a border, a rim. Whenever we enjoy Christ and live Christ, there’s a “rim of glory”, a crown of glory, upon us.

This rim of glory keeps us and holds us; what keeps us and holds us is the Christ whom we live out day by day (Gal. 2:20)! The rim of gold around the ark signifies the glory of the divine nature as the divine keeping power and holding strength. Hallelujah!

Lord, mingle Yourself more with us today until You are the One who lives in us and is expressed through us. May Your divine nature penetrate our human nature and rest on our human nature to be expressed through us, so that You may be testified and expressed in our daily living. Lord, we trust in Your divine keeping power and holding strength, which come from the glory of the divine nature. Hallelujah, praise the Lord!

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 as a man art tender, sweet, / Balanced in every way, complete, / Meal-offering to the Father meet; / Lord, I remember Thee! / Doing the Father’s will Thy prize, / Never accepting Satan’s lies, / None like Thyself, so faithful, wise; / Lord, I remember Thee! (Hymns #86)
  # Exercise the spirit! / Natural sense renounce; / Serve with one another, / Christ the Lord announce. / Exercise the spirit! / Soulish life deny; / Helping one another, / On the Lord rely. (Hymns #866)
  # Oh! Christ, expression of God, the Great, / Inexhaustible, rich, and sweet! / God mingled with humanity / Lives in me my all to be. (Hymns #501)