The Embodied Triune God has been Expanded to become Entrable: we can Enter into God!

In Numbers 1 we see a picture of the incarnation of the Triune God in the tabernacle with the Ark; the embodied Triune God has been enlarged to become entrable, and we as His people can enter into God, be mingled with God, and enjoy God.

Apparently, the book of Numbers is a record of the numbering of God’s people and their journey in the wilderness; actually, such a record is structured with the Divine Trinity (see Num. 1:1; 6:13-16; 7:1, 11-17; 9:15-18, 21; 20:6-8).

We could say that the intrinsic reality of the record in Numbers is the Divine Trinity, as revealed in the separation of the Nazarite, Jehovah’s threefold blessing to His people, the function of the tabernacle and the altar, God’s continual presence with His people in their journey, and the thirst-quenching rock that followed God’s people as they followed God.

We need to open to the Lord and have His light to see beyond the written words and the events recorded in the book of Numbers; we need to have a spirit of wisdom and revelation to realise that the record in the book of Numbers is structured with the Divine Trinity.

In types and figures, events and pictures, the book of Numbers shows us how crucial the Divine Trinity is.

The Divine Trinity is actually our way to follow God (as the people of Israel followed God), our way to serve Him (as the people of Israel served Him), and our way to be supplied with life (as the people of Israel were supplied by God in the wilderness).

The history of the people of Israel as recorded in the book of Numbers is a type of our Christian experience with its ups-and-downs, victories and failures, and highs and lows; therefore, the Divine Trinity is at the center of our experience of Christ with His salvation, and without the Divine Trinity we cannot follow God, serve God, or be supplied by Him.

The book of Numbers is structured with the Divine Trinity, which is the supporting structure and foundation of all the happenings in this book. Without the Divine Trinity, the record in Numbers would be empty; the intrinsic reality of the record in Numbers is the Divine Trinity.

For us to see this, we need the Lord’s shining; we need to ask Him to unveil us to see the Divine Trinity in the book of Numbers, and actually to see the Divine Trinity in every book of the Bible.

May our enjoyment and experience of Christ be enriched by our seeing the Divine Trinity as the structure and intrinsic reality of the record in the book of Numbers.

Seeing the Incarnation of the Triune God in Num. 1 with the Ark and the Tabernacle

In chapter 1 of Numbers what we see in type is the incarnation of the Triune God. The word “incarnation” is not present there, but there is a picture presented there which points to the incarnation of the Triune God.

For us to see the incarnation of the Triune God in Numbers 1, we need to consider the matter of the tabernacle with the Ark; after God instructed Moses to number His people, at the end of ch. 1 it says that God spoke with Moses in the Tent of Meeting – the tabernacle with the Ark was there.

Within the tabernacle was the Ark, and within the Ark was the law, which was called “the Testimony” (Num. 17:4, 10).

The law is a testimony of God because it testifies God, it shows us God. Although we say that God was the center of the people of Israel, it wasn’t merely God in Himself that was the center but God in an Ark made of acacia wood overlaid with gold.

The Ark, being one entity of two elements – wood and gold – typifies Christ in His humanity with His divinity. What we have here is God in an Ark; the Ark is a type of the incarnated God, Jesus Christ as the God-man with both the divine and human nature, acacia wood overlaid with gold.

Christ is the embodiment of God, the testimony of God, the faithful Witness bearing God’s testimony, which is the law; Christ defined God, explained God, and expressed God before man.

As John 1:18 says, no one has ever seen God, but the only begotten Son of the Father, Christ, declares Him; Christ came to bear the testimony of God and be the reality of the Ark of the testimony, and in Him was the testimony of God.

In this picture of the tabernacle with the ark we see the Triune God incarnated to be a man living among men. This Christ individually is the ark; when He is enlarged, He becomes the tabernacle.

John 1:14 says that God was incarnated and tabernacled among us; inside Christ was the Ark of the testimony, and He was the tabernacle of the testimony, for God was with Him and He expressed God.

How can we see the incarnated Triune God in the tabernacle with the Ark?

The number of the boards in the tabernacle – forty-eight – is significant, for it is composed of six multiplied by eight (signifying man – six – in resurrection – eight), and it is also composed of twelve (signifying the Triune God, contained in number twelve – composed of three multiplied by four) multiplied by four (typifying us as His creatures).

Wherever you look in the tabernacle, you see the mingling of God and man, the incarnation of the Triune God. In this picture we see the Triune God, we see man, and we see the Triune God dwelling among men.

From this picture of the tabernacle with the Ark we see that God is no longer in the heavens; He is also on earth, in a man who is His embodiment – Jesus Christ (see Col. 2:9).

In Him – in Jesus Christ – dwells not only all the riches of the Godhead but all the fullness of the Godhead bodily. In a little man called Jesus Christ, a Nazarene, dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily.

Praise the Lord, Jesus Christ, the Son of God is the embodiment of God; He was the ark and the tabernacle in whom is the testimony, for He defined, expressed, and explained God before man!

Lord Jesus, unveil us to see the Divine Trinity as the structure and intrinsic reality of the Bible. May we see and enjoy Christ as the embodiment of God, the incarnation of the Triune God. Hallelujah, Christ came to define God, express God, explain God, and manifest God. In this One, the incarnation of the Triune God, we can see God’s testimony, His expression! God was incarnated to be a man, and this Man is Jesus Christ, the tabernacle of God with man and the testimony of God in man! Now our God is not merely the God of the heavens but the embodied Triune God on earth dwelling among man!

The Embodied Triune God has been Expanded to become Entrable: we can Enter into God!

The Triune God was incarnated to be a man; He was embodied in Jesus Christ, who was the reality of the tabernacle with the Ark.

As such a One, God in Christ has been expanded, increased, and enlarged, to become the tabernacle, God’s dwelling place on earth (John 1:1, 14). He is now not only the God of the heaven and earth, but an embodied Triune God on earth, a God dwelling in man and among man.

When God was in Christ only, no one could enter into Him; without Christ’s expansion, no one could enter into God.

When Jesus was walking in Palestine, God was with Him and in Him; on the mountain of transfiguration, He expressed to the three disciples what was in Him, and they were in awe, but they could not yet enter into this or partake of this.

Through His death and resurrection, Christ as God’s embodiment has been expanded to be God’s dwelling place, an entrable dwelling place – now we can enter into God.

As the tabernacle, Christ is the entrable God; the tabernacle was God’s dwelling place and the place where people can enter into God. As the tabernacle, the embodied Triune God has been expanded to become entrable – we can now enter into God.

Today we can enter into God, taking Christ as our life so that He may be the meaning of our life (John 11:25; 14:6; 1 John 5:11-12). When we take Christ as our life, we enter into God; He becomes the meaning of our life, and what we will focus on is Christ and the church, the expansion of Christ.

As Christ is our life (Col. 3:4) to be the meaning of our life, He is our testimony; we live Christ, express Christ, and show Christ in every aspect, and spontaneously He becomes our center.

God was incarnated in Jesus Christ as the Ark, and He was enlarged to be the tabernacle; now God is entrable, and we can enter into God to partake of Him and participate in what He is because of His Divine Trinity.

We simply need to take Christ as our life, and He will be the meaning of our life; the result is that we will live and express Christ, we will show Christ every aspect, and spontaneously He becomes our center.

Hallelujah, Christ as the embodiment of the Triune God has been enlarged into a habitation in which God dwells and into which we enter!

Now God has a dwelling place, and we also have a place where we can enter into God, meet with God, and be mingled with God (John 14:20; 15:4-5; 1 Cor. 6:17).

We have been joined to the Lord in spirit, and now we know what the Lord said in John 14:20, He is in the Father, we are in Him, and He is in us.

This is a mysterious yet wonderful organic union, and Christ through His incarnation embodied God, and through His death and resurrection He has been enlarged and expanded to become the entrable God!

Now we can turn to our spirit to enjoy Christ, and in our spirit in Christ we can meet God to be mingled with Him and have Him mingled with us. This is what Numbers 1 speaks about; Numbers 1 shows us the Divine Trinity through the tabernacle with the ark, and He becomes entrable, accessible to man.

Hallelujah, our God has been incarnated in Jesus Christ and He has been enlarged and expanded to become the entrable God where we as His people can enter to meet with God! Praise the Lord, today we can enter into God, taking Christ as our life so that He may be the meaning of our life and we become His testimony. Lord, we take You as our life and person; You are the meaning of our life, and we want to live You, express You, and show You in every aspect! Thank You Lord, through You we can enter into God, dwell in God, meet with God, and be mingled with God! Hallelujah!

References and Hymns on this Topic

• Inspiration: the Word of God, my enjoyment in the ministry, the message by James Lee for this week, and portions from, Life-study of Numbers, msgs. 2, 14 (by Witness Lee), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, Crystallisation-Study of Numbers (1), week 6, The Divine Trinity as Revealed in Numbers.
• Hymns on this topic:
  # The tabernacle and the ark, / The law within them stored, / The temple and the city too, / Are all Thyself, dear Lord. / Thou art the hub, Thou art the rim, / The all in all Thou art! / In Thee we see both God and man, / How precious to our heart! (Hymns #194)
  # The ark the God-man, Christ, displays- / God mixed with man, as gold, wood meet; / The law is God’s expression full, / Which dwells in Christ the Son complete. / Thus Christ’s the center of the Church, / Which is to Him a resting-place; / In Christ the Father ever dwells, / And in the Church, Christ’s dwelling-place. (Hymns #838)
  # The New Jerusalem show God is ent’rable, / Man enters into God, O how unfathomable! / To enter in: enjoy God’s love, / Christ’s grace, and Spirit’s fellowship. (Song on, New Jerusalem Applied)